Personal Gear

Once Kratos and the girls made it up the elevator they once again met with the same prison guard. Much like usual, the guard whom Kratos still did not know the name of had his usual frown. 

It was even worse when he saw Sin walking around free. 

'Bunch of criminal whores and their rich pimp. Fucking shit.' 

He snapped his fingers and the Nikke beside him raised a weapon briefcase before setting it on the table. N It was Sin's Assult Rifle which much like Guilty's Shotgun and Quency's handcuff guns was custom-made for her. 

"Here is her gun Code Name Heavy Talker." 

Kratos nodded and picked up the briefcase. 

"Thanks. This should be the last time we meet." 

The guard nodded. 

'Thank goodness.' 

"A shame. Good luck out there Commander." 

'Die in a ditch.' 

With that out of the way, the elevator behind the guard opened for Kratos and his squad. When the 4 of them were inside, the elevator began to the surface. As they did so, Kratos turned to Sin. 

"Alright, here you go." 

When he handed her the briefcase, she quickly opened it to get her rifle. Once it was out, she used the strap to place it on her back. As she did that, he turned around to face the three of them. 

"I have two points of interest to discuss. For one, now that the three of you have been assembled, I have been given three months time to get us battle-ready. The surface is no cakewalk, so we will be training in the Simulation Room to get an accurate feel for it. 

And most importantly, we need to change the Squad Name. Gentle kindness sounds lame. Instead, I hereby declare the new squad name as The Minotaurs." 

Guilty smiled. 

"More Greek names?" 

He nodded. 

"Yeah, and it is a reference to this really old Table Top Game back in the day called Warhammer. My father has a big collection of books that survived the Rapture War and I read them as a kid. I will explain it later, but I think the name fits." 

Sin shrugged. 

If Kratos already knew her real personality why bother to act any other way. 

"Alright, so when are we getting this extra Nikke." 

"By tomorrow she will be sent over to my squad. Usually Mass Produced Nikkes have lesser specs than say unique models, but I think she is unique. She managed to resist Corruption from Fenrir for hours as she fought off the effect long enough to drag my body back. 

She still had to be mindwiped afterward, but that takes something different doesn't it?" 

Quency whistled. 

"Hours? Corruption usually takes over even faster than that. And you are saying she is a Mass Produced Model?"

"A Soldier EG model to be specific. Not much different from the others, however, she has a permanent scar on her left cheek that was left unrepaired. She also dyed her hair a dark shade of purple as opposed to the more light purple of the other models.

Plus, I looked up her background before she became a Nikke. She was a member of Eleyson's Private Security but died in a terrorist attack. On the plus side, this model type is reliable and quite stable. Plus, we need a porter. Ammunition and other supplies are not light."

Sin giggled which sounded off with her vocal distorter. 

"So she will carry our ammunition on the surface. Why can't you do it?" 

Kratos grinned.

"Because I am going to be on the front lines. With this body, I am not going to be just barking orders. I am going to be killing my fair share." 

Sin was confused. 

"What's up with your body?" 

Kratos looked over to Quency. 

"Mind explaining it to her."

The go-lucky Nikke winked at him.

"Got it, boss. Sin, the Commander got ripped up badly by a Lord Class Rapture. His squad was killed save for one. To save him his body has been upgraded with Super Nikke parts. Well, Kratos parts." 

Sin was not even more curious. 

"That is interesting." 

Kratos nodded. 

"Sure is. Now, let's get going." 

When the elevator made it to the surface, Kratos led his squad back to his house. Today was going to be the last day of taking it easy as tomorrow he would be quickly getting them battle-ready. Not to mention that his custom gear would be ready by then. 

He almost could not wait to return to the surface. And maybe, he had a chance to end Fenrir himself. 

---

The next day, once Sin, Quency, and Guilty were all in his house, Kratos called a meeting. All three of the Nikkes were in his living room as Kratos went over some important things. 

"Alright, as soon as we get our fourth member, we will all be spending a large amount of time in the Simulation Room. It does not compare to the real thing, but it will be a close second to it. We will be under Andersen's line of Command so we should not be disposed of in normal circumstances. 

Unless Andersen is like all other rich fucks and decides to kill us off." 

Quency raised her hand. 

"Yes." 

"If he is like other rich fucks, what then?" 

Kratos smiled. 

"I am a Cromwell, I may not be a huge fan of my dad's right now, but I most certainly don't hate or dislike the man. I am still the only son of Kronus Cromwell, and I will use my family's influence to my advantage. Which is why I am excited. My gear will be getting here today." 

Guilty was now interested. 

"Your gear?" 

He nodded. 

"After I woke up from my coma after my surgery, I spoke to my father and he commissioned some equipment for me to use on the surface. It should be arriving soon." 

Just as he said that the doorbell rang. Kratos excused himself and walked to the front door. When he opened it, he saw the familiar face of the Nikke who saved his life. In her arms, she was holding a huge briefcase. 

When she saw him she looked up and shot him a salute.

"Greetings, I was told that I was to be moved to your squad. I am a Soldier EG model, a pleasure to meet you." 

(Image here)

"We have met before, before you got mindwiped." 

She paused a bit as she squinted her eyes to look at his face. 

