RvB: Atonement
Summary: Locus flees Charon industries, hoping to find atonement. Crashing on an unknown planet, he may find it.
Ch 1 the beginning
Memories. It was all that Locus had. Locus, who used to be a soldier for the UNSC, fought in some of the most vicious battles in the human-covenant war. Locus, who used to work for Charon industries, who was manipulated by another mercenary, Felix. It was enough to drive a man mad.
And Locus was sure he was already mad. As much as he'd like to see a therapist, find the help he needed, he couldn't. A price had been put on his head by the UNSC, and the remnants of Charon industries.
Locus stood from his seat and headed to the cargo bay where his supplies were. He grabbed his sniper rifle and shotgun, and put all the ammunition in a sack along with grenades.
"Shit." Locus said, looking out the back window and seeing two UNSC sabre fighters approaching him.
Locus knew his pelican couldn't outrun or outfight the sabre's, so he grabbed as many supplies as he could, strapped them to his armor, and jumped out the back end of the pelican, just as a missile was fired from a sabre and impacted the pelican, destroying it.
Locus turned his body around and faced the planet, the searing heat of the atmosphere pressing against his armor.
"Here goes nothing." Locus said, and straightened his legs out beneath him, free falling thru the air.
Locus counted his descent, and he was falling at a fast rate of 1,000 feet per second. As he broke thru the cloud layers, he saw a city coming into view, boarding an ocean.
"Son of a bitch." Locus muttered, realizing he was going to land in the water and it wouldn't be pleasant. Chances are, he would die in the process.
Locus went feet first into the water, the impact was enough to knock him out.
"What was that?" Pema wondered, seeing something crash into the water, creating a small tidal wave.
"What was what?" Kya asked, walking into the air temple courtyard.
"I saw something go into the water." Pema said, pointing to where she saw Locus land.
Kya jumped into the water and swam deeper until she saw Locus.
'Oh my God.' Kya thought.
Kya made a sphere of water around Locus and brought him to the surface.
"I can't hold him much longer!" Kya shouted, struggling to hold the heavy armor with her bending.
Two earth bender sentries helped Kya lift him up the cliff face and dumped him in the courtyard.
"What is that?" Kya asked, pointing to the armor and weapons.
"Nothing I'd seen before." One of the sentries said.
"Lets get him inside. Hopefully he'll be awake." Kya said.
As they carried Locus inside the temple, Kya wondered one thing. Who was he? And where did he come from?
Stow it! You're nothing more than an armor and a gun!
Will you forget about following goddamned orders?! I'm not doing this for Hargrove. I'm doing this, for me.
Locus, what are you doing? You're a soldier.
I'm not a soldier. I'm a monster like you… I'm not doing this for Charon, I'm doing this for me.
I gave you a chance, agent Washington. And you choose to fight. I admire that.
Fuck you, monster.
No. I'm not a monster. I'm a soldier. Like you.
Memories flooded thru Locus's mind, and Locus regained consciousness. He faintly heard voices talking beside him.
"We don't know who he is. He just came out of nowhere."
"Don't worry, Kya. We'll take care of him."
Locus sharply breathed, but was unable to draw in a full breath. Locus ripped his helmet off and began to disassemble his upper armor, hoping to get it off before he passed out.
"What are you doing?" Tenzin asked, seeing Locus awake.
"Help me get the armor off." Locus said.
Tenzin and Kya helped Locus take the upper armor off, revealing a block body suit, closely hugging his figure.
"Damn. He's more fit than you, Tenzin." Kya said.
"Comes from being 25 years old." Locus said, and stood up, though he was off balance.
"Woah, take it easy." Kya said, grabbing Locus to steady him, but was surprised by his immense size and strength. He was easily over 6 feet tall, his boots made him taller than Tenzin.
Locus walked to a corner and grabbed his shotgun, racking the pump.
"Can we help you?" Tenzin asked, not sure how to respond. He saw this man get pulled out of the water unconscious, and only two hours later, he wakes up and grabs what appears to be a weapon of some sort.
Tenzin walked towards Locus, only for Locus to immediately rack a pumping mechanism on the weapon and point it at Tenzin. Tenzin stopped where he stood, and made a note not to tell anyone he believed this man was deadly with his weapons.
"What's your name?" Locus asked.
"Tenzin. This is my sister, Kya."
"Alright Tenzin, and Kya. Let me explain my point of view. I'm on the run, and crashed here on some unknown planet. I get pulled from the water, which I'm thankful for. I want to know what happens next. Will you contact the authorities or what?" Locus asked.
"If that's a weapon, put it down. Lets try to be civil." Tenzin said.
"Understood." Locus said, and put his shotgun leaning against the wall, followed by his sniper rifle.
"What's your name?" Kya asked.
"Locus."
"That's all? Locus?" Kya asked.
"Is that a problem?" Locus asked, in his normally deep voice which was enough to scare the crap out of anyone who didn't have a spine.
"No, but it's just…" Kya started.
"Kya, don't try and change who I am. I've been thru a lot of shit, and I'd like to get away from it all." Locus said.
"What are you trying to get away from?" Tenzin asked.
"I'll tell you later, but I need to know if I'm safe here. For starters, I saw this city when I crashed in the ocean. What is it?" Locus asked.
"You're on air temple island, right next to Republic City, the capital of the United Republics." Tenzin said.
"How many countries are on the planet?" Locus asked.
"5 countries. The fire nation, the earth kingdom, the northern and southern water tribes, and the united republics." Kya said.
Locus then doubled over in pain, grabbing his stomach.
"Lay down, I can heal you." Kya said.
Tenzin left the room and locked the door behind him. Locus took the remaining armor off and started to take the body suit off, and Kya cringed at the sight. A nasty burn was bright red and peeling, starting from his collarbone, down to his stomach.
"I need you to sit up." Kya said, and observed his backside, seeing black and purple bruises all over the skin. Kya wasn't sure how he was still alive.
"How are you still alive?" Kya asked, as Locus lay on his back.
"I'm not one to talk about such things." Locus answered.
Kya could feel his eyes on her, and she had the feeling that she'd be dead if Locus wished it. She knew her patient demanded respect, and she was willing to give the respect. She wondered how effective Locus would be at peak condition. He had burns and bruises all over his torso and back, and lacerations across his arms.
"Who are you?" Kya whispered, wondering is Locus was human or not.
"I'm a soldier, I think." Locus said, mostly to himself.
As Kya applied the water to Locus's wounds, Locus relaxed under the soothing effects of the healing.