Modernia's mechanoid battlesuit spread its massive, armored wings. Panels peeled away, revealing biomechanical missile launch tubes that soon fired a full, synced volley, each missile's seeker immediately picking out a target among the crowds of troops and shooting forward at incredible speed. Six missiles struck, three narrowly missing.

The fourth was stopped by the bubble shield barricade the Master Chief had barely managed to throw down. The shield, made up of a multitude of connected hexagons of hardened light, flickered under the semi-organic warhead's detonation, but held firm, much to the joy of the members of Lucky Strike.

Five and Six, meanwhile, both struck a singular Warthog advancing with Cal and Daisy aboard it. The two Spartan females, clad in upgraded MJOLNIRs just like every other Spartan, jumped as the husk of the 'Hog began to tumble head over heels again and again. They landed by the Chief's side and drew their rifles, with Cal stating, "Sorry we're late…"

"You arrived just in time," The Spartans' De-Facto leader replied.

The fireteams of Spartans advanced, their sole objective as it was currently set:To destroy Modernia's combat suit and get Commander Harris in range to deploy the Vapaus rounds he had on him. Bullets ripped through the air as more Rapture battalions advanced to meet the tightening cordon of UNSC forces.

Modernia let out a hearty laugh, charging the beams on the sides of her combat mech as she flew over the formations. She noticed several fighters turn to engage her and her suit's warning systems blared, crying out missile locks from the human enemy. As the Archers left the undercarriages of the Baselards, she tracked their trajectory.

Then, she fired the twin charging neutron beams on her hips. They traced beautiful, violent arcs through the sky, cutting down several Baselards mid-flight and destroying a multitude of the missiles. One had survived the energy blasts, rushing toward the cockpit of the armored mech, but Modernia simply grinned.

As the missile drew close enough for impact warnings to start blaring, she pulsed her NIMPH's systems and the humanoid machine became enveloped in a bright blue light, simply disappearing out of the way of the missile and reappearing above a formation of UNSC tanks. Their guns swiveled about and a volley of tungsten greeted the warsuit.

Explosions rocked the craft, causing a surprise extra layer of defense to appear:An energy shield. As the tungsten rounds struck and shattered against it, the veil of energy gently wrapped and disappeared around the Suit's form, with Marian stating, "Tsk, tsk~! You didn't say the magic word before you shot me!"

She levelled her particle beams toward the tanks again, watching them scramble out of the way, then smirked…

Only to feel her suit buck under a much heavier impact, losing altitude. She looked over toward the direction the shot had come from, utilizing the armored mech's advanced optical sensors to spot her:A sharpshooter Nikke with a rail rifle twice the size of their normal equipment, barrel still glowing with the thermal stress. She scoffed and said, "Updated, have you?"

Bullets rang against the shields next. She panned down, noticing a group of the elite Supersoldiers Mankind had acquired recently engaging her with standard rifles. Among them was even the great 'Commander' and the Master Chief, the men that Cinder had mentioned. She scoffed, aimed her beam weapons, then staggered again as a volley of extra rounds from those rifles ripped through the air, causing her shields to tank.

She growled, then teleported back, activating a direct link to her little lended toy and calling out, "Any time you wish to join back into the fight, Chatterbox," as she watched the Commander level his plasma rifle at her. She grit her teeth, concomitantly launching a volley of missiles and firing machine guns mounted below the main neutron beams toward them.

A cloud of dust emerged, however, bulldozing forward through the heat of the desert, dust settling around it… And on the ground, the Commander saw this cloud just as Kilo and Daniel rushed in to try and help him alongside the rest of the Luckies and the Counters. He swiveled about and let go of the trigger, the energy bursting like a flashing light.

It drew marks in the sand, turning it to flecks of molten glass as it flew before striking something certainly more solid than prior. He saw the plasma beam trace boiling pinpricks across the form of the monster as it emerged, slamming into him with the force of a tank. He flew all the way back just as Goddess began moving in with Matis.

