So the beginning of this chapter is kind of weird. It's just from third person PoV and recognizing some stuff happening on the home front. So for a brief moment, we turn our attentions away from the boys to see the fight from another side. Anyway I hope you guys like the short change of pace as I had fun writing it, and of course after wards we'll head back out to the Orion outskirts. Also I tried my best to get science-y in this chapter...but I'm not an expert so I did what I could, that was also pretty fun. With that being said...

Enjoy! :D


Dean's Theory

Becky had been patient, and was probably the best sibling Finn could ask for. She had taken Dean's words to heart and worked with her cousin to get him back to his old self. The red head worked every day and night to get her cousin to talk to her and just to hear his voice. It had been nearly two week before he finally started talking, and even then it was only single word responses for the most part. But Becky was relentless, and would get Finn to finally speak to her. She loved him with all her heart and it left her heart broken that the experiments that Dean had told her about is what did this to him.

It made her question everything about what was right and wrong about The Falashian Alliance. Becky and her cousin were from the Arbor Providence, directly north of the Asgard Providence. It was directly in the center of Paragon with the Radiance to the west, Leviathan to the north, and lastly the Olympus Providence to the east. Being directly in the center meant it was the central for all trade between the provinces but also the marching grounds for almost every army.

But it also meant that the red headed woman had met many kinds of people from all over Paragon, so she had learned at an early age to accept all kinds of people. However it also meant she learned just as quickly that not everyone she meets are humble or a joy to be around. It made her will iron and taught her to stand her ground against all odds, and that was exactly what she was doing with Finn. When ever he tried to brush her off on his bad days, her iron will and relentless attitude always came out on top.

Now here they were a couple months later, Finn still wasn't looking bright...but at least he was finally speaking more than one word at a time and stopped shaking. He'd still wake up in the middle of the night screaming about nightmares, but still she didn't push him to talk about what happened in Luna or Project: Taladen itself. In fact she wasn't even sure if the experiment even worked on him as he had yet to display a unique ability unlike The Shield. For Becky Lynch though, she was just happy to have him back by her side. Finn meant the world to her.

She beamed brightly that morning watching her goofy cousin scarfed down his breakfast for that morning. As far as Finn's physical state was concerned he had grown a bit and wasn't as thin as when he first returned. He was even back to getting exercise and occasionally helped out in the cafe when he was having a good day. "Sasha feeds you too much," she joked sipping on her coffee that morning enjoying the cinnamon tang that Seth liked. "Eat anymore and you're gonna pop." Finn just stared at her blankly with a mouth full of food. She couldn't help but giggle at the look she was receiving.

Charlotte sighed in relief as the last of the customers from their morning breakfast rush left leaving just the girls and Finn. All of them sat in their own booths to take a breather as the morning rush was always the busiest for them. Each had their own steaming mug of hot coffee drinking the recipe taught to them by Seth that had become one of their most popular items on the menu. Not only did they love the taste but the drink itself reminded them of their brothers out there who were still fighting the good fight. "I miss them," said the blonde being the first to speak in the dead silence.

None of them had really the courage what they were all thinking. The last they saw of The Shield was when they came back banged up from their last mission in Ursa Minor. Just as someone else was about to speak something broke through their window. "Look out!" shouted Finn tackling Bayley to the ground before she could get seriously injured by it. It was his quick reaction time that reminded the girls that he was in fact still a soldier.

Through the small hole suddenly a long, and excruciatingly hot stream of fire sprang forth burning down a few of their hanging plants and making the hole bigger by melting it. Everyone had ducked to avoid the flames and Sasha was able to put one of the plants out by quickly pulling a towel off her belt and snuffing it out. In response Charlotte pulled out a revolver out from under her bar counter and fired a couple of shots towards the hole only for a jet of ice to come out of nowhere and freeze the bullets before reaching the gap in the window.

Becky quickly tried to shift behind some of the booths trying to find Roman's number in her phone. She held it up to her ear as it dialed before dropping it to the floor when another intimidating presence burst through the front door. On reaction Charlotte fired off another bullet from her gun piercing through his leather jacket. He shrugged off the offending material to show the bullet wound had roughly no effect on him and he just let blood flow down his arm. He looked at the blonde woman with an eyebrow raised from under his blue tinted aviator sunglasses. He wasn't afraid of her weapon.

