AND I AM ALIVE! It has been a while, since I was too busy playing Bioshock Infinite and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Plus I have college research. So Sorry for the wait. Enjoy this next chapter . Did I also mention WarFrame, Metro: Last Light, and Max Payne 3 may have a hand in that.
Edit: I have been delayed for so long since my grades are at the brink. Sorry for the delays. This took so long because I had to rewrite 3 scenes completely, plus I was still acting on advice from NIGHTSTALKER.
WARNING! The Following scenes detail a disturbing twist involving the use of torture on minors. If you think this is excessive, please tell me so that I can edit them as soon as possible. This is my hardest chapter to write ever.
And starting next chapter, I will shorten the stories considerably, but maintain their two-story structure, in lieu of more frequent updates. Thank you for your consideration.
Episode VII …And the Skeletons we Bury.
{Undisclosed location, July 25, 2605, Past}
A dimly lit room with a holotable being the only light in the whole room was empty, until a man in a grey military outfit enters and heads over to the holotable. He types something on it, and then a hologram of another man, but his figure was more of a shadow than an actual man. The uniformed man knew that his position was rather precarious from where he was, so used a blinder program to hide his true appearance.
"Challenge: The Sun is shining." The Man in shadow said, his synthesized voice covering his true voice.
"Callsign: The Ice is slippery." The Man in uniform answered.
"What's the situation over there?" The man in shadow asked.
"Not good, we have learned that a few cells were discovered already over the past 3 months. I dare say that we may have a leak in our department." The Shadowed man admitted.
The man in Uniform contemplated. While still in the infancy, an Insurrection in the colony world of Sentosa was brewing. It began when a man by the name of Nick Russo, a former Insurrection of the now defunct Koslovics Insurrection Faction, fled under the alias of Rick Summers to Sentosa, a UNSC colony ruled by a rather corrupt official that seemed to be untouchable, due to his former connections to ONI. With ONI gone, the official was now jailed, but the damage was done, and Nick seemingly rallied the populace to open revolt.
Many in the UNSC and TUG feared a return of the Insurrection, but took note that not all in Sentosa followed Nick Russo's group, who took residence at another part of the continent, now under UNSC control. The Insurrection and the UNSC clashed, but ultimately a stalemate was now hovering over the colony. While Spartans could be sent in, intel reports suggest that Russo may have an advanced sensor array capable of pinpointing a Prowler in his camp, and even worse, ex-ONI turncoats who were rather displeased that the UNSC destroyed their people.
Because of these intelligence advantages, any direct attack would be thwarted. 2 Marine squads went KIA and even a whole squad of Spartan IVs went MIA as a result. CBMI was able to indicate that some Spartan IVs who were identified as the former part of Kilo-5, an ONI branch dedicated to destabilizing the allies of the UNSC, namely the Sangheili.
Now, CBMI sent their people in, and despite their best efforts, were still caught, which led to the man in uniform, a CBMI official, talking to the agent, who was in shadow, about their current predicament. The agent was using an advanced scrambler to mask his appearance and voice in the event that they were bugged. The tag for the man in shadow was only named as "Unknown", while the uniformed man was named "Enigma". Enigma knew that this scrambler worked both ways, so he sees a shadow, the agent too sees shadow.
"We've been working on our end, but so far nothing." Enigma said. "I suspect it's coming on yours."
Unknown grunted. "We got our hands too full to look into this leak. I suspect ONI, but I believe that some sympathizers are in the UNSC side of this colony."
"We'll look into it. For now I suggest you continue gathering intel on Russo's plans. No doubt he isn't planning to stay long in Sentosa." Enigma said, but Unknown shook his head, or whatever passed for as a head.
"Negative, we are blown. As we speak, we are cleaning up and heading out. We've been made, so all assets are ordered to bug out. Our intelligence was bust."
"Then we have only one last option…"
"Sir, with all due respect, we have nothing else. Nuking it would be-"Unknown was interrupted when Enigma raised his hand.
"I didn't say anything about nuking it. I'm talking about a rather special individual who was with us since the beginning of this bloody situation." Enigma said which garnered confusion for Unknown.
"Who is it, sir? I was not informed of any additional assets in the area."
"A headhunter, one good in infiltration and working as a double agent within the group. He and his team were inserted during the attacks on the main capital, New Sundersfield."
"Sir, a Spartan team would have been detected at this point, and the only known Spartan team is-"
"-MIA, I know. Officially, they are MIA."
"And Unofficially?"
"They've been keeping in touch with us, but because of their position, are unable to contact you."
Unknown was silent for a while, before asking. "You think it's possible that they're the culprits responsible for blowing our cover?"
Enigma shook his head. "Negative, they're the ones that gave you that info in the first place. They also placed that memo about the turncoat's moles within. They gave the report to me first, then onto you."
Unknown then asked one final question. "How sure are you of their loyalty?"
Enigma simply gave him a nod. "Simple. His brother told him so."
Unknown then realized WHO this person was. "Isn't it a bit risky? He maybe the best man for the job, but he tends to get attached. Emotions can easily interfere with better judgment."
"We have no choice. If he is as good as he claims he is, Escandor will have to do the job.
{New Sundersfield, Sentosa}
"All callsigns, Sound off."
"Indian 1, ready."
"Indian 2, ready."
"Indian 3, ready."
"Overlord, all callsigns ready."
"Begin Surveillance, now!"
At once, 4 men began to come out of their hiding spots and began walking amongst the crowd, with some civilian clothes on and a rather sophisticated eye piece on their eyes. Normally, they would have been spotted, but CBMI had been busy with their spy business. A column of Insurrection militia and defunct Scorpion tanks rolled past the busy intersection, with a fancy looking car in the middle. It was an old limo, similar in shape to what the old United States President rode in during car visits.
These were no normal men, but Spartans, who were inserted in when the first wave came in. Faking their demise, they made their way into the city to work with UNSC sympathizers, gathering intelligence and some of them infiltrating some groups of the Insurrection. Working under the pseudonym of "Indian Squad"
The group was equipped with advanced sensory and camouflage equipment before they crashed and pre-existing safehouses that where built in case of a situation such as this. Only the group knew, so any worries of the mole tracking them down were slim, at best.
Right now, they were simply running surveillance, a routine that has gone on for 3 months now. Already, they have uncovered the presence of moles within the UNSC, with one Innie spilling his intel after one too many beers. Now they were on the hunt for Russo's endgame, with the realization that they may have to take direct action if this was to end swiftly.
After one whole day of observation nothing else but troop movement, the team headed back to their safe houses in the northwestern part of New Sundersfield.
"Well, that was a bust." Innie-1 remarked dryly.
"I don't know about you guys, but they seem remarkably patient for an Insurrection. Something's off about all this troop movement."
Overlord turned to them and replied. "Remember Headhunters, while we may be CBMI's scalpel, we can be just as adept as their spies. We're here to gather info first, so that when we take that asshole out, he isn't pulling an ace out of thin air when he does, clear?"
A chorus of affirmatives rang throughout the room. Ovelord then began to take his cloak and headed for the door.
Innie-2 sighed. "Tell me he's not seeing that girl again."
Innie-3 just nodded, and Innie-2 groaned. Innie-1 was more direct and questioned his officer. "Is that wise, sir? I know this kid's innocent, but you know we shouldn't be emotionally tied into our work. It never ends well for all parties involved. Besides, she might give us away."
Overlord looked at his subordinate. "She's given me a lot to think about, besides, she's also one of my contacts, since her dad's part of Russo's inner circle. And…"
"And what?" Innie-1 asked, gesturing him to continue.
"And the fact that she deserves better." Overlord finished, turning his back and heading out the door.
Innie-2 looked a bit frustrated. "He's gone native, or about to."
Innie-3, however, had a different opinion. "I've seen that girl, 2. And trust me when I say, he really wants to help this girl out, perhaps everyone other unfortunate soul here caught up by Russo."
"We're not human rights, 3; we're Headhunters, Spartan IV's, for god's sake. We're trained to take lives, not comfort them."
Innie -1 was observing this back-and-forth debate until he had enough of them. "Alright, now calm down everyone. Now, I understand your concerns. Frankly, I think this is a good course of action. If we can win over more people on our side, then we can take Russo's support from right under him." He told his comrades.
Innie-2 didn't buy it. "You're just rationalizing the whole issue, but that's beyond the point." He snapped. "
"Then what is?"
"How this will all end badly for him when everything goes south." Innie-2 said.
"You think we'll fail this? We're good in what we do, so any possible problems can be countered with all contingencies in place. I thought you knew that."
Innie-3 cut in their conversation "Any plan can go wrong. After all, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy." I thought you knew that by now?"
Innie-1 was hopeful for better things, however. "Your pessimism is noted, Innie-2. Now get back to work."
Seeing that continuing this conversation will get nowhere, the 3 men dispersed to their different tasks. They maybe CBMI's secret weapon, but they were men before they were Spartans, so if they would be conflicted with their duties and emotions, then things would go bad for the plan to stop Russo. Innie-1 trusted Lance would not do anything stupid if it really did come to pass.
{Central New Sundersfield, 10 minutes later.}
A large man stepped off the local transports, and walked over to the suburbs area. He walked a little way until he reached a small area of housing complexes that stretched for at least 5 kilometers. He went to the tallest one and began to climb up swiftly, and in covert.
When he got to the roof, he opened a maintenance hatch, and knocked down on it in a pitter patter motion. He waited for a sound coming from below. After a few seconds, he heard the pitter-patter tapping from below. He smiled slightly, for that sound indicated that she was in.
He then used a service doorway to make his way down into the floor where she lived, on the 5th. He stood in front of a doorway, Room 512, and knocked. A young 14 year-old girl opened, she revealed beautiful flowing dress that complimented her sky blue eyes. She smiled up at the man. "Greetings, Lance. I assume you want to meet with my sister?"
"If your father allows it, Myka." He replied with a small smile. The girl shook her head emphatically. "Come on in! I'm sure Malika would be happy to see you." He let himself in.
The place Myka called home was modest, and slightly roomy for at least 6-8 people to live in. Lance walked over to the balcony, where he found a young girl drawing on a holopad. She looked up at him and she practically leapt in the air for joy. "Lance!" She yelled, before tackling the large man, who caught her in mid air. He smiled warmly at her.
They spent the next day chatting it up, talking about how they day was and how good they were behaving. Lance smiled sadly. If he knew what would happen next, he would have took the kids and pulled out. He then took them out for ice cream, whilst giving Malika a bracelet of a bird, and Myka, a necklace that had a cage decoration. And most of all, enjoying the company the two girls gave him, as it reminded him of a childhood he fondly remembers back at his home.
{Glinn's Field, Present}
Lance had been recounting his time on Sentosa, who was now on the part where he met Malika.
"It had been more than 3 months ago that I met her and her sister during their first few weeks undercover. Still blending in, I found her being relentless bullied by some Innie's, with her sister about to get raped. She was crying and I was not about to part about to let her kick the bucket, so I intervened." He emphasized the last word.
Jade, who had calmed down a bit, then asked "What happened next?"
"After that beat down, I managed to find some UNSC fatigues that were about to be burnt, and wore these on them, all the while claiming that these men were UNSC soldiers trying to hide. By the time they tried getting themselves out of the fire, they got shot by their fellow "brothers and sisters". So much for knowing your comrades. They hailed us instead, since we were wearing their little uniforms. As a result we got in, and our intelligence gathering was improved significantly. " He scoffed.
Trips was slightly impressed. Infiltrating the enemy while saving innocents; it was a very good combination. "Wouldn't you stand out with you being larger than normal people?"
