Tyrant of Caelum
by Agent Ghost

"It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners."
-Albert Camus

Version 2.0
Edited By: Agent California & Serria159

Post Operation: DarkFall

Part I
Several months had passed and Castiel had finally begun to understand his new family, he had struggled, he was almost overcome by his 'other' several times but he pushed through. He had trained hard and now, he was more than ready to face his next challenge. "Castiel."
A deep voice spoke through the darkness of the large hall they were in, the place that had been built by the Marked Ones for the Orders council to meet and discuss their next course of action; now it was being used to go over Castiel's final stage of training. The assassination of the insurrectionist Commander overseeing the large facility several hundred miles from the Altar of the Sky. "You have proven yourself through training and perseverance, now the time has come for your final test, and your initiation into the Order." The man speaking was not Kai, rather one of the village elders; a man named Ralak. He was very respected among them, especially by Kai.
"I am ready Elder Ralak, I will bring to Death the souls of the corrupt, and I will emerge victorious." The Elder simply nodded and turned to speak to one of the other Elders, he then turned and nodded to Kai who in turn nodded. Ralak turned back to Castiel and spoke again, "You understand that this is your journey, and yours alone to travel, none of your Brothers and Sisters can accompany you here."
Castiel nodded, "I understand Elder Ralak."
Ralak nodded and stood from his seat, "Then there is nothing left to be said. Ready your equipment and speak to Master Kai before you leave, he will provide you with the details of what you will be facing."
Castiel nodded and bowed to the Elders before walking out of the meeting hall. Castiel opened the wooden door that led to the pathway outside, looking around he saw that it was somewhere around 6:00 AM, they had begun the meeting an hour before the sun rose, knowing full well he had at least two or three days travel before he reached his objective.
"Castiel, Castiel!" A child's voice sounded off to his right. Looking over he saw the small form of Kalani, the little girl he had met when he was first brought to the village. Castiel knelt down and waited for the little girl to run up to him.
"What is it little one?" He asked.
She smiled and lifted what looked to be a Frost Rose, "I found this in the clearing by the pond, I want you to have it."
Castiel smiled and took the flower by the stem, holding between three fingers, "It's beautiful Kalani, thank you." He said looking the rose over before tucking it away in his pocket, "Now take care of the village while I'm gone ok?" He asked placing a hand on her shoulder.
"I will Castiel, be careful and come back soon!" She said before running off to go play with the other children.
Kai had exited the hall and walked up behind Castiel, "Let's walk to your hut, I will explain to you the layout of the facility and what to expect when you're there," he said, patting him on the shoulder before walking off towards Castiel's hut. Castiel stood and followed him.
Kai asked, "How has your smith work with Sora been going? I trust you have crafted tools you can use in your mission?" This was true. Not only had he been working for months on bettering himself in the art of war, but he was also becoming a better craftsman and smith.
"Yes, I have crafted the weapons required for my mission, they will prove to be good versatile tools." He responded, they reached the front of his hut and Kai stepped in past the fur covering, Castiel followed him and they entered the dimly lit structure. Pulling a piece of parchment from his cloak, Kai unrolled it and set it down on the table in the corner, "This is a map of the area," he said as Castiel walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "The entire facility was constructed near a ravine, literally, right next to it. The air pad is on a structure directly over the ravine."
As he spoke, Castiel readied his blades. During initiation, especially when hunting a target, the Marked Ones were required to use blades or ancient weapons, such as swords, javelins, spears, bows, anything. As long as it fit that criteria, they could use it. His choice of weapons, however, were designed for close to medium range combat. Two belts went across his chest in an x-pattern, each containing ten small throwing blades. Each one was about six inches long: two inches of handle and four inches of blade. They were composed entirely of molecularly metal. They didn't use grip on them, instead they were forged to slip freely from the hands of the user, allowing for a cleaner faster kill. The belt connected to a large sheathe on his back that contained Castiel's new Assassin's blade. Every Marked One crafted their own signature blade, and this one was his. The few times he used it in training to test its durability and speed, he was rewarded with perfect result., The others nicknamed it the 'Phantom Blade' and it kind of stuck. It was long enough that it could be considered a short sword, but was still short enough to still be called a knife.
The blade itself was twelve inches long, with the handle being four and a half inches. The way it was designed allowed it to cut through the air silently and efficiently, yet still retained the force to cleave through a full grown pine if wielded by the right person. His next set of weapons consisted of two five inch throwing knives. Each handle was somewhat of an hourglass shape, but rounded off instead of pointed. Sheathed on his lower back with blades facing in towards his spine, so the hilt was easier to access, the final three weapons were the eight inch combat knives strapped to his right thigh, and two spear head grip blades. These were used to deliver a deadly punch. The blade itself was three inches long and was shaped like a triangle with a sharp edge on all sides that tapered into a single point. The handles were small and made to grip in between his middle and ring fingers. The hilt guard was used as a grip, almost like putting on brass knuckles. However the grips were smaller and he didn't have to sheath the handle over his fingers to use them. The blades were located on the underside of each forearm, allowing him to unsheathe them in concealment and use them before the enemy knew what was happening.
That pretty much summed up Castiel's arsenal of weapons, minus the empty sheathe he had on his chest, right above his heart. He made that one specifically for when he located his knife... 'No... Her... Knife...'
