To all my subscribers on youtube: This is the definitive version of my ending to Deus Ex Machina. As I stated in the Vlog, I truly didn't want it to turn out this way. I really wish I could have made a worthy machinima ending to the series but as I stated before, I have no more motivation to continue making it and there's really no more support for the project either. That and it wasn't fun working on it either. I realized after a while that I was forcing myself continue making it. However, I did enjoy planning out the story and writing the script and I'd rather make something that I enjoy working on rather than force myself to make something and have it turn out to be a piece of junk.
To all the newcomers: This is my ending to a machinima series called Deus Ex Machina, created back in 2007, by a person who went by the name DigitalPh33r, more commonly known for his "Arby n the Chief" series on youtube. He now goes by the name Jon CJG and never finished Deus Ex Machina despite there being one episode left. Now, my own ending was supposed to be a machinima but as stated above, I lost all motivation to make my ending in machinima form but enjoyed planning and writing the story. So if you're a fan of the series, hopefully you'll find this to be a worthy ending.
Deus Ex Machina: Episode 9 – "Doomsday (Part 2 of 2)" Act 5
"Where's that goddamn rocket launcher private?" shouted the UNSC Marine Corporal.
"Almost ready sir!" replied the Private
"Well ready it faster! We haven't got all fucking day!" the corporal shouted back as he pulled the trigger of his MA5C Assault Rifle, sending a volley of rounds at the Wraith that was slowly turning to face the three marines hidden behind a small stack of rocks.
They were in a bad situation, every human was: The Covenant had begun their invasion of Salvation City, the last human civilization on earth. The UNSC had lost contact with The Pillar of Autumn II 12 hours ago when they dispatched the bulk of their forces to deal with the slowly approaching threat of a Deus Ex Machina robot clone that was supposedly carrying a strain of the Ebola virus in the form of a bomb, set to detonate once it had reached deep enough into the city. The marines lost a good chunk of their forces before the real Deus Ex Machina had arrived to help, leading the clone away from the city. The marines later found the clone lying in a heap just outside the city perimeter shortly after the first sign of the Covenant were seen with the real Deus Ex Machina nowhere to be found. Their numbers stretched thin, a defense perimeter was hastily constructed around all the key points of the city as they waited for the first wave of Covenant troops to attack.
Small recon teams had been sent in to try and conduct a few guerilla attacks on the first covenant patrols in hopes of slowing them down as well as gaining whatever information they could on enemy positions, strength, etc. In the case of this squad, they had tried flanking the wraith from the rear in hopes of putting a rocket in its back, which would have brought it down
in one hit. Unfortunately, the Sangheili in the gunner seat had spotted them when they tried to cross the river and immediately began firing on them with the Wraith itself turning to face them. Making matters worse is that the private handling the rocket launcher failed to take in the time it took to ready the weapon for combat versus a Wraith turning a mere 90 degrees.
"Ok, ready!" shouted the private, just as the other private had fired a 3-round burst from his BR-55 Battle Rifle, one of the rounds hitting the Wraith gunner in the eye before he could activate his shields, killing him instantly.
"Well fire the fucking thing already!" shouted the corporal. Just as the private crouched into the firing stance, the Wraith discharged it's weapon, sending a glob of brilliant white/purple light hurling toward the three marines a mere 30 feet away.
"SON OF A BI-" was the last thing the corporal shouted before all three marines disappeared in a bright explosion. Only a large black spot and a small remaining amount of rock remained where they stood mere seconds ago.
Far away from where the squad had made their final stand, at the outskirts of Salvation City, in a tall structure meant to act as a sign of the city limits, now serving as a temporary forward command center, Captain Roy Griffiths stood in the basement of the structure, surrounded by a cluttered mess of weaponry and equipment, staring outside the structure at the sun, a Battle rifle in one hand, waiting for an update from any of his recon teams. He had sent them in an hour ago and had heard nothing, aside of his main Lieutenant, Ryan Fitzgerald telling him they had lost contact with all but one remaining scout team. That alone shook him to the core. If all but one of their recon teams were dead within an hour, that alone spoke volumes about their enemy's strength. His best scout Jacob was in there too. Griffiths wondered if even he could survive.
However, just when he had assumed the worst, the radio on the table behind him crackled to life, Fitzgerald's voice coming through.
"Captain," said a voice. Griffiths turned to face the radio. "I'm sorry to bother you but we need you topside."
"What happened?" replied Griffiths.
"We've lost contact with the last of the scout teams you sent in and our sniper spotted the first of the Covenant on the horizon."
Griffiths let out a heavy sigh, part frustration and part sorrow. "Ok…be right up…" he said.