Lance nodded. "Indeed, but I also saw some men who were just as tall as we were and asked if we used to be Spartans, since we ditched the armor and we already had residences in the city. We told them we used to and sold to them a sob story of how a Spartan tries to blend in society and fails at it due to a certain UNSC governor putting BS on us. They took it hook, line and sinker. And before you ask, CBMI set our stories straight, so if ONI tried to pry details from us, they'll get our fake UNSC files. Say what you will about the CBMI, they know their security well, so we were safe."
Ahsoka then asked Lance. "What about the girls?"
Lance looked at them. "I took them home, but we talked and talked on the way there. They warmed up to me after awhile. I wasn't supposed to, because our lives tended to end badly, and for those involved, just as much."
"What changed?"
"I bumped into them a few days afterwards, and seemed to tail me everywhere I went. Eventually I confronted them, and though I was adamant for them to return, I took them out for ice cream, or what remained a place for ice cream, since some innies had the "Common Sense" to set some parts of it to the fire."
"We talked and talked. I learned from them that their dad was part of Russo's inner circle, and suddenly I realized I could convince them to tell me more. But to my surprise, they clammed up, and demanded who I really was. I told them my name, but not the last name, so I assumed it was enough, but they knew I was not from around here, since most Sentosans usually have a certain smell on them that some children could smell, but I had only a faint smell. So, I told them."
Darman couldn't believe it. TO tell someone, in enemy territory no less, personal information was fatal. "Are you crazy? They could have told on you to their dad!"
Lance laughed mirthlessly. "That was the thing. They also told me that since their mother died, their dad was an alcoholic."
A series of "oh" was echoed throughout the room. Alcoholics make bad fathers; a universal fact whether it is in the Andromeda, or the Milky Way.
"As you can imagine, even children can turn on their parents, with enough beatings. The thing about that particular child beater is that, as much as he hated his kids, he loved his wife immensely."
Many were disbelieving. A Hateful father, but Loving Husband? Etain shook her head "How could that be? Surely if he loved the mother more than the daughters, then why didn't she stop him from hurting her own children?"
Lance shook his head sadly. "The mother fell ill, and the Father, in his great grief, used his children as stress relief, while he worked with Russo to help get her to proper medical facilities. She was simply too sick to stop him."
"Wasn't that an easy thing to do? Surely hospitals in Sundersfield were not completely devoid of medical supplies, regardless of the situation then?"
"That was before the Innies torched it. Claimed they were UNSC safehouses or strongholds, but in reality, they were setting themselves up as the sole medical contributor in the Insurrection held parts of Sentosa." Lance explained. Etain felt herself feel some semblance of anger like that, due to her own dilemma in her about her role as a mother.
Many Jedi were now fully focused on Lance's story than Anakin's, to which the latter was grateful for.
The Padawan Pack was present amongst the session, sans Zule Xiss and A Gand Jedi by the name of Vaabesh, with the Former still with her boyfriend, Marik, from the Mandalorian PMC Ne'tra Kad, a group which was stationed alongside the Clone Defectors near the Orbital Elevator; and the latter off helping the Librarians arrange data in the info centers. They attended via Hologram.
The Zabrak of the group, Kass Tod, looked over to Lance, and asked him. "What did you do about it? Surely you would not abide to such cruelty."
Lance shook his head. "I gave him a warning when I first met him, although due to his position in Russo's command chain, he scoffed me off." Lance grimaced further. "I should have done more than that. Or I should have rendered him brain dead from the start."
Many Jedi did not like where this was going. Obi-Wan decided to let Lance continue his story.
"I gave them my first name afterwards, and opened up to them. It was risky, sure, but if I was to have the girls have a use in bringing down Russo, and hopefully their dad, I had to. Trust is a two way street. You can't have one without the other."
"But over time, I saw them as something else. I saw them as a last vestige of innocence that is slowly fading from that planet, as everyone else had either caved in and given in to the madness, or went with it from the start. It was slow at first, talking to each other, albeit secretly, since their dad was still wary about my presence. But soon after that, they called me "Brother." Lance smiled sadly, the memory of those girls coming back to him at full force.
"I really considered getting them away from there, set them up with a good family, but the logical side needs their inside help so that I can save lives, or at least, that's how I rationalized it." Lance said, sighing.
A Pantoran Jedi, Asumi Tsuchi, who was accompanied by a Mandalorian Shock trooper in a steel grey with green trim armor by the name of Besk Vorp (AN: KUDOS to Patriot-112 for helping me make this character.), asked Lance. "But that was not the only reason for visiting them, wasn't it?" She asked warily. The Jedi was also in a relationship with the Mandalorian, but had suffered mental trauma when she saw some Jedi younglings burn in a Pelican after the Ion attack brought down the transport that was carrying them. She personally saw to their evacuation herself.
Lance nodded. She looked at the two, and was like looking at Daniel and Riyo.
"Anyways, they were also invaluable in our intelligence gathering. But it was still a dead end, until July 12, 2600. We had a lucky break, as Russo and HIS entire cabinet would be present, thanks again to Malika and Myka. It took us a long time to decide, but we went there in the hopes to end it all, before it escalated. It was almost too good to be true." Lance scoffed. "Almost."
Anakin then filled the gaps in. "It was an ambush, wasn't it?" His expression now looking more of understanding, rather than the sadness and guilt he had earlier on.
Lance could only nod, as he told the full story.
{Fort Suez, 20 miles outside New Sundersfield, July 13, 2600}
The team was under cover of darkness, waiting for the warthogs to pass by, before Innie-2 threw a small airplane from his hand and activated his Peregrine UAV, used for surveillance and sometimes, painting targets for artillery and air strikes. The small machine then began to circle the fort. As it did, 4 heavily armored figures uncloaked from the shadows.
"Overwatch, can you confirm visual, over?" Overlord asked on his comms. He was connected to HQ on Sentosa, albeit momentarily. It was a risk, but if this was their opportunity to stop the Insurrection from spreading further, then there was no holding back on their punches.
"Copy, Overlord. Be advised: We have spotted multiple artillery platforms of unknown origin. I need you and your team to get in there and sabotage those guns before proceeding to Primary. It is advisable to also take down those jammers near the northwestern part of the base. Once those are down, we can have our Frigates some targets to light up. Also, we got some Vampires, callsigns Guardian 2 and Guardian 3, are gonna serve as your panic button in case things go south. Be advised that as soon as you enter the camp, all our transmissions are cut, and you are on your own. Acknowledged, Overlord?"
"Acknowledged." Was Overlord's only reply, before cutting the link. He then turned to the rest of his squad. "Alright, here's the plan." He then activated his TACPAD, showing a 3d map of the base in their HUD's. "Innie-1, you take out the AA's, Innie-2, the Jammers are your responsibility. Innie-3 is with me going into the Barracks areas. Those Spartan IVs are still the main concern for us, so we're gonna 'fix' their armor. We'll then move out to " He said, holding a few grenades to emphasize his point.
They all set out doing their assigned tasks, with Overlord silently thanking Myka and Malika for their help. Using M9 Caseless SMGs with Suppressor and holoscopes, they moved to their respective assignments, cloaking as they advanced swiftly and silently,
If this whole thing went without a hitch, they could end this war before it escalated further.
{30 minutes later}
When the Jammers finally turned off, Overlord ordered a sound-off.
"Overlord, this is Innie-1. AA guns are now disabled. Moving to Primary."
"This is Innie-2. Jammers are now useless. Planted a virus and will spread when someone activates the console. They are turned off at the moment, but as soon as someone turns it on, they're screwed."
"This is Overlord. Innie-3 and I have just finished turning the Spartan IV armor set into a useless pile of metal. They may need to wear some ODST armor at this rate."
"Alright, 1 and 2, proceed to primary, 3 meet with you there. I'm gonna hack into the artillery and see if I can't cause them to misfire into the camps."
"Roger that." Came the reply, and Lance was on his own again.
So far, nothing went wrong, and it was all according to plan. Yet, Lance had a nagging sensation, one you get when you're standing a train tracks and feeling the vibrations of an incoming train. Nevertheless, he pushed on, knowing that anything can happen.
He cut through some service areas, taking down (non-lethally) guards who could risk his cover. He then proceeded into a medical hub, where he overheard two guards talking to one another.
"So how much longer? All this infernal waiting is killing me." A young Insurrectionist asked.
"According to Jameson, the Phosphorous we loaded up in those artillery shells are being loaded as we speak. As soon as the word is given, we burn the UNSC from this world, literally." An older Insurrectionist told him. As he was doing this, he was unaware that Lance was outside, listening in.
Lance narrowed his eyes at this. Phosphorous was essentially banned from any form of combat for centuries, since such weapons would cause pain beyond necessary justification. If Russo was planning to use this, he is really serious in his goal to kill the UNSC.
"But what about their ships? Surely they'll bomb us from the sky as soon as we waste their ground forces."
"We came prepared for that too. The Thermobaric Missiles that Miles was able to procure from this base should reduce a cruiser to space dust and its EMP will cripple the rest. We'll then use the Pelicans to board them and we'll be out long before a retaliatory strike can be done."
"If you say so." They began talking about mundane stuff that Lance was not interested in hearing. Seeing as though they have nothing else to give, Lance prepared to move, but a Warthog convoy was passing by, leaving Lance to wait. They left after a few minutes.
Just as Lance was about to sneak off, he heard something that made his blood go cold.
"What about those UNSC Spartans that are still spying on us from the city?" Lance thought he heard wrong, but the next few sentences disproved that.
"According to Michael," Lance knew that name; the "father" of Malika and Myka. "they have been in the city for weeks, listening in, trying to get intel on us. Hell, they even used his daughters to help them, and they're doing so willingly. I assume that Michael has plans for his children when we find those Spartans." Lance's heart was now beating faster than what was possible.
He had many horrible scenarios of those two girls being stoned, shot or even raped by the enemy, under a man that should have protected them, not sold them out. He put those feelings aside, though, and proceeded to the artillery lines.
He had heard enough. He tried getting his men on the horn, trying to warn them and abort. No dice, all he was met was static. Worst-case scenario, they have been noticed, and waiting for all of us to take the trap. But Lance decided to take the initiative and press on.
First the artillery, then he'll take care of the girls, and then, moving on to Russo. Hopefully, they're all grouped together, would save me the trouble of finding each of them before I get them, Lance thought.
He proceeded to the so-called "Artillery Line," where an armored line of missile platforms, all armed to the brim with sophisticated hardware, mixed with homemade ingenuity, were all there. The Artillery itself would not need human aid, since it can all be done remotely from a distance. The Artillery, while it normally needed human assistance, seemed to be modified for a more remote use. The computer would target and fire, but it would also need human aid to reload and fine-tune the line of sight. Lance realized that hacking them all individually would take too long, but the secondary explosives wouldn't, so he did those first.
Once that was done, he searched the place for any nearby console that could, hopefully, direct him to the main console used to control the artillery remotely.
The main console was located in a fortified bunker, surrounded by antiquated Scorpion Tanks and some Gauss Machine Guns on the top of the entrance to seal off the main entrance inside. Looking around, he noticed a small supply cache about to be loaded in the bunker. Thinking fast, he jumped inside and hoped his camo can blend in long enough and fool the sensors.
It was guarded with at least 3 sentry gun, an engineer, and some heavies, wearing body-hugging heavy armor, (or at least as heavy as it can be for normal humans), alongside 6 regular Innies wearing body armor. As tempting as it was to pick them off one by one, he knew that he had to be a ghost: in, out, and nothing dead in between. Lance saw some cameras and waited until the camera's lens were facing away from him, then he left.
It was relatively easy to fool the human guards, but the sentries were dicey. He had to avoid them until he found a way to bypass them safely. He was able to use some stuff on the table and threw it in a random direction, creating some distractions that made the sentries turn to the direction, since most of them are sound-reliant.
Once he got through he made his way across winding staircases and long hallways before getting to the main console room, with only an engineer inside. Lance knew that if he knocked this man out, people might get suspicious that the artillery was tampered, but not doing so would have every second tick down going against his men, and the children he held dear.
