-1: 47
Back in the Ark, Missilis HQ.
Having just received orders from Syuen that they were being transferred to the Brave Squad under Commander Hoopa, the three members of Matis finished packing and joined up for one more talk before heading up to the Outpost.
Laplace, a Nikke with blonde twin-tails and a white coat over her armor, frowned and said, "Syuen is really sending us away?" She glanced towards Syuen's office up at the top of the building. "Now?"
Maxwell, a Nikke who Hoopa would absolutely describe as a Saber-face by Nasuverse standards, adjusted her own white coat over her white crop-top and said, "Orders are orders, I guess. But I agree that it's weird timing."
"Who cares?!" Drake, a Nikke with a crimson coat, short-cropped white hair with a middle part, and black armor with red-highlights... she scoffed and said, "A villain doesn't question orders. She just obeys them and performs the evil deeds!"
Laplace pursed her lips. "Well, a hero makes sure that the people she protects are safe! And..." She hesitated, looking once more towards Syuen's office. "...If we go, who will protect Syuen? We're her masterpieces. Her strongest Nikke. Since Wardress were taken away by Lady Jien... that just leaves Rian as the only Nikke she has by her side, right? And Rian seems nice, but..."
Maxwell sighed, picking up a duffelbag with her things. "But she's a mercenary through and through. I get it."
"I don't see what the problem is." Drake shrugged and said, "If we pull off enough awesome stuff, then we just prove Syuen's amazing, right? So we just have to be the real villains! Like a Demon Lord!"
Laplace huffed and said, "As if. We're going to be Heroes! We're even joining the Brave Squad! Come on, it's in the name!"
"Villains are Brave too!" Drake crossed her arms and said, "A real villain is brave enough to fight against the heroes by herself!"
Maxwell laughed and started walking towards the elevator. "You know, she's got a point, Laplace."
"W-Well, a real Hero IS a 'Brave'! If you're a demon lord, then we're Yuushas! Just like our commander, the Valiant!"
"Please! A Demon Lord can be valiant too! Just like villains can! A REAL villain is so evil they don't NEED to hurt people. That's the most evil deed, being so bad people just do what you want anyway!"
Maxwell looked between Laplace and Drake, still bickering as they headed towards the elevator to the Outpost. Then she sighed and murmured, "I hope our new Commander is used to mayhem..."
===
The moment I walked into the Commander's Office...
"Ta-dah~!" Marian let out a bright smile and twirled, revealing her freshly bleached silver hair. "I decided to change my look for you, Commander!"
Rapi blushed and did a half-hearted twirl as well. "T-Tadah... I-I did too." She played with her now crimson hair and said, "D-Does it look good on me?"
As for Anis...
"I-It's a bit tight, but... Does this still suit me, Commander?"
Anis let out a shy smile, wearing what was clearly an idol outfit from her younger days... an outfit that now hugged every curve on her body.
"Wow." Neon walked in on my right side and said, "You really pulled out all the stops for Master, huh?"
Endless walked in on my left and said, "Confirmed. Commander not only possesses excellent stamina, endurance, and strength, but unparalleled charisma and charm..."
Neon paused. "Wait, Endless. How do you know Master has excellent stamina and endurance?"
Endless's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink. "...No comment."
"Hoho~?"
I took a deep breath and said, "Look. As much as I appreciate the eye candy, we have a serious problem to discuss." I walked over to my desk and then sat down.
Seeing that I was serious, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Marian spoke up first. "Is something wrong, Commander?"
Rapi nodded. "Yes. Was there an issue in meeting Deputy Chief Burningum?"
Anis frowned. "You aren't in trouble or something, are you?"
"No, no, and no. But have you all looked at the news recently?"
Marian frowned and said, "No... Rapi and I were busy with our hair."
Rapi cleared her throat and said, "...Marian needed someone to help with the bleach. Anis?"
"Nope." Anis shook her head. "I've been talking with Boss all day. There was something he wanted to chat about. Neon?"
"Endless and I were designing more firepower, so nope!" Neon adjusted her glasses. "Also, we were looking into these! Apparently, Endless thinks there's some super secret design specs on here or something!"
Endless nodded. "Yes. The encryption appears to be old V.T.C. protocols. It will take some time, but it appears to be quite valuable."
I blinked. "Huh... Wait. Where's Suri, Nami, and Hana?"
Marian tilted her head. "That's... a good point. Where are-"
"Commandeeeer!" Hana ran into the room, slamming the door open. "What's with this speech!"
Nami peered into the room behind Hana, nodding her head. "They're calling you the next Legendary Commander! And the Valiant!"
