Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Encounter

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name

It felt good to be out of the rain..." A soft tone is playing in the distance while a man sings along with the tune in a soft mumbling voice.

Taranty sits on Ghillie's shoulder, leaning its head beside his chin as it takes a nap, as the lone survivor pushes the shopping cart containing a bigger amount of food and two jerry cans filled with gas.

His head slightly feels a bit heavy, and he slows down as he sways along the cart.

He didn't bother the pain as they head back to their location. His vision is slightly blurred, as they go to the same street to the alley. He adjusts his vision again but he feels nauseous right after as his sweat drops.

They entered the Humvee as music blasted in the background. Since the vehicle inside is partially soundproof, it's not as loud as they close the door unless someone is really hearing something.

He casually pours the gas can into the vehicle as Taranty bops its head up and down from the music.

As he entered the vehicle, he grabs the wrecked Rapture parts and pulls out screwdrivers, hammers, and other tools.

He takes out the entire mechanical body, revealing more mechanical parts, and found ammunition in it, consisting of bullets of different calibers and sizes.

"For a threatening killing intelligent machine, you sure packed too much ammo," He thought as he searches for more things.

With the previous ammunition he packed before he found the Rapture, it does not kill even a single rapture until it is in point-blank range. If he didn't position correctly on that early supply run, he would have died from a single stray machine, it would be laughable if that happens.

It's like living in a zombie apocalypse, where you survived through the toughest situations in a survivor's entire life only to end up dying from a single bite of one stray undead in a very unconventional way.

Gilbert "Ghillie" Kimber...

A dirty ID Card is dropped from his chest pocket as he finishes dismantling the rapture, showing a picture of him with brown short hair, dark eyes, and in a formal long sleeves shirt with a red tie, and a QR Code beside it.

He looks at it with slight curiosity, then placed it back in his chest pocket.

Looking back at Taranty, the only friend of his looks pretty discolored. Its surface exoskeleton is slightly discolored, but functional. The stickers are almost peeled out but still reveal a part of the old anime stickers on its side.

He ignites the engine as he starts up the vehicle.

"Up next, if we want to survive in this godforsaken place, we need ammunition. This stuff?" He pointed to the dismantled Rapture.

"It's impossible to bring those down even in a one-on-one. We need a caliber big enough to penetrate this annoying shell, and this gun here isn't even enough," he happily chats as he planned it with Taranty.

"Beep beep?" Its head tilts in curiosity.

"You're asking where we think we're going to get this?"

It nods.

"A place that has stacks of ammunitions and weapons. With this caliber, they're not the run-off-the-mill type military stores. They should be far away... Like a military factory,"

The robot reveals a question mark on its screen.

"You think we are going to survive at this point if all we do is hide every time? If we want to deal a swarm, we need bigger weapons. Hell, this assault rifle here isn't even enough,"

Taranty reveals a red exclamation mark and a question mark.

"It is very dangerous I agree. But I'm getting tired of surviving day and night hiding from these Raptures. Why don't we sneak up on them..."

Its screen revealed a skull image.

"What can we do? I hate staying outside. I hate hiding. Hell, I hate dying from these wounds,"

Rest...

The display screen reveals text on Taranty.

"W-well... I guess... BUT-"

Rest...

The display screen reveals a 'ZZZ' icon on the red text.

"Jeez, fine"

...

"Well, we can't stay here for long. Let's check the map," He places his foot on the pedal while he looks at a physical map.

---

A swarm of Raptures patrols the alleys of the high-rise buildings. A few drone-like machines hover in the air like a hive mind as they scan their surroundings while the rest crawl like giant mechanical insects.

The vehicle cruises at a moderate speed as it lays cover behind the obstacles, making tiny maneuvers as Ghillie cautiously looks at every side.

He pushes the pedal with feather-like taps that slowly accelerate the vehicle.

There is no way he would not lose his life to a swarm that goes every nook and cranny. The worse ones are the strays that might be behind the swarm.

They must first find a way to leave the city as Taranty becomes the GPS for the vehicle. He navigates through the main road with caution as Taranty points the direction of which road to take to leave the city.

