The Sicario patrol scouting for ADVENTs base of operations in Argentina were promptly ambushed by heavily armed ADVENT and Alien forces.
Maria who's led the group had sent her fastest leg back to the base to report their encounter a perhaps rescue them, that was three hours ago.
They were cut off from the exit by fifteen ADVENT troops and aliens most notably the Vipers which frightened her people the most, ADVENT was aware of this and had employed them in almost every patrol.
"Hermana! We're on our last magazine!" He right hand man told her over the shooting.
"Stand firm! If we retreat now, the populous will be in danger."
"Maria, Ariel is wounded bad! She needs medical attention soon!"
Maria pursed her lips, help should have arrived an hour ago but she knew what was delaying it.
"That bastardo Dominique! He wants to leave us for dead!" She cursed the base sub-commander for his cowardice and treachery.
"Hermana! We can't hold them off for much longer, when is help arriving!" One of her men shouted.
"There is no help..." She murmurred helplessly.
As she stood up from cover to fired her rifle for its last magazine worth a stray mag slug pierced her stomach and she fell back onto the dirt floor.
"""Maria!""" Her resistance fighters called out to her.
"You alien bastardo!" An angry fighter came out of cover to charge at them and got dragged towards the Viper by its tongue for a killing blow.
Maria was bleeding out fast but the sight of her men being slaughtered brought an untold feeling on misery upon her.
The same Viper noticed her lying on the ground but not dead. It slithered towards her hoping to squeeze the life out of her. The Viper's movement slowed down as she realized this was her time up.
"I'm sorry Fernandez...Mama can no longer be with you!" She said goodbye to her son as she closed her eyes.
The atmosphere changed rapidly as she heard the Viper receive a hit and fall to the ground next to her motionless, she opened her eyes once more to find the ADVENT forces in anarchy.
Reinforcements?
"Holy mother! What the-."
The ADVENT forces were firing at a single target that danced about amidst their ranks hacking them down like some sort of killing machine.
Her men stood stunned by the scene, a lone man engaged the ADVENT troops on his own. The scene stimulated vigor in her soul and body. The most profound feature she caught of the lone fighter was his white hair as he cleaved the ADVENT soldiers down with his axes. The ADVENT soldiers returned fire hopelessly, but none of their shoots met its target. The lone man grinned with delight, it was like he owned the battlefield...
"Like a white haired death god..."
"Maria! Maria, get up! We need to go now!" Her right hand man tried to carry her while the lone man fought the ADVENT forces.
"Paolo, wait! I think he's helping us."
"That monster! No one can say for certain what he's really after, what's a man doing out here all the way out in the wilderness, it doesn't feel right!"
Paolo took her away as he gathered the group to withdraw.
Maria looked back at the lone man and the person caught sight of them leaving as he finished off the last remaining soldiers. That moment their eyes met, she had never seen eyes like that before. "Purple..."
"Sorry! What, Maria?" Her adjutant heard her murmur.
"Purple eyes..." She had never seen such captivating eyes.
The adjutant Paolo ignored her murmurs and continued running.
"Hey! Wait!" A voice called out to them from behind.
The group turned around with their rifles aimed. It had been the lone man who removed the entire ADVENT contingent on his own.
"Stay where you are, monster!" Paolo shouted.
"Look, you're with the resistance, right? I need someone to take me back so I can contact my comrades through your dispatch!" He said trying to ease up Maria's group with his arms waving in front of him. Then his posture turned rigid as he noticed something.
"And why would we trust you to keep your word?!" Paolo called out.
The lone man's action was quicker than they could comprehend what had happened because he threw one of his holster axes at them.
They were shocked by such a lightning movement, as the axe went pass them and hit something behind them.
They raised their guns to fire upon him but a wet thud fell amidst them from the top. A Viper had been carefully hiding in the tree up top ready to ambush them.
The lone man walked up to Paolo as he pulled out his axe lodged in the Viper. "Perhaps you might want a guard to watch over you while we return." He smiled in a weird but awkward way, like he wasn't used to that expression.
"Paolo. He saved my life...our lives! That should be enough to trust him." Maria felt the pain from just saying a few words.