As luck would have it, a transmission called the engineer away for some maintenance. While Lance was rather fortunate to have the engineer leave, something was off. It was coincidence, but the timing was rather convenient, at least, that was what Lance thought. He had the tendency to think beyond the box, where most people classify it as paranoia.
You're overreacting. Calm down.
Double checking the room, he was able to spot a surveillance camera, and knew that time was against him, so he activated a small EMP device that would, while temporarily, give him a window of opportunity.
Even without an AI, Spartan IV's are sometime trained to help breach enemy firewalls in the event nothing else will. Lance was rather shocked their security was less tight, but then again, he knew the operating system was rather outdated. It took him less than 30 seconds to breach. Afterwards, he planted his sleeper programs to await his command. His Neural Lace will inform him, since it was the only piece of equipment not bolted on his armor that he can manipulate.
Still paranoid Lance thought to himself.
Again, pushing his doubts aside, he moved on to the rendezvous. If it really was a setup, then he might as well try and save them from the fire.
Reaching to the building where the leaders gathered, Overlord moved to the back entrance and setup a spot where he can access the security network of the building, since most of the security gadgets in it are self-contained, meaning it was isolated from the main grid.
Once inside, he was able to hack the cameras and soon was able to discern three things: 1.) His team was safe, but the speed of their progress was rather suspicious, as though someone let them in, which led to; 2.) The leaders are sitting down, looking at a screen with his team as the main topic of their discussion, with Russo himself allowing Fireteam Indian to pass, which he began to bark orders into his comms, and led to; 3.) A fully armored Spartan IV team in Onyx armor who are waiting the next room for Indian to pass.
But worse, was when two Insurrectionist militia flanked two handcuffed and blindfolded children. And he recognized the bracelet on one of them, the older one. He should know, since he gave it to her.
Malika and Myka. No doubt here to use as leverage against the Spartans, no less. He growled deeply. This asshole of a dad is going to get his own personal coffin when I'm through with him. Overlord thought furiously as the children were led, forcefully into an area where the cameras could not follow.
Overlord was now in a dilemma, with the situation deteriorating fast, especially when Russo realized the team was missing one Spartan.
Lance knew that he can't go in one place and take out one group of enemies without alerting the other. And the fact that those children were in danger amplified the tension that was growing in him.
So Lance was stuck, for a few moments, and after weighing in the risks, he knew what to do. He would have to move fast when he did.
He grabbed his gun and head into the building, specifically, the wing of the building which the trap is being set.
{2 minutes later}
Overlord had finally reached the room in time. His team was sidetracked when they found some intel and took them a while to download. That left the ONI Spartan IV team time to prepare. Unfortunately, they were so focused on what was coming through the door that they did not check what was coming from behind them.
Overlord had heard reports that ONI Spartan IVs were slightly more ruthless and had a knack of being overconfident. Clearly, CBMI was not wrong with their intel.
As he slowly moved with small steps to close the distance between him and the ONI team, he heard two members, a female and a male, arguing.
"-that's enough, Sofia! We knew that when you joined this outfit, you knew that our work would dabble in something like this." The male argued.
"I joined this outfit when I was approached by ONI. Even though they had questionable methods, they still served the good of the populace. But now, using phosphorus? I mean what the hell? We're supposed to b-"she was interrupted by the male.
"ENOUGH! We're on the run from the UNSC, and that means we're entailed to doing everything we can to make sure they don't put us in front of a firing squad, so don't bitch about us using phosphorus-based weaponry, because as cruel as it is, we need it to get past the damn blockade floating above our heads; since they'll be too busy with our nukes and the EMP frying their systems, with the phosphorus occupying the ground troops. It's us or them, Hendrik. You do well to remember that." The Male said with authority.
"I joined this outfit when ONI recruited me, and I'm only here now, because CBMI will turn this into a witch hunt, and I know that once they have us, they'll burn us at the stake, John. I was dragged by some ONI spooks when they became turncoats and most of my fellow recruits left, leaving a few of us, including me, behind to follow you, because I knew we could have been framed for something. When I found out, I was mad, just like you were, but I still kept my peace. We may be ONI Spartans, a cut above the average Spartan stock," Sofia said, taking her helmet off, revealing striking blue eyes and fire red hair. "But that does not mean we have the right to be judge, jury and executioner, Razer. Especially since there are innocent people just behind the UNSC frontlines." Lance was rather surprised with that. He knew that some ONI spooks turned on the group when the scandal came out, but it seemed as though this woman's case was a "wrong place, wrong time" situation.
The Man took his helmet off, revealing a bald man with dark eyes, with an eagle skewered by a trident tattooed on the back of his head. "Listen here, Sofia, because I will only say this once. We are Kilo-5, formerly, ONI's destabilization squad. We have done more inhumane things worse than this, Sofia. We did this once to ensure UNSC's survival and dominance, but now, we're doing this for ourselves AND as our survival. So until you have assurance that the UNSC does not crucify us Ex-ONI for our involvement, then you are free to walk through the door. Until then," He put his helmet back on. "You follow orders. Is that clear?" He growled.
Sofia frowned deeply, but shook her head and looked his superior officer straight in the eye. "Yes, sir."
Razer nodded slightly. "Good, now let's go greet our guests hi." And prepared to ambush the UNSC Spartans, unaware that the extra Spartan in the room heard the whole thing.
Lance heard the whole thing, and pulled up her file through the Neural Lace. Once he finished reading her file, Lance had a decision to make yet again.
While it was true her flags waved ONI, she had her doubts, and she was a simple recruit, with no true inner workings with ONI, at least not officially. Judging from her tone earlier, he surmised that she has finally grown tired of the cloak and dagger tactics ONI was infamously known for, yet continues on knowing that her return could get her an instant crucifixion.
While a normal Spartan would simply shrug at this and go gung-ho on the UNSC's enemies, Lance was much different than them. He was rather fond of talking things out instead of killing everything that required a bullet to the head. And sometimes, he was also known to do both. Talk and Gun Diplomacy, most Spartans described Lance's approach to combat. Sometimes he manages to talk them down like a trainer negotiator, sometimes, he simply gets tired and blasts his way through.
Right now, he was going to do both, assuming that after he does this, his intended person did not die in the process.
{After 1 second}
Everything went crazy for Sofia in just seconds after she'd argued with Razer.
A Large figure in blue just flew out of nowhere and gave a swift roundhouse kick to Zeke, the sniper, and smashing his helmet and sent him flying over the railing to the floor below. The assailant also blew up the security cameras since they are sparks flying from remote corners in the room to coincide with his entrance.
Everything went in a blur for her after that. She vaguely heard a warning of UNSC, before the assailant knocked her silly and threw her off the balcony too.
She heard bells ringing, and even with her augmentations, her enemy must have hit her with a MAC Round for her to be disorientated for so long. She saw hazy figures fighting back and forth and she tried to reach for her gun, and lo and behold, it was gone.
Groaning, she tried moving and saw three figures against only one assailant, to her surprise. The fact that this particular enemy was still standing and even holding his ground against his colleagues. She then saw Zeke's sniper rifle lying nearby. Hopefully, her teammates would distract him long enough for her to get the gun and shoot the bastard.
So far, the battle was in the favor of the ONI Spartans, slowly but surely backing the lone Spartan up the wall. They had to admit, for him to slowly hold his ground against 3 well trained Spartans was something to be commended, but they were confident that this particular Spartan had bit off more than he could chew.
At least, that is what they thought.
While it was true that ONI Spartans are elite SOBs, Lance did not get his position by playing fair. He saw out of the corner of his eye, that Sofia was inching herself closer to the sniper rifle, and decided to break all pretense of being the weak one. He deliberately made mistakes during his melee with the ONI spooks to lure them in a false sense of superiority, which Lance brought down on a button switch.
Right before he came to the ambush point, Lance planted at least 3 C-12 explosives in the room closest to the ex-ONI trap. He also planted some close-by to facilitate the distraction. Obviously, that would mean Russo's trap was about to go sideways, but then Overlord and his team's cover would be blown. Since the explosives are right behind the wall he was backed up to, he was now in the best, yet riskiest area of the room.
Better now than later, Lance thought.
Throughout the building, Large explosions rocked the building, and the force of such explosives was great, even the conference room holding the leaders was shattered, pelting its occupants with rubble flying at bullet speeds, doing damage and creating the opening Lance needed.
Everything went slower when he activated his suit's adrenaline injectors, which, combined with the famous "Spartan Time" Reaction process, made everything slow to near stop.
The room they were in now shook and at once, Lance immediately ducked and the explosives shattered the wall behind him and due to the high concentration of C-12 in the vicinity, it flew like small shrapnel, with enough force to bring a Warthog into the scrap pile.
First, the Shockwave and initial debris took out the shields of the 3 Onyx colored Spartans, but when secondary explosives went off, the fast flying-shrapnel damaged their armor, and worse, some of them hit at the more vulnerable sides of the armor, mainly the neck, which was apparent when Overlord got up and saw 3 Spartans clutching their necks as they were bleeding out. He heard a door burst open and Fireteam Indian rushed in, with Innie-2 in the lead.
"Well boss, I have to say," He started, jerking his thumb to the now dead Onyx Spartans, "you really like to go for the anti-climactic."
"I'm a Spartan, One, not a showman. If you want a prolonged and overly exaggerated duel, then I suggest you go find Rambo, since you might enjoy something there." Lance quipped sarcastically. "I don't fight fair in fights you can't win, especially against ONI."
"Fair enough." was Innie-1's only reply.
Combing the room, they found a conscious, yet wounded Sofia still recovering from the aftershock of the blast. Innie-2 was about to blast her to kingdom come when Lance stopped him. Her leg was stuck under a large metal beam that collapsed and pinned her down, leaving her virtually helpless without any weapon.
While two did not say anything, his posture indicated confusion, as with the rest of his team.
Overlord shook his head and simply knelt down to look her in the eye. She had fire in her blue eyes that was for sure.
"If you are gonna kill me, just do it. No need to prolong anything. Unless you're here so that you can beat whatever info I have, just make it quick." Sofia said defiantly. Lance, for all his cunning and viciousness in war (at least, that's what he tells himself in a mirror when he is alone), spoke to her.
"No, because you know something I don't." He said. While Lance has been able to hack the majority of the cameras in the building, one part of the building was devoid of it: The Prison Block.
The building used for the meeting was an old UNSC prison complex, but while it normally had cameras downstairs, they were being blocked, jammed or likely destroyed since he can only get static. He only took this picture when their faces were at their clearest for him.
"You are going to tell me where you are holding these 2 children in this picture." He said, holding a holo-pic for her to see it.
Sofia's facial features scrunched up in confusion. "What are- I wasn't informed that we had such prisoners." Truthfully, Lance believed her. While she was recruited by ONI for her skills in leading, she had a strong moral compass, one that was not broken thoroughly by ONI's training regimen, an ONI program specifically made to break a person to become something even less than human, yet something more efficient than your standard Spartan IV. Lance found that her file was squeaky clean; it was just that she was a victim of coincidence.
"But you have the master codes? One that allows us access to almost every room in this building." Lance asked inquisitively. Sofia shook her head.
"Even if I did tell you, what's my guarantee that you won't simply shoot me after I give it to you?" She asked, her eyes staring defiantly at her assailant's golden visor. "I know most of you must be CBMI, and most operatives have a 'shoot to kill' philosophy when it comes to ONI and their Spartans. Face it, I might as well be dead already." She spat.
Lance knew what must be done, but Innie-2 and 3 had some issues with that. "Sir…" 3 warned at him, since Lance had a tendency to gamble his life just to earn trust of people who in all likelihood, would have shot him first than talk to him.
