Chapter 22

Nethergarde keep

Blasted Lands

Five days since Unknown Orc invasion

"Incoming!" Yelled an Stormwind soldier as a black balled with spikes all over it flew right towards an building in their base before it exploding, taking the building as well as a bunch of Alliance soldiers with it. "Damnit! Hold fast! Reinforcements are inbound!" Even as he said that, the Alliance forces began to buckle as the brown-skinned Orcs, fitted with metal armor, broke through their lines, supported by other Orcs with large guns that fired grenades at the Alliance ranks, obliterating their ranks and demoralizing them. Their mages did what they could, but the Orcs were too many and they were being overwhelmed through sheer body mass.

Watching as an Orc killed a Dwarf soldier with ease, it then turned towards the soldier that yelled out for his allies before roaring and charging at the human, axe at the ready. Holding fast, the Alliance soldier waited until the last moment to duck under the way and stabbed the Orc in the right side, causing him to roar out in pain as the sword found a chink in his armor. The Orc, then backhanded the human away, causing him to crash into the ground some distance away, his sword gone from his hands. Spitting at the direction of the human, the Orc grabbed the sword embedded in his flesh and broke it in half with his boot, a testament to his strength.

Spitting out blood, the Stormwind soldier just glared at the Orc as he slowly made his way at him, axe ready to split the human in two. Grabbing a knife, the Stormwind soldier gave a prayer before charging at the Orc, ready for his last battle. The Orc roared out a challenge before charging as well. Swinging at the human, the Orc embedded his axe in his head as the human's knife hit his thigh, where his armor was the weakest. Taking the pain, the Orc removed his axe from the corpse, and ripped the knife out of his thigh, looking at the knife with contempt. He then roared out a yell of triumph as the other Orcs began to overwhelm the Alliance defenders.

Meanwhile

Suramar

"I cannot believe we're facing another invasion of Orcs. From Draenor no less." Said Varian as he looked at a map that showed current Alliance positions against the recent invasion caused by brown-skinned Orcs, wielding a metal flag with three claw mark on it. To his dismay, they were losing territory and fast. And reinforcements are still a day away before they could make a difference. Sighing, he looked at the gathered Horde and Alliance leaders around him before speaking. "Where are your warriors Vol'jin? You promised that you would send aid to help us in this invasion."

"We be sending our ships to the Blasted Lands." Said Vol'jin, looking at Varian with an impassive stare. "But it be taking time for us to travel the distance between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. I be sorry to say, but it'll take at least three more days for us to arrive to help you." Varian sighed at that, knowing that he was right.

"Master Shaw. Do you at least have intel on the enemy?" Asked Varian, looking at his spymaster, who then spoke, giving more graves news.

"Well this is great." Said High Elf Archer as she looked at the Alliance and Horde leaders discussing the recent Orc invasion. It had come to as a shock to them all.

Just four days ago, they received word of the old portal that the Orcs used to travel to Azeroth was starting up again and, to the shock of most, more Orcs came out of them. But they weren't green, they were brown-skinned and were wielding advanced armor and weapons that no Orcs should be able to make. And they had vehicles as well. Taken completely by surprise, the Alliance forces near the portal were overwhelmed and slaughter as the Orcs steamrolled them all, not stopping until they secured a major foothold around the portal. And even then, they kept taking Alliance bases and fortresses, their technology giving them an edge against the unprepared Alliance forces.

When the Alliance leaders had heard of it, they initially thought the Horde was responsible for it, but then the reports came in about the appearance of the Orcs as well as their flag, and that calmed them down. And now, they were all in a meeting in Suramar, one of the few places that they can have a conversation between each other without one side complaining of being in a town that was affiliated with one super power or the other, to discuss these new Orcs and their intentions. Though most already had an inkling idea of what it was.

"Yes." Said Thalyssra, getting the sarcasm in High Elf's voice as she looked at the Alliance and Horde leaders argue amongst themselves on what to do as Shaw gave news that the new Orcs are taking more Alliance territories. "When I wanted the Alliance and Horde to be here in cooperation, I didn't expect it to be around something like war.' She then looked at team Sigma and asked what was going on.

