Forests of the Tell Atlas Mountain Range, Algeria, Africa
Adrian rolled behind a thick oak as a line of plasma trailed at his heels, flinching as bolts passed only inches from his body. Peaking around the other side with his battle rifle, he popped a quick burst at a trio of grunts trying to flank them, one went down while the other two squealed in fear and broke any sort of tactics as they ran with their arms flying up in the air. He aimed to finish off the rest as their backs were to him, but the echoing explosion of a plasma grenade nearby caused his aim to falter. Growling he turned back to his teammates, McCree was holding down the center while Barbie and himself were covering the edges. The dense forest made it hard to tell how many enemies they were up against, he counted at least two or three elites which coincidentally meant there would almost guaranteed be no brutes. Thank god for small blessings eh? Reaching behind him, he checked to make sure the plasma pistol he'd brought with him was still attached to its holster. Feeling the odd horseshoe shape in his hands, he briefed a sigh of relief, it'd be useful for taking care of the elites and their damn shields.
"Barbie how are you holding up?" Adrian called over the comms as he dropped a jackal sniper scaling the trees,
"Well you know, 'bout as well as I can do while bleeding out." Liam replied as he let loose a steady stream of fire from his assault rifle.
"I'm doing just great too." McCree spoke up.
"Good to know cowboy, but I gotta ask, did you take a wrong turn on your horse or did the costume convention come early this year?" Liam teased the gruff former mercenary.
Adrian chuckled as he tuned out their argument, instead putting his focus towards the seemingly never-ending horde of grunts and jackals. The elites were here somewhere, though he wouldn't be surprised if they were hanging back until their fodder ran out. For all the talk of honor the elites spouted, they had no qualms sending out wave after wave of grunts or jackals before making an appearance. It was a common tactic of theirs when sieging a city or a UNSC fortification, try to whittle down the opposition before sending in the 'valuable' troops. Dropping two grunts in a row before popping the head on a jackal, he tried to focus deeper into the tree line to find any semblance of the elite captains.
A jackal out of his vision unleashed a barrage of needler spikes, most stuck to the trunk of three though a couple reflected off Adrian's armor with reflected ping. The needles in the tree supercombined into a devastating blast, sheering the tree at its base causing it to fall the side while sending Adrian tumbling backwards. The tree cracked as it tilted to the side, a chain reaction of crackling limbs echoed through the woodland before landing on the ground with landing with a deafening thud.
"Doesn't seem like we're doing much to their advance!" McCree shouted as he repeatedly slammed the handle on his revolver, thinning the ranks of the incoming Covenant forces.
"Well the covvies are firm believers of throwing bodies at the problem till it's fixed. Our best bet is to take out the hinge-heads in the back, throw disorder into their ranks."
"Agreed." Adrian affirmed before pulling out a grenade from his hip and tossing it down the range. The burst of shrapnel clearing out the area ahead of them for a brief moments respite as the trio regrouped behind a slight rise in the land bolstered by thick roots growing into it.
"Have an idea Adrian? Or are ya just going to leave the heavy lifting to me and high-noon here." Liam asked, ignoring the glare Jesse sent his way.
"You know the classics never fail."
"Which classic did you have in mind, our squad is pretty much a certified classic at this point."
"Gunny's favorite."
"Ahh, the 'life has no meaning so what's the point', that one."
"Yep."
McCree spoke up, tired of listening to plans he didn't understand, "How 'bout English for the rest of us."
Adrian grinned behind his helmet, "How many suicide runs have you made?" Jesse didn't need to a respond; a wide smirk grew across his face as he pulled out a fresh cigar. "Alright then, keep moving, keep the pressure up, take shots at the small ones when you can but our focus are the elites. Take care of them and the rest will scatter for easy cleanup." The other two nodded as Adrian slapped a fresh magazine into his rifle before hopping over the mound of earth as Liam and Jesse followed suite behind him.
Weaving past the trees they opened fire on any grunt or jackal they passed. On his path Adrian stumbled into a jackal as they both staggered in their movements before the jackal became crushed between a hefty tree and Adrian's body. Not wasting a moment Adrian shoved the barrel of the BR into the vulture-like-creature and pulled the trigger, a burst shot rupturing the alien's skull splattering the tree and Adrian alike in a viscous neon-purple mess. Briefly looking to the side he saw McCree effortlessly taking down marksmen jackals in the trees while Liam was crushing a grunt's head underneath his boot before pulling out his shotgun with one hand and blowing away a squealing grunt.
