Only Human (Goddess of Victory NIKKE SI)

[NJesus]

hmm curious if with this setup here they have a vapaus bullet or two on hand since we should be able to skip all the "search for what it even is" chapters of the game

 

[Nehef]

With a light giggle, Dorothy reached out and happily tussled Joe's long hair with a declaration of: "Good morning to you too, Commander."

Click to shrink...

UWOOOOOOOOOOOGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dmrules]

https://youtu.be/9hMTuJG5V0k?si=p_tQAP_U5tCckbjK
I think this fits both Nikke and this story.

 

[Your Target]

It's such a shame this story is in the SFW section of QQ.

 

[FioraVorela]

It's such a shame this story is in the SFW section of QQ.

Click to shrink...

Ehh, thread switches happen and if ya look at most of Mr.Authors story's are in nsfw. With that and this being Nikke I honestly would be surprised if this remain here through the whole story. Or at least didn't get a smut thread.

 

[Your Target]

The next few chapters are going to be glorious, i just know it in my bones.

 

[RocjawCypher]

Hopefully Ingrid can help make a cover story for Marian so she doesn't have the Central Gov after her for her tech after they rescue her.

Click to shrink...

I'm gonna bet that by the time they're in a position to rescue Marian, they'll also be in position to finish the job on the central government.

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 52 - Back to the Past
===

With a startled cry, Joe ducked, bobbed, and weaved, narrowly avoiding a terrible fate in doing so.

"...Commander," Dorothy started in response, the length of ostentatious fabric held loosely in her delicate little hands. "Dressing appropriately for your station is important…"

"I'm not wearing a cape!" The Commander of Goddess declared as he skittered away from Dorothy and that accursed, glorified gold-trimmed curtain she'd just tried to hook over his shoulders. "Go give it to Andersen! He's the one that dresses like an ass hole!"

"Such crass language ill befits you, Joe," Dorothy tutted in disapproval as she moved to advance upon the long-haired brunet. She brandished the cape in a manner most threatening, at least, to him. "Now come, you should be fitted properly for the upcoming briefing-"

Dorothy's porcelain-perfect features contorted in mild displeasure as she watched Joe scramble for the hallway door, sighing while he all but slid out into the hall atop the soles of his socks. Patting himself down as if to ensure he hadn't been stealthily constricted by any finery, Joe seemed deeply relieved to affirm that he was safe from the wretched cape, and-

A sharp whistle and catcall sounded out from down the hall. "Woohoo! Ah yeah, baby!" A familiar gremlin woman's voice demanded attention, to which Joe turned to see a striking messy-haired redhead bouncing on the balls of her heeled feet, a massive, shit-eating grin plastered across her lovely face. "That's right! That's what we like to see! Now strip that top off too!" Red Hood excitedly cried out at the sight of the Commander.

Deeply confused, perplexed, one might even suggest, bamboozled, Joe blinked in abject befuddlement… until he felt a cool breeze on his bare legs.

Pants. He'd forgotten them.

"Come on, do a dance for us!" Red Hood continued to call out between eager cries for manservice. "Drop it like it's hot, sweet-cheeks! Let's see those meaty legs work!"

Horrified and with rapidly reddening cheeks, Joe went to retreat back into his room - only to spy Dorothy still standing in there, presenting him with a heavily lidded stare of utter indignation. Still holding the cape that was a part of his uniform. The uniform he did not want to be forced to wear.

Yet, standing out here left him defenceless, leered at by a famished Red Hood like he was a slab of prime red meat. And whatever other crew members might happen upon this ongoing tableau…

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Joe was trapped in a no-win scenario. Continue to be feasted upon by Red Hood's hungry eyes, or risk being forced to wear a cape by Dorothy-

"Let's see those cheeks clap!" Red Hood cheered, "Come on, move that body-!"

"Stop encouraging him!" Dorothy cut the empowered redhead off with an annoyed huff, stomping out into the hall to place herself between her fellow Nikke and Joe. "The Commander's behaviour has relapsed into base tomfoolery on account of your presence enough as it is! He represents-"

"Oh, hey Miss Missy," Red Hood breezily replied without missing a beat, and without that trademark shit-eating grin fading from her face. "So you spent the night with Handsome, huh? No wonder he's tumbling out of his room half-nekkid and run ragged, you been riding that stallion good and-?"

"For the last time, the Commander and I are not in a relationship!" Dorothy cut her off, brow heavily furrowing as she openly glowered at the far less modestly dressed woman. Joe taking the distraction as a chance to sneak back into the room to grab his pants. "Do not presume to project your puerile carnal desires onto me!"

"Mm-hmm," Red Hood hummed in open amusement at Dorothy's dogged denial of her and the man she was attached at the hip to having anything going on. "That's why you're always here, first thing in the morning, every morning, yeah?"

"I am here to ensure that the Commander is punctual in waking every morning after you went and encouraged him to be lazy with your negative influence!" Dorothy snapped back defensively, leaning forward as her delicate brow furrowed in rapidly mounting annoyance. "As a decorated officer of the United Forces of Humanity-"

"Ain't he technically still a mercenary?" Red Hood asked with a popped eyebrow, cocking her shapely, pleather-bound hips as she did so. "He and the Big Boss're contracted by the UFFH-"

"There's only one 'f' in the United Forces of Humanity!" Dorothy interjected in stark disapproval.

"Whatever! Who even cares?" The red and black-clad woman almost whined as she stretched her arms over her head. "They ain't actually members of the Big Dogs, right?

"Why is it that you struggle with the most basic matters of social etiquette?" Dorothy demanded, huffing in mounting annoyance at Red Hood's antics. "Proper terminology is not difficult to grasp! Least of all for one of humanity's best! You are a member of Goddess, will you not conduct yourself in a manner appropriate for your station!?"

"You mean a conscript?" Red Hood retorted, an inquisitive eyebrow propped up on her forehead. "I didn't exactly 'sign up' for all this business, y'know…"

"That is entirely beside the point!" Dorothy snapped back, damn near looking as though she barely repressed the urge to actually stomp her foot in annoyance. "Where you came from and how you got here is irrelevant! What matters is that you are here now, and that you are among the few that have been elevated to the station of humanity's foremost defenders! Show some consideration for those that are looking to you as our species' last hope, if not for your own dignity!"

