Only Human (Goddess of Victory NIKKE SI)

===
Chapter 48 - Queen's Court
===

Joe damn near jumped out of his skin when the door to the 'Deep Freeze' slid open, breaking the otherwise mildly disquieting silence he'd fallen into with Anis and Scarlet.

Snow White stomped out, face drawn in a severe frown and covered in… blood - at least the fake blood Nikkes had - diluted and smeared by water, and other fluids that resembled motor oil. Her gaze flowed down to settle on the lowered trio, and she immediately declared: "She's stable, and I've done all I can with the parts they had on hand. The ice bath will keep her temperature within tolerable levels until I can finish the job."

Though 'stable' did not necessarily mean 'okay,' it at least meant that Rapi was under no imminent threat of death. If nothing else, that allowed Joe to let out a bone-deep sigh of at least partial relief.

"So, with that being said," the monochromatic, poncho-bedecked Nikke pointedly focused on Scarlet. "Clothes off, I'm looking you over while I have the chance."

"Fallow boor!" the grey-haired swordswoman immediately protested, fingers still interlocked with Joe's. "Art thine eyes malfunctioning? Can thou not see the Commander right here?"

"I can see him just fine, and I can see that he's well enough that he was able to get out of bed and make his way here," Snow White firmly said. "If you don't want him to see your chest, then he can avert his gaze, and you can turn around."

"I- it's fine," the displaced Canadian started as he rose to his feet, slipping his hands free from the flanking Nikkes and somewhat caught off-guard by just how brusque Goddess' engineer was being. "I want to see Rapi any-"

"I would advise against that," a mature, dignified woman's voice with a notable posh accent called out from within the room, which echoed slightly off the largely unadorned metallic hallway walls and floors. The door was still wide-open, given that Snow White was standing in it. "The lady is unconscious and far from decent, right this moment, considering her impromptu 'maintenance' which has seemed more in line with a maddened field surgery. To say nothing of the state the 'doctor' has left the room itself in…"

"I wasn't left with much of a choice, given what she did, and what I had to work with," Snow White asserted pointedly, glancing back into the area in question before shifting her attention back to Joe. "Though you're already well familiar with what Red Hood looks like naked, Commander, I would advise that you refrain from seeing her just yet, given that she's partially disassembled and has her maintenance panels wide open. Accepting and non-judgemental as you are, there's little to gain from disturbing yourself needlessly. She'll still be there, and back in one piece in hopefully just a few hours at the most."

The white-maned woman cracked her neck, producing a small 'pop' as she continued.

"Especially considering, knowing you, you'll want to hold her hand, which would give you at least a mild burn at this point. Even despite her being submerged in highly concentrated saline water well below the freezing point - which would itself probably be bad for you to dunk your hand into on its own."

Joe did his level best to not react like he'd just been struck in the face with a bat by those statements, or the implications they carried. The former, considering how his previous relationship with Red Hood had seemingly gone and ended. The latter because Jesus fucking Christ, please be okay, Rapi. Instead, he just took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "I-"

"Scarlet," Snow White, however, cut Joe off as she refocused on the swordswoman, pointing firmly at her chest. "Top. Off."

While Scarlet rolled her eyes and Anis turned beet red while rapidly rising to her feet, a starkly pale platinum blonde about the same height as Anis strode out of the room Rapi was occupying. She carried herself with the firm, dignified grace of a noblewoman, and had a build comparable to Rapi's. Her long, wavy hair shone with an eye-catching silken sheen. Her gaze, yet still the same ruby red as Rapi's, immediately locked onto Joe, staring at him with no small amount of rapt intensity.

And moreover… recognition. "Perhaps while waiting for a more prime opportunity to check on your companion, I might offer the Legendary Commander a spot of tea," she started. "As I ask what precisely brought himself and half of Goddess to my remote Fortress of Solitude, an entire century after they were supposed to have faded into the annals of history."

While Joe was good and ready to stare back at the women for a good few moments, considering the holy shit of just being casually recognized like this, Snow White turned to face Joe and immediately spoke up at that. "Commander, please distract her while I'm working. I need to focus, and she keeps dividing my attention with her incessant questioning."

The sheer brusqueness of Snow White was something to behold. She'd matured into something altogether different from the shy little teenager Joe remembered - for as little as he did remember her, at least.

At any rate… "That might be appropriate, given how she's doing us the honour of hosting us on such short and demanding notice," he declared.

"Indeed," the apparent XO of the Northern Fortress dryly replied, her long, thick eyelashes seeming to only accentuate her noble air as she looked up at Joe with a detached interest. "Follow me, then, Commander Pholus. Any of your Nikkes are invited to join as well, for as much as it goes without saying. I'd not have it be said that I am an inconsiderate host."

