Chapter 26: Mission Brief.
Once Kratos and his squad had been briefed on what their first assignment under Andersen would be, they began to prepare for it. This also meant that these were probably going to be some of the 5 last relaxing days they would have.
None of them were excited to be back to work, but they were in reality excited to get back to the war. The last time Kratos had been on the surface he had been a backliner like most Commanders, but now he was the front line.
As they were walking through the lab to the exit Kratos turned to Quency next to him.
"Question, you think my SUV will be able to handle our weight?"
Quency was going to say yes, but then she remembered their new extreme weights.
"How good are your dad's engineers?"
"Some of the best."
"Then I will say it should be able to handle it. Honestly, the biggest weights are you and Guilty."
Guilty frowned as she glared at her friend.
"Rude and uncalled for."
Sin of course would not leave such a teasing chance like this.
"Oh no, that means no tree climbing for any of us. No bathing suits, and no how will your bed support our weights now?"
That was actually a very good point as all together it was almost three tons between the 5 of them.
"Ok, that one we might need to review."
As he said that he reached out and took Scathach's mirror from her. When her mirror was taken from her she whimpered and reached out for it.
"Commander, why?"
Kratos reached his hand down and gently stroked her cheek.
"We all get you gorgeous, but not looking at it won't make it go away."
She blushed slightly as she was glad for the compliment. She smiled and nodded
"Ok. I will stop."
Quency frowned and jokingly glared at him.
"Oh, so because she looks even more smoking hot you ignore us now. Where is my compliment?"
"Your cuffs are quite cool."
"Hey, not that kind."
He ignored her as they reached the exit of the lab. He pushed open the doors and they all stepped out into the sunlight. Instantly, Kratos' eyes began to filter out the glare and feed him new information about his surroundings.
Even his natural senses were many times stronger which was why he wanted to get used to this. However, when they stepped outside, Melissa was waiting outside in Kratos' Personal SUV.
She lowered the passenger window and waved them over.
"Sir Kratos, I am here to drive you home. Your Father asked for you to not drive today."
Kratos nodded as he got into the passenger side door.
"Did he do any work on this?"
"Yes. He ordered for the bracers and suspension to be upgraded in accordance with your new bulk."
Kratos snorted as they all got in.
"Thanks for that. And once you leave me home, how will you return?"
Once they were all strapped in she began to drive toward Kratos' house.
"I have a date with my fiance in Royal Road. I will walk there."
Kratos nodded and reclined into his seat.
"Enjoy."
"I intend to. If you ever need me to drive you around just give me a call. That is my job."
"Speaking of, do you enjoy your job?"
Mellisa smiled and nodded.
"I get paid more than what a Quotidian is expected and all I do is drive these awesome SUVs. Only people like yourself, Soverigns get to own vehicles so I consider it a privilege to be trusted to drive around in these.
But since we are talking about this, what is it like to own pets? Once again, only Sovereigns get to legally own pets."
"I don't know as I have never owned a pet."
Mellisa had an idea.
"How about you capture something unique on the surface? All the Zoo animals humans used to keep escaped and now live in places you would not expect."
"I just might do that. I will keep you posted."
Just as he said that, they arrived at his house which looked a bit different. More high-tech?
"Did they renovate my house as well?"
As they all stepped out Melissa removed her sunglasses as she let her hair fall freely.
"They did. Your Father contacted Mighty Tools and they came to do some renovations on it. It got bigger as a result and sturdier. He did not want you 5 to destroy it by accident. He also said you are welcome to come back home any time."
Kratos nodded.
"Thanks. Enjoy yourself."
"Thank you, Sir. It is a pleasure like always."
With a polite bow, she began to walk away to join with her fiance. It was almost cute how she was hopping like a school girl which reminded him.
"How old are you Melissa? You look like you just got out of high school."
She did not turn around, but she answered.
"I did. I am 19."
He shrugged and turned to his girlfriends.
"Ok, I need to answer this, but are we official? Past the trial period? Testing phase."
Sin snorted as she patted him on the back.
"Yes, you're past the testing phase. So, don't forget you got 4 girlfriends who probably can't tear you apart anymore. You are now truly on our level, I think."
She said the last part with a wink. Quency walked past him to enter the house before she turned around with a grin.
"So, how does it feel to confidently say you for 4 Girlfriends?"
"Like a headache."
She snorted as she barely held her laugh back.
"Well, be glad we are Nikkes and not human. Otherwise, that headache would be worse. Come on ladies, let's explore the renovations."
One by one they followed her leaving Kratos outside alone. They felt he needed some time alone as he had some thoughts he was not sharing. Once they were inside, he looked up to the fake sky. The Dome of Eternity.
Beyond it, on the surface somewhere out there, Fenrir prowled. He held a hand up to the Dome and clenched it tight.
'Just wait patiently for me my friend. Your time will come.'
With his thoughts sorted out, he walked inside to see what his Father had done.
---
Knowing the next 5 days were going to be the last for a while, they used them to the fullest. And considering that Kratos now had 4 girlfriends a thought he was still not fully used to saying out loud he spent those days going on group dates.
He left several million credits poorer, but as his Father said he was given a bigger allowance. However, the scheduled day came and so they all woke up earlier than usual. It was 5 AM at the moment, but when the alarm they set they all woke up instantly.
They all got up together and without saying anything they split up to take their showers. It was better that way to be fast as putting them all in a steamy shower in the nude was a quick way to spend hours there.