Looking ahead he could spy a number of tall, muscular figures in ornamental armor standing amongst each other in the middle of what appeared to be a heated argument. As he resumed hauling ass through the forest, the elites became cleared with every second. From what he could see, there were two minors, two majors, and the distinctive white armor of an Ultra leading the pack. He relied to information top the others though McCree would know heads or tales from it, only that the extravagantly armored officer in the front was not to be taken lightly.
To his left, Liam tossed a frag grenade into the grouping of elites, they warbled a scream in their foreign tongue before rolling out of the way of the main impact. Through his scope, Adrian could see the shockwave and shrapnel eviscerating the shields of the elites leaving them vulnerable to their weapons. Aiming down the scope of his BR, Adrian fired upon a minor furthest to the right. Three quick bursts hit dead center of the elite; his armor-piercing round shredded the chest cavity of the Sangheili as it stumbled backwards numbly before collapsing to the ground. Breaking through a thick bush Adrian rolled into a widened space of the forest, cleared out by the numerous landing pods that obliterated any vegetation in the immediate area. Firing upon an elite major, he immediately took cover behind a large stone as the elites growled in frustration at the suicidal tactics of the humans. Sparing a glance to his comrades, he saw Liam blindly charging into the major on the left side before drawing his knife and bringing its serrated edge through the Sangheili's neck in a fountain of blood. McCree shot out the kneecaps of an elite in crimson armor before finishing off the alien with quick surge of bullets to its head.
A familiar hiss of a plasma-grenade filled his ears as glowing blue ball sailed over his protection and landed on the ground behind him. Jumping out from the cover as the explosion propelled him outwards, he landed with a grunt on the rocky ground before feeling himself picked up and tossed backwards into a tree by one of the last two elites. Quickly pushing himself up he found himself staring up into the covered face of the Ultra, snarling at his smaller form.
The Ultra flicked its wrist producing the shimmering form of an energy dagger from above it's wrist. It swung it's arm faster than Adrian could comprehend, leaving him only a few seconds to raise his hand in defense to halt the blade. The dagger tore through his palm, its tip sticking a few inches out of his hand as he screamed in agony stumbling backwards, the only thing halting it from completely ripping through was Adrian's own firm grip pushing back. His hand wrapped around the curled talon fist, fighting with all his might to keep the blade from stabbing him. Squeezing his grasp even tighter as he grit his teeth so hard he thought his molars would crack. Adrian yanked the Sangheili's arm downwards bringing its head down to his own level as it let out an astonished huff before he brought his head back and slammed it forwards into the elite's face.
It stumbled backwards with a roar as the dagger ripped back out of Adrian's hand, he swore in pain while reaching behind him for the plasma pistol. As soon as he had it in his hands, he held down the trigger while bringing it to bare in front of him, aimed directly at the infuriated Sangheili Ultra. As soon as she could feel the raw power literally shaking in his hands, he let the bolt of plasma loose. It sailed through the air, crackling with every second before landing dead-center of the elite and frying it's shields.
"BARBIE NOW!" Adrian's hoarse voice yelled out.
"Right!" Liam turned from finishing off the last major and pointed his shotgun directly at the Ultra in a fraction of a second. He fired as soon as its head entered his sights, a hail of buckshot burst forth from the muzzle before easily ignoring the elite's helmet and landing with a sickening squelch in its brain. It stood in the middle of the trio for a few seconds, a faint look of loss passing it's feature before it simply…fell. Crumpled to the ground like a sack of garbage.
Looking around he didn't see any grunts or jackals squealing in terror, those species were cowards who often had no trouble throwing their hands up in defeat at the first sign of trouble, but they also rarely deserted. Knowing that being found guilty of desertion was a life far worse than meeting their end at a human's gun.
"McCree scan the forest for any stragglers, have Shattered Glass do recon outside of our immediate area. Once we know we're clear we can start clean-up and evac of this whole fucking mess."
Jesse nodded and left to clear the site leaving only Adrian and Liam standing in a clearing of covvie drop-pods and dead hinge-heads. A gurgling noise brought the two's attention to Liam's target before finishing up the Ultra, a major with it's left leg blown off at the knee and it's chest filled with shotgun pellets.
"Let it suffer, fuck knows we have." Barbie muttered before looking towards the gaping wound in Adrian's hand. "You good?"
"I'll live, what about you?"