The man mocked Charlotte and pointed to the hole in his bicep as from the wound metal began to encase his whole arm seemingly pouring out from the dark circle. Suddenly his entire arm became metal and wasted no time to lift his arm and back hand a terrified Charlotte knocking her to the floor and to an unconscious state. He slowly began to walk around finding Becky hiding behind the booths. Scared out of her mind, the redhead did the only thing she could think of she began to back up sliding across the floor as the mysterious man came ever so closer.

"Rebecca!" shouted Finn standing in between the assailant and his cousin. "You won't lay a finger on her or any of the girls!" While still keeping his focus on the man, he inspected his features. After shrugging off his jacket he revealed a fair colored taut skin over defined muscles. His hair dark and wavy hair was cut just above his shoulders and had several highlights of blond. Finn's breath hitched suddenly recognizing who the man was. "I thought I put a bullet in your heart."

The man chuckled taking off his sunglasses revealing a dark shade of brown eyes. He folded the glasses and hung them on the front of his tank top. "Clearly you missed."

"I won't be making that mistake again." Finn held his arms out, as something eerie collected behind him. It felt surreal but it looked as if tendrils of shadows were beginning to collect behind the smaller man while making odd screeching noises began to echo in the room. The wavy haired man however seemed unwavered. "I promise you, I won't miss this time…" Finn's shadows eventually collected to make a solid form. Out from behind him, a large tentacle with a spiked end hurled itself towards the intruder.

With a smirk the man put his sunglasses back on and raised the metal arm. In an instant his entire body became metal. He took a low stance looking ready for a fight.


~~Meanwhile, in the Orion outskirts...~~

I remember the good doctor's words perfectly: "We can't save every life, and as much as it hurts to think about it we cannot dwell on it, or we won't be able to save the lives in front of us." But they were right in front of me...I felt myself falling apart at the scene.

I fell to my knees clinging onto my heart. I didn't open my eyes yet, and felt I might have been too late. The explosion from the rocket felt like a massive ripple tearing through my entire being. I lost them, I lost them both. How could I even go on without them now? Another loud searing scream ripped from my body, even louder than when I had my arm torn off. I felt like this wound had cut even deeper than that. All I could do was pound the ground in front of me trying not to shed a tear.

"Dean?" spoke a calming voice next to me. I only held my hand up as Seth tried to calm me down.

"Not now…" I said as I was still trying to cling to my heart that felt like it had been ripped out of me. I needed to hold it together. I could still get Renee and Orton out of here.

"Dean." spoke a more firm voice. My guess it was only Roman trying to be the voice of reason.

Wait a minute…

"What the hell is that?" I heard Orton's voice over the comms. I finally peaked open one eye when I felt each of my brother's hands on each shoulder. They were offering me reassurance, they were both completely fine and unharmed. I looked up and saw both my brother's calming faces and I couldn't help but wipe the tear away that had been burning my eyes. The mere thought of losing my brothers made me cringe and shake. I felt my whole body shaking now from the emotions still running through my body. But what could I do, I just thought I lost my brothers.

I finally stood from my kneeling position and was finally able to look at my brothers in the eyes. Seth pointed upwards and did a circular motion with his finger telling me to look around us. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor at what I saw. Seth, Roman, Renee, and I were surrounded by an eerie blue light that seemed to be blocking bullets from all angles. "Is everyone okay down there? What is that blue bubble?"

Still looking around us, I placidly raised my still shaking arm to turn on my comms. How do I describe this? No amount of scientific research had prepared me for this. I've never seen or even heard such a phenomenon and was leaving me completely baffled. I looked over as Roman looking equally as puzzled walked over to our bubble like shield...thing...and reached his hand out to touch it. His hand went completely through it shield and yet I was still watching bullets hit it and just fall to the ground.

Before I could begin to explain what it was we were looking at, it had disappeared and we were right back into the firing line. We ducked our heads as several bullets flew over head. There was no way we were going to make a clean get away with this many soldiers still firing at us. Even though Roman's explosives took out many there were still stragglers that'd see us dead. "There!" shouted The Big Dog as he pointed to a nearby Leviathan jeep. Seth tugged my arm to point out a stack of crates in the opposite direction.