He shook his head. Not wanting to delve into the darker parts of his mind, he turned his attention back to Kai as he finished explaining the rest of the layout. "It's very mountainous, so you can expect several patrols guarding the exterior of the facility on the mountain trails. You can also plan on light armor and even combat fitted Pelicans should they decide to call in reinforcements." He looked back to Castiel, "You must tread carefully, the entire facility will be protected, if there is any chance in hell you will get close to that place it will be with the training you have received."
Castiel nodded, grabbed the supplies he needed for the next few days travel, and stuffed them into a bag, "I will return, and when I do, I will be ready to leave and face our greatest enemy." Castiel said as he began to walk towards the exit, turning to look back at Kai one more time, "You can count on it." He said before exiting the hut and making his way West.

A ship lay in low orbit of an unknown planet, a soldier decked out from head to toe in Spartan attire sat in the hangar of the ship near one of the Pelican dropships. The man clad in crimson and blue pondered many things, one of which was why the hell they decided to pick this planet to look for Lynchers. He remembered the conversation he had with Bill, "The place shows plenty of natural resources embedded within the planet, and we have also picked up some Lyncher bad guys so you can have some fun while you're down there." He smirked under his helmet. That was a good point but he was still unsure about why they had to choose this random planet out of all the other random planets.
"Hey Dex, you ready to go mate?" A voice snapped Dex out of his thoughts, looking up he could see two men walking towards him. The one who spoke up stepped up towards him.
"Yeah PipeLiner, I'm good to go. Just not to sure about why they chose this place of all things. It's way the hell out of the way!"
PipeLiner just smirked under his helmet, "I don't know boss, but it gives us a chance to get back at those bastards right?"
Dex's eyes darkened, "Too right mate."
The other soldier standing near them spoke up, "If you two are done talking about doing it, I'd like to get on that ship and go get it done."
Dex rolled his eyes, "Alright DeepFlash, calm down before you explode. We are getting our information from Bill, then we can go. He said he had to set it up in our uplink systems." DeepFlash just grunted before walking off to go wait in the pelican dropship.
"Hey boss. What ya thinkin about?" PipeLiner asked, Dex simply shrugged.
"Mate, when we aren't fighting a war, maybe I'll come and talk to ya. Till then, lets keep the emotional stuff to ourselves eh?"
PipeLiner simply shrugged, "You got it boss, I'll just make sure Rubber Dick doesn't blow a gasket waiting for us."
Dex chuckled at that, "You do that."
Just as PipeLiner walked away, a voice piped up over his com, "Dex. We've just cleared the planet's Orbit, you guys are clear to take a bird down."
Dex nodded and acknowledged before he too stepped onto the pelican and strapped in, "Lets get this over with."

Part II
The steady rumble of the Pelican kept up the background noise as the small group of Spartans made their way planetside to deal with the insurrectionist forces stationed at the facility. Though PipeLiner and DeepFlash had been talking amongst themselves, Dex remained rather quiet, more so than usual.
This behavior was strange. Yes, he was like this sometimes with his men, but something had been plaguing him for a while now. Something he himself wasn't too sure about. As he thought it over, the voice of the pilot came in over the loudspeaker, "We've reached atmosphere, we have a good 15 minutes before we reach our checkpoint." As the dropship reached the oxygenated levels of the lower atmosphere, the back hatch opened up, revealing the bright blue skies of the planet known as Caelum. He wondered, why such a place hadn't been thoroughly colonized before the war. Then again, Bill's spec's on the planet did say that the place was prized for it's natural resources, and that only a few million were granted access to colonization rights.
Knowing he'd have to do it at some point, Dex went through his checklist of the weapons he brought with him, including his internal weaponry. His MJOLNIR suit was specially designed with custom outfitted weapons to suit his style of combat. The hidden blades in his wrist were used for a quicker substitute than the combat knife, just a quick flick of the wrist and he could dispatch more than a full squad of marines. He went through and checked his MA5K assault rifle, loaded his M6G magnum and prepared himself for the landing. They would be going in through the front door, if there was one thing Raptor Team liked doing, it was knocking on the front door before kicking it open. He smiled at that, and content with his team's capabilities. He knew that the Lynchers were tough, especially the more specialized units. Yet he had no doubt his guys could take them down. A timer appeared on his visor, five minutes to checkpoint. Looking to the other squad members, he saw them preparing for the operation as well, just like every mission before. Good lads. They could be rash at times but they did their job, perfectly and efficiently. That's what he liked about them.
Turning to face the opening hatch, he stood up. The pelican leveled out and was cruising just above a vast tree line and a partially snowy landscape. Dex could see an immensely large mountain in the distance. He remembered Bill saying something about that being the tallest point in all of Caelum, as well as there being some lore behind the large summit.
He didn't pay his ramblings much mind, rather focusing on the mission at hand, looking back at the timer. It had dropped to two minutes and thirty seconds; wouldn't be long before he could engage those bastards and find the coward leader dwelling inside the large facility. Then he could find the next Lyncher location, and eventually, to Agent Lynch himself.

The slender form of a human was sitting near a large pine tree overlooking the insurgent facility. The optics on her sniper rifle enhanced her vision so that she could clearly see the outer structure of the area, as well as the positions of all the outer guards and most of the inner guards.
Scoping out she set her sniper rifle down to her side and turned to face the large group behind her. "The target is in that facility. We've received intel that this is where he frequently visits to check up on supply depots and to interchange the security detail positioned here. This will be his final resting place, along with every insurgent in that base." Looking to the large form of a Sangheili Spec Ops standing not too far to her left she said, "David, I want your team to move in first. I'll follow in with second team once you have cleared the first levels, we will provide support from these hills." The Sangheili nodded. She turned her attention to the rest of their team, "Any questions? No? Good, all right Harley and GSD, you two will go in with David on the first strike team." She motioned to the Spartan III in black armor and the rather large Sangheili who bore the armor of an Ultra, the colors were brown with steel, with specialized heat and light absorbing camosapplied. They were outfitted for close combat in darker areas.