That resulted in Red Hood, normally utterly unflappable, to actually go quiet and lower her face enough for her fair chin and dainty lips to fall behind the rim of her rumpled, neon red scarf. A pensive, even self-recriminatory expression wholly unusual for the cocksure little lady finding purchase on her typically unfailingly bright features.

When no expected reply followed, one of Dorothy's perfectly manicured eyebrows drifted upwards, and she wondered aloud: "Have my words struck a chord? Am I finally getting through? You are a Goddess, Red Hood. You owe it to the many looking up to us for guidance and protection to consider this in your actions and behaviour."

As Red Hood muttered something unintelligible under her breath, neither of the two bickering Nikkes noticed Joe slipping back out of his room, denim pants on, and boots held in his hands. The man skittered away atop his cotton-swaddled feet, doing his best to avoid attracting attention as he fled without shame.

Luckily, he wasn't caught, and Joe was able to quickly slip on his boots, adjust the sleeves of his trusty olive drab fatigue jacket, and with a sigh, he ran his hand through his mane of dark hair-

"-Wait! Commander! Where- You! You were covering for him so he could scamper off without donning his proper uniform, you rancorous little monkey!" Dorothy's irate voice could be heard echoing down the Avenger's metallic halls.

"Not even!" Red Hood cried out in reply, her voice dripping in pouty offence. "I was just hoping to get a peek of him before he got dressed this morning-!"

"Is that supposed to sound better than you being an accessory to tomfoolery-?"

Joe quickly scampered down the helicarrier's cramped halls passing by a number of crew mates and numerous porthole windows which revealed the distant, picturesque green Earth lazily drifting on by below. The skies of Montana were mercifully clear, the Raptures having not pressed this far into the continent just yet. The usual jet fighter escorts flew alongside the airborne aircraft carrier, but, otherwise, the sky was peaceful.

Alongside Andersen and Liliweiss, Joe was privy to the actual reason why they were so far away from the front lines, however briefly. Thus, he knew well what it was the squad was being called to this morning's briefing for - he'd been in contact with her well ahead of all other than the squad's other two officers for weeks now, after all. Andersen wasn't above engaging in petty nepotism, and was really quick to remind both Joe and Liliweiss that his occupation was a CEO of a mercenary company - paramilitary soldiers for hire; being a bastard without shame came with the territory. Hence Joe's current position as the Commander of Goddess.

Otherwise, by all current reports, Andersen's status as a shameless bastard was something the entirety of mankind was about to dramatically benefit from.

Joe slipped into the briefing room to find it, as expected, occupied by his fellow officer.

"Ah, Commander," Liliweiss - or, as she preferred, Lilith - smiled genially at the brunet, her starkly artificial lips presenting an uncanny countenance in response to Joe's emergence. "Still not sleeping well?" She inquired in a distinctly posh British accent.

Being the literal first Nikke in existence, the woman's status as a prototype was plain to see. Development on producing lifelike human features such as flesh and eyes followed Lilith's creation, and so she stood out among Nikkes directly on account of having plainly artificial skin and eyes. Her stark, asymmetrical bobbed white hair which seemed to glow purple on the interior locks went no small ways towards contributing to her obviously trans-human nature. To say nothing of her striking blue eyes bearing four-pointed star-like pink irises.

She was still very much pretty, though in the same way that a doll might be. Her life sized doll-like appearance, needless to say, contributed no small amount to her crashing cleanly into the uncanny valley. Though she was genuinely unsettling to be around initially, Joe had long since acclimatized to the woman's borderline otherworldly appearance. Now, her presence was nothing but comforting. Stalwart, earnest, brave, unerringly reliable and supportive… The first Nikke was a damned fine comrade. To say nothing of how utterly selfless she was.

At any rate, Joe replied to her inquiry. "I keep telling you that I always have bags under my eyes," the long-haired brunet replied as he ambled into the hologram-bedazzled room.

"So you say," the original and most powerful Nikke noted with a dubious expression. "I presume that Dorothy was waylaid on her way to waking you?" She observed while poking around a few holoscreens which presented information on their upcoming 'operation.' "We are, after all, still not quite cape buddies despite her attempts to gentrify you," she teasingly noted while observing the lack of a cape on Joe's shoulder.

Indeed, Joe's uniform included a half-cape which matched the one Liliweiss wore. Though she wasn't particularly invested in the notion of them wearing matching uniforms, she wasn't above poking fun at Joe's situation with Dorothy.

"Red Hood happened at her," Joe declared by way of explanation, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced around to confirm that it was just him and the 'second-in-command' of Goddess. "Andersen's applying the finishing touches to our new squad mate's red carpet?"

At that, Liliweiss's star-like eyes tracked aside to settle on a door off to the side, and after a moment of silence… Andersen's voice could be just made out on the edge of hearing, muffled by layers of titanium and aluminum, shouting up a storm at someone over comms.

"The mercenary bastard man's being a mercenary bastard man, I see," Joe noted with some mild indignation as he sidled up next to the woman bedecked in a dark, militaristic uniform which terminated in a pencil skirt worn over sheer tights and heeled mini boots.

"He found an angle he can work to get exactly what he wants, every time he wants it, with minimal actual effort on his part," Liliweiss noted as he adjusted her short white gloves which terminated an inch before reaching her wrist. "Loathe as I am to admit it, that's why he's the brass wrangler and our top-down strategist."

"Nobility has no place in the realm of politics and bureaucracy…" Joe nodded in affirmation, crossing his arms over his broad chest as he looked over the notes they had on Ellie's - or, he supposed, Cinderella's grand entrance. "What's he arguing for this time now anyways?"