Lieutenant Ryan Fitzgerald stared out at the landscape in front of him, behind the wall of the large beacon structure taking in the events unfolding before him: the prefab barricades receiving their final fortifications, the men taking up their positions, the first signs of the covenant invasion on the horizon, his heart and mind racing a mile a minute. In a way though, it was a beautiful scene, worthy of a picture indeed. If humanity ever lived through this, if he ever lived through this, it would be one hell of a story to tell his children should he ever have any some day.
"Are you sure you haven't heard from them at all?" asked a voice behind him, making him nearly jump out of his armor.
"Yes sir," he managed to say turning around to face him. "…and give the current circumstances…it's best to believe they're all dead."
"Indeed…it does warrant such a belief…what about the robot? Have you figured that one out yet?" asked Griffiths.
"It was a dud sir," replied Fitzgerald.
"A dud?" Griffiths almost yelled.
Fitzgerald nodded. "My best guess is that it was designed to lure us down here to weaken the defenses in outer space and…it worked."
A thousand thoughts and theories immediately raced through Griffiths mind as to who and/or why that person would have done this but they would all have to wait. He had bigger problems on hand.
"Well…that settles it then. Prepare to-"
"Captain! Are you there?" a voice interrupted over the radio in Griffiths armor. It was Jacob.
"Jacob!" said the Captain. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, for the moment. I don't have much time though."
"Go ahead, what have you got?" said Griffiths.
"Ok, no doubt you've all seen the first of the Covenant by now, correct?"
"Yeah," replied Griffiths.
"Captain, I don't believe we can win this fight. Their vehicle strength isn't too powerful to the point where we can't mount a defense but their infantry…I've never seen so goddamn many of them before…as far as I can tell, we're outnumbered three to one…and there's more than enough reason to believe this is only the first wave…"
"Fantastic…" Griffiths muttered just loud enough for only himself to hear. "Can you fall back?"
"Negative sir," Jacob replied "I don't even think I'll be able to hide at the rate they're closing in."
"Conceal yourself as best you can and do not engage the enemy unless spotted…we'll get you out of there," said Griffiths, trying to give hope to a man who might as well have been dead at that point.
"Orders sir?" asked Fitzgerald as Griffiths clicked off his com.
"Get everyone ready. I want this base ready for a fight!" he ordered.
"Right away!" replied Fitzgerald as he ran off to make the announcement.
Griffiths walked the wall of the beacon structure, looking out the fast approaching covenant forces as he listened to Fitzgerald over his com. He saw every man in the sector readying their weapons and take up positions. He heard Warthog's rev up and speed by the beacon, Hornet gunships take off, and could hear the tremble of the massive alien military closing in on them, ready to sacrifice every soldier they had to see the last human drop dead and their blood on their hands. Unlike Fitzgerald however, only one thought was crossing his mind at that point.
"God knows we've got the mother of them all coming down on us…"
6 Hours Earlier
Jon sat on a perch of land overlooking the doorway the decapitators had recently found for him, allowing him to exit the same hell-hole he had nearly died in twice now. It was only blind, sheer luck that the pheromone had been there else he would have undoubtedly been dead by now. So here he was, sitting up against a rock, exhausted, trying to recap what had happened in recent hours.
He slowly began to remember…a mysterious figure coming up to him in the middle of the street, telling him to check on Michael, returning to the hideout to find it emptied out save for a table with a laptop on it that said "Play me," Michael's death at the hands of Patrick and…
"Mike…" he thought. His thoughts stopped dead in their track. If only he had been there, if he hadn't run away like a coward, Mike might still be alive…but no, he had to run away from everything rather than face his demons like a man. How did he even get here? What was he thinking even trying to clean up the city? Become this great vigilante and a hero to the people, who was he trying to fool? He suddenly thought suicide once more…why not? His pistol was in hand…still a few rounds left…
His suicide contemplation was cut short once again as he heard a familiar sound off in the distance that grew louder with each passing second. He stood up and looked around for a few moments until his eyes caught what he was looking for: A small purple colored bulbous shaped aircraft speeding through the sky. It passed over the arena once, flying low enough to spot him standing out in the open. His heart stopped. Everything that happened up to this moment came rushing forward: The attack on the city from the robot clone, the long, brutal fight, finding out Patrick was the true mastermind behind what would be humanity's ultimate destruction.
"No…no…NO!" he shouted. "Damnit! I was so caught up in the fight that I completely forgot…"
Several huge explosions suddenly rocked the arena, Jon turning to face the closest one to the right of him. What he saw come through the smoke only confirmed his biggest fear yet: Six tall, wide, lizard-like brown-grayish skinned Sangheili, one in red armor, the other five in blue armor. Jon froze, unsure of what to do. Quickly looking around, he could see at least a dozen other Sangheili coming into the arena from all sides.