Groaning and grunting, Alyosha staggered to his feet and saw Chatterbox looking particularly angry at him. He spoke, "Oh, great… I pissed you off," in a mumble, lifting the plasma rifle and aiming it. He jumped back, however, as a volley from the organic missile launcher on the monster's back struck all around him, turning the sand into glass and shrapnel.

The Spartans tried to turn about and support the Commander, but both they and the Lucky Strikes and Matis soon found themselves stalled by Modernia's energy beams cutting a direct line between them and the Commander. Modernia teased over a loudspeaker, "I'm sorry, but Chatty has a bit of business to attend to…"

"Thought he'd aim for the Chief or William," The Commander replied, then gasped as the monster swung for him again angrily. Soon forced into the defensive as his comrades dodged blasts from Modernia's mech, ranging from volleys of missiles to more particle beam lances and machine gun fire, Alyosha ducked under each swing, trying to charge his plasma rifle to fire back.

He felt the wind knocked out of his lungs as he got sent flying back toward allied lines. Skidding to a halt beside a platoon of Marines which included Sev and his sister, he watched them lift their rifles and open up on the monster, AP rounds scraping regenerating armor as the beast surged forward, eyes fixated on the commander, seemingly ignoring anything else that would pose a threat.

Sev barked, "COMMANDER, MOVE YOUR ASS!" only to duck as a Lord-class Rapture Thermite's magnetic rifle rounds snapped over his head. Val ducked, too, reloading her rifle as Alyosha jumped to his feet, then started moving diagonally to the trenches, making sure to lead the Tyrant Rapture away from the UNSC's positions.

Several tungsten rounds struck the beast as Scorpions rolled up, followed by the twin 120mm cannons of the Grizzlies and even Snow's anti-ship rifle barking, though the monster was quick enough on his feet to fire missiles back at them, bellowing out in rage, "STAY AWAY! This is between me and HIM!" before cocking his fist back and throwing a punch at where the commander used to be.

The engineered human took several stumbling steps back and finally managed to let loose a volley of plasma. The bolts ripped through the armor, digging in and exposing biomechanical flesh that soon boiled. The monster roared balefully, its eyes flashing a burning scarlet as it charged the beam weapons on its fists.

Alyosha braced to be struck, his shields recharging in staggered bursts after each of the hits he'd taken. He watched the monster turn around and swing his arms, tracing jagged arcs in front of itself and forcing the Counters into cover, Syuen lifting her shield to take the blasts and screaming out, "YOU BIG MOTHERFU-!" only to be unceremoniously censored by the two Mechs firing their explosive weapons.

Daniel and PALAIMON surged forth, feet thundering against the crackling glass and sand below. He barked, "Pick on someone your own size, you fuck!" as he cocked his fist back and slammed it clean into the monster's jaw, sending it staggering back. It doubled over and recovered terrifyingly quick, while Daniel was still repositioning from throwing the punch…

Then it slammed against him and PALAIMON, shaking the young man aboard a bit before lifting the Mech off the ground and, with the might of a Rapture driven by the fury of whatever Satan spawned it, slammed the machine down into the sand. Daniel let out a groan, to which Kilo yelped, "D-DANIEL! PALAIMON!"

She watched the machine turn toward her and TALOS as PALAIMON let out "DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO SERVOS. MACHINE STILL OPERATIONAL… IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN THAT!" and lifting its gun hand toward the chest of the monster. He fired, the high-caliber arm-mounted autocannon ringing the creature's bells. Alyosha slammed it from behind with the full weight of his Spartan armor and himself.

TALOS spoke, "IT'S TIME…" before it stomped forward, activating the gatling gun with Kilo's permission. IT spooled, the motors within the arm-mounted gun roaring to life as the Mech pinned it against the side of the monster. They began to fire, Kilo screaming as she held down the trigger, watching spent casings drop into the sand, AP rounds ripping into the side of the monster.

