Chapter 5

Nezzux- I don't know. Having a caveman is a bit redundant besides some gags as its all ranged warfare here.

Reishin Amara- Well, that scenario is certainly a memorable one, but I'm not sure we'll ever see that because of how silly it is.

Reader47- Okay then, if that is causing a problem, then he only said his Spartan number and the UNSC. Is that sufficient?

Austin- It depends on the Franchises involved and that status of the people the get transferred to a new universe what they have and what they can do.

Robo Reader 21- I'm somewhat hurt that you think so low of me as to think I only bring Lilith for shipping material, yet I'm not really surprised. I just have to prove that she's here beyond shipping material. Yes. Also, criticisms have been considered and chapter 4 has been updated to be better. Somewhat.

Mongrelman- Well dang, I didn't know the Yohnet were a thing. You know new things every day. Also, that statement from Chief wasn't intended to be a statement that he knew that she was from a different universe from Halo. It was intended to be a statement that she wasn't from the Gundam UC universe. He still doesn't know that she was from a third universe altogether because, like you said, for all he knows, she could be a humanoid species from the Halo Universe. Just a lot more human-like than the other alien species in Halo.

ZILLAFAN- Well, the idea was that the base was lacking in certain medical equipment that they couldn't figure out what she was unless they cut her up. Fortunately, I didn't really divulge much about what they did to Lilith as the primary focus was on Master Chief and the others. Not on Lilith. Plus, the Zeons from last chapter weren't originally stationed in the base to begin with. I could give more explanations later on though.

R reyes- Just the characters from Owl House. No need for any more franchises involved.

Lilith Clawthorne

"Just what the heck have I've been dragged into?" Thought Lilith Clawthorne, daughter of Gwendolyn and Dell Clawthorne, sister to Edalyn Clawthorne, the legendary Owl Lady and the most powerful Witch in the Boiling Isles, her home, as she saw the massive green armored man keep an eye on her while being surrounded by various kids, who were pointing and staring at him in awe. Truth be told, at first, she thought the man was with Emperor Belos, the evil emperor of her home, after all he held attire and personality that she considered being on course for Belos' henchmen. Dull armor with dull colors and a mindless personality fit for an evil Emperor. But, after some time with him, she can see that he wasn't a lackey for Belos.

The thing that tipped that off was how he allowed the various children, human children she might add, to celebrate around him and invade his privacy, seemingly uncaring about all this. A lackey of Belos would have yelled at them or told them to go away rudely. Another thing that tipped her off was when she saw him not arresting her or anything.

Having worked for Belos before betraying him, Lilith was high up on the wanted list in the Boiling Isles, yet this man and his cohort weren't making a move to arrest her? Granted, it could be a way to catch her off guard and then try to arrest her when she's at her most vulnerable, but honestly, she never encountered anyone in Belos' employ that had the forethought and brains to make a plan that advanced, even when she was under the employ of Belos. Finally, much to her regret, there was the fact the man kills.

Now, Lilith wasn't a stranger to death. She had seen it quite a few times during her life, some of which caused by her own hands or by witnessing Belos conduct his petrification rituals on those subjects he deemed deserving. She wasn't horrified with death anymore, having seen it many times in her life, yet this green armored soldier killed more today than she had ever witnessed a single person do and he didn't seem to be remorseful for it at all. Most people she met would be horrified at the amount of death caused, yet this one wasn't. Only Belos could match him in coldness at the waste of life.

So, between those three things, and the fact that there were plenty of human children and adults around, something that the Boiling Isles doesn't have, she figured they weren't in the Boiling Isles, which lends credence to the…thing's statement that they were in an alternative universe. Relief for one part of her mind, but led to another thing altogether.

She was in an alternative universe. One far different from the one that she was used to. The possibilities and fears of being in an alternative universe were a bit much for her mind to bear.

Were these humans friendly like the one she knew? Were they as evil as Belos, if not possibly more? Did they use magic like her people in the Boiling Isles? Were they friendly to other species? How was she going to get back home? All this and more was flowing through Lilith's mind, making it hurt a bit before she eventually stopped and took a deep breath.

"Calm down, Lilith. Take things one at a time." Thought Lilith as she watched the green armored man look at a brown-haired human boy conversing with a similar brown-haired woman. Given their similarities in looks, she guessed they were related. Why the green armored man was looking at them was beyond her. She guessed either he was related to them or something or that he was eyeing them because of the uniform that the boy was wearing. Judging by its clean attire, she guessed it was some academy attire or something, which made her wonder what school the boy was going to and what kind of school would allow a child to venture to an area where soldiers that these people hate were allowed to come and do what they please. As she was thinking things through, she heard the boy speak up.