"A valet to shuttle Cinderella's personal belongings to her quarters for her when she arrives," Liliweiss noted with an amused huff. "While this is certainly an improvement over how he treated her when we first met…"

"That man doesn't do anything by half measures," Joe agreed with the Nikke's unspoken assessment of Andersen's conduct towards his daughter. "Absolutely no chill whatsoever…"

"Neglected to spoiled, seemingly overnight," Liliweiss mused as she adjusted her weight, idly resting a cheek in the palm of her hand. "I can only imagine the whiplash."

"I didn't have an easy time convincing her she wasn't dreaming, yeah," the Commander said as he reached out and used his index finger to trace the expected flight path the Avenger was taking to reach the Elysion Grimms facility. "Once she actually gathered herself well enough to stop squealing like a kettle the moment I was on the other end of the line, at least…"

"The perils of being famous," Liliweiss chucked under her breath. "You'll get used to it."

"Really?" Joe hopefully asked.

"No," the Nikke mercilessly shanked his hope in the kidneys.

As Joe recoiled in metaphorical pain, the door Andersen had been on the other side of slid open, the man kitted out in the finest custom-made silk and velvet uniform money could buy confidently strode into the room, adjusting his aviator sunglasses as he immediately gave Joe a critical once-over. "-Bastard!" he cried out, pointing harshly at his subordinate's attire. "Go put in your uniform, damn it!"

"No," Joe flatly refused.

"You're dishonouring Lilith by not wearing your matching capes together!" Andersen asserted, pointing to the woman standing alongside Joe.

"No I'm not."

"No he's not," Joe and Liliweiss declared together in near-perfect unison, causing the High Commander of Goddess to recoil as if struck in the gut.

"L-Lilith!" the bespectacled man cried out in dismay. "Even you would betray me now?"

"The Commander's outfit doesn't bother me, John," Liliweiss noted in a plainly amused tone, still wearing that genial smile which so rarely left her doll-like features. "In fact, it's never particularly bothered me how he dresses, so long as it doesn't impede him in any capacity. Such as by, oh, I don't know, having a large article of his clothes get caught in a VTOL's engine intake and sucked clean off of his shoulders as he didn't listen to everyone around him and attempted to pose dramatically for an imagined photo op…"

"You promised you'd stop bringing that up!" Andersen cried out in overt, scandalized offence, his voice pitching up an octave as he protectively reached up and desperately clasped at the sleeve of the replica of his original greatcoat, loosely worn over his shoulders like a cloak. "Also, that only happened once!"

"Like how you only dropped your sunglasses off the side of the Avenger 'two-and-a-half' times too?" Liliweiss asked with a gentle smile.

Andersen recoiled once more, right into a wall against which he backed into and curled up in a ball like a cornered animal might. All the while, Joe just snickered at seeing his superior officer be casually beaten down by Liliweiss' casual reference to his past dumb ass mistakes. Anyone else, he'd have felt no small amount of sympathy - though Andersen deserved it, so it was just entertaining.

As the idiot continued to whine in dismay, the doors Joe had taken to enter the room revealed a familiar group.

"Commander," Dorothy darkly sing-songed as she shot Joe a piercing, entirely too-pretty smile despite the recently dishevelled state of her hair. "Setting up a distraction and fleeing unseen is such a dirty tactic…"

"That's why he's the Commander!" Red Hood cried out with a broad, toothy smile, her hair seeming only marginally more dishevelled than it had been when she'd catcalled him in the hallways a few minutes prior. "Cheap tricks and underhanded tactics are what win the day!"

"The Crimson Fool declares, as though she had not been swiftly bested in her impromptu duel with The Pink Gorilla despite her attempt at shaming her into defeat by flipping up her skirt…" Scarlet mused with no small amount of annoyance as she followed the pair into the room. The dark-clad Nikke's form-fitted, partially transparent attire, as ever, caused her to cut a stark image compared to the rest of Goddess, given her villainous countenance which was matched by her baleful glower and Byronic attitude.

"Hey! How the Hell was I supposed to know that Miss Missy is so dang shameless!?" Red Hood attempted to defend herself like a put-upon used car salesman.

"What would I have to be ashamed of when my fashion sense and taste in garments is impeccable?" Dorothy countered with open confusion, plainly missing the point of why Red Hood's dirty tactic should have deeply offended her.

"Y-yeah," Rapunzel mewled out past reddened cheeks, walking with a mildly awkward gait. "Y-your fashion sense is really, really lovely, Dorothy…" the towering blonde affirmed the pinkette's claim. Visibly flustered by what she'd witnessed.

"Thank you, Rapunzel," Dorothy nodded as she gave the obscenely curvaceous and technically conservatively-dressed nun a genuinely appreciative smile.

"In all directions in which I may glance, do I spy naught but blind and deaf fools, hearing and seeing little beyond what they wish to perceive…" Scarlet grimly appraised her squad mates with a heavy frown - her striking crimson eyes appearing as little more than a thin red line, so heavily did she lid them.

"Come on, it's first thing in the morniiiing!" Snow White bumbled through the group to the front, rubbing her eyes heavily with a pitiful whine. "Mornings suck enough without everyone being stupid and perverted weirdos all the time too…!" She ambled forth blindly, actually walking face-first into a filing cabinet which produced a dull, resounding 'thump.' Snow White just emitted another drawn-out whine of dismay, not backing up or otherwise stepping away from the metallic container she was now pressed into.

With a light chuckle, Rapunzel stepped forwards and affectionately patted the stark-haired teen's head. "There there, mornings mean breakfast, right?" the blonde noted to the significantly smaller girl. "Just think about waffles and hash browns, Snow."

"But they're making us do this stupid briefing first thing in the stupid morning before letting us eaaat…" Snow White continued to whine and complain like the teenager she was, face still pressed into the cabinet.

"Hey," Joe started as he strode over to the small girl, more forcefully tussling Snow White's hair once Rapunzel withdrew her own hand from the girl's scalp. "What if I let you have a soda for breakfast today? Will that help?"

"Commander!" Dorothy immediately responded in a chastising tone, clearly disapproving of his attempt to bribe the squad's youngest member with a soft drink first thing in the morning.

