Chapter 132: Humans Return

As Zeus was retrieving the memories he needed from Pennies mind, the human base on Yvanola was now bustling with life as every last human was now awakened, gathering up weapons and supplies while tuneing up ships to go and fight the Resurgence. An older man, presumably in his late forties to early fifties, approached Adrian, which he assumed was a Captain for he was dressed in white Naval uniform and cap,

"Are you the one who woke us all up from cyrosleep, son?"

"I am," said Adrian. The older man offered a hand to Adrian,

"Captain James Cutter," the man introduced.

"Adrian Michaels," the young Devil greeted.

"So tell me Adrian, are you with the UNSC, ONI or any other factions?" Adrian glanced to the side, unsure of what UNSC or ONI were,

"Eh...let's just say I was on my own side for a bit, and decided to side with Thatan when shit hit the fan." Cutter nodded,

"I see, so you're either a civilian, or a mercenary."

"Leaning more towards civilian who isn't afraid to fight the Resurgence," said Adrian, "but now I have to ask: what is Zion? Why is it here? And what did Minerva mean by 'to ensure the survival of humanity?' Did you guys really just duck in cover and hide forever?" Cutter sighed,

"Let's take a walk around the base son," the captain said, guiding the young Devil away from the others. Once the two were in an empty hallway, Cutter spoke,

"Many years ago, our modified colony vessel, the Spirit of Fire, crash landed on this planet, stranding us, but as if God himself were watching over us, the injuries were scarce, and zero fatalities, which is lucky considering most of the human race had been wiped out after our final clash with the Banished." Adrian raised an eyebrow curiously, "When the Banished were defeated, a new threat arose: the Resurgence, and they started to pick us and any other race among the stars that aided us off, till there was nothing left. Their numbers are small, but for once they seem to know what they're doing."

"And let me guess, since you were already stranded, you decided to hide here on this planet," said Adrian.

"When we found out the drug-like air outside was lethal to Brutes but harmless for Elites, we were split on what to do, so a vote was placed. The choice being we use what little manpower we had left to side with the Elites and take the fight to the Resurgence, or go into a deep cyrosleep, with one soldier waiting outside to free us when the fighting had truly ceased."

"Needless to say we know what the vote came to," said Adrian.

"I wanted to fight," admitted Cutter, "to go down fighting, but I didn't want to risk the lives of everyone else as well. We are down to ten thousand people in the entire known universe, you know that?"

"Ten thousand?!" Adrian gave the captain a furious glare, "Thatan out there is the last of his kind! He had to burn the last few after the Resurgence killed them, yet he's still going to fight, half because right now he has nothing left to lose, but mostly because taking down the Resurgence is the right thing to do!" Cutter was taken aback by Adrians words, "Now tell me, Captain, will you do the right thing now?" The Captain was silent as he gave Adrian a determined look, knowing what he should do.

Sometime later...

The humans were gathered in the main entrance of the base, with Cutter, Adrian and Thatan standing by the doors, the forementioned captain taking the lead,

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have gathered you here today because while half of you want to go and fight the Resurgence and finally be done with the threat to humanity, the other half wishes to stay here and stay safe, which is understandable. Now for those who wish to fight for your friends and loved ones, now is the time to do so! So let's gear up and ship out! Those staying behind, wish us the best of luck." Cutter then stepped away from the entrance doors, and the remaining humans went about their business, whether that is getting armor and weapons ready, or setting up shelters throughout the base. As the three made their way through, they were stopped by a group of soldiers in bulky body armor and helmets, causing Cutter to groan internally, "ODSTs," he whispered to Adrian, "let me do the talking."

"Look, Captain," said the soldier in the lead, "fighting the Resurgence is our job, but we are out numbered and outgunned, and as much as I hate to say it, we could use a Spartan or two in our ranks to help us out."