"You're guess is as good as ours." Said Courier as he shrugged. "Best we know, Orcs are invading Azeroth again from their old dead homeworld somehow and they're taking names and kissing the Alliance's ass hard. And the Horde and Alliance are busy arguing with each other rather than focusing on the real problem. To the frustration of Varian and a few others." Thalyssra sighed at that, before looking at the leaders before her, wondering what Elisande was thinking when she, upon hearing the new Orc invasion, offered Suramar as a place for the Alliance to discuss war plans in secret with the Horde. She claimed it was a way to prevent the Orcs from learning their battle plans, but Thalyssra suspected it was just a way for Elisande to get a reading on all the Horde and Alliance leaders. What they do when under stress and under attack as well as figuring out their natures.

"We should be out there fighting." Said High Elf, frustration in her tone. "And yet, we're acting like bodyguards for people that don't need them."

"We need more intel." Said Chief as he spoke finally. "Without intel, we'll be going in blind and we shouldn't do that unless we absolutely have no choice." High Elf was about to argue when Jack agreed.

"Have to side with Chief on this matter." Said Jack. "Don't like being not in the frontlines, but I'm not eager to get fight without knowing about my enemy first if I can help it." Ikit nodded at that.

"Stupid to fight without preparation. Yes-yes." Said Ikit. "Need knowledge on brown-skin Orcs. To better kill-stab them. Yes-yes." He then flexed his metal claws. "We also need to strike at good position-place to better bring death-death to enemy. To do that, we need knowledge. Yes-yes." Courier pointed at Ikit in agreement.

"He's got the right idea." Said Courier. "That's war High Elf. Sometimes you have to wait a bit and prepare in order to save more lives. Or to not at least throw your lives away." High Elf just crunched her face in anger, knowing her teammates were right. Sighing, she wondered how her sister would deal with this. Her thoughts were interrupted when Thalyssra spoke to the Alliance and Horde leaders.

"Perhaps, we should start take a deep breath and calm ourselves." Said Thalyssra as everyone looked at the Nightborne. Hiding the sudden rise of anxiety within her, Thalyssra looked at the Horde and Alliance leaders and spoke. "Let's start with the beginning. How is this invasion even possible? From what you told me of the Orcs, their old homeworld, Draenor, was a dead wasteland, void of life. And the portal you speak of is only linked to that world. How is this possible?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Said Sylvanas, frustration in her voice. She didn't like being kept in the dark of her enemies and these new Orcs are currently an unknown in all areas that were important. All they knew were they had advanced weapons and vehicles that rivaled the Gnomes and Dwarves in technological prowess. They didn't know where they come from, where their main base was, or what their intentions were and it frustrated her to no end.

'Perhaps we're missing something." Suggested Thalyssra as she looked at everyone. "Is there anything we're missing? Anything that can give us a clue?" That caused a few to hum in thought as they racked their minds for a clue. It took awhile, but Saurfang, the Orc leader, spoke up.

"I think there might be." Said Saurfang, touching one of his tusks in thought. "Spymaster, you said the Orcs that are attacking are brown-skinned, correct?" Shaw just nodded in confirmation. "Hmm…they must be Orcs that haven't been touched to by Fel magic then, but there shouldn't be any Orcs that aren't touched by it. Not in the numbers you're describing anyway." That caused some mumbling some a few others before Tyrande spoke up.

"Wait." Said Tyrande, her eyes wide. "Garrosh is one that isn't touched by the Fel, correct?" Saurfang nodded at that, wondering what she was getting at. "And he had been taken away from the trial in Pandaria by the bronze dragon, Kairozdormu, a dragon capable of controlling time." She then widened her eyes further as the implications dawned her and soon everyone else. "You do not believe that the bronze dragon sent him back to a time before the Orcs were seduced by the Burning Legion?' That caused everyone to look at each other in concern or in thought. As they thought about it more, the more that the theory made sense.

Garrosh always dreamed of an Azeroth dominated by Orcs. He would do anything to achieve that dream as proven by his attempt to revitalize the Old God Y'Shaarj's heart in order to use it for his own gains. Why is time traveling to an alternate time any different from that.

" .Whoa!' Said Courier as he walked up to the meeting, shock in his face. "Time travel!? You serious? God damn, just when this world was insane enough already." He then looked at Tyrande. "Okay, so if Garrosh did time travel and stop the Orcs from turning green, how does that factor in to the portal?"

"It must have taken them sometime to link their own portal with ours." Said Jaina, eyes wide at the implication of them facing a renewed Orc invasion, one that was just as strong, if not stronger, than the one during the first war the people had to face against the Orcs of Draenor. "Could have taken them months, even years, but eventually they would have figured it out and now they're spilling onto Azeroth like a tide in the ocean."