"Promise?" Snow White, meanwhile, leaned back slightly and shot Joe a pleading expression, immediately latching onto the opportunity to literally sweeten her morning; presenting her best puppy dog eyes to the Commander, hoping to supersede Dorothy's attempts to shame him into being responsible.

Unfortunately for Dorothy, Snow White had learned from the squad well, and had learned the weaknesses of the adults around her well enough to leverage her cuteness to get what she wanted as she wanted it whenever possible. Thus, Joe didn't have the heart to let the shorty down. "...Promise, you manipulative little turd…" he wearily caved, even as Dorothy pursed her perfect lips in stern disapproval.

"Yay! You're the best, Commander!" Snow White suddenly cheered up, bouncing back from the filing cabinet to hug Joe around the waist, shamelessly abusing her little sister energy for maximum effect.

Not that Joe understood the insistence on Snow eating 'healthy' in the first place, considering she was a bloody cyborg super soldier anyways!

"Okay!" Andersen began with a start, leaping to his feet out of the blue.

Snow White yelped in surprise, while Rapunzel gasped and Scarlet dropped into a readied pose, reaching for a phantom sword which wasn't actually strapped to her hip. "Why's the High Commander creeping in the corner like a weirdo again!?" the little monochromatic Nikke cried out in shock.

"Hey! I'm not a creepy weirdo! I'm just sleek and sneaky, like a snake!" Andersen attempted to defend his bizarre behaviour. "Anyways! Now that everyone's here, we can begin the briefing! So everyone, form up and junk!" he declared with a clap of his hands.

The girls all continued to stare at Andersen like he was a freak. When Liliweiss was quick to follow up with an authoritative clap of her palms, on the other hand, they damn well fell into line real quick.

At that, as everyone did as instructed, Joe, Liliweiss, and Andersen took up formation in front of the holotable at the front of the room. The lights dimmed, and the holographic screen blinked to life.

"Now," Andersen began properly, "as you're all aware, we're quite a fair way away from the front lines, this deep into rural Montana," he pointed at the map screen projected before everyone, showing the flight plan of the Avenger as it approached a seemingly random location in the middle of nowhere. "Now, this is no fun-time vacation we're out here on. Rather, we're here to directly contact and pick up the newest member of Goddess, the first next-generation Grimms model."

That caused Goddess to perk up, to say the least.

"Every time a new Grimms joins Goddess, our operational strength skyrockets," Liliweiss added. "But, this instance is of particular importance, given our new squad mate's unique position…"

"Grimms model No. 6," Andersen continued on. "Codename: Cinderella, the first flight-capable and most heavily armed Nikke created by the United Forces of Humanity to date…"

Eyes went wide at that, a few intrigued hums were vocalized, but everyone allowed the High Commander to finish.

"...And most importantly, my precious daughter; Ellie Andersen," he added with no small amount of paternal pride.

With a round of shocked gasps, Goddess seemed more than a little taken aback by this revelation.

Joe was just quietly ruminating on the low, roiling dread building in his chest. Having been personally in contact with Ellie at Andersen's insistence for a fair while now… He hoped and prayed that she wouldn't make a complete and total fool of herself in front of the entire squad on minute one and produce a 'memorable' entrance in all the worst ways possible.

Unfortunately, he knew her well enough to know that, to some extent, Ellie Andersen was, at the end of the day, her father's daughter.

 

[Yexius]

I had a bad day. Then I saw an update. It made it into a good day.

 

[Slamm-O]

Lol red hood and dorothy interaction was hilarious.

Also this thought probably flashed through the rest of goddess squad at the anouncement.

"Oh my god Andersen is a parent."

 

[JamesAsmodeus]

The Crimson Fool declares, as though she had not been swiftly bested in her impromptu duel with The Pink Gorilla despite her attempt at shaming her into defeat by flipping up her skirt…" Scarlet mused with no small amount of annoyance as she followed the pair into the room. The dark-clad Nikke's form-fitted, partially transparent attire, as ever, caused her to cut a stark image compared to the rest of Goddess, given her villainous countenance which was matched by her baleful glower and Byronic attitude.

"Hey! How the Hell was I supposed to know that Miss Missy is so dang shameless!?" Red Hood attempted to defend herself like a put-upon used car salesman.

"What would I have to be ashamed of when my fashion sense and taste in garments is impeccable?" Dorothy countered with open confusion, plainly missing the point of why Red Hood's dirty tactic should have deeply offended her.

Click to shrink...

...Wao. How Lewd.

Anyways, I'm over here surprised that Andersen has a daughter and momentarily forgot who Cinderella is lmao. Definitely an interesting chapter and the fact that Rapunzel is the more innocent one of the group is funny to me. Good chapter!

 

[NJesus]

kek if thats daily occurrence no suprise Dorothy turned out so Dorothy down the line

 

[Your Target]

Ah yesssssss, all the stories i desire on QQ are being updated today.
The situation is quite glorious, i assure you.

 

[Masayume]

I never get an update whenever this story updates since qq site change istg.

Man, Doro is going to be in such an emotional cocktail during reunion huh?

Meanwhile I can totally see pioneer rejoice at seeing BIG BOSS Andy alive, then deflate right away "oh this freak is still alive" immediately start roasting him.

 

[Nehef]

"Still not sleeping well?" She inquired in a distinctly posh British accent.

Click to shrink...

What a way to destroy the Yukari Tamura dub imersion in my mind.

Now I can only hear bri'sh memes. Such tomfoolery.

 

[Your Target]

I wonder how Dorothy to feel when she finds out it actually is him and that she was planning on killing him.
Still think she deserves headpats though.

 

[Ace of Scarabs]

Dorothy needs hugs and all the therapy, at least Pinne can handle the hugs in this timeline.

 

[Dasneaky]

Baka you ever thought of do a arknights or azurlane fic? When your done with this? It like a free market with how few fic they are of each.

 

[BakaSmurf]

Baka you ever thought of do a arknights or azurlane fic? When your done with this? It like a free market with how few fic they are of each.

Click to shrink...