Before long, she and TALOS flew back, taken by surprise by the backhand of the Rapture. When they landed, TALOS reported, "MINOR DAMAGE SUSTAINED TO HEAD ARMOR. OPTICAL SENSORS REBOOTING," which meant that, for all intents and purposes, Kilo was blind for the moment. She gasped, seeing the red WARNING signs streak across the screens…

Then felt the weight of the Rapture land on them. She heard TALOS's servos whirr and called out, "TALOS! MOVE! WE GOTTA GO!" her voice cracking. Before long, however, she felt the torso shift and come to a sudden halt, a metallic clang filling the air, muffled by the cockpit. She watched the sensors slowly reboot, then saw the Rapture had taken a hit.

The Commander soon followed up by climbing up its arm and delivering a hammerblow straight to the side of its head. It growled, trying to throw him off as it bucked wildly, swinging its arms. Rapi called out, "COMMANDER!" as she aimed her rifle. It swung hard enough to send her flying back, however, with Anis, Neon, Rio and Stella trying to close the distance to help her.

Rio scoffed and fired a shot toward the creature, watching it embed itself into its side, spewing a little drop of its jet-black blood on the sand. She then watched Alyosha lift his plasma rifle up to the monster's face and fire it. The superhot beam melted clean through half the creature's twisted facial features, molten metal teeth dripping to the floor alongside tearing flesh.

It screamed in pain, grabbed the Commander and slammed him hard into the sand. He landed in the arms of his comrades, Rapi herself falling backward as she caught him. She yelled, "Commander! Are you alright?" only to watch the man lift his right hand, giving a thumbs up. She gasped as she saw him jump back to his feet.

Then her heart sank as she saw the monster turn toward Daniel and Kilo. The former was helping the latter out of the damaged Palaimon while TALOS held position there, guarding them. It noticed the monster turn toward them, tensing and aiming the arm-mounted cannon. Ignoring the damage to every part of its body, Chatterbox focused down on one specific creature as he was being tended to. He had broken a leg in the fall, but was alive.

Kilo felt herself bulldozed out of the way, while Stella herself couldn't do much to halt the monster. Syuen tried next to intercept the creature, but failed. And in its sights and hands, Daniel soon found himself encased. The young man's eyes widened while his Mech called out, "PILOT!" its servos struggling to reconnect.

"What the f-fuck are you trying to do-"

… The blood curdling scream that escaped the young man in that very moment mixed with the sickening crunch to form a nightmarish sight. The monster ripped the young man's damaged leg off, blood spraying on the sand and glass. The creature then taunted, "If I can't win against you pests… I might as well make your loss hurt more than mine!" in its guttural growl of a voice.

Alyosha bellowed, "DANIEL!" as the monster tossed the limp man aside. His muscles suddenly surged with adrenaline and chemicals, his armor engaging some sort of protocol. He felt fury well in his mind as he surged forward like a bullet shot out of a gun. Lifting his plasma weapon toward the gorilla, he let loose volley after volley of high-charge shots, the gun starting to smolder, armor blaring warning after warning…

… When he made contact with the beast, Alyosha didn't hold back, jumping high and slamming his fists clean into its jaw, following it up with a spin-kick right to the side of the face he'd burned off. Artificial bone cracked and broke beneath the strikes, staggering the beast further. He then grabbed onto its shoulder mounted launcher as it started bucking again and again, trying to throw him off.

Priming a grenade and throwing it inside, the man dropped onto the spikes on the creature's back, letting the explosive rip its shoulder out, sending it stumbling forward. The Commander clambered back up and jumped, dropping a kick straight into the back of the monster's skull. He felt the armor plates snap off, revealing pulsating flesh…

And when he landed, it slammed both of its fists against him, causing damage to his plasma rifle and finally blowing out his shields before it punched him back. He landed beside Daniel, digging a deep trench into the sand, but still struggled back to his feet. He coughed out blood, grabbing onto his side, then shook his head and looked at Stella. His ears rang after the hit, but he could see it.

The young woman pleaded as she tended to the Mech pilot. She grabbed onto his hand, tears welling in her eyes as she tried to steel herself, make sure he could see she was strong. The young man was pale as bone, gripping onto her hand, but wearing a smile all the while. The Commander could hear his own heart racing. His TEAMBIO showed damage all across his armor's frame, including a blown-out generator in his shoulder.