With that, she spun on her heel and started off down the hall - her stride being… incredibly distracting as Joe only just registered how very tightly fitted the skirt of her short, borderline micro white dress was, compounded by being coupled with her prideful sashay and lace stockings held up via garter straps.

Given Joe's propensity for blondes at that, he had to make a point to remind himself of the circumstances to not gawk like a horny caveman… Which, it seemed, Anis was not managing, as she did openly stare at the XO's ass as she strode down the hall.

Well. Joe sure as shit wasn't going to hold that against the messy-haired blonde, shrugging and setting off with a start.

"Unhand me, foul cur!" Scarlet immediately began caterwauling in the background. "I have been offered tea! You know mine feelings on tea-!"

"You can drink your damned tea after I've made sure you didn't sustain any serious, lasting damage being backhanded through a small forest by a Heretic, you idiot!" Snow White forcefully cursed her fellow out.

Scarlet was quick to shoot back. "As though thou was not pitched directly into the earth thyself-"

"Take off your damned shirt or I'll tear it off, damn it-!"

Somehow, Joe was rapidly finding it far more believable that he'd once been the commanding officer of Goddess.

---

"Ludmilla," the starkly white-clad woman suddenly proclaimed as she sat down in a cushioned seat set at a long, inorganic utilitarian table in what seemed to be the base's sparsely-decorated mess hall.

"Huh?" Joe, and Anis, dumbly replied as they were in the midst of sitting down as well.

"My name," the woman, evidently named Ludmilla continued as she lifted a cup of steaming tea to her fine lips. "I'd had yet to introduce myself."

"Oh," Joe intoned, looking at his own glass, lifting it to take a sniff - chamomile, his favourite kind of tea, luckily. With that particular bit of information known, Joe added sugar - or, it was probably more of an artificial sweetener given that there was no way they were growing sugar cane or sugar beets in the Ark - and let it sit to cool before drinking it. "Well, you already know my name…"

"Anis," the bodacious blonde seated alongside the Commander noted, meanwhile. She gave her tea a far more dubiously experimental series of sniffs - unsurprisingly, given her predilection for soft drinks over anything else.

"Is it not to your liking?" Ludmilla inquired, an eyebrow slightly raised as she gazed at Joe over the rim of her cup.

"I'm just letting it cool down," Joe informed her. "Chamomile is my favourite; I just don't like scalding my tongue and the roof of my mouth."

"Hm, fair enough," Ludmilla seemed to allow his explanation, if anything. Her gaze drifted aside to Anis, who seemed somewhat reassured by the notion that this was Joe's favourite, though not entirely. The far more mature and dignified-seeming woman didn't otherwise address Anis' concerns. "So, if I may be so bold as to follow up on my initial inquiry," she refocused on Joe.

"If I could ask a question first?" Joe interjected, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms, not entirely comfortable given the circumstances. To say nothing of the dining hall they were in… being drab, to say the least.

"Demanding for a guest, aren't you?" Ludmilla seemed halfway between amused and bemused. "If anyone has earned such an onerous predilection, I suppose it is you and yours. Ask," again, she seemed the part of a well-to-do noble granting a boon to a social subordinate.

"How in God's name do you know who we are?" Joe pointedly asked, which caused Anis to perk up, pointing at Joe and snapping her fingers with a series of forceful grunts and hums to punctuate an agreement with his line of questioning. Having a mouthful of hot chamomile tea wasn't exactly conducive to simply vocalizing her support, it seemed.

"We met when you were all knighted following the, however fleeting it revealed itself to be, reclamation of London," Ludmilla matter-of-factually replied.

"I- wait, what?" Joe blinked owlishly and all but jumped in place. He was a knight!? Also… "What do you mean we 'met' when- the Ark was sealed a hundred years ago!"

"And I underwent conversion into a Nikke two decades afterwards," Ludmilla stated plainly. "I was a child at the time we'd encountered each other at the victory parade in Edinburgh, given that London itself was in no state to be hosting festivities of any kind… so, I suppose it's not unreasonable that you wouldn't recognize me, given how much smaller I was back then."

"I have amnesia," Joe noted in reply to her supposition. "I have no memory of having been 'knighted' in the first place." He would reflect on the fact that Ludmilla was far older than she looked, both because older women, fuck yeah, and because that really hammered in how Nikkes were functionally, if not just literally ageless. Though given that Goddess as a squad were very much on the older side as a whole, that wasn't that amazing of a revelation at this point.

