Chapter 53.

Hope y'all liked the last chapter.

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. Hope Plaza, Chicago, late 2149….

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The battle for the city was still ongoing in the suburbs but the defence around Hope Plaza had finally collapsed.

The sound of artillery fire still rumbling in the distance occasionally lighting up the early morning sky, the smattering of automatic weapons fire could also be heard but it was more distant now.

To the unwitting populace of the United States their nation had been invaded.

To the Templar this was a plan set in motion centuries past, the nations of the world meant little as this was little but a holding action in order for the descendants of the ancient Children of Light to save as much of human civilization as could be saved off world and to create a bridgehead in the alternate distant past.

In the eyes of history and the Earth itself this battle was nothing new.

This was yet another in a countless number of battles that had been waged on this dying planet.

Earth the birthplace of mankind… A once beautiful blue and green jewel in the universe, that was now mostly a desecrated wasteland.

All thanks to mankind's folly and greed.

"Sir, excuse me but our Canadian front commander is reporting large US troop movements as well as unknown forces carrying the symbol of the Illuminati." The adjutant reported jogging Commander Magnus Wolfe out of his bitter thinking.

He chuckled.

"They're bringing in their actual elite forces and thereby practically exposing themselves to the world, it'd be interesting to see how they bullshit away this one." Magnus then noted.

"What are the status of Hope Plaza?" He asked.

The adjutant checked his plexpad.

"There is still a significant pocket of defence inside." He replied.

"Tell the commander of the Canadian forces to storm the place, if they have to, tell him to take the place house by house." Magnus ordered.

Then he thought it over.

"Belay that, tell the commander to use nerve gas if he must but I want Hope Plaza to fall today." He ordered sternly.

The safe zone they had established wasn't going to be held forever…

Meanwhile in Terra Nova…

The outriders got there first and then the rover, they found Corporal Reynolds trying to comfort Maddy Shannon sitting by a cliff overlooking the falls.

Taylor investigated one of the dead Unisols, and looked sad.

"Hope you find peace in death at last soldier." He mumbled and then turned to look at another sorrowful scene while he was looking around at the site and realised that Ben wasn't there.

Jim and Elisabeth ran to them and embraced her and Jim then turned to Mark.

"Where's Ben?" He demanded to know sternly.

"Sir, I…" Mark started.

"Corporal, report. Where is Warrant Officer Shannon?" Taylor ordered knowing something must have happened judging by the disheartened looks of Reynolds and his squad not to mention the state of the Shannon girl.

"He is… he was… one of those weird soldiers attacked him, they both went over the cliff." Mark finally managed to say after a few moments.

Jim got up and ran out on the cliff and looked down into the churning waters hundreds of feet down below.

There was no trace of his brother, the waterfall kept falling as if to mock him, Jim just didn't know what to do now.

Taylor then came walking slowly and joined him, and put a friendly hand on his friend's shoulder.

"No normal man could have survived that." He whispered to Jim as he didn't want the girl to hear as she was sitting with her mother's arms around her crying.

Jim kept looking down the waterfall.

"But, Ben's not a normal man, he's the frigging Six-million-dollar-man." Jim huffed out unsteadily.

"He's my brother…" He then said and his shoulders slumped.

Then Kono came running.

"Commander!" He shouted, he didn't know what was going on but he feared the worst as Ben was nowhere in sight and everyone looked as if someone died.

Taylor turned around and quickly walked over to him.

"What is it lieutenant?" He queried.

"We just picked up a lot of com traffic, the Phoenix Group seems to be heading into this area." Kono reported and then vainly looked around for Ben but there was this fear that gnawed at his insides.

"Sir, where's Shannon?" Wash asked as she was just walking up to them, asking the question that had been on Kono's tongue.

Taylor just slowly shook his head.

"Alright people, hostiles are moving into the area and we don't have the firepower to defend and we'd risk getting cornered here." He started giving out orders.

"We have to withdraw, now." He finished and despite the insecurity of the fate of a beloved everyone obeyed.

"No, we can't leave him here." Maddy pleaded.

"Maddy, we can't remain here, Ben wouldn't want us getting hurt or killed." Elisabeth reasoned.

Mark helped Maddy into a rhino and then looked at her, caressing her tear streaked cheek.