I dropped Arknights because I hate tower defense, and the response to me asking folks whose opinion I give any degree of weight what Azur Lane is even about both in terms of gameplay and story was a resounding suggestion to just continue admiring Bremerton from a distance. Then the one person that started relaying the plot's synopsis to me realized partway through that they'd mixed it up with Kantai Collection. I think this says pretty much everything I need to know about the quality of Azur Lane's writing.

That aside, I didn't start writing Only Human because I thought it'd be popular. I started writing Only Human because I love NIKKE and wanted to work with the setting and characters. Simple as.

 

[Dasneaky]

I dropped Arknights because I hate tower defense, and the response to me asking folks whose opinion I give any degree of weight what Azur Lane is even about both in terms of gameplay and story was a resounding suggestion to just continue admiring Bremerton from a distance. Then the one person that started relaying the plot's synopsis to me realized partway through that they'd mixed it up with Kantai Collection. I think this says pretty much everything I need to know about the quality of Azur Lane's writing.

That aside, I didn't start writing Only Human because I thought it'd be popular. I started writing Only Human because I love NIKKE and wanted to work with the setting and characters. Simple as.

Click to shrink...

Fair enough

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 53 - A Future and a Hope
===

"You reproduced!?" Dorothy cried out in no small amount of open horror.

"Hey, what the Hell is that supposed to mean-?" Andersen began to reply in offence.

"The offspring of such a simplistic boor could not possibly have developed in a healthy manner…" Scarlet mused darkly, giving Andersen a deeply critical glower.

"Excuse me-!?" Andersen, again, started, his voice pitching up an octave.

"Oh man, what sort of damage are we gonna be dealing with here?" Red Hood wondered aloud, seemingly genuine concern writ large on her usually carefree features.

"Who the Hell do you think you-!" Andersen's voice once more, notably increased in pitch.

"That poor girl…" Rapunzel grimly whimpered, empathetic sorrow settling on her gentle visage as she brought her hands up in prayer.

"Gah- Seriously, even you, Rapunzel-!?" Andersen's expression began to painfully contort in response to the ongoing assault.

"I really hope she took after her mom…" Snow White stage-whispered her concerns, all but recoiling at the notion that the High Commander had a daughter.

At that point, Andersen fell back against the wall as though shot, clutching at his chest and staring wide-eyed past the dark lenses of the aviator sunglasses he was wearing indoors, in the dark. Gaze snapping aside, he turned to Joe and Liliweiss, calling out, "Both of you, I've been doing better lately! Tell them!"

"Lately!?" Dorothy leaned forward, brow heavily furrowing in naked displeasure.

"-Support! Now, damn it!" Andersen harshly jabbed a finger out at the Commander of Goddess and his second-in-command.

The pair just wordlessly stared at the man, judging him far more harshly than even the other Nikkes of the squad had been.

"Bro, seriously…?" Even Red Hood was looking increasingly put off at Joe and Liliweiss' judgmental stares. "The Hell you been doing to this girl?"

With a sigh, Liliweiss decided to interject. "He has progressed leaps and bounds in how he treats Ellie, yes," the first Nikke admitted.

"So he has been mistreating her outright, then?" Scarlet's typically moody frown tightened yet further.

As Andersen began to resemble a cornered animal, Joe figured that it'd be best to just pull back the curtain on this matter, lest Goddess begin acting openly insubordinate, even when it mattered that they be as obedient as any soldier had to be. "Andersen did not have a positive opinion of Nikkes when we were initially contracted by the UFH," he started, sharply gaining the attention of the squad as a whole. "Ellie wanted to undergo conversion on day one. He… didn't take it well, and forbade it. To the point of bringing it to the highest echelons of the UFH with threats to null our contract and walk if they accepted Ellie's conversion request, after she'd gone directly to them."

The girls all looked aside at Andersen out of the corner of their eyes, no small amount of critical adjudication present in their gaze.

All the while, Joe continued. "Ellie did not take this well, and the two's relationship soured significantly." He pointedly left out the fact that Andersen and Ellie's relationship had actually always been a fair bit more complicated than that. "Eventually, after being around the squad, and Lilith in particular for long enough, he, to be somewhat blunt, pulled his head out of his ass and acknowledged that Nikke conversion wasn't something to be ashamed of, and about-faced on his previous stance. Not only recanting his previous demands, but dictating that if Ellie was converted into anything less than a Grimms and directly assigned to Goddess, he'd take me and leave the UFH. To say nothing of how he's been… forceful with the brass about giving Ellie preferential treatment in general at that."

Everyone seemed to relax a fair bit, if not entirely, at Joe's ongoing explanation.

"So, yeah. He's making an effort to do better. So lay off."

Though everyone was more than a little wary of the assertion, Rapunzel, at least, and as was to be expected, seemed to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "That's good! I'm proud that you're striving to grow and better yourself, High Commander!"

At the nun's earnest praise, Andersen puffed his chest back out, preening eagerly like a peacock.

Rapunzel was a bit too soft, honestly.

"Lilith," Dorothy started, sharply turning to the squad's second-in-command. "You'll be keeping him in line and won't let him get away with mistreating his daughter as a member of the squad, yes?"

As Andersen, once more, deflated and blanched at the pinkette, Liliweiss let out a single, amused chuckle before replying. "That would be somewhat redundant, given that the Commander has established that he's more than capable of handling the issue himself."

Turning aside to give Joe an appraising look, the burly figure shrugged. "I just made it clear that Andersen's conduct towards his daughter was unacceptable." Bringing up the fistfights didn't seem wise right then and there.

"Y-yeah," Andersen quickly interjected to move along the discussion. "Anyways! We'll be arriving at the Grimms facility within the hour! We expect the pick-up to go smoothly. Beyond that, it will be a simple case of introducing Cinderella to the squad and acclimatizing her to the Avenger. As soon as she's onboard, we'll be immediately setting off for our next proper operation—joining the unified assault to push into South America to reach the Orbital Elevator in Ecuador, near Quito."

