Chapter 11: Support the Revolution

Siris bent down and wiped the snow away from the code panel to their hidden entrance. He entered the code while trying to gather the innate heat as much as possible. His chest felt tight, and heavy. That declaration was certainly something. He eyed the door unlock and flung it open. Closing the door behind him, his eyes adjusted to the white lights inside the base as he slowly and carefully walked down the steps. Siris stopped by the end of the steps to the sign in panel and entered his credentials. Siris looked at the recent entries and raised an eyebrow. Alex is out. And someone unknown is here?

He walked into the main room of the base where he was greeted by a single man staring at the computer monitors. The man looked back towards Siris and gave a scowl. "Hello Siris, or do you prefer Mason Wu?"

"What are you doing here?"

"It seems that not even your own soldiers are immune against the desires of money. A shame people can be bought so easily, especially in a government organization like yours," the man held up a paper in the air and gently placed it on the keyboard nearest to Siris. He reached for it and unfolded every curve with anxious eyes. Taking a few minutes to read what seemed like orders from the government, he felt his whole body tense up. "What is this?"

"It is exactly as the paper says," says the official identified by one of the names on the paper. He motioned at a small graphical display on his phone. "See this graph? It's an outline of the financial spending that has taken place by the ATSG, courtesy of one of your own soldiers and our informant. It is to see where your budget goes. Notice anything interesting, or perhaps concerning?"

Siris looked away in realization. The official was quick to take note of the action with a smirk. "Yes, so as you can see the shut down notice of the ATSG is very justified. We can't afford to have you people eat up the budget we give like its chocolate or some other addictive crap. We upon careful discussions have decided that everyone here should be given a week's worth of time to evacuate the base. Options will be available for relocation into another assignment, or simply leaving the government in pursuit for other opportunities."

"You have to be joking," Siris laughed pointing to the notice paper. "You do realize what just happened on the news a few hours earlier right? War was just declared on our nation by a terrorist group!"

"I'm well aware of that. The news was everywhere and travelled fast," the official said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Action will be taken for that in the form of negotiations."

"Since when did our country negotiate with terrorists?"

"Since the day we let a criminal into a government organization," the official retorted with a hard glare. "And especially since the day we put said criminal in charge of the government organization."

The official turned around to leave and waved back. "No further discussions will take place on this matter. The orders are final, deal with it. Have your people out of here in one week."

That bastard, Siris took the paper and crumpled it in anger. He raised his hand high and threw it down to the ground with great force. It's easy for you to say we have one week, and how will you negotiate with them when they can't be bargained with? They will only understand the language of force and violence.

Out and about in his more casual clothes for once, Alex felt liberated no longer restricted to his armor. He felt like a normal citizen no longer carrying his weapons, but only his knowledge of hand to hand combat. The effects of Aria's declaration didn't take long for Alex to be very concerned about. He watched it in disbelief, shock and worry and the concerned whispers he heard all around him proved that he was in the right.

Amidst the whispers were several interesting insights. But what he could determine was that some dismissed the threat entirely, calling them nothing but a bunch of crazy individuals off their pill. Others however treated the threat with the greatest of attention and seriousness. He even saw an increase in the number of cops out on the street. The number however seemed to be increasing in the direction he walked in. Sounds of what one could describe as chanting became audible to his ears. He turned the corner and the chanting was louder than ever before. The crowd he saw astounded him as they all shouted in support of a particular message. There were no signs held up, only the words spoken by the protestors that seemed to be taking place against the nation's government.

Alex approached one of the many officers with an outstretched handshake of peace. The officer looked at the young man and shook his hand as an instinctive gesture. Alex smiled and pointed to the large crowd hoping to inquire. "What is going on here with this protest officer?"

"What is going on indeed," the officer smirked with the shake of his head in disbelief just like with the other officers. "Apparently they want the government to give up complete control to Cradle of Hope. It seems that more were in support of this group than we thought, and more than what the numbers suggested."