Then, as soon as the red-armored Sangheili looked him directly in the eye, his battle instinct kicked in. He readied his assault rifle, checked to make sure it was loaded and fired a swath of rounds at the six Sangheili grouped together before jumping down from the ledge and retreating back into the decapitator's lair. There was no way he could fight all those Sangheili. His retreat plan was cut short not too far into the lair though, as he quickly spun to the right at the first intersection he came across to see one of the Sangheili charge out a deliver a hard punch right to Jon's face. The armor absorbed the impact but Jon was caught off-balance, sending him flying into the center pillar not eight feet away, losing his assault rifle in the process. By this point, both impacts combined with the exhaustion from previous battles caused Jon to practically be seeing stars. He nearly lost consciousness until he saw the alien ready his energy sword and assume its attack posture. He just barely managed to move to the side as the sword plunged into the wall mere inches from his head.
Not giving the alien any time to react, he grabbed a fistful of dust in his hand and, seeing as how the alien hadn't activated its shields yet, threw the dust right into its eyes, causing it to let go of its sword automatically deactivating the weapon. Jon, back on his feet by now, picked up the energy sword and re-activated it. Charging at the Sangheili, he plunged the sword right through the alien's neck. It struggled, clinging to life even trying to grab the sword. Not cutting it any slack, Jon arched the sword backward, effectively slicing the alien's head clean in two.
His victory was short lived as he heard a menacing growl to his right. He looked only to see three more Sangheili standing there thoroughly mad at their comrade's death. All three looked primed and ready to hack Jon into pieces. Jon's response was to throw the sword at the group in an attempt to buy some time for him to get away. The attempt was mostly in vain as all three aliens were able to safely dodge it. He continued running despite this until he saw he was quickly advancing upon a blocked off entrance into the lair. With time quickly running out and the three Sangheili close in pursuit, he activated his armor's strength ability which could potentially enable to him lift up 1 metric ton. He had never tried it before so he was unsure at the moment of what it could do. His doubt however shared the same fate as the blockage, it too having its structural integrity being obliterated as the super charged armor collided with it.
Quickly gaining his feet, he turned to the right where a passage to the surface lay and saw four other Sangheili quickly dropping down from the ledge above. He turned the other way and ran as fast as he can blind-firing his pistol behind him until it ran out of ammo. Just as he reached the other passage to the surface, he stopped. There he was: The leader of the little hunting pack staring right at him. It said nothing…merely stared at him as the seven other covenant caught up with him.
By now, Jon was boxed in. There was no way he could escape. There may have been a small chance he could have made it by trying to run past the major domo but snipers taking place further away gave him no opportunity beyond that. It seemed as though Jon's luck had finally run dry until he caught something to the left…could it be…yes! It was! He saw a cylinder shape carving in the wall, glowing a purple hue, small sparkles traveling through the carving, ascending to the top until they passed out of sight: A gravity lift. Then, turning his attention back to the major, he saw the alien brandish its energy sword and charge, the others not moving, their role clearly to make sure Jon stayed put. Having only a split second to act, he reached for the lower back section of his armor, found what he was looking for and tossed it at the Sangheili. Out came a brilliant flash of white light, temporarily blinding everything looking in Jon's direction. When it cleared, Jon was nowhere to be found.
The gravity lift took him up to a structure built into the side of a cliff that while the layout suggested it was man-made, the design of the walls, floor and ceiling suggested anything but. Quickly looking to make sure no other covenant were present as well as reloading his pistol, he headed in the direction where the sound of a waterfall was coming from. After going down a ramp, through a hall and up a stairway, he came out to a wide platform overlooking the ocean with a half-circle shaped waterfall just below. Looking down, he saw that it was quite a drop and going that route meant certain death.
"Ok…can't go that way so…ah fuck," he said as he turned around. The covenant had caught up to him. The major was leading six other minor domo as they all took up positions around the platform with the major walking to within 10 feet of him, cutting off any chance of escape. He thought they would all immediately come at him, but instead they all seemed to be chattering amongst each-other and from the tone's of their voices, it sounded as though they were debating over who would kill him.
After several long minutes had passed, they had all stopped their chatter and the major, his sword still active in his right hand, shifted into a combat stance. His opponent made clear, Jon detached the M7 SMG off his upper left leg, made sure his pistol was ready and aimed both guns at the alien.
"Whatever…cmon already. I don't have all goddamn day," he said as he prepared to fight his last battle. This time there was no escaping, no more buying time, no chance to prevail. All that was left to do was give them hell before he went…
"Karl! Jon's stopped moving," called the pilot of the old, nearly rusted out hornet.
