Author's Note: Welcome to the first ever Halo / The Last of Us crossover on . I hope you enjoy and please bear with me as while not having played The Last Of Us games, I've watched it here and there so expect this to not follow it linearly. This story is being written either at the same time of or before my Halo x The Walking Dead called Legends Never Die. Please enjoy, favorite, and leave a review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or The Last of Us as they belong to Microsoft/343 Industries and Naughty Dog.
"Quotes."
"Radio Messages."
"Thoughts and/or reading"
Spencer Family Home, Sargasso
March 13th, 1944 Hours, 2527
The needles piercing her armor slammed with enough force, knocking her onto her back. Her breathing was shallow and uneven. As she stared up at the sunset - red sky, she thought of her family. Her mother and father, brothers and sisters, what would they think seeing her in such a state? It didn't matter. With one last breath, she was gone; her eyes glossing over as her life ended not with bravery, but with fear.
The world around her darkened. She blinked a few times before looking around. "Is this what the afterlife is like?" She thought, her mind filled with fear. Her eyes bounced back and forth looking for something, anything other than this void.
A shock of cold air filled the empty space around her. She brought her legs close to her chest and rubbed her arms to preserve any body heat she may have left. After a hellish 30 seconds of freezing her butt off, the void began to glow. Slowly as it raised in brightness, she was forced to close her eyes as it got too bright for even her augmented vision. A strange inner warmth replaced the cold feeling, and only got hotter from there.
The sensation only lasted 10 seconds before she felt something on her back. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was now staring up at a blue, cloudy sky. Turning her head left and right, she felt the grass brush against her scalp and finally noticed that she was laying on the ground. Rolling over, she pushed herself up and took a look around at her surroundings.
Crumbled and overgrown buildings filled her vision. Wrecked cars, unfamiliar abandoned military vehicles, and most notably… bodies. "If this is hell, I already don't like it." Scanning the area, bodies littered every inch of visible ground, however something wasn't right. While most of the corpses were regular people, she spotted a few with abnormalities.
Walking over to the nearest one, she crouched down and examined it, noticing strange appendages sprouting from its head. "What happened here?" She muttered to herself. It was undeniably human, she knew that much, but something caused a mutation of sorts. She didn't get to think about it for long before a light breeze brushed against her fingertips.
Her hands were once again brought to her arms so as to not lose too much body heat, and that's when she realized she didn't have her armor. "Oh you've got to be shitting me." She thought, her eyes dancing for an open building to seek cover in. "I'm not given armor nor a weapon?! Whatever force brought me here fuck you already." Her eyes landed upon a small, run down grocery store. Standing to her full height of 6'4, she quickly rushed inside, looking for anyone alive and possibly a weapon.
A few minutes of scavenging went by and she had found nothing. The store was picked clean and evidence of past struggles was obvious. Not giving up, she searched the store up and down just in case it wasn't entirely empty.
"I swear I saw her over here." A voice said from outside.
Daisy, hearing a voice from outside, quickly ducked behind some shelves.
"Yeah, and you've yet to tell me who." Another voice retorted.
"Blonde chick. She was quite tall and muscular; had some nice curves too." The first voice said before laughing.
"Well if that's the case we gotta find her. Wouldn't want a woman to be scared eh? We could bring her back to our place and have some fun." The other individual said, a chuckle coming from him.
A quiet growl escaped her throat. She instantly labeled these two individuals as hostiles for even talking in such a manner. Peeking around the shelf, she saw one of the two men standing right outside the store she was in. He was wearing a green turtle neck with a light tactical harness, rugged backpack, unkempt facial hair, and was holding a pistol of some kind in his hand.
"I like your thinking man! We could show her a great time." The other man laughed as he finally came into view. He was in a similar state to his friend, but was carrying a wooden rifle instead.
"You wanna take this side while I take that one?" The rifle - man asked.
"Sure. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can go home." The other man replied, tapping the shoulder of his friend.
Another breeze flew past Daisy as the store's interior was exposed to the elements. Her shoulder length blonde hair was lifted and made visible right around the shelf.
As the pair split up, the rifle wielding man disappeared around the corner. Once his buddy was gone, the pistol carrier looked around and saw a strange color through the window of the grocery store. Raising his weapon, he slowly made his way inside. The crunching of the dirt below his feet was more than enough information for Daisy.