Ludmilla lowered her cup, giving the brunet a calculating look. "...Is that so?" She acknowledged his assertion. "So, I suppose you could not tell me how it is you came to be alive, and young so long after the Initial Rapture Invasion, then?"

"I actually could," Joe corrected her. "The actual question is if I should."

At that, Ludmilla hummed deeply, setting her cup down upon the saucer accompanying it with a light 'clink.' "Well, given how knowledge of yourself and Goddess has been aggressively suppressed for some sixty-odd years now, I suppose it would be a safe bet to wager that it would be perilous to reveal the truth on what happened to yourself and Goddess… Not that I would be foolish enough to reveal that I knew enough to recognize Goddess or the Legendary Commander myself to the Central Government in the first place, but, if you do not wish to reveal the truth, I shall not begrudge you that."

The gorgeous woman of seemingly English origins crossed her legs in a manner which damn near broke Joe's focus, but he was getting better about not going full caveman mode from being exposed to unreasonably beautiful women - likely on account of never not being exposed to unreasonable beautiful women these days, Nikkes being what they were.

"However," Ludmilla continued. "I would, at the very least, ask that you inform me why you are here, so far in the distant North, with half of Goddess, no less."

"We were searching for Snow White," Joe answered honestly, because he didn't really want to shut down every question Ludmilla asked. "Myself and Counters, Anis, Neon, and Rapi - er, Red Hood, that is. We've had no contact with Snow White, or Scarlet, for that matter, since… well, since the Ark was sealed."

"Is that so?" Ludmilla brought a hand up to her chin in a notably dignified manner, "That alone is quite telling, regarding your situation, as it is, when combined with how the Central Government seeks to cause Goddess to be forgotten entirely… This is not an officially sanctioned expedition, I suppose," she pondered aloud - notably, not as a question. She didn't seem to intend to actually drill Joe too hard given the circumstances. "Well, I am not going to be the Nikke that attempted to turn in the Legendary Commander and Goddess to the Central Government, intentionally or otherwise, so I will make a point to not log your visit to the Northern Fortress, nor your presence here in the Yukon."

With that declaration, she lifted her cup to her delicate lips again, sipping at her tea elegantly.

Joe wasn't entirely sure how to process much of this. Ludmilla recognizing them was deeply unexpected, to say the least. Especially unforeseen was meeting a Nikke who had been alive before the Ark was sealed, had met Goddess as a human. As much as Joe wanted to question her about everything, it didn't seem like it'd be wise to do that. Though, if nothing else… "Thank you, for…" For a moment, he wondered how to put it beyond a simple 'thanks.'

"Any Nikke that would seek to stab the Goddess Squad in the back is a foul wretch undeserving of their augmentations," Ludmilla forcefully cut him off. "To express gratitude for the bare minimum of what should be expected of any Nikke that recognizes you is absurd and obscene. I'll not have it."

…Man, with the sheer stiffness of Ludmilla's upper lip, Joe was about ready to ask if she was a member of the British Royal Family, as absurd as the notion was - least of all considering she was a Nikke. He just managed to hold his tongue, regardless. "Even if you don't think I should be, I am appreciative of the help you're providing us, and especially Rapi, regardless. Especially considering it sounds like she might've died if not for the facilities you have on-site…"

"Providence has a way of rewarding the just, I find," Ludmilla remarked matter-of-factually between sips of her tea. "Even if it does oftentimes take many years upon years for it to take effect. And sometimes, fate too conspires with providence, given the cause for that room to have been built to begin with…"

That… actually… "Now that you mention it, I'm more than a little surprised that you just so happened to have the exact right facilities on-hand to address the exact issue that Rapi happened to have."

"It is not nearly as unlikely as you might imagine, given who I happen to have on-site as a dependant," Ludmilla replied simply. "Alice has more in common with your 'Rapi' than you might expect."

At that, Joe glanced aside at Anis with no small amount of confused surprise, a look Anis understandably shared with him. Regardless, he refocused on Ludmilla out of the corner of his eye with a wary expression worn on his face. "What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked. "I don't see how Rapi could possibly share this particular issue with anyone else considering-"

"Red Hood is not the only Nikke that was built with Exceed, Commander Pholus," Ludmilla asserted. "She is simply the only one to have had Exceed operate within her systems as intended."

That caught Joe's attention, to say the least. Especially given how that caused Joe to suddenly recall how Andersen had offhandedly mentioned that at least one other Nikke had been created in an attempt to replicate what Rapi could do. A Missilis Nikke, whose name escaped Joe at that moment. Was this 'Alice' that Nikke, then? "And who-" Joe started to ask after the Nikke in question.