"Maria!" Paolo placed her down on the floor so he would not press on her wounds any longer.
The lone man walked up to and crouched beside Maria, he took out a device and sprayed the solution onto her wound. She could feel a cooling feeling blanketing her insides, the bleeding stopped and there was a rush of energy returning to her body.
She tried to move but the pain was still there but had significantly lessened. He proceeded to pick her up, placing her close to his chest.
"I'll take care of your leader, you wanna lead the way?"
The group discussed amongst themselves and turned back to him and Maria.
"Follow us, we'll lead the way." Paolo said on behalf of all of them and then he took point.
The lone man nodded and followed them.
"Thank you..." Maria said.
"That's alright, I just needed you to help me link up with my organization."
"What would that be?"
"XCOM."
Maria's group had heard him and turned to look at him with disbelief.
"What are you doing out here alone then?" One of them asked.
"Tris!" Maria called out anger by his insensitivity.
"I got separated, they though I died and they went home."
The Tris snorted at his answer.
"I'm sorry for their attitude, we are grateful for what you are doing! Oh! We've met but you haven't given us your name yet, I'm Maria. One of the sub-Commander's to Sicario."
"Sicario, huh?...Horus."
"Nice to meet you, Horus!" She smiled at him.
The trek through the jungle back to the base was long and treacherous but in his arms she didn't feel any sort of sudden jerking or slipping. On the contrary, she enjoyed being carried the entire trip back, it was a shame the trip wasn't long enough.
After meeting up with the local resistance group, who he though was a very hard to please bunch. He was on his way back to their headquarters, he had stuck gold and had rescued their top ranking officer and would be easier to establish comms with XCOM with their persuasion.
He had used up the medikit canister to seal the woman's wound, but it was a good investment. He would get in their good graces.
From the fight with the ADVENT forces he had discovered a few changes on his body. He was faster and stronger, and his movements were not wasted in killing them. Small part was thanks to his weapons, but the fighting in the trial grounds had helped him build on fighting prowess. He actually took on an entire unit of ADVENT on his own, the prospects for him in XCOM would greatly increase and his fighting chances against the Prism Knights would be improved. He could begin studying the weapons and looking to replicate them for the rest. All of them were extremely useful.
He named them appropriately:
Bolt caster, crossbow like device that lobs a dense bolt similar to a kinetic energy penetrator shot from the main battle tanks of the 20th century.
Shadowkeeper pistol, as the name implies preserving one's stealth. This is achieved with the charged shot from the gun which creates a gunpowder flash at the enemies, blinding them for a second and losing sight of the user.
Hunter's axes, the pommel and the handle were curved like a woodsman's axe allowing it to be used for multiple purposes, cutting down enemies to chopping wood. It even permitted being thrown at targets with surprising effect, the axe is aerodynamically stable in spin. The blade itself is a high frequency blade which allows it to cut through almost anything like butter and only activates when the blade contacts something allowing extended uses.
"You've been really quiet this whole trip, are you alright?" The woman he held asked him.
"I'm alright, um.. Maria was it? Just thinking about the events that led me here that's all."
"Do you mind me asking, what were you and XCOM doing all the way out here in the jungles? It's alright if you don't want to answer though."
"That's alright, one of our old beacons from the pre-invasion days lit up from a unique dropship of ours not far from here."
"Uh-hmmm... so Horus, where were you from?"
"New Syracuse, I was a fugitive on the run then XCOM took me in."
"All the way out in the Mediterranean? Must be a beautiful sight!"
"How's your body holding?"
"It's actually not as bad as it should be, whatever you used on my wound really soothes it. In fact, I don't feel in agonizing pain anymore, I could even walk on my own!" She later regretted what she said.
"Should I put you down then?"
"No! Please...argh! The pain!" Horus watched her comical acting and chuckled to himself. Most of Maria's men laughed at their leader's hilarious speech.
"Don't worry, I won't let an injured person walk on her own." He said to assure her.
"Mmm... thank you. To be truthful I'm starting to like the feeling of being held by a strong hero such as yourself." She purred.
Horus laughed as if he heard such a ridiculous joke. Maria was a little taken aback by his reaction.