We split to divide the attentions of our enemies. Roman hoisted Renee into his arms, using his strength he was able carry her bridal style, and make haste for the jeep he had pointed to use as cover. I blocked an incoming bullet headed for Seth with my right arm before making our way for the stack to do the same. I switched my staff to it's bow form and let the arrows fly, as everyone else did with their guns. I put my back against the gray crates loading up another arrow when something on the crates caught my eye. Oddly I should have known there was a reason why they looked familiar.

As Seth fired off a couple more shots, he ducked too to reload one of his guns by pulling out a magazine from his belt. I grabbed his coat and pulled to grab his attention before he went back on the attack. "Seth look." I told him pointing behind us. He stopped to inspect the crates as his eyes widened in horror to what I pointed out to him. The crates we were hiding behind were Alliance weapon supply boxes. They were always dark gray with large notches every few inches or so to tie them down if necessary, and of course had to have the Alliance symbol of the three towers on every side and the top. "There's something severely wrong here. Orton I need you to take as many pictures as you can of the boxes Seth and I are behind."

"Roger. The coast is almost clear, you'll have a 15 second window to get in and out once I get this next shot. Dean drive, with the Prime Minister up front with you she's a great shot so don't worry about protecting her too hard. Seth and Roman should be able to take out anyone who chases you down. Get as far away as you can and head straight back to Astros. You'll need to get a different vehicle along the way. You can't be riding into an Alliance capital in a Leviathan vehicle." Orton's orders were final, he knew what we needed to do. Almost a second after did we hear The Viper's rifle go off and a small explosion in front of us giving us the time we needed to scramble for the jeep Seth had ready for us. Luckily save for a few bullet holes in the back the vehicle remained unscathed.

We all jumped in with Renee as passenger and my brothers taking the rear. Seth was brilliant for keeping our get away vehicle running so I didn't have to jump start it to get it going. Once everyone was in I put a lead foot on the gas and was off onto the dirt path. I had to cover my ears once or twice as Roman's bullets were being shot from behind me. "We're clear!" he shouted with one last shot. I looked behind us for a moment to see that the bowl was swiftly coming out of sight.

"The mission is a success. I'll meet you guys back in Cassiopeia, just stay clear of Pegasus," said Orton before cutting off his comm line. That meant for the rest of the time Orton was going to be silent until we could rendezvous back in Cassiopeia.


"Since you're all quiet I'm gonna address the elephant in the room. What the hell was that light?" asked Renee from my left. I didn't want to speak for my brothers but I'm sure the three of us were thinking the same thing. What was that mysterious light? The only speculation I had as that it had to be one of us. They were all Leviathan insurgents, none of them could have gone through the experiment. It had to have come from the project. Which reminded me, we had the Prime Minister in tow.

I looked over at Renee sternly, unsure if I should ask or not. However I needed to know more if I was to uncover this unknown phenomenon. I remember on the day Seth's friend, Curtis, died he said he had given the Eye to her. "Miss Young, the Eye...do you have it."

She didn't respond at first instead looked around only to see that Roman and Seth's eyes were on her as well. "The one stolen from the museum?" she asked looking directly at Seth. Renee was beyond terrifying if she already figured out that it was our little brother that stole the Eye. Seth just nodded not even denying that he as the one that embezzled it. "Pull over, there's something I need to show you guys." Not fighting against her, I decided to pull over still keeping a cover behind some rocks, as we were still traveling in an enemy vehicle.

We all piled out with Renee standing in front of us. She looked at us with a smile as she opened her blanket, to reveal a tattered white tank top. I can see why Renee had held the blanket so close. It was the middle of winter as she was barely wearing anything. But there it was, just as I remember it from the Museum of Paragon History, clutched tight. An amulet just slightly bigger than the palm of her hand. The round pendant had seven orbs each a different color, I'm assuming one to represent each providence. Around them was what looked to be a waning crescent moon, and a serpent circling around it which I figured is meant to be Leviathan.

