I'd like to thank Ragnarok666 for the idea behind this story. I owe you one!

This fiction will also include some Isaac and Ellie romance, because my life just kind of revolves around that.

NORTON POV

He'd never been so sure that he wanted to kill Clarke.

The gun was in his hand, the laser sights were trained on Clarke's chest, and all he had to do was pull the trigger.

Norton's heart was pounding in time with the fury flooding through his body. Everything had gone wrong - he, along with all the others with the exclusion of Clarke, would have been able to go home if Clarke hadn't gone and messed it all up.

And now, there was no ship for them to be able to leave the damned planet on.

He only wanted to be able to go home; was that so bad? He only wished to have Ellie for the remainder of his life; that surely wasn't a crime, was it?

The whole point of Norton coming to Tau Volantis was for him to be able to repair his flawed relationship with Ellie. He hadn't truly come to end the Necromorph threat; he had gone to find her and come back home with her.

But of course, Clarke's insufferable stubbornness had screwed them all. So instead of being able to return to Earth and maybe have a normal life, they would be stuck on the planet for God-knows-how-long when Norton really just wanted to get the hell off and never have to go through anything like it again.

It was now or never. Clarke had his own gun out in self-defense, aiming at him, and obviously only one of them would come out of it alive.

With his mind and body screaming at him to do it, Norton pulled the trigger.

The shot embedded itself in Clarke's chest, near his lower ribs, and the engineer collapsed to the ground with a loud cry of pain.

Off to the side, Carver stared at Clarke as he went limp, dead for certain, then reached for his own weapon. Norton immediately aimed at him, daring the sergeant to fire.

Carver held up his own gun, trained on his superior, and the two stared at each other, locked in a battle of wills.

"You won't do it," Norton muttered, just loud enough for his lower to hear. "I'm your captain. You won't shoot me."

Carver hesitated, shifting his grip on the gun, and spat, "You may higher ranked than I am, but it was wrong for you to shoot him. He didn't do anything wrong. I won't watch while you walk away."

"Then don't," Norton replied, and tightened his fingers on the weapon. "Sorry, man, but I gotta tie up loose ends."

Then he aimed for Carver's stomach and fired, effectively puncturing the EarthGov sergeant's suit and rendering him unmoving as he fell to the ground, blood staining the white ice.

Norton lowered his gun, gazing for a moment at the two men laying on the ground and the blood around them. Shock overcame him for a moment, his mind whispering, 'What's Ellie going to say?'

The mission had required Clarke to be successful, after all. Without him, there was no point in lingering around. They would be forced to admit that the mission had failed, and most likely Ellie would want to head home if it was all over.

But wasn't that what Norton wanted? Hadn't he just hoped for a chance to go home all this time?

His chance was here, and he sure as hell was going to take it.

A small smile crept over his face as he imagined being able to have a good, normal relationship with Ellie, one untouched by any jealous last-year's-model on the outside. With Clarke gone, there was really no need to worry about a potential threat.

And Ellie...

He would tell her that after the confrontation with Danik, the Nexus had gotten both Clarke and Carver, but neither of them had gotten out alive. It would likely soothe her suspicions and nobody would be the wiser.

'Yeah, that'll work... I'll just tell her that.'

He assumed that neither Clarke nor Carver was alive, seeing as how they weren't moving even a little. There was no need to check their RIGs; Norton had full confidence in his aim and the weapon he held.

"Sayonara, bastards," he whispered, giving them a mock salute.

Then he pulled up the hood of his blue snowsuit, shivering as the cold wind blew small chips of ice into his face, and walked away.

Well, I know this is practically the shortest chapter I've ever written, but I hope you like it.

Please, do review!