"I'm sorry to rain on your parade but I'm far from being as you described, that's not even my specialty." Horus told her as he recovered from the misunderstanding of his actions.
"Taking on an ADVENT patrol on your own without backup, and with melee weapons at that! It was honestly empowering to see you fight, like a white haired god of war dominating the battle."
"White hair?" Horus wondered what she was referring to. He looked at her reaction, she stared at him and then his head wondering where she had gone wrong.
Horus moved her to one hand carry and reached to his back to retrieve his axe. "My what great big strong arms you have!" She cooed. But Horus ignored her and pulled out his axe and turned the axe head side to face him, using the reflection he could see why she had referred to him as white haired god of war.
All of his hair on his head, including his eyebrows had turned white as snow. The effect of enduring a great amount of stress at any given time. It must have been when he drank... the blood of the serpent. The agony to kill himself that he overcame on his own had caused his hair to lose its color causing a wash out of white due to the life threatening trauma he went through.
"That's some tattoo you have there, Horus. It almost looks like the native-." She was referring to the tattoo on his left hand.
"Blood boa." Horus finished her answer.
"Oh? Is that the name the tattooist named it? I might want to try some of them as well, it looks really detailed!"
"It hurt like hell when he engraved it, I felt like my life was about to be blown out!" He was referring to the guardian's way of burning it into his skin.
"That's mostly how some first timers to tattoos react!" She laughed, oblivious to how he had really attained it but Horus wasn't going to tell her what really happened.
He decided to stick with the 'I got separated and am trying to regroup with XCOM' story because he would be treated like an insane person for mentioning the Blood serpent's temple.
And he was not sure how they dealt with crazy people on this side of the world.
The sight of civilization was a sight for sore eyes to him. Even if civilization was reduced to camps in the wilderness. In front of him was the base of the popular resistance of Sicario.
He switched his carrying of Maria to a supporting of her body with her arm over his back, Paolo supported the other side.
"Thank you, senor." He said to him. At least he had the decency to say it, better late than never Horus thought.
"Don't mention it."
The small camp began to bustle as word that lieutenant Espina had returned after supposedly being reported as KIA. Many came to pay their congratulations on returning alive, many were also surprised by the presence of Horus and were suspicious of his origin.
A short and fat man came out of the tent straight towards them with a smile on his face.
"Maria, so good to see you alive! We feared the worst!"
Maria released her hands from Paolo and Horus's shoulders and walked toward him.
Paolo leaned to Horus with a smirk. "Enjoy the show!"
Horus looked at him a little confused but soon his query was answered by what Maria did next. She punched the fat bulbous man in the gut forcing him to kneel from the assault on his stomach and proceeded to beat him by kicking him non-stop till the guards pulled her off him.
The fat man became a piled of bloodied bruises, rearing frantically to get away.
"You bastardo! You dare show your face after you deliberately called off my request for aid! I should kill you now on the spot if you weren't related to Rodrigo!" She shouted at his pathetic cowardly existence.
"You mad whore! It this how you talk to others who show good faith to you?!" He complained.
"Good faith!" She snorted at his shamelessness.
"Good faith is the man who singlehanded saved our lives by destroying the ADVENT patrol on his own!" She pointed to Horus, she was trying to raise the camp's awareness of his deed's as a sign of goodwill in helping him in the future.
The fat man glared at Horus before he left, he was responsible for ruining his actions at ridding Maria from his presence.
"Come! Let me take you to the Commandante..." She collapsed from exerting herself, Horus was quick enough to catch her from hitting the dirt.
"Maria! You've overexerted yourself, have you forgotten you were recently wounded? Horus help me bring her to the medical triage." Paolo said as he supported her again.
Horus nodded and helped her to their next destination.
The medical tent was in the same condition as the rest of the camp. The resistance was really running on bare necessities, a bit contrary to Andre's difficulty to ask for protection because Sicario was already full of food supplies.
"Bring her in!" An old woman told them and they obeyed.
"Place her there!" She pointed to an operating table and they stepped back to let the old doctor do her work.
She cut away the shirt fabric that covered the wound and immediately noticed the biofoam. She turned to them.