Goddess Squad, at that, all took on a distinctly grim countenance—one which swiftly shifted to determination. They all knew exactly what this meant. The Orbital Elevator was the source of the Raptures, where the Rapture Queen was stationed. The UFH had decided to go all-in on a decapitation strike. Surely, emboldened by the completion of Cinderella, a veritable one-woman army who just might be the edge they'd need to end this war once and for all.

"If we're lucky," Joe began, arms crossed as he looked over the women of Goddess with a severe expression, "this war is about to turn in our favour in a big way, then shortly come to an end. So square up, ladies. We're fitting to take a page from the French here and remind our enemies what happens to tyrannical monarchs that have pushed the common man too far, and reclaim what they've stolen from us."

"Ha! Down with the Queen!" Red Hood cheered, pumping her fist with a broad, toothy grin. "Off with their heads!"

"I will gladly deliver the decapitation strike upon the would-be tyrant," Scarlet asserted with a heavy, self-assured huff. "The Rapture Queen shall keenly learn the taste of my steel in her final, wretched moments!"

Clasping her hands together, Rapunzel declared, "'You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.'"

While the others turned to give Rapunzel a confused stare, Joe nodded in acknowledgement of her prayer. "'A Letter to the Exiles,' huh? An appeal to hope even for those who seem hopelessly damned, a promise that the displaced will see their home once again… how appropriate."

While Rapunzel gave Joe a downright beatific smile of appreciation in his immediate understanding, the others all nodded, Joe's explanation allowing them to easily comprehend the intended message.

Snow White, meanwhile, somewhat lost by the Biblical reference, just shrugged as she bounced in place. "I knew we'd win! We're gonna kick the Rapture's butts!"

"Against all odds," Dorothy confidently, though with a casual cadence, stated, "we rise."

"Let's whoop their asses!" Andersen punched skywards, grinning widely.

Nobody was particularly impressed, given that he was basically rehashing Snow White's proclamation, but briefer and more crudely.

At that, Liliweiss clapped her hands to grab the attention of the room. "Okay, everyone," she projected an air of steely confidence. "We aren't there quite yet—though recruiting Cinderella will go a very long way towards getting us there." She turned to Joe, an expectant look on her face.

"I believe we're done here for now," the Commander nodded. "Everybody, be ready to roll out the red carpet for Cinderella. Assuming things go to plan, she'll be instrumental to ending this war." He paused before continuing. "To say nothing of how much of a hopeless fangirl she is of Goddess, and how desperately eager she's been to meet all of you."

"As is only natural," Dorothy, with a cocksure attitude accepted the premise as easily as she breathed, entirely unphased by the proclamation.

"-Awah, don't tell us that!" Snow White, in contrast, immediately whined, her face contorting into one of dismay. "Now I'm anxiooous!"

"I do what is expected of me as a protector of man," Scarlet turned her nose up at the notion of being admired, "Little else."

"I'll do my best to make Cinderella feel welcome and a part of the team," Rapunzel just smiled broadly at the notion of having a new team mate.

"...I got a bad feeling about this…" Red Hood mused quietly, mouth dipping below the rim of her ragged scarf, "Even more competition than Miss Missy and Her Holiness as it is…?"

Luckily, only Joe heard that, though he was more than a little annoyed by the continued presumption on the blonde-turned-redhead's part. He and Dorothy weren't in a relationship, and he'd only caught Rapunzel staring at his ass a few times, damn it!

At any rate, not wanting to have to try dealing with that damned whole thing again, Joe motioned for everyone to leave. "Everyone will reconvene on the Avenger's deck in an hour. You'll be pinged with a reminder fifteen minutes beforehand. So, forty-five minute break. I'd recommend spending it grabbing some food."

"Yeah! Food!" Snow White's eyes immediately began to sparkle, saliva already budding and threatening to dribble from her mouth. "Let's go get a big pile of pancakes and hash browns, Commander!"

"Mmm, waffles and bacon…" Red Hood mused contemplatively, her lips curling upwards in anticipation.

"Let's all go to the mess hall while we have time then!" Rapunzel eagerly suggested with a lovely smile.

Scarlet, meanwhile, looked genuinely dumbstruck, gaze snapping around in open disbelief. "...I can scarcely believe it…" she began, utterly bamboozled. "An entire briefing, in which I was not even once compared to that shadowy hedgehog-"

"Shadow the Hedgehog!" Andersen sharply cut off the grey-haired Nikke.

"Don't you fucking start you son of a whore!" Joe, somewhat uncharacteristically, was suddenly all but frenzied at the High Commander. "Nobody here wants to hear about your fucking children's video games-"

"Sonic the Hedgehog is a national treasure and it is a resplendent honour to be compared to the coolest anti-hero ever created!" Andersen forcefully snapped back, pointing at a visibly dismayed Scarlet for emphasis.

"Sonic the Hedgehog is a god damned Japanese property you dumb fuck!" The displaced Canadian snarled. "You can't claim it as a national treasure! You're from Detroit!"

"I may have been born in the Motor City," Andersen started, leaning back and standing up straight and proud. "But my soul was forged in the fires of Mt. Fuji! My heart burns with the passion of Yamato Damashii in pride for the greatest piece of art ever created, Sonic Ad-"

Joe sharply cut the High Commander of Goddess off. "Sonic Adventure 2 was as much of a pile of fucking shit as Sonic '06 and you miserable bastards whose one and only consistent defence to the contrary is 'but muh Chao Garden' damn well know it!"

"Take it back you sub-human sack of-!"

"'But muh Chao Garden!'"

With a furious war cry, Andersen lunged forth, charging at Joe low and shoulder-forward, the pair colliding as the long-haired brunet learned forward and caught Andersen around the waist, lifting the man off of his feet and flipping him over his shoulder in a smooth motion.

While Andersen's coat and hat went flying, Andersen himself twisted and contorted to land on his feet, catching Joe by the arm and wrestling him down into a ground grapple.

"Hell yeah!" Red Hood immediately lurched forward, pumping her fists and shadow boxing at the pair eagerly. "Whoop his ass, Joe! Show him who's boss!" she screamed at the two grown-ass men that had, over the course of several seconds, broken out in a fist fight in the middle of a military briefing over Sonic the Hedgehog. "Grab his dick and twist it! Make him squeal like a pig!"