"This is clearly promoting the terrorist organization. So why is this demonstration even allowed to take place?"

"Oh believe me, I would love to stop it," the officer answered, although as Alex had expected, there was a 'but'. "But doing so would be a violation of their free speech, something that can turn into a huge debacle."

"Even if this 'free speech' is to support terrorism?"

"Hey, I never claimed that the law was perfect," the officer replied shrugging his shoulders. "Trust me. We are all frustrated that this is allowed to happen. But my colleagues and I have been warned against taking any actions against these supporters unless violence was to break out. Because then they would be violating their own rights for free speech and obstructing the peace."

The officer took off his helmet and whistled still taken aback by the crowd. "Still, hard to believe so many people would pop up to show their support for the terrorist organization."

"Not really," Alex argued back getting a questionable look from the officer. "What I mean is that this organization has been around for a long time. While it is true they went in hibernation mode for a while, they still actively recruited people from all across the human inhabited colonies and societies. It wasn't direct recruitment, but one done through other means such as social media, private propaganda sites accessible only with a password and other low key methods."

Alex took note of a woman that passed by him and walked in strides towards one of the protestors. She walked with a high head, clearly proud of herself and of what she was about to do perhaps. She tapped the shoulder of one of the protestors who looked at her with an irritated face. She ignored the hint and directly confronted them. "Stop this and leave our city!"

The protestor scoffed at the woman with the shake of his head and continued to shout his belief. She was however not stopped by this man's rude behavior. "Think of the children passing on the streets and all the people who just want to live in peace. We don't want to deal with this bullshit protest supporting terrorism!"

The protestor finally felt their nerve crack. They glared at the woman causing some caution in her. "You don't know anything, and you are an ignorant fool!"

The protestor pushed the woman away nearly shoving her down to the ground. "You will get exactly what you deserve when the glorious Cradle of Hope takes over. They will bring hope to us while condemn you non-believers to an eternal suffering!"

"That will never happen," the woman quickly stood her ground against the man that tried to impose a towering sense of presence over her. "We will never bow to terrorists!"

The protestor knew he would get nowhere with this woman. Uttering a few words of anger, he raised a hand ready to beat the woman senseless. The officer besides Alex became very alert. "Uh oh, I better go stop this."

But before the officer could even move, Alex had already made it to the two where he stopped the protestor's slap mid-way. "Know your place you scum."

Alex twisted the arm and kicked one foot in causing the protestor to lose their balance. The protestor reacted with a shout alerting the others around him. They watched the young man single-handedly bring the protestor down to a squealing mess. The protestors quickly raised their fingers in an attempt to drive a certain social narrative to benefit their group. "They are heretics. All those who are against change are heretics and deserve to die!"

A few of them even took out hidden weapons such as a pocket knife, wooden sticks and other obscure portable devices of pain. The officers all raised their batons and rushed to the scene. The fighters surrounded Alex and gave him one last chance to apologize. Alex laughed at the offer, and subsequently their shocked faced at seeing how not everyone would agree with their belief system. He stretched his neck and said. "Okay, let's play."

They all rushed Alex at the same time. But before they could make any meaningful attacks, he ducked and used the gap between the pairs of legs to escape. He stood up and tackled one of the attackers down to the ground. He took their stick and beat them on the head creating uncomfortable noises of their skull being smashed. Alex jumped backwards at a swipe of the pocket knife. He chose to keep his distance with this one, not too keen on having his intestines hang out of his body after all. Alex kicked the pocket knife wielder on the wrist causing extreme discomfort and loss of grip. Alex reached down for the knife and kicked him in the knees. Before the attacker had time to react, they fell hitting their ground against the cement side walk.

The other two didn't last very long against Alex's superior training with both of them getting an intimate introduction to the ground. The officers stood both in shock and surprise, they were nearly compelled to clap for his victory and skill but knew they could not as it may glorify Alex under negative intentions. As good of a deed people may do in this day and age, others would still be so easily offended by the littlest of things.