Next she faced a pair of Sangheili and Spartan leaning against a large rock waiting for her command, "Agent Cerberus, Agent Roga, you two will join first strike team with Harley and GSD; David will be acting commander of that team and I expect you to listen to him on everything."
Both of the soldiers nodded, so she turned to the remaining two soldiers in her group, "Nevaeh, Ariah, you two are with me on these hills. Once they have secured the area we will move in and help secure the rest of the facility." The two female Spartans nodded in unison and set up positions to provide support from the hills. Though they were not specifically the snipers of the group, they would do for now. She needed the main group to go in first and secure the area.
The large Sangheili known as David approached the leader of the group, "Agentized, are we certain this is the right man?"
She turned to look at him, determination and certainty evident in her tone, "Yes I'm sure, the intel we got was good. You can trust me."
He nodded once, that was all he needed to hear, before turning to join the rest of the team. Once all of them had readied themselves she gave the green light to start, First strike team made their way down the hills while Agentized, Nevaeh, and Ariah set up sniper positions to cover them.

High amounts of small arms fire were hitting the outer armor of the pelican. Apparently, they had gotten too close and they had been the base's sensor array. This activated the anti air defenses, so the team had to hot drop out of the dropship as the pilot attempted to make a break for higher airspace, leaving a trail of launched flares and ecm chaff in his wake. The Pelican didn't make it that far, as a surface to air missile lanced out of a nearby launcher and finished it off a couple seconds after they had jumped. The flaming wreckage spun out of control, crashing with a loud boom in the distance, the thick pines concealing the wreckage.
"Well, boss looks like we'll have to find our own ride out of here huh?" PipeLiner said as they started moving towards the base, Dex taking the lead.
The front guard of the facility had raised the gates after spotting the Pelican, as they didn't want to take a chance that anyone had managed to survive the crash. However, they didn't account for the three super soldiers making their way to the front doors. Opening fire on the three they tried suppressing them with small arms fire and grenades.
The first to take action was PipeLiner, who dived forward and unleashing hell with his flamethrowers, overheating the grenades thrown at them and exploding them in mid-air,This provided a screen of cover from the enemies which gave them enough time to act. DeepFlash was next up, locking on to the two guard Towers and unloading the acid pellet rounds into the area. As the highly acidic substance started burning through the armor and weapons of the marines up there, it slowed defense's rate of fire. This gave Dex enough time to reach the main gate and activate the systems, letting the doors open on their own, and allowing the Raptors to enter their facility.
Once inside, they took out the main guard near the front gates and entry points of what looked like the warehouse portion of the facility. Opening one of the doors, the three went in special ops style and made sure it was clear to continue. The place was filled with crates and boxes, mostly supply and munitions, but there were a few blueprints to NAV specs and ships there too. Looking up, he ran his eyes over the second level. It was more like a stairway that surrounded the windows above and encircled the entire warehouse, making it easy to move from one side of the building to the next. Dex moved forward, weaving through the larger crates. "Keep your eyes open boys, this is close combat, and they could be hiding."
Both acknowledged and followed him through. Dex rounded a corner and saw something unusual: the body of a marine pinned to a crate with what looked like a crowbar. "Odd, I don't remember doing that . . ." He said as the other two rounded the corner and saw what he was talking about.
"Do you think he lost a bet?" DeepFlash piped up.
Dex rolled his eyes, "I don't think they'd waste a human life in some dumb ass gambling game. But it is the Lynchers, so nothing surprises me."
Turning to DeepFlash and PipeLiner, he was about to give the next command when he saw a rather large hooded figure keeping to the shadows a couple yards away from them. Slightly surprised, he raised his rifle and took aim at the stranger, causing the other two to simultaneously spin around and pick up the target.
"Oi mate, what's with the getup?" DeepFlash questioned, his magnum pointed right at the mysterious hooded figure. The man turned in their direction, now aware of the Raptors. He walked into the light, allowing them to see his attire more clearly. The man was covered from head to toe in some ancient garb: blades adorned his chest, arms, and legs, and a cowl covered his head and face. The only thing they could see were his eyes, which were an intense dark green.
"Hey Dex, do you think he's a Lyncher?" PipeLiner asked, his gun still trained on the large man.
Dex, who wasn't too sure himself, as the Lynchers didn't normally wear stuff like this.
"Better safe then sorry mate. Put him down," Dex said as his finger moved towards the trigger.
Before they had time to react however, the man had reached for the belt across his chest and had thrown three projectiles towards them, striking all three of their weapons and rendering them useless.
"You Asshole!" DeepFlash yelled, "That was one of my favorites!" He charged him, firing an acid round towards the man. It wasn't fast enough though, as the man sidestepped the round and slipped out a blade, blocking DeepFlash's initial punch and countering it by busting his shields with a slash of his knife, angering him DeepFlash threw another punch only to have it deflected as he was kicked back towards his allies.
He was about to stand and charge the man again when Dex grabbed him by the shoulder, "Wait you idiot, you're going to get your ass handed to you if you continue to charge in blindly!" Though still infuriated, he complied and stood up, allowing Dex to step forward, "So your a blade guy huh? I can appreciate that, but it ends for you here mate," He said as he unsheathed his hidden blades and allowed them to come into view of his opponent. "I'm a bit of blade guy myself."
