-2: 88
After sharing a few more drinks with Liberalio and Nihilister, as well as sending out a memo that they were the latest members of the Brave Squad, as well as products of the Abnormal Manufacturer... of which I, of course, was CEO...
I let my newly adopted daughters(?) off to explore the Outpost while I went to handle the most pressing concerns.
Specifically, Shifty.
The moment I entered my office, Shifty lunged at me and grabbed my leg. "Commandeeer! You can't make me go back to the Ark! They'll kill me now that I know all your secrets! Take responsibility!"
I blinked and looked up to see Rapi, Marian, and... a woman who looked strangely like Ingrid?
But anyway, I said, "...Has she been like this the whole time?"
Rapi chuckled. "Yes. Shifty... Well. It was either this, curling up in a ball and trying to wake up from this 'bad dream,' or trying to convince herself that being a Nikke wouldn't be so bad."
Shifty turned her head to glare at Rapi and said, "You don't understand how scary it is! What if I forget? What if it hurts! Oh my god, what if I'm not me afterwards!?"
I chuckled and lifted Shifty up. "Relax, Shifty. You're safe up here on the surface."
Shifty looked at me with glittering blue eyes and sniffed. "Really?"
"Yep. You're just stuck on paperwork duty until the end of time then."
Shifty froze. Then she slowly turned to look at my desk, where a giant pile of paperwork was definitely sitting. After that, she grabbed the collar of my shirt and started shaking me. "You bastard! You did this on purpose! You trapped me! Just like Hades! You... you bad man!"
I let her shake me and said, "You told me to take responsibility~"
"NOT LIKE THIIIS!"
I laughed and then handed Shifty a case of beers that I'd snagged from the trendy bar before I came over. "Here. Consolation pri-"
Before I could finish, Shifty snatched the case away and dashed to my bathroom. After the door slammed shut, she started sobbing while chugging beer.
...Was it bad that I thought it was funny?
It was probably bad that I thought it was funny.
But Shifty was honestly safer here than in the Ark anyway, so...
I'll take a little guilt trip over her being dead.
"Anyway." I took off my armor and set the tablet that kept me in contact with Syuen on my desk. After that, I looked at the mysterious woman who looked like Ingird and said, "I'm guessing you're a new guest? And... huh. You're a proper human."
"A-Ah. Yeah." The woman reached up to adjust her cap and then smoothed down her shirt. "I'm E.H. The leader of Heavenly Ascension." She let out a grateful smile, staring at me with her... purple eyes? No, not quite purple. More of a red-violet?
...Endless wasn't around.
That's good.
Otherwise, I'd probably hear a comment about if she was 'mine' or not since she had purple eyes...
E.H. held out her hand and said, "Thank you for taking us in. And protecting us. I know it means you made enemies of the Ark, but... treating us as humans. It's the first time."
I shook her hand and said, "No problem at all. And I mean literally, no problem at all. Since my dad's back up and running and the Goddess Squad is back too, they'll sort things out."
E.H. froze. "...What?"
"Oh yeah." I chuckled. "It's not public yet, right, Rapi?" I glanced over at her.
Rapi tucked a strand of her crimson hair behind her ear and said, "Not yet, Commander. We figured that it would be best for Deputy Chief Andersen to officially break the news. That way, he'll be the one dealing with it."
I pointed at her. "Smart. That's why I like you, Rapi."
Rapi blushed. "...You're a horrible flirt, Commander."
Marian huffed, looking jealous. "What about me, Commander?"
"I just love you in general, Mari."
Marian immediately smiled and then jogged over to hug me. "Aw~! I love you too, Commander!"
E.H. glanced between me, Marian, and Rapi. Then she let out a soft smile and said, "...Well. If you treat Nikkes like this, I guess it's obvious you'd treat us well too, right?"
I finished hugging Marian and turned to look at E.H. "Of course. We're all humans at the end of the day. Speaking of which... has everyone settled in properly? There should be enough resources, right?"
E.H. nodded. "Yeah. I've got everyone settled into the houses and apartments you built in the Outpost. Some people are still a bit paranoid of the Nikkes... but I think it'll calm down soon. After all, it's better than the gutters we came from."
"Good. Just a reminder that if anyone steps out of line, I reserve the right to turn them into a prototype Nikke or Nikke equivalent under the Abnormal manufacturing line."