"I believe I know what I'm doing, 3. So please, lay-off." He warned, and 3 kept his peace. He then proceeded to take his helmet off, revealing his face to Sofia.
She had to admit, he was a rather good-looking man, even for Spartan standards.
If he was Marine Corps, girls would be coming to him left and right. She thought to herself. But shook it off when he began to speak.
"I understand your situation, Hendriks. Before you ask, I got your file. You are just a victim as most people are when ONI is involved. The only reason you stayed on is because your colleagues threatened to turn you in or would leave you for dead. And also because they knew you had nowhere else to go."
Lance stepped forward and put his hand on her right shoulder. He smiled, a genuine one, which shocked Sofia. She has never heard of any Spartan smiling with genuine kindness. If she had, pigs would have started flying by now.
"I already took the liberty of clearing your name. If you don't believe me, you can check current UNSC chatter on your radio. I know you're able to hack right into our networks. If you don't believe me, I think you should give it a try now." He offered his communication unit to her. She looked at him as though he had a second head.
While his men have no say so in his affairs in negotiation, Fireteam Indian were really perplexed as to Lance's motives for doing this. They then decided to look for any incoming hostiles. To their surprise, while the siren for fire was still blaring, he noticed that the Insurrectionists were busy containing the fires, and still unsure where the attack was coming from.
Innie-1 decided to take initiative. "Overlord, permission to advance to primary?" He asked.
Overlord, knowing that his talk may take a while and time was against him, gave the affirmative, and his team advanced, taking advantage of the confusion. "I'll send you the codes as soon as I'm done here. I'll go for the hostages." Overlord said.
Sofia used her equipment and interfaced with Lance's comms. After a tense 30 seconds, she gasped. Her file was there, along with a full amnesty of her actions, or so it says on that letter.
Sensing her disbelief and shock, Overlord took the initiative. "I understand your confusion, Ms Hendrik, but I'm no puppet. I'm a Spartan, and that means I'll do anything to get the job done, and so far, this one will save me a bullet and hopefully a life. You don't have to understand, not yet. Just trust me, or has ONI beaten that out of your system yet?" Lance asked her.
Sofia still did not trust him, but gratitude should be repaid. "The Code is Metal-India-Zeta- 0873645."
Lance said "Thank you." Before his helmet retracted itself, covering his face once more.
Sofia closed her eyes, expecting a double-cross. But instead, her feet felt less, strained and she could move them again, albeit with some difficulty. She opened her eyes and saw the Spartan Commander lift the beam pinning her to the ground, and helping her up to her feet. What got her even more shocked and surprised: He gave her a loaded Magnum and left him with nothing. Overlord's gun was still in the vents where he took ONI sniper with surprise, leaving him virtually unarmed.
She shook her head, her beautiful features all pointing to confusion. "I still don't know why you're doing this, but I thank you for this chance. Not many Spartans would do the same for me. I know I wouldn't." She claimed.
"Not true. We all have the inherent ability to do good. It's just that in our line of work, we don't have the chance to express it more often. And I know a victim when I see one, whether you acknowledge it or not. You have to decide what to do from here, Sofia. You are the smart one here."
Sofia opened her mouth to speak, but Overlord cut her off. "Don't thank me yet. You're still here, aren't you?" And with that, he cloaked.
Sofia was, for the first time, at loss at what she should do next.
While he was no doubt the enemy, she was given more than her allies or friends would in their entire lives.
Her fate was in her hands now.
{Present day, Glinn's Field}
"I would not know what had become of her for 3 days. I was busy in between." Lance said, to a now enraptured crowd of Jedi, Clones and even some doctors present. Only Glenda Schofield knew the full story. Obi Wan was curious, since he himself was a master negotiator himself. "I was rather surprised, Commander. Not many soldiers would do what you would do."
Lance simply shrugged. "I just see the good, and bad, in people and act in accordance. Contrary to popular belief, Spartans are not "trigger-happy"."
Padme, who was silently watching up until now, asked "What happened next?"
Lance's expression went dark. "I fell into a trap, even though I had contingencies, they still had me when they were about to kill those kids. I surrendered. Pathetic really, but the worst part? I also got my team captured too, when I told them to go after the leadership: I basically led my men knowingly to a meat grinder."
Trips took his turn at asking. "Wait, I thought they got the message about the trap?"
The Spartan nodded. "They did, but the trap was different. You see, the C12 did more than simply help me kill those ONI Spartans, it also got almost every last one of Russo's inner circle, with Russo himself ripped in half by a thin sheet of metal that came at him. You see, the room they were in was very close to the blast radius, and the occupants could not have survived such impact and debris coming at them."
Lance paused for a moment to take a breath, and continued on "But, it didn't get all of them. One man survived that debacle. And it was Michael, Malika and Myka's father, and now head of the entire Insurrectionist movement within Sentosa." Looks of surprise were plastered on everyone present in the room, except Dr. Schofield.
"Out of blind luck, apparently. He went out to get coffee when the room he was in shielded him from the worst of the blast. Didn't say he did not get out unscathed. He got cut up bad when some of the glass grazed the bastard. I wished it did more than that."
"You see, he was the one who ordered his own daughters arrested. Alongside us. He had some portable EMP on him; took down my systems faster than you can say, "Oops". I fell and the last thing I saw before going black was an Innie holding a tranquilizer gun of some sort and I felt a stinging sensation shortly before going to the lala land." Lance said with his tone between sarcastic and frustrated.
"When I woke up, that smug bastard was with me, telling all sorts of horse shit that I didn't care. The one thing he did say was that he was going to torture me. What I did not know then, was how." Lance paused, seemingly having difficulty bringing the words up to the surface.
To his credit, he kept his face neutral.
"I got my answer: in the form of 2 girls screaming for their father to stop." Many had wide eyes or gasps at that sentence.
"He was torturing me, but not with physical torture, no. He did much worse: He had his own girls tortured, as he had finally figured out who sold out innie secrets to us. Just because he was their father, does not mean he was merciful in his punishments, in fact, I think he enjoyed it when he saw us Spartans squirm. He made us watch, as he let his men do things to those two children. My men were distraught and had hate in their eyes, but I was weak. I screamed for him to stop after a few days, but even after breaking, he still would not."
Lance then gave a full detailed explanation of the grotesque tortures done on the children. Needless to say, everyone did not enjoy hearing them.
Even though Spartans were the UNSC's best, the horrors Lance described would make even the most hardened of men break down to tears at such display of viciousness.
Many Jedi actually felt a small simmer of rage underneath their exterior facades. A few Padawans, Clones and even some masters had visible looks of rage. They have seen atrocities during their time in the Clone Wars, but what Lance was describing was simple barbaric evil that took child abuse to a terrible new level.
There were a few Jedi with neutral expressions, to their credit, as the rest literally had a painted face of hate on everyone in the room, including the Clones and some of the doctors had a few disgusted expressions amongst the group.
Some of the observers, like Daniel and Riyo, were affected as the latter was in tears with the former holding his fiancée with a burning desire to kill those responsible; Etain clutching to her husband like a lifeline, also with tears in her eyes; even the Padawans held each other, with some grimly looking on, as even their youngest members have heard or seen worse. Even the doctors had some tears as well when they heard a story as heart breaking and horrible as that.
Finally, Mak Lotor, current significant other to Padawan Zabrak Kass Tod, spoke up.
"What happened next?" He asked, his voice slightly silent, yet audible enough to be heard.
"A public execution, but he said it would be just us that dies, and in my state, I actually thought he meant us. But he told us a half-truth."
{New Sundersfield, Sentosa, June 5, 2500}
Lance remembered.
Before he went dark, he promised those girls that they would be alright, even though they too suffered, more so than the Spartans.
Before everything came to hell, he apologized to his men, who simply nodded, and stood strong for the coming storm.
Now it all came down to this.
Right before all of this went down though, he had a surprise visit from Sofia Hendriks, now the only surviving rogue Spartan IV, and was visiting Lance and proceeded to beat him senselessly for him killing her comrades, or at least, that was what the cameras saw.
However, it turned out to be all but a performance, as while her physical hits were painful, if a Spartan was close by, they would have noticed Sofia's muscles contracting right before she makes contact with Lance's face.
In other words, she was holding back.
Although all forms of communications, even neural lace, was blocked, Sofia fixed that when she through that first punch, which actually held a small scrambler, that allows the neural laces to come online for about two minutes. In it, they conversed about how Sofia stayed, only to help the Spartans by keeping her superiors in the dark. She was apparently the only remaining Spartan IV available since Lance killed her three team mates plus the sabotage to the armors of those other Spartans who were off duty self-destructed when all of them where out-fitting themselves. They found the explosives Lance planted in the artillery, but Sofia managed to keep the viruses and control programs out of sight from the engineers, long enough for her to relinquish her temporary control over them to Lance. She was able to hack into those programs and allowed her control, a feat Lance considered impressive due to the hard encryptions embedded in the programs. She even brought the virus to numerous other systems such as the air defenses, which made ODST drops dangerous as their payload is often fast and heat-seeking, and would not activate unless Lance wanted them to.
The bad news for that however, is that most of the engineers did a purge just in case, and took a painstaking amount of time to put it back into place. The reboot itself would not have been an issue if it wasn't the fact that the engineers installed new firewalls and safeguards, the advanced kind, into the systems. The virus will work, but it would take at least 1 hour before they took hold of the systems again. It could have been done in 30 due to the fast and adaptive programming inside, but that would risk exposure as the code could leak into programs that could go haywire, so Sofia took it safe.
Lance eventually asked her if she contacted his superiors yet. Sofia responded that she did, however, the Innies managed to set-up extra defenses after the attack on the base and so evac had to be done outside the city, since they realized the mission to dismantle the leadership had failed. Although she could have backed out at anytime, she realized a debt had to be paid, at least for her, to the man responsible.
I give the CBMI credit for being less cut and throat in their dealings than their predecessors Lance thought. Despite their nature, CBMI had good men and women who, while the sneakiest bunch in the military, had never viewed their operatives as mere expendable assets. When a promise is made, CBMI won't leave the person out to dry.
With the lack of rogue Spartan IV's, Sofia's importance and influence grew tenfold, but her loyalties belonged now to Lance, and in extension the UNSC, increasing her value to the CBMI. She was then informed that Fireteams Demon and Gargoyle would be launched into the city itself as soon as orbital defenses that the Innies set-up would be knocked out. While the base that the Innies took over had some rather uninteresting gadgets, they did have a rather robust ground to air defenses that would make life hell for any ODST dropping into the city.
After that, he was taken back to the cells, where most of his teammates fared slightly better, in terms of how beat up they looked like. But the worst he saw was the children.
Even though they aided and abetted an enemy, they should not have been subjected to such tortures. To spare the details, it was ugly. The wounds and tell tale signs of sexual abuse were evident, even if they were in an adjacent cell nearby. Even after they screamed and begged their hearts out, the Innies kept on doing this horrific practice, just to torture the Spartans, even after they caved in, although Innie-3 caved in last. The father personally oversaw such evil committed, and even after that was done, he took satisfaction, to the point of laughter to hear his daughter treated in such a horrific manner.
It only served to remind the Spartans that their humanity was still there, in all of its flawed and frail glory.
It was only 10 minutes before they were all dragged to the outside. Within that timeframe, Lance said his apologies to his comrades and to the girls for putting them in this predicament. His men accepted it, saying it came with the job, and the girls surprisingly after all that time, still loved Lance. Malika's words however, stayed with him for the rest of his life. Lance's own tears came running down unable to look at her.
"Lance, don't cry. It will be alright." It sounded rather reversed. Lance looked up to her face and her sister's. Despite the days and weeks torturing both girls, they still looked innocent. Still pure, despite the abuse, as if the accepted their ends with pride. Myka herself smiled morosely at Lance.
