17 Defensive Simulation and Family Call.

(Interesting question to think about, but where is the Ark Located? What country? I will say America because America would be one of the best central locations to fight the Raptures from.)

This new scenario that Kratos put them in was many times harder than the first one he chose. A hoard and Lord class Rapture could be dangerous, but they did not have to guard anything other than themselves. 

In this scenario, they were in charge of holding off a bigger hoard with three Lords leading it. Killing all the raptures was not likely, and neither was dealing with the three Lord Class Raptures. 

"Alright, the point of this exercise is to endure. As we are protecting a Weapon Depot, the depot has unmanned defensive turrets. Our goal is to make sure those turrets stay up for as long as possible. Different from last time we just have to endure." 

Sin inserted a magazine into her rifle as she gazed out at the rocky terrain. No hoard in sight which meant they had time to prepare. 

"Which direction will they come in?" 

"From the front. Most raptures can only follow orders, only from the Lord and above do they start leading smartly. So, they will most likely try to destroy the defensive turrets. We want to prevent that for as long as possible. 

Ignore the air units as the Anti-Air Rifles will deal with them. Instead, we focus on the land units. Check your ammunition, if you need more get more from the depot. This is a realistic scenario so limited ammunition." 

Guilty loaded her shotgun and turned to him. 

"How many shots does your Hellgun have?" 

"Each Fusion Cell is good for 500 shots. I have a total of 5 to work with and they recharge over time. If I am accurate with my shots, I can deal with more than 2,000 raptures. Now then. I will be the vanguard, Guilty I want you with me. 

Quency, stay more the west side, Scathach, stay to the west. Sin, you stay to the North behind me and Guilty. And before I forget, Custodian Sigma Alter Ark Delta. Move out." 

They quickly followed his orders and moved to his desired locations. As for Guilty, she hefted her huge shotgun with ease. Kratos' helmet scanned the rocky terrain for Raptures, and for the moment they were clear. 

"I wonder if Einkk really increased the realism. They aren't just charging in and are staying hidden." 

Guilty found that concerning. 

"Are they going to go in waves instead of all at once?" 

"Most likely. This is also an aspect of the surface, the higher the rank of the Raptures, the smarter they are. Stressing us out with the idea that they could attack at any moment will weaken us over time. Well, would if we were a normal squad." 

Guilty smiled as not a single one of them was normal. However, just as she thought that Kratos kneeled down to one knee and aimed out through his left eye. His eye was linked to his armor's optics which combined with the scop of his Hellgun gave him massive range. 

In the far distance, he spotted Raptures moving in. It was not the full hoard, but a probing tendril of Raptures to test for a response. 

'Bad idea.' 

He reached up with one hand and changed a small dial near the center of the rifle. He changed the mode from automatic to single fire which increased the power per shot. More importantly, gave a better range. 

"Rapture sightings, 10 miles out." 

Guilty reached up for her ear and called her three squad mates. 

"Raptures, 10 miles." 

That got them on high alert as Kratos laid down on his stomach. 

"I will clear them out." 

Guilty nodded. 

"Don't miss." 

"Don't plan to." 

He took a deep breath before he pulled the trigger on his Hellgun. Each shot in the focused mode was a condensed beam of ionizing energy. It traveled a long distance in moments. He aimed for the glowing cores which caused a chain reaction. 

When the Hellgun's energy hit the Core, it caused small mushroom clouds which destroyed the other Raptures. He repeated this 5 more times using the chain reaction to deal with the initial attack. 

He waited for the smoke to clear and when it did he was met with devastation. 

"Clear." 

He rose back to his knees, but he kept looking out for the Raptures. Just as he did that, he noticed more moving in. This time, he saw that the ones moving up front were more heavily armored than the first probing force. 

'If you think more armor will save you, you got another thing coming.' 

"More Raptures. Guilty, inform the others and prepare for battle."

"On it.

As she did that, he exhaled and began to shoot the Raptures up front. He aimed for the Cores, which caused the same reaction as before, but when the dust cleared another Rapture took the place between the first. 

'I see. The Lords when they move in groups can plan better or get smarter. They are spacing out the Armored Raptures to reduce how many get caught in each explosion. Very clever, but not enough.' 

Kratos switched to rapid-fire mode and began to take shots at every Rapture in his sight. Each time he aimed for the cores which caused those mushroom clouds to clear out. However, when he stopped firing he saw more of the same armored Raptures advancing. 

"Little shits. They are still playing defense while they charge. The fliers are not going into the air and the stronger Raptures are staying behind a hoard of disposable ones. How irritating." 

He suddenly heard Sin's voice in his coms. 

"So what do you intend to do?" 

"Keep doing what I am doing. Destroy the advancing Raptures. I have the best range." 

"Yes, but might I suggest a different solution?" 

"What is it Sin?" 

"My voice, shall we try it on the Raptures?"

"You have a way to amplify your voice to reach that far out?" 

"I believe I can use the speakers in the depot along with the speakers in my head gear should reach far enough out. I would need Scathach's help though."

"Do it. I will keep doing what I am doing and slowing them down. Before long they will get in range of the guns so do it quick." 

"Right." 

As Sin and Scathach got to work, Kratos continued to take shots at the Raptures. Minute, by minute, he destroyed many, and it seemed to be having an effect. The impossible Raptures were being replaced as their numbers were thinning. 

No matter how they were spread out, the many Core detonations took our many. And the Lords could not thin them out too much or Kratos would be able to hit them their more important assets. 