E.H. froze. "...That's a joke, right?"
"...I joke about some things. But not these things. The Surface is relatively safe, and everything is peaceful right now. But the Raptures are still the overarching threat. And if people bite the hand that feeds them... well. You know."
E.H. pursed her lips. But then she sighed and said, "That's fair. I'll make sure everyone knows."
"As long as they know. This isn't a democracy yet. It's very much a dictatorship. Democracy comes after we murder the Rapture Queen and reclaim more territory and resources on the surface."
As great as democracy was for human dignity, and as terrible as dictatorships were for human rights...
I mean, one was clearly more efficient than the other during war time.
The only problem came when people wanted to cling to dictatorship even during peacetime...
But that wasn't a problem for me.
I hated being a leader anyway, so I was planning to dip as soon as everything was settled.
"But onto more important things." I walked back behind my desk and then looked at Rapi and Marian. "I've been busy destressing a bit, so I'm not up to speed with everything happening. Sitrep?"
Rapi focused and said, "A lot's happened, Commander. Obviously, you know what went down during the Ark..."
"Well, mostly. I was fighting the whole time, remember?"
Rapi paused. "...True. Then I'll start from the top." She straightened and said, "As far as intel goes, Exotic for some reason set off depth charges in the Dome of Eternity and intended to frame it on Heavenly Ascension."
E.H. nodded and said, "Some extremists had considered doing that to get a message across to the Central Government HQ, but after your speech, they changed their minds, Commander Hoopa." She pursed her lips. "...It seems that some information about those plans leaked though, since when the explosion occurred, Deputy Chief Doban immediately came to purge the Outer Rim."
I hummed. "Is that so? The timing's pretty tight though... that Deputy Chief Dobin or whatever must have been in cahoots with Exotic... or whoever Exotic was working for."
Rapi's mouth twitched in amusement and said, "It's Doban, Commander. But yes. We think so too. Especially since he used the term 'scrapbucket...' Is it possible that whoever is using Syuen's face planned this?"
I tapped my fingers on my desk and said, "Hm... I don't think so. As cold as it is to say, the Outer Rim provides its own set of resources."
E.H. flinched, but she sighed, clearly acknowledging the truth in my words.
I continued and said, "I met the fake Syuen. She's sly and calculating... and also DEFINITELY working for the V.T.C. So they wouldn't allow the Outer Rim to be purged."
Rapi frowned. "...Then who caused all of this?"
"Well, that's the thing. I'm pretty sure this wasn't a single person, but just a lot of different parties coincidentally moving in tandem."
Marian finally walked over to sit on my lap, making herself comfortable. "Then what do YOU think happened, Commander?"
I absently patted Marian's head and said, "Well... if I had to hazard a guess, here's the rough chain of events..."
Someone got wind of us reclaiming the 5th Weapons Depot as well as us heading down to the Ark.
Various parties wanted to remove me from the political board in the Ark's power struggles, so they moved to try and pin blame on me, hence the explosion.
At the same time, there were people who just wanted to cause mayhem in the Ark, and took the opportunity to expand on the chaos.
The Raptures were gathering intel on me and took advantage of the breach towards the Ark to both scout a route and feel out my abilities, as well as toss in experimental units.
And since everything failed...
"...They'll probably lay low for a while. And since we definitely don't need to head back to the Ark other than Anis's concert, we should be good."
Rapi blinked. Then she frowned and said, "...That still doesn't explain how Absolute was corrupted or Chatterbox being revived. Not to mention the Heretic that was with Chatterbox."
I hummed. "Considering Ingrid is still M.I.A., I'm guessing they got corrupted after retrieving those Heretic fragments on that mission they went to, said fragments started gobbling up mass-produced Nikke frames to revive, and Chatterbox... well, I have a weird effect on Raptures that make them adapt if they choose to follow me."
Rapi gave me a blank stare.
Shifty let out a strangled scream, no doubt having heard what I said.
Marian giggled.
And E.H.
She slowly blinked and said, "Should... I be here for this conversation?"
I pointed at her and said, "You are the representative of the humans currently living on the outpost... so yes."
E.H. blinked again and said, "Isn't that you, Commander?"
"Considering I'm at best... and I DO MEAN at best, only 95% human... no. Definitely not."
"...What?"
"Yeaaah."