"Let's see," replied Karl as he came back into the cockpit. "How long has he been like that?"
"About a minute…his vitals are still active but very strained…I think they cornered him."
"Shit, you're right. Ok let me think for a minute…oh, I know. How many missiles do we have again?" asked Karl.
"Four," replied the pilot.
"Ready all of them and arm the guns. I'll set up a firing solution as soon as we have a clear visual. You just take out the remaining covenant after."
"Got it."
"Good, now take us up! Jon hasn't got much time left."
The major looked at Jon and his face twisted into what would be a grin. He readied himself into a combat stance and prepared to charge.
"Shit, what am I gonna do?" panicked Jon mentally. "Ok…best bet may be to side-step and push him off the platform…but what about the other six? Nothin I can about them…to hell with it, I'm fucked either way…guess I'll just take big red one with me…Sorry Mike…but it looks like I won't avenging you anytime soon…"
The major was just about to chargewhen he noticed a massive object rising quickly from below the platform. It didn't take long to realize that the aircraft that was now in full view was a human one.
"Karl, I hope you have that firing solution!" the pilot called out.
"Just a second…ok, got it! Fire! Kill those sonsabitches!"
"Get down!" a voice suddenly called out from behind, leading Jon to hit the deck within half a second.
The major started to back up when four missiles came out from the human aircraft, impacting on areas all around the major. He put his arms up in front of his face to protect himself until he realized he wasn't hit. Looking around, he saw that where his men once stood, it was replaced by a large black burn spot or charred fragments with his comrades nowhere in sight. He looked right at the human vehicle to see it was staring at him. His first reaction was to drop his sword and reach for his rifle, but the aircraft opened fire before he could. By the time he brought his rifle up to bear, the rounds depleted his shields and started tearing through his armor and unprotected sections of his body. The searing pain forced him to drop his gun and try to put his arms up in front of his head. He finally fell over after about five seconds of continued fire.
Jon got to his feet again and looked behind him only to see what looked like a hornet designed for cargo with its back tuned to him and the loading ramp extended. A man stood at the beginning of the ramp.
"Get on!" he shouted. Jon wasted no time in jumping on board as the ramp closed and the back door sealed, the hornet taking off and heading to wherever its destination was. Little did he know that the major domo had survived and was limping toward the platform watching the transport fly away. If anyone could see the look on its face, it was more than clear that the alien wasn't done fighting yet.
Inside the cargo area, Jon was panting heavily, ready to pass out. He would have too had it not been for a familiar voice behind him. The voice of someone who had saved his life for the second time now.
"Glad to see things are looking up for you," joked the voice sarcastically. Jon slowly turned around to see a very familiar person behind him.
"You," he nearly gasped as he stood up.
"You remember me, don't you?" asked the man.
"How could I forget…if it wasn't for you, I'd have been dead a long time ago," replied Jon.
Karl Doyle had saved Jon's life once before. After his first failed attempt to rescue Michael from Derek Owen and being shot in the head, it was only thanks to the efforts of what could be considered the Salvation City resistance that he was still alive. Now here he was, having saved his life yet again.
"Yeah…more or less," he chuckled. "Regardless, it's a damn good thing we got you out of there. Trust me, there were many more covenant pouring into that place than you saw," he said, his voice getting more serious.
"Of all the things that happened today, I can't believe I completely forgot about the covenant invasion," replied Jon.
"Don't worry about that right now. We can deal with them later. Right now we need to get you patched up."
"Wait a second…how do you know about the invasion too?" asked Jon now curios.
"I'll explain later. In case you haven't noticed, you're in some seriously bad shape there. Now come on up front before you pass out," said Karl as he walked toward the front of the hornet.
"Yeah…sure…sounds like a good idea," said Jon as he started to follow Karl.
Just then, he suddenly felt tired. His vision blurred and he was losing his balance. He felt cold, unable to breathe. His walking slowed to a crawl. He tried blinking to clear his vision but as soon as he shut his eyes, they didn't open again. Karl was about to head into the cockpit when he heard a huge thud. He whipped around to see Jon lying face down on the cargo bay floor.
"Jon!" he screamed as he rushed toward him. Turning him over, he finally saw the extent of his injuries. Major lacerations, a few gaping holes blown in him, scorch marks, bullets lodged in him. It made the first time around look like a paper cut. Checking to make sure he was still alive (which he was) he knew Jon didn't have much time left, if it wasn't too late already. Reacting on instinct, there was only one thing he could do:
"Jack! Trauma kit NOW!"
Author's note: NOT the end. We're just gettin started here…