Location: Monarch Landing Site

Private Henderson leaned against the hull of the Monarch helicopter, watching the pilot pace back and forth; they had been there for a while now. The landing site their pilot had chosen was a good distance from the valley they had to evacuate from. The area was almost as green as the valley, and had active plant life; It seemed to extend outward for a ways. The three regulars had been waiting for the expedition team in the valley to make it to a spot the large helicopter could land in.

The pilot himself seemed to spend all his time pacing and incenently checking his radio. He was a fairly short man, and a bit on the scrawny side. Sometimes in the cockpit, sometimes in the fuselage, and sometimes outside, this was one of those times.

"So" Henderson said, causing the pilot to jump slightly in surprise at one of the regulars talking to him. "Why did you just up and flee?" Henderson asked, it was hard to tell if the question had malice or not.

The pilot stood there silent, just staring at Henderson through his pilot's helmet. Henderson pushed himself off the side of the monarch's hull, and walked over to the still pilot.

"Y'know? When we just left Eliat behind?"

The pilot responded nervously, "W-well, we were hit, and I didn't want to be shot down-"

"That's a crock of shit and you know it" Henderson interjected, leaning forward slightly.

"E.. what?" The pilot said nervously. Henderson leaned back to his normal posture, he wasn't going to get a coherent answer from someone who was scared of the super soldier in front of him losing his temper was he? Sometimes he forgets how intimidating regulars are to non regulars.

Henderson sighed, "Look, I just wanna know why we had to leave a soldier behind, I don't buy that crap about you being afraid of the monarch getting destroyed, the things are like flying tanks!"

The pilot shifted his weight from one foot to the next and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Henderson asked.

"I… I'm not used to getting shot at" The pilot mumbled a bit louder.

Henderson stood there in disbelief, Every monarch he got hauled in got shot at, monarchs got shot at all the time. He hadn't met a monarch pilot who hadn't taken at least one direct hit from an anti-air missile.

"What the fuck- What do you mean you'r not used to getting shot at!? You're flying a fucking monarch!" Henderson questioned.

"I-I n-never really saw much action beyond missions after backyard blazer! I panicked, I wasn't use to getting hit with something that could knock the chopper that much"

"So you just panicked at the first sign of trouble and left one of our guys behind!?"

The pilot slumped his head and looked down, "Well what was I… I…" The pilot began but then stopped, and shifted his weight between his feet nervously.

"Fuck… I… I guess I did" The Pilot said with his shoulders slumping and head looking down towards the ground.

"Ey, Henderson, stop bullying the pilot and get your ass in here!" A shout from the Monarch caused Henderson and the pilot to turn around and see another regular Henderson recognized as Private Roy waving from the fuselage ramp.

"Bunker sent another bird our way, we're supposed to meet up with em, they got entire fucking fire teams, get your asses over here"

Henderson looked toward the Pilot, "You up for this, this time?" he said questioningly.

"I… I gotta be" The pilot responded.

"That'll have to do… alright, come on" Henderson said as he jogged over to the monarch, the pilot lagging behind him.

Sounds of roaring engines began to fill the air as the pilot reached the ramp himself.

"Come on Come on!" Roy said in a raised voice.

The pilot ran through the door that led from the fuselage to the cockpit, shutting the mag locking door behind him as he went.

"Hope he remembers to use the damn guns this time" Elyana, the third regular on the craft muttered.

"Hey, don't be too hard on him, guy's a greenhorn it's written all over em" Roy said.

"That greenhorn made us leave a man behind!" Elyana said with a raised voice.

"Ey, civilian pilots were drafted left and right, Sammy didn't sign up for anything he wasn't ready for, our ol Uncle Sam called him up"

"Sammy?" Henderson questioned.

"Sammy-.. Sam! Samuel! The name of the fucking pilot! Who fucken else?" Roy yelled in exacerbation, the Monarch's ramp began raising, and it's engines began to start up.

"We spent all this time here waiting, and ya didn't even bother to ask the guy's name?"

Henderson sighed sharply "It never came to mind alright?"

"So you, the the six foot five fucking super soldier decide to take it on yourself to stand over the pilot and accuse him of negligence? A pilot you know nothing of!?"

The monarch began lifting off the ground, the regulars took a pause in their discussion to take a seat and strap in.

"One of our guys got left behind because he forgot his damned guns! So I'm ever so sorry if I'm pissed!" Elyana fired back at Roy.

"The guy got drafted, he flew civilian helicopters for a damned living, he isn't some wannabe hotshot who thinks he's all that! Never saw much combat beyond some Brazilians shooting 9/11 era small arms at em. You've seen Irregulars! You gonna start yelling at them for dying because they panicked on their first ever deployment and got hit in the face with an anti-material rifle!?

