summary: Delta Squad get stuck and have some time to kill. Being so used to killing Locust, this doesn't prove troublesome.
Marcus kicked at the intricately-designed door. His boot resounded with a metal tone and the door didn't budge. All these doors in Nexus were starting to piss him off.
"Shit. Dead end."
"The other way's blocked too," Dom said.
"Jack, see if you can rip this," Marcus said and the robot appeared from nothing.
It floated close to the frame and started up its blowtorch. It beeped an odd note.
"He can't do it?" Dom asked.
"It doesn't look too thick," Baird said, leaning close to the door. "It's probably gonna take a while though. Dunno what these bastards make their buildings out of, exactly."
"Or how," Marcus remarked, taking a look around.
While moving through Nexus, they'd found themselves stuck in a smaller structure. The door they'd entered through was blocked off now, and the room they'd passed through a few minutes ago had been mostly empty save for some storage boxes.
This room resembled a chapel, with rows of uncomfortable-looking metal benches arranged like pews. Columns lined the walls and between them were circular windows, all the way to the back where a larger window overlooked a raised platform and podium. Delta stood near what must have been the front entrance.
"Let's take a look around," Marcus said. He shrugged. "You never know. We might find something useful."
Baird seemed all too eager to dig his scientific teeth into exploring the room; he'd already been doing so with his eyes. He headed straight for the podium in the back, as did Cole.
Dom stayed near Jack and did not look up to exploring Locust buildings today.
Cole stood behind the podium and grasped the sides like he was a preacher. He put on his best fake-televangelist-voice and boomed, "And I say, God said, 'go forth and fill those suckers up with holes!'" He slapped the podium lightly for emphasis, causing a piece of paper to flutter to the floor.
It turned over, revealing a crude drawing Marcus could barely make out from where he stood. He started walking over.
"What's this?" Cole asked himself as he picked up the paper. "Aw, it's kinda cute in a butt-ugly way."
Baird regarded it from over the larger man's shoulder and adjusted his goggles. "Yeah, like I thought. This is definitely a church and they definitely do marriage ceremonies of some kind."
Marcus peered at the paper. Two poorly-drawn figures-they looked like Kantus-were portrayed embracing with their foreheads together. Some runes were scribbled on top, but only Baird could read them.
"They're weird words," he said. "Probably the names of the happy couple."
"They probably ain't happy anymore. I think I recognize that one. Except he was in a pool of his own blood." Cole set the paper down on the podium.
"I can almost believe you'd be able to tell these bastards apart."
Dom had wandered over too to look at the drawing. There were more under it and he started rifling through them. Marcus got a bad feeling about this-marriage probably wasn't the best topic to bring up right now. Yeah, they were grubs, but it might remind him all the same.
"So, are there female Drones and Kantus, or do they get gay married a lot more often than humans?" Dom asked.
"The latter's more likely," Baird said. "If our women were like Berserkers, every sane man would be gay."
"But how do they kiss?" Cole asked.
Baird's face scrunched up and he made a "stop right now" motion towards his friend. "Cole, you're thinkin' too hard about it. Cut it out."
Instead, the man smirked and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hey, didn't another squad report in that Drones like to sleep in big groups, all cuddlin' up to each other?"
Baird whirled around with his hands hovering over his head, like he was thinking about grabbing fistfuls of his hair but wasn't committed to it. "Oh god, stop it."
Cole laughed.
"So it's official, we're getting driven to extinction by a bunch of gay worm worshippers. And we thought we were the strongest things on Sera."
"Now, Damon, ain't that kinda tasteless? Bein' gay doesn't preclude you from bein' able to kick some ass."
"I don't think they care, Cole Train."
Dom dug through his pocket and produced a lighter. Marcus didn't even know he carried a lighter.
"What are you doing?" Marcus asked.
"Burning them," Dom answered, feeding the small flame to the bottom corner of the stack of papers he was holding. "They...they don't deserve it, you know? Being this happy. Not after what they've done to us."
The air felt colder, despite the fires crackling in the torches above. Marcus wanted to say something, but he knew he would have to explain it to Baird and Cole, and now wasn't the time.
As the last of the paper turned to blackened ash, Jack beeped in a cheery way and flew away from the now-opened door. The street looked calm right now, but the men knew that would change once they stepped foot outside.
"All right, Delta, let's move," Marcus said. "We still got work to do."