13:41 AM, August 9th, 2017

Above Mount McKinley, Alaska

Dr. Bain and his fourteen year old daughter, Lily were sitting in a helicopter. They both sat quietly immersed in their thoughts even though the weather was perfect outside, showing every little detail of the breathtaking scenery to them.
"Thanks for taking me Dad." - Lily said. Bain nodded, distracted by his ideas.

The chopper has been rented by the family to take them to a possible meteorite impact site that hit the surface a few hours ago. Dr. Bain was a lone astrophysicist who had a little lab near Anchorage that studied near earth objects and their potential threat to the planet. He was a very seclusive man. He preferred not to be near people if he had the chance. He liked stars better. His daughter of course was an exception. When he heard about the crash they immediately set off to be the first to investigate the site. It was a three hour journey from the air field and the pilot was beginning his descent. Just as he was about to start slowing down, his radio began to transmit a message.

"Unidentified civilian helicopter. You are on the perimeter of military controlled airspace. Turn back immediately." - A male voice ordered.

The pilot looked back to his passengers with a sorry face, and began to turn away.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on. I've been warned on radio to turn back before entering a military airspace that lies ahead of us. Apparently I can't take you any closer Doctor. Do you wish to return to Anchorage or will you try to trek to your destination from here?" - He asked.
"No, just drop us off here. We'll be back in two days." - Bain replied and began to dress up. Lily did the same.

"All right. I'll come back for you in two days than." - The pilot replied and descended to the surface. As the two warmly dressed hikers got out, the chopper was momentarily on its way back to Anchorage.

Father and daughter began to walk briskly towards the coordinates Dr. Bane had. They walked quietly for a couple of minutes when finally Lily broke the silence.

"So will you tell me how you too have met?" - She asked, trying to start a conversation. The man continued on for a couple of seconds before the question finally reached his mind.

"How we've met with whom, Lily?" - He asked and smiled at his daughter.

"Mom of course. How did you meet her?" - She replied.

"We..." - He began, and stopped abruptly to think about what he was going to say. It was twenty years ago, and so many things were different back then. Life was so perfect. After all these years, barely thinking about her hurt him now.

"We've met near here actually. She was hiking in the mountains when I saw her." - Bain said.

"Did you say something to her? Or did she?" - Lily asked.

"I... don't remember, but I do know it was love at first sight for both of us." - He said, laughing.

"Did you go hiking many times? Like we do?" - Lily continued.
"Oh yes! She was traveling a lot. She was a scientist like me, you see. But when she was in Alaska, we'd always go out together. We've even had a small cottage up north. We would go there, just the two of us and forget about the world for a few days." - He explained.
"Have I been there too? I don't remember very much about her." - She asked trying to recall some memories.

"Yes. When you were very little." - He replied, and continued.

"You loved to throw snowballs at each other. And hot chocolate."

"Did we throw hot chocolate too?" - She asked surprised.

Bain laughed as he visualized the situation.

"No I mean you both loved hot chocolate!"
"She loved you very much Lily. She loved both of us." - He added grimly.

"Than why did she leave us, dad? - She asked, noticeably sad.

"One day... she went traveling like she always did. But she never came back this time." - He said, heavyhearted.

Lily looked at him from behind her ski mask, and they walked on for a few miles reaching a large glade. When finally they stopped to rest.

"Lily, you must understand. She would never have left us intentionally. I knew her. And I'm completely certain... it... it wasn't her choice. I'm sorry Little Bird. " - He said.
"Will you... tell me more about the cottage, Dad?" - She replied. Struggling to keep her voice even.

Just as he was about to reply Dr. Bane spotted a camouflaged Hummer coming towards them.

"Some people are coming to us. Don't speak, until you are spoken to, don't take your mask off, and keep your hands in a clearly visible place. Don't make sudden moves." - He said and continued walking.

Lily was very scared of her father's reaction to the approaching vehicle, and she tried to follow Bain's instructions. She took her hands out of her pockets, and kept looking down, counting her steps as she leaped, like she always did when she was frightened.

The vehicle stopped in front of them and the rear doors popped open on both sides at exactly the same moment. Two camouflaged soldiers approached them.

"Sir! Madam! I'm sorry, but you will have to turn back, and follow the trail back to where you came. This area is under military control until the quarantine is lifted." - He said.

"Good afternoon Sirs! We are not tourists here. I'm an astrophysicist, and this is my assistant. I've been informed of an impact of a smaller fragment of meteorite in the area. I've traveled from Anchorage to take some samples. Our helicopter is due to return for us two days from now. Please could you at least take us to these coordinates? I swear we won't go anywhere else. But we have no way of returning until the chopper picks us up." - He said hoping to be allowed inside, and showed the coordinates on his GPS.