Another chase coming from that swarm will be their death sentence.

They proceed to the main road and almost reach the exit of the city.

The same swarm of Raptures hovers below revealing themselves behind the vehicle.

Ghillie unsuspectingly continues on a cruising speed up until he looks at his side mirror, revealing the Raptures eyeing him like a school of piranhas happily ready to devour its prey.

"Shit!" He pushes down the pedal and pushes on full gear.

SKRRRRRT!

The tires screeched as smoke from the high friction between the asphalt road and the rubber tire, accelerating the vehicle immediately at 90 km/h.

The chase begins...

BOOM!

The swarm gets distracted by an explosion from afar as distant gunshots echo through the road.

The raptures immediately followed the sound ignoring the vehicle like it was bait.

Ghillie gave no time to bother as whatever explosion gave him another chance to survive as they escape the city.

The vehicle zooms across the open road as the sign reveals...

You are leaving Metro City...

Military Research Facility - 50 km

---

The next few days

Ghillie and Taranty approach a large facility from the distance up the road ahead.

He looks through the side window as his eyes widened in shock from the facility. A previous sign he had seen earlier looked like a blocky type of facility with silos around that are used as exhausts for needless materials.

However, when he looks at that facility ahead, it looked more like a hornet's nest swarmed by a large number of raptures getting geared up through the factory.

His skin felt like something is crawling on him while Taranty made a "Woaaahhh" tone from its noise as it curiously watches the individuals have their parts replaced by something else of a larger caliber.

"I think we... Should head back?" He asked as he hesitantly looked at Taranty while slowly parking the vehicle behind a bush.

Taranty, stunned at the view keeps watching as the Raptures continue their usual part replacement routine.

Its camera-like lens starts glowing and an idea has come up.

Taranty looked at Ghillie and a light bulb action has come up from its screen.

"You got something?" He asked.

It pulled the door's lever and heads out in a sneaky-like pose. Ghillie followed it as well as he brought his rifle and the rest of his equipment.

The two sneakily pass by the main entrance of the facility as they continue heading to the side where the roads are blocked by iron fences.

They ran around the side as they go as far as possible from the sights of the raptures but near enough to reach behind the factory.

Ghillie takes a wire cutter and cuts off the iron wires from the fence, letting the robot companion pass through the fence first then bent his head and entered as well.

Through the open parking spot, they rushed to the nearby backdoor leading to the military facilities.

He checked the door by cautiously holding the doorknob with his rifle pointing towards the door just in case any hostile threats might be inside when they enter.

He jiggles the doorknob, and surprisingly, it is unlocked.

Upon entering the facility, he is met with a dark corner and a few open spaces.

If he were to sneak in, he has to hide under the conventional belts that move different parts and scrap materials of the factory.

For a factory such as this, no wonder raptures can resupply and upgrade themselves from this type of factory.

However, one single entity that dares spot him will be an instant death of his. This is Ghillie's choice, just to get stronger. An ordinary rifle is weak. Standard calibers commonly used to take out threats are not enough. Not for Raptures at least. Unless there's another threat...

A group of raptures rolling on tracks casually scan around as they move to another corner. Both Ghillie hid past them as they continued pushing bit by bit while not getting spotted.

An unsuspecting camera is constantly watching the strange duo of a machine and a human passing through the defense of the military facility.

"Hmph... Human? On the surface... With a Rapture as its friend...? No... Doesn't look some sort..." A female silhouette dressed in comfortable clothes wearing some sort of headset as she carefully watches the duos pass each Rapture like it's butter.

Ghillie continued to slide under open cracks, hide inside dark areas, and even stick himself inside a working machine just to get out of sight from the Raptures.

"Why... Are they in a factory? It's a death sentence for them..."

As they reach one more end, he finds a doorway and finds a strange-looking humanoid laying on the ground.

Its body parts are made of metal and it's laid motionless. The face is covered by certain metal parts but it looks humanoid nonetheless. An assault rifle is laid beside it that is half as big as his rifle, with a barrel size bigger than a standard-size rifle, but smaller than a .50 caliber rifle.

