ARES:Gods of War

And They Called Them Goddess

Within the Commander's Room, there was commotion. Not the usual kind of commotion, though, rather the pure and unadulterated surprise that Alyosha's Nikkes were reacting with to the news the man had signed up for one of Doctor Halsey's experimental programs. He told them, "Girls, please, calm down. I've read up on the reports of what kind of augmentations Doctor Halsey wants to make for this Spartan-style Program and they're safe."

"So she says!" Anis snapped back, worried as all hell. Yes, she trusted Doc Halsey, considering everything, but this was still a big ask. What if something went wrong? Anis thought to herself, what if, by some godforsaken twist of fate, the operations to make him a Spartan failed and maimed him? She could see that her friends all shared those thoughts. Even Stella, who stayed quiet in a corner.

"Commander, what got into you to even decide to go with this program?" Rapi inquired, arms crossed to her chest and concern in her voice and denoted by the fidgeting, "Anis is right. It's dangerous, even with the guarantees from Doctor Halsey..." And she had a nagging feeling she knew what this was about. Hell, it was pretty obvious for every other girl in the room.

"I think Master just wants to help us..." Neon spoke meekly, while Stella sighed deeply at that. To Alyosha's sister, it was ever more clear why he was doing this. She'd had to wrangle the description of his nightmare from him, but got everything she needed and understood exactly what was going on. Neon was incredibly right. He was scared of losing people. He wanted more agency over that...

"I do," Alyosha replied sternly, looking his comrades in the eye. He told them, "I'm tired of just being there to give commands," Then looked right at Rapi and Anis, stating, "If you girls got hurt, I wouldn't even be able to get you to safety. If any of you wound up..." And he paused, then shook his head and swallowed. His voice cracked as he stated, "No. I'm doing it for all our sakes. We've seen what Chief and his fellow Spartans can do against the Raptures. If I can get even a fraction of that, I'll be able to help you girls in combat with more than just orders and hiding."

"It's still a program that actively modifies your body," Anis shot back, walking up to Rapi's side and glaring at him with her. She told him, "We get that you wanna do more than sit on the sidelines, but you can't seriously expect us not to protest against something that could lead to you getting physically hurt! The damage might even be irreversible..."

"I'm not expecting you all to agree completely. I'm just..." He sighed, then told them, "I don't want to fail any of you because I couldn't help you myself. You girls have kept me safe for as long as we've operated together, even through the entire mess with the Crisis. I want to know I've done all I can to help you, all I can to be more than just a burden to what's supposed to be one of the Ark's new up-and-coming squads..." And his voice grew low, quiet, as he told them, "I don't want to lose anyone again..." which caused Marian to come back to the forefront of everyone's minds.

"... You wouldn't lose anyone," Rapi put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. He told him, "We can fight, after all. And the more we do, the better we become at it. Same as any human, we have the capability to learn and evolve to counter any threat that comes our way. And, with your tactics, we always seem to pull through in combat. You're doing more than you know by simply leading us as you do. You're..." She sighed deeply, unsure of what else to say.

"Any extra layer of safety is worth it," He replied. He wasn't willing to budge.

"... Commander..." Rapi was obviously worried. For good reason, Stella thought.

Still, she intervened in favor of her brother, "Girls. Give him a break. If he wants to feel safer operating with us, I can't exactly blame him. It's an extra layer of defense for him in case we get into tougher ops, considering Halsey's planning to make a MJOLNIR for the Project anyways and we get someone who's capable of protecting himself more than prior, allowing us more operational 'freedoms' in executing our orders..."