The robed man accepted his challenge and also stepped forward, unsheathing another combat knife from his lower back so that he had one in each hand. They stood there for a moment, waiting to see what the other would do. Each soldier was trying to size up their opponent and figure out what kind of fighter each of them truly was. Dex glanced to his right and saw a rope tied to a crate, letting his gaze travel down the length of the rope he realized it was attached to a large crate suspended above his advisory, with a grin under his helmet he slashed the rope with his blade, snapping the rope and Letting loose the cargo that was suspended in the air.
The man looked up as the cargo fell, before diving forward just as it crashed down on the spot he was standing at moments before. Recovering from the roll, he was within striking distance of Dex. Quickly, he swung upward to hopefully meet the Raptor's neck. Dex however, was quick to block with his own blade before starting a counter of his own, thrusting his left arm towards his opponent's stomach. The man was anticipating the strike, however, and blocked with his second knife. Locked in a struggle for dominance, the two fought to overpower each other. Dex saw an opening though, and struck out with his foot to try and knock his opponent off balance. The strike connected and the robed man stumbled, allowing Dex to backhand the man and send him tumbling backward. Dex quickly charged him as the man hit a nearby crate wall, thrusting his fist forward in an attempt to end his opponent quickly. The man was ready for it and used his forearm to block Dex's punch, kicking him in the gut with a powerful leg and sending Dex to the ground. Winded by the blow, Dex reacted when he saw the shadow of the man loom over him, rolling out of the way just as he thrust his knife into the steel flooring that Dex's helmet was just moments ago. Sparks flew as the metal of the blade stuck into the ground. Ripping it out he started over towards Dex who was now standing, the man charged and swung his right blade towards Dex's midsection. Dex blocked and struck the man's hand, sending the knife spiraling away. The man tried to do the same with Dex's blade but failed, due to the fact his blades were anchored into his armor. Dex used his opponent's momentary slip up to act, striking out with his bladed hand towards his attacker's face. It was stopped though, the man used both hands to grab Dex's fist and stop his death punch in mid strike. Taking Dex, by surprise the man, twisted his arm which caused the hidden blade to sheathe itself before he followed up with a sidekick to Dex's abdomen. Tensing, he took the brunt of the blow and charged forward, wrenching himself from his opponent's grip and diving towards him. Dex tackled the man to the ground and began assaulting him with a flurry of punches. The man put his forearms up in a guard position to protect his face as he took the assault from the Raptor. Using this as an advantage while Dex was distracted with trying to bust his face in, the man thrust his knee upwards and hit Dex in the gut. This winded him and halted the flurry of punches, this allowed the man enough time to pull out one of the triangular blade from under his wrist and thrust it into Dex's thigh, it went right past the shields and into the black under suit were the armor wasn't there to protect him. Dex yelled and was kicked off as the man recovered and slid the blade back into its sheath.
Hearing noises from above he saw his knives on the floor near each other. Diving forward, he quickly grabbed them and slid them back into their sheaths before turning to face the now very pissed off Raptor.
"You damned asshole," Dex roared. "You got me there. Now come on and lets finish this!"
The man, instead of unsheathing a blade to attack Dex, again turned and sprinted off down the main part of the warehouse before leaping up and kicking off a wall. Using that movement as momentum, he landed atop a crate and ran up another until he was at the second floor. He ripped open a metal vent grate located along the wall with one swift motion before briefly looking back at Dex and the Raptors. Then, he vanished into the darkness.
"Don't run away you little coward! You think your little ninja tricks will save you? I will find your ass and shove my blade down your throat!" just as he finished those words doors to the upper levels burst open and Insurrectionist forces filled the stairwells, aiming their weapons at the Raptors.
"Well, this could have gone better," DeepFlash said as they ran their eyes over the squads of enemies and heavy weapons trained on them. "Any idea on how we are getting out of this one boss?" PipeLiner spoke up as they looked at the enemy.
Before Dex could deem his snarking with a response, small bullet sized holes busted through the upper windows and several guards dropped dead before the others could act. Three large forms of Sangheili burst through the windows, followed by two humans decked out in Spartan Power Armor. Firing on the guards, these new arrivals bought the Raptors time to get up to the second level. As they dashed forward, the Raptors grabbed the weapons off the fallen guards to use against the insurrectionists. Dex ran out of ammo on his clip right as a guard was taking aim on him.
He cursed under his breath and braced for the gunfire telltale shield impacts but it never came. Instead, another round burst through a pane of an unbroken glass window and splattered the soldier's brains over the safety rails and onto the crates below. Dex ducked down and made his way to one of the vents he saw the hooded guy go through. DeepFlash and PipeLiner followed close behind. Making a short crawl through the vents, they soon found their way to a stairwell that led to a larger room in the facility.
Dex noticed a Spartan checking the area and took aim on him before taking the shot. He opened fire and peppered the Spartan with his Armor-Piercing assault rifle rounds. The man's shields flared and the Spartan struggled to find cover. Once the Spartan ducked behind heavy cover Dex heard PipeLiner yell, turning around he saw PipeLiner fly across the room, followed by DeepFlash tackling a rather large Sangheili. Dex turned back to where the pinned Spartan was only to see two large elites hovering over him. The bigger one in ranger armor grabbed Dex by the throat and lifted him to eye level.