He sat down with a groan, "Just fuckin' peachy." Adrian sat down next to him as the Swordfish flew overhead performing recon. "So about those answers you said you had for me."
Adrian sighed as he removed his helmet and looked towards Liam, "Buckle in cause it's one hell of a story. First off, about where we are…
…
…
…
"Hold on mate, you're still trying to get back to…our world…fucking hell that feels weird to say." Liam questioned in disbelief, taking the lit cigarette from Adriana and looking towards McCree who simply nodded in agreement.
"You're telling me, but pretty much. Progress has been positive though at this point it's hard to tell what that means."
Barbie scoffed as he put his head in his hands, shaking them as his brain processed the information, he'd been told over the span of the last couple hours. "A universe without the Covenant…never thought I'd see the day."
"Well not entirely-"
"Yeah I remember, except the slipspace ruptures which are fucking weird by the way."
Adrian sat up on his seat aboard the Swordfish as it continued back towards Gibraltar, word already sent ahead about their newest member. Looking throughout the cargo bay two large ODST pods filled the little open space that was there along with the body of Private Mian laid out across a row of open seats, wrapped in a black tarp. As for the covvie corpses and tech, they'd gotten a supply drop of high-grade explosives, incendiary munitions, and a second Orca to recover the more durable pieces. Lest it be said that they didn't do enough to scrub evidence from the forest, the only hint that there was even a living creature in the area was the faint smell of burnt meat that tinged the air.
As for Liam, Adrian had filled him in as best he could but there was only so much a person could take in one sitting, especially without seeing the rest of it. Much like Adrian, it wasn't the different world that through Liam off, but the lack of any real Covenant presence. Maybe it was all the time they spent hopping worlds, discovering ancient ruins of a civilization long past, but learning of a different Earth fell relatively low on the shock of the news for them both. Whereas the Covenant were an ever-present threat, you couldn't go to sleep hoping that the next day would be better, it was a looming death sentence that you learned to live with. To suddenly be told that the last thirty-years of warfare mean nothing here, that the idea of humanity's extinction is considered outrageously pessimistic at best, it's a far cry from the universe they were used to inhabiting. Though they hat least had a purpose here, their training still served a purpose, Liam briefly wondered what life would've been like if say they landed on a world without war or a place so far removed from their cultural ideals that they would be outsiders at best. Adrian had admittedly never spared much thought to those ideas, though even he agreed that it was a fucking miracle they landed in the circumstances they did.
He was knocked from his thoughts by Barbie's fist knocking against his shoulder, he looked towards the Aussie with a questioning look, "About the private, I know we're not his squad, but I figured we should give him the full rites. Kid died in a fuck-all way and it'd just feel wrong if we didn't give him a proper send-off."
Adrian agreed, "We'll do it in the tomorrow, give you some time to settle down and get all this shit sorted out."
The rest of the flight passed in an idle silence as everyone processed the events of today, with Adrian trying to nap but ultimately failing due to the constant throbbing in his hand. Eventually he felt he plane slow as it began it's descent near Spain, it's thrusters changing to a vertical landing position as it began to lower in altitude.
"Look alive buttercup, we've brought you back for show n' tell." McCree joked as he stood up.
"I'd hate to disappoint everyone; I mean hell I imagine you get bullied enough with that outfit without me failing." Liam replied, he struggled to get up as his wound was only barely patched up. Adrian offered his shoulder to Barbie who gratefully accepted as the man wrapped his arm around Adrian, swearing as he gained his balance. "Any last minutes bits you wanna make me aware of?"
"Remember Winston is a talking ape."
"Kind of hard to forget that tidbit."
"Also keep your dick in your pants."
Liam scoffed, "What? Me? Please you must have me mistaken with someone else."
"It wasn't a secret you had a wide preference, fucking anything and everything that caught your eye."
"Hey even I have a limit."
Adrian snorted, "Yeah thankfully, my point is this is a far smaller operation than the UNSC. Just be mindful of what you say and do."
"Yeah yeah, though I find it funny considering you're not one for a spotless record."
The two grinned, Adrian having forgotten how refreshing it was to talk with a member of his squad, people who he'd served with for so long they were practically family. He still needed to get back to his Earth, reunite with the rest of them, and fight the Covenant but for now he'd take the small blessings of having his brother-in-arms here with him. As the Swordfish touched down, the back hatch began to crack open to slowly reveal a whole host of Overwatch agents awaiting their return that brought back memories of his own introduction though under different circumstances. One of the biggest differences he noticed was the sheer change in scale of their operations, when he first arrived it seemed as if the base was perpetually operating with a skeleton crew. While obviously it is still a small-scale operation comparatively, the number of agents and personnel has seen a vast increase.