His plasma gun's connection points were also damaged, reactor seemingly overheating due to a coolant leak. He scoffed, switched the weapon off of its safety mode, then aimed it toward the Rapture Tyrant. He gasped, however, as a volley of tank fire ripped through the air beside them. The rounds that struck were AP, high caliber, and fired out of experimental rail tanks.

Modified Scorpions deployed by Dropship moved in with the second. Goddess Squad fired their weapons together, with Rapunzel running forward and engaging a shield just as a volley of missiles struck around them. She asked, "Believer, are you, your sister and Daniel well!?" only to gasp as she saw the damage to the young man's leg. She grit her teeth, then looked toward the monster ahead.

Blades swished through the air, Scarlet dancing amidst gunshots and delivering her own violent retribution, each slice cutting chunks out of the armor as she spoke, "Behold, my ultimate Blade!" only for her hands to suddenly move that much faster, like flashes of light. Each strike chipped away part of the armor, before one most powerful strike severed the chest plate off of the monster, exposing pustulating flesh.

"ALL UNITS, SYNCH TO MY TARGETING SYSTEM AND LET'S PUT THIS SON OF A BITCH DOWN FOR GOOD!" Snow White barked out, standing and shouldering her Anti-Ship Rifle. She called out to the monster, "SEVEN DWARVES, READY!" as electricity arced off of its frame. When the charge exceeded three hundred percent and the barrel began to glow, Snow let loose.

Volleys of missiles, gunfire and rippling thunder tore asunder the monster's form, each impact drilling further into its flesh more marks of damnation. Alyosha opened up as well, providing Walking Fire as Marine Fireteams, ODSTs and even his own Nikkes moved forward. First to join in on the fight now that her boyfriend was stable, Stella stepped forward with cold fury burning behind her eyes as she fired AP rounds from her SMG.

Syuen followed next, cussing out the machine with various expletives and what one could only assume were derogatory terms specifically invented for Raptures, tanking missiles from Raptures that moved to escort Chatterbox out of the way. Rio ripple-fired her rifle, gritting her teeth as her own armor's systems, linked to the weapon, noted heat and barrel warping.

… Rapi, Anis and Neon joined in next, the former's body glowing a burning red, eyes a different shade than before, hair flowing in nonexistent wind, dancing like a flame and burning scarlet as she fired her rifle and its underbarrel launcher. Anis roared a battle cry, dumping drum after drum of missiles into it while Neon fired High-powered slugs. Johnson and his Marines followed up with their own guns.

They tightened up around the monster, laying into it, ripping chunks out of its form and boiling them away with energy weapons and ballistic fire. Chief watched from afar as the beast itself slowly shrunk into nothingness below the rippling barrage, then turned to face the Heretic ahead, his squad, wounded and damaged, forming up beside him and aiming their weapons. Blue Team was not far behind, either, with Linda lining up.

Pinne, whose left arm was limp from battling the Mech ahead, said, "We got a few good licks in on the bitch… Hopefully, that Mech breaks soon," before she held the gun under her arm, turning it upside down and loading several explosive slugs. Sammy, who now missed her helmet and with a chunk taken out of her side, aimed her own battle rifle without a word.

Layla and Delta covered a wounded Signal, rifles held up toward the Heretic.

Modernia began to laugh. She spoke over the intercom, "And this is the mighty Lucky Strikes and Counters. Wounded and battered… You lost a lot here today, Master Chief. Was it worth it?"

"Could say the same about you," Cortana voiced from beside Signal, her own weapon pointed at the monster. She whispered to Chief, "Her suit's integrity is at thirty percent. One good impact and she should be out of the game," before aiming her weapon dead center mass, at the damaged armor around the cockpit. She whispered, "I swear, being a GUNPLA collector taught me too much about Mech weak points…"

Delta let out a short laugh, tense as she watched Signal's damage being fixed. They tensed, waiting for Linda to dump the last shot while their comrades, though many were wounded, finished the enemy's remaining patrols off. Absolute approached, with Matis and the Rookie already set up to reinforce them, though Matis was wounded, too.