"So that is why I am getting a bad case of Deja Vu when I look at your face. And why do I feel as if you should be dead." 

"I would be if not for you. I will explain it all, but most importantly is that for me?" 

She nodded. 

"Yes, Sir Kronus told me to hand this to you when I see you. Here you go?" 

Kratos reached out and took the briefcase which weighed at least half a ton. He was starting to doubt that they only replaced the limbs they said as even holding this one-handed was easy. 

"Well, you might as well come in for the squad meeting." 

"Right." 

Kratos rejoined Sin, Quency, and Guilty along with Soldier EG who he had named before this. He was going to remind her of it as most Commanders assigned to Mass Produced Units rarely bothered to assign names to their Nikkes. Kratos saw it as inefficient and lazy.

"Alright. This is her." 

The three Criminal Nikkes stood up and surrounded EG to get a look at her. After hearing the full story they were curious about the Nikke who dragged back Kratos after his near death. 

Quency smiled. 

"Wow, she really is a Mass Produced Model. I forgot how pretty they made the EG type." 

Guilty was just blinking her usual slow blink as she looked her over. 

"The one who saved Kratos." 

As for Sin, she was mostly just curious. 

"How did you resist corruption at all? Mass-produced models are almost very weak to that kind of thing." 

EG paused as she was kind of overwhelmed. 

"To answer your questions, I don't know. Mindwipe." 

Kratos put down the briefcase before he clapped once to get their attention. 

"EG, welcome to my squad. However, I won't be calling you that, instead I will be giving you a name. I know you forgot the name I gave you when you were still part of my squad, but no matter. Welcome to the team Scathach." 

The Nikke blinked a few times. 

"You named me before?" 

He nodded. 

"I had named the 5 of you as just calling you a few letters sounded inhuman. Now to brief you on the situation." 

After explaining the events that led to her brainwipe, Scathach as Kratos had named EG quickly accepted the name. It was interesting to hear how she had come to be mindwiped. Once she got the full story she sat down and lowered her shark face mask from her face to her neck. 

Seeing it still made Kratos want to chuckle. 

'She looks so much like Scathach from Fate it's almost funny.' 

"Alright, we will soon be going over to the Simulation Room so I am going to get the overall Squad composition. Me, Quency, and Guilty are going to be in charge of the Front Line. Sin, you, and Scathach will be the back line. 

Your Assult Rifles work better a mid-range while Guilty's Shotgun and Quency's SMG handcufs have less range. Clear so far?" 

They all nodded. 

"Also, Scathach, when we are on the surface I will have to ask you to be the porter for the squad. I hope you don't take this the wrong way." 

She shook her head. 

"No, don't mind it. What will I be carrying?" 

"Mostly Ammunition and food supplies. As we know, Nikkes still need to eat and sleep to avoid Mind Switches or breakdowns. We will all be helping carry our more important supplies, but we need someone who can carry the ammunition we will be needing." 

She thought about it before nodding. 

"Got it. No problem there." 

After that, Quency looked at the briefcase that was at Kratos' feet. 

"So? When are you pulling out the gear?" 

Kratos laid the suitcase flat where the access console was. He inserted his Cromwell identification card which caused a series of gears and locks to open. When Kratos opened the suitcase inside were two things. 

One was the giant black gun which was half as long as Kratos was tall. When he pulled it out of the case, he could feel the weight of the gun. It was ungodly dense and built to last. He ran his fingers up the barrel of his father's gift. '

He turned it around and saw it had his name engraved to it across the barrel. 

(Image here)

That was just one part of the gift as the giant briefcase also had a suit of armor for him. The Sin, Guilty, Quency, and Scathach looked over his shoulder to look at his gear. Quency whistled at the giant gun. 

"Energy or physical?" 

"Energy. Meet my personal weapon, The Hellgun." 

Kratos hefted the large gun up and looked down the sight. Inside the suitcase were the power packs that the gun would use to fire and they were rechargable. It made him smile as he knew that his father based it off the 40k Hellgun. 

'Thanks dad.' 

Just as he was thinking that, Quency smiled. 

"Need some help putting it on?" 

"I will not say no to the help." 

She clapped her hands to get the other Nikkes attention. 

"Let's all help out, seems heavy." 

Guilty wanted to help, but she did not want to break anything so she just stayed back. Meanwhile, Sin, Quency, and Scathach all helped put on the heavy plates of armor on Kratos. When they were done, Quency handed him the helment. 

He took off his Commander's hat and put on the helmet. When it was on his head, the plates of armor all linked together and sealed shut. Sin handed him his gun which he hefted onto his shoulder through the strap. 

Suddendly, the helmets sensors began to feed him information of his surroundings. It scaned the Nikkes, their weapons, possible movements, courses of action and kept him informed. All this information was processed by his left eye which broke down the information into his head. 

It also linked to his gun which meant he did not need to lift it up to his face. If needed, he could fire from the hip with deadly accurasy. When he spoke, it was similar to Sin's vocal distorter only deeper and more demonic. 

"All systems running smoothly. Now then, who is ready for 2 month training hell?" 

No body raised their hand so he just laughed. 

"Well get excited because that is what we will be doing. Come on then." 

Quency groaned, but Guilty, Sin, and Scathach did not. They just lightly grumbled