"Maddy, your father is probably the toughest man I've met and considering what we know about him, I refuse to think that a fall like that would be even close to finish him." He said encouragingly.

"Yeah, I agree with Reynolds, Ben's way too ornery." Kono pointed out.

Maddy at least did not look as distraught but Elisabeth could see her daughter was still traumatised.

"This was what Ben wanted to protect her from." She thought and a tear of her own trailed down her brown cheek.

Hope…

Hope was all the Shannons had that Ben might still be alive, but for now they needed to escape…

They didn't take any of the dead unisols as they most likely had tracking chips and Nathaniel didn't want to risk the convoy being tracked by the enemy.

Before he stepped into the lead rover Commander Taylor turned and walked briskly to the cliff and made a salute.

"Godspeed soldier, you fought the enemy to the last and God willing we'll meet again in this life." He mumbled solemnly and then walked back and climbed into the rover and the convoy quickly left the area…

Back in the late 2149 Hope Plaza had just fallen with Phoenix soldiers littering the place though it had not been without casualties for the Canadian forces, that now had made the safe zone larger around the city.

Some blood stains here and there as the Templar soldiers removed as many of the bloated and bloody corpses at least away from where the Templar colonists would be embarking for Terra Nova.

Now the one thousand or so Templar members that would be the colonists and soldiers of the Templar colony on the other side of the portal was ready to depart.

Along for the ride was also hundreds of the unwanted children that they had managed to liberate from various orphanages and camps.

Commander Magnus Wolfe could only imagine the chaos they'd have to deal with on the other side, with so many people and also a small horde of basically orphaned children.

The last thing he wanted or needed was for those kids to have to see the corpses laying bloated by the effects of the nerve gas that had been used.

It was a clean nerve gas as all they had to do afterwards was recycle the airflow and the gas was neutralised quickly.

He and Kaini had decided to bring as many of the unwanted as possible as they deserved a second chance instead of dying in some camp.

Magnus walked up into the Hope Plaza portal control room, from here he had a much better view of the base,

"Remarkable construction." He said, as he looked out at the lit up gigantic dome and the broad walkway that could also serve as a road for even heavy vehicles if needed, he saw the vehicles preparing in a long line, and the combat AMPs that were walking toward the portal in preparation to invade the past.

Lieutenant Quinn Mallory turned around with a less than happy look in his kind perky features.

"Commander, they've locked the computer down." He reported simply.

Magnus barely flinched, he'd actually be disappointed if the enemy didn't try something like this.

"Can you unlock it Lieutenant?" He queried.

"Well, I could but the lock down looks complicated, so to do so safely as to avoid any watch dog program or any similar traps, it's gonna take hours if not days." Mallory answered.

"Can it be worked around?" Magnus asked.

"Not without risking to spring whatever traps and viruses they've put in there." Mallory replied apologetically.

"But, we did take some prisoners." He added.

"Prisoners?" Magnus asked a little surprised as the nerve gas should have killed pretty much anything with a nervous system more advanced than an ant in the Command base of Hope Plaza.

"Some of them had managed to seal themselves in here." Mallory explained.

"Where are they now?" Magnus queried.

"Agent Daniels are with them now downstairs in one of the offices." Mallory reported.

"Alright, contact Daniels and have him bring them up here." Magnus ordered.

"Yes sir." Mallory replied and followed his orders…

As the men that had been taken prisoner by the Templar troops were now on their knees with the Operative making sure they didn't try anything.

With them there were also the few Phoenix officers and soldiers that had managed to seal themselves inside the portal control centre.

"What are you gonna do to us?" Asked an aging slightly dark-skinned man with white hair dressed in an expensive corporate suit.

Daniels did not answer and continued to play with his karambit dagger spinning it first forwards then backwards.

Just as the corporate man was going to ask again the automatic sliding double doors opened into the large conference room and a man dressed in uniform with seemingly high-ranking markings walked in, what made them all gasp a little was the symbol on the man's shoulder where usually a soldier's nationality would be; a black flag with a golden sword in the middle crossed by two silver swords.

None of them knew the meaning of that flag as they had never seen the symbol before.

The high-ranking military man mumbled a few words to Daniels, he looked to be in his thirties and had a goatee beard and part of his face covered in red and blue tribal looking tattoos that made him look intimidating.