Only to be cut off by a distinctive jingle playing over the base's intercoms, which caused Ludmilla to hum in acknowledgement. "Speak of the devil. It seems that the away team, meaning the little bunny in question, is back with the parts needed to finish helping Rapi. If you'd like to meet her, as she very much wants to meet you, everyone should shortly gathered at the front entrance to the base."

With a low hum, Joe grabbed his glass and tipped the cup back, getting the tea down in just a few gulps. Though he could hardly say that he'd savoured it, damn, did it taste good. "That tea was so good that I feel bad for not having gotten to actually take my time drinking it," he admitted aloud.

Ludmilla, in reply, smiled with a small amount of gratification, finishing off her own cup and setting the dishes aside. "Then I can say that I've satisfied the Legendary Commander, if even in a small way." Rising to her feet, she began moving for the hallway door again. "Come, then. If nothing else, you and Anis will do well to help move the Rapture parts to a convenient location for Snow White to work with."

With one mighty gulp, Anis swallowed the entire mouthful of tea she'd apparently been just holding like a chipmunk, then declared: "Anything to help Rapi," as she stood with a purpose. "Come on, Commander!" She then sharply spun to follow Ludmilla.

Joe understood her eagerness, and followed shortly after her. It wouldn't be much, but every little bit would help in getting Rapi back on her feet, and damn, did the little Goddess deserve all the support in the world, and anything more Joe could manage.

To say nothing of the fact that they were apparently about to meet another Nikke with the Exceed system.

This was bound to prove interesting.

===
Chapter 49 - Echoes of a Past Life
===

Following Ludmilla into the front-most entrance of the Northern Base, which was itself a largely unimpressive, unremarkable military installation, a small crowd gathered around a large pile of what looked to be Rapture parts. Said parts were hastily and inelegantly bundled up in tarps and resting atop sleds which had been crudely lashed together to form an ad-hoc wagon train.

The front gates had been sealed behind them, the girls already readying themselves to drag the stuff the rest of the way to the room where Rapi was waiting.

While Joe might've usually gotten caught up on the group of absurdly beautiful women, he was more focused on-

His train of thought was broken by a sharp and loud gasp. Draped head-to-toes in pinks, a skintight bodysuit which left remarkably little to the imagination despite revealing no skin below her neck, and a loose heavily-cropped shrug jacket, was a striking twintailed beauty. With-

"My queen! My queen!" The pinkette called out in a high-pitched, incredibly girly voice, her nearly white pink hair bouncing in place as she too bounced on the balls of her feet, pointing at Joe as an excited child might. "The King in the Mountain! The King in the Mountain is up! He woke up! The Queen of Hearts will finally be beaten!" she declared joyously, again, with childlike glee. "Look! Look my queen! We can finally defeat the Queen of Hearts and free Wonderland!"

Though this tiny little lady did, frankly speaking, tick a good many of Joe's boxes at a glance… at once, the man immediately and most assuredly knew: this one was not for lewding, and any that may attempt to do so, deserved a bullet.

So, quickly, all physical attraction was quashed against the rocks, and he firmly slotted this Nikke into the 'headpats only' category, given her decidedly and obviously immature nature.

"Yes, yes, I know, Alice," Ludmilla asserted, reaching out and patting Alice on the head - "Now hush, the King in the Mountain's Knight needs help."

"Oh right! Little Red Riding Hood got hurt fighting the Queen of Hearts' minions!" Alice declared, large pink eyes going wide for a moment before she spun in place, grabbed a large cable being used as the rope for the wagon train of sleds, and started off down the hallway towards the Deep Freeze with a purpose, single-handedly drawing the entire, massive load behind her despite her diminutive size. "Don't worry, King in the Mountain! Little Red Riding Hood will be good as new right away!"

Bounding off with a childish spring in her step, Alice quickly left most everyone else behind, the sleds quite loudly protesting at being drawn over anything other than snow.

With a blink, Joe watched her go for just a moment before turning to face Ludmilla, an inquisitive look on his face.

"Well that was weird," Anis, on the other hand, just openly vocalized her intrusive thoughts, as she was wont to do.

"Alice lived a difficult, scarring life, even before she underwent conversion," the haughty blonde declared in reply. "Many of those same scars, she still carries to this day. I would ask that you not be so cruel as to deprive her of the comforts of her own imagination, Commander."

…So, probably a Mind Switch situation, then. One which was balanced upon a knife's edge, if allowing Alice to live in whatever kind of fantasy she did was preferable to… drawing her back into reality.

Not any of Joe's business, ultimately. Even if it was concerning, he had a whole mountain of his own shit to deal with. Thus he simply nodded in acknowledgement of Ludmilla's request, shifting his attention to Neon and the other two present Nikkes.