"So, what do we do?" Asked High Elf, hearing all this, and her head was spinning with all this information about time traveling Orcs and portals to other worlds. "How are we going to win?"

"Simple." Said Varian as he looked at the map of the Blasted Lands. "We get people that have fought against these Orcs before." He then looked at Shaw at Jaina. "Find Velen. Tell him to bring his most experienced fighters with him. We need their knowledge of the Orcs of Draenor in order to figure out a strategy." As the two left to complete their assigned goals, everyone wondered how this was going to fare for Azeroth.

Blasted Lands

"I still can't believe we're after Grom Hellscream." Said Gorl in shock as the group stealthily infiltrated the invading Orcs camp near the Dark portal, where more Orcs and supplies were coming through in a steady pace. At least every hour or so. "He is a legend to the Horde for freeing the Orcs from the demon Mannoroth and we're going to be capturing him like a dog." The thought was a bit upsetting to Gorl, but his god commanded it and he had no choice but obey. If it was any conciliation, they were also ordered to capture Velen of the Draenei as well as Garrosh Hellscream and Gul'dan, all of which Gorl would do with glee. Two for damaging the Orcs race and his pride and the other just because they were in the Alliance.

"What you should be asking is how the heck we going capture the lad." Said Kudius, confusion in his voice. "The lad is dead and you Orcs burned his body. How we going to capture the lad?" Gorl just said nothing as he too wondered this as well. There clearly was more information that was being kept from them.

"Yeah, this mission is strange." Said Derek as he waited for a pair of Orcs to pass before they all advanced to another building to hide. He had hide in Orc-like buildings before and this was no different. "But I want to know is why does N'Zoth's partner want them captured? Why refer to them as prizes?"

"Don't know lad." Said Kudius with even more confusion in his voice. Was the partner a collector? If he was, why is he collecting such powerful and dangerous individuals? Surely there was something better and less time consuming to do collecting. It left Kudius scratching his head in confusion.

"Doesn't matter." Said the spartan as he trudged forward, a UNSC assault rifle in hand as he swept for any Orcs that spotted them. "We have our orders and we have to follow them, no matter how strange they are." The others nodded reluctantly at that, trudging forward, careful to not raise the alarm less they have to fight the entire camp of Orcs. Eventually, the four found a building filled with black stars in them that gave them a good view of the Dark portal while being close enough that they can run without an Orc raising an alarm in time for any to stop them from using it to cross to Draenor. Kudius, upon inspecting them, realized they were explosives and told his team to be careful as a result.

"Okay." Said Derek as he watched as more Orcs steadily came out of the portal, annoyed that was happening as it meant they had to fight these heavily armored Orcs from their front and back. Not good odds for them. "Anyone got an idea to draw the attention of the Orcs here?"

"Don't worry." Said the spartan as he looked at the explosives behind them. "We already got an answer." Upon seeing what he was looking at, Kudius widened his eyes.

"Oh boy." Said Kudius as he gave himself up for whatever crazy plan the human spartan was thinking of doing.

A few minutes later, a massive explosion occurred in the camp, taking a few Orcs passing by the building that the explosives were in as well as one of their massive vehicles. That caused everyone in the camp to be on high alert as they scrambled to figure out what the heck happened. In the confusion, the Twilight Hammer team used that to slip past the Orcs as they traveled to the building that the explosion occurred and entered the portal. Upon arriving, they were spotted by a group of Orcs guarding the other side of the portal. They didn't even have time to react when the spartan fired at them all with his rifle, gunning them all down despite their heavy armor.

Placing several bullets into the dead of the last Orc, the spartan and group quickly ran away from the portal as another Orc convoy approached to enter the portal. By the time they find the bodies, they'll be long gone and to their first objective, Velen.

"What is this?" Asked Gorl as they walked the land that the Dark portal had traveled them to. It a land full of trees and lush grass, much like Azeroth. He thought it was be a barren wasteland much like the Blasted Lands, but no. It was lush and full of life. "This land is ripe with life. Why are my people attacking Azeroth?"

"You think Garrosh is involved?" Asked Derek as they ran, also in shock at the brightness of the land. "Since the papers said that Garrosh is here, you think he persuaded the Orcs to attack Azeroth?"