Lance would have told them it was not the end when guards hauled them up. By that time 15 minutes have passed.
{Central area, New Sundersfield, 30 minutes later}
The light was blinding, and when everyone adjusted to the blinding glare of Sentosa's sun, he finally saw the city, and they were being paraded in their skin suits and the girls in their underwear while they were bound by the warthogs that led the procession. The warthogs started up and moved rather quickly. The Spartans could have kept up, but they had to support the children as well, as they were not as quick and durable as their friends.
They passed large and crowded streets, and they started shouting, screaming insults and throwing rocks and food stuffs to the prisoners below. Lance was shocked. The Insurrectionists literally caused more problems than their UNSC predecessors, yet he saw undying fervor and zeal he would see in fanatics. He saw their hatred and even worse, their children took part in the throwing. Most screamed "Death to the Traitors! Death to the UNSC!" and Lance wondered how did they manage to rally these citizens, despite all of the efforts of his UNSC backed rebels and his group.
His answer came in the piles of bodies he passed by, and recognized them as the people he talked to and aided him in his long operation. He bowed his head for the fallen and their families, barely keeping his feelings in check, forcing himself more than once to keep a neutral face, to not allow them to see that they were getting to him.
So far, it was barely working.
What did get to Lance was the sheer cruelty shown to both his men and the girls, although mostly the latter that distressed the Spartan to a degree. Normally, Spartans have been seen by most soldiers as professional, cool, and above all else, at least to the ODSTs, detached to the situation, no matter how dire or desperate it was. However, the true cost of his attachment to the girls had now broken that stoic picture, and tried to shield them from the rocks, the sharp objects and the occasional vegetable/rotten fruit, but the guards pulled him away, laughing at his attempts.
The monster who called himself a father, Michael, was actually grinning seeing his children in pain, even his eyes held anger more potent than a Plasma sword, as he had taken pleasure in punishing his children's disobedience in insubordination. Sofia was in an adjacent seat in the warthog they were in, and her body language screamed hidden anger at the current predicament. He could see the occasional twitch in her hands and her head, but she mostly kept stoic and rigid.
Once again, she could win an Oscar at this rate.
The whole horrible procession took around 40 minutes. It was agonizing, but Lance felt anger more than pain. The city, whether they were doing this out of fear or their hatred for the UNSC, took turns using their group as a punching bag, and worse, it was being televised.
He hoped he would not do this, but at this rate, he could alter the coordinates to strike the city instead of the military base. This cruelty could not be tolerated any more.
He did notice there were a lot of armed Insurrectionists here. Now that he put some thought into it, when they were first brought out of the camp after weeks of imprisonment, there was a significant decrease in personnel. Lance thought it strange but he had a nagging suspicion.
They may try to move on the UNSC soon, and if Lance calculated the odds, and usually did, they could make their move within the day.
Maybe right after their execution.
Before he was dragged out, Michael said that he and his men would die, and would spare his children, regardless of their actions. Lance would at least have the comfort that they would be spared.
God, could he be so ever wrong.
{Benson Square, 5 minutes before activation.}
The Benson square was a large recreational area with a statue of a UNSC Marine carrying a young child as the center piece, which was now torn down and defaced with graffiti. It was now replaced with an elevated platform to serve as a stage/execution block. The Prisoners began to kneel on the stage, with Michael formally saying stuff like condolences to the men and women lost to the UNSC, remembering their lost leader, Nick Russo, and promising vengeance.
He then mentioned that as soon as everything here was concluded, they would begin to march on towards the UNSC and pushing them off-world, pushing the UNSC for independence. Cheers rang throughout the crowd.
2 minutes left. Lance was hoping this madman would blab more, but what came next would make him wish the virus would have worked faster. His neural link had a vocal countdown to activation. Hopefully, it would activate soon.
Lance was expecting to for him to keep on ranting, but then he did something unexpected, and called up his children. He hoped that they would not be harmed.
The crowd seemed to be unfazed at the children's appearance, and seemed to insult them with taunts and yells. Yet, they were brave enough not to flinch. Lance was worried now.
"Now, before we go on, I'd like to show you all something you will never forget."
He then turned to his children and gave his best friendly face, even though his children gave him no less than their most scathing glare.
"Now, children, I know we had some, misunderstandings, but believe me when I say this: I forgive you and I want us to be back together."
Malika had her glare on, but her eyes betrayed the fear she felt for the man she used to called father. Myka took it upon herself to speak for both of them.
"I don't know what sick mind you must have for you to think we could come back to you, but I have a friend who treated us better than you ever will you drunk, power-hungry has been!." His reply was a backslap to the face and she crumpled as her supposed father now had contorted his face to one of sheer anger.
"You ungrateful, little bitch! You should count your blessing considering that I was the one who spared you from worse tortures when I was-"he was interrupted by the younger daughter.
"Spared us?! At least there, you made it official with the beatings you gave us before! All the abuse at home made " She spat. Lance gave her credit, her abuse and that of her sister's at the hands of her father has made her less naïve and more observant, especially at the hypocrisy of her father's statement. She was brave in the face of evil. She was also smart, so even her age betrayed her intelligence.
Michael did not take it so well and walked rather calmly to the young girl.
"Now listen here, you stupid brat." He spat while outright punching her to the ground. Lance struggled against his bonds but the guards simply bashed his head with their gun butts and he crumpled before he could even move one more step. "I am your father, you ungrateful young brat. I was the one who provided for our family, and I was the one who stayed with your mother, even as she took her last breath!" He said it with contempt dripping from his tone.
"Yeah, I wanted my father, not some crazy, drunk fanatic who believes everyone in the UNSC is bad. Yes the men in charge were evil, but not everyone was-"A kick to her midsection knocked the wind out of her, while Lance struggled with futility. He actually snarled his saliva flying right into her face. "Don't you dare
1 minute to activation, The neural link announced.
Lance was torn between keeping his silence and using it to delay for the virus to do what it was programmed to do or to speak out and risk everything to stop the barbarity of what was done to the children.
Of course, he picked the latter.
"STOP THIS!" He bellowed, trying to get his attention. The guard moved to hit him again but Innie-2 tripped the guard and fell off the stage, landing on his head and with a sickening crunch, killing the guard.
Even unarmed, Spartans could still do harm.
That guard however, had friends who came up and proceeded to beat the living hell out of the Spartans, while Michael doing the same to the children. All of it still being cheered on by the crowd.
Something in Lance was disgusted and angry at all of this, despite the beating he was receiving. This crowd, whether doing what they did out of fear of the Insurrectionists or hatred of the UNSC, was cheering them on, cheering Michael to beat his children up, for the guards to beat his men up, for their deaths, and worst of all, they just kept on cheering. His anger built up, and it wanted release.
45 seconds. Not soon enough.
"Enough!" Michael yelled, bringing all commotion to a halt. His children was now beaten up like before, but they had cuts, bruises and broken ribs. Myka coughed up blood, as Malika was bleeding from the nose.
"You!" He pointed at the Spartan leader, bleeding out and having his right eye swollen. "You turned my children on me, you bastard!"
Lance said nothing.
Michael then took a stun baton from one guard and stuck it into Lance until he was frothing at the mouth. Malika and Myka still had enough strength to yell at the father, pleading for him to stop.
If he was angry now, Michael is now livid. "YOU SEE?! EVEN MY OWN CHILDREN TAKE YOUR SIDE OVER MINE!" He roared, hitting Lance again this time with the butt of his sidearm.
"Because at least I was a better friend than you made a father. You were drunk, couldn't see the bottom of a glass, let alone see your own children. At least their mother was a better parent than you asshole!" Lance hissed, earning a kick that sent him backwards. Michael did not take it kindly when people mention his wife.
"Don't you dare talk about my wife, you UNSC scum bag! She was a jewel, compared to my flawed sapphire and ruby. And you, like a thief at night, stole both of them from under my nose. I don't know if you believe in God, but I am about to show you that he is on my side, you prick!" He snarled before going back to his children.
Lance scoffed. "So you're now starting to bring God into this? You must be grasping at straws here, stupid."But Michael only smiled, as if he was in a card game and had been giving his best bluff to the opponent. Lance knew that this guy was not just your average fanatic, he was the megalomaniacal kind, the unpredictable one.
That was one factor he was not able to calculate together with his plan.
"But did you know that once I'm done with you and your fascist friends that I intend to use all your little toys in the base and level those UNSC assholes and all those who associate with them." Michael said.
Now, in under normal circumstances, that would cause some concern for the Spartan, as he realizes that UNSC personnel and the civilians under their command could be killed, but Lance has an ace in this game that Michael had not seen yet.
Sofia's help ensured that the trap would be sprung when he goes hook line and sinker. But what happened next was out of his control.
Michael, with his M6 Magnum in one hand and a stun baton in the other, walker in a slow manner towards his children, the way a predator silently stalks his prey before pouncing.
Lance realized what was happening. "No! Stop! Shoot us, but leave the children out of this!" He yelled. It was against everything he was trained to do as a Spartan, but whatever compassion he learned before that simply gave in. Maybe it was the torture, or maybe Lance really had gone too close to the kids, but for whatever reason, it was now going to cost Lance. Michael stopped.
He turned to Lance, and his rage was still burning hotter than Napalm, but then it contorted to something akin to glee. And he laughed, as if he found a good joke and was having such a good time. Everyone stopped, and even the Innies looked at their leader and stepped back. "It's funny, isn't it? I am their father, but they hate me, but you are everything I hate, yet they claim you are their father. And about that stupid deal, just what makes you think I would honor something when you are even less than a bug." He said in an arrogant manner that made Lance's blood boil, yet his mind goes into a state of panic.
20 seconds. His neural lace informed him. Not soon enough.
Lance tried to make all sorts of ruckus, in the hope to stop Michael and divert his attention to him. It did not work. He slowly went by and grabbed Myka's hair, and yanked on it hard. Myka screamed but managed to kick his father in the balls. Brave, but futile.
15 seconds.
Myka was still screaming and cursing her father. But that came to an end when Michael, the supposedly loving father of Myka and Malika, and wedded to a kind woman named Maria, gunned her daughter down, first in the throat and her cries became gurgles, then in the chest which knocks her down, and finally, one in the head. Malika screamed for her sister, but the madman actually used this to rally the people to his side.
If Lance wasn't angry then, he certainly was angry now. And if he was angry then, he was most certainly livid now. The look of grief and sadness in Malika's eyes looked into his, and he was trying to say something, but it was lost to the roars of the crowd.
And the worst part of it all, he wasn't done yet.
10 seconds.
He then turned to Lance and sneered. He then turned to Malika and in a malicious manner, grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. And Lance was now both angry at this monster and, as hard as it was to admit then, afraid for Malika's well being. The adrenaline of all this going on had kicked Lance's mind into overdrive and suddenly found the whole world slow to a crawl.
The phenomenon of this type of reaction from the body only happens in Spartans due to the augmentations that increase most physical activity that normally could not happen in any normal human.
Unofficially, most Spartans usually call this phenomenon "Spartan Time" and the effects always led a Spartan to victory in the field. It was the famed Master Chief who was usually associated with that phenomenon as rumors of of Spartan 117's Spartan time was "bitch slapping" a rocket out of mid-air.
However, this time it just seemed to slow down the agony of Malika's horror and increased the time Lance had to see her die. Michael then started to say something to Malika, but it was blurred out by the effect of "Spartan Time". Never in Lance's life did he feel so powerless, and for the first time, he cursed this effect for what was about to happen.
5 seconds.
He pulled out the gun. Lance opens his mouth to protest but he was hit by a guard holding a MA5B Assault rifle.
4 seconds.
He saw the gun slowly raised to the young child's head. Lance finally makes out some words being said from his lip movements. The hit from the Assault rifle blew his eardrum to oblivion, albeit temporarily. The new leader of the Insurrection begins to spout rhetoric about how the UNSC corrupts all, even his children were untouched.