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you inside. I advise you to turn back. If you're caught entering the quarantine again you will be arrested." - The soldier answered and pointed behind them with a head gesture to get them going.
"Can you at least tell me what happened? Was there something in that meteorite fragment? I'm sure I can help with it!" - Bain asked. He wasn't feeling like going back just to wait for the damn helicopter for two days.

"There was no meteorite. It was just an explosion. I'm afraid I can't tell you more." - The soldier replied and they started walking back to their car.

"I'm sorry, but I saw the streak myself. I knew it was a meteorite, I'm not some amateur stargazer. This was no mere explosion. I can prove it, just take us there." - He exclaimed desperately.

"I'm going to need some IDs from both of you then." - The soldier replied.
Bain was regaining hope to enter, and he searched his pockets and handed the cards proving their identity to the soldiers.

"Dr. Bain?" - He asked, looking at the astrophysicist. The doctor nodded.

"Lilian Bain? Daughter?" - He continued. Lily nodded too.

"Good. If I catch you out here one more time, we will take you into custody. I strongly advise that you both take your little family field trip to someplace else or you'll end up in some very serious trouble." - The acting soldier warned them, and handed their IDs back. He gestured 'shoo' with his free hand and turned back. The accompanying soldier reported in. Lily heard their names being mentioned as they walked off.
"Dad... are we in trouble now?" - She asked terrified.

"We could have been, but it's going to be ok now. You were very clever, and did what I asked you to. We'll just have to..." - He said when someone yelled from behind them.
"STOP!"

They froze in their places.

"Slowly turn back, put your hands where we can see them. Dr. Bain, Ms. Bain. Both of you, remove your headgear to be identified." - The soldier ordered, pointing his gun at them.

The astrophysicist did what he was told to do. His heart was beating furiously in his chest. The soldier smiled and gestured to the girl.

"Ms. Bain. Please do as I asked or I will be forced to do it myself."

Lily was breathing heavily. She was scared beyond straight. She has never been in a situation like this before. She reluctantly removed her ski mask and scarf from around her mouth and nose. Her beautiful blue eyes shone in the light like gemstones.

"Your hood too Ms. Bain." - The soldier instructed.

Lily looked at her father. She didn't understand why this was happening.

The girl removed her hood to reveal her hidden asari scalp crests from under the fabric of the clothing.
"Jason, Jason. You've been a naughty boy!" - The soldier said laughing.

"It's them." - He announced into his radio, swinging the barrel of his weapon to get the extraordinary family to move towards the car.
Both of them got an injection that knocked them out, they only awoke hours later in separate rooms. As the reports came in to the base commander's office, she found it was high time to inform her superior of the situation.
"The alien has spoken Sir." - Colonel Parker said in to her unusually shaped phone after she called the only number it was able to call.

"Good. What have you learned?" - The mysterious voice asked.

"We've studied the bodies that you've recovered from earlier incidents, and Dr. Timothy successfully synthesized a truth serum for their physiology. It has been working optimally on the live specimen. We have a basic understanding of their interstellar propulsion engineering. It utilizes an element we have never seen before. Or never knew where to look for it. They call it element zero. If this matter is subjected to electric currents it has the ability to create a field of dark energy which they manipulate to achieve different effects in almost every aspect of their technology." - She described.

"Interesting Colonel. This could definitely give us an edge in the future. What else?"
"My men have found the person of interest the alien mentioned. Along with another alien masked as a human. It appears to be the equivalent of an 8th grader, although we haven't been able to determine its age yet." - She said.

"Nice job! Keep me updated, I want specifics. Get as much information out of them as possible. We need to understand those weapons better. Threaten it with killing Dr. Bain or their spawn if you have to. Until next time Colonel." - He said and the line went dead.

Colonel. Everyone called her that, even her superior, though she was not actually military. Non of them were. She was just a mercenary who resigned from active military duty years ago when she became fed up with the red taping and tiptoeing when dealing with the enemy. They were all recruited to this facility from completely different areas of life. The people down here had a very specific set of talents, employed by the most seclusive and wealthy man on Earth. But none of them saw him in person, ever. They were his own private army, and it appeared that he had no limits in resources.
Seeing his species stumbling like an infant, governed by amateurs into pointless wars with childish debates over irrelevant political borders, ultimately leading to their own demise, he decided human kind should have a professional protector. Something that cared for the entire race as a whole.

He had a vision: A secret guardian equipped with the technological excellence and the know-how to operate from the shadows only to improve Earth's chances of survival in a harsh universe of unknowns and threats. A group which served as a loyal watchdog waiting to be unleashed on the enemy of Men, when nobody else was prepared to do what it takes. To serve as the rapid response force, to any terror, be it on surface or space, when bureaucracy fails to deliver.

In his eyes, this group of people was the embodiment of the mythical hellhound, the frontier guard on the edge of mankind and hell itself. Thus he began to refer to themselves by an ancient name. He called the group: Cerberus.