Its design looks similar to his but the weapon size seems a bit bigger. However, as he grabbed it, it was quite heavy.

If an ordinary human would carry this type of weapon, it's like carrying a bulky long stylish iron rod.

Though the size is quite big, how can a humanoid... Is this some sort of android?

The motionless humanoid looks shorter than him, but his size is that of a six-foot man (1.83 meters), that survives in an apocalypse with limited resources. Because he assumes that he is alone, stocking a huge amount of food would be fine as long as he gets the energy to survive.

Its disfigured feminine body is covered in exposed metal parts. From the looks of it, they seem to be some sort of weapons meant for Raptures.

However, he can't pick it up together with the weapon it had. One is already too heavy for him. He picks up the strangely designed rifle instead.

Surprisingly, there are a few ammunitions left and a few more scattered across the floor where he picks up the rest.

He found a box of ammunition as well as ten packs of them with the same caliber. He looks at the package and found a strange branding he has never heard before etched on its box:

"Missilis Industry"

He feels a slight vibration on the ground and a low-grinding sound from afar.

"Beep...?" Taranty curiously watches its own leg shake from the shaking ground.

Ghillie nodded to Taranty as they swiftly hide behind the corner near the doorway as they hide under the dark light from the incoming hostile threats that are near their hallway.

A sliding metal door opens near the corner of the room as he hides under the nearby table.

Waiting for something to approach from that doorway, nothing happens.

Curiously enough he looks around his place before entering the strange sliding metal door.

The metal door closes itself as a small light path is trailed in a straight line leading to another doorway.

Strange...

The dark surroundings with the only light source coming from the light path give Ghillie an off-putting feeling but continue to walk forward to the strange path.

His footsteps echo across the dark hallway as each leathery step bounces and reverberate across the walls.

Taranty's beeping noise as well echoes across the walls with a curious tone.

As they reach the end of the hallway, the sliding door opens leading to...

An exit?

Ghillie unslung his newly obtained rifle though it looks futuristic in design, it's quite heavy for it to be called an assault rifle. Theoretically speaking, coming from a mechanical humanoid... Perhaps an android, it might be meant for wielding such a thing, but a weapon with a greater caliber is better than shooting an individual Rapture at point-blank range.

Maybe, it's strong enough to take a few hopefully.

It's best not to shoot this thing yet while inside a nest of human-killing machines.

Ghillie thought.

As he exits the factory, it leads directly straight through an open parking lot where he immediately ran back to the vehicle.

It was a bad idea if he stayed longer, but why does it feel like someone is watching him inside the factory?

As the two entered the vehicle, he starts up the engine immediately and leaves the premises away from that nest of machines.

One hundred percent will not go there unprepared... Ever!

"Taranty, please remind me that if we are to search for weapons, not anywhere facilities that may be the breeding ground of killing machines,"

A thumbs-up image is displayed on Taranty.

As they somehow reach another long road, they took a stop for a while to get their things checked.

Ghillie excitedly inspects the assault rifle, though its compartments are huge, surprisingly it is modifiable.

With his other assault rifle, he dismantles the weapon and tinkers a bit.

"Taranty, come here," He pulled the robot companion.

"Stand still, I got something real quick,"

With the other rifle, he installs a small system and quickly applies it to Taranty with a few modifications.

Now... Taranty looks like he has a moving barrel beside it.

"Just in case when things get worse, you'll have to help me right?"

Taranty nods as it moves its newly installed weapon on it.

"Oh almost forgot. I should try tinkering it a bit more..." He brings back the spidey and slightly adjusts the barrel and the amount of gunpowder needed.

This time it can handle a caliber strong enough to destroy a Rapture... Though it's only at a short range. It won't be strong enough to break its armor off after reaching a medium range.

"Only if I'm in danger where you should start using this thing alright?"

Taranty nods as it happily circles around Ghillie.

He looks to the open field and spots a stray machine. It looked like it was trying to figure out a rolling figure...

Looks like a football.

Ghillie puts his pinkies in his cheeks and let out a loud whistle, alerting the stray rapture.