3 seconds.
He was still spouting crap, but now he looked like he was about to really shoot his own kid. Lance put all his strength into the cuffs and promptly broke them. He saw the same guard about to hit him. Truth be told, he looked like he was enjoying this, but Lance ended that when he broke the cuffs and used its mangled remains to rip the man's throat. His men looked on and were about to stand but the guard near them shot the nearest one, Innie-3, in the leg which sent him down again.
2 seconds.
Malika saw what was happening first before her "daddy" and kicked him very hard in the shin. It was actually hard enough to send him to his knee and clutch hard. Lance saw her running to him and he began to run to her, with his arms outstretched to grab her. Michael recovered enough to see her daughter and he raised the gun at her.
But Lance saw him first and dived towards Malika.
1 second remaining. Standby for virus distribution.
He was able to reach Malika and both of them ended up in the far part of the stage. He brought Malika up and was relieved she was safe.
But the gunshot that rang out later put an end to that.
Virus dispersion now in progress. Taking all sub-routines, rerouting primary directives, assuming control of all weapons platforms. Conversion complete, all systems are now slaved to your directions, running in standby mode.
Lance did not hear that as the gunshot was louder than what it said. He held Malika at arm's length and saw a bright crimson stain starting to spread over her dress. Malika was now in shock and saw her red stain on her dress, but she also saw where the bullet hit Lance, right in the gut. But he was still in shock to notice.
Malika began to buckle, and Lance caught her. Michael was about to shoot again but Sofia finally broke her cover and shot him in the arm, along with 5 other guards with a DMR. Lance's team also broke out, with Innie-3 taking his frustrations on the guard that shot him in the foot. Michael was getting away and the crowd was helping him get through as the crowd now was trying to get on stage and kill the Spartans.
Sofia ran to Lance's side and tried to do everything she could, but it was a through and through shot.
Lance actually began to sob as he held her hand. "It's going t-to be o-okay." For the first time, Sofia heard something break in Lance's voice, and she knew a lot of Spartans who never broke their composure or their cool, even if civilians died.
Malika knew better. She shook her head, but smiled at Lance. "Not your fault." She smiled as Lance cried.
"No, no, I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect your sister and you. I'm sorry I ever asked you to do all those things for me. I'm so sorry for meeting with you in the first place. You would have been safe. You woul-" Lance sobbed but was interrupted when Malika brought her blood-stained hand to his lips.
She shook her head, and coughed out some blood. Malika croaked out her last words "Not your fault… Never regretted a t-thing… I-I lo-love you, and m-my sis would say the sa-ame…" She then breathe her last.
Lance face was now in full anguish, and broke down there and then, uncaring to everything around him. He reached over to Myka and soon he held both girls as he cried. When the team and Sofia looked at Lance, they paused for a while before the bullets started flying again.
While Lance was dealing with the grief, his team gave him cover and began to shoot at literally everyone since everyone in the crowd seemed to be either shooting at him or, if not with a gun, started grabbing the sharpest object they could find and began to throw or charge at the Spartans. While they were able to stave the immediate threat, they knew it was a matter of time before they could be overrun by the crowd. And between them and freedom, they did not want to increase civilians, despite their hostilities towards the Spartans.
Sofia had to shake Lance out of it. For a few minutes, he was solely focused on the two girls in his hands, and saw their pendants: Myka's was sparrow shaped with a bow in its beak, while Malika's was a hummingbird with an arrow in its beak. He was fixated on those since he gave it to them during their 2nd week in Sentosa. He bonded with those girls, and now it cost him, and them, everything.
Finally, Sofia's frantic voice came through to his head. "GET UP! COME ON! WE CAN'T HOLD THEM FOREVER!" She yelled before unloading her Battle Rifle on 3 Insurrectionists. "I'm out!" Sofia said to her colleagues. So far, they only targeted the most hostile but avoided indiscriminate fire in to the crowd.
"One mag left." Innie-1 replied, as he reloaded his assault rifle.
"One in the chamber." Innie-2 said, with one shell left in his shotgun before discharging it on 2 nearby Insurrectionists. "And now I'm out!" He said.
"Still have some ammo left, but that's all I got!" Innie-3 said, as he picked a SAW and M9 Submachine gun and threw it to Innie-2, and then proceeded to get his own Sniper Rifle and began picking off any long-range threats.
Assimilation complete. WARNING! Enemy artillery platforms are now targeting UNSC assets. Recommend immediate action.
For the longest time, Lance held the two girls before he slowly set them down, and grabbed both of their necklaces and tied them around his fist. His face was now one of cold fury. He suddenly began to activate his Neural Lace. He began to change the trajectory of the long-range missiles, the ones loaded with phosphorous.
All Artillery platforms selected. Targets verified. WARNING! You are in proximity of projectile range. Verify coordinates.
Verify. Activate on my word only.
Lance closed his Neural Lace and began to charge right at the enemies. First he grabbed the closest Insurrectionist with body armor and began to use him as a shield against incoming fire, and grabbed his gun and, in quick and precise bursts, killed the closest threats and, in an act that would forever be remembered by Sofia and Lance, pulled the pins on the grenades strapped to the soldier and kicked him hard enough to be pushed right into the crowd.
His men saw it and they ducked. After that, the grenades blew up. Those that saw the grenades tried to run, but the crowd, for the most part, was focused on getting to the Spartans. The results were nothing short of pure horror as a might red mist suddenly enveloped the area, with body parts and bodies flying. The explosives on the Insurrectionist were enough to send the crowd running away from the general area, with only the more experienced militia men and regular Insurrectionist soldiers stayed, but where disorientated by the crowd as they blocked their line of fire.
Lance's anger was burning, and he wanted nothing more than to wipe everything in this city down to the foundations, but he knew he needed an edge. First he would need his armor. He tempered his anger into something colder, but no less potent in the destruction caused by Lance.
Using the panic he'd caused, he signaled his men to rejoin him and they were off, with Sofia leading them to a supply depot where extra supplies and even some spare GEN 2 armors were located. The Depot itself was located 2 miles from the square itself. Although there were fears of Michael discovering it, Sofia uncovered that her former colleagues set their locations secret, in the event of a double-cross.
Innie-1 spoke to Lance first when they got to the depot. "Are you mad? Why did you throw that grenade? Do you know how many Geneva Convention rules we just broke with that?"
Innie-2 however tried to defend Lance. "Come on, we were surrounded by lots of bad guys, and they were all hostile. The only reason we didn't do it ourselves is because we were being pinned. Admit it, Mark," Innie-2 finally dropped the code names. "We are outgunned here and any chance these bastards get is one bullet to the head for us."
Innie-1, whose real name was Mark, began to argue. Innie-3 however began to intervene. "Alright, Chris, that's enough." He turned to Innie-2, Chris, who was looked calmer, while Mark was still frustrated. "Come on, Malcolm. We have codes to live by, and we just proved to these bastards that we are the monsters Russo advertised to the planet."
"And so what? We allow these bastards to kill us like sheep? Even you can't be that dumb." Chris retorted.
"But-" he was interrupted.
Lance decided to intervene before Sofia did so. "Enough, what's done is done. Chris is right, this entire city has become hostile, and so I have no choice but to blow this city straight to hell. Plus, they have enough men to launch an offensive on the UNSC, even if it is futile, they can make it a pyrrhic victory if they can throw enough men at them."
"But what about the artillery? Won't that even the odds for the Innies? Not to mention the fact that they can decimate the UNSC lines." Malcolm asked as he was getting outfitted.
"Leave that to me. In fact, we'll stay here for about 10 minutes." Lance replied.
Mark, getting Lance's meaning when he said that, started to renew the argument. "Sir, I must protest! You have to keep a level head about the situation." Mark looked down when Lance's face faltered a bit in the expression. "I'm sorry about those two girls, Lance. I truly am. But we can't let their deaths blind you to rational thought! We need a better plan, one that does not involve massive casualties on both sides." Mark said. But just as he did, Sofia was watching the cameras and saw something that made her blood boil.
"Lance, you need to see this." She said, her lips pushed together and her fists clenched. Lance did and what he saw made him scream in agony.
The two girls le left behind, Malika and Myka, were being desecrated and hacked into pieces, with Myka getting the most abuse, while Malika was being viciously hacked like a butcher slaughtering a pig. Lance's anguish increased tenfold, and clawed at the screen as if he could reach out and strangle those responsible.
His men rushed to his side and saw the screen. They felt sick inside, even Mark, who was having trouble keeping a lid on his emotions, whereas his two other comrades were really fuming now.
Lance then saw Michael grabbing Myka's and Malika's heads and raising them up for all to see. He then proclaimed this.
"WITH THIS, I AM CLEANSED FROM THE DISGRACE OF MY CHILDREN!"
Lance was now livid, his anger now threatening to boil over into something much angrier than a Jiralhanae Chieftain who just lost his helmet. But all of a sudden, he cooled down. He became calmer, but much more alert. His focus, once divergent, now converged into one single purpose:
Killing everyone responsible for their deaths, and Michael was going to be on his top of his kill list.
Mark realized that whatever hope he had of convincing his leader to do the right thing was now impossible. Still, he had to try.
"Sir, I know that this looks bad, bu-" He was cut off when Lance punched Mark with sufficient force to dent the wall behind Mark, rendering him unconscious.
Malcolm and Chris went to him and checked his vitals, to see if Lance did any internal damage. Shocked as they were, they were not surprised that Lance lashed out like that. They worried if he would really take it all out on the Insurrectionists. Sofia slowly went over to Lance.
She placed her gauntleted hand on his shoulder. "Lance, I think that taking out your allies is not the best course action, so calm down. Please. We need you to think."
Lance breathed in and sighed loudly. "I'm sorry, Sofia."
Sofia smiled slightly. "Not your fault. But Mark's right. You need to think this through." She hoped her words would come through to him. Chris also decided to take a stand as well.
"She's right, boss. Mark maybe a stuck-up, by-the books type of guy, but doing anything rash right now may screw us over. Besides, how on Earth are you gonna kill everyone in New Sundersfield anyway?" He said, hoping to appeal to common sense.
Lance, however, smiled. Chris was slightly confused but Sofia got the glint in his eyes. She was about to argue about the use of those missiles, but then she saw that her Neural Lace was still in the systems inside the artillery base. "Oh no."
Lance suddenly snapped to attention from Chris. "What is it?"
"They're launching now, but they're targets are not at the UNSC lines, they're aiming at the areas behind them." She said in horror.
Malcolm realized how dire this was. "That's where the refugees are camped!"
Lance sprung up and went into the chamber where the machine that outfitted ONI Spartans with their GEN 2 Armors was located and began to suit up rapidly. After a few minutes, Lance's Neural Lace was now enhanced with the Armor's communications systems inside the helmet. The Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal Layer now enhancing his movements, as he rushed to the nearby console.
"How long until launch?" Lance asked. Sofia answered "60 seconds. There's barely enough time to shut them off!" That was before she saw some high level codes being inputted into the systems. Sofia realized that Michael had just placed his override commands into the system, to rush the weapons into firing earlier than expected.
The missiles launched first, before the artillery platforms would deliver their payload. Sofia warned Lance about the launch.
"I've noticed. I'm trying to get the virus to retarget the military base, but for some reason, it refuses to redirect itself." Lance said as his frustration became evident in the furious tapping of his gauntlet.
Sofia typed in the console a few time before coming to a conclusion. "They've somehow cloaked their locations. The firewalls are extremely tough and I simply don't have the equipment needed to crack them." She said.
Lance closed his eyes. "So be it." He said to himself. Using his Neural Lace, he began to recite the activation codes.
Activation code:Alpha-Sierra-India-6574-23 Whiskey 54. Verify?