Alex kicked the weapons away and glared at the other protestors. It was evident from their silence that they would pose no threat to anyone now. Fear was as clear as the blue sky in their eyes. Alex looked at the woman he had saved and noticed no injuries. He walked past her and nodded his head to the officer he had recently spoken to who in return smiled and waved his hand. Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept his head low in deep thoughts. These were thoughts that could only be found in the dark parts of his mind, as dark as the deep abyss of an ocean. Is this how you foresaw the world changing sis, even though this is done through violence?

Alex stopped and breathed out a cool mist. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He remembered how strict his parents were towards him about instilling values of peace. They treated you differently, so did they instill the importance of violence for change in you? Alex felt the cold cling to his skin feeling refreshed from the minor sweat her worked up fighting the protestors. Changing the world through violence and destruction will never equate to a positive change. It will just breed more damn negativity.

Carolina slowly opened her eyes. The blur cleared away from the blindingly white light. She looked around to find herself completely alone, and her bandages changed. The suffocation within the pod was starting to get to her having spent who knows how many days in here now, only allowed out for food or the occasional washroom trip with Chloe's help. Carolina looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. Just lying down for this long is starting to make me tired. She clenched her hands into fists finding the pain to be much subdued than before. "Church, are you still here?"

"I'm still here sis," he appeared by her right side outside of the pod using the holographic projectors. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Has the situation with the Cradle of Hope developed any further?"

"Nope, nothing has changed in the six days since the declaration."

"I see," Carolina looked at the locks of the medical pod and stared at her ally with emotions unfamiliar to him. In a desperate voice she begged. "Church, I have a favor to ask of you. I want you to override the controls and open this pod."

He nearly fazed out of picture because of shock as his image visibly blinked a few times. "You can't be serious. You are not ready."

"The world won't wait for me to take my own sweet time to be ready," argued Carolina. Church however still felt strongly against her decision. "I won't open it."

"Then are you prepared to live with this decision knowing that I can be out there saving lives?" Carolina proposed putting him on a tough spot. "Would you be happy knowing that because of your choice there were more sacrifices than necessary?"

"You don't know that," Church crossed his arms taking a few steps backwards. "And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if this decision cost you your life sis."

"One life for the safety of many is not an ideal solution," Carolina slowly turned her body towards Church with a few grunts in between. "But it is better than the loss of many just to keep one person safe. This is war we are talking about after all."

Church understood that this back and forth bickering will get him nowhere. She was not willing to agree with his perspective, and he wasn't willing to agree with hers. He knew that he would just have to agree to disagree. While Carolina still tried to persuade him, his decision was made. At least, that was the case until she decided to make a promise that made him question himself. "Church, I promise not to do anything alone that could endanger my life."

"That's hardly believable considering how you followed Alex against my protests. Not to mention, this is a war you will be going into, how can you avoid the dangerous things?"

"You can't," she whispered in realization just how weak her argument was. "You know, you were right to tell me not to go. I admit that what happened was partially my fault and perhaps this outcome is the consequence of that choice, or karma one could say."

"That's some fucked up karma then."

Carolina looked up at the ceiling and breathed in deeply. Her chest moved up and down in a strangely relaxing rhythm for her partner. She continued as soon as Church was done. "This time, I know just how important it is for me to be a part of this team. Everyone will need to work together to overcome the final obstacle. Church, I will never do anything alone, I will ask for help when I need to and I swear that I will keep myself safe."

Church stared at her face for any signs of a lie. He could detect none, and after dedicating a few sub-routines to the thought process, he sighed and undid the locks. "Alright, you would just override me if I don't agree anyways."

"That will never happen," Carolina answered slowly sitting up with the opening case. "I have no intention of ever suppressing your free will. Thank you for being cooperative and understanding."