"20 meters, left side." She thought. She reoriented her position to intercept and ambush him. "9, 8, 7, 6…" She slowly counted down the distance he was from her. "3, 2, 1, 0."
Just as the man came around the corner of the shelf, her left hand brought his pistol pointing to the floor while her right simultaneously punched him in the throat, crushing his trachea. "At least I still have my augmentations."
He dropped to the floor, his hands around his neck as he gurgled his last breath. Dragging his body, she concealed it as she began looting him. First and foremost his pistol, followed by a barely fitting shirt that hugged her form. Next she took his light tactical rig, and finally his backpack. A 10 second search through the bag revealed a flashlight, a few candy bars, and a half empty bottle of water.
Once she picked up and put on the backpack, she pulled the slide of her pistol to check if it was loaded, and to her delight, it was.
Standing back up, she peeked around the shelf and saw that his friend had yet to return. Raising the pistol, but keeping it pointed at the ground, she slowly crept her way outside; her bare feet proving to be a little better than boots due to less terrain crunching.
Getting outside, she heard the distant sound of rummaging which she assumed was the other man. For a moment, she pondered on whether to engage or retreat before deciding that gathering intel and fighting another day was the better option. Jogging in the opposite direction the two men came from, she soon rounded a building down the street. Looking at the new area of this city, she saw more of the same. One main difference however was a small plume of smoke rising into the sky about a mile or two away.
"Either that's a trap or someone's alive who can tell me what's going on." She thought. Beginning her long walk, she heard distressed yelling from where she just came from. "It seems he found his friend. They shouldn't have suggested anything, otherwise he might still be alive."
The journey was slow. Cars and other debris were littering the street, forcing her to jump over some while making other entire streets inaccessible. Several buildings held up bloodied signs asking for help, or saying that it was safe inside, and eventually one sign saying it was full of the infected. "Ok, with everything I've seen so far I can definitely say this is some sort of zombie scenario, but why? What am I doing here?" Simple questions, yet impossible to answer. Shaking her head, she pushed away those thoughts about why she was here and focused on the fact that she was and nothing could change that.
About 20 minutes later, a chattering of several voices could be heard a few blocks away. "If whoever is here wants to be ambushed, then this is certainly the way to do it." She thought as she began jogging to the nearest building. As her body made contact with the crumbling structure, it caused a shift in weight making more than a few pieces of concrete to fall around her.
The voices up ahead were quickly shushed by one member who saw the actions of the building. The shuffling of boots made Daisy swear internally, knowing her position was compromised. As their boots met concrete and grass, the voice from a man with a deeper southern American accent shouted to her.
"Who's there?!"
"Well at least they don't shoot first." She thought. Taking a moment to contemplate whether to stay or run, she opted to stay and replied to him.
"A fellow survivor!" She called out.
"If you have a gun, toss it into the street so we can trust you on that!"
"If you keep shouting you'll bring the whole damn city on top of us!" She thought before complying and slid her pistol out from behind her cover, which a male then picked up.
"Alright, good. Now step out, slowly."
Daisy, to put it mildly, was annoyed at this whole affair, but knew in the event of having to fight these people she would win.. As she stepped out from her cover, she counted 3 people in total.
The 6'4 giantess took the group off guard who, reasonably, took a collective step back upon seeing her.
"What's your name?" The southern accented man asked her.
"Daisy." She simply replied, staring intently into his eyes.
"Alright Daisy, why're you out here alone and why're you not wearing pants?"
"Dammit Joel, really? We're in the open here and that's your concern?" The brown haired women also with a southern accent asked.
"Well I'm sorry if I have some human decency left Tess." Joel shot back, turning his attention back towards Daisy.
"So Daisy, again, what're you out here alone for?" Joel asked the Spartan.
"Trying to figure out where I am and what's going on, really." She said truthfully.
"Like hell you are. There's probably an ambush pointing their guns at us just as we speak." Tess antagonized.
Daisy just brushed off the comment from her. "Joel, if you wish to ask me any further questions, I would prefer it to be somewhere safer."
He wavered on his decision for a few seconds before lowering his rifle. "We'll you seem ok enough for now, but this doesn't mean we're friends. Got it?" He asked her with a hint of intimidation.