Acknowledged, Sodom shall burn with hellfire. Angels are in vicinity of blast radius. Recommend shelter in any underground location. The Neutral voice of his neural lace echoed in his skull.
"Sodom" is a code name for New Sundersfield, to which Lance called it when he marked the city 2 weeks ago, with "Angels" as the Spartans are identified by the program.
"Then we take shelter soon." Lance said it aloud for his men to hear him. Sofia was about to protest but the finality in Lance's tone was clear. There was nothing to be done.
Sofia despondently replied. "Yes sir. There's a basement here that we can use to take cover in."
Lance looked to his men. "See to it that Mark gets downstairs." His men nodded, though their discomfort to the whole situation was apparent in their body language.
Soon they were heading downstairs with all the weapons and guns they could carry. The plan was that they would hold downstairs until reinforcements would arrive. But Lance had other plans. He silently accessed the depot's systems and rewrote the whole system with the same virus that Lance had implanted into the rockets. He was able to use his Neural Lace to allow the virus to access the depot.
As soon as they entered inside, Lance kicked Sofia and then bolted out the doors, where he overridden the security locks before he ripped them apart. He heard banging on the doors, but Lance made sure that until his task was complete, his men would stay there. His men and Sofia were trying to talk him out of it, trying to get him to steer past the hate.
But it was already too late. Lance was now emotionally compromised, he knew this. And now, he was going to go after the one person in this god-forsaken rock, and everyone else who stood between him and his vengeance.
Michael would pay. He began to comb the weapon racks and started to arm himself with an Assault Rifle with a grenade launcher attachment and a SAW, with Incendiary grenades and 2 M6 Magnums strapped to his sides. He also found a large machete and took it too, and put ammo bandoliers on his chest
{Glinn's Field, The Present}
"You didn't." Ahsoka breathed in horror. She, along with the Clones and the Jedi in the room had equal looks of terror and sadness. They all felt the grief, yet still were shocked at what Lance did, even Anakin, who did the same thing but not at the level Lance committed.
"I did, and for those who don't believe me," He pulled out a crystal chip from his back pocket."This will probably tell you the rest of the story to you. I hope you have an empty stomach, ladies and gentlemen, because this will get brutal." He then handed it over to a doctor who began to enter the chip in a terminal and typed in some commands. The room darkened and a holo screen was shown in a pentagon-like state to allow full 360 degree viewing.
Lance began typing on a holopad as he began to show them everything from that moment he put on the Mjolnir GEN-2.
So far, everything Lance had said was accurate, from the actions to the words said, Lance had truly said this word for word. But when Lance closed those doors and exited the depot that was when things became more gruesome. Some of the footage taken was from street cameras moments before their destruction or some still functioning after the first strike, but they did not shy away from the carnage that unfolded that day.
{New Sundersfield, 1 minute before missile impact, The Past}
Now, most people would come to the conclusion that Lance reprogrammed those missiles out of a desire for revenge, and after all that these people have done, they would have deserved it.
They would only be half-right.
The city was actually in close proximity to the base and Lance targeted the part that was closest to it, so the Northwestern area would be the least damaged after the missile strike. After Lance exited the depot, he saw the missiles in the sky and had to find appropriate shelter that was sturdy enough, not too fortified so that Lance can immediately move on the Insurrectionists. He saw an open manhole into the sewers. Unlike other people who would allow emotion to cloud judgement, anger actually cleared Lance's focus, but sacrificing empathy and compassion at the same time. Lance looked up and saw one of those missiles come up. He realized that it's trajectory was nearby his location. He was confident though, that it wouldn't breach the underground bunker in the depot.
With no hesitation, he jumped right into darkness, just as the missiles struck at the first target. As they did so, debris began to crumble from the top and fire was actually licking the upper part of the sewers. Fire began to ravage everything, and Lance began to hear the screams of everyone involved. But then a large piece of debris hit Lance in the head hard, and all was dark.
{Glinn's Field, The Present}
The video began to show again as Lance got up. He checked his suit's systems and began to slowly traverse the open ground. And what he found was something out of a hell hole. The entire city was in flames. Buildings where alight with orange lights and black smoke permeated the entire area where Lance was in.
But the worst part of it all was the screaming.
The Jedi and the Clones in the room were no strangers to the atrocities of war, but what they saw encompassed Anakin's own, in fact, it made Anakin's own slaughter of the Tusken Raiders look tame in comparison to what he saw on screen. Burning, screaming, dying but the Burning was the worst part. People were screaming, they were pleading and begging the Spartan to render aid to them.
Etain looked like she was going to faint, but Darman was still shocked that the more he saw, the he too became affected. When he heard about the properties of WP(White Phosphorous) that was present in the payload alongside Napalm, he too was rather sickened. Incandescent particles of WP cast off by a WP weapon's initial explosion can produce extensive, deep second and third degree burns. One reason why this occurs is the tendency of the element to stick to the skin. Phosphorus burns carry a greater risk of mortality than other forms of burns due to the absorption of phosphorus into the body through the burned area, resulting in liver, heart and kidney damage, and in some cases multiple organ failure. These weapons are particularly dangerous to exposed people because white phosphorus continues to burn unless deprived of oxygen or until it is completely consumed. In some cases, burns are limited to areas of exposed skin because the smaller WP particles do not burn completely through personal clothing before being consumed.
In short, it burns, and it burns with horrific abandon, especially on the organic foe. In addition, the smoke coming from it can also kill if exposed to a long period of time. So if the fire does not kill them, the smoke will.
Darman actually feels grateful they are not the enemies of the Terrans. Otherwise, lots of Clones would have been killed, given the nature of how Terrans fight, especially how this Spartan fights.
Kal Skirata had been in the observer stands, so he too could see the footage. As a Mandalorian, he could respect Lance's fighting prowess and tactical ability to assess a situation and act accordingly. However, as a Human being, even his own experiences as a bounty hunter could not prepare him from the amount of cruelty done unto the enemies that came across Lance's path.
As Lance went to the base, he saw the consequences of his actions bear fruit as the people of the city: Men, women, and even children were all set aflame, still alive, screaming, trying to desperately claw their way into Lance's armor. The Jedi saw through his camera the hate in their eyes, as those not affected tried to take potshots as the crowd distracted or attacked Lance.
Lance was fed up with this and took out his machete and dispatched the people on the ground, as he used his magnum to pick off the snipers. The way Lance took out the enemy with ease made even Kal uneasy. There was a sense of burning anger in the way Lance savagely hacked and slashed through the burning remnants of the people who lived in New Sundersfield. Not even the children were spared.
Ahsoka was outraged. "How do you even look at yourself in the mirror when you wake up in the morning? Those girls would not have wanted that." She said with disgust, as she voiced the question most people in the room, even the doctors, were thinking.
Lance shrugged. "You may think me a monster, butchering those people. But the truth is, and it scares me to this day, I just did not care at the time, and when I did, I don't feel a thing. And I was happy and scared at the same time."
Ahsoka was infuriated. This man was a killer, all the way to the core. "And you don't think that what you did was justified?"
Lance simply held his hand up to her. "Save them for after the video." His eyes never left the screens.
Some just sat there with despair and looked at Lance bleakly, before they bowed their heads in acceptance of their impending death. Lance left those to die in their misery, but he changed his mind and began gunning them down left and right, which finally made some Jedi faint, or throw up.
Scene after scene was only more carnage and more death, all these when Lance fired upon the city. It was almost too much to bear for everyone involved, save for Lance himself and Dr. Schofield, who herself watched it earlier during her own treatment with Lance.
Soon, he finally reached the base, and immediately slaughtered all inside, whether they had a gun in their hands or not. He entered a large bunker that Lance's scanners had picked up on life signs and used the incendiary grenades and flushed down the air ventilation shafts. The result suddenly turned all ventilation shafts into small fire-breathing death traps that singed and charred most of the occupants inside.
When Lance entered after the inferno was put out by the building's water systems, he entered a misty corridor that was unable to block his helmet's ability to find life. He slowly combed the building until he heard coughing in a nearby room. He used C4 instead of C7 to breach to door.
He wanted to make the kill personal.
He saw his prey, weak and vulnerable, with his legs burnt to the bone, and he cried out for mercy.
Michael sobbed. "Please, please, don't kill me." Lance snarled, as he was disgusted at the man's own cowardice, his bravado and arrogance now reducing to whimpering and sobbing. He grabbed his collar, which elicited a scream of pain from Michael, and yet he was not done.
"I-I have rights." He stuttered. But Lance simply stared at him with enough malice to make Hitler himself look like a 3rd grader bully. He simply grabbed the sides of his head, and before he pulled the man's face apart, he gestured to the necklace charms he gave to Malika and Myka. "Recognize these?! You should have let them go." And with as much brutality and strength as possible, ripped his face in half.
At this point, 3 things happened at the same time, ½ of the audience screamed, with 4 of them throwing up, or in the cases of Etain, Padme, and Ahsoka, fainted. Even Anakin was projectile vomiting. The doctors who were supposed to be helping the Jedi were on their knees, losing their lunches.
Lance calmly left his seat and left all the moaning Jedi and Clones behind, as some of the Observers did the exact same thing. As UNSC medics and personnel rushed inside the room, he went over to Anakin who was kneeling and helped him up. He made sure Anakin was looking in at Lance straight in the eyes, and said.
"Boy, I don't know why you beat yourself up like this, but I don't care. What I did there, I don't regret. We all do things, good and bad, but once they're done, you can never repay the sins unleashed upon the innocent. But we can make up for those mistakes." Lance said, with Anakin looking narrowing his eyes at Lance, not backing down from him.
"And after all you've done?!" Darman shouted, after putting his wife in a more comforting position. "What kind of monster can even consider redemption after all that you've done? And how has the UNSC let someone like you get away with something so evil like that!"
Lance looked rather calm when he addressed the Clone Commando. "When the UNSC came, CBMI came up with a cover story that had we were captured and tortured, but were rescued when the missiles went haywire. The Spartan who saved us, Sofia, was the one who pulled us out after a crisis of conscience, and sheltered us when the missile that were supposed to hit the UNSC had faulty programming. She was reinstated after I, along with the rest of my team, given our word to not only give her full pardon, but to also put her back on the UNSC as a Spartan IV."
"Although, most of my men will never look at me the same way again, and I was forced to endure the taunts and insults of my fellow Spartans, nicknaming me "The Butcher of Sentosa." They thought I set the whole world on fire, when it was just one city." Lance calmly replied back to Darman.
"But I brought myself back up, after the incident. There was a major battle at a planet called Doisac. I was one of the surviving Spartans who fought tooth and nail to complete the objective, but taking the lives of my men a priority before that. I fought on that hellhole, and took plasma for men who would have, with their opinions about me not so stellar, left me to die. But I did, and I almost died, but got knocked out."
Lance walked forward to the Clone, continuing on. "When I came to, I earned the respect of my men, and was promoted to Commander. Now, if you don't believe me, that's on you. But I will earn your respect as well."
Kal then stepped forward to address that. "Respect is earned, not said. When you live up to your part of the deal, then I will respect that you are not some evil monster that pretends to be a man."
Lance nodded, and before he left the room, he addressed Darman. "Oh, and to answer what kind of monster I am, I am a human one, and I accept that as part of what I am as a person, so don't tell me that I'm don't feel, because while I don't regret what I did, I still feel sorry for what I had to do to them. What would you do, for your family, as I did for them?" He held out his necklace, a sparrow and a hummingbird, both with arrows in their beaks. He was holding up mementos of a dead past that Lance could not let go.
Nor can he bear to.
He then leaves the room, letting everyone ponder on these words, especially as Anakin looks at him, feeling as though he too shares a loss that Anakin has experienced, a kinship of sorts.
The words of Lance reverberate through his head.
"What would you do, for your family?"