Neon had a small smile of relief to see Joe up and on his feet, and generally, seemed fine overall. A strange kind of rock, she was seeming to be.

The other two Nikkes, on the other hand, were openly staring at Joe with wide, wonder-filled eyes. Yet another silver-haired woman (silver-white hair seemed to be notably popular among Nikkes for whatever reason), hair worn in a bob. She was incredibly curvaceous, and strikingly well-endowed, which she was very clearly eager for everyone to notice, given how she had her cold suit unzipped down to her navel and her chest seemingly one unfortunate sway away from having her heaving breasts come tumbling out into the open air, much like Anis. Joe very much didn't notice that she had a beauty mark on said chest.

Otherwise, she had large, glimmering silvery-violet eyes with a gentle, down-turned angle. Somewhat thick eyebrows which too seemed to naturally angle downwards, giving her a very soft, easy-going aura. Then, upon processing that Joe was looking at her, the large open-mouthed, toothy smile she presented to him only further emphasized this impression. One might be shocked to hear that she was unreasonably beautiful, and had Joe not been constantly exposed to unreasonably beautiful women, he'd most assuredly be immediately making a complete fool of himself in front of her. Luckily, he was able to keep it to a somewhat 'oh no pretty girl' anxiously nervous wave, rather than outright dumping a metric tonne of spaghetti at her feet.

Her returning the wave with that big smile of hers did very nearly shove him over the edge, though.

Aside from the dark blue jumpsuit which contrasted heavily against her fair skin, notably, she was wearing a white cropped shrug like Alice's - however, the full-length sleeves seemed to end in large puffballs, with dedicated finger holes to poke her digits through them. That, combined with her furry boots that terminated in what soles that gave the impression of cartoony animal paws, and moreover, the furry cloak adorned with a pair of round bear ears, with a pair of 'wings' that came to large, clawed bear paws, produced a strange mixture of overtly sexy and cute.

It took Joe a moment to realize that what he thought was an armoured visor on her forehead like Snow White's, was actually a polar bear-themed sleeping mask. And she had a teddy bear hanging off of her back, rather than a dedicated backpack.

She was, needless to say, very 'quirky' in her choice of aesthetics, given the clashing nature of her skin-tight cold suit which hugged her every curve and nearly wholly exposed bosom, combined with the starkly cutesy polar bear themed cloak, boots, and cropped jacket.

Still absolutely gorgeous, though.

The long-haired blonde standing astride her, shorter and more athletic in her build, skin having more of an olive, yet still fair complexion was decidedly eye-catching in her own way. Her eyes were larger, more striking and lively. A pair of simple braids tucked behind her ears adorned otherwise unstyled hair. A white, horned hairband rested atop her crown, the tips terminating in golden points, a secondary band stretched between the horns, creating the illusion of floating just off the top of her skull.

Her cold suit was a bright, almost fluorescent orange, and so tightly fitted that her belly button was visible through it. She wore a short, but not outright cropped hooded black and white jacket loosely hanging from her slim shoulders. Her suit ended with four or five-inch heels, giving her legs a long, shapely appearance.

She was incredibly pretty, yes, but there was otherwise, outwardly nothing all that stand-out about her attire. Is what Joe would have said if she weren't wearing a white, black-trimmed two-piece bikini over her cold suit which, being notably skimpy, produced an effect which gave Joe pause, and necessitated him actually having to fight his instincts to stare a bit, even despite his budding desensitization to beautiful girls in revealing attire.

Unfortunately, she was evidently the type that was very perceptive, and very clearly noticed how Joe was very pointedly not looking at her midsection. Thus, though with a little starting nervousness, she proceeded to inflict an outright critical hit upon the man by producing a V with her index and middle fingers, bringing said V to her eyes, presenting a broad, toothy smile his way, following up with a goofy kissy face.

Joe had negative defences against gyaru energy, and thus, he could not entirely suppress his reaction to the display.

The blonde looked more than a little taken aback by the effect her gesture had, immediately looking more than a little smug and intrigued… all the while Joe suddenly felt danger emanating from Anis' direction.

Ludmilla turned to Joe, a somewhat amused expression worn on her face as she started, "Commander, as familiar as I'm sure you are with amorous women, I must ask that you exhibit a degree of professionalism and not actively flirt with my squad."

"I-I didn't!" Joe immediately protested his innocence, his voice breaking as he sharply turned towards Ludmilla in dismay.

Ludmilla, however, just turned to her two wayward squadmates, declaring: "Tove, I must also ask that you not actively and openly attempt to court the Legendary Commander literally the minute you've met him."