"Quite." She simply responded
"Joel, you're seriously not considering this?" Tess asked in astonishment. "We need to get Ellie to the fireflies and you want to trust some stranger to come with us so you can talk?"
"Yes I do Tess." Joel responded, giving Tess an annoyed look.
"I'd prefer we not argue in the open like this." Daisy suggested rationally, stepping in between the pair before looking at Joel. "And can I have my weapon back?"
"For now." Joel said begrudgingly, holding it out for her.
Once she took it back, she nodded to him and asserted her position. "Wherever you go, I'm coming with you for now."
"We'll then Daisy, you can help us go North. We're trying to get to the senate building to drop Ellie here off to some Fireflies so they can take her to god knows where." Joel said, gesturing to the girl.
Daisy nodded, seeing no other way to obtain information other than these three for a while. Moving out with this new group was something that didn't quite settle a certain ich for the Spartan, but she shook it off for now.
"So, what are the Fireflies exactly?" Daisy questioned.
"They're a militia group hard pressed on finding a cure." Tess responded. "Or at least that's what the rumor's say. It's why we have Ellie here, Joel and I are smuggling her so that they can use her immunity for a vaccine."
Joel chuckled at the woman's remark. "I still don't trust this Tess. A bite's a bite, and I've yet to see anyone immune."
"Well you don't need to be so antagonistic Joel." Ellie said, finally saying something and rolling back her sleeve to show to Daisy. "This."
Daisy took a good long look at the marking. It was clear that Ellie had been bitten by something with an abnormal jaw structure, however the wound was healing and calcifying. "And you're immune to what exactly?"
All three of them just stopped and stared shocked at the Spartan. "Are you fucking kidding me? Where the hell have you been the last twenty years?! The damn Cordyceps virus that wiped out most of the human race!"
"Keep your damn voice down." Tess reminded him. "But yeah, how do you not know about the Cordyceps?" She asked, a look of suspicion spreading on her face.
"Because I just arrived here. It's a… complicated story."
"So you just showed up out of nowhere without a clue of what's going on? Yeah sure." Joel said sarcastically.
"So far so good, yay for me." Daisy thought, rolling her eyes. "Once we're settled somewhere I can tell them. For now I should focus on helping them get Ellie out of here at least."
"Is the military still around?" She asked.
Their looks of suspicion and concern immediately changed to that of downright hostility. "Oh you bet it. And those pricks are better off dead." Joel bluntly stated.
That second statement sent alarm bells running through Daisy's head. If the three of them were openly hostile to federal forces, that would make them Insurrectionists or dissidents at the very least.
"If that's so, has anyone tried opposing them?"
That seemed to cool them down a little. She let out a sigh. "Taking a neutral stance seems to be the way to go for now."
"Other than run - of - the - mill bandits, the largest group around here is unironically the Fireflies."
Now it was Daisy's turn to be hostile. Working with an Insurrection force, directly or indirectly, was something she was vehemently opposed to. Her walking speed slowed so she could get behind them before raising her pistol at the trio.
"Drop your weapons, get on your knees, and put your hands behind your heads." She calmly ordered.
They froze, their new supposed 'partner' turning on them in a flash. Joel tried turning around to look at her, but she shot that idea down real quick by aiming directly at him.
"What the fuck Daisy?!" Ellie yelled.
She only received silence in return. Joel tried turning to face her, but was only met with a barrel pointed as his eyes. Seeing no other option, they slowly lowered the weapons before kneeling on the ground and placing their hands on the back of their heads. As they surrendered, Daisy heard the soft hum of an engine, only for it to grow louder and louder.
Down the road, she could see the front of a military vehicle similar to those that she saw earlier driving towards her. It came to a grinding halt once it was around fifteen yards away and four figures with uniforms, body armor, and gas masks piled out. She could only guess that these were soldiers from a local checkpoint.
"Drop your weapon and get on the ground!" One of them shouted to her, presumably the squad leader.
"Negative, I'm on your side! Caught some smugglers working with Insurrectionists!" She responded to them.
"Get on your knees, we won't ask again! You better hope it's the truth, otherwise your ass is dead!"
With a sigh, she lowered her own weapon and got on her knees as instructed. The squad leader, flanked by his men, then walked up to the now surrendering group.
"Secure them, I want to have a talk with her." The leader ordered.