"Stupid Insurrectionist," He rasped. "Don't you know that when you mess with one of us you mess with all of us?" He activated his energy sword and was about to end him when the sound of a pyro who just remembered he had very large flamethrowers started up from behind Dex.
"Hey losers! Need a light?" PipeLiner said in a crazed tone as two small flames ignited in front of the empty barrels. Laughing like a maniac he started them up and threw streams of scorching napalm at the two Sangheili. Dropping Dex, they dove out of the way as the fire passed above Dex and covered the area. Rolling out of the way Dex stood up only to be shot at by another Spartan that had just entered the room. Spinning around he unloaded his magnum at the attacker which caused the Spartan to back off slightly to recharge his shields.
While the Sangheili were distracted by PipeLiner and his 'fiery' personality, Dex looked over to DeepFlash who was currently fighting the Sangheili that he had taken to the ground. Turning back to where the Spartan was taking cover he unhooked a grenade from his belt and tossed it in his general direction. "Hope ya like my present," he yelled as the grenade bounced off the wall and into the corner he had seen the Spartan dive into.
The small explosive went off and the shrapnel covered the area. He grinned, thinking he took care of his opponent when he heard a noise behind him. Rapidly turning, he was met with a gauntleted fist to the visor by the same Spartan who was originally hiding in the corner. As Dex flew backwards and skidded across the floor, the Spartan that had punched him charged. Rolling backwards to gain distance between himself and his opponent, Dex stood up and readied himself for his attacker...

Agentized had gotten a report from Agent David that they had come in contact with three Spartan-II class soldiers. They were currently fighting them in a central hallway just above the warehouse and right next to the landing pad at the back of the facility, scoping in she could see large amounts of insurrectionist forces gathered there.
"David, leave the Spartans alone for now. I think I've targeted the commander of the facility. Head out the doorway to the North to the landing pad. If you hurry you can stop him before he escapes," she informed.
There was a static but David replied, "copy Agentized, moving towards the checkpoint."
Looking back to Ariah and Nevaeh she spoke, "lets move down to meet them, we need to finish off the rest of their forces with David and the others."
Both Ariah and Nevaeh nodded and followed her as she descended the hills and towards the facility.

As Dex readied himself to take on his attacker, he was surprised to see that his opponent had stopped. Instead of attacking him, the spartan turned back and ran towards his squadmates who were further back. The Sangheili that DeepFlash was fighting threw him against the wall before running to join his comrades.
"Oh no you don't you bastards!" Dex yelled as they ran for the door, Dex hot on their heels. The Sangheili that DeepFlash had been fighting was the last one through, but he wasn't quick enough. Dex tackled him from behind through the door and into the snowy outside. He was about to deal a death blow when he heard the sound of hundreds of rifles cocking. Looking up, he realized the rest of the Sangheili's group wasn't focused on him, including the elite he tackled.
Instead, they were looking at the vast amounts of soldiers surrounding them. Dozens of well-armed insurgent soldiers were positioned on the landing pad in front of them. All of the infantry were in heavy cover, using repositioned crates and bullet-proof barriers as heavy defences. On the perimeter of the landing pad, a single catwalk weaved its way around the upper levels of the buildings surrounding the pad. On the second level, numerous insurgent marines aimed heavy weapons down at them. Several squads of marines on near the landing pad repositioned themselves using the pelican as cover. Dex slowly stood up from where he was on the ground, allowing the Sangheili to stand.
"I take it you guys aren't with them?" Dex asked the Sangheili who was standing next to him. The elite shook his head as a graying man stepped out from the crowd of soldiers.
"Well, I'm glad I had a larger amount of security with me today." He smirked at this comment, as if amused by his statement. "Looks like your attempt to infiltrate this facility, though successful in the beginning, will merely end with you staring down a firing squad as you meet your fate," the leader smugly stated. The man was a old, wearing a large black trenchcoat with the ranking pads of a UNSC Colonel. Grey hair poked out from under his officer's cap, and his deep-blue eyes, still sharp and piercing despite his age, evaluated them like a hunter admiring his latest catch. He wore a thin black belt around his pants, with a notable bulge where he holstered a single standard-issue M6G pistol. As he stepped forward, Dex noted he carried with him an air of self-assurance, as if he was in control of the situation at all times.
Dex loathed him already.
Noises came from behind, and DeepFlash and PipeLiner came out with their hands behind their head, three female Spartans following them with weapons trained on them. They stopped when they saw the soldiers in front of them. "Ah, good. More of you to join your comrades." The leader grinned and leaned forward, gesturing to one of his soldier's squad leaders. "Tell me Kamarov," he said as he addressed the squad leader, "Is this all of the infiltrators?"
The heavily armed marine who was apparently Kamarov nodded slowly, never once taking his eyes or his weapon off the small group of spartans and Sangheili they were surrounding.
The leader's eyes lit up at this statement and he chuckled quietly. "It appears I caught you all at a bad time. Maybe I should have waited and let you kill each other off first." He chuckled again. "By all means, you should still do that. Then I wouldn't have to waste any more of my soldiers on you." At this, he turned and began to walk back towards the pelican dropship that adorned the landing pad. As he walked forward, the pelican's hatch opened, showing nothing but darkness on the inside.
"I wish I could stay and watch your execution, but I must be off. Our commander doesn't like to be kept waiting, and our plans against my former employers and ONI have been accelerated." He stopped, his chuckle turning into a full fledged laugh. "Normally, I'd be worried that I might have given you too much data. But, it's not like you'll survive the next 24 hours." He turned around and resumed his walk to the pelican, quietly musing the entire way. "Everything is going according to plan," he mumbled as he walked towards the hatch.