"Just try and take it slow."

She hung her legs over the edge and slowly slid towards the ground. As her feet touched the cold ground, she felt her whole body shiver. With great strength, more so than usual she pushed herself off the bed. But the moment she relied on her legs to lock in place and stand her up, they gave away and her whole body fell like a dead husk on the floor. Church reached out in worry. "Sis!"

"My body," she huffed surprised at her own lack of stamina. "It has gotten so weak."

"Take it easy," Church pointed to the medical pod. "Remember, you are still recovering. So just get back in the pod. You tried. There is no shame in getting back into the pod sis."

Carolina did her best to get back up, but her arms failed in giving the strength she needed. She fell flat on her face again with a loud grunt this time which reached the ears of Siris passing by. He looked into the medical room and noticed the pod opened. His eyes widened with worry and rushed inside to study the situation, get any hints of what may have happened and with slight shock he found her grovelling on the floor. He bent down to check her pulse, but before he could reach out to her, she stopped him. "I'm fine Siris, I'm fine."

"Then what are you doing down there? You should be in the pod resting."

"I'm kind of guilty here," Church raised a hand sitting on the side atop a digital box. Carolina shook her head and said. "I asked him to open the pod. I guess my body isn't ready to support my weight right now."

"That's why it's a better idea that you rest," retorted Siris. He helped her up and sat her down on the bed. As soon as he went to push her down, she relented with everything she had. "I need to begin building up my body again."

"Oh that," Siris' somber tone did not sit well with Carolina. She stared at him worriedly. He gave clear cut signs of trouble through his disappointed gaze at the floor. "What is it Siris?"

"Um…your training maybe a harder option now than I originally thought."

"Why?"

"I got a notice from the government. They are shutting us down due to the recent events and how fast we have been eating through the money they allocate to us."

Carolina felt those words hit her like a spear piercing her chest. She knew that she was partially responsible for this and her once curious face turned to regret. "I…I am sorry to hear that. I am sorry."

"Yeah, well we will have to figure something out."

"What about you though and your daughter? Wasn't this job meant to be a way of clearing up your past, and get a brand new start?"

"Plans don't always work out the way we hope for them to," he smirked gently patting her on the back. "Don't beat yourself up over this. We had been given a week to figure something out, reassignment or simply quitting the government. Tomorrow is the day that time expires, tomorrow is the big day."

"We can't just give up on the organization," Carolina leaned forward against his chest in an attempt to gently hit him, but even her hit felt like a fist swinging with no power behind it, like a toddler swinging their arms randomly. Siris held her by her shoulders and gently sat her back upon noticing her loss of balance. "I know we can't, but honestly at this point I'm at a loss as to what we should be doing or what we can even do to save the ATSG."

Carolina thought for a quick moment before a familiar name popped up in her head. Church looked at her citing his dislike of the idea. "Please don't."

"We don't have any other choice Church," remarked the orange haired woman. She asked for him to bring up the data. Siris looked at the display, name, UNSC rank, picture, and brief history of the man she presented him with. "Meet my 'friend'. He has quite a few influential contacts in the UNSC. One call to him, and I can ask for a favor to keep the ATSG afloat. Trust me, he can get it done."

"But will the government even bother listening to anything that the UNSC has to say in their matters?"

"It doesn't hurt to try," Carolina argued noting that if it fails, they are gone either way. But if it does succeed, it will give them all another fighting chance. Siris conceded to her logic and agreed. "Alright, let's do it."

"I'll make the call right away," Church replied disappearing completely into the digital realm. Siris bowed his head and thanked them both. He also gently pushed Carolina down onto the bed and locked the medical pod. "For now, you should still get more rest."

"Will you promise to train me once this matter is handled?"

"If we have access to our facilities," the man spoke turning to leave. "You will have my undivided attention for your training. But for now, just relax and rest. Your body needs it."

