March 31st, 2518
Colony world: Madrogol
Izuku stared up at the twin moons of Madrogol enjoying the feeling of the cool night air rolling over his small frame as he looked up at the stars memorizing each constellation, he loved the night skies on Madrogol. It was his home world, after all, his mother worked for the UNSC as a ship designer with this world having one of the largest shipyards in all the outer colonies and when Izuku was born she moved to the colony full time with her friend from Earth, Mitsuki. Izuku didn't mind the nights when his mother worked late, it gave him more time to stargaze before Mitsuki arrived to put him to bed after dinner. This night, however, Izuku witnessed the rain of meteors fly over the night sky lighting it up in a range of colors, a rare event on the planet, a mix of a normal meteor shower and the aurora borealis back on Earth from what his mom told him.
It was spectacular to him, watching all the colors light up the sky as they flew past, with a yawn Izuku stood from his spot and turned to make his way home, but he never made it to the front door.
Mitsuki walked into the house with her son, "Izuku," she called out in the empty house as her son, Katsuki, sat on the couch. Making her way into the family room after closing the front door Mitsuki looked out the window to where Izuku would normally be, "Where is he," she muttered to herself as she walked outside and yelled for Izuku.
July 20th, 2552
Time: 11:20 am
Colony World: Madrogol
Izuku woke up as the Pelican landed at the ONI site on his home world of Madrogol, rubbing his eyes groggily as he grabs his helmet off the adjacent seat and putting it on, "Welcome SPARTAN," the ONI agent at the site, an annoying man that Izuku didn't bother to learn the name of, "Have a safe trip from Orion?"
"No thanks to your clumsy directions, sir."
"Now there is no need for that SPARTAN," the agent said with a laugh just as annoying as the way he spoke to everyone; superior and pompous. Izuku knew that if he ever saw real combat he would just cower behind the nearest piece of flimsy cover he could find, perhaps SPARTAN Colt was right, ONI was only a den for kidnappers and cowards. He shook Colt's words out of his head, his attitude was just as close as Kacchan's if not just shy of his attitude, it didn't matter in the slightest at this point, "It must be nice being back on the planet you were born on?"
He had forgotten the agent was there, his voice still made his blood boil, "Reach is my home sir," Izuku said maintaining his calm tone before walking off to his station and looking up at the darkening sky of his birth world, he remembered how he used to love looking up at the stars, now he just didn't care. "Come on Miss Midoriya give it a break. Face it, your son died of a genetic deterioration disease," he heard a gate guard yell at a disheveled green-haired woman standing with a very angry blonde woman.
"Watch it asshole we all know ONI has a lot of dirty secrets. That was not her Izuku, it was a damn flash clone."
He knew that voice anywhere, Mitsuki Bakugo, but why was she here arguing with an ONI guard, "Miss, I need you to step aside I will have to detain you," the guard said reaching for his Magnum sidearm. Inko looked at the guard with tears in her eyes, her hair looking like it had not been combed in years. A woman beaten by her misery's, taking her from one of the greatest ship designers of the UNSC's Navy to a woman who had dark circles under her dark circles. Mitsuki on the other hand was as radiant as ever but extremely volatile, "You going to fucking shoot a grieving mother you ONI shit!?" Izuku grabbed THE DMR off his back and walked over to the gate hoping to de-escalate the situation or at least mitigate the damage before things got too hot to handle.
"Something the matter sir?"
"Nothing that needs your interference SPARTAN. Miss, you need to step back now."
"Fuck you bastard. You there SPARTAN," Mitsuki said looking dead at Izuku, "You are one of the missing, right? The kids that were taken and replaced?"
"Sorry ma'am, those reports are insurrectionist propaganda and are not to be believed," Izuku said using the usual spiel meant for those who somehow got their hands on classified ONI info, "Please sir," Inko said grabbing Izuku's hand, "I know my son and I know he didn't have this disease." She gripped his hand tightly, "He wasn't a runaway and he wasn't killed by the insurrectionists. We know ONI is behind this, all I want is to know my Izuku is safe." It hurt Izuku to listen to his mother beg for just the slightest bit of information about him, it hurt him more as he forced himself to look away from her pleading eyes, "Ma'am I must remind you that what you do here reflects onto your son Katsuki," Izuku said as a thinly veiled threat which she caught onto quickly glaring at him with eyes that bore into his MOLNIJIR armor.
Mitsuki was about to say something when the base alarm went off, "SPARTAN please report to the briefing room from mission rundown," the woman over the intercom said as people ran about in a hurry. Izuku turned to leave as Mitsuki and Inko were escorted away.
Izuku walked into the mission briefing room where LT. Col. Michael Vicks stood waiting with a holo call with Halsey, "Hello Izuku, readjusting to life on Madrogol," Halsey asked in her cold tone of voice as if to tease him about his kidnapping. "Readjustment is not needed Ma'am," Izuku said taking his helmet off and setting it on the table, placing his hands behind his back, "What's the mission?"