"So there's a Zeon base here." Said the boy as he looked at his mother with exhausted eyes, causing the woman to nod.

"Yes, they haven't done anything to us, but they keep sending patrols every now and then to see if we're harboring Earth Federation soldiers or sympathizers." Explained the woman. The conversation between the two was overheard by Fernando, Master Chief, and Lilith. All three are curious about this Universe and all its local governments. Though for different reasons. Lilith for academic and general curiosity. For Fernando and Master Chief to see what other governments there were in this universe. To see who they could ally in order to protect them from the Principality of Zeon because they were certain that they were now enemies of that government after what they did to their soldiers today. That being said, just because they could use the protection and assistance, doesn't mean they can just willingly go over to their enemies for that sole reason. For all they knew this Earth Federation was a corrupt government entity that will want their technology for their own ends and schemes.

Being part of the UNSC, Master Chief will not allow UNSC technology to fall into the hands of a foreign entity, regardless of what it is and what it can be used for. The rules and protocols that all Spartans, regardless of their generation, prohibited such things and the Spartan IIs were the most loyal to those protocols, refusing to break them unless ordered to do so by a trusted member of the UNSC.

Hearing closely, Master Chief could hear the woman saying that the Zeons may attack them now, shocking the boy.

"Why would they attack you?" Asked the boy before realizing something and looking at Master Chief, Fernando, and Lilith. "Is it because of them?"

"I'm afraid so." Said the woman as she looked at the trio. "Don't blame them, Amuro. They escaped from the Zeon base I've told you about and one of them was critically injured. They had no choice but to come here, otherwise, their compatriot would have died." Upon hearing that, Lilith was in shock. Just then, she looked at her hands and felt her face. Sure enough, she felt and saw bandages around those areas. In addition, she felt a few bandages around her stomach and neck. She then remembered the assault and beating she received from those horrid humans and how they knocked her unconscious. Gulping a bit as she remembered the severity, she looked at the Master Chief, who continued to look at the boy now known as Amuro.

"I see." Said Amuro as he looked at them, surprised with how radically different they all looked from one another. "Then does that mean you all have to move away from here?" The woman just sighed at that.

"We can't, Amuro." Said the woman with sorrow. "Not just because some people are too stubborn to leave another home again after the war destroyed their original homes, but also because we don't have the supplies to make the trip necessary to run away from the Zeons. Even if we did, where will we go? There's nowhere that we can avoid the Zeons while also finding a good place for us all to live without too much difficulty. I'm afraid our choices were either pray for mercy from the Zeons or pray that they won't come here." Upon hearing that, Amuro clenched his fists in frustration. These people don't deserve to be forced to abandon their homes or be forced to suffer punishment just because they helped a few people. Sure, he didn't know these people they helped or if they were good people or not, but they didn't matter to him. What mattered to him was that his mom and these poor refugees are going to suffer unless he did something about it. Realizing what he had to do, he got up from the chair that he was in before speaking.

"I'm sorry, mom, but if these people are going to continue to live here, then that Zeon base has to go." Said Amuro, shocking his mother and also Lilith.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Amuro's mother in horror, not liking the hardened look that her son was giving her. Feeling a bit sorry for his mother, Amuro explained.

"I mean that we have to destroy that base before they could retaliate." Said Amuro, horrifying his mother along with Lilith, who gasped out loud in shock that just a young boy would say such things. Fernando was also in shock, but not at the statement from the boy. No. More in the fact that a young teenage boy said it in the first place, who looked no older than sixteen at most. Chief, however, wasn't surprised at all. During the Human-Covenant War, he had heard that young children, some even younger than thirteen, were being drafted into the war by various colonial militias and even, in some cases, official UNSC battle groups on account of shortages of manpower. He had never encountered such child soldiers, but he knew enough that they existed. And they continued to exist as various rebel groups against the United Earth Government, the ruling body of humanity in his universe.

He disapproved of such child soldiers, finding them not only inefficient but morally wrong. More so the latter, given the undisciplined nature of children. He could attest to that, given his long military career as a Spartan super soldier.

Looking at Fernando, Chief could see he was about to speak when Amuro's mother spoke first.

"No, that's completely wrong Amuro!" Protested Amuro's mother as she looked at her boy in shock. "Those Zeon soldiers have family back home! You can't kill them! What about their families!?"

"What about the people here?" Asked Amuro in shock at what his mother just said. "Do you want these people to lose what they have left if the Zeons come here for revenge?!" Amuro's mom was about to make an argument when Lilith stepped in.