Grabbing Joel, Tess, and Ellie, the soldiers dragged them closer to the HUMV while the squad leader stood right in front of Daisy.
"So, you're claiming they're rebels eh?" He asked in a cynical tone.
She stared at him, her eyes beaming through his gas mask at his own. "Smugglers rather, but in essence, yes." She responded, her voice surprisingly holding no ill - will towards the man.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Special Forces Petty Officer Third Class Spencer."
"A Spec - Ops? Didn't think any of those guys were left. Any I.D.?" He asked, his interest peaked.
"Negative. I can provide you with verbal details once we're somewhere safer." She stated.
He looked Daisy over, taking in every detail about her. "You look quite young for special forces, especially since it's been twenty years."
"Looks can be deceiving. Like I said, I can provide a detailed report later. For now, I'd like to see your commanding officer." She requested.
He thought this over for a moment, unsure of what to really do with her. "I'm going to call this in. The way you carry yourself certainly says military, but I can't go off of that alone."
"I understand." She nodded.
He raised his right hand to his earpiece. "Sir, I have a woman here claiming to be SF, should I bring her in? ... Yes sir. … That's right. … Ok, out." He turned back to Daisy before extending an arm out to her. "Congratulations PO3, the Major's in a good mood and wants to check you out in person." He said, extending his arm to help her up.
Grasping his arm, she pulled herself up, picking up her pistol in the process. "Thanks."
He stared in awe at her full height, nearly being 3 full heads above his own before nodding. "Staff Sergeant Butcher. Consider yourself lucky, this isn't something we do for everyone."
He then led her over to the HUMV where the other soldiers had handcuffed and gagged Joel, Ellie, and Tess; one of them was currently calling in an extraction team for the captured group. One of the two watching over the prisoners whistled when Daisy got close and they could see how tall she really was.
"Wow, aren't you a tall one?" He said before looking down. "And in great shape too."
"Knock it off Parks, we're not here to fulfill your sexual fantasies." Butcher reprimanded the soldier. "Did you get an I.D. on these three yet?"
"Yes sir, two of them are smugglers, Joel Miller and Tess Blanchard. Don't really know much about the girl, but it doesn't matter to me. If she's with them then we lock them all up." The other soldier said.
Daisy took a look at his tag and it read "Hammers." On the other side of his chest showed that he was the rank of Lance Corporal, giving her just enough information to understand that these were Marines rather than Army. The final soldier soon came marching back, joining the rest of the squad.
"Extraction teams on their way, roughly 3 minutes out." A female voice informed them.
"Good, make sure these three are prepped for transport. Did you scan them?" Butcher asked.
"No. The damn thing broke so we need to get them checked out at HQ." The female replied.
He groaned. "The quartermaster is gonna have our asses again for this. Just make sure they're ready to move Rose, we gotta deal with enough shit already today."
"Got it." Rose replied.
Butcher turned his attention back to Daisy. "So PO3, why're you out here without any pants, let alone a uniform?"
"My squad was ambushed during our extraction and was massacred." She said, telling a half - truth. "We had to run and I was the only one who ended up escaping. Had to switch out of my uniform to avoid detection for a while, but couldn't find any pants of my size." Fresh flashes of Ralph and the Sergeant being torn apart by Covenant plasma fire filled her head, making her wince a little.
Butcher and Parks whistled in tandem.
"Wow, what a story." The latter remarked.
She glanced over to Parks and simply nodded to him whether his words were heartfelt or not, they meant something to her.
"It's one that's all too common nowadays. We've lost too many men and over half our QZ's. For what it's worth, you have my sympathies." Butcher said in a softer tone.
"Thanks, both of you. It means a lot more than you'd think." Daisy replied graciously.
"Sarge, sorry to rain on your parade, but the extraction team is here." Rose said to her squad leader.
Another HUMV was coming in hot to their location before eventually stopping. A pair of Marines stepped out wearing heavier MOPP gear in comparison to Butcher's squad. Walking over to the now five soldiers, one grabbed both Joel and Tess while the other grabbed Ellie and, without so much as a word, loaded them up into their HUMV and took off.
"Well that was anti - climactic." Parks said.
"Ugh, shut your mouth Parks, that's an order."
"Aye aye sir." He sarcastically acknowledged, pretending to zip his lips.