The three of us crept closer to get a better look at it. I reached out to touch the pendant when she pulled it back. Renee took a strong grip of it and suddenly tossed it against a nearby rock shattering it into many pieces. Roman, Seth, and I stared at the terracotta pieces with our jaws nearly touching the floor. She broke it! The most sought out object in all of Paragon...and she shattered it. We were so caught off guard none of us really knew what to say. Slowly I returned my gaze back to the blonde woman who looked a little distraught. "It's fake. The real one is still out there."

"I...can't believe it…" spoke up Seth slowly and quietly. His sight didn't leave what was now a mess of clay shards. He looked like he was caught between crying and screaming. He it was like he was unsure what to even think. Our little brother's mind was a complete blank. "I risked life and limb for that…" Seth's gloved hand balled into a fist as he punched the side of the jeep. "Curtis died for a fake!" He shouted, still trying to keep his calm.

"Dean Ambrose." Renee started firmly. I know the intense look I was receiving. It was the kind of look that my brothers and I had given others so much when there was a demand for answers, and if looks could kill I'd have been assassinated on the spot. Whatever it is she wanted, the beautiful Prime Minister wasn't going to let up until she had the answer she needed. I was slowly understanding why her career had such prestige to it, and why she was so good at what she did. "You have the research, what do you know about Project: Taladen?"

Suddenly I felt the gaze of my brothers boring into the back of my head. Sighing, I knew I wasn't going to be able to talk my way out of this one.


Renee, Seth, and Roman all sat in the back of the jeep facing outwards like an audience as I paced back and forth on front of them trying to think about what I wanted to say. There was no way I was going to be able to sugar coat this, not to mention how did she even figure out about the project. Actually, we're talking about a woman who no doubt knows everything that's going on in The Alliance. Probably why Heyman wanted her out of the picture. I stopped to tap my foot still thinking and mumbling to myself. They all held their breath thinking I was finally gonna speak. I started my pacing again hearing their annoyed groans.

"Deano, start by why we are fragments," spoke up Seth. Fragments? I wonder where our little brother got that idea? But it was a good place to start.

"Fragments…" I started tapping my chin, beginning to pace. They knew when I started to pace it meant I was ready for a lecture. Most of the time a long and boring one that quickly loses the interest of my brothers. "Fragments. Fragments. Fragments." I finally stopped pacing to give them my full attentions. "What you're all about to hear may just be the truth behind Project: Taladen." I swallowed the lump in my throat. This was a lot harder than I thought. How could I explain the science behind it without sounding confusing? Oh screw it...I never worked well trying to dance around topics. "We are all small parts of the original."

I took note of the confused looks I was receiving, and why I never really bothered trying to explain anything to Seth or Roman. They'd just get even more confused, but I continued with my speech anyway since Renee was the one to ask. "With no evidence of the original's blood I've got nothing to compare it to, this is all theory right now. Once I can finally get a lab and examine our blood I'll have better evidence. But I have firm beliefs that our abilities is because of a mutation in our DNA." I looked up to see if my audience was still following. I wasn't sure if they understood, but I took it as a sign to keep going mentally sighing. "You see, all of the test subjects were first injected with a "catalyst"." I had to air quote that last word to indicate that it was a placement for now.

"Next through the process of injection," I pointed at Roman, "implantation," I continued pointing at Seth, "or exposure," finally pointing to myself. "The catalyst would combine itself with whatever our body was subjected to, and then mutate our DNA and form new different kinds of cells giving us our individual abilities. Sadly I don't have more information than that, but that's my theory. It's mostly based off my mentor's notes and from what I experienced in my own procedure."

Roman tilted his head with a hand on his chin. He seemed to be the one taking in the most information from what I had to offer. He of all of us seemed to know the most as a former overseer of the project. "Then what's the catalyst?"

I sighed deeply, why do I gotta spell out everything. "Isn't it obvious?" I paused to let the information I just passed on to catch up with my audience. Sometimes it wasn't easy to explain my scientific studies and research, but this was one of those times where the air needed to be cleared. The look on Roman's face said he might not like the answer, however he was willing to listen. "The catalyst...is your mentor's blood. His already mutated DNA. Inside all of us test subjects...is the blood of AJ Styles."