However, Kratos stopped firing and popped out the Fusion Cell from his gun. It was still not fully drained, but he replaced it and placed it back on his belt. Draining it dry would cause it to charge slower so he left enough power for it to recharge. 

However, he did not resume firing as the Auto Guns aimed North began to come to life and aim at the Raptures. The giant cannons began to fire shells into the distance, but the flying Raptures began to fly into the air. 

The Anti-Air Guns also activated as they began to fire up in the sky to destroy the flying Raptures. Kratos stood up as the Auto Guns were not the end of all weapons. They could destroy Raptures, but the amount of power required per kill was not very effective. 

"Sin, how goes that speaker?" 

"I am ready to test it. Go on, everyone cover your ears." 

Quency, Guilty, and Scathach all turned off their ability to hear leaving just Sin. She grinned as she took a deep breath. Purple smoke began to leave her mouth as she gave her order. 

"All flying Raptures, serve me and turn on your former Lords. Serve your new queen." 

The flying Raptures in the sky froze as their cores began to glow purple. Sin spoke to him directly to warn him. 

"10 seconds." 

"More than enough." 

"The longer she had them under her brainwash, the more power she used. If she kept it too long with so many, she would be drained dry of power and pass out until her Reactor powered back." 

The Flying Raptures turned tail and began to fire into their own lines causing massive devastation. The Lords at the very back of the army were instantly angered and ordered the Nikkes to destroy their air units. 

This was a mistake as the brainwashing would only last seconds, but the lords were in a hurry. So, the Rapture hoard began to tear itself apart with in fighting. However, considering the size of the hoard, the damage that could be inflicted like this would be minimal. 

They would not be wiping out the hoard and would be thinning it this way. 

"Commander, I can't hold it." 

"It's alright Sin. Turn it off." 

When she did that, the Raptures she took over once more returned to normal, but they were still fired upon by the others. To defend themselves, they were forced to fire back which still caused pure Chaos in the hoard. 

In the meantime, the Cannons began to launch long-distance artillery which made things even more chaotic. Guilty who at this point could see the devestation smirked as she turned on her hearing again. 

"You sure are a good Commander." 

"I wonder about that. If we did not have these Auto Guns this would be a much harder exercise. But, back in the Rapture Wars, Weapon Depots like this always had such guns. Next one we won't have them." 

Quency sighed into the earpiece. 

"Boo. It made things so easy." 

"No whining you minx. Better you don't get used to the idea of big guns to protect us. On the surface, we will be all on our own." 

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, big danger on the surface, no help, no defenses. Get used to it, blah, blah, blah. My harem plan is more fun than this." 

He shook his head. 

"Is that all you think about Quency?" 

"No, I think about how you will rock my world for our first time. Last night, I had quite the dream where you rav-" 

Kratos cut her before she could finish. 

"Shut up already or I take away your new clothes." 

"I am sorry, please no." 

"That's better. Now focus on living." 

"YES SIR!" 

Suddenly, Scathach spoke to him. 

"She certainly does not give up." 

"No, she does not. Now, let's end this." 

Over the next 40 minutes, the 5 of them and the guns held off the advancing hoard with minimal damage. Sin from time to time would brainwash a chunk of the hoard, and through this, they actually destroyed 2 of the Lords. The last one though was smarter and stayed back to lead its hoard. 

It actually destroyed several of the Auto Guns and fired a missile that nearly 'killed' Scathach. When the Simulation ended, and they all returned to the Simulation Room, they all took a few moments to relax. 

Einkk who was floating around jumped down to watch the recording with them. After analyzing what had happened Kratos felt that the Auto Guns made the scenario too easy. Then again, Einkk was not omnipotent and defense missions were rare these days. 

There was not much on the surface to defend anymore except the Ark. However, Kratos was able to find a few errors and theories. If the turrets had not been there, they might have been wiped out or killed. 

Kratos smirked. 

"Honestly, we humans are going to lose at this rate." 

That was a macabre thought but did not make it any less true. Humans were now contained to a single City, or where they? Maybe in other continents, there were secret Arks, but if his family's records were to be believed, The Ark was all there was. 

After they revied their battle, they said their goodbyes to Einkk and began to leave. On the way out, Kratos' phone rang. When he picked it up he saw that it was his father. 

"Dad, everything ok?" 

"Yes, why wouldn't it? The modifications to your gear are complete. However, Guilty and Scathach's new weapons will take a bit more time as they are custom to order." 

He paused as he asked for more. 

"I hate to be a bother, but can you make more? For me, I'd like a dual pair of vibro swords, Quency will need some stabbing knives, and Scathach will need a suitable spear to go along with the rifle and Rocket Launcher." 

His father went silent for a few moments before breaking out laughing. 

"You just made my day. Of course, I will make it. I got so many works to pull from." 

He smiled as his dad was still the same otaku from his younger days. 

"Don't just pull from 40k." 

"Don't worry, I got some more work to pull from. Star Trek, Star Wars, 40k, The Endless, Halo, I can keep going. Also, come home more often will you?" 

"I will. I will be heading there now if that is fine with you." 

Kronus sighed as he still regretted not telling his son what was done to him. He would, in time. He just was not ready himself to tell his son what truly was done to him. 

"I will increase your allowance." 

"Thanks, Dad. Be seeing you." 

"Take care, son." 

When the call ended, Kratos smiled as he and his father shared the same hobby. His dad had always let him read his personal library of books so their interests were similar. 

"You heard me, let's go see my family." 

Quency rubbed her hands together as she wanted to see the rich Cromwell mansion again. It just made Kratos want to keep an eye on her more. 

"Come on then."