D-Outsiders

* Splash art
* Logo

## Sources

TwitterOfficial website

**D-Outsiders** is the 5th story event of *Goddess of Victory: Nikke* and the first event of 2023.

D-Outsiders is set in the Outer Rim, following the story of Exotic squad who are given a "do or die" mission to investigate a terrorist attack in the Dome of Eternity perpetrated by the Heavenly Ascension.

## Story

> "We have...decided to extinguish the light in the Ark."
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> Terrorists blew up the Dome of Eternity, the Ark fell into darkness and citizens are panicking. With the help of D-Outsiders, Commanders head to the Outer Rim to investigate the mastermind.
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> Official event intro, Nikke Twitter

### May the Light Guide Us to Heaven

On a video recording, an anonymous voice preaches about human equality, of how DNA does not care what class a person is in, or its relativity to others. The voice reveals itself as an Outlaw, questioning why they alone are not allowed the light and comfort that the Ark's citizens take for granted. It declares itself to be a part of Heavenly Ascension, a terrorist group of the Outer Rim. The voice incites its fellow Outlaws to rise up against the Central Government and the Ark citizens who've condemned them into darkness.

A moment later, the Ark's sky darkens, casting the city in "night". The voice decrees that it has taken away the Ark's light, so that all will be equally drowned in darkness. It ends the broadcast on Heavenly Ascension's rallying cry; "May the light guide us to heaven."

### Entering the Outer Rim

A news report details two attacks by Heavenly Ascension on the Dome of Eternity, the Ark's upper ceiling that provides it with light and power. The citizens in the affected areas are in a panic as all light sources have failed to function, and some even claim claustrophobia attacks in the blackout. The channel is changed, where another announcer reports a statement from Heavenly Ascension, proclaiming they'll attack Royal Road next.

The TV is switched off, revealing Andersen in a meeting with the protagonist. Heavenly Ascension's attack will supposedly occur in 4 days, and if the culprits aren't dealt with by then, the Central Government is seriously considering military action against the Outer Rim. Intel on the situation and the preceding circumstances is unfortunately sparse. The Outer Rim's inhabitants are... wary of outsiders, to put it mildly, so any agents the Central Government sends there come back with little success, if they come back at all. There has only been group that has gone in and out of the Outer Rim largely unmolested; Exotic squad. Despite the squad's checkered background and rumored connections to Heavenly Ascension, they're the only asset the Central Government can tap for information about the Outer Rim. Ergo, someone must contact Exotic, get their intel, and track down the culprit to the terrorist strikes before civil war engulfs the Ark. Which is quite obviously going to be the protagonist. Syuen supposedly has a way to get leverage on Exotic to get them to cooperate, and Andersen requests the protagonist make good use of it, whatever it may be.

Outside Andersen's office, the protagonist's phone goes off. It's Syuen, who explains that despite Exotic being a Missilis squad, they're...not exactly the most obedient of subordinates, so Syuen had to devise a few hardball means of getting them to comply. By that, she means the "ExoticController" app, which is a fancy name for the trigger to Exotic's explosive collars. Despite the protagonist's reservations, Syuen herself also wishes that he never needs to actually trigger it, though admittedly, she just sees it as a waste of the money that went to funding Exotic. As Syuen logs off, the protagonist checks the app. It details each Exotic's communications status and warns him that detonation will occur within 3 seconds of the command being sent.

Some time later, Exotic welcomes the protagonist to the Outer Rim. Jackal is confused but happy to see him, Viper slightly less exuberant and wondering why he's here, and Crow...is Crow. Upon Viper's questioning, the protagonist reveals that he came alone, unaccompanied by any of his usual Nikkes. Crow compliments his thinking, stating that those girls would be a dead giveaway that he's a lackey of the Central Government, and just walking the streets of the Outer Rim, let alone getting information, would be a war and a half. Deciding on a change of scenery, Exotic leads the protagonist to one of their hideouts.

At the hideout, the protagonist briefs the squad on the situation. Crow tells him that even though Exotic works for the Central Government, the Outer Rim and its inhabitants are their type of people, so asking them to sell those people up the river is not exactly easy. She denies the protagonist's accusation of noncooperation, clarifying that she's willing to do the work, but it's not worth it if it'll burn all the bridges she has with the Outlaws. The protagonist concedes the point, and settles for asking Exotic to escort him if (when) trouble arises. Crow agrees, since a government agent like him snooping around alone would be just asking for a lynch mob to string up his corpse. She has Jackal and Viper take the protagonist out for a tour of the place, and assures him that around these parts, Exotic calls the shots more than any high-and-mighty Ark entity. No one with a working brain will mess with her squad on their turf.

### Outer Rim Patrol

Outside, Viper advises the protagonist to avoid standing out, and act like he's just part of their regular patrols. This reveal surprises the protagonist, leading Viper to formally introduce her squad. Exotic is assigned to the Ministry of Information under the Central Intelligence Agency. On paper, they're meant to survey the Outer Rim, but in practice it's more like they manage it. Before Viper can elaborate, a crashing sound echoes from where two Outlaws have gotten into an argument. Noticing the commotion, Jackal urges them to check it out.