As such, they hurried up and got dressed again. When they were finished and dressed they all met up in the living room where they were going to gear up. Kratos reached for the wall where all their weapons were mounted.
One by one, they collected their weapons which had been given some maintenance during their time unconscious. One of Kratos' favorites was how his Scion Armor had been upgraded to fit in a watch he put on his left hand.
He just had to think about it and his armor would appear on his body in moments. He placed his two Phaseblades on his waist while he hefted his Hellgun onto his shoulder.
And knowing that they were going on a mission and would be for quite a while Kratos' Father had dropped off several crates of ammunition for them. They packed ammunition, food, and other camping supplies split among the 5 of them.
Unlike the original plan, Scathach no longer was their porter. None of them could be so they just shared the burden equally. Quency gave him a thumbs up once packed her supplies.
"Were good. I am not going to risk raising a flag, but we are strong you know. So don't worry."
Guilty cracked her knuckles with force.
"I will crush any that threaten us."
Even Sin seemed quite confident.
"Have some faith dude. Aren't you supposed to trust your lovers?"
Scathach looked steeled and ready for war.
"Let's get going them."
Kratos smiled and decided to walk today, the Central Government office was not too far from his home so they took the time to walk. As they did walk, they spent it in idle chatter. Eventually, they made it to the Office and they entered inside.
The employees working there looked in their direction, but not much more. Commanders often entered with their squads, but seeing a Commander with no Mass Produced Nikkes was not an everyday occurrence.
Kratos even spotted a few other commanders and their squads, but they were all stuck gawking at his giant stature. The stares were quite varied, some looked at him with awe and respect. Other's jealousy. While they were stuck with Mass Produced Nikkes which were weaker and prone to high losses here he was with a fully up-to-date squad.
Not to mention the sheer variety of weapons they carried showed they had a wealthy backer in their Corner. Not many expected that the backer in question was just Kratos' Father spoiling his son.
Kratos did not expect to interact closely with other Commanders, but it seemed one decided to try. Just as Kratos and his squad were going up to Andersen's Office, a Commander got in front of his path.
Kratos had to look down as while the man was not short, he was only 5'10. He was shorter than Quency and Scathach for that fact which was quite humurous.
"You're standing our way?"
The man's squad 6 Mass Produced Nikkes stood nearby. He seemed bitter about something.
"Hey! What's the deal with you getting an up-to-date squad with fancy weapons? I have been a Commander for over two years and I am still stuck with these rust buckets."
Quency snorted.
"No wonder. With that attitude, I don't see why you would be trusted with a good squad."
That seemed to have made him mad as he was about to insult her, but Kratos got bored and continued walking. He gently moved him out of the way.
"I have a meeting to get to. Move aside."
With that Guilty, Quency, Sin, and Scathach followed after him, but the Commander seemed pissed. Just as he was going to do something else a woman from nearby told him off.
"Either act professionally or leave."
He swallowed his anger and stormed away followed by his squad. By that point, Kratos and the girls reached Andersen's office. Inside, he was going over some paperwork which he did not stop when Kratos stepped in.
"Sir. Commander Kratos reporting in."
"Ah, good. You are 2 hours early. How does it feel to return to the surface after your injuries?"
"Quite good. I feel much happier up there than down here."
"Not a common sentiment. Most Commander's don't enjoy combat."
"Because most of them are weak and not me Sir."
"Arrogant, but not unfounded. I would like to inform you that your previous Director has been terminated. Enikk decided your life and your Family's intrests mattered more than his life. It was discovered that he had animosity with your grandfather and took it out on you.
Your grandfather pulled some strings to take his assets and had his daughter converted into a Nikke. Would you be interested in taking her in your squad?"
"Is she a Mass Produced Unit or a unique variant?"
"Unique."
"Any special skills? Who was the manufacturer?"
"Tetra. Special skills would be a no."
Kratos thought about it, but he had the perfect squad already. He might add another member, but not just anyone does.
"No thank you."
"I will tell Mustang then. Now, to brief you on the Mission. We have done some basic reconasense on the area and we found it is full of High Rank Raptures. Considering that the Ark is built underground we have mining areas, but those are starting to run dry.
As such we sent out such surveys to find new mining areas to keep up with our demand. Your job will be to move ahead of the Survey Team, clear out a perimeter around the mine, and defend them alongside another Squad that will transport them once you cleared out some of the Raptures around the mine.
The survey should take around three days, but the nearest operating elevator is 150 miles away. You shall move on foot, but the survey Team and following squad will be transported via Jeep."
"I assume we are moving on foot to clear out most of the Raptures on the way?"
"Correct. Normally such a distance in rugged terrain would take days, but since you are quite enhanced we expect the trip to take the better part of two to three days. In that time you will destroy any Master, Lord, and if possible Tyrant class in the way.
We believe you are up to the task of taking on normal Tyrants as seen by your Simulation Training. The issue comes in the more Elite variants like Fenrir you spoke about. Is that doable?"
"Of course Sir. We are ready to depart we just need the coordinates."
"Your Operator shall brief you. Of course, this is a new operator as well as the last one was in the previous Director's pockets. Keep in contact as we do not want you to die."
With a Salute Kratos and his squad turned around and began to move to move to the elevator. At last, Kratos was returning to the surface to exact his toll on the Raptures. How could he not smile?
(To clarify, this is still not the start of Canon. This Fanfic started exactly 2 years before the Player Commander met Marian(SAD). And it's been three and a half months since then so we got another year and 9 months before the events of the game.)
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