"Where did you get this biofoam?" To her common knowledge the camp had no such advance medical supplies as this.
Paolo pointed Horus as he wasn't sure about the outcome.
"I've not seen you before, where have you come from?"
"XCOM." The staff and patients turned their heads at the name whispering to one another.
"What is a combatant of XCOM doing all the way out here?" Seemed that she was the only one who believed he was an XCOM Combatant.
"I got separated from my unit during a recce mission here."
The old woman analyzed him for a while then noticed his tattoos and her eyes widened.
"You! Come here quickly!" Horus was wondering what was the problem, but she snatched his hand when he got closer to her.
She called some doctors to look after Maria as she examined the markings.
"Where did you get this?" She asked in a stern voice.
"Some guy in the neighborhood- oww!" She hit him on the hand like a small child had told a lie.
"Come! We will talk in private!" She dragged him away to a quiet place behind an old column from some ruins.
"Now tell me." She demanded.
"What kind of impression do you have on these tattoos?" He was interested on why she was so fixated on the tattoos.
"Because they're not tattoos!" She told him the most unbelievable thing.
"What?"
"You were there weren't you? That could be the only reason you have the marks of the blood serpent." He was surprised to hear it from her own mouth.
"How-?"
"My family clan are the descendants of an ancient warrior culture that revolved around the temple. Although it's been a taboo to mention due to the spaniard influence in the past."
She showed him a small mark tattoo on her forearm. It had similar patterns to the one on him but was less complex and incomplete only encompassing her wrist.
"You are a spiritual inheritor of the blood deity, are you not?"
"The guardian said something like that I think..."
"Guardian?! The sacred guardian still lives?!"
"No, it kinda asked me to kill it during the last trial." The old woman shivered as he mentioned slaying her sacred existence so casually.
"Relax, it said it was only a vessel for its soul. After killing the body, it still talked to me like nothing happened."
"I never thought I'd see a successor to the blood legacy. Many of my ancestors have tried but they could never succeed, and now the new generation dismisses it as folktales and legends!"
"Great! Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of exchanging fact and fiction with you. I need to regroup with my unit."
"Alright, I'll take you to see the commandante. After the surgery."
They returned to the triage tent.
"What was it like in there, I had only heard stories from my elders." She asked while half mumbling.
"Do you see this?" He grasped his hair. "When I felling the trial grounds I still had my natural black hair. You're a doctor, tell me what kind of condition causes human hair to turn white overnight!" He said angrily. She obviously knew the condition he was referring to.
"I-...forgive me for being so insensitive, my curiosity has touched onto some mental scars of yours. I'll arrange a meeting for you with the leader of our resistance. Ok?" Horus calmed down, there was no use blowing his top at this old woman.
"Please do."
"Mama!" A little boy ran past them into the tent. But the old woman grasped his collar.
"Hold, young Fernandez! Your mother is going through a very critical moment in her surgery."
"But- the other kids said told me my Mama was gone! I refused to believe it! Please let me see her!" The little boy begged as he tugged the old woman's surgery apron.
"Your mother's fine, when she was carried back she still had the wit to tell jokes to us." Horus squatted down to say to him.
"Really?!"
"Not kidding, but the surgeons have a job to patch her up and it needs to be done with absolute concentration or they risk hurting her. Do you want your mother to continue getting hurt?"
The boy shook his head several times.
"You're a good child. Just wait patiently and she'll be right with you." He patted the child's head.
Horus looked to the old woman as she returned to the tent to take control of the surgery.
Horus waited outside with the boy, and the child stared at him.
He wasn't as clean as the rest of the fighters, he had been fighting non-stop, ADVENT, zombies, a giant fucking snake. His shirt was torn and tattered with the sleeves missing although his harness for carrying his weapons was fine. Alien blood and dirt caked his being.
He played with his hair, still in disbelief of the change. He guessed this was the price to stay alive than not.
"Why do you have white hair, senor? I thought only old people have white hair." The boy asked curiously.
"White hair isn't limited to old people, kid. There are some who inherit these traits in their blood and naturally have it."
"Are you one of those people?"