In the midst of the sudden melee, Joe managed to backhand the foppish High Commander, the man crying as his aviators went flying, slapping a hand over his now bare eyes. "My glasses!" the overdressed man suddenly flung himself from his subordinate, desperately reaching out and grasping at the ground around him. "My glasses! I can't be seen without my glasses!"

As Joe rose to his feet, wiping at his chin with the backside of the hand he'd smacked Andersen with, Dorothy lowered herself to a squat momentarily, reaching out and taking a hold of Andersen's aviators. They had come to a clattering stop at her feet. Standing, she folded the glasses and… demurely crossed her hands behind her back, still holding the shades, an innocent smile on her face as she watched Andersen desperately fumble around blindly for the object that was no longer on the floor with him.

While Red Hood smiled broadly at Dorothy as though she were a partner in crime, the rest of Goddess, sans a Scarlet who was critically studying Joe, just looked utterly defeated by the idiocy going on before them.

"Commander…" Snow White whined in open disappointment at Joe. "Seriously?"

"In the land of the blind," Liliweiss started, head tilted back and hand set on her brow sorrowfully. "Alone, I think—therefore I am getting a headache…"

"Lilith! Help!" Andersen cried, his desperation increasing as he failed to find his sunglasses. "I need support! Officer down! Officer down! Threat level: midnight! Threat level: midnight!"

While the poor, deeply beleaguered second-in-command of Goddess rued the day, Joe started off with a huff.

"Breakfast time, girls!" The Commander declared as he marched for the hallway door, mercilessly leaving Andersen blind on the ground.

"Joe! Joooe!" Andersen mewled out as though shot and abandoned, hand still clasped over his bare eyes. "Bastard! Honourless cur! I abhor you! Traitor! Judas! Joe! Jooooe!"

With only Rapunzel hesitating out of guilt, all but Liliweiss followed Joe, not an ounce of mercy to be found in those women that served as Andersen's subordinates.

As was just and right.

---

Not long after, Goddess Squad was gathered on the deck of the Avenger, the secret Grimms production facility down below amidst Montana's grassy fields, verdant forests, and towering mountains. The VTOL which would be carrying Cinderella had set off, and was ferrying the newest Grimms up to the helicarrier.

Unfortunately, Dorothy had been ratted out by Liliweiss and forced to return Andersen's glasses to him - the man having so staunchly refused to be seen without them that the first Nikke had to lead him to the mess hall by the hand. Therefore, he stood as though braced against the world, a foot raised on a bottle crate he kept on the Avenger's deck for the express purpose of posing on it.

Quickly enough, the shuttle circled the helicarrier once, smoothly settling down before Goddess with a burst of wind generated by the engines. With the power cut, the craft quieted, eventually downed out entirely by the constant whir of the Avenger's own engines. The side door slid open, and a number of uniformed men clambered out, hoisting a number of large, overstuffed suitcases, duffle bags, and boxes. Presumably, the 'valet' service Andersen had demanded to haul all of Cinderella's junk to her personal quarters for her.

The men gave Goddess acknowledging nods as they passed by, quickly marching off with the newest Grimms' personal belongings in tow. Only a single man was left to stand at the ready by the wide-open door of the shuttle. He continued to just stand there. To the point of it gradually growing awkward. After an uncomfortable amount of time, the man, with no small amount of confusion, twisted his head around to look into the craft, leaning back, and stating, "Uh, ma'am-?"

Only to be cut off by a high-pitched squeal of "Nooo!" from within.

Cinderella, it seemed, had developed cold feet.

With a sigh, Andersen called out: "Ellie, sweetie, you have to-"

"No! I don't want to hear it from you!" Cinderella immediately snapped back from within the shuttle's passenger section, no small amount of genuine resentment shining through her anxiety.

While Andersen damn near recoiled off his feet, clutching at his heart in dismay, Joe rubbed the back of his neck as the rest of Goddess looked more than a little amused by the situation. "-Ellie, come on now-!"

"J-Joe!?" Cinderella's already girly voice pitched up an octave at his call out. "I-I m-m-mean, "C-Commander? Ahhh! No! I can't! Don't look at me!"

Holy shit, what a nerd. Joe thought, rather than speaking aloud. Of course, he'd seen a picture of Ellie before - though, that was before she'd undergone Nikke conversion, to be fair. She might well be totally unrecognizable now. "Ellie, come on, everyone's really excited to meet you!" he declared, trying to lure her out of her veritable fortress of solitude, giving the put-upon guard set to escort her a sympathetic look.

"Liar!" Cinderella shot back, disbelief lacing her voice. "T-they wouldn't-"

"Cinderella," Liliweiss called out next. "Won't you please come out now? Goddess got all ready to greet you and everything…"

"W-was that-!?" The newest Grimms, clearly, recognized Liliweiss' distinctive voice and accent—no small amount of awe filtering into her cadence. She then squealed in yet more mounting anxious terror.

This, coming from one of the singularly most powerful human beings to have ever existed. This, evidently, was what peak performance looked like.

"Ellie," Joe once more called out, stepping closer to the shuttle and waving off the guy that was evidently set to escort her. Though he seemed surprised, he offered no protest and set off to do whatever he would do. "Please don't be difficult. We have to be good and efficient here."

"I'm not-!" She started, harshly pausing, and now that Joe was close enough to hear, taking deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself. "O-okay… p-promise not to laugh!"

Joe couldn't get over how much of a nerd Cinderella was behaving like. Not wanting this to drag on too much, he replied: "I promise, now come on!"

Audibly whimpering rather pitifully, Cinderella finally stepped out into the open, revealing herself to Goddess for the first time.

Joe's soul attempted to eject from his body.

Not because Cinderella was gorgeous, which she was. Not because she had a set of resplendent trailing platinum twintails and a fringe which masked one of her large eyes, which she did. Not because she had captivating, shimmering sapphire eyes, which she did.