The group arrives at the altercation, where the bulkier Outlaw is taken aback at Exotic's presence. Turns out the younger man he's talking with promised a stock of product by today (strongly implied to be some manner of illegal goods), but is now coming up empty-handed. Viper is...less than happy with this development, pointing out the protagonist's uniform as a Central Government employee. The bulky Outlaw mistakes him for an inspections officer, which the protagonist plays along with. The Outlaw blubbers and tries to explain himself, only for Viper to silence him with a single nailed finger. After getting sick of his excuses, she has Jackal check the man's boxes, which emanate the sweet smell of Illuminadesine, a drug that's seen crackdowns courtesy of Underworld Queen. Even in the Outer Rim, UQ keeps a stranglehold on the stuff, so it's a mystery how exactly a man in Exotic territory has a supply. Viper subtly accuses the man of turning coats to Underworld Queen, an allegation he's quick to deny before scurrying away, unwilling to start anything with Exotic.

With the situation resolved, the group turns their attention towards the young man, who's ecstatic at seeing the genuine Exotic squad help him out of a sticky situation. At Viper's comments, the man turns to the protagonist and thanks him before introducing himself as Joseph, a small-time businessman in the area. He promises to help out in any way he can, which catches the protagonist's attentions.

### The Outlaw's Dilemma

After being invited inside Joseph's place, the protagonist explains the situation. Joseph is willing to help gather information on Heavenly Ascension's instigators. Viper remarks how good things can come from unexpected places, but Jackal is more focused on possible fallout. If he's caught snooping, Heavenly Ascension won't hesitate to turn Joseph into one of their suicide bombers, especially if they find out he's a proxy for a Central Government agent. Joseph is aware of the potential for this to go poorly, and is even afraid of it, but he's willing to repay Exotic and co. for saving him earlier, citing loyalty as an important thing even for bottom of the barrel folk like himself, though he admits he used to be an Ark citizen. Jackal is surprised he's not an Outer Rim native, but it turns out Joseph used to be an office worker with a wife and family. But he ran afoul of some criminals who stole his citizen ID chip, and without that, the authorities just saw him as another Outlaw trying to jump the border. Joseph's story takes the protagonist aback, but the former declines the latter's offer of help, citing his hands aren't clean anymore after what he's done to survive. Nonetheless, he asks for one day to gather the information needed, and bids them farewell.

Back the the hideout, Crow reviews the results of the patrol. She's skeptical about whether Joseph can be trusted, but drops the issue on grounds that her only concern is making sure the protagonist and her squad come out of this in one piece. Noticing the time, Crow asks Viper to take the protagonist to one of the nicer hotels, which Viper somehow already knows despite no names being mentioned. She takes the protagonist by the arm, promising to guide him to the most luxurious place in the Outer Rim.

### Accomplice

An unfamiliar street expands before the protagonist's eyes, which Viper introduces as Ephialtes, the Outer Rim's biggest entertainment district. As a place worthy of that title, Ephialtes sees patronage from big-wig executives and even high-ranking government officials. Viper insists this is hospitality on Exotic's part, and even insists on grabbing the protagonist's phone so they can exchange numbers. Following that, she drags him inside a hotel.

Much to the protagonist's surprise, the place is surprisingly clean, in more ways than one. No grungy feel or sleaziness to it at all. Viper points out that one of the main selling points of this hotel is that inside, all communications are blocked. Which makes this place perfect for anything requiring...privacy or discretion.

Viper lays on the bed and takes control of the conversation, interrogating the protagonist on his reasons for entering the Outer Rim and contacting Exotic. She accuses him of trying to find anything that would link Exotic to the terrorist attacks, and when he denies it, she grabs his phone and pulls up the ExoticController, now useless since it can't send a detonation signal.

Viper plays the part of the betrayed damsel, calling on the lack of trust on his part. The protagonist's apology does little to mollify Viper, and she swaps her phone for his so she can keep him from using the explosive collars. At the protagonist's request, she accedes that she will only look at the ExoticController app, and not rifle through his phone for confidential information and will funnel any new orders from Andersen to him. With this exchange, Viper proclaims the protagonist is Exotic's partner in crime.

### Manager Exotic

The next day, the protagonist is once again with Jackal and Viper, checking Joseph's place to see if he has the information. The man seems oddly deflated at first to see Exotic, but quickly changes his tune and invites everyone inside.

According to Joseph's intel, the attacks on the Dome of Eternity were done by a rogue member of Heavenly Ascension, one of the lower-end grunts. Joseph has no idea where they've gone, but it's believed they've slipped back to the Outer Rim to let the heat die down, and funded this venture through scams. Ergo, finding the culprit is just a matter of tracking large-scale monetary transactions in the Outer Rim. The protagonist is impressed that all this info came from one day of work, and it turns out Joseph loosened the lips of a HA friend of his through copious use of liquor. Joseph then asks the protagonist on his next course of action, which of course is finding and arresting the culprit. He ponders if the protagonist is being too hasty in judging the culprit without attempting to reason or resolve this peacefully, but the protagonist's main concern is limiting damage to the Ark and its citizens. Joseph's remarks begin to irk Viper, who points out that the protagonist likely doesn't give a hoot about Exotic or the Outlaws, showing the ExoticController on his phone as proof.