"How about an Elite and yours truly?" Asked Adrian, jerking a thumb to Thatan. Some of the soldiers scoffed or laughed, while others shook their heads,

"Look kid," began the lead soldier, "if we want to add babysitting into our regular job, you would be the first to know, and we aren't going to trust a dinosaur either," he finished with a sneer, aiming it at Thatan, who could only look at the soldier with offended hurt. That soldier couldn't sneer long, however, as Adrian quickly had the soldier on the floor, a boot planted heavily onto the helmet.

"I will only say this once: apologize," Adrian commanded in a low tone. One of the other soldiers tried to pull Adrian off, but wound up shoving him off with one shrug of his shoulders. A second tried to tackle Adrian down, but the young Devil rolled the soldier off his shoulders. The other soldiers hesitated on attacking Adrian, and the Devil Virus put more pressure on the lead soldiers helmet, cracking the visor hiding his face, making him shout,

"Alright! Alright, I'm sorry!" Adrian then released the soldier, and he ran off with the other ODSTs out of sheer fright of Adrians' showing of skill and strength. Cutter approached Adrian out of curiosity,

"Adrian, are you...?"

"A Spartan? No," he answered, "I'm something else...and I'm your best shot at taking down the Resurgence..."

Sometime later...

Adrian, Thatan and Cutter, the latter of which was now clad in military armor, were packing up a medium sized ship, readying to leave the planet so they could fight the Resurgence. Soon the same ODST soldiers from before arrived at the ship, the leader now wearing a repaired helmet,

"Uh, Captain?" Cutter gave the ODST a stern look, "We decided to talk it over, and...well," he looked behind himself, seeing regular soldiers in body armor and helmets with clear visors approaching them, ready to fight, "...let's just say our minds have been changed for us." Cutter nodded, and gestured for them to come close,

"Now listen up men, we know the Resurgence has the Asari girl. Reason why this is relevant is that she is the last one to know how to operate a Halo array system. So the plan is this: rescue the girl before they find a way to take her memories, and take out any Resurgence that stands in our way."

Meanwhile...

Pennies' eyes were flowing with tears as Zeus continued to probe her memories, until finally, he saw all he needed to see,

"Finally!" He released the poor Asari girl, letting her fall to the floor as a sob escaped her throat, "Now I have the memories I need," he chuckled, walking to the main windows, staring out at the Halo, until one of the Brutes that was flying the ship spoke loudly,

"Your Eminence! There are six vessels heading for us...human vessels!"

"Adrian..." Zeus growled to himself, with no one noticing Pennie smiling in relief.

"My Lord Zeus," said the Prophet, turning his chair to face the disguised Devil, "what is your will?" Before Zeus could answer, Pennie reached at the belt of the Brute nearest her, snatched a blue orb the size of a softball with orange markings and a green thumbprint scanner, ran her thumb across the scanner, threw it at the Brute standing in the doorway, and watched as the orb was encased in glowing blue plasma, sticking to the creatures chest. It looked down, then back up, uttering a whimper in oncoming dread right before it exploded, sending any and all that were next to it flying, and creating a perfect getaway for Pennie as she ran for the open doorway, grabbing the dead Brutes Red Plasma Rifle as she went. As the beings in the room grunted and groaned, Zeus growled in annoyance,

"Prophet, you wish to know my will? This is my will..." he turned to the Samurai Brute, "...YOU! Bring the girl back here, she could still be of use to us. The rest of you prepare the ship! Humans are going to board and we shall be ready for them!" The beings in the room cheered and shouted, abandoning the room and leaving Zeus alone with the Prophet,

"Now if it is my Lords' wish, I'm going to-," Zeus tutted his tongue,

"No my prophet, you're not going anywhere..." the mutated Devil placed his hands on the arms of the alien leaders chair, reverting to his true form as the old alien quivered in fright, and quickly found out that he was quivering due to a tendril stuck in his neck, sending a flaming feeling through his body, and soon, he started to swell, his muscles becoming gargantuan as he outgrew his chair, standing on his own two feet as he continued to grow, his robe shredding as he was feeling stronger and more alive than he had ever felt before, "...I got something special in mind for you, and that is to kill a Devil named Adrian Michaels..."