"It wouldn't surprise me." Growled Gorl. "That Orc cares too much of Azeroth to think of anything else." Kudius just stayed silent as his teammates pondered the reason for the Orcs for attacking. He then looked at his other teammates and asked what they would do if the Alliance and Horde get here.

"We ignore them." Said the spartan. "With luck, we can use them to our advantage. You're free to kill any soldiers that get in your way though." Kudius nodded before asking about a group of strange individuals that had been helping the Horde and Alliance during the battle against Garrosh. He heard rumors about them and wondered if they would come here too. Upon hearing them, the spartan stopped for a moment before advancing. "If they get in our way they die too."

Meanwhile

Suramar

"I didn't think war would come so soon." Said Thalyssra with a sad smile on her face as she left the room that the Horde and Alliance leaders were discussing war strategies with each other. "Granted it's not the one I thought would come to pass, but still. To have a war so soon is just disastrous." She sighed as Chief came up towards her, having left the others behind to guard the Horde and Alliance leaders and to defuse any arguments between them that gets out of hand, while he took care of Thalyssra. Filling a good amount of comfort with the spartan, she asked what his team would do for this war.

"Stop this new Horde and bring this war to a quick end." Said Chief. "And if Garrosh is involved, we find him and kill him. We spared him once, we won't do so again." Thalyssra nodded at that.

"I feel that is best for us all." Said Thalyssra as she looked at her city in worry. "Do you think that that brute would come for Suramar? He's not exactly one that loves elven architecture. And I've heard his treatment of elves during his reign as the Warchief of the Horde." Chief just stayed silent for a moment, thinking about it before speaking.

"If he is leading this new Horde, then he'll eventually come for you." Said Chief. "From what Jack told me of him during his trial at Pandaria, he hates all other sentient species and wants the world dominated only by Orcs. I very much doubt he'll let your people be left alone once he finds out about your existence." Thalyssra closed her eyes at that.

"I fear as such." Said Thalyssra. She then turned towards Chief with a sad expression on her face. "I've looked into the history of the world after we Nightborne placed the barrier around ourselves. I've read of the Horde and the Alliance. Their constant struggle to remain peaceful towards each other as well as their constant fighting between each other. It astounds me that they continue to bicker and fight against each other after fighting against the likes of the Burning Legion and this Lich King."

"That's just the way the world works." Said Chief. "My government has faced similar problems during the Human Covenant War. An insurrection group continued to fight with us despite humanity being at war with an alien coalition. Some even claimed the Covenant were just UNSC propaganda." Thalyssra frowned at that, unbelieving of such people.

"The arrogance of some people." Said Thalyssra before turning around and sighing. "Though I am one to talk, I allow Elisande to go through with her plan." Curious, Chief asked what plan, causing Thalyssra to sigh before explaining. "In her mind, despite the danger it poses to us if either side finds out, it'd be best of Suramar if we play both sides. Teach them to take the morsels we give them and, when the time comes, betray one when it becomes clear which side will benefit us the most. If war comes between the Horde and Alliance, Elisande will have us choose the one most likely to win and betray the other in any shape or form." She sighed for a third time before looking at Chief, who stayed silent, not accusing her or exposing any sort of anger towards her. It unnerved her greatly, but she refrained from trying to sense his emotions. After a few moments, Chief spoke.

"And you're going along with this, why?" Asked Chief, neutral in his voice and tone. Not accusing her of doing the same with his group or playing with both sides like toys. Just neutral and monotone. Like he normally speaks. Thalyssra twitched her ears in anxiety before speaking.

"I can't rebel her over something like this." Said Thalyssra, beckoning Chief to follow her to the edges of a street in Suramar, one that had a river between it and another street. Looking at the river, Thalyssra spoke. "This is something that benefits Suramar and isn't harmful to either the Horde or the Alliance until war comes. Even if I wanted to deny it and employ a veto, it won't do any good. She has most of the Arcanists supporting her and the majority of the nobles as well. Not to mention the support of most of the citizenship and the Duskwatch. I have, at best, Valtrois, Kel'danath, a handful of other Arcanists, and a friendship with one of the leaders of one of the noble houses. Hardly, something that can make a difference." Chief just stayed silent as he listened. Surprised slightly that the First Arcanist had so few support compared to the Grand Magistrix.

"Why do you have so few supporters?" Asked Chief. "You're the First Arcanist, aren't you?" Thalyssra gave a bit of a laugh at that.

