Nikke: Nullable Type

The day slowly ticked by.

I spent the time analyzing the Rehabilitation reports about Crow, Jackal, and Viper from the Exotic Squad while Indi napped on my couch.

And after some assessment...

'Mm. Viper and Jackal seem okay. But Crow has to die.'

...I made my decisions.

Crow was the same Nikke who had tried to threaten me after that speech I made in the Ark against Heavenly Ascension and John Doe. And, according to Enikk's notes, she was the leader of Exotic as well as the one who initially planned on making a hole in the Dome of Eternity.

Although that Deputy Chief took the blame for everything, the root cause could all go back to Crow.

And I had felt it too when I saw her that day.

She was similar to me. At least, in the willingness to cling to her objective until her death.

No words could persuade her. At least, nothing I could say would.

Mostly because I didn't want to.

Placing the Ark in danger and threatening me in particular...

Yeah, no. If she'd been turned to a Heretic, she could get put down like one.

But Jackal and Viper...

Jackal seemed to be someone who was just swept up in the flow of thing. While her case file said she was definitely a former criminal, she gave off more Harley Quinn vibes than anything. Chaos, yes. Violence and destruction, also yes. But not someone with any particular inclination against humanity or anything like that.

Viper... Hm. She seemed iffy.

Apparently, she was someone with a silver tongue who caused all sorts of crimes to get by before she was caught and turned into a Nikke.

But I didn't get pure malice from her the last time I saw her.

Not like Crow, at least.

But either way...

'It'll take time for them to be repaired in any case, it seems. Hm...'

Due to being the CEO of Abnormal, we could pass it off as experimental Nikke production methods. Not Heretics per se, but Rapture modifications.

I had enough good PR to spin it.

But for now...

I denied the Rehabilitation suggestion for Crow and approved it for Jackal and Viper.

After that, I stood up and stretched, checking the time. "4 PM already, huh?"

Indi was still fast asleep. And judging from how quiet things were, and the fact that my phone had been silent all day despite my ringer being on max, it seemed like people were doing their own things.

In short...

"A rare moment of peace and quiet."

I smiled walked over to make myself a cup of coffee, reflecting on the current situation.

"The main priority would be the fact that I could literally bleed out and die..."

I'd been occasionally storing my own blood since I found out about it for emergencies, but we were definitely going to have to figure out a different solution.

Sophia and I had toyed around with maybe synthesizing it by cloning some of my flesh and cells, but it seemed like my body could tell the difference. A quick test of my blood on the synthesized components made a VERY violent reaction.

Immediate black tendrils, ominous cancer-like growths...

Yeah. Unless it was literally my own blood, it seemed like we were S.O.L.

So Plan A of getting a blood substitute was out the window.

Plan B then would be seeing if I could just get an increased healing factor via nanomachines or something since my cells apparently had those.

It seemed viable... but since we were charting in unknown territory, I didn't want to risk messing around with it too much.

Sophia was working on that in the background, but it was designated a hailmary option.

That left Plan C, which was basically just me remote-connecting to a reploid body via brainwaves propagated across the Alva Particles... At least, that was what Sophia suggested.

But I had a better plan. And for that...

I reached into my desk and pulled out a controller. Then I turned on my monitor and booted up the secret project I had kept running in the background at the Fifth Weapons Depot.

"Let's see if this works... Ah. It connected."

A first person view, just like the old FPS games appeared, showing the interior of the Fifth Weapons Depot.

I pressed "Select" on my controller and toggled to third person view, revealing a sleek and faceless white armored figure holding a green laser beam sword. Around him floated a tiny polyhedron with a violet core.

If there was anyone from Earth, they would immediately clock it as basically the Destiny MC and a Ghost.

...Sadly, there wasn't anyone like that around, so it was just me.

"I think everything's online, right?"

The Guardian was made using Rapture parts, Goddessium, and various Reploid schematics I'd brainstormed as well as microbots for joint articulation, so it controlled pretty smoothly.

I'd even programmed the same game UI to make everything seamless for me.

As for the Ghost, it charged up via both photons and Alva Particles, so it should always be up and running too.

Now, the uninitiated might think that it was in danger of being corrupted or hijacked by the Raptures.

To that, I would say 'good luck' since I had encrypted it to hell and back AND had a rudimentary copy of my own personality matrix in it.

In short...

*Hey, me. Are you going to just have me idle around all day or are we doing something?*

...It was somewhat autonomous. Mostly flavor text, but still enough to shut down Rapture corruption.

Even if they managed to get past that though, I had loaded the Guardian with the Maverick Virus I'd been making to basically force upload human morals and cognition, so win-win.

"Let's see..." I started testing the control, making the Guardian walk, run, hop, and move around. "...It's a bit weird seeing the animations be so smooth. But I guess this is real, so that's why... But alright. Let's test this baby out."

Various HUD elements appeared on the screen, making it look like a proper Third Person Shooter now. And since the Ghost was there parsing data, it could also give me realtime intel.

I moved the Guardian around the facility, patrolling and scoping things out, checking various toggles and switches.

And then I took him outside for the real test.

Was it because the Rapture Queen decided to up the ante? Or because the mindless Raptures couldn't resist the goodies inside the Fifth Weapons Facility?

Either way, there was a small horde swiftly approaching from the east, according to the minimap.

"Perfect for a test run. Let's see how rusty my skills are at video gaming..."

===

One of the many clones of Nayuta, a former member of D.E.E.P and the fourth member of the Pioneers...

And also the person that the Goddess Squad had absolutely forgotten about in the mix of the Legendary Commander returning as well as their newly discovered Nephew existing.

This particular clone had been out scouting for useful resources after the main body noted that there were numerous locations she spotted from aboard Mother Whale and with the Harmonizer, Raptilion.