Even through his gas mask, it was obvious that Hammers scoffed. "Smartass."
Butcher just ignored the comment from his more silent subordinate. "Alright, let's load up. We're heading back to the QZ and bringing our new Petty Officer here to the Major."
"Are you sure Sarge? It'll be a tight fit with her." Rose said, pointing at Daisy.
"To accommodate her, we'll just simply put Parks on the gun and she'll sit up front. It's only a 10 minute drive."
"Understood. You hear that new girl? You get to ride shotgun." Rose called out.
"Whatever gets us there." Daisy shrugged.
Parks, hearing this news, physically expressed his discontent about having to uncomfortably ride standing up. The others just ignored his plight as he slowly accepted his fate and got in before Hammer and Rose. Butcher went around to the driver side while Daisy ducked a little to avoid hitting her head against the roof of the armored vehicle.
As Butcher started the vehicle, Daisy made sure to familiarize herself with its interior and its differences to the Warthog. The drive to the Boston Quarantine Zone itself was rather uneventful with Rose trying to make conversation after finally being able to spend longer than 30 seconds with another female, to which Daisy wasn't all too interested in. Radio chatter about patrols and the infected came in every so often providing Daisy with a little more information about the world. A few minutes into the ride, the scenery went from that of a broken city to a bustling, if restrictive, checkpoint zone. Pulling up to the checkpoint security, Butcher rolled down his window and presented his I.D. To the MP on shift.
"Hey Mark." Butcher greeted the MP. "Do they have you stuck here again?"
The MP now known as 'Mark' grabbed and looked closely at the Staff Sergeants badge. "Yeah, fuck me right? I'd rather be spending my time inside the walls, but they ordered me out here. Well, everything looks right." He said, handing Butcher back his I.D. He finally noticed Daisy sitting in the passenger seat and gave a confused look towards the older NCO. "Who's this?"
"Someone the Major is interested in checking out, and I don't want to keep him waiting otherwise we'll be in deeper shit than we already are." Butcher responded as sarcastically optimistic as he could.
"We'll, good luck with that." Mark said as he waved them through.
As they passed through the large gate, Daisy took in every detail she could about this quarantine zone. Civilians and military personnel alike were moving around, albeit less - so civilians. "Must be hard maintaining something of this size without interconnected logistics. No doubt there's a curfew and other regulations being imposed. I suppose it makes sense with the whole apocalypse." She thought.
They soon arrived at the heart of the zone where all that stood was a large building surrounded by defenses. She had no doubt in her mind that this was the command center, why it was even this heavily fortified in comparison to the frontline gate she had no idea. To her, it looked like overkill and a waste of precious resources that could be put to further defensive and/or offensive capabilities. After pulling into an empty parking spot, the five of them dismounted and walked up to the guards manning the exterior door.
The two guards look at Butcher's incoming squad and almost immediately set their eyes upon Daisy. The way she carried herself, alongside her height, made the pair of soldiers slightly intimidated. "Name and stated purpose?" One of the two guards asked, stumbling over his words..
"Staff Sergeant Jeremy Butcher, the Major expects us." He said, handing over his I.D.
The guard took a quick look at the card before radioing the Major inside. After a few seconds he handed back Butcher's I.D. and nodded. "Sorry sir, I didn't mean to waste time. Major Collins' door is open."
"Thanks Marine." He said, turning to Daisy. "Follow us, we'll bring you to the Major."
They squad +1 entered the command building, and like always, Daisy was stared at and whispered about by the various soldiers. Hearing pretty much every comment made about her, most could be summed up to utter awe about her physic in both height and build with a few making remarks about her still not wearing any pants.
After navigating several hallways and heading up a flight of stairs, they finally found themselves at Major Collins' office. The lonely guard standing watch outside the room looked at them before nodding and knocking on the door.
"They're here." He simply said through the wood and glass.
"Send them in." Came a muffled reply.
He opened the door and the five of them entered the room. Standing in front of Daisy was a black man around six feet in height with a buzzed head, green camouflage uniform with a scar leading from his right eyebrow to the side of his head.
"Sergeant, you and your men are dismissed. I want to see what she's all about one - to - one." Major Collins said.
"Yes sir." Butcher responded as he turned around and walked out with the others right behind him.
Once the door shut behind them, the Major took a deep breath and relaxed while Daisy snapped to a salute.