With his new rifle, he aims at the center of the target, and he switches the safety off to single mode.

With a pull of a trigger, it evokes a deafening gunshot, taking out the rapture at a surprisingly good distance, enough to destroy its core immediately. However, the recoil from a single shot pulled Ghillie backward stunning him.

"Woah! This thing packs a punch!" He says as he rubs dirt off the rifle.

If he were to use this thing, he should start practicing using higher caliber weapons such as this. Maybe more androids may have the same types of weapons.

Ammunition of this certain type is special. It is better to spend it wisely then.

Perhaps it is best to use that broken piece of metal as target practice again.

He takes a few more shots but every time he pulls the trigger, it feels like his shoulder is being dislocated by the recoil.

What if I put it on Auto...?

He pulls the trigger and the rate of fire is so high that his whole body flings backward.

Taranty runs to the body of Ghillie as he lies supine on the grassy field.

"Beep beep?" It sounds like it's asking if he's okay.

"Yeah I think I'm good," He huffs as he looks at the special type of weapon.

"Whoever made those types of weapons has been fighting these things for a long time. Why can't I just get those types of weapons back then?"

Are they still alive or did they die not too long ago?

He thought.

He picks up the rifle and grits his teeth. Picking up a heavy rifle such as this for a long time really challenges his endurance and strength. This thing probably weighs five times his previous rifle. Its recoil is ten times stronger than 'human' weapons.

If he wants to survive in this world, upgrades are a necessity to ensure his chance of survival increases.

If I were the only human in this world, I do not want to die the same way these people die...

You are reading story Goddess of Victory: NIKKE – The Surface Wanderer at novel35.com

He slung the rifle on his back but the weight slightly pulls him back a bit.

"Let's go... Supplies are running out again,"

---

They have reached another city ruins that looks similar to another city they've been. Though it is different, it's similar to that of Metro city, but smaller.

BANG BANG BANG BANG!

Ghillie takes out a few Raptures with his rifle. He cannot contain his laughter as the new weapon gave him ease in taking out the Raptures one by one. However, the super-armored ones take a while to destroy.

It takes time for him to adjust in a while with the new weapon. Unlike the time when he uses the auto, he fires in three-round bursts to maintain stability and at the same time not dislocate his already slightly bruised shoulder.

Taking out a few of them means gaining more ammunition. These enemies are a surplus of ammo and taking them out means it's a gain.

However, staying in one place will attract more. He has to dismantle every single broken piece of metal just to get at least twenty bullets worth.

It is still limited but it's a plus at every end of the fight.

An unsuspecting piece of machine tries to sneak behind Ghillie as it readies its rotating barrels before it is ready to fire, however it gets shot down with a tiny bullet hole exiting through the exoskeleton by another robot. Taranty.

Ghillie quickly grabs the next broken machine as they enter their getaway vehicle together with a month's supply worth of food.

This is their whole encounter every time. They find food, gas, and a few scraps just to pass another day. They do this weekly. Surprisingly, the alleys may not be the optimal location when caught, but with proper timing and position, these can be mini-safe houses for the vehicle.

However, in this city, where canned food is constantly found, it's best to hide inside bases away from the epicenter of Raptures.

They reach a safehouse Ghillie had found a month ago and stayed for the night to keep away from these robot monsters.

Happily eating a can of beans, and jerky while sipping a can of beer, he blasts his sounds with old classical and party music as Taranty dances in a four-leg shuffle.

Ghillie cheered as he claps to the beat as he chugs a beer. A few are soaked on his thick beard before they tucked their beds.

---

"Uwaaaahhh... We're conducting another perimeter security in this place too?" Anis stretches as she looks around the run-down foliage-covered city.

"We're hearing reports of gunfires in this location. Strangely though just like that one time a few months before, I'm seeing the same patterned tracks from this place,"

"You mean we're finding the sloppy Pilgrim again?" Neon's glasses flash as she closes her face on Rapi.

"Negative, that's not a Pilgrim. The commander said that we might be imagining things. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that we find fresh tracks. Maybe raptures roll on the same tracks with this,"

"If it's not a Pilgrim, then what's driving this thing?"