He pulled his gun,

"Well, I need some information, you see the main computer up in the portal control room seems to be closed." He started.

The corporate men and the Phoenix officers looked at him, some defiantly and others with fright as he cocked his gun and started sweeping from each man to the next.

"Let's play a game of, hmm… Russian roulette… sort of." He continued and chuckled.

"I will start this little counting-rhyme and whenever I reach the end of it I will blow the brains out of whoever I'll be pointing at with my gun." He explained.

"Now if I don't get results, or by mistake shoot the only one that knows the code, my friend here is going to start torturing the rest to death. If the one that knows the code speaks up and it shows to be for real then I promise to spare the rest." He finished.

"Oh, where are my manners, my name is Commander Magnus Wolfe." Magnus added and saluted mockingly at them.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." He started while with each word pointing the gun at each of the heads of the prisoners, that started looking nervous.

"Catch a tiger by the toe." Magnus continued now smiling wolfishly at each man as a predator would its prey.

"If he hollers, let him go." Most of the men looked nervous but still was not convinced he would kill them.

"This is ridiculous, you're not gonna kill us, sooner or later the US Army is gonna come here and butcher you and your little band!" Another corporate man growled.

"Eeny – meeny – miny – moe." Magnus finished slowly and then pulled the trigger and one of the corporate men flew backwards as his brains were splattered behind him.

The men gasped even the Phoenix officers made a slight face but more controlled than the corporate men did at the sight of how casual this Commander Magnus Wolfe had just killed a man, then again, people that used nerve gas might not have much respect for human life but still, these men were important after all…

"You're insane!" The first man stated, shaking.

Magnus simply started the rhyme again…

Doctor Tashaya Radcliff was angry, angrier than she had ever been, and also fascinated by Ben Shannon's abilities that had far surpassed even her expectations by leaps and bounds.

"Looks like it didn't go as you planned." Came Lucas Taylor's almost teasing voice from behind and she spun around and glared at the young and usually unstable physicist as he was casually leaning at the door opening to the lab.

A few yards away was the cage with the lizard on its branch.

"Better watch that tone of voice with me young man. You are not as valuable as you think you are." She stated sternly, now having composed herself again.

"What went wrong, with Mister Super soldier I mean?" Lucas asked calmly.

"The subject knew a few more tricks than I thought, that was what as you said went wrong." She explained.

"I thought you made those unisols for the purpose of taking him down, how come they failed?" Lucas asked.

"Something I never factored in happened. Something no one could ever have imagined happened. I will know more as soon as the troops heading to the area return with the destroyed unisols." Tashaya said absently and started searching through her own plexpad.

Lucas stood and watched her for a while but it was obvious that the woman had no interest in engaging him further, so he left the lab and went to check on Doctor Wallace's progress with repairing the new Portal Terminus the Phoenix Group had brought, and it had been snapped in half by a pair of carnos.

"Well, now at least Daddy dearest won't be as much of a problem now that his super soldier's dead." Lucas thought as he walked over to Doctor Wallace's lab…

Skye was heading for Malcolm's lab when just as she was rounding the corner to the door to that part of the compound she saw Lucas come walking out looking very smug, she quickly backed behind the corner.

It didn't seem as if Lucas had noticed her, he seemed too busy smiling in the hot noon sun whistling which reminded her how much she really hated him as she clenched her fists.

After what he'd forced her to do…

Almost right after Lucas came about right mercenaries carrying the two parts of the new Portal Terminus.

"Oh no, it's repaired." She thought fretfully.

After she made sure he hadn't seen her she walked quickly into the science compound.

After Sheriff Shannon and his family had left the colony, almost from thin air, the fish trader Aurang had stepped up to lead the resistance in the colony.

The slightly overweight man was someone no one had ever thought of as a resistance fighter – or fighter at all for that matter – Aurang had sent Skye to check on Malcolm and to see how his recent work with repairing the portal Terminus brought by the Phoenix Group was progressing, which was sadly obvious that it had now been finished.

The lab was in a mess and she easily found Malcolm pouring up a glass from a bottle of something that probably was alcoholic…

"Doctor, we need to talk about…" She started and then was hit with a definite smell of bad alcohol and when he turned to answer her…

"Yeah?" Malcolm slurred and in a depressed tone of voice, and now she was hit with a most exquisite flagrance that was his breath.