"Okay!" Henderson yelled out, the sound of it reverberating across the mostly empty fuselage of the monarch. "Okay, I made a mistake, I fucked up, are we good?"

"Fucked up bye?" Roy said.

Henderson sighed "Your really making me do this?-"

"Fucked up bye?!" Roy said more forcefully.

Henderson sighed again "Bye point the finger too fast without considering the other factors at play… ya happy?"

"Eh, good enough"

"Good," Henderson said leaning back into his seat.

"What he said" Elyana said begrudgingly.

"That's progress I suppose"

Location: The Valley

The sounds of marching boots on rock, grass, sticks, and leaves filled the otherwise silent air as the Expedition Team, plus one psyker, one 'elder' and one 'dream goddess', made their way forward. Elijah and Jackson were in the front along with Corporal Tilmen, who was apparently the most senior among all the regulars, being the only corporal among privates and private first classes. Behind them the rest of the regulars formed a fived person perimeter around Corona and Astari as she was called with two regulars marched in front of them, and three behind them.

Elijah came to the conclusion that traveling with a giant moth constantly staring at him from behind that had her lackey who tried to kill him was uncomfortable. Add that to what he knew bug gods thought of humans, from thoughts of bugs he had extracted, as well as the information received from the Godseekers, and he was downright on edge, even if he tried not to show it. There was a good chance that Corona would go back on her promise and try to take them for herself. It made him anxious, he was unsure of the power of such beings, or if they could put up notable resistance to her if it came to blows.

Soon enough he would be locked in an arena full of such beings as well when the time finally came for him to assist in the Godseekers' attunement. He was now unsure if it was that wise of him to accept.

His thoughts were derailed as he felt an entity entering his detection range, it had the tell tale feel of another one of those bugs. He stopped in his tracks.

"There's one over there!" Elijah alerted, pointing in the direction he felt the presence. It was off to the right of them, deeper into the tree line.

The group stopped, the three regulars in front of Corona and Astari moved from their position to get a better field of view of the area that Elijah declared to have a hostile in. The two regulars situated behind them worked to maintain their position behind them as Corona and Astari moved to combat positions themselves.

Corona's light glowing brighter, as she raised herself further from the ground. Astari bared her sword and shield and took a defensive stance.

Elijah 'heard' a faint thought from Corona, which he could vaguely make out to be some kind of acknowledgement of his ability.

"It's getting closer" Elijah said.

The presence got closer and closer and closer. Elijah stood ready, closer, closer, and….

"GOTCHA!" Elijah shouted starting the rest of the group.

He pulled his arm back, and a noise could be heard getting louder and louder before a small pillbug came flying out from their concealment.

The bug's apparel had the same markings as Whitenest bugs the Expedition had encountered earlier, and were currently on guard for. The pillbug was making a high pitched sound and thrashed it's short limbs around in a futile attempt to break free from the strange force holding it above the ground. That strange force of course being Elijah.

The group began letting down their guard, and Elijah lowered his arm, yet the bug still remained suspended in mid air.

"Most impressive" Corona said in a genuine tone, speaking over the screaming of the small pillbug.

"Uh… thanks?" Elijah responded

Tilman turned towards Corona "You're a bug, what the hell is it saying?"

However Astari was the first to respond "She is begging for her life" The tone in her voice was sympathetic.

"Ah, alright then" Tilman turned towards Elijah "Could you kill the thing before it's screaming gives us away-"

"NO!" Corona yelled angrily, her eyes flaring a bright yellow. "Look at her, she is young, and clearly not a soldier"

"Why do you care? It isn't one of yours, and Whitenest isn't exactly on friendly terms with you"

"That may be, but I refuse to kill an innocent for the actions of her monarch, now release her!"

While this exchange was going on Elijah was quickly flicking through the pillbug's head to see what information he could get out of her.

"I know that, that too… nothing new there... Not really important… Oh, now that is interesting" Elijah thought to himself as he flicked through the bug's memories like the pages of a book.

There was nothing of value to gleam, so he decided to withdraw.

"Who taught you such disregard for life!"

"I happen to regard the lives of my men more!"

The argument between Corona and Tilman was still going strong, Astari was pacing back and forth with a look of anxiety on her face. The other regulars just seemed to watch, their helmets made gauging their reaction near impossible.

"She's a squire-scout" Elijah said, causing Corona and Tilman to put a pause to their bickering.

"A what?" Tilman asked in confusion.

"Uhh, it's an assistant to a soldier that also has the job of a scout" Elijah said.