"I-I didn't!" the orange-clad Nikke dubbed 'Tove' protested, in pretty much the exact same cadence and tone as Joe had, her expression twisted into a nearly cartoonish display of embarrassed dismay - not entirely unlike the one Joe himself was wearing.

Ludmilla then, without missing a beat, turned to the taller, far more well-endowed silver-haired Nikke in the room to address her directly. "Neve, you and Tove are on surveillance. We are tending to a member of Goddess in need. The shame that would be brought upon our names should we need to divert attention away from her to deal with Raptures near the base cannot be overstated. Ensure her rest is not interrupted."

The fuzzy Nikke, meanwhile, immediately took on a more militaristic, hard expression upon the mention of 'Goddess,' nodding firmly once. "Yes ma'am," she declared before heading off with a purpose - this despite having presented no small amount of lethargic calm up to that point.

"A-ah, right!" Tove bounced back, clicking her heels together. "We're on it, ma'am! We won't let Goddess down!" She hesitated for a moment, gaze settling on Joe for an instant - and she quickly winked at him once before setting off to follow Neve.

Ludmilla let out a small sigh at that, shaking her head before addressing Joe again. "It will likely take some time for Snow White to fully finish tending to Red Hood - or Rapi, if you prefer. Though I would not blame you if you are lacking in appetite, I would offer you three a meal. Especially you, if nothing else, Commander. As a human, it is essential that you eat regularly."

Looking between Neon and a still visibly bemused Anis, Joe shrugged. Though yeah, he really wasn't hungry considering the circumstances… "You're right, it'd probably be wise to at least try to eat something, considering we're in the field and all that."

"I'm not really hungry, but…" Neon started, pushing her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose. "Like, maybe a few cookies or something would be nice."

Anis just glowered at Joe.

"Then come, let us return to the dining hall and partake in some finger food to tide us over until dinner proper," Ludmilla proclaimed with all the authority of a posh noblewoman, spinning on her heel and going right back the way they'd come.

Part of Joe low-key wondered why they'd even bothered coming to the base's entrance to 'help' when Alice - the girl that apparently also had Exceed he just realized, didn't even need help hauling the massive load of Rapture parts to Snow White… but he supposed that it was good to have met Tove and Neve as well, if nothing else.

---

Darkness. Alarms. The stench and wetness of fresh death hung heavy in the air. Already, she'd been coated in gore - yet now, the fresh blood streaming down her front filled her with far more horror and agony than she'd imagined possible. It wasn't her blood, yet so terribly desperately she wished it was, rather than his.

Red Hood clung to Joe, held him close, and refused to let him go. Even as he bled all over her, even with the mortifying hole blown in his side. His breath came shallow, shuddering, audibly pained, each inhale a horrible struggle. She'd entwined her fingers with his, and there was no strength left in his hands - he was entirely limp, seemingly barely even aware of their surroundings, of what was happening.

"-Don't go," the Nikke cried, drawing him in, hugging him desperately. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please! Joe… Please don't leave me! Please, stay!" She pressed her cheek against his, tears streaming down her face helplessly. "I'll- I'll be better! I'll do better! I'll never let you down again! I'll stop being stupid, I'll be reliable, I'll be strong, I'll be like Snow, I'll be like Dorothy! I'll… I'll be everything you deserve! I won't be a burden! I'll never insult you, or mistreat you again!" Red Hood's voice grew increasingly desperate and strained - her voice was entirely broken, not a single word coming out strong. "I… I won't betray your trust! I won't make you feel useless! I'm the useless one! I'm the idiot, I'm the moron! I'm the one always causing problems! I'm the one always annoying everyone! I- I- I-"

A pitiful cry spilled forth from her lips, tears mixing freely with blood as the pair were lit only by strobing red lights.

"I'm useless. I'm incompetent. I'm an idiot. I… I don't deserve you. I don't deserve any of you! You're better than I deserve! I'm trash! I'm garbage! I'm just a thug, some lazy loser from the middle of nowhere! Some idiot that doesn't deserve to serve with Goddess! I… I'm the one that deserves to die, not you! So please! Please!" Red Hood squeezed Joe, let all of her darkest self-recriminations fall free, laying her heart and soul out to him in a desperate attempt to convince him to stay, to not go. "I… I… Joe…"

With a shuddering breath, she finally uttered those three little words that had evaded her for so long, that had simply refused to come no matter how hard she'd tried to force them out, even when things were at the best they'd ever been.