EPILOGUE: The Matters of Forgiveness
{Glinn's Field, Southwest side, 5 hours later.}
Lance was on the balcony, looking on the holo pad for the line-up he had when Battle Group Miranda came in. He had overlooked the Saratoga Battle Group and saw some interesting things. Of course, the data was old, by about 15 hours, as Lance had to take care of other things since then.
Lost Legion ETA: 10 hours, excluding Napalm, who has been re tasked by CBMI to *CLASSIFIED*(Details below)
Fireteam Aqua (Hunter Branch)
Leader: Warren Jess, Callsign "Spider"
Medic/Hacker: Rameez Rashid, Callsign "Slim"
Sniper: Rebecca Fields, Callsign "Lotus"
Heavy Weapons/Demolitions: Jack Ironside, Callsign "Jackhammer"
Scout: Alison Gould, Callsign "Kiddo"
Fireteam Napalm (Warrior Branch)
Addendum: Fireteam Napalm has been retasked for Central Bureau of Military Intelligence purposes. Current location: Unknown. Awaiting further notice from CBMI.
Leader: Sofia Hendriks, Callsign "Firebrand"
Medic/Hacker: Thomas McQueen, Callsign "Smooth"
Sniper: Hong Kwun Yin, Callsign "Earth Lion"
Heavy Weapons/Demolitions: Eliza Klien, Callsign "Voodoo"
Scout: Jason Wisterfield, Callsign "Gladius"
Fireteam Royal (Fortress Branch)
Leader: Gabriel Whiteman, Callsign "Angel"
Medic/Hacker: Lulu Zandakiri-Prince, Callsign "Tokyo"
Sniper: Eric Prince, Callsign "Easy"
Heavy Weapons: Zaeed Moffi, Callsign "Omen"
Scout: Sarah Clarke, Callsign "Rogue"
Fireteam Gospel (Fortress Branch)
Leader: Hannah Novak, Callsign "Nova"
Medic/Hacker: Dennis Gostibule, Callsign "Gopher"
Sniper: Fleur Natasha De Castro, Callsign "Filler"
Heavy Weapons/Demolitions: Jose Laruscain, Callsign "Titan"
Scout: Billy Leina Kidd, Callsign "Magician"
New Spartan recruits inserted in Lost Legion after arrival of UNSC Battle Group Miranda Keyes.
Spartan Mason Briggs, Callsign "Hotel"
Spartan Hal Janis, Callsign "Sucker"
Spartan Mayumi Takehawa, Callsign "Sakura"
Spartan Ferb Toronto, Callsign "Cabbage"
Spartan Horace Morgan, Callsign "Shades"
Spartan Maya Mercilly, Callsign "Siren"
Spartan Logan Dunn, Callsign "Madman"
Spartan Jackson Drills, Callsign "Gundam
Spartan Otsuru Okiku, Callsign "Warfan"
Spartan Jervis Tuner, Callsign "Volt"
Spartan Elizabeth Ashe, Callsign "Ice Queen"
Spartan Ramon Guadalupe, Callsign "Favela"
Spartan Gian Durante, Callsign "Bok"
NOTE: It is currently noted that Warfan, Ice Queen, Cabbage, and Shades have already seen field action. Recommend drafting them as team leaders for their experience in battle.
Spartan II Red Team
Alice-130
Douglas-042
Jerome-092
Lance then looked over to a hidden file, and the person who sent it had the initials S.H. on it. Lance smirked before reading below. It may have the CLASSIFIED tag on it, but Lance knew a letter when he saw one.
CLASSIFIED: Napalm has been assigned by General Chernof to escort Dr. Catherine Halsey, and the Spartans who were found in Darkness Falls base back to Reach. Tribunal currently discussing Dr. Halsey's fate, as she is the main researcher of the infamous Spartan II program. Currently considering her importance of her presence to Spartan II's. Not sure on the resolution, but they may allow them to enter the Andromeda area if a Forerunner artifact is indeed located in the Andromeda, especially Halsey.
P.S. Try and keep out of trouble. S.H.
Lance smiled gently. Ever since that debacle at Sentosa, he and Sofia were close friends. It would have escalated to something more, if Sofia made the first move, beaten off by Wren, who once held a rivalry for Lance a while back. Nowadays, they were just good friends, although they did try to restart their feud once.
He shook his head. Leave it to the female populace to fight over me.
"I'm not done with you yet." A voice, wary but determined, sounded off from behind him.
Lance nodded to acknowledge his presence. "I was wondering when you would come, Skywalker. I thought you would have been with Padme after today."
Anakin simply took his place at the railings and leaned over to them. "She's asleep, and I need you to answer a few things for me."
"Such as?"
"How do you deal with it?" Anakin asked. Lance can relate to Anakin's dilemma. Even though Lance's actions were more extreme than Anakin's, it was no less horrible. Slaughtering a village full of sentient life like vermin can change the outlook of how the Jedi views him. Especially if that person is the fabled "Chosen One" who is supposed to strike down the Sith.
Expectation is always easier than reality.
Now, Lance has read into what the Jedi was able to provide for him about the prophecy, but what they were expecting was a white knight in shining armor, not some kid from a backwater planet who manages to slaughter a village out of anger. Still, if he could change the Jedi Code from forgoing emotion to embracing it, then it was still something to be proud of.
"Have you ever heard the story of Jesus Christ?" Lance asked.
"Not that I have? Isn't he the person who created Christianity, a religion that most of you Terrans embraced?" Anakin asks. He was able to get what the general gist of Terran religion when he was stopping by chapel area in the base.
"Well, you ain't wrong." Lance said when he offered a chair for Anakin to sit in, and soon, both men were sitting down, face to face.
"It was said that he was born under a shining star, and that the first visitors to his cradle were some shepards and the sheep they were herding. Then when he was a young child, he was brought to a large city and he was in the grand temple of that city, and was baptized according to the law of that city, before he was lost for 3 days, with his parents searching for the child constantly. When he was found again, they found their child in the temple, with scholars surrounding the child, astounded as he was answering all their questions with ease."
Anakin was enraptured by the tale he was being told, though his face was stoic. "Hmm, what happened next?"
"Well, lots of things happened, but when he became an adult, he started doing things that no normal man could do, like turning water into wine, healing the sickly, proclaiming the word of God, the One Father, and spreading his teachings of love and kindness, and most importantly, forgave the sinful of all their transgressions."
"He must have been real popular, huh?" Anakin asked, impressed and amazed that such a person existed.
"He was able to resurrect the dead." Lance pointed out.
Anakin's eyes widened at that. "He did?"
Lance only nodded. "However, there were some who loathed him, simply because he was against everything they believed in and also because they thought he was a hoax. It is also worth mentioning that those men were supposed to be their religious leaders, but felt threatened by what this man represented, at least in their eyes."
"He was loathed and they kept their hatred of him in check, until they would find the perfect time to end him. They did so after they managed to get one of his followers, a man named Judas Iscariot. He betrayed him, and set him up. After a trial, he was found guilty, and was executed, painfully and unmercifully."
Anakin felt a slight surge of anger when he next spoke. "How could they do that to someone?"
Lance held his hand up to Anakin. "Now, I wasn't finished yet. Before he died, he forgave on all of those responsible for his death, and forgave all sins. He died bearing the sins of all of us, from the lowliest thief, to the most corrupt official. He did not stop forgiving them all, and still does to this day."
Anakin was silent, digesting this info with surprise. "He must have been a great man to do something as selfless as forgiving others."
"He was." Lance nodded. "In fact, 3 days after that, he was resurrected from the dead."
Anakin was silent after that, before speaking "Why are you telling me this?"
Lance paused for a while. "Because, I believe we all still have a chance for salvation, regardless of our sins. He died for that, and I believe that despite everything, we still have chance that people can come to accept us, all aspects that makes us who we are. We only need to persevere. He allowed this to happen to himself so that he can redeem everyone, even his most hated of foes. We're not like him, but we can try and follow his example."
"So you're saying that I should bide my time and let them insult me?" Anakin asked incredulously.
"Until an opportunity arises that allows redemption for you. I've earned mine long ago, but before that, I've learned to bear with the hate. Start learning to bear with it, because for now, nothing else will change their opinions about you, at least, not in words. People have their own opinions, and we are not there to force change upon it, but rather, leave an impression to change their opinions."
"You are wiser than you let on." Anakin complimented.
"What can I say? Experience goes with the wisdom. I did not say that was going to be easy, especially for people in our position, with the ability to take lives to save lives. The only difference between me and you is that I am more used to ending conflicts with a bang, whereas you Jedi end them with either diplomacy or a lightsaber." Lance smirked.
"Well, my master Obi-Wan had a knack for doing both." Anakin said.
"Ah, yes, the Negotiator. That was your master's nickname? Or was my intel out of date?" Lance asked.
Anakin nodded. "Speaking of intel, I've also heard some rumors from the Clones that came with us. Care to explain why they seem to be mobilizing when we are not at war with Palpatine?"
Lance nodded. "They are following Kal Skirata's lead and we are helping them retake Mandalore. I believe you recognize this character." He then held out a datapad with a Zabrak, male and has black and red type of color scheme on his face.
"Maul. I know him. Obi-Wan told me of this man. He was the reason Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan's Master, was killed, but was defeated and presumed killed, at least from what I've heard. But he survived, and told me of how his defeat made Maul mad and seemingly crazy. Also, he has killed many people, including a Jedi, just so that he could get to Obi-Wan." Anakin informed Lance.
"Well then," Lance then grabbed the datapad from Anakin's grasp. "He's on our top of our kill list when my men land on Mandalore." Lance said.
Anakin then shook his head. "No offense to you or your warriors, but this man is beyond you. Aside from his astounding lightsaber skills, his mastery of the Force gives him an edge over most other warriors, nevermind the fact that his state of mind is not stable at the moment."
Lance nodded in acknowledgement "I appreciate the concern, Master Jedi. But I believe we have two CBMI operatives who can say otherwise." Lance then rubbed his hand behind his neck.
"Who?" Anakin asked.
"I believe, Master Skywalker that he is referring to me and my partner." A female voice said from the doorway. Anakin turned his head, and when he recognized the pair, his eyes grew wider than plates.
Two cloaked figures stood by the doorway, but their faces were visible enough to be seen. Anakin recognized the first figure as Barriss Offee, the Jedi who was a good friend of young Ahsoka Tano. She was wearing her signature cloak, but she was wearing an armored suit that resembled the ODSTs that Anakin met earlier. And the figure on the left behind her was Asajj Ventress, with a black cloak on and wearing the same set of armor as Barriss.
Barris stepped forward and smirked. "It is good to see you once again, Master Skywalker." She smirked. "We have much to discuss."
REVIEW, and tell me what you think? Tell in either PM or Review what I should do next?
One, the retaking of Mandalore arc, features the whole of Lost Legion with the rogue Clones and retaking Mandalore from the Sith. And the uncovering of an ancient artifact that connects the Andromeda to the Forerunners. This is now bringing Star Wars to Halo, instead of the other way around, OR:
Two, the Battle of Jabiim arc, a flashback arc that involves the Padawan Pack and their accounts when the UNSC attacks Jabiim after Nimbus Commandoes attack UNSC trade ships, mistaking them for Republic ships. In order to leave them out of the Conflict, Count Dooku cuts all ties to Jabiim, and leaves them to the UNSC. What follows after is a flashpoint between UNSC and the Republic against droids left behind by the CIS, and the Commandoes under Alto Status. Takes place 1 year and 2 months after the Battle of Geonosis.
UH-60 NIGHTSTALKER has voted for the Mandalore arc, so unless there is a majority who will overrule, then my next story arc will be, by default, Mandalore .
Please, to whoever Guest is, please log in so that I can reply.
My next chapters, however, will focus on bringing Halsey to the Andromeda.