Two heavily armed marines fell into step behind him as he neared the hatch. Just as he was about to board the Pelican, a large figure appeared out of the shadows inside the Pelican, the same hooded man that Dex had a run in with inside the warehouse.
The Commander recoiled and stumbled backwards. His two marine guards ran forward and aimed their auto-shotguns at the robed figure.
"You." The insurgent commander growled slightly, his voice filled with an undertone of menace. The infantry behind the pelican dashed forward, forming a wall of armor and assault rifles between the robed figure and their leader.
The insurgent commander slowly pulled himself up and drew his magnum from its holster. He fiddled with it for a second, before pointing it at the figure. Then, he spoke.
"It appears I made a severe error in judgement in believing you were a corpse." His eyes narrowed at this. "I guess I'll have to verify your death personally."
At this, his guards opened fire. Auto-shotguns and assault rifles filled the space of the pelican's troop bay with fire and metal. The hooded figure lunged forward, skillfully evading the fire of the two shotgun armed guards.
He quickly grabbed the auto-shotgun of one of the guards, shoving the stock of the weapon into the marine's uncovered face. The impact momentarily stunned the soldier, allowing him to twist the weapon so that it was facing towards his armed soldier's finger spasmed twice, and two high-explosive fragmentation rounds turned the other marine into a pile of meat and shattered bones. With a quick motion, he slit the other guard's throat while he oriented the corpse to face the incoming fire of the other marines. The corpse juggled and twitched as rounds slammed into it as the robed figure advanced. As he advanced, throwing knives were flung from his free hand. Each expertly-aimed projectile found its mark. Six more infantry surrounding the insurgent leader fell loosely to the ground, like puppets whose strings had just been cut. small knives stuck out of their throats.
The remaining five soldiers surrounding the leader redoubled their fire upon seeing their comrades fall, but they were too late. The hooded figure flung the bullet ridden corpse at the two closest marines. They stumbled under the weight of their fallen comrade and tried to re-orient their weapons, but to no avail. The hooded man leaped forward, stabbing each soldier in the throat, before leaping forward again. He expertly weaved his way forward, dodging streams of 7.62 rounds as he sliced his way through the three remaining marines. Now it was just him and the commander.
The insurgent leader's trigger finger pulsed at the exact same time the robed man lunged.
The noise of the single gunshot and the whoosh of flying steel echoed across the landing pad. The robed figure grunted slightly, and moved his hand to cover his side. He lifted his fingers up and examined them. They were red with blood. The insurgent commander stumbled slightly, and his pistol fell to the ground. The clink of metal on metal resounded through the quiet courtyard. Falling to his knees, the insurgent commander's hands reached up and fumbled at his chest. His fingers briefly touched the small throwing knife now stuck in his chest., directly over his heart. It was a perfectly aimed killshot. His hands fell to his side.
The landing pad was completely silent, nothing moved except for the quiet sounds of the commander and the robed man's breathing. Then, a quiet chuckle erupted from the mortally wounded commander. Even as blood poured from his mouth, the chuckle turned into a full blown laugh,as if the entire event was just one big joke. The robed man's head moved up and stared at the commander.
Even as he fought to contain his laughter, the commander leaned forward and whispered quietly between increasingly raspy bouts of laughter. His sharp blue eyes met the green ones of his opponent, and he smiled.
His mouth slowly opened, and three words fought their way through the blood and mucus that even now were filling his throat and lungs. They were so quiet, Dex strained to hear them even with his augmented hearing.
"Not. as. planned." With those three words, the insurgent leader's eyes darkened. With a final, bloody rasping cough, he fell to the floor.
The robed figure stepped forward, and leaned down on one knee next to the commander's rapidly cooling corpse. "You are the next step, in time I will hunt down Caeruleus, and his underlings, starting with you." With that, he nodded and reached his hands around the pair of dog-tags around the commander's neck. With one quick motion, he ripped them off and pocketed them.
The soldiers were stunned. Dex was too but he quickly recovered, taking aim and firing on the soldiers, the rest of the group snapped out of it and did the same, eliminating the insurrectionists before they had time to react. By the time they did it was too late, their numbers had dwindled until there was nothing but a small group of them left, and eventually they too were eliminated.
The two groups stood away from each other in the mass of bodies, unsure of how to confront each other, the hooded man walking towards them. "I'm sorry I had to injure you, I wasn't sure who you were and so I acted in a way that would end with you coming out alive." He said as he looked to Dex, "Eh, you just scratched me." He said casually, "But who are you mate? Better yet, who are all of you?" Dex asked the rogue group of Spartans and Sangheili as well as the hooded figure. One of the female Spartans stepped up, she had an authoritative aura about her, and when she spoke she spoke as if she was in command of all who were present, "I am Agentized, leader of the group you see before you. Every one of them are specialized in various forms of combat, the Sangheili to my right is Agent David, he's my second. The others..." She turned and started naming them off, pointing to each one, "Agent Harley, Agent GSD, Agent Cerberus, Agent Ticonderoga, Agent Nevaeh, and Agent Ariah." She then turned to Dex and his men, "Who are you?" She asked crossing her arms.