"No, I'm afraid not. This was caused by something else entirely." He laughed at himself.
"Did you save my mama?"
"I did."
"I had a feeling you did, you have this legendary hero feel about you and you don't seem from around here!"
"Pffttt! Hahaha! Legendary hero?" Horus couldn't hold it in, like mother like child.
"I've never seen those kind of weapons before, can I see?"
He was a little skeptical about handing his weapons to a kid.
"Fernandez, don't trouble the man! Go home and wait, she'll be back soon after before night, young man." He sent the kid home first because his mother would not be out immediately.
"I'm sorry about that, would you come with me back to my house?" Paolo returned at some point and invited him over so he didn't refuse.
"What's with the sudden change in heart?"
"I'm sorry for my previous behavior, I was thinking in the best interest of my squad and of Maria and Ariel. You look like you have gone through hell, can I offer you a shower?"
"Um...thanks. It's been a while."
Paolo really did have a house, behind the camp was an inhabitance that was living their everyday lives. He wanted to avoid calling it a Haven and more like a village in a military fort. Most of the inhabitants were the family members of the resistance fighters after all. Paolo introduced him to his wife before sending him to the bath, when he was finished, his wife arranged a set of clothing ready for him, truly hospitable. Paolo was actually a nice guy as he talked with him, but he was over serious in the field, but at home he was a loyal husband. They were pretty open about intimacy and his wife, Mia were all about kissing each other.
"Who is the commander of this camp?" He decides to ask about the camp.
"That would be Commandante Rodrigo Delgado, he has two lieutenants that manage his resistance forces, that's Maria Espina, our commander. And then there's his cowardly worm of a cousin Dominique Delgado, he runs the logistics and has been quite unwilling when it comes to getting the needed supplies that we need to continue warring against ADVENT in this region!" Paolo slammed the coffee table to show his anger from mentioning that guy.
"Was he the ugly fat guy, Maria beat up despite her injuries?" Horus killed his rage and made him and his wife laugh at the thought of his leader beating him.
"Si, it was! (Sigh) Can I offer you lodging here for the time being while you find your way, senor Horus?"
"If you and your wife are ok with it then I can only gratefully accept. I'll see if I can repay you before I leave." Horus accepted, but Paolo waved his hands saying he would not accept his gifts.
"We should check on Maria, she should be out by now."
Horus and Paolo waved to his wife before leaving, even leaving for a few hours was difficult to get him to leave his wife alone.
The old woman was smoking a pipe waiting outside as the surgery was over.
"Chief, is she alright?" Paolo asked.
"She is in no major condition, partly thanks to the biofoam from him. It helped preserve her condition and prevented blood lose or deterioration of her organs. You saved her life, life in the camp would have been tough without Maria. You have our gratitude."
"Can we see her?"
The old woman waved her pipe to the tent allowing them to enter.
They slipped through the tent and came at a bad time because she was dressing her topless upper body.
""Sorry!"" The both of them turned around.
She chuckled. "I wonder if Mia knew?" She suggested cruelly.
Paolo fell to his knees and begged.
After their fiasco, Maria turned to Horus.
"Do you want to see our commandante?"
"As soon as possible."
"Paolo, could you tell my son that I'll be returning at nightfall?"
"Yes, Maria!" Paolo left.
They walked with the old woman to a two-storey villa well-armed with guards.
"Halt! No weapons beyond here!" A guard reached for his axes without asking.
He drew it and pressed the back of the axe head on his neck. "You forgot to say please!" He smiled adding to the terror.
"P-Please surrender your weapons, or we will not allow further entry."
"Enough! He is a friend, don't waste our time!" Maria ordered.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" The guards returned to their sentry positions and let them through, they did not dare to eye Horus because of his frightening visage.
They reached a set of doors and the guards standing there pushed it open for them. Inside they saw Dominique and an older gentleman who gave an aura of authority.
"Rodrigo, I must protest we- You!" Dominique turned around to see Maria behind him and he stepped out of the way.
"Commandante."
"Maria, good to see your alive. Dominique had been telling me about how he would like to relieve you of some duties because you were to injured to handle them." Dominique turned pale when the Commander revealed to her his devious actions.