"It's just recent Rapture activity. There's no way there are other living... 'humans' in the Surface at all,"

"Maybe just another Nikke just like the rest? Maybe Ludmilla and Alice might find the Queen here,"

"They only find other Nikkes that are lost on the snowy lands. Why would they arrive here?"

"Who knows?"

"Wait...!"

As they walked to an intersection, they found a few shot-down Raptures on the road.

"Woah!"

Rapi kicks one of the broken-down machines and bends down to inspect bullet holes from the Rapture.

She finds a bullet lodged deep into the core and pulled it out from the machine.

"Nikke weapon..."

"Nikke weapon?" Neon asked with her head tilted.

She observes as the bullet they inspected has the same type of bullet used for destroying any other Raptures.

"A stray Nikke has been wandering around these cities. Maybe they are a Pilgrim,"

"Aren't we going to report that maybe one of those Nikkes that have gone rogue or Irregulars?"

"The bullet has a similar design manufactured by Missilis Industry... Strange,"

"W-Wasn't there a reported lost Nikke that traveled to the surface one time and covered it up as an Irregular?"

"Strange that they would cover up a missing Nikke and if we did find them here, they would be destroyed immediately by Raptures,"

"Huh..."

---

Next day

Ghillie takes a few scrap metals and takes a blowtorch from his toolbox.

They heat up to the point that the metal bends and slightly turns into a viscous material.

It's poured unto a cast filled with multiple holes in a bullet pattern.

He clamps the molten metal tight and then cooled it down with water, as the sizzling water evaporates, turning the material into conventional bullets.

Surprisingly, the materials used on the bullet he found from that rifle have the same characteristics that he just made. Though it is slightly different due to the crudeness and limitations of hand-crafted bullets, it would do better than finding a specialized bullet for this rifle.

So far with the same cast pattern, he molded with the same bullet, he was able to create more bullets and gathered enough gunpowder to create a similar effect to a rifle he made.

It's crude, but it is strong enough to pierce the enemies with the same material.

He watches the surrounding streets as he finds out that there is increasing activity in this city compared to last week despite having to take out just a few.

Raptures from afar might have heard the gunshots and are now gathering this city.

It is best to wait for them to leave or to leave ourselves but risk having our throats cut.

He packs up his newly made ammunition and counted approximately 300 rounds worth of ammunition. It's too time-consuming to create but it is better than using a conventional weapon that lacks the power to destroy such machines.

If he were to find a weapon of a similar caliber he'd be willing to die to get another that can take out these god-forsaken machines.

---

They readied their weapons to hunt down the rest of the machines while moving swiftly with their vehicle to get out of their already poor position.

He threw out a hand-crafted improvised grenade consisting of a large amount of gunpowder and tiny pieces of metal crushed to make sharp metal shards.

It exploded in a small radius. Though it's not meant to destroy the Raptures but to distract them at least before they get away.

Flying drones arrive as he constantly gets cornered. It's either he runs away or takes them all out. Yes, it's an upgrade to take out with ease with such a powerful weapon but staying in one place is not ideal especially when he is in a position stuck in the middle of an intersection with four different roads in different directions.

They run behind cover on a nearby ruined building. He blasts his weapon in three-round bursts and then runs upstairs of the ruins to gain a better position and vantage point, turning his building into a temporary fortress.

His spider companion would usually deal with the back cover but has to be up and personal to make its modified weapon effective. Though with its size, it is nimble to take out these machines.

A stray bullet shot over his left shoulder leaving him wounded.

"Gah~!" The adrenaline fueled in him made him ignore the pain for a while as he mounts his rifle on the cover while shooting down flying Raptures at the same time.

He slumps his body on the floor whilst looking at the remaining ammo he used up.

"S-shit! We need to get out of here, or we're dead," Ghillie shouted at Taranty.

The amount of ammo he used up is way more than expected. It's best to find another route away from the killer machines however it is away from his own getaway vehicle.

He peeks again as the entire vehicle is riddled with drones standing on top of it, giving no access to the vehicle at all.