Dex stepped up and cleared his throat, "I am Dexter Grimstock, but you can call me Dex. Thats DeepFlash, and thats PipeLiner, two members of my squad that accompanied me down here. I am the leader of Raptor team and we were here to hunt down a Lyncher commander but..." He looked towards the hooded man, "Ninja over there got to him before we could." He turned to him, "By the way, who are you? You've been quiet all this time and I'm sure the rest of them would like to know as well." The man stepped forward and looked at Dex, everyone turned to him waiting for an answer. "I am Sierra-111, though you can call me Castiel. There are many things that led to me being here with you, and maybe one day I can explain it to you, but now is not the time, I couldn't stop the activation of the self detonation of this facility, if we do not hurry and get out of here this whole place will careen off this ravine and I don't fancy being here when that happens." Castiel walked in between the two groups, "Follow me and I can get you out of here." Though Dex was still unsure of the guy as he was of the other group of soldiers he felt he had no choice but to trust him, "All right mate, lead the way. Boys, lets go."
They began moving but Agentized and her men stayed where they were. "Thank you for your help Castiel, but we are more than capable of getting out of here on our own. Maybe we will meet again one day. Until then, good luck." With that she led her group towards a side stairwell. Castiel looked back only once before continuing on into the facility followed by the Raptors. They set off on a brisk pace and it wasn't long before they felt the rumble of the facility as the main charges started detonating. Shaking the facility it became harder to maneuver through the warehouse as they tried to get out. Castiel made it to one of the doors only to find it barred from the other side, turning quickly he sprinted down the corridor, "Follow me, I saw a vehicle depot near the side of the facility, you can use that to escape." Not questioning Dex and the others followed him, through various corridors until they burst through a doorway that led to an open snowy ground with a chain link fence surrounding several Scorpions, warthogs and smaller UNSC vehicles. DeepFlash grinned under his helmet and went straight up to the biggest Scorpion he saw, "I'll clear a hole, you boys follow up behind me." He stated as he hopped into the tank and closed the hatch, Dex and PipeLiner grabbed a warthog and started it up, "Hey Castiel, come with us mate. I know we didn't exactly get on well at first but we can get out of here and figure it out later." Castiel was about to step into the warthog, but something didn't feel right. He sensed trouble coming from within the facility, and knew that Agentized and her group were in danger. Stepping away he looked to Dex, "Thank you my friend, but the others need my help, maybe we will see each other again one day, but for now you have your path and I have mine. Good luck my friend." With those words he ran back into the facility just as one of the outer walls collapsed and blocked the door.
PipeLiner stared back at the door in awe, "That guy is either insane or brave, going back in for complete strangers." DeepFlash rolled up and blew a hole through one of the walls, "Alright, lets roll out!" He yelled over the COMs, even though he drove off without hesitation, Dex was still confused at Castiel's sudden action, 'To go in after someone he didn't know? It's strange.' He thought as they drove away from the collapsing facility.

Agentized saw a metal bridge that connected the bottom of the facility to the side of the mountain, below them was the ravine that went down for thousands of feet. Her group had followed her here and they were certain this would lead to an escape. They did have difficulty finding a way out, but this would lead her group to safety. "Alright, lets move, David I'll go first and you follow up, make sure everyone gets across this bridge in one piece." The Ranger nodded and Agentized began moving across the bridge, the rumbling of the facility making it very unstable, she made it across and watched as the rest of them slowly made their way over. One by one they all made it across until it was just Nevaeh and Ariah, Nevaeh was slightly ahead of Ariah and they were slowly making their way across when a large explosion from the facility destroyed the supports of the main structure of the base above the bridge. Nevaeh turned around and her eyes widened, a large block of cement fell on top of the bridge on the far side, collapsing it and throwing the bridge into a large state of chaos, Nevaeh and Ariah ran as fast as they could. Making it all the way to the end, Nevaeh jumped just as the bridge collapsed, Ariah jumped as well but her momentum wasn't good enough as her hand just brushed the side before she fell a few feet. Luckily her foot had caught onto the piece of bridge still hanging by a couple steel wires attached to the mountain.
"Ariah! Hold on I'm coming to get you!" Nevaeh cried out as she struggled to get to the side of the cliff, David grabbed her shoulder, "Are you insane!? If you add any more weight to that it might snap and take both of you to the bottom!" Nevaeh Turned and tried to shove him back, "I'm not leaving my sister there!" Agentized peered over the side, "Don't worry Ariah, try not to move we are going to get you!" Ariah nodded, her breathing a little sporadic considering she was dangling off the side of a cliff, "No worries, just dangling off the side of a cliff here, take your time." She said shakily, hearing a snapping sound she looked up to see one of the cords had gave way and that caused the entire bridge piece to shudder. "Uh, guys!" She yelled, they were trying but they didn't have anything to help get her out without trying to risk putting more weight on the already unstable bridge piece, Agentized looked down to Ariah, "You're going to have to try and climb Ariah, It's the only way you can make it up here safely." Ariah nodded, though she was still slightly shaken she attempted to climb, slowly so not to disturb the already weakening steel cables.
Another snapping of the cables cause the bridge piece to jerk knocking Ariah off balance, she lost her grip and nearly fell but luckily she found a railing and grabbed onto that. Swallowing hard she strained to pull herself up, her friends unable to help her and simply watching in horror as their friend struggled in a life and death situation. An explosion from the other side of the ravine made Agentized look up, beneath all the smoke and fire she could see the form of someone, though it was too hard to make out, that was until the form jumped up onto one of the support beams connecting that side of the ravine to this one. Running across it and coming into view, she realized it was the man they had met earlier, Castiel... Why was he here? The snapping of the cables brought her out of her thoughts and she looked down, The bridge piece was only supported by one cable now, and Ariah was only halfway up it. She could see the cable straining as it tried to keep the weight, but it was a losing fight. Just as the last of the fibers in the cable tore, everything went in slow motion for Agentized, she saw the bridge piece give way, the form of Ariah as she lost her balance and started falling with the bridge piece. She thought it was the end.