"Oh my GOD!" Skye huffed and held her nose for what good that would do.

Malcolm simply emptied his glass and started filling it again with the bottle next to him.

He looked absolutely beat – except for the bruises and the black eye – no doubt thanks to Lucas.

His dark blonde hair was in a mess and his clothes looked as if he hadn't been changing for quite some time, and his eyes looked bloodshot no doubt thanks to that crappy moonshine that he must have gotten from Hunter.

"What are you drinking Malcolm?" Skye asked still with her nose covered.

Malcolm held up the glass demonstratively,

"Liquid courage, my dear." He slurred slightly but before he could take another drink Skye – with mild violence – took the bottle and the glass away from him.

"I just saw Lucas and a few of his thugs leave with the terminus." She noted.

"That walking Oedipus-complex thinks he's beaten me, but I will show him." Malcolm scoffed.

"What do you mean?" Skye asked.

Malcolm smirked and from his vest pocket he produced a small black box with a red button clearly seen on top.

"I did repair that terminus but I'm going to sabotage it and do my part for king and country. Because no doubt I will finally meet my baby brother at last." He then said and reached into the chest pocket on his vest and pulled out what looked like a medal of some sort.

"This is not the time, we've got some info that we must not destroy the terminus just yet." Skye explained but Malcolm seemed only half-heartedly listening.

She simply grabbed him and he looked confused at her.

"What should I do then?" He asked.

"First, we're gonna go and get you a pick-me-up pronto!" Skye said sternly, she'd had this problem whenever Hunter was on yet another bender, and they both walked out of the lab.

"You've gotta brother?" Skye blurted as she had never heard Malcolm talk about his family much…

Hours later Malcolm was sent for to make sure the terminus was working right

Hope Plaza

Magnus looked over as the troops assembled for the task force heading to Terra Nova. Everyone was armed and ready for a fight in with The Phoenix Group.

Once everyone was ready to move out as Victor left Hope Plaza, ready to deal with Henry Radcliff and the others in the leadership.

A woman in a camouflage uniform came walking up to Magnus as he was watching the preparations.

He turned and smirked when he saw her.

"Ah, Warrant officer McBride. Are your soldiers ready?" He asked though he knew that was an unnecessary question.

"The Darkstars are prepped and ready to kick some serious Phoenix Group arse, Commander Wolfe." She almost snapped, the Darkstars had been impatiently waiting for this, Magnus knew that these men and women only agreed with his orders as they had a similar goal, the Darkstars only took orders from their own officers and it had been so ever since the unit was officially formed during the Panama revolt after Ben Shannon had helped to liberate them all including himself.

Of course, up until he was captured and robbed of his memories…

Now it was Ben Shannon that needed help and the Darkstars wasn't going to allow anything to get in their way.

"So, did the prisoners spill the beans?" Mikaela McBride asked, also known by her callsign Ratchet.

"Yes, eventually they did, I only had to kill two of them." Magnus replied and smirked as he remembered, after having killed one of the Phoenix officers, whatever defiance the corporate weasels had fell apart and they almost stumbled over each other in their eagerness to be of help and the computers controlling the portal was unlocked.

And not a moment too soon as by now Magnus had gotten reports that US forces were pushing the Canadians hard and the latter would soon be forced to fall back or risk being cut off themselves.

"Well anyway, I'll be sending through the first units now to create a stable beachhead on the other side." Magnus started explaining but Mikaela raised her hand and shook her head.

"Better let us Darkstars go first as we're good at this sort of thing." She pointed out.

"Which is?" Magnus queried.

"Chaos and Mayhem, Commander." Mikaela said simply and smiled.

Magnus nodded as he agreed.

"Remember, this is our last bridge, and as soon as you've gotten rid of any force on the other side I will order the next phase of the incursion." Magnus then said.

"This must not fail, we either make or break by moving everyone, about two thousand people will be moving through in the coming days." He finished.

"Don't worry, we're not gonna let some overgrown lizards and least of all those Phoenix Group filth stand in our way!" McBride declared fiercely.

And an hour later finally, the portal was opened…

It was midday at the Portal Terminus that had been brought by the Phoenix Group soldiers, the mercenaries milled around, sweating from the heat of the sun as the jungle canopy didn't give much shade for them, they were preparing to send the first shipment of meteoric iron ore to Datum Earth.