"It's not because people don't respect me, far from it, they just prefer Elisande way of doing things." Explained Thalyssra. "Under her guidance, we not only survived the Burning Legion, but thrived and advanced our knowledge of the Arcane. She may be strict and overprotective of us, but she always places our survival above all else." She then sighed. "Because of that, I see no reason to object to her way of treating both the Horde and Alliance, despite my reservations of it."

"Have you protested it?" Asked Chief.

"Yes." Said Thalyssra, remembering that meeting well. "I was ridiculed for it by Elisande, saying that it was the way things must be for us. We are few in number compared to either faction and she see this as the best way to ensure our survival. I don't like it, but I had to relent." Seeing that Thalyssra was conflicted, Chief spoke up.

"You did the best you could." Said Chief, walking over and standing next to Thalyssra as she learned on the railing. "That's the best-case scenario for you besides getting what you want."

"Is it?" Asked Thalyssra. "I'm worried that this will blow up right into our face and cause neither side to help us when a third party comes to invade us. They might just wait until we're reduced to the dregs before coming to aid us and offering us servitude in exchange for protection and our knowledge. And that's not the only thing I'm worried about. There are multiple ways this could go awry for us and none of them are even remotely appealing." Seeing her hold herself, Chief placed a hand on her shoulder, calming her somewhat before speaking.

"If that comes, we'll help you." Said Chief, gently moving Thalyssra to look at him. He didn't know why he was doing this, but it felt right to do this. "I promise." Looking a bit down at Chief to see his golden visor, Thalyssra bit her lip before asking if they would if Elisande had a plan to use them for her own beliefs. "Even if she's using us, we'll still come for you. Even if my teammates don't come, I'll come and help. I promise." Sensing the truth in Chief, Thalyssra smiled, touched by his words, before placing a finger at his visor and began tracing it with her fingernail.

"Thank you." Said Thalyssra. She was still worried with grief, but it was lessen somewhat with the spartan's touch as well as his words. "It is good to have a good friend like you. One that does not wish to bed me." Chief just stayed silent, allowing Thalyssra to continue. "If you haven't noticed, many have tried to consort me in order to gain more influence in Suramar's politics as well access to my wealth. If not for those things, it's because of shallow reasons like my body." She then waved towards her flawless body with her free hand.

Chief, looking at her body and it's feminine traits, couldn't help but agree. The First Arcanist was quite a beauty. He had no knowledge on what traits attracted Nightborne males to their females, but he knew, somewhat, what attracted human males and Thalyssra had most of those traits. Wide hips, long legs, a pretty face, curvy body, and a firm rear. She had relatively small breasts, but aside from that, she was a thing that most human men would kill for. At least, that was what he could gather during his many combat operations with UNSC personal that weren't spartans and only if some marine decided to argue with another about the perfect womanly body.

"Don't you have Valtrois?" Asked Chief, causing Thalyssra to raise an eyebrow.

"*Giggles* You think I'm with Valtrois?" Teased Thalyssra, the thought of the two dating was laughable and would have probably have caused Valtrois to vomit. Sensing Chief's being unamused, she spoke. "She's my only friend. We have been friends since we were just mere elflings and have been friends ever since. In fact, one can consider us practically sisters due to how close we are." She then remembered her own family and felt a pang of sadness at never being able to see them again. Chief spotted this and squeezed her shoulder in comfort, something that sent a smile at him again. "Back to the matter at hand, I thank you. You're a good man, Chief. Don't let anyone say so differently." Chief just stayed silent as Thalyssra stopped tracing his visor and took a step back from Chief, who just stayed silent as the two resumed back to watching the river.

"We'll probably be deployed to help the Alliance against this new horde of Orcs." Said Chief as the two stayed side by side to each other. "Are you going to provide some form of assistance?"

"Most likely." Said Thalyssra as she watched the river flow. "Elisande will see this as a golden opportunity to strengthen our relations with the Alliance. She'll no doubt send soldiers from the Duskwatch and some of our Arcanists to help them with this horde."

"Will you be sent?" Asked Chief.

"I do not know." Said Thalyssra with a shrug. "To be frank, none of the Duskwatch have any combat experience. We mainly had to deal with small time criminals and the like. I fear our lack of experience will result in heavy casualties for us." Knowing that experience can make the difference between someone dying and surviving a battle, Chief tried to ensure her that he'll do what he can to help her people survive the battle when he spotted a sudden glint coming from the roof of one of the many tall buildings of Suramar. Instincts flaring up, Chief grabbed Thalyssra and hit the ground hard. Just before a loud crack rang out through the air and the ground where Thalyssra was cracked when a bullet hit it.