"At ease. So, you're Petty Officer Third Class Spencer's?" He asked.
"We'll at least he didn't ask about my pants situation first." She thought, now standing at parade rest. "Yes sir. Special Forces Petty Officer Third Class Daisy Ann Spencer. I'm sure you have questions."
"That I do. First of all, I want to know who you really are because according to our database, there were no female special forces members as of 2025, so please do tell." Collins said, trying to intimidate her.
Unphased, she began the short version of her long story. "In short sir, I never existed here."
"I'm already well aware of that."
A gust of air left her nose as she closed her eyes. "Not like that sir. I mean I never existed on this planet, this version of Earth. I am part of a special forces unit serving in the United Nations Space Command, the military, science, and exploration arm of the United Earth Government."
"I'm sorry, the United what now?"
"Exactly what I mean sir. The year is, or was, 2527 and we had been fighting two simultaneous wars back to back."
The Major shifted his weight forward, leaning further onto his desk with a confused look still on his face as if he didn't register a single word she had said. She couldn't blame him, hearing something as weird as this would be hard for anyone to fully understand.
"The first was the Insurrection which began in 2497. At first, it was a band of several outer colony worlds that came together in order to resist UEG rule until a failed military intervention by the UNSC exploded the conflict out of proportion. In short, it became a near civil war between the inner and outer colonies of humanity raging on until we met the Covenant."
Collins lifted an eyebrow, his facial expressions showing both thought and neglect at what was being told. "And they are?"
"A coalition of different alien species hellbent on destroying… no exterminating humanity. We made first contact with them in the agricultural planet of Harvest and from there it was a mess. Fleets larger than any we've ever seen attacked several outer colony planets, one of which held significant importance to both me and the UNSC, Sargasso."
"And why's that?"
"Because it was my birth planet sir, and the one where…" She wavered, choking up as she tried to find the words. "The one where I was killed."
The Major was both taken aback and confused at that statement, wondering how someone could die, yet be standing right in front of him. His eyes met with Daisy's, but he saw something other than a stoic soldier.
Her eyes felt a little more wet than normal. She blinked and realized it was tears. As a few began to stream down her face, her stoic composure was broken as the harsh memory about Ralph, the Sergeant, and the needles entering her chest flooded into her mind. Her knees grew weak as she fell to the floor, landing on her hands and knees, gasping between moments of crying. Major Collins quickly came around his desk and helped her into a chair.
Pulling up a seat in front of her, he sat down to get as close to eye level as he could with the crying female. "Normally no one breaks like this when talking about something unless they truly experienced it." He thought, noting how his own men sometimes broke down after bad skirmishes against the Fireflies. "If she's telling the truth, then she's both an honest to god alien and probably useful if she knows what happens in the future."
Major Collins stayed silent while Daisy wept. As her face was buried into her hands, he rubbed her back, doing his best to soothe her as if he had known her his whole life. After a few minutes, the Spartans tears dried up and she was left with puffy eyes. She tried standing up, but Collins gently pushed her back down into the chair.
"I'm sorry sir, I shouldn't have… right in front of you." Daisy apologized.
"It's alright. Everyone has their moments, my men go through shit every day that plays with their psyche. If what you told me was true, then you're going to have an important position here. If there's anything else you need to tell me about… this, then you can do it tomorrow. My first order to you is to head to the barracks for some rest. I'll send someone with you to get measurements so you can have some decent fitting clothes too."
Daisy nodded, understanding what he was doing for her. "Understood sir." Her voice cracked. Getting up from the chair, she made her way to the door and was about to open it.
"Hey Petty Officer, report to me first thing in the morning ok? I want to hear more about this story. Now go get some rest and relax for the afternoon."
Daisy nodded slightly and made her way out of his office. Heading down the hall stood a Marine weaving her down. After a short introduction, he led her to the barracks which were opposite of the command post. Taking an open bed, she set her backpack down on top of it and waited until a female physician entered the room. After taking her measurements, Daisy decided to lay down and close her eyes for some much needed rest.
"What a great start to an alternate Earth." She thought sarcastically before darkness took her over.
Author's Note: Now I know what you guys are probably thinking. "Why did the author do that to Joel, Ellie, and Tess?" Well bear with me for the coming story, I haven't given you a reason to doubt me just yet right?