So you think this story is just going to be about how John and company fit into civilian life? Wrong. You see, every story that I write is going to be about a war, whether it be foreign, or domestic. Enjoy…

00000

"We are going to need more candidates in order for this program to become fully operational. If there aren't more, they will all be killed in the first month of active duty!" The man slammed his fist on the desk.

"Don't worry sir, we'll get you those candidates and then the Spartan V program will make us rich."

00000

John loved his holidays, especially Spring break. Arya, John, and Matt loved to go to the annual Carnival that was in town. John and Arya cheered Matt on as he played a game involving a small sandbag knocking over a tower of bottles. The boy calculated the speed, distance and which bottle to hit. As soon as the sandbag toppled the tower of milk bottles Matt was presented with a blue plush teddy bear, unknowing that someone was watching in the background. The happy family moved on to other meaningless but entertaining games that demonstrated Matt's strength, speed and knowledge.

The man raised his communicator and pressed the talk button as he watched the little boy, "I think we have candidate number 819, move in to intercept."

John rested with Matt on a bench while Arya was in the restroom. The Spartan turned his head to see Arya approaching them with a look of concern, "John, where's Matt?"

"What do you mean? He's right h… shit." John turned his head to see that his son had disappeared. "He was sitting right here, I swear…"

"Well stop talking about it, we have to find him!" Arya ran for the nearest security booth while John went in search of his missing son. The Spartan was a head taller than the crowd, so he caught a glimpse of Matt's orange shirt. He rushed towards him, as he got closer, he could see that Matt was being dragged by a man; that only increased John's urge to get to him. He could see other men coming to intercept him. The man holding Matt ushered him into the back of a black van and drove off. The last John could see of his son was Matt's small face peeking out the van's back window. The Spartan ran, he ran for the sake of his son. Bystanders watched as the man sped down the road at almost twenty miles per hour.

The man driving the van heard a loud thump on top of the vehicle, as if something heavy landed on it… A fist punched through the van's ceiling and made a grab at him, he swerved to throw off whatever was on his car. John held on to the top of the vehicle for dear life as it swerved and veered. At a sharp U-turn, John's grip loosened and he flew. As he hit the ground he got to his feet and continued to run with a slight limp. As the van pulled a corner, John stopped and fell to his knees, 'I've failed.'

John gripped the wheel as he drove home with Arya weeping in the passenger seat. "Sara, engage autopilot, and track a vehicle with the license plate number being 4KTL-760."

Her robotic voice came through the car speakers, "Autopilot engaged, tracking vehicle." A red moving dot appeared on the car's holomap. When the couple got home, John spoke in a voice that promised blood, "Sara, open the armory." Their living room transformed into a shiny room that contained the latest in plasma and UNSC weaponry. "John, aren't we going to call the local law enforcement?" The Spartan shook his head as he slapped a full magazine into an assault rifle and began to suit up into his new Mark V Mjolnir armor. Arya did the same with her Mark IV Recon armor.

"Sara, transfer vehicle tracking to my GPS please." John spoke through his helmet.

In a moment, the red dot appeared on John's portable electronic atlas. "Transferred." The couple climbed into their car and John typed in a code into the keypad. The vehicle transformed into an armored personnel carrier with four inch thick titanium plating. "Hang on Matt, we're coming to get you."

The boy struggled against the men who took him. He bit them, he kicked them, and he did whatever he could to make them miserable. After the van stopped at an abandoned warehouse, Matt was thrown in with other kids who were just as frightened as he was. As the doors closed there was a massive 'BOOM' as a tank crashed through the concrete walls of the warehouse and two figures in Spartan armor leaped out. The men were quickly taken out, but the driver jammed on the accelerator and the van jumped forward and escaped with the children.

John saw the van speed away, "You're not getting away that easily…" He and Arya chased after then in their own vehicle. "Sara, track vehicle, license plate, 3GKT-290." The red dot appeared on the holomap. Arya jumped onto the roof of John's tank and prepared to board the van. Shots rang out as the passenger of the small black van opened fire on John and Arya. John was having trouble seeing through the tank's small slits and the hail of superheated lead. He didn't see the small ramp until it was too late. The large tank flipped and landed wheel-up in the middle of the road. Peacekeepers rushed to the scene with weapons at the ready.

Matt saw their car flip and crash. The last thing he saw was his parents in their armor climb from the wreckage. They drove for hours, some of the kids begged and pleaded to be let out and returned to their parents while others were discussing a plan of escape. Matt was in none of those groups, he examined the weak metal back door of the van, with his Spartan strength, he kicked the door open. "Come on!" One by one, the kids jumped from the car, Matt was the last to go. One of the guards figured out what was happening. He grabbed Matt by the shoulders and pinned him to the ground, the boy struggled, but even with his unnatural strength, he could not move the mountain of muscle holding him down.

After another hour, the van stopped and the men dragged Matt out. There was a large military base with the symbol of a pyramid with a circle in the center with the letters ONI. A woman wearing civilian clothes stepped out to greet them. She spoke in a pleasant voice, "Hello, I am Dr. Halsey; you will be the protector of Earth and all her colonies."