McCree exited first which was slowly followed by Adrian and Liam hobbling their way down the ramp to the murmurs of many. To most of the people stationed at Gibraltar, Adrian's story was unknown with the cover story being that he was an ex-soldier from one of Russia's numerous private military groups, still he was considered the odd one out among Overwatch's 'heroic' appearance. Though for those that knew the truth of Adrian's situation, they fell into a similar boat as Liam. They believed what they'd been told, what they'd been shown but everything they learned and heard was from a singular secondary source but seeing with one's own eyes brought on a different range of understanding and emotions. Beside him he heard Liam chuckle 'holy shit', a sentiment that was echoed by many of Overwatch's upper echelon agents. Once they touched solid ground, a number of people came over to the duo their minds brimming with questions.
Reinhardt pushed his way to the front, his massive form causing Liam's jaw to drop as the astounding size of the German, "Another spaceman! Hah what a day." Before he could speak anymore, he was cordoned off by Amari who blissfully understood that Reinhardt's questions would only hinder efforts to sort everything out. Once he was squared way to hauling off the gear from the aircraft, her and Oxton made their way over.
Adrian nodded his thanks, "Much appreciated. Liam this is Fareeha Amari, leader of the security division here, as well as Lena Oxton, whose just an exuberant Brit." Considering Liam's current state the best he could offer was a resentful nod of his head, "And this is Liam 'Barbie' White, the field medic of my squad though ironically couldn't patch himself to save his life."
"Hey it's a lot fucking harder than you think."
Introductions were very brief, neither he nor Liam were aiming to stand around answering questions for the curious especially considering their wounds. After excusing themselves they continued to move away from the craft and towards the base, despite the curious onlookers they managed to pass without much resistance and were soon free of any prying ears.
"Quite the welcoming, more than we're used to back home eh? Now you've never mentioned anything about some rockin' babes here mate, hope you weren't trying to keep it all to yourself."
"Jesus what did I just say." Adrian shook his head.
"That was before the full situation was known, that security chief Amari was something huh."
"She'd break every bone in your body before you even got a chance to make your move."
"Are you trying to get me excited? You know I love a woman that can kick my ass." Liam smirked, "Alright fine so what about that bubbly Brit, Oxton."
"Not even a chance, taken and swings the other way – and no not half and half like you. I mean she's fully committed."
"Damn, tough pickings here. Its like my own personal purgatory, so close yet so far."
The two continued on with small talk as Adrian gave him a brief rundown of the base, their duties, and what to expect in the future until they got back home. Liam was far more carefree than Adrian though that wasn't much of a surprise to anyone who spent longer than a minute with the two of them, so Adrian saw him adjusting well to the lax procedures around the base. Outside the clinic doors, they slid open to reveal a relatively quiet day with the blonde Doctor Ziegler absorbed in a pile of work inside her office to the side of the room. Helping Liam into the room Adrian loudly cleared his throat as he set Barbie down onto the nearest seat. Angela continued to look at the papers in her hands before half-heartedly sparing a glance from her work, her eyes shooting up in surprise upon seeing the duo. Rushing out of her office, she hurriedly applied a pair of blue latex globes as she came up to them.
"I completely lost track of time; I heard the news but tried to cram in some paperwork during the down time." She hastily explained as she helped Adrian in removing the upper torso portion of Liam's armor to reveal a blood-soaked under suit that was quickly removed as well. "It doesn't look to serious; the wound is relatively clean meaning healing will be smooth. The biggest danger was blood loss but you haven't lost too much, you'll be fine."
"I appreciate your care Dr...?"
"Angela Ziegler. I would shake your hand but well, I'm a bit preoccupied." She spoke offhand as she focused on her work.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Liam spoke said without missing a beat. "I'm Liam White."
Adrian flicked the man's forehead, "Really?" He growled in disbelief, "Apologies Doc, he was dropped on his head as a child, bit of an idiot frankly."
Liam shot him a look of confusion before looking between the amusement on both Adrian and Angela's features as a dawning of understanding came over him, "Ah I get it now."
"No you don't."
"If I had known then well, obviously I wouldn't have gone there." Liam teased his brother-in-arms, before Adrian could bite back the good doctor spoke up.