Then suddenly the portal opened and the mercenaries looked up in surprise.

More soldiers came walking briskly out of the portal, Malcolm – that had been forcibly taken there to oversee and make sure that the portal was working as Lucas and Weaver didn't trust him – looked up also wondering why that fish seller Aurang had told him specifically NOT to destroy the portal as now even more Phoenix soldiers came marching into the timestream making it that much harder for Taylor and his group to fight them.

The commanding Phoenix officer walked up to the obviously commanding officer of the new group of about two dozen soldiers.

"Hey, sure glad to see you guys." He greeted happily as all of them was now rather terrified of being outside the gates thanks to Commander Taylor and his people – not to mention that super soldier that had murdered so many of their comrades.

The female officer of the new arrivals straightened up and looked at him and then as if to make sure seemed to scan around the glade and then gave a nod to her soldiers that was already checking their weapons and gear.

Malcolm thought there was something odd about these new arrivals, they seemed to quickly acclimatise to the fresh air and none of them looked to be in any respiratory troubles.

"What, y'all got scared by something in the jungle?" A rather petite female soldier of the new arrivals queried in a southern accent, and got some chuckling from the rest as if they laughed to an internal joke.

This one was wearing what looked like a jetpack strapped onto her back.

The commanding female officer smiled and then nodded giving her soldiers another nod and then calmly drew a large combat knife that almost looked like Ben Shannon's knife and in one smooth move thrust it up into below the chin of the Phoenix officer that died immediately…

After that all hell broke loose as the new arrivals started quickly and methodically killing the Phoenix soldiers that never realised what was happening until it was too late, one of the new arrivals even drew a large sword and started swinging around hacking off limbs and heads while a second drew a smaller Asian looking sword and did likewise though more surgically.

The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds as the foolish mercenaries had moved closer, all except a couple that had been working with some equipment decided on running away from the Terminus while a third managed to collect himself and moved against Malcolm – no doubt to use him as a hostage – Malcolm tried to run but stumbled on a root belonging to a nearby tree, but before the mercenary got close enough the soldier with the large claymore looking sword raised it above his head and threw it at the mercenary that was impaled and thanks to the force and actually got pinned against the tree making it look as if he was hugging it.

A groan and then the mercenary was dead.

The soldier that had just saved him walked over and now Malcolm could see his face properly and he just stared at him.

"Impossible, it can't be." He huffed under his breath but the other man smiled happily as he offered his hand.

"Bràthair?!" Malcolm managed to get out in Gaelic as he gazed into the face of his younger brother.

"Aye, tis me Mal." The other man replied in the same language as within the family they had been taught to only speak the ancient tongue of their ancestors.

"Bruce, it is you!?" Malcolm then exclaimed as they both embraced.

And then Malcolm started asking questions as how it was that his baby brother was even alive as last he had heard, Bruce had been killed in action in Panama years ago, and Bruce assured him that it was a long story.

Mikaela McBride looked at the family reunion and smiled, it had been years as they had to fake their own deaths in order to operate under the radar and didn't wish to put their loved ones in jeopardy.

"Ratchet, seems two more just took off into the jungle." One of the other Darkstars noted.

"We can't risk them spilling it to their superiors at Terra Nova. Tinkerbell, you take care of those!" Ratchet/Mikaela ordered and the petite young woman with the jetpack activated her gear and thrusted into the sky in one jump took down the two fleeing mercenaries as easily as if she had been out chasing butterflies.

Mikaela then got a transmission from Commander Wolfe.

"Ratchet here, over." She responded calmly and noticed the beautiful blue sky above and all the greenery.

"Wolfe here, have you secured the other end, over?" Came the reply.

"Yes Commander, you can start sending through the first units now.

And as the troops spearheaded by the Darkstars made sure to aid their Templar allies coming through the portal and arrived in Terra Nova, and as more actual Templar units started arriving through the portal the Darkstars decided to scout ahead. As Magnus still on Datum Earth – to make sure that everyone got through – used his communicator to contact Kara. She was to let Commander Taylor know that the Cavalry just arrived…

Ah, at last I finished this chapter, sorry it took this long as I had a severe idea drought.

Please read enjoy and leave some reviews for me about what you think about it.