Into the valley of the Shadow of Death.
Part I
watch?v=4NtQwT…
Blood dripped from Ghosts face as his head hung, he had been chained to a cement wall with the same chains they used to anchor ships, his helmet had been tarnished and was laying on the floor cracked and destroyed. His chest piece was burnt beyond repair and was lying in a pile along with his shoulder pads. The only things he had on were his armored leggings and his boots along with his black jump suit that all Spartans wore underneath their armor. His body was numb. He could no longer feel anything, he had been put through a meat grinder and spat back out into the darkest pit of hell.
"How long has he been out?" A feminine voice sounded through the darkness.
"Long, enough. I'm surprised he hasn't succumbed already." A deep voice responded, Ghost remembered that voice, he couldn't place who it belonged to but it was familiar to him.
"He wouldn't succumb, he is stronger than you think." The feminine voice stated.
The deep voice chuckled, "I don't care how strong the rat is, everything has a breaking point. Besides, once we are ready to move out he's a dead man." A series of flashes broke through the darkness as Ghost recollected what happened.
He was on a bridge, fire and smoke surrounding him, a giant behemoth held him by his throat as it spoke to him, "Return to the darkness little rat, and when you awaken... You will wish you were never born." All at once, Ghost was returned to darkness. It was the giant that had been with him on the bridge, that is who this voice belonged to... 'But who was this other person?' He questioned. The heavy thud of boots hitting the floor drew near, and Ghost could hear both of them stiffen and grow quiet, "Is he ready?" A new voice entered the room, he did not know this voice but it carried an authoritative sense about it. "He has been out cold for the past eight hours, I'm not even sure he's still alive." The deep voice replied,
"He is alive, and he will remain alive until I have given him permission to die." The voice said unwavering. Someone started walking towards him, and stopped just a few feet away. He could feel eyes on him, a burning sensation told him all of them were staring at him. Ghost felt something grab his face, but there seemed to be some sort of fabric between him and the thing grabbing his face. Then, as if someone decided to turn on the light switch, Ghost was blinded by a series of bright lights, it hurt his eyes and his vision was blurry. The figure in front of him took a few steps back and waited. Everything was slow moving, but the lights had dimmed a little since his initial awakening. "Good, you're awake. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Trident, Current leader of the Insurrectionist forces, and as of right now I hold the key to your existence." Ghosts vision was slowly returning to normal and he could get a better view of his captors, the man that stood in front of him was the one that called himself "Trident" He appeared to be wearing Spartan IV armor variants, but alterations had been made. This armor was Jet black with blood red as a secondary. He was wearing a basic UNSC Spartan IV Recruit helmet, but instead of a blue visor, red took it's place. Looking him up and down, Ghost noticed a dark red trident plastered on the left side of his chest plate.
He had an arrogance about him that radiated off in waves, and it troubled Ghost to think that one being could produce so much self pride, "The large man standing behind me is the one that brought you here, he is known as BloodLetter." Ghost looked to the creature that brought him here, 'so it was a man and not a beast?' He thought to himself. The giant walked past Trident and stood in front of Ghost, "If it weren't for him I'd have strung you up by your entrails, but he has bigger plans for you." He grabbed Ghost by the throat and hauled him up, the chains rattling as he did so. "You are a pathetic excuse for a II, It's a wonder you have survived this long." He said as he released Ghost and watched as his body lurched, but was held up by the heavy chains. Chuckling he slowly made his way back to where he stood. Trident looked at BloodLetter for a moment before turning his gaze back to Ghost, "Now that you two have been Properly introduced, I can continue with my plans." A sharp cough interrupted Trident as he looked to his right, a Spartan with feminine appearance stood with her arms crossed as she looked back to Trident, she was wearing armor with similar appearance to a freelancer he had worked with, one he had trained... "Noble?" Ghost struggled to say, it came out more of a raspy whisper but it was still audible. The Spartan laughed as if Ghost had made some sort of joke, she stepped forward entering the light, Her colors changed, from that of Steel and Cyan to Orchid and Teal. "Close, but no..." She said as she sauntered over to him slowly, using two fingers to lift his chin so that he had to look at her, "Apart from the fact I am better looking than all of your little friends, I am also much more skilled than them, especially your little student." She said with malice as she let his head drop. She walked back to the same dark area she had inhabited before and stood there, "Yes... This is Kara, my apprentice and current assassin for the Insurrectionists." Trident said, "Thats enough of the introductions, and I want to make one thing clear before we begin." He said as he walked towards Ghost, taking a knee and looking him in the eyes.
"This universe we find ourselves in, is nothing more than a large chess board, with ONI, the UNSC, and the sangheili forces as the players. What they fail to realize is that a new player has emerged, and those that think they are in control are merely pawns to my plans. They have made their choices, made their moves and now..." He paused as if to let Ghost think about what he just said,
"It's my turn to make the moves, I have waited a long time, planned everything out. Collected all resources required to make this possible. Now, nothing will stand in my way. You see Castiel, I know who you are, I know who your friends are, I know everything about you. I know everything there is to know about anything in this pathetic universe we call home, ONI and their futile attempts to silence me have done nothing but further our cause and bring us close to our victory."
He looked at the battered Spartan, for a moment as if contemplating wether or not Castiel truly understood what he was saying,
"I can tell you now... No one will stand in my way. Not you, not ONI or the other factions that find themselves in this game, not even God himself can stop me from my goal."