"But that doesn't explain the location of the Eye itself." Seth had a very good point. If what Miss Young had a fake, then where was the real one? I felt that answer only Colonel Styles himself knew. But that also required us to be able to gain access to Freya again, but I doubt they were going to let us in so easily this time. Orton had to pull a lot of strings just to see it, and it was only because of the recording we got from the interrogation of Lorken. He was considered a weapon and placed in maximum security away from everyone. However, it make me wonder: if Brock had enough power from a series of fragmentations and was able to escape maximum security transport...what stopped Styles from escaping? He probably had even more power.

The mystery was never ending.

There just never seemed to be a straight answer...ever, but I guess that would just be too easy. As I thought more on what was to come next I saw Roman pull out his phone from his coat pocket. Probably expecting a word from Orton by now, but with the way his face twisted in absolute terror said something else. It was our older brother who said not to worry about the veteran sniper so it must have been another thing entirely, his look made almost afraid to ask. "It was Becky," he answered our silent question realizing all eyes were on him. It had to have been an emergency, after all Roman gave her specific instructions to only call him if it was, and that was enough to make all of us worry. We worried for the girls just as much as they worried for us.

He quickly pulled his phone up to his ear after dialing her number. Roman groaned frustratingly when he received no answer. He tried yet again and got the same result, sighing and looking absolutely concerned now. The raven haired man fiddled some more with his phone before finally listening to a message he had gotten from red haired woman. He motioned for Seth to move in close and listen in on the message.

There wasn't a direct message but I could definitely hear signs of struggle and even a gunshot. I heard someone whimpering before finally Finn's voice could be heard clear as day. "I thought I put a bullet in your heart." Did Finn kill someone in his military career? How many has he killed and who was it that he thought? We continued to listen to the message. The person he was talking to spoke in a low tone, sounding very calm and collected, but I couldn't quite hear what he said. Roman however shoved his phone in his pocket after the message ended. Probably reaching it's time limit.

He looked over at Renee who looked worried for us. "I'm sorry ma'am, but we won't be able to drop you off in Astros City...we need to get to Cassiopeia." The blonde simply nodded in response probably both disturbed and curious what the message was about. She understood why we needed to make haste towards the southern city. "I know the voice of the person who was there. He and Finn used to be in the same private militia that was once led by Colonel Styles before he joined the military. First Lieutenant Bàlor was solo agent, like Orton, specialized in undercover and intelligence collection. If you thought we were non-lethal, Finn's ultimate weapon was his ability to deceive and blow an enemy up from the inside."

Why was just everyone around us seemingly way better than us? Finn sounded like a terrifying person too. Roman continued, "Finn was placed on a special assignment about a private militia and investigate them and see if they were harmless or not. Of course just like Styles before him, Bàlor too was a soldier of the same militia and it was the same one that he was told to investigate. The militia was named...Bullet Club, and the man that Finn thought he had killed was named Kenny Omega." Roman looked beyond frustrated telling us the story. Of course it had something yet again to do with his mentor. Everything just all seemed to fall back to a single person.

Because AJ Styles seemed to be in the middle of everything, there had to be more than just being the original of the project. There had to be a reason on how he became the original. I knew there were no records of successful human testing, and I had seen AJ's power first hand. What was it that I was missing? How did Colonel Styles end up in the middle of everything? I hated not having the answer I wanted or needed. I just wished I knew a little more about him. Then there was my mentor who apparently had been to Wyndmere several times.

Not only did we still now have to track Brock down, we also needed to see what this Bullet Club wanted with our sisters. Not to mention, I still needed to look into that mysterious blue light. There was so much on our plate right now, and the pile seemed to getting higher. But I believed in our brotherhood and we'd get through everything together.

No rest for the wicked, we all piled back into the jeep and were on the road again making haste for Cassiopeia with the thoughts of the girls' safety weighing heavy on our minds. Never did we think our fight would come to the home front.


Let me know what you guys think, I know the back and forth PoV change is kinda weird but I just wanted to try something new. This episode is probably the most exciting yet. Thanks, you all rock.

~CrisisExceed