"You two seem to get along, I assume you're an…ODST as well?"
"You'd be right, I've known this joyless cunt for going on eight years now. Been through hell and back together, despite what he might say he's actually quite enjoyable to be around."
"Wow almost a decade! I'm hoping you can tell me some of the less glorious stories of Adrian, he's very tight lipped you know." Angela joked smugly as she shot an amusing look towards Adrian.
"Oh boy have I got stories for you then!"
Adrian swatted Liam with his bad hand to the pain of them of them, with Adrian cursing up a storm as his hand flared in pain. He'd completely forgotten about his wound as it had been at worst a faint numbing feeling but obviously life enjoyed take small potshots where it could. Ziegler's previously joyful smiled turned to a stern frown as she realized that Adrian hadn't told her about his own injury.
"Adrian…"
"I swear I just forgot to tell, got caught up in the moment."
"…"
"Yeah didn't think that'd mean much." He gave her his left hand that had a thick wrapping of bandages around it and a dark stain of blood making its way through the layers. She called her one of her assistants to finish up with Liam as she walked Adrian to one of the other open areas in the room. With delicate fingers she began to unwrap the sticky mess of bandages, Adrian lightly winced once or twice as the layers of gauze began sticking together. Resting against an reclining medical table similar to Liam's, Adrian watched on as Ziegler pulled off the last bit of gauze, her expression a mixture of shock and medical curiosity as she clicked her tongue.
"And how did this happen? I assume some sort of plasma weaponry from your world?"
"Energy dagger, its more or less pure focused plasmic energy into a solid object."
As Ziegler began her work she turned the topic of conversation to Adrian's squadmate, "You've talked little about your squad before but you mentioned you all have callsigns?"
Adrian nodded, "Given to you by the other members of the squad, I'm Marauder for being Russian and Liam is Barbie for being from somewhere in Australia."
"So he's not named after the doll?" Ziegler chuckled to herself, "I didn't think it was the case but I'm a bit disappointed."
Adrian didn't understand, "Doll?"
Now it was Angela's turn to be confused, "Yeah, like the American toy doll, little plastic toy that you dress up in outfits and play around with."
"Never heard of it, but I'm not from Earth, Liam on the other hand…" Adrian rolled his head towards Barbie's direction, "So Liam you're named after a doll?"
"Ah shut the fuck up!"
Adrian gave a half-hearted shrug to Angela as the two grinned at each other, before Ziegler was called for a meeting in Winston's lab, it didn't take much thinking to know it would be about recent events.
"Most of the work is done Adrian, there's a muscle regeneration lattice overtop a bone-growth mold that will help speed up your recovery. It's quite a nuisance to be honest, very itchy with no comfortable position to rest your hand so you'll just have to bear with it. Still, it will take a few hours to properly set so I want you to stay here until I give you the go ahead, same with you Liam." Barbie shot her a sloppy salute.
When the doors slid closed behind Ziegler as she left, it Adrian and Liam alone in the still room. They laid there in a easy silence with Adrian raising his hand above his face, looking at his brutalized hand, a faint shine of light appearing through his patchwork-like hand.
"This is how you've been livin' the past few months, not a bad way to spend some time."
"Sometimes I agree, other times it feels like I'm doing jackshit while everyone else is suffering in the war."
"I think we deserved it though, it's not like you've been slacking off though mate. Haven't been killing hinge-heads every day but still fighting for Earth. Besides you've been fighting for three-months alone, without your brothers and you've still been taking names left and right. Even if you were slacking, you ain't slacking away alone anymore."
"Suppose your right."
"Suppose? I know I'm god damn right." Liam propped himself up on his elbow to face Adrian, wincing at his sutured wound, "Listen you Russian cunt, we're in this together now. The only question now is getting home."
"We're getting home, it's just a matter of when."
"That's the spirit."
They fell back into a quiet stillness once more, their brief conversation solidified Adrian's resolve that had started to crack the last few weeks as time drew on and it seemed progress was going nowhere and only worsened by the death of one of his own. Knowing that he'd had one of his brothers watching his back, hell Liam was one of best men he knew, almost a decade of surviving the covvie's baptism of fire didn't go to waste. If there was one person he'd trusted to have his back against any odd it would Liam, the oldest friend he'd had an without a doubt his best. Adrian rested his hands on his torso as he closed his eyes for a quick nap.
"About that cowboy…"
"Liam will you shut the fuck up."