Because of that, she had managed to make her way to what appeared to be a defunct factory from above. And yet...

"It truly is that man proposes and the heavens dispose... What is this incredible sight before mine eyes?"

Nayuta's crystalline blue eyes stared at the sight before her and tried to process what exactly she was seeing.

There were Raptures. A vicious tide at least a hundred strong, with more on the way.

The weapons facility stood in their path, currently shielded by a shimmering blue energy barrier, but with an inevitable fate to fall if confronted with the tide of Raptures.

But in front of those mechanical creatures stood a single... man? Entity?

That was what confused Nayuta.

"...Tis a man, surely? And yet... I do believe it is not, as well...?"

Her sensors didn't respond with any biometrics. To her eyes and senses, the 'man' with the white armor covering his entire body was simply mechanical.

And yet...

"Let's try this out then, shall we?"

...A clear male voice echoed from the man- Nay, the armored knight.

And the moment it did, the knight rushed forward, emerald blade in hand.

Gunfire blazed, as it would from the Raptures.

The knight did its best to evade, sprinting left and right. But there was too much. An unavoidable fate.

Nayuta hesitated, pondering on whether to intervene.

And then the knight cut down the closest Rapture and ripped out its core, directly absorbing it into its body and repairing its wounds.

Seeing that, the remaining Raptures froze for a single instant, as if, they too, failed to comprehend what was unfolding.

The knight chuckled and tossed away the scrapped Rapture before idly twirling his blade. "Good. Repair functionality operable. I've confirmed that this basically works like Destiny now, so... Time to have some fun with good ol' fashioned gaming."

"...Destiny?" Nayuta murmured, watching from a distance and out of sight as the knight tore his way through the Raptures without fear.

Wounds that would have proven mortal on any man were ignored, swiftly closing as the knight grabbed cores from the Raptures he slayed. Fierce attacks that were dealt without fear of death, trading mortal wounds for mortal wounds.

The knight laughed, clearly enjoying himself as he tore his way through the Raptures, collecting cores as he moved.

...And as he continued to collect cores, his equipment actively adapted. His blade changed to crackling yellow lightning when facing Raptures with blue cores, then burning crimson against Raptures with green cores, and so on.

Moreover, the entire time, he spouted incomprehensible sayings such as...

"Oh, an exotic engram? Nice~"

"Man, I'm smart. Autocrafting and autolooting with the microbots were ABSOLUTELY a must."

"At this rate, won't I end up with a completely overpowered player character? It took a ton of resources to make one of these Guardians, but if I make a few more to swap out, like a Hunter and a Warlock too... food for thought."

...And altogether, speaking with the attitude that absolutely did not fit what should be utter mortal peril.

Nayuta was so stunned that she ended up simply watching as the knight tore through the Raptures.

And by the end of it, although his armor was dusty, it was completely unscathed, having been actively replenished via Rapture cores salvaged mid-fight.

"...What in the heaven's name is this technology?"

"Oh, a Nikke."

Nayuta froze.

The knight turned to face Nayuta with an unnatural movement. Like the ground was a mere suggestion, actively pivoting his entire body in one go to face her. "Let's see... emotes should work, right? Left trigger, down... there."

A casual wave.

The knight stood in place and slowly waved his left hand. Smooth. Too smooth. And in a perfect loop, unmoving and unchanging.

Nayuta slowly returned it. "H-Hello? Might I ask...? What matter of creature art thou?"

"Huh. You sound like Aunt Scarlet."

Nayuta paused. "...Thou knowest the Great Swordswoman?"

"You know Aunt Scarlet?"

Nayuta watched with clear wariness as the knight continued to talk while still waving his hand.

"Oh. Huh. It doesn't stop emoting unless I tell it too... Still a few bugs I guess."

The knight suddenly stiffened before moving back into a combat stance, clutching his blade.

Nayuta reflexively held up her hands, taking a few steps back.

The knight spoke up and said, "Sorry about that. I guess I forgot to program an idle cycle for out of combat. But anyway, I'm Commander Hoopa, also known as the CEO of the newly established Nikke Production Company Abnormal. Who are you, Miss Nikke?"

Nayuta blinked. Then her eyes widened in shock and also recognition. "...Thou art the dearest friend that Harmonizer refers to?"

"Harmonizer?"

"...I believe thou wouldst know him as Raptilion?"

"OH! Are you one of Raptilion's buddies? I haven't had a chance to talk to him in a while. Busy with stuff, and his service is pretty bad too. How's he doing?"

"...Before then. Art thou... human?"

"It's complicated... Oh, this thing you're talking to isn't though. He's kind of a toy of mine? Think of like... a remote controlled car or drone."

"...Thou wouldst consider a great knight like this a mere trinket?! The VTC would have slaughtered scores of men and more to acquire such a being!"

"...Come again?"

"...It would appear that we have much to discuss, oh Valiant One."

"Sure. Do you want to do it in person, or here?"

Nayuta paused. Then she looked at the knight and said, "...How intriguing. Thou art in a similar situation to mine true self. Directing a proxy from afar, and yet possessing such prowess... Truly, thine own combat prowess must be extreme to be capable of such measures."

"...Wow, I need to build a translater for old timey English. Because I got absolutely none of that. But anyway, follow me then. I'm just running patrols here for a bit. I'll need to log off soon though, so you can stick around the facility as long as you guard it."

Nayuta followed the knight into the facility. And as she did, her eyes widened again seeing the fully functioning armory and smiths, as well as the overloaded manufacturer equipment being actively forged. "...Valiant One."

"Yes?"

"...Art thou a miracle granted upon humanity by the heavens?"

"Well. Maybe?"

"Pardon?"

"It's complicated. Anyway, let me show you around..."