Holding her delicate ears in pain at the loud noise, Thalyssra was about to ask Chief what was going on when another loud crack occurred, this time hitting Chief and draining his shields fully. Sensing the danger they were in, Thalyssra raised a barrier of Arcane energy. Two more cracks occurred and two more bullets hit the barrier, disintegrating as they touched the barrier. Those cracks, combined with the First Arcanist raising a barrier, caused any Nightborne citizens to run away in terror or using their magic, if they had any, to teleport out of there and call for the Duskwatch. Gritting her teeth as she maintained the barrier, she spotted Chief grabbing his rifle and aiming at where he spotted the bright light, seeing a fading smoke trail coming from that direction.

"Teleport us directly on the roof of that building." Said Chief as he pointed at the building where the sniper was as another four cracks rang out and Thalyssra felt four more impacts hit her barrier, causing her to nearly break her concentration as her barrier was hit with the force of a truck. Not questioning him, Thalyssra lowered the barrier and quickly teleported them to his destination. Blue circles surrounded the two before they were engulfed in blue light and were teleported to the targeted destination.

Upon arriving, Chief noticed a man wearing, to his surprise, orbital drop shock trooper armor, a UNSC armor kit for one of their most decorated special forces units, and was wielding a UNSC sniper rifle. His surprise quickly dissipated when the man, upon noticing the two targets behind him, brought out a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it at them.

Any normal soldier would have assumed the grenade was a regular fragmentation grenade and ducked for cover as a result, but Chief, with his sharp eyes, noticed the shape of the grenade to by a cylinder instead of an apple shape, as well as the bright glow in the middle of the grenade, realized it was just a flash grenade and so moved toward the man wearing ODST armor, who whipped out a pistol and aimed it at Thalyssra, who was recovering from both the barrier and the teleportation here.

His instincts kicking once again, Chief quickly closed the distance between him and the man, tossing his rifle on his back as he did so. He then tackled the man, sending them tumbling down the domed roof of the building they were on. Crying out, Thalyssra tried to use her magic to help them when the grenade from before went off, blinding her and temporarily preventing her from using her magic. Which was a bad thing as this allowed the two men to tumble off the roof and towards a street in Suramar.

Needing the man alive, Chief grabbed the man and protected him from most of the impact as they hit the street, cracking it as they hit the pavement, causing nearby Nightborne to cry out in shock as they walking by.

Ignoring any pain that slipped by his armor and his nearly unbreakable bones, Chief quickly let go of the human he was holding and placed him on the ground, wiping out his pistol and aimed it at his helmet while he placed the man's hands behind his back. The man just stayed silent as Chief did this. Once he was finished, Chief dragged the man to his feet and motioned him to get moving. Before he did, however, several Nightborne Duskwatch soldiers came, brandishing swords or magic in their hands. They heard some loud noises nearby and they quickly moved in to contain whatever was causing it.

"Halt!" Yelled one of them, glaring at Chief as he looked at them while still having his hands full with the man that tried to kill Thalyssra and him. "What is the meaning of this?" Needing to explain himself, Chief explained the situation.

"This man tried to kill First Arcanist Thalyssra." Said Chief. "I stopped him from doing so and I'm bringing him in for interrogation." Before anyone could speak skeptically about this, Thalyssra teleported in, having recovered from the flashbang.

"First Arcanist." Said the lead Duskwatch soldier as his men looked at her in shock. "This man claims his captive tried to assassinate you? Is this true?" Looking at Chief in order to figure out who was who, she nodded at the Duskwatch soldier.

"He speaks the truth, soldier." Said Thalyssra, looking at the soldier in order to appease them. "The man he captured tried to kill me along with him. If it weren't for his assistance, I would be dead and this prisoner would have escaped justice." Upon hearing that, the Duskwatch soldiers stood down and looked at both Chief and the First Arcanist.

"Forgive me then, First Arcanist." Said the Duskwatch soldier, looking at Thalyssra as she stood between them and Chief. "What are your orders then?" Thalyssra looked at their captive before speaking.