A few minutes after he had left, Church materialized and confirmed the status of the call. "So it went well, I think a few of my nodes just died from the sheer stupidity of Muffins. You know, to be honest, I never thought there would come a day where I go asking for a favor from the man himself."

"Neither did I," Carolina remarked slowly closing her eyes. "Life sure has strange ways of working things out sometimes."

"That it does," Church took note of Carolina's brain activity. It was slowly slipping into a rest position with the brainwaves relaxing, and her consciousness slipping into the world below the sub-consciousness. "Sweet dreams sis, sweet dreams."

The next day…

Siris sat by the computer with two suitcases by his sides. He watched the messaging system anxiously waiting for that one message that could perhaps save their organization. It was a new day full of new possibilities, or as the saying went. He could only hope that these new possibilities manifest into something positive for him and his soldiers. He leaned back in the chair realizing just how tense he was growing. Please do not let it end like this. He gripped his hands together and held them high up in the air as if to pray to some invisible entity. The moment he opened his eyes, almost as if his prayers were heard he received a new message from the main communication center from the government office. He took in a deep breath and puffed it out. He readied himself for the contents of what could very well decide their fate. With a quick, decisive single click he eyed the message and a smile quickly painted across his face. It worked, it actually worked. Siris began laughing to himself rather hysterically freaking out others in the room with him.

The others took a gander at the message as soon as he jumped out of the chair and ran to the medical room. The others broke out into a loud cheer raising the energy high in the room, and the spirits higher than ever before. Siris entered the medical room and opened the pod. Church popped out of the holographic display and looked at what the head boss was doing. "Hey Siris, you do know she needs to rest right?"

"We did it!"

"Um, are you okay?"

"You two did it!"

Carolina looked at the man in sudden realization and a smile extended from one cheek bone to the other. Church too finally understood the meaning behind Siris' joy now and let out a relaxed sigh. "You know, that son of a bitch can be deranged, insane and crazy but he sure does pull through when you need him to."

She sat up with his help and became a little embarrassed to see him grasp onto both her hands with his head bowed in great appreciation. "Thank you so much! Tell it to your friends, to whoever else you want to, but thank you for saving the ATSG."

Carolina looked at the older man contemplatively and felt innately happy. The ATSG is your family I see. I'm happy we could help keep one family together at least. She thought remembering back to one of her most influential connections when she worked her construction job, Madison. Carolina however loosened her hands from his against his concerned look. She moved over the edge and rested her feet on the ground. "I have some good news for you as well."

The base leader tilted his head in curiosity. Carolina pushed herself off of the bed and stood up on her own two legs. Siris was taken back at the amount of progress her health made in the span of one day. She could tell he was confused and wanted answers. "I practiced quite a lot yesterday with Chloe's help."

"I see. That's good then. It shows your commendable work ethic and dedication."

She almost fell over but Siris caught her in time. "But it seems that your body isn't fully recovered yet."

"Looks that way," Church agreed bringing up her medical reports. Carolina asked for him to do away with the reports. "I'm still a little weak, but I can get strong again. So it's time to live up to that promise Siris. Let's begin our training."

The man knew that he had better well deliver on his words for Carolina's wrath was not something anyone would want to suffer. Siris paged for Chloe to accompany Carolina, help remove her bandages and dress her in her training outfit. With Chloe as the support, and Carolina pushing every fibre of her body to get to the training facility, she felt a small sense of accomplishment in no longer needing to rest as often or be out of breath. "Where is Alex? I haven't seen him around today, and he hasn't visited for the last couple of days either."

Chloe caught her breath after setting Carolina down by one of the benches to the side and stretched her back. "From what I know, he has been going out more often now days to study the changes that declaration has brought to society."

Chloe stretched her arms thinking of getting in on the training as well. "According to him, the changes are bad, really bad as more and more people are awakening and identifying with the terrorist group."

"A belief in one person is harmless, but when it begins to spread and affect a larger group, that is when it becomes a threat," Carolina said earning a nod from her partner. "Exactly."