"Really? That's really kind of you, Dominique but I can handle all my responsibilities as I'm fit to handle them." She said with a sarcastic tone.
The old gentleman gazed upon Horus.
"Commandante, this is Horus. He saved our lives from an ADVENT contingent when we were cut off and the reinforcements did not arrive as it should have!" She glared at Dominique during the last sentence.
"Horus of XCOM, I'm a specialist in network intrusions of Menace 1-5."
"XCOM, huh? How is old Fields then?" The commander seemed to know Fields.
"If you ask how he is, he's cranky but doesn't act his age. And he has a bad habit of smoking indoors and when he's stressed out." Horus knew the Commander was testing him and he gave his best description of Fields.
"Hahahaha!... It really is that old bastardo! And he didn't change one bit!" The Commander held his gut as he laughed.
"How do you know instructor Fields?"
"Ha! My friend, I was one of the earliest combatants of XCOM and later an instructor alongside him."
"Come to think of it he did mention a person by the name of Delgado, I would assume that was you."
"So the old man still remembers me then?"
"He's not that old!" Rodrigo laughed again.
"So Horus, what can I do for you?"
"I need to send a comms to the AVENGER to tell them I'm alive."
"AVENGER?"
"It's our brand new flying mobile base of operations."
"Really? The times have move so fast!"
"Also the Commander is back!" Rodrigo was visibly shaken by what he just said.
"Did you just say tha-."
"The Commander is back, yes! Some intel was found and we retrieved him from an ADVENT clinic."
"This- Is great news!"
"It's good and its bad. The Commander was used in some kind of Elder scheme and they aren't too pleased we took him from them. They've accelerated a project know as Avatar which is bad news for humanity, that's why I need to get back ASAP!" He hoped that revealing this knowledge would help gain their trust a little bit.
"Then what to you need?" He no longer dallied.
"I need a long range comms array to send a message that I'm still alive to the AVENGER."
"Unfortunately I can't provide you with such an instrument because we don't have one."
"Sir, I have a suggestion!" Maria opened up.
"Yes?"
"Shall we include him in that mission?"
"That mission…"
"Rodrigo, this is insane! He's an outsider, there's no reason to have him know about these details!" Dominique said.
"Dominique, Shut Up! Sir, the factory we are assaulting must surely have a comms relay powerful enough to send a message. If we include him, we can enter the base with ease! I can attest to his strength, just this morning he rescued us from an ADVENT contingent on his own!"
"On your own? If that is true than we might have hope for the mission. How about it, Horus? Do you want to cooperate, we'll allow you to join us in the mission to sabotage the ADVENT weapons factory and you'll have access to the comms array!" Rodrigo asked.
"Deal." Horus hardly hesitated to give his answer.
"Sir, we'll need to give him access to the device for hacking the network too."
"Mmm."
"Absolutely not! Rodrigo, might I remind you that the only reason we dare to infiltrate the factory is because of the device. He's just an outsider, there's no need for him to have it!"
Maria grinded her teeth as she glared at Dominique.
"What's this device I keep hearing about?" Horus asked.
"It's a datapad with the function to hack into the ADVENT network automatically at the quickest possible speed. The reason this operation is possible." Maria informed him.
"Really? Where did you get such a device?" He asked further.
"This was granted to us by a director of a Haven to me for goodwill, for protecting them with our forces." Dominique claimed.
"Really?" He said unimpressed.
"Their people were only grateful to hand us this device to further our efforts." He continued.
"Really? Because I've been hearing a nasty rumor from several Havens that an Officer from Sicario was threatening to remove protection from the Havens if some form of tribute was not given. The description they gave was that he was fat, rounded and looked like an overgrown swine! Have you heard otherwise?"
Dominique turned red with rage because he was referring to him.
"Dominique, is this true?" Rodrigo looked at him sternly.
"Of course it's a lie! There's no proof of his claim!"
"Oh! I actually have proof, the person you took it from was Director Andre of the Unity Haven when you asked him for other resources instead of their abundant food sources."
"Yes I got it from Andre, so what!"
