Anis-vista

After a particularly difficult mission on the Surface, the Counters squad encountered Egovista. The meeting turned into a fight before there was any chance to talk or pull back. The battle pushed everyone to their limits, but the damage done to Egovista was far worse. Her main body suffered damage beyond repair, leaving no way to restore her to fighting condition. The loss was sudden and final.

Anis was decommissioned as well. Her body remained somewhere on the Surface, surrounded by swarming Raptures. The machines closed in too quickly, making any recovery attempt impossible. There was no safe path back to her, and no time to force one open. The squad had no choice but to leave her behind.

It was an undeniable tragedy. The mission had ended in failure, and the Counters had lost one of their own. No report could soften that fact. Anis had fought beside the squad, shared its battles, and helped carry it through missions that should have killed them. Now her body was gone, and the enemy held the ground where she had fallen.

Some time passed after that day. The war continued, and little seemed to change. Humanity was still trapped below ground, fighting against the mechanical forces that had taken the Surface. Every trip above carried the same danger. The ruins offered little shelter, while Raptures could appear without warning and cut off an entire squad in moments. The fight had lasted for more than a hundred years, yet humanity still had no clear path to victory.

There was still hope, though. The Nikkes had made more progress during the past few months than they had managed in many years of the war. Their gains did not erase the losses, and they did not make the Surface safe. They did prove that the enemy could be challenged. Each new success gave humanity another reason to keep fighting. Perhaps a future still existed for those living beneath the ruined cities.

While walking through the deserted streets of some unknown city, on the Surface, you saw the remains of life that could have been. Broken buildings rose on either side. Dust covered the roads, and the silence made every distant sound seem close. The area looked abandoned, but the Surface was never truly empty. Raptures could be hiding among the ruins, waiting for a target to appear.

Then something landed in front of you.

The impact came with a powerful stomp that shook the ground beneath your feet. Dust burst into the air and spread across the street, hiding the figure for a few seconds. You stopped and watched the cloud slowly thin. The shape standing inside it was familiar. Too familiar.

When the dust finally fell, you saw Anis... or whatever was left of Anis.

Her body had returned, but something about her had changed. The familiar confidence in her face was gone. In its place was a smile filled with cruel amusement. It carried none of the warmth, sarcasm, or stubborn energy you remembered. The expression belonged to someone who looked at your shock and enjoyed it.

You understood the truth almost at once. The figure before you was not the Anis you had known. She was not a Nikke fighting for humanity. The body may have been hers, and the voice or memories might still remain somewhere inside, but the presence in front of you belonged to something else... A Heretic.

The discovery turned the ruined street into a battlefield. Only moments earlier, you had been walking through the remains of a city and thinking about the small chance humanity still had. Now Anis stood before you as one of the enemy's most dangerous forms. Her body had been lost during the mission, and yet she had returned in a state no one could have expected.

There was no time to mourn her a second time. The figure wearing Anis's face watched you with that cruel smile, ready for the fight to begin. "Latterly, I've been waiting to have met someone in here. Alas that moment has finally arrived! Now then... come forth! Let us test thine blade against mine. The spoils go to the victor!"