Suri sighed as she walked into the room. "...Honestly, Commander. I get that you treat us as humans, but publicly opposing the leader of the Nikkephobe faction and making a speech like that..."
Marian paused.
Rapi slowly turned to look at me. "...Speech?"
"...Alright. Let's take it from the top." I sighed.
===
After wrangling everyone into my office, with Marian, Rapi, Anis, and Neon in front of me, Endless at my right side, and then Suri, Hana, and Nami on my right, I started talking.
"So." I looked at my squad assembled in front of me. "We have multiple orders of business to tend to. But chief among them is the fact that we've been designated to reclaim more areas for the sake of humanity. It seems like the success in taking back the power plant all those weeks ago actually paid off."
Rapi tilted her head. "...I see. So because we've succeeded so much, they are asking for even more."
Marian frowned. "Can we... do that, Commander? I get that we've done well so far, but actually reclaiming territory from the Raptures..."
"Yeah!" Anis crossed her arms and said, "What's that about? Isn't that basically telling us to do a Third Surface Reclamation war on our own?"
Nami fidgeted. "Does... that mean that we'll be deployed?"
Hana hummed. "I don't think so. Right, Commander?" She looked at me and said, "I'm assuming you have a plan. Especially since you did all of this." She waved towards the TV, where news anchors replayed my speech to the crowd and my rebuke of John Doe.
"That's right." I nodded. "We're getting support. It's not just us."
Rapi looked at me and said, "Support? Who?"
"Matis."
Anis blinked. "Wait. Matis? Like, Missilis's top squad? Uh... didn't we like, threaten to murder their CEO? And get rejected for a mass-produced squad of Nikke?"
"Well..."
I thought back to Syuen and her current situation. Then the quiet thanks she had whispered to me.
"...Syuen and I have come to an understanding."
Marian giggled, her eyes dark with mischief. "You threatened her, didn't you, Commander?"
"Mm... No. It's complicated. But let's just say that it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. Syuen's promised to back us for any tech supplies and advancements I might pull out of my hat. In return, we bring Matis under our wing as a secondary squad and record footage of them helping out."
Neon raised her hand and said, "Ooh! Does that mean that we get to print the Missilis logo on all of Master's new weapons and equipment!?"
"Yep." I laughed. "It's the perfect cover. Missilis gets seen as ridiculous innovative, the higher ups don't sus me out as a threat to the Ark, and the people get hope in thinking that Humanity has a fighting chance."
"Hold on." Anis held up her hand. "You're saying that Matis is going to get all the credit?! That's not fair!"
"Not credit, Anis." I looked at her. "They're going to get the limelight... both the good and bad of it." I looked around my squad and said,"As for us... I want all of us OUT of public eye. We have bigger things to do. If we're tied up in PR, we can't move."
"I see." Rapi hummed. "If we let ourselves become a second 'Goddess Squad' then we'll get tied up like they were and forced to deploy to certain areas."
"That's right." I nodded. "You have to remember, we have multiple responsibilities. The first one is obviously to defend the Outpost. It's fine now, but we do need to prepare for the unexpected."
Neon adjusted her glasses. "...So what I'm hearing is we need more automated firepower, Master."
"Automated, yes. Firepower, no. I hadn't considered it, but a thought just came to mind. Raptures adapt from what they absorb, right?"
Rapi looked up and said, "Yes. That is the case. It's why humanity struggled so much in the early... days." Her eyes widened. "I see. Commander... you have higher capacity weapon schematics. But you fear the Raptures will reverse engineer them."
Anis sat up straight. "Wait! They can DO that?!"
Marian placed her hand on her chin. "...Of course. Just like the Grave Digger EX."
Anis groaned. "Right. I forgot about that..."
Nami fidgeted in her seat. "Wh-What do we do then, Commander?"
"Well." I chuckled. "This stays in this room, understand?" I leaned forward. "...Tell me. If the Raptures can corrupt Nikke... why can't we corrupt Raptures?"
A sharp gasp. A tense silence.
After a few moments, Rapi slowly spoke up and said, "...You think you can do that, Commander?"
Anis spoke in a hushed whisper. "If you can... If that's possible... then...!"
"...We can make the Raptures fight for us!" Neon finished with awed eyes.
Suri raised her hand. "Not to put a damper on the parade, but... How do you plan on doing that, Commander? I know you did some weird thing that lets us ignore orders from superior officers, but making Raptures betray their own kind..."
I laced my fingers together. "It's simple. They want to be human, right? So let's give it to them. 'Emotion.'"