"Now, now. There's no need to rash decisions." Said Lilith as she stepped in. Wanting no more talk about killing people anymore from Amuro, Lilith stepped into the conversation in order to come up with better alternatives to the situation. Alternatives that don't involve killing. "Perhaps we can conduct negotiations with these…Zeons? Try to get them to leave these people alone with some…good old fashion…good manners." Her last sentence caused everyone to look at her in varying degrees of surprise or disbelief.

"Please tell me you're joking." Said Fernando as he looked weirded out by Lilith's statement, causing the woman to blush hard.

"Uh…I'm not the most knowledgeable on this stuff, but even I think that's completely stupid." Said Joy as she spoke to Chief in secret. The Spartan couldn't help but agree, given what he's seen from the Zeons and what he did to them today. And he wasn't the only one that was in agreement because that Amuro kid looked annoyed with her statement.

"Good manners!" Yelled Amuro as he glared at Lilith, who took a step back from the kid in shock. "Do you have any idea what these Zeons did here!? What they did to these people!? Do you honestly believe they'll be merciful to these people after what your friends did to their Gaw and their soldiers!? Do you!?" Lilith stammered at this and was about to reply when Chief, having enough, stepped in.

"Enough." Said Chief with enough force to stop everyone to stop arguing and looking at him. "The kid is right. The Zeons will come back here and they won't be here to conduct negotiations. We killed dozens of their soldiers and sent one of their airships crashing into the mountains. They won't forgive any of us for what we did to them and they'll think this camp is a part of it all because of your association with us in addition to their airship being lost here. If this camp is to survive, we need to take out the local Zeon base. And that means killing every soldier in that base and rendering it completely inoperable for anyone." Upon hearing that both Lilith and Amuro's mother looked shocked and horrified at his statement, especially with how cold and callously he said it all. Amuro, however, though a bit unnerved with how cold he said it all, agreed with him.

"H-how can you be so cold?" Asked Amuro's mother in horror as she looked at Master Chief in horror at what he said. "Those…soldiers have families. How can you be so cold to take away a part of their families away?" The woman's blood ran cold when Chief looked at her. Seeing the fear that was coming from the woman as well from several of the adults from how Chief was speaking, Fernando spoke up.

"Hey, it's not like the big guy likes to do it." Said Fernando as he stepped in front of Chief. He respected the big guy, yeah, but he had little to no people skills. "Its just that, he wants to protect you all from harm, yeah? I mean, sure, he could do better to convey it, but he cares about you all. In his own way. Trust me, he wouldn't go out killing people for fun or anything. He…*Sighs*He just wants to protect you all and, in his mind, the only way to do so is to take that base out of commission. If there was another way, he'll take it, I'm sure, but, considering what happened today, I don't think there's another way." As people were listening to Fernando, seeing his logic, Chief was getting up from the crate that he was sitting on before speaking to Fernando.

"We need to leave. The longer we stay here, the more time we give the enemy to regroup." Said Chief. Upon hearing that, Fernando nodded in agreement before leaving the shack with Master Chief following soon after. Upon seeing them leave, Amuro looked at his mother before speaking.

"I'm sorry mom." Said Amuro as he looked at his mother, who looked at her boy in horror. "But this needs to be done." He then took off, leaving both his mother and Lilith, both too shocked at what the boy said. Once the boy ran out of the shack, Amuro's mother collapsed in a bed in shock, causing Lilith to go to her and tend to her as the woman cried about her boy. Meanwhile, Amuro was running up to Master Chief and Fernando.

"Hey wait!" Yelled Amuro, catching up to the two men as they turned around to face him. "So, what's the plan once we get to that base? We need one if we're going to take on an enemy base."

"We were going to make a plan regarding that." Said Fernando as he looked at the boy, feeling slightly sad that such a young boy was a soldier. It felt…wrong to have someone so young be a soldier. It wasn't right. No child should be a soldier when they're a teenager. No one. "Listen, kid, don't want to sound rude or anything, but maybe you should sit this one out. We can handle the base on our own." Upon hearing that, Amuro looked at Fernando in shock before asking why. "Well, because you're a kid and I don't want you to have blood on your head. It's not right for a kid to have blood on their hands at your age." Although a part of him was grateful that this man was looking out for him, another part of him was upset that he was asking him to stay behind in a mission to protect his mother and these people.

"But my mother's life is in jeopardy right now! Along with everyone else here in this refugee camp! People that I know are here! I can't just let strangers save them while I sit on the sidelines. Especially when I can make a difference." Said Amuro as he looked at Fernando and Master Chief. Fernando looked ready to argue with the kid when Chief spoke up.

"You're not going." Said Master Chief as he stared down at the boy. Amuro was about to argue when he saw the cold stare coming from the Spartan super soldier, stopping him dead in his tracks. He didn't know how, but staring into that visor sent shivers down his spine. It was like the man was staring into his soul and making him freeze in fright. It was almost like the time he faced the Red Comet, a Zeon ace, for the first time. He was frozen in fear. Except for this time, he didn't have the power of his Mobile Suit to protect him from this man, unlike the time against the Red Comet. Before Amuro could say anything, the three men heard some yelling.