There will never be a way to get there unless he has to use up all his ammunition.

"S-shit... That vehicle is our only way to get out of this place..."

Three-fourths of his stockpiled food is inside that vehicle too.

They head to another exit of the building whilst bullets are fired towards him and at the same time, rubbles from the building mean that it is going to bring itself down together with them.

They rushed downstairs and find an exit door away from the danger zone as they leave the building.

Not looking behind, they ran to find an alley. If they have to hide for a while it is best to stay in very close corners where they won't get spotted easily. The same building breaks down as it falls apart, creating a large amount of rubbles falling down, and a ground-shaking sound.

The wound on his left shoulder is severe enough that it slows him down, and is unable to hold his rifle with both his hands. if push comes to shove, he has to injure another shoulder just by pulling the trigger.

Blood oozes down from his shoulder like droplets of water, leaving a trail of blood from alley to alley.

"Beep beep?" Taranty climbs across his body as it grabs a bandage from his first aid kit, swings itself across his shoulder, wrapping the wound around while Ghillie runs and hides behind a garbage bin.

The number of Raptures did not feel like it was diminishing rather, it's growing.

This is not good at all. Everywhere he goes, every street, every alley there is an army of them.

He can't hide forever, nor does he want to slow himself down or risk firing his weapon.

"Taranty... I don't want to die here. This isn't what I want. I just wanted to survive and go home back to mom and dad," He holds his companion dearly as blood printed on his hand is smeared on Taranty.

Taranty grabbed a pack of painkillers to numb its owner's pain receptors from the gunshot.

Ghillie swallowed the pills and rests for a while as he takes a sigh of relief.

A swarm of Raptures pushes through the roads near the alley as he rests between the wall and bin together with Taranty.

"Let's hope that they won't find us here," he said as he takes out a crumpled pack of cigarettes.

He pulled open the box and grabs a lighter, and lights it up in front of the end of the stick.

His spider companion runs up to him and kicks the cigarette away from him.

Its screen displayed a pair of lungs slowly turning to black and an X mark on the cigarette.

"Haha..."

"When will that ever happen? I'll get killed before my lungs fail," he thought as he takes another stick of cigarette.

His spider companion climbs on top of his shirt over his upper chest and held him tight as it tries to hug him with its tiny legs.

He reciprocated it back by extending his arms and embracing his one and only friend in this nightmare of death.

Taranty secretly grabs the other stick and threw it away without him noticing.

Ghillie's muscles relax after that hug, as fatigue finally comes up to him he closed his eyes to rest up a bit.

Tiny triangular prism companion detected sounds coming from the alley as it climbs on top of the bin, scanning where it comes from.

It made a loud tone like it detected an anomaly.

"BEEEP!"

BANG!

A heavy metal part falls on top of his chest of Ghillie. His eyes widened and saw his companion, stiff as every malfunctioned robot. Its camera lens looked at Ghillie before the blue light fades to black, sparks lighting up on the exposed bullet hole on its core.

"T-Taranty...?" Ghillie's eyes widened as his one and only companion left no heartbeat nor any form of energy to move.

He peeks from his location as another Rapture on its three legs, barrels pointed in his direction detected movement.

He brings his rifle up and mounts it on top of the bin, and shoots the bastard that destroyed his companion.

His heartbeat shot up and when he looked behind, that gunshot alarmed the surrounding area. The raptures behind him swarmed the alley as he left his companion with no time to recover as he jumps over the bin, and ran towards the next street.

He can't get away all the time because these monsters picked up his patterns and went through every alley he goes to.

He gets surrounded by one area and leaves to the open street with nowhere to run except the open street.

He turns to one corner of the district and found three humans in strange outfits.

The blood loss and pills are making him hallucinate. He didn't bother as he runs behind the cover and tries to shoot down a few raptures behind him.

"Contact!" The female human in a red outfit with a strange assault rifle readied her position as the three covers behind.

Without hesitation, Ghillie's bloodshot eyes didn't bother whatever is beside him. Guardian Angel? Beautiful women in strange military outfits?