"See, letting it go would alert others to where we are, now kill the damn thing psy-guy" Tilman demanded "I don't want to waste ammunition"

"How old is she?" Corona asked, a bit of pleading in her voice.

"Uh… huh, only three… uhh, h-how long do you bugs usually live?"

"It varies, species to species, though for a pillbug like her three is still very young, a mere child" child Corona explained.

"And if this bug goes back to their friends and tells them that we're here, we'll have more bugs on our ass within the hour" Tilman said frustrated.

"There are six trained human soldiers among you, and another that is skillful in their magic, and … you" Corona said, turning to Jackson, who just shrugged" While I am a god of dreams, accompanied by one of her human tribal elders. I am certain whatever whitenest can muster, we can dispatch '' Corona stated matter of factly.

"And when we finally meet up with Eliat who has her kid" Tilman pointed to Astari "do you really want to have her kid caught in the crossfire?"

Astari ceased her pacing, and stared at Tilman angrily.

"You dare" Astari said, marching closer to Tilman "You dare use my daughter as justification for taking the lives of innocent children?!" Astari marched closer until Tilman had to look directly down at her as she fumed at him "She would never be able to live with herself if she found that out, and as a mother, I will not allow that to happen"

Corona had floated towards the levitated bugs, and seemed to be trying to console it while Astari raged at Tilman.

"What if… Elijah just wiped it's memories of us?" One of the regulars suggested over the raging and consoling.

Tilman turned to Elijah "Can you even do that?"

Elijah levitated the bug toward Corona, who then enveloped them in her wings, still speaking to it in it's language. Elijah let go of the bug who seemed calmer now, and was no longer screaming.

"I could..." Elijah said cautiously "But the process of doing so is very… VERY delicate. One wrong move and you risk permanent brain damage, and possible brain death" Elijah explained.

Jackson turned toward Elijah "You and I need to have a talk when this is over" Jackson said concerned.

"I would like that," Elijah said, nodding.

"What is a brain?" Corona asked

"You're a 'god of dreams' and you don't know what a brain is?" Jackson said both questioningly and accusingly

"No?" Corona stated.

Jackson put a hand to his helmet's visor

"Alright so then what, what are we going to do? We let it go, it alerts others to us, we kill it, it violates some moral code of yours" said Tilman.

"What if we were to keep her for the time being?" Astari suggested "She is still young, and being held hostage by a goddess isn't something I think the White Queen would do. We could just let he go once we are ready to leave"

Tilman sighed "Fine, you wanna carry the thing, go for it"

Corona hummed satisfied "Very well"

"And soldier" Astari said

Tilman looked back towards her.

"Is my daughter safe with your 'Eliat'?"

Tilman sighed again "Ma'am, if there was anyone who would lay down their life to keep a child… a human child safe, it would be Eliat"

Location: Eilat and Summer

Summer walked beside Eliat who had his rifle at the ready. Things seemed to be in the final stretch, they were so close to the rendezvous. He hand Summer over to her mom, and he and the Expedition could get the hell out of dodge.

"Hey Eliat"

Eliat looked over to summer, "Yea, whats up"

"Will I ever... see you again… after this?" Summer said sadly.

Eliat stayed silent for a moment.

"Probably not, i'm afraid. You have your… tribe? And I have my duties and responsibilities"

"Oh…"

Summer stayed silent for a little while longer.

"Do you think you could come with me, mom, and Corona? My friends would like you, and… and I think Corona would like having more humans"

Eliat sighed, and then chuckled "I'm sure she would, but again, I have my duties, and even though I won't see you again, I won't ever forget you"

"Really? You promise?"

"Of course-"

Eliat jumped to the side, grabbing Summer with one arm with him as a white blast kicked up dirt from the ground where he just was.

"You thought you could escape so easily, and the White Queen would just let her prize slip through her claws?!" yelled a woman in white robes and mask.

Eliat immediately recognized who they were.

"You again!" Eliat said in anger, he was so damned close, and they just had to show up at the last leg of the trip.

Eliat quickly put Summer down, and stepped between her and stepped in front of her.

The woman was holding a spear, and had it pointed at him.

He swiftly raised his rifle, but she disappeared in a flash of white light.

"Behind you" Summer yelled, Eliat only had a moment to jump out of the way, more than enough time for a regular, before another blast scorched the earth he once stood on.

More bright flashes appeared, revealing three more humans in white apparel, they all seemed to be the ones who had captured him earlier.

Eliat got back onto his feet with his normal superhuman speed. Summer was curled up into a ball in fear.

Eliat took a deep breath, he could feel the adrenaline starting to kick in.

"Round two" Eliat thought bitterly to himself.