Then something unexpected happened, looking up she saw the form of Castiel as he dove off the support beam and plummeted towards Ariah. Watching the scene unfold she saw him catch up to her incredibly fast, she saw him grab her arm before spinning around and slamming one of his blades into the side of the mountain, halting their movement. Both Castiel and Ariah were breathing heavily, only being supported by the blade.

Castiel looked down at Ariah, who, despite having her helmet on, looked shocked that she was still alive. Castiel knew it was risky, but he wasn't about to let someone die if he had the chance to act.
"Are you doing alright?" He asked her as they dangled.
She looked up at him, "Well considering I'm still alive I'm fantastic, thanks to you."
Castiel nodded, "Don't thank me quite yet, we still have to get out of this. He said, looking around he noticed a ledge that surprisingly led around the side of the cliff, looking back down he spoke, "Look, see that ledge right there?" He said, motioning to the overhang to their right. She nodded.
"I'm going to throw you over there, then you're going to grab onto that ledge and climb on ok?" She looked to the ledge, uncertainty evident under her helmeted features.
"Hey, don't worry about it, I won't let you fall," He said reassuringly.
She looked up to him, and although they had only met a short time ago, she felt she could trust him. She nodded And Castiel looked back to the ledge. He began swinging his arm and along with it, Ariah. Eventually they built up enough momentum and Castiel released her towards the overhang. There was a brief moment of tension as she flew through the air, but soon as that moment had come it disappeared when she grabbed onto the edge and stopped herself, she managed to pull herself up and looked back to Castiel.
"Alright your turn," she said as she backed up to give him the space to jump. He nodded and began swinging, building up his momentum until he was sure he could make it. With a quick tug he slid the knife from it's place in the mountain and flew through the air.
Castiel came up short and had to dig his knife into the side of the cliff right below the lip. It dug in, but slid a foot or so. He struggled to lift himself, the rock here was covered in snow, making it hard to keep his grip. He felt himself slipping.
Ariah leaned over and held out her hand, "Hurry! Take my hand!" She stretched out and tried to reach him, he looked up at her and lifted his free hand, but in doing so caused the blade to drag down further, his body jolted as it tried to hold on.
She continued to hold her hand out, "Come on, you're going to have to try." She said, he looked back up to her. A moment ago the roles were switched, and now he found himself in need of saving. He looked at her for a moment, she was willing to save a complete stranger despite being put in danger herself, that was a quality in someone he hadn't seen in a long time. Determination filled his heart and he used all the strength he could muster to make one final leap, the knife slid out of it's hold and he held onto it as he went upwards towards her. He wasn't sure he was going to make it, but she extended her arm out as far as it would go and grabbed his wrist.
At first she struggled with his weight, and he thought she might topple over, but she pulled through and slowly started pulling him upward. Eventually he was able to pull himself over the ledge and they both collapsed, breathing heavily.
"T—thanks, thanks for that," Castiel said in between breaths.
She merely nodded, "Don't mention it. Had it not been for you, I'd have been a goner."
They took a moment, but eventually they stood up and followed the ledge. It rounded off and turned into a snow bank that led up to the top part of the cliff where the rest of Ariah's group was waiting for them. Nevaeh hugged Ariah and the others looked relieved that she was alive, Agentized walked up to Castiel and held out her hand. "Thanks for that, to think I almost lost one of my own. I couldn't bear to see them hurt, so thank you for saving her."
He smiled under his masked features and shook her hand, "She played a big part in that as well, she saved me too. She's a good person, watch out for her and she will become one of your greatest friends." He said.
She turned to look back to her group, "I care deeply for all of them, just as a leader should. Sometimes it's hard though, trying to keep them safe."
He nodded and released his grip, "I know what you mean, having to protect those under your command can be a difficult task indeed, but it needs to be done to ensure their safety, and someone's got to do it."
She nodded in agreement, and turned to face him, "So, where did you come from? Is there a ship nearby that you used to get here?" She asked looking around.
He chuckled slightly at her antics. "No, you wouldn't really believe me if I told you and it's a long story. Do you guys have a ship here?" He asked her.
She shook her head, "We did have a Pelican but we lost contact with it and don't know where it is."
Castiel nodded, "I see, well I have a place you can stay at until we figure out how to get you all off planet. It's just a few days travel in that direction," he said pointing towards the large mountain in the distance.
She looked at the large mountain for a moment, "Thank you for your kindness Castiel, we will accompany you until we find a way off this planet, and you can tell us your story since we have a few days, we will share with you ours."
Castiel nodded, "Very well. Lets move out, I'll get us to the ridge line before dark, after that we have about two days worth of traveling and then we will be there." Agentized nodded and moved over to speak with the rest of them, they did not question her but some were slightly suspicious of Castiel, they had the right to be. He wasn't concerned with that though, he wanted to help them and he needed to return to complete his goal, if he wanted to save his friends from Caeruleus he could use all the help he can get, and these guys seemed to be very capable fighters. He hoped he could find out more about them in the journey ahead, but until then they were just a band of soldiers he had just met and were on slightly shaky but good terms with. Agentized walked up to him again and said the rest of the group agreed, so he led them away from the remains of the facility and towards the Altar of the Sky.