"I've not seen your device but I can tell you that if you received it from Andre as you said you did then I can tell you that he was extorted by you, you can ask him yourself or you should know that I was the one who gave him the datapad to curb this extortion!"
"There's no proof that you handed it to him, it must be a trick!" he insisted.
"We've gotten to this point, ok everyone! If I can prove that the datapad was given by me would mean he had extorted the Havens, right?"
"Sure, fine whatever!" Dominique said. While the others nodded.
"I'll need the datapad."
Rodrigo went to a vault to retrieve it.
"Here." Rodrigo handed it to him
"Thanks!" Horus took the datapad and turned it on. Then the security screen appeared.
"Ha! That's the security screen that requires the passcode to unlock, you'll never be able to show it now, HAHA!" Dominique laughed like he was victorious, but so far his actions were rather shameless.
"If I can unlock this then it should prove that I'm the one who gave this to Andre then."
"That if is you can prove that you did? Extortion in my camp is a serious charge and would result in rank strip and flogging" Rodrigo told him.
Horus looked at Dominique. "Prepare to get your ass whipped!" He grinned. Maria could not control the excitement of what was going on could he really get rid of Dominique from commanding?
Horus tapped the keypad and unlocked the datapad instantly, and showed it to them.
Dominique turned pale in an instant. "This- This is impossible, a god damn trick! Cousin you have to believe me!"
"Believe you? Guards! Take him and strip his rank, then throw him into the brig. The punishment will be decided later."
The guards removed the ranting Dominique who kept saying Horus was lying.
"Thank you, if I had not known this would have caused serious implications on our relation with the Havens. They are after all the place we look to for support."
"Just helping a friend out that's all!" He winked at Maria.
Rodrigo indulged him onto the plan. They were assaulting the base to plan X4 charges at the Elerium generator to take out the whole place, but to get to the inner part they required the datapad so they could go through.
"If this becomes loud, what are your options?"
"We go through with it. It's too risky to pull back, that is why I will personally take charge of this operation!" Rodrigo declared.
"Once the generator room has been breached you may have the use of the device to hack the comms relay, but you'll only have five minutes before we demolish the building. We had just received word that a large contingent is heading to the facility to reinforce from overseas."
"Overseas? How big is it?"
"Around a company strength."
Horus had kept from them his identity as the designer of the datapad because he was told not to disclose it by Central and that the enemy would triangulate his position and send a kill team just for him. He didn't want to put the resistance in jeopardy either.
"When do we leave?"
"First thing tomorrow, to try to destroy the factory before the reinforcements come. You'll have to stay overnight, shall I provide you lodging?" Rodrigo offered.
"That's not necessary, Paolo offered me to stay at his place."
"Mhmhmhm! Paolo? Are you sure you want to sleep at his place? He and his wife go at it all night, and the walls are thin in these prefab houses." Maria just informed him some vital information.
"On second through I'll need a place for the night." He told Rodrigo.
"You can stay at my place! I'm sure Fernandez would like you a lot!"
"If your fine with me…."
"Of course I'm fine! Then it's settled then! Come, we'll head back to my place for chow!"
"I'll see you both in the morning, be prepared to move out at 9." Rodrigo told them, Maria saluted.
Rodrigo turned to the old woman. "Is there something you need?"
"It concerns the boy. And his affiliation with the blood serpent's legacy."
Rodrigo frowned when he heard such a thing.
"What is it?"
"He's the holder of the Blood Serpent's legacy."
"That's not possible! None of our ancestors successfully passed like our great ancestor and now you say this kid passed it?"
"There is more than meets the eye when it comes to that child. Either way, are you really going to let him go? He would be the greatest asset to the resistance."
Rodrigo thought about the prospects but decided against it.
"No. He will be needed by the Commander, now more than ever that the Spiritual users that fought alongside us in XCOM have vanished. Horus will be our gift to the Commander. And the hope for all of humanity!" Rodrigo reminiscence the days he fought along with those warriors with a hidden innate power that helped them bypass the technological discrepancy they faced early in the invasion. Those silent guardians of their world. One was the greatest of them all, Martin Hunor.
Horus followed her back to her place, if he only knew what would happen latter.