The overdose is trying to keep him away from sanity.

He mounted his rifle again and without hesitation, switched to Auto, knowing full well that this will further injure his shoulder but it doesn't matter. He doesn't want to die in a place and this is his last stand.

A rhythm of gunshots from different weapons echoes across the street as the sounds of shotguns, grenade launchers, assault rifles, and explosions boom across the open street, leaving a pool of iron corpses.

"Die! Fucking die... Please... Die!" He laughs manically as he continuously pulls the trigger.

His shoulder starts bruising up but the pain did not bother him. The adrenaline and painkiller pumped up in him is increasing as he keeps pulling the trigger no matter what.

The number of Raptures starts getting lesser by the minute until there are none left.

His head sways left to right...

"Thank you..!" He smiled as he looked up from the skies, thanking whatever the gods or goddesses that helped him from this nightmare.

He lays on the cover as his vision gets blurry.

"Sir? Sir... Are you alright?" A beautiful woman with bright caramel hair dressed in gray and red patterned military uniform lays down with a concerned face.

His eyes close as he relaxes again.

---

Thirty minutes earlier

The Counters stumbled across a trail of blood on the alley.

Rapi scooped up a small amount of blood and scanned it a bit, revealing that blood comes from a human.

"Human blood," Rapi muttered.

Anis observe as she scooped up a bit of blood as well.

"Strange. is there a commander that is lost together with a Nikke?"

"I doubt that a commander would even be on the surface away from the Ark for too long. I'm surprised that a commander such as this is capable to reach this far ahead with a lost Nikke,"

"Could that commander be similar to Shikikan?" She asked.

"Hmph... Commander won't even be surprised that someone like that might happen,"

"Ehh..? Wouldn't it be nice if Nikkes and humans can just be together sometimes?" Anis made a smug expression as she elbowed Rapi.

"T-That is..."

BABABANG! BABABANG!

Three-round bursts echo across the buildings.

"W-Wahhh!"

"N-nani? Where is that coming from?" Neon asked as she gazes from left to right with her shotgun up.

"Ready your weapons, there is ongoing Rapture activity right on the east," Rapi cocked her assault rifle while Anis pulls up her Grenade Launcher to the east.

The three moved in a three-man spear position, with Rapi on the center while the two spread out on each side.

The asphalt road shakes as the rubbles vibrate.

They look from afar as they see a man with a wound on his shoulder, eyes shot up, mask lowered revealing his scruffy beard, holding a weapon that looks too heavy for him but is slightly encumbered as if used to the weapon.

A swarm of flying and land Raptures flies across the center of the road as the strange man runs towards them as he hides under the rubble for cover, while unslinging his rifle and placed on top of the cover, gunning them down.

"Contact!" Rapi positioned herself as the three swiftly moved in action.

They ran beside the cover of this strange man dressed in ragged military cloaks, a Nikke weapon on his right arm, and a bandage on his left shoulder.

They shot down hundreds and hundreds of killing machines. Ranging from flying machines, Raptures with strange nano-type shields formed across them.

"Die! Fucking die... Please... Die!" The strange man laughs as his shoulder starts to deform and dislocate from his shoulder without a care on the world.

"W-what the?" Anis cringed as he watch as this insane man lost in thought keep shooting down these machines.

The four continue raining down explosives, bullets, and lead to the rest until the Raptures reduce to zero.

The Counters team lowered their weapon as the threat has been reduced.

Rapi and the two approached the man laying down behind the cover.

"T-Thank you..." His overfatigued tired wheezing voice thanked as he looked up at the skies.

"S-Sir? Are you okay?" Rapi asked but the poor man did not reply as he lays motionless but a faint breathing is heard.

"Is he dead?" Anis asked as she pulls a strap from her weapon.

"Faint heartbeats, overfatigue, low oxygen cycle, an unusual amount of morphine conflicted with the high amounts of adrenaline injected on him. This can lead to organ failure. Get a defibrillator quickly and bring him immediately to the emergency room,"

"Roger!" Anis and Neon quickly saluted as the three immediately head back bringing the strange man to the Outpost.

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