"Straight to the point," Vicks said pulling up the terrain of the mission area, "The target is a shipyard in southern Tavah. We just lost contact with Marine forces there and Earth just sent over their 'Pro-Heroes' as well as Heroes in training to try and find the cause. We cannot have that happen, that shipyard is too important."
"Rules of engagement?"
Vicks looked at Izuku taking his measure for a brief moment, he was no 117 but he was one of the best tactical minds in his group. With a sigh Vicks regained his posture, "The Rules of Engagement are simple SPARTAN; you are in enemy territory that is believed to be in the control of the local insurrection, you are to search and destroy."
Izuku nodded his head and puts his helmet on, "I understand sir."
July 20th, 2552
Time: 3 pm
Colony World: Madrogol
Southern Tavah, Nytho City
Izuku stepped into the blasted remains of Nytho City with the keen eye of a wolf on a hunt, but something was off for him, this was an insurrectionist-controlled location, and yet there were bodies strewn about peppered with not bullet wounds, they don't cauterize flesh on impact. He turned over one body and almost recoiled; Izuku had seen cruel acts before, even war crimes committed by mad warlords on other colony worlds but this was something else, it looked like the face was gnawed on and picked clean. What could have done this?
"Demon," Izuku heard a guttural voice say behind him and ducked out of the way of a blade of plasma that swung towards his head, it skimmed the surface of his helmet from the forward momentum. Grabbing his side arm Izuku shot twice seeing his bullets bounce off the beings' shields. The creature in front of him snarled gripping the handle of his blade tightly and staring down Izuku, taking a stance Izuku readied himself for a fight and charged right at the creature. Steam hissed off the creature's blade as it swung at him until the air came alive with explosions, "DIE."
Izuku jumped back from the first explosion that took the creature, one of the Elites of the Covenant he surmised, as he saw Bakugo fly by to attack it. Looks like the Pros and trainees from Earth were quick to investigate the area and they must have heard the scuffle, Izuku shook his head and returned his mind to the task at hand to see Bakugo getting his ass handed to him by the Elite, judging by its armor it was Infiltrator Ultra very rare and very deadly more than likely a SPARTAN killer if he wasn't careful. Izuku was only glad to see that Bakugo had taken out the warriors shields leaving him open to a well-placed headshot from his rifle, seeing its purple blood spray out was nothing but routine for Izuku, "I didn't need your damn help freak," he heard Bakugo say, he ignored him and went about collecting the sword and helmet of the Elite.
"I didn't do that for your sake, you gave me an opening," Izuku said placing the sword on his hip and putting his fingers to his helmet radio, "Command Nytho City has fallen confirming Covenant incursion."
"Copy that SPARTAN prepping orbital assets."
"Command, recommend leveling Nytho City, leave nothing standing. Enact Charred Ground Protocol."
Bakugo's eyes widen on hearing what the person before him was planning to do, "Hey asshole there are people still here."
"No one worth saving, I recommend telling your comrades to get out now," Izuku said not bothering to look Bakugo in the eyes. He didn't care about what he had to say and he could afford to care at this point in time, "Request approved SPARTAN, orbital strike on Nytho City. Danger Close fire mission in three mikes, be advised you will have little time to get out of the blast radius."
"I can manage command, authorization code Sierra 7747-Bravo."
"Code approved; fire mission is a go."
Bakugo glared at the SPARTAN in front of him before running off to look for his class as Izuku walked towards the extraction point leaving him to his own devices. Whoever this freak was he acted like a villain that need to be taken down, it could wait, at least for now. Swallowing his pride and ego was a tough pill to swallow not to mention bitter, he hated it. He was a hero in training why should he let someone push him around, fuck this shit.
Turning around he made his way to go right after the SPARTAN, the others be rather damned, Aizawa can lead them out, he was the teacher, his issue. Bakugo caught up with the SPARTAN as a marine escort exited the Pelican while the orbital bombardment began, "Are the student heroes and pros out safe?"
"Yes sir, escorted out when the call came."
Before Izuku could board the Pelican he felt an explosion hit him hard from behind knocking off his helmet, "You giant freak, you think you can walk away and act like a hero? You are nothing more than a villain that needs to be put down, turn around and fucking face me." Izuku's ears were still ringing from the explosion that hit him and he felt his blood soak his hair slightly, "YOU HAVE SOME NERVE KID," he barely heard a Marine say as he raised his rifle at Bakugo, "YOU JUST ASSAULTED A MILITARY OFFICER, MISTER," another yelled out as he tried to regain his posture, his head hurt from the force of his helmet being blown off. Looking down at it he could see the damaged visor from the impact with the ground and scaring from scrapping the ground, all in all, it was still salvageable. "Get the fuck out of my way, that fucking coward has this coming," he heard Bakugo say fighting the Marines, this needed to stop now. The Winter Contingency was now active on Madrogol and fights like this was pointless, "I need to do nothing for you but tell you to piss off you egotistical mutt," Izuku growled out picking up his damaged helm, "I have other things to worry about and you," he turned to face Bakugo looking him dead in the eyes leaving the blonde boy stunned as he stared into an all too familiar face, "Will never be one of them."