"I love you," Red Hood all but whimpered to her dying Commander. "I love you, Joe… I love you! So… so there, I admit it! I admit it, okay!? So you have to stay!" she couldn't hold him any tighter, yet desperately, she tried to. "You… have to stay, you have to take responsibility! You… need to… you need to give me a chance, you need to let me make it up to you. You need to let me prove it, to prove that I mean it! That I'll be better! That I'll be reliable! That I'll be trustworthy! That you can tell me anything! That you can lean on me no matter what!"

"I'll stop being unreliable! I'll stop being immature! I'll grow up! I'll get my shit together, I swear, I promise! I promise! So please, please! Don't go! Please! Stay with me! By my Commander! Be my Commander, and I'll be everything I haven't been! I'll be the Nikke you deserve! I swear!"

"I love you."

As Red Hood's breath came in ragged gasps, having started desperately shouting and wailing at some point, relative silence fell. Little other than distant alarm klaxons accentuating this horrible moment.

It was Joe that broke that silence. "...I'm… Sorry…" he wheezed out, the suffering in his weak, borderline whisper of a voice feeling like a thousand daggers to Red Hood's heart.

He was apologizing. He was apologizing. When he had done nothing wrong, when it was her fault, when she'd failed him in all ways that mattered, when she had left him confused, uncertain, befuddled, then failed to protect him when he'd placed his life in her hands… when she didn't deserve to fight alongside him. When he was the Commander she didn't deserve, when she didn't deserve to call herself a Goddess-

Joe's voice cut her thoughts off, one last time. "...My Goddess… of… Victory…"

Then with one final, shuddering exhale, he fell entirely still, face falling into her shoulder, even as Red Hood stared forward into the darkness. Even as the weight of this moment fell upon and crushed her like a boulder.

His last words. An apology she didn't deserve. His final moments. Consideration and regret she had no right to be the recipient of.

That was it. Her last ray of light, the last thing that kept her flame burning bright.

With that last light extinguished, Red Hood leaned forward, drew her Commander in as close as she could. She curled up, she twitched, she spasmed, she gasped for air. Yet, the tears had stopped flowing. She wasn't crying. Her eyes, wide open, her lips twisted into an agonized grimace, and no tears accompanied the hitching, animalistic cries projected from deep within her chest.

Red Hood curled over yet further, the darkness all-encompassing, all traces of light fading, until finally…

Her back was starting to get really sore.

So many bumps, so many jostles. So much noise, curled up into a tiny little ball like this, barely able to breathe, pretty much blinded for hours… and all for what? Some dumb little joke?

The Nikke was actually really starting to think that this wasn't the best idea she'd ever had, especially now that everything had gone still for what felt like ages now, and yet-

Suddenly, she could hear the clamps of the box unlatching, and her typical ear-to-ear smile found purchase on her deceptively lovely features once more, and at once, she knew that it would have been worth it to see the looks on their faces when…

The moment a little light hit her face, the black-and-red clad Nikke all but jumped up to her knees, throwing her arms out wide and casting the lid of the metal shipping container open with a crash as it slammed into the floor behind it. "Surpri-aaaAHHHH!" she cut herself off, immediately placing a hand on the bare flesh over her posterior, crying out in pain. "My back! Dang it, it hurts! Why did I think shipping myself here in a box was a good idea...!?"

Eyes closed, hissing at the harsh stringing, it took the Nikke a few long moments to recover, eventually cracking her eyes open to find…

Well, what had to be her new squad.

"...Commander," a pink-haired, ruinously snooty-seeming lady declared, gazing down at Red Hood through her nostrils. "Close the lid and ship the box back to the return address, I don't think we want to have to put up with this 'gift.'"

"-Best gift ever," a burly, long-haired man in a plain, military green combat jacket declared with a stupid, downright smitten grin as he stared down at Red Hood, his hands still hovering in place where they'd been in the instant before Red Hood threw open the lid of the box she'd had herself shipped to Goddess Squad in.

Red Hood's smile returned in full force, and even redoubled upon hearing that, and seeing the dog tags hanging from his neck, immediately knew who this was. "Hey, is it Christmas morning, Handsome?" she asked the man that was surely her Commander.

He blinked owlishly at that, seeming more confused than anything-

"'Cuz damn if I don't want to unwrap your clothes like I just found you under a tree!" Red Hood finished her totally butter smooth and absolutely sensical pick-up line as she set her hands on the rim of the metal box, deliberately puffing her scantily-clad chest out to the long-haired man with her trademark winning smile for emphasis.

Though there was a but of an awkward delay, the man eventually seemed to process what she was implying, at once turned beet red and sputtering like an old car, the white-clad pinkette standing off to his side too went red, but with her brow furrowing and nostrils flaring heavily, the towering blonde nun Red Hood had previously not noticed built like one of the girls from her favourite hentai mags suddenly started squealing like a tea kettle… and another man's voice started uproariously laughing in the background.