"It is a shame that he is out so often now," Carolina rested her hands on her thighs waiting for Siris. "I really wanted to talk to him."

"Talk to him about what?"

"For one thing, I wanted to tell him that my condition is not his fault."

"Uh," Church suddenly materialized by the corner of the gym where the only holographic display unit rested. "It actually is sis. If he hadn't triggered that base wide alert, you would have never been caught."

"But according to him, I was never supposed to be there in the first place, remember?" Carolina retorted recalling the note she was entrusted with by Alex. "In fact, I should have never made that impulsive decision to go after him in the first place. But it happened and I accept these consequences. They are a result of my choices, not his."

"You can't be serious sis."

"I'm, granted he is partially responsible as setting off that explosion and triggering the alarm was pretty dumb. But I'm just as much at fault as he is."

Siris stood at the door frame having heard the bulk of the conversation and clapped his hands in great respect. "You are a strong woman, you really are Carolina. Most of us just wanted to beat the living crap out of him when we saw him again. You on the other hand want to talk to him, and be able to forgive him face to face. There is something very admirable in that."

Carolina smirked at the compliment, trying to hide her blush. "It's not me who is strong, but the people around me who make me strong."

Siris readied some equipment setting it in the most ideal routine position. "I promise to get your message to Alex, and send him your way."

Carolina started to stand up. Chloe wanted to help, but as soon as she acted, she was halted by a single motion from Carolina. The ex-Freelancer did her best to stand up, pushing her own body beyond its limits and finally managed it. "I would appreciate that."

"No need to mention it," Siris reached for his trainer's gloves and tightened them around his wrists. He motioned all around the gym and said. "Now, I want you to walk from one end point to another for as long as you can. If you fall along the way and you know you can do more, then I will expect you to pick yourself up. There will be no help and no pity, at least not while you train."

"Noted," Carolina answered with a huge grin, ready to tackle the challenge.

Washington wiped his forehead rereading the message he recently received from the ATSG for the twentieth time. This can't be real. This is too soon. His mind became stuck at the one month time limit. How are we supposed to complete our army in one month? Forget training, the recruiting in itself takes quite a bit of time. He hunched forwards at the desk and racked his brain against the table for solutions. It seems like we will soon be going into super busy mode either way. Washington stood up from the computer chair and stretched his body. What will be the most ideal route? Think Wash, think. I know that there is still the training we need to handle. I may have to dump those duties onto someone else as I want to ensure that the recruitment process goes smoothly for every run. Can one month really be enough?

No, Washington leaned against the desk still deep in thought. It doesn't matter whether it is enough or not. The war will still happen. So it is up to us to be ready by that time frame. He breathed out a tired sigh. Things were so much simpler back in our canyon. He took out his dog tags and stared at them fondly as a dam of memories flooded his mind. His days as a Freelancer come rushing to him in a high of nostalgia. He gently brushed his name engraved into the metal plate and recalled the training stages of the project. Oh how simple things were back then. I wonder if I yearn for a simple life again, one that has nothing to do with guns or violence perhaps.

The tags slipped through his fingers, hanging off of its edge, swaying back and forth in almost a hypnotic rhythm. What could I even do now other than be just a soldier? What other life can I so easily adapt to aside from the one of an army man? Washington took the dog tags and stored them away in his pockets. Look at me thinking like an old man, wondering what to do after retirement. Right now the mission is all that matters. Carolina is no doubt going to be doing her best in her training, so I need to do my best as well to gather the hope of the people on Earth.

A/N: Not as long of a chapter this time around as far as word count goes. But I hope it was an enjoyable chapter as it does outline some important changes to character, and sets up a few things that will play out later onwards to their conclusion.

What do you think can be improved on? Constructive feedback is always welcomed! :)

Thank you for taking the time to read, I appreciate the readership and support!

~ Monty