Standing up, Trident took a moment to look down at something he was holding in his hand. He tapped it a few times and received a beep in response, "As much as I have enjoyed this little talk, we must get going with this. You play a valuable role in my next move and we cannot keep the game waiting..." He turned and walked over to what looked like a computer screen, the green light covering Trident in a sickly green color as he approached it. He turned his head slightly back towards Castiel, "Let us begin." He turned his head back to the screen and placed the little pad in his hand on the panel below the screen.
watch?v=RgFiB3…
POV: Computer systems.
Systems Online.
Current User login.
TRIDENT
Password [******]
Access granted.
Recording systems active.
Broadcasting live feed to - ONI HighCom, UNSC HighCom, Freelancer Directory.
All systems within these programs will override and receive log.
Activating override.
Systems responding.
Begin Recording Log.
Start time 0:00:01
The computer captured all within the room, Trident stood facing the screen just a few feet away, a large figure could be seen chained to a wall in the background.
"What is life but a black void of anguish and despair? The foolishness and stupidity that lies within all of you make you blind to what this universe truly is. I have seen this truth, and knowing what I must do has led me to this."
Trident paused for a moment, holding his gaze on the screen as if savoring the moment,
"The leadership of your militaries is disgusting and cowardly, they are rats deserving of nothing more than the heel of my boot, and I will be damned if I let those parasites continue to live another second in my presence."
He chuckled a bit, and turned his head slightly as if to look at the man strapped to the wall,
"For those of you that find safety and security behind the Director and his web of lies, I have no pity for you. You fools put your faith in false prophets, and weak leaders, all of you are nothing more than dust in the wind, fading away into the darkness you refuse to believe is there."
He turned back to the screen, "The darkness is very real, and it will soon consume all hope and good in this universe, leaving nothing but eternal fear and despair for those who are weak."
"I will show you that your leaders will only guide you to your execution."
Trident side stepped and allowed the camera to focus on the chained figure, "Take a good long look, does this man look familiar?" The man was hanging from the wall, blood dripped from his face and wounds onto the floor forming a small puddle beneath him.
"Some of you may have once looked to him as a source of hope, someone with a sturdy resolve that cannot be shaken easily... As Agents of the Freelancer program I see that you are fast, that you are strong, that you seem unstoppable, some might even say invincible... Yet you rely too heavily on one another for support, that is weakness and to prove this to you I have with me one of your own."
He looked to the man and lifted his hand, "This is Castiel, most of you may know him as Agent Ghost. This is nothing more than a man, no matter how highly you think of him, and just like any man he too, can bleed."
Trident motioned to someone and in a few short seconds, a large figure clad in crimson walked up to Castiel, and with one quick motion unsheathed his combat knife and slashed the Spartan across the chest. Castiel groaned as blood started flowing down his front, the large behemoth simply slid his knife back into it's sheathe and walked back out of camera shot. Trident looked back towards the screen, "You all that think you can escape Death? I will tell you now, that before this is done, I will stand before your corpses and laugh. For I am Death, and I will decide who lives and who dies."
With those words, Trident pulled his magnum out of his holster, turned and raised his weapon, pointing it at Castiel. Castiel looked straight at him, blood caked his face making it impossible to identify any features, but his eyes were locked to Tridents visor. His gaze was hard and unwavering as his executioner stood there weapon raised and aimed straight at his heart, Trident stood there for a moment, an evil grin spread under his helmeted features, and he snickered as the injured Spartan continued to stare down his own fate, his dark green eyes never leaving Trident. "Even when facing Death, you still persist... A quality that not many men have left, considered brave by most... Brave indeed, but foolish. Goodbye Castiel, may you wander in the valley of the shadow of death for eternity." Trident squeezed the trigger, and a bullet fired out of the chamber, the noise was enough to muffle the audio on the camera for a few seconds. The bullet buried itself deep into Castiels chest, his gaze started to lose what little life was left in them and his head dropped. Everything became quiet as the camera struggled to maintain it's regular audio, Trident lowered his gun and holstered it as if he had just finished target practice.
He turned to face the screen walking forward until he was at the control panel, "I am Death, I am the executioner, I am the Reaper, and you will all be consumed by the fire that burns inside of my soul." The transmission ended with the blood red of Tridents visor as it glowed in the faint light within the room.
Transmission End.
Live Feed successfully broadcast to all sources.
Computer Systems Offline.
Trident shut down the computer systems as BloodLetter and Kara walked up behind him, "What's our next move?" Kara asked, Trident turned to face them both, the light reflecting off his visor making it burn as everything else darkened around him, "Now that our pawns are in place, we can focus on moving the Knights into position." They looked at him confused, "Knights sir?" Kara asked, "Yes Kara, the Knights. The fleets under our command will do as instructed and begin their assaults."
Trident turned to exit the room, "Do you think that the death of one man will do anything to anger the Freelancers?" BloodLetter asked, Trident looked towards the fallen Spartan. "Oh it will do more than anger them, they will feel as if a piece of themselves has been torn from their chest. As I said before, they rely too heavily on each other, if you kill one, they all become weak. They will deteriorate from the inside, and when that happens we will let the Sangheili finish them off."
Trident turned his head and looked back to the two of them, "Everything will go exactly as I have planned." He said, before exiting the room leaving the place in dead silence.