Twisting around to find the source of the laughter, Red Hood spotted a far more ostentatiously dressed military man wearing a peaked cap, aviators, and a greatcoat like a cape doubled over, wheezing and hitting his own chest as he attempted to get his laughter under control - even despite using his other hand to point at his long-haired fellow.

"John…" there was a silver-haired woman, mop styled into an asymmetrical bob standing alongside him. She too was dolled up in a nice military uniform complete with a cape, speaking to him in a mildly chastising, heavily-accented posh voice, reaching over and pinching the lobe of the apparent officer's ear to drag him back up to his full height. "What did I say about conducting yourself as the High Commander of Goddess?"

"I give! I give!" the well-dressed man, 'John,' declared desperately as he latched into the woman's wrist utterly ineffectually, his assaulted ear rapidly turning red. "Uncle! Uncle! Lilith, lay off! You win! You win! I'll leave the treasonous cur alone- Ahhh!" His cries redoubled as Lilith began to lightly twist his ear for emphasis, a serene smile in place on her unsettlingly artificial face all the while. "Joe! You're her Commander! Command Lilith to lay off- AAH!"

Still twisted around to watch the byplay, Red Hood caught sight of someone she would've missed otherwise, actually seeming to hide behind Lilith's cape, was a young teenager, short, dressed in all whites and blacks to accompany her messy white head of hair, large golden eyes standing out all the more because of it. She was visibly nervous as she peered around the taller Nikke at Red Hood, lips drawn into an adorable little uncertain grimace.

Red Hood immediately desperately wanted to tug at her little cheek and listen to her whine over being called 'cute.' And she'd surely do so! But not before she finished hooking the Commander like the smooth operator she was! "-So, Commander!" she started as she spun to face the man dubbed 'Joe' once more, smiling brightly at him. "Where're you planning on taking me for our first date, and is pinky there gonna tag along for the fun too, or are you more of a one woman kinda- AH! Hey! What's the big idea!?"

The blonde cried out as the pinkette boldly strode over to the box, shoved Red Hood back into it, and started trying to close the lid on her again, producing a small fight as Red Hood tried to stop her from doing so from her awkward angle. "This one is clearly defective, Commander!" the snooty lady in the fine silk dress asserted pointedly, "We should send her back and get a replacement!"

"What the Hell?" Red Hood cried in offence and protest. "Hey! Chill out, I said that I'm cool with sharing! Don't bogart the Commander, Missy! I'm sure there's plenty of him to go around! Right Your Holiness?" she called out to the nun, whose full-faced blush somehow redoubled and intensified at the inquiry. "Come on! Don't be such a stiff!" she attempted to reason with the well-to-do lady. "Learn to live a little, Your Highness!"

"Commander!" Lilith called out, even as she continued to discipline the High Commander's ear for his poor conduct. "I think you need to calm Dorothy down before she starts attempting to bash the box's lid on our new recruit's head. And Rapunzel likely needs to be coaxed from the corner she's retreated into as well!" She was clearly referring to the nun that was now facing away from the rest of the room, evidently attempting to hide her reaction to Red Hood's open gooning. "I'm going to finish punishing High Commander Andersen, then take Snow White to the mess hall for a treat! Good luck!" At that, Lilith began dragging Andersen from the room, the man squealing all the while. Snow White moved to keep Lilith between her and Red Hood, clearly a shy girl as she was.

Red Hood, meanwhile, was stuck fighting for her life, trying to prevent Dorothy from locking her back in the box. "Hey! Come on! You haven't even let me introduce myself! Hey! Commander Handsome! Get her to lay off, will ya? Getting harangued like this is such a turn off, and I assure you, you're gonna want me turned all the way on for our first date-!" Her voice cut off as with one mighty push, the box was slammed shut, and darkness overtook her once more.

"Red Hood!"

She held him tight.

"This is the A.C.P.U.! Raise your hands above your head now!"

Gently, Red Hood set Joe down, laying him to rest, at least setting him in a dignified position. The absolute least she could do for him now.

"Comply at once or we will open fire!"

They'd taken everything. Everything. Everyone. All that she cared about. They took her ray of light. They'd snuffed out her burning flame.

"Stop! Freeze! Now! Red Hood! Stop!"

And so. Red Hood would do unto them what they had done to her. The Ark, they'd sacrificed so much for it, and the Ark had taken even more. The Ark would see them all destroyed. The Ark would see her sisters, her family, her loved ones destroyed.

"It doesn't have to end like this! Stop!"

So in turn, Red Hood would do just the same.

"Open fire!"

Red Hood would destroy the Ark.