Rather, Joe's soul desperately attempted to escape, because Cinderella was wearing an oversized t-shirt, large enough to look like a dress on her tiny, 4'11" frame. A dress-like oversized shirt that was adorned with a badly mimeographed stylized image of his own face on it.

Joe had promised to not laugh. Red Hood had not.

Cinderella immediately looked ready to cry, complete with tears budding in the corner of her visible eye, in open-mouthed dismay as Red Hood doubled-over, pointing and laughing like a hyena.

Andersen, to his credit, immediately rushed to place himself between Goddess and Cinderella, declaring: "HEY! You will not mock my daughter or you will be punished-"

"I think Red Hood's laughing at the Commander's reaction to Cinderella's shirt, High Commander," Liliweiss cut him off. "He is, after all, trembling in his boots…"

Indeed, Joe wanted to flee, but his body refused to obey. Both because Cinderella's shirt was just about the most embarrassing thing he'd ever encountered in his life, and because her shy reaction to his stare was to grab her twintails and pull them up to cover the lower half of her face. He desperately wanted to fly, and also to tease the little platinum-haired nerd for being a nerd. Thus, he was frozen in place…

As Red Hood laughed, Dorothy chuckled quietly under her breath, Scarlet critically inspected their newest team member, while Rapunzel and Snow White smiled and warmly waved at the newcomer in an attempt to be welcoming, Liliweiss approached the tiny little Grimms. "Cinderella, as… festive as your shirt is, I think it is causing the Commander some degree of distress. If you could remove it, please…?"

Blinking, and turning bright red, Cinderella didn't say anything in reply, but moved to comply regardless. Immediately reaching down to grab the hem of her shirt and pull it up and over her head on the spot.

"Oh bullshit!" Red Hood immediately cried out with a finger jabbed out in Cinderella's direction, even as Rapunzel gasped and went red as a tomato. "Look at the size of her jugs! How the Hell am I supposed to compete with that!?"

"Put it back on put it back on young lady you PUT THAT SHIRT BACK ON RIGHT NOW!" Andersen cried as he dead-sprinting at his daughter, reaching up and desperately grabbing at the hem of her shirt and trying to pull it back down over her torso - to absolutely no effect, given that she was a Nikke.

Death. The reaper had come, and Joe was his quarry. The size of her shirt had masked her figure. To say nothing of how it had masked her outfit. A skin-tight bodysuit, so much of it was transparent, complete with a wholly see-through mini skirt…

Joe had let out a pained, distressed, breathless cry of defeat, immediately collapsing to his knees, now staring up at a Cinderella that looked utterly bushwhacked, totally ignoring Andersen as he desperately attempted to force her shirt back on, the top wrapped around her arms as she had just managed to get it over her head before she noticed Joe's reaction to her.

He couldn't help himself, she'd set up a perfect hidden blade right to the kidneys… and she was jaw-dropping.

Worse yet, in the moments that followed… Cinderella noticed. And where she had been shy, overwhelmed, even adorably anxious before… At once, all of it, every single solitary trace of overwhelmed fright was replaced with something far more ruinous in the face of the man she'd fangirled over gooning over her in turn.

Smug.

Suddenly, Cinderella was posing to emphasize her figure, making a point to give Joe a show, paying an increasingly distressed Andersen no mind whatsoever.

"Nooo!" Snow White cried, covering her face in open dismay. "Another pervert…! Leave the Commander alone! He has a hard enough time getting enough sleep as it is!"

Where Joe stared on his knees in helpless awe like a dumbstruck baboon, Rapunzel too leered at Cinderella through her own fingers, Scarlet sighed with a heavy roll of her eyes at the shameless buffoonery on display, and Dorothy just looked at Joe in disappointment at his unabashedly horny response to their new squad mate.

Liliweiss, meanwhile, sighed deeply as she could simply tell that her work load had just doubled.

The next couple of weeks were bound to be 'interesting,' to be sure.

 

[Decimar]

TFTC

 

[TheScottishlad]

Everytime we get a flash back I bust a gut and get stitches laughing at the shitposting and trolling this gang of lovable idiots get up to I swear. Brilliant chapter, smug Ellia is a necessity in life, thank you for the work as always mate.

 

[JKD_666]

It's really heartbreaking, seeing those good ol' days, knowing how things will turn out in the near future. I really can't wait for Joe and Andersen to spin the block on CG. And, before that, for the full reunion of the Goonness Squad, of course.

 

[TheMoistLad]

Ah yes

The simp has officially joined the goon squad

 

[Your Target]

This chapter has restored me and has given me the ability to continue my day.

 

[Nehef]

Dorothy confidently, though with a casual cadence, stated, "we rise."

Click to shrink...

~It's time to slay them!
~To claim our names back
~We will make it come back
~Tell me where to go on now?
~Yeah!!!!
~Remember to slay them!
~Flames and the power
~We don't want any morе tragedy
~The danger will diе away

~WE RISE!

 

[Matttts]

Amazing chapter as always. Really love what you are doing with Cinderella as well as Anderson. It seems that no matter where Joe goes he always gravitates to the weirdos. In a good way.

 

[JamesAsmodeus]

"Take it back you sub-human sack of-!"

"'But muh Chao Garden!'"

With a furious war cry, Andersen lunged forth, charging at Joe low and shoulder-forward, the pair colliding as the long-haired brunet learned forward and caught Andersen around the waist, lifting the man off of his feet and flipping him over his shoulder in a smooth motion.

While Andersen's coat and hat went flying, Andersen himself twisted and contorted to land on his feet, catching Joe by the arm and wrestling him down into a ground grapple.

Click to shrink...

Aaaaaand he takes 'em down to the ground pound! Man, these flashback chapters are sweet...and pretty much depressing, because muh God were these moments precious and bittersweet.

 

[NJesus]

We're fitting to take a page from the French here

Click to shrink...

prepare all the white flags and surrender?

thanks great chapter mate , could you please give us a modernia chapter? after the last dorothy focus I finaly pulled her and now I'm only lacking modernia in my pilgrim squad since it worked last time I beseech you use your vodoo