Something seems to click in Joseph's mind, and seconds later, the building teems with mass-produced Nikkes, guns trained on the protagonist and Exotic. Joseph declares that everyone must die, and a firefight ensues.

The battle quite obviously ends in Exotic's favor. Rather than be vexed, Joseph is impressed, resigned even, at this turn of events. The protagonist is briefly oblivious, leading Viper to spell it out. Joseph is the rogue Heavenly Ascension member responsible for the Dome of Eternity attacks, and the one the protagonist was sent here to capture. Jackal croons that they basically knew the whole time, and the preceding events only affirmed their suspicions. Turns out this was Crow's plan the whole time, to dangle a Central Government goon right in front of Joseph, which would make him overeager to strike out.

Needless to say, the protagonist is not happy with this plan, but Viper reminds him that everything turned out fine. She then details that the majority of Heavenly Ascension wasn't onboard with the attacks, so it's caused a big fuss in the organization. But if Crow had gone through with bringing Joseph in herself, at best she'd burn a few bridges in the Outlaw sphere, at worst Exotic would become total pariahs. Ergo, the best way was to bring in a Central Government worker (i.e. the protagonist) and have them take all the credit/flak for it.

Joseph snarks at the protagonist, wondering if he's proud to have captured a heinous terrorist, or if he's eager to see if this can land him a promotion. Quietly, the protagonist admits that no, he's not feeling proud about this at all. Joseph comments that even Ark citizens have a shred of humanity, even if none of them even care to listen to the Outlaw side of the story. Viper cares little for this preaching, and takes Joseph to the hideout for Crow to handle.

### Some Justice

At the hideout, Crow looks over Joseph, chiding him for letting his emotions take control and thus getting him caught by his peers. Joseph himself questions Crow, asking if she thinks this turn of events is fair. He points to the protagonist and begins a tirade against the Central Government.

They wall off the Outer Rim and don't hand out food? Not ideal, but tolerable since Outlaws can scrounge Rapture parts from the surface for credits via black market.

They incite internal conflict among Outlaws to snag corpses for experiments? Again tolerable since there's always boltholes to wait out the storm.

But the one thing that Joseph can't let slide is the denial of basic human rights like light. The Dome of Eternity that shines over the Ark and *only* the Ark. Would it really be a difficult to shine even one iota of that light into the Outer Rim?

Crow concedes it'd be all too easy for the Central Government to give light to the Outer Rim. But they won't, because they and the citizens don't care one bit for the plight of the Outlaws. Even with some exceptions like the protagonist, the fact is there are few, if any who care, and even fewer still who are in any position to do anything about it. The far simpler solution for them is to shove all the unsightly things in a corner and try to forget they exist. And that is why light will never grace the Outer Rim.

At the gate separating the Ark from the Outer Rim, Exotic bids their goodbyes to the protagonist. He thanks Viper in particular for the help, and she hands him back his phone, plus a few...goodies in his photos. Crow cuts the chatter down as the protagonist asks her what Joseph's fate will be. Crow wonders what he's talking about when he offers the hypothetical(?) scenario of not arresting Joseph and subjecting him to the Ark's justice. She answers in which case she'd likely hand him over to Heavenly Ascension as a way of peacefully resolving their conflict, though whatever punishment HA has in mind, it probably wouldn't be any more pleasant than what the Ark would do to him.

The protagonist comes face-to-face with a choice. Will he take Joseph and bring him to the Ark, to be judged by the aggrieved parties who nothing about him? Or will he let Joseph remain in the Outer Rim, where he will be sentenced by his peers to some presumably unpleasant fate?

Whatever choice is made, the gates of the border open. As the protagonist returns to the light and safety of the Ark, Crow bids him goodbye, hoping he won't need to revisit the Outer Rim.

### Hard Mode Epilogue: Peace Again

About a week later, the news reports that the Dome of Eternity is fully repaired, and authorities are on the trail of the culprit behind the attacks.

Andersen commends the protagonist for resolving the situation, and restoring peace to the Ark. Noticing the protagonist's silence, he asks if something is wrong, to which the protagonist responds that he's uncertain he did the right thing.

Andersen tells the protagonist so long as he continues to work in the name of the Central Government, he will always be plagued by that uncertainty, especially when it comes to the Outer Rim. The protagonist rejects Andersen's suggestion of turning a blind eye to protect himself, a response that Andersen calmly accepts, remarking that misfits like the protagonist remind society that there is always more than one way to live.

## Trivia

* The name "Ephialtes" means "nightmare" in Greek.
	+ It can also refer to Ephialtes of Trachis, a man infamous for betraying Greece during the war with the Persian king Xerxes, leading to the death of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.
* As part of the moral ambiguity of the event, and even possibly the setting itself, the epilogue intentionally makes no references as to what specifically the protagonist did with Joseph.