"Bring him in for interrogation." Said Thalyssra. "We need information and he is the only one that is able to give us that. Be careful though, we do not know what else this man has on his person." The Duskwatch soldiers nodded before walking over and restraining the man in magic. They then took him from Chief, who just went to Thalyssra and asked if she was alright. "I am. That object he threw temporarily blinded me and I nearly fell from the roof in shock, but I was able to collect myself in time." She then rubbed her eyes a bit. "Who was that man? And what was that armor he wielded?"

Thinking it would be a bad idea to not tell her the truth, Chief told her that he was wearing armor of the UNSC special forces unit, the ODSTs. Upon hearing that, Thalyssra looked at Chief in shock.

"Why is he wearing armor of your people?" Asked Thalyssra. A part of her screamed betrayal, but her logical side kept that under control. Chief had protected her from the assassin and that it would be no point in him betraying his best ally on Azeroth at the moment.

"I don't know." Said Chief, honestly. The only suits of ODST armor on Azeroth should be on Torrington Base in the Forward Unto Dawn and Cortana would have protected the island with EDI and BT. Even if a pirate managed to find the island, sneak into it, and find the contents of the Forward Unto Dawn, Cortana would have informed him that a suit of armor was missing so he could ask people to keep an eye out for it. And that's not even bringing up the fact why a pirate would attack the Nightborne when they're not that well known to the world yet. "That's why I also want to know about this man and figure out how he got that armor. And if others have access to it, find them and stop them before they do any damage with them." Sensing the honesty in Chief, Thalyssra sighed and nodded.

"Very well." Said Thalyssra, feeling a bit of shame of doubting Chief. "I will need to inform Elisande of this development so she doesn't blame your team for betraying us. It'd be best if you follow me as well." Chief nodded before he followed Thalyssra. As they walked, Thalyssra turned her head slightly towards Chief and spoke to him. "And to provide you the thanks that is owed to you for saving the life of the First Arcanist of Suramar, I thank you."

"Just doing my job." Said Chief, saying it in the stoic and stone-cold voice that imparted no emotions in it. Some would have been annoyed at his lack of emotions, but Thalyssra found it charming and it caused her to smile.

"Then you are fortunate that I find appreciation in the stoicism that you give around those around you." Teased Thalyssra, a teasing smile on her face. "Some Nightborne would have hated you for being so emotionless."

"Then I'm glad that I'm working with someone like you and not them." Said Chief. Laughing a bit at the attempt of a joke, Thalyssra walked the rest of the way peacefully.

Meanwhile

"Are you sure that was the correct way, Overlord?" Asked a dull voice. "N'Zoth will not be pleased with you mind-shackling one of his indoctrinated servants like that. As well as the loss of one of his treasure vaults."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, my friend." Said another voice, this one full of joy and amusement. "He has hundreds of those humans in his clutches and dozens of those vaults. He can handle the loss of one of those facilities as well as the loss of a dozen or so of those humans. But in the case, it goes beyond that, you're certain you erased the contents of the human's mind?"

"All but the ones you desired." Said the dull voice. "No doubt they'll be preoccupied enough with the vault to ensure they won't go to this alternate timeline with this Horde and Alliance. Even if, by some miracle, secure the vault under the predicted time I had some of the Orc commanders that have already arrived here to be mind shackled. Under the pretense of opening another front, our mind shackled puppets will establish a base in the Broken Isles and make plans to sack Suramar. No doubt, this team Sigma will be forced to protect their closets allies lest they lose faith for not doing so."

"Excellent, by the month's end, we'll have new trophies for the galleries. Trophies that are indeed extragalactic and are actually worth preserving." Said the other voice.

"Why you place so much emphasis on your galleries is beyond me." Said the dull voice in a critical way. "You should be focusing on listening to the will of our returned king and not your own urges." Instead of getting angry, the other voice just laughed.

"Have I not said for you to avoid being so tedious?" Asked the other voice. "Be assured, what I do will benefit all dynasties. Especially once I acquire the Titans. The vast cosmic energy they are said to contain should proven excellent destructive weapons for our military purposes once we learn to weaponize them, of course. Now, if that is all over, leave me. I need time to organize my galleries for the new additions I acquire from this venture to this Draenor as well figuring out a way to assist my…, shall we say, business partner while acquiring more retinue for my galleries." The other voice just stayed silent before the sound of metal clashing metal filled the room the two voices were in. "Hm…Perhaps that would…yes. That would do. Oh the coming years will be most exhilarating, if I say so myself."