"Wait!" Yelled Lilith as she ran towards the three, having finished tending to Amuro's mother. "I have a suggestion that may benefit all parties. Since the boy is so eager to provide assistance in the…decommissioning of this base, why not just have him provide moral support for you two."

"Moral support? That's a thing?" Asked Joy as she overheard this. Master Chief choose not to comment as Fernando just coughed a bit at that. Seeing the unamused expression of the three men, Lilith tried to convince them of the importance of morale.

"I mean, motivation is an important component of everyday life." Said Lilith as she nervously smiled at the three males. "It provides inspiration for us to fight harder and to remind us of why we do things. Right? Plus, it keeps the boy away from the fighting, which he isn't supposed to be doing in the first place because of him still a kid and a child shouldn't be part of a battle. Yes?" Seeing none of the men were choosing to comment, Lilith just deflated in defeat. "Perhaps some additional information can help diffuse this situation or help create a solution to it?" Seeing no one was speaking, Fernando spoke up.

"Well, how about asking some questions, kid. What's your name and why are you in the military?" Asked Fernando as he looked at Amuro. "Perhaps that can help change our decision." Hearing that, Amuro sighed before explaining.

"My name is Amuro Ray." Said Amuro as he looked at Master Chief and Fernando. "And I didn't want to join the military in the first place. I was forced to join because I was exposed to military secrets." Hearing that caused Fernando to wince in sympathy. He then looked at Chief, who just stood silent.

"I see." Said Fernando. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I don't see how any of that can justify us bringing you into a warzone. I get you to want to protect your mother and these people, but you'll just end up getting yourself killed, kid. Trust me."

"No, I won't!" Protested Amuro in anger. "Trust me! I got something that the Zeons can only dream of stopping!" Raising an eyebrow at the confidence from the kid, Fernando asked what it was. Before Amuro could say anything, he suddenly heard a radio going off nearby. Realizing where it was coming from, Amuro politely excused himself before going over to his fighter.

"Oh, interesting. Chief, that fighter looks like its module for something." Said Joy as she scanned the fighter belonging to Amuro.

"What do you mean?" Asked Chief as Amuro answered his fighter's radio.

"I mean, look at it. Its blocky appearance and movable parts mean that it can either attach to something or be a building block for something. Maybe both." Said Joy in excitement. Hearing that caused Chief to ponder. If that fighter was a building block for something, was that something that military secret that the boy was talking about? And was that thing the reason he was so confident in fighting the Zeons? His questions were soon answered when Amuro ended the radio call and looked at Chief and Fernando with a grim look on his face.

"I just got a call from my commanding officer." Said Amuro as he got off his fighter and walked towards the two. "That base we were talking about? He said that we have to take it out. The Earth Federation wants its supplies. He wants me back to help secure the supplies. So, I have to go." Fernando looked ready to protest this along with Lilith when Master Chief spoke up.

"Alright." Said Chief, causing everyone to look at him in shock at how ready he was to accept that Amuro had to go. "But we'll only allow you to go on one condition. You give us a chance to speak with your commanding officer." Amuro blinked at that, stunned a bit. He was about to ask when Chief spoke.

"I'll explain later, for now, we have a base to take out." Said Chief before looking at Fernando. "Ready the Pelican." Fernando, upon hearing that, sighed before going to their Pelican, muttering in Spanish as he did so. Chief then looked at Lilith before speaking. "If you want to stay here and tend to the people here, I won't stop you, but if you want to come along, then follow me." Lilith stammered upon hearing this, but couldn't say a word when Chief began walking away from her. Offended a bit at this, she went after him, leaving Amuro to process what just happened. As he walked, Joy spoke to Chief.

"I think that went well." Said Joy as Chief walked, all the while ignoring Lilith speaking to him. "Not only will we get to see this secret weapon that got that kid so confident, but also get some protection from these Zeons. Right?"

"We'll see." Said Chief as Lilith started to yell at him. She continued to do so until both of them were on board the Pelican. Once they were, Chief listened to Lilith's yelling as she chewed him out for both ignoring her and for sending a teenager to a warzone. As she did so, the Pelican started to move, causing her to fall to the floor of the Pelican as it took off and close its rear hatch. Realizing what was going on, she looked at Chief, who held out a hand for her.

"Let's get you back on your feet." Said Chief as Lilith took his hand before being hoisted up to her feet. As she looked at the Spartan's visor, Lilith couldn't help but wonder again what she was dragged into.