The rest of the battalion soon refocused. Alyosha approached, aiming his plasma rifle toward the Mech and squeezing, only for an error to blare across his HUD. He gasped, quickly decoupling the weapon from his armor set(not before making sure to save its data), hefting and long-arming it toward Modernia's mech as it began to screech.

Coolant lines ruptured as the extra reactor began to crack, its shielding breaking. Alyosha barked over the com, "TAKE COVER!" to every single unit, before ducking as the explosion flashed ahead of them, a small second sun in the midday. It enveloped the lower half of the mech, turning it into nothingness and removing the machine's antigravity capabilities.

The mech's cockpit hissed open as it began to fall, revealing the frame of Modernia, the Heretic. She fired a burst from a hovering turret on her side as she landed in the sand, the mech falling not far behind her and exploding. She swiveled around, aiming her weapon as her visor locked onto the first of a squad of advancing Marines.

A shot from Linda rang out. It narrowly skimmed the side of her head, tearing some hair off, but it had hit just as Alyosha was coming up the dune, pistol drawn. He stared at Modernia and told her, "It's over… You lost," as he aimed the gun. The visor she wore fell to the floor, shattered, as did a string of old bandage.

Two scarlet eyes turned to face the commander and the man froze, eyes widening behind the golden visor of his helmet. That same face, those same eyes… The bandages wrapped around that spot on her forehead. Alyosha's mouth dropped as Rapi ran up to him, asking, "Commander?" while her body glowed still. She snapped her rifle up at Modernia, then gasped.

… While Snow White had wanted to ask just what the hell happened to Rapi to glow like that, she couldn't. Not at the moment. Cradling her standard rifle close, keeping it aimed at the Heretic, she and the rest of the Goddess Squad approached. Modernia showed a vicious smile as she spoke, "Oh? What's the matter, Commander~? You seem shaken."

"No…" Rapi mumbled, stunned as she felt the same scarlet power burning brighter within her. She focused to contain the Fury again, pulling back the very core of her being to ensure she didn't lose control. Something a certain Heretic ahead of them must've been feeling right about now, whether that which they knew was still within.

"That's impossible…" Anis whispered, simply astonished by the sight.

"... You know her?" Neon asked, confusion streaking across her face. Most of the rest of the Nikkes present, Pinne included, seemed about as confused by their comrades' reactions. Though Modernia was a strange amalgamation, she still bore the same visible traits as any other Nikke, minus the red eyes denoting the Corruption's hold.

"... Marian…" Alyosha whispered, which caused every Spartan in the vicinity to perk up. They had all read the reports of the man's first operational mission, the failure, the crash and the rescue. How he met a motherly Nikke, then the two that would become his first Special Purpose Nikkes, Anis and Rapi. Marian had also been the poor man's first loss, a failure that had haunted him throughout his career. One he feared repeating.

"So you do remember me. How sweet~..." Modernia teased, holding her hands above her head and her weapon pointed at the floor, "Are you here to save me? Be my knight in shining armor?"

"I'm here to put an end to one of the Queen's pawns…" Alyosha spoke weakly, then twitched as he felt a heavy hand clasp onto his damaged armor shoulder. A slight stab of pain coursed through his arm, meaning he'd actually received some damage and the adrenaline was finally wearing off. When Chief popped out from behind him, Alyosha relaxed a little.

The Spartan leaned in and activated Single-beam com, asking, "Sir. Do you have the Vapaus round loaded?" before he watched Alyosha rack back the slide just enough to show the red-tipped Magnum round sat within the breech. Chief gave a nod, then turned and aimed his rifle toward Modernia as well. He wasn't going to be the one to pull the trigger. Alyosha needed to do this by himself.

"Oh? What is it you're whispering about-..." Modernia visibly twitched, before that teasing voice and the smugness she wore so proudly vanished, revealing a terrified young woman as she looked up. She asked, "No… Commander?! Get away!" with a hint of a shake to her voice. Alyosha's (and everyone else's) hearts dropped.

"Marian!? Marian!" The young Commander barked, lowering the pistol, worried. Rapi grabbed him by the hand and showed him to wait, while Anis and Neon stared, stunned.

"C-Commander…! Y-You came back!" Was she faking it.

"I did… Listen, it's gonna be fine. I'm gonna get you somewhere safe and we'll fight this together…" Alyosha started, hopeful, worried, concerned, relieved. A hundred words to describe feeling and not one of them worked well to describe what the Commander felt right now, finger twitching by the Trigger as he stared down the girl, taking his helmet off.

"Oh…" That voice returned. She smiled, pleased with herself, then asked, "Is that how easy it is to get you flustered? This should be fun.

"What…? No, no, no! Bring her back, dammit!" The man snapped, taking a step forward, only to feel someone tug at his arm. Looking left angrily, he saw Rapi, her eyes having returned to that same color of old. She was noticeably afraid. The other two continued to stare, Anis simply dumbstruck by the presence of their 'old friend'.

"Commander. Focus… Please…" His executive officer almost begged him.

"We have the bullet. Either this works, or it doesn't, but at least this puts an end to a Heretic… A thief," The grenadier spoke, mild fury in her voice. Neon doubled over, a little stunned by just how angry her friend sounded. Rapi nodded, though she didn't voice her thoughts, while Syuen approached, weapon aimed, but said nothing.

"Oooh? What did I steal then?" The Rapture or monster that controlled Marian now, it dared demand, wearing that condescending smirk as if she knew what came next. As if it knew. Part of the squad wondered what the hell happened to the other Heretics, considering command knew about them and her. Kelly herself thought about Cinder for a moment, wondering why she wasn't here to help a batchmate.

Anis clenched her fists, while Rapi's trigger finger twitched. The Lucky Strikes all stared at the monster before them, all of them recalling what it felt like to lose Niner. And wondering if this would've been her fate post-battle, or if she would have wound up one of the hundreds of Nikkes in those containers Material H had around it.

Anis didn't care about any of that, simply recalling her first few weeks with the Commander and the first encounter with Marian during that fateful mission. She growled, then snapped up the launcher again, rotating the drum and barking, "You know damn well what you stole. Give her back!" while the others further surrounded the witch.

"Oh, but I find it quite snug in here," The Heretic pointed at her own head, then chuckled and asked, "And the Commander wouldn't dare hurt me, would he? What if whatever ace in the hole you think you have does kill me?" as her seemingly defiant little self continued escalating matters, to the point even Alyosha seemed to hesitate again. Despite that, both Chief and Rapi stood by his side.

"Then, at least, I know I managed to finally let Marian rest…" Alyosha's voice was low, weak almost. He aimed the gun while the Master Chief waited and watched. The Spartan himself waved his hand, showing everyone to take a step back, just in case, but he had a bad feeling about this deep down in his gut.

"Well then…" She raised a brow, "Go ahead? What are you waiting for!?" She taunted, her eyes flaring red, before yelling out, "DO IT!" in a way that almost sounded like begging. She scrambled to her feet and charged the Commander, surprising everyone with the sheer speed she moved with. Before she could reach him, however, she realized she'd just given him a clearer shot.

He took it…

… And the Vapaus round, a scarlet tracer that burned hot, struck the young woman's head center mass. Alyosha dodged out of the way as a hundred firearms were soon pointed at Modernia. She grabbed her head, her eyes visibly glowing as she began to scream. Every artificial modification and NIMPH nanomachine in her brain began to burn away.

IT was painful. The screams she let out as she collapsed onto the floor, trying to claw her own artificial skin off to stop it. Alyosha wanted to help, every fiber in his body burning with the desire to do so. He cast one more glance away from her and toward the ash pile that had once been Chatterbox. Marines surrounded it as well, making sure it did not stand up to try and stop this…

"Everyone, STAND BACK!" Cortana spoke, then winced, grabbing her own head. She could feel the discharge of energy in the young woman's brain. Hell, she could feel the NIMPH, corrupted as it was, boiling away. It wasn't a pretty process by any means, but the way doctor Halsey had refined the bullet's capabilities also gave it more of a nasty edge.

… Moments later, the girl stopped screaming, but began to weep as her hands dropped onto the ground to support her. She gagged, covering her mouth, but her artificial stomach had nothing to evacuate, thank the lord. Still, she could feel the acrid bile rise in her throat. But for the first time in months, Marian emerged, her brain clear of the Nightmare that the Corruption had bought.

"... W-what…?" She whimpered, her voice clear and soft. She looked at her hands as her systems began to readjust, her heads-up Display rebooting, then shutting off to give her a more clear view. As she started shaking violently, she asked, "Is it… is it finally gone…?"

Alyosha, eyes as wide as saucers, approached, taking a knee beside her and holstering his pistol. He could rely on everyone else to keep a gun on her if this turned out to be another fake. Still, with hope in his otherwise quiet voice, the man asked, "... Marian? Is it really you?" before putting a hand on her shoulder. She twitched, then turned toward him.

"... Commander…!" She uttered out, her voice weak. It cracked as she yelled, "COMMANDER!" with an unfathomable amount of joy, bursting fully into an ugly cry as she jumped in his arms, hugging him and barely managing to utter out, "T-The bandages, I… Thank you…! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" while the young man stood, stunned. A couple of the bandages, old as they were, had fallen off.

"Is it really you?" Rapi mouthed, taking a knee beside her, too, while Neon seemed a tad stunned that it had worked. Chief balled his fist up, the tension in the air dissipating within a second as the Spartan thumbed the safety of his assault rifle back on, then slung it onto his back. The other Spartans followed, then the Marines, then the Nikkes…

"It sounds like her," Anis tried to play the usual tough girl act as she joined in, but the sniffling and the tears in the corners of her eyes told a different story.

"Rapi! Anis!" Marian yet again uttered, crying as she pulled them both into the hug.

Stunned, the Tetra doll of Counters blinked, eyes widening. She finally let the waterworks start, too, wrapping her arms around her comrades, then whispering to herself, "Heh. We did it…! We… We actually did it!" before pulling Neon in and stating, "C'mon, dumbass!" while the rest of the squad laughed heartily. Syuen actually cracked a soft smile at that, too, sighing and falling into a seated position on the sand. Christ, today had been a day…

"... This is sweet," Delta spoke, though her voice had a bitter undertone. She cast a glance back at the wounded being triaged around a squadron of Pelicans, noticing Stella go with Daniel on board the vehicle. Signal was beside them, injured, but alive as she was being tended to, while Kilo helped carry PALAIMON with TALOS.

"Yeah. Hopefully, it was worth it," Chief sighed deeply, then lifted his hand and started spinning his index around, rallying the team. He looked at the destroyed frame of Chatterbox, then led the way out, stating, "Let's prepare to mount up, get out of here," While his team started tending to each-other's damage, namely the arm injuries.

A victory, but a heavy one, Chief thought to himself, looking upon some of the destroyed UNSC vehicles.


The Outer Rim

The Spartans held position next to Underworld Queen and Perilous Siege, weapons held close as they waited for a specific someone being brought over from the inner Ark. Under escort aboard one of the Saddleback MRAPs, the figure that had lead the major terrorist movement of the Heavenly Ascension so far now rolled toward them, her weapon stowed.

The Convoy stopped in front of the base, Marines dismounting alongside two platoons of Nikkes as reinforcements. When she jumped out, Underworld Queen and Perilous Siege both tensed, D herself tightening her grip on the stock of her personal defense weapon as she glared at the woman. The Spartans held their weapons firm, remaining calm, however, even in the face of the former leader of Hotel Alpha.

Elysion Harper. A VIP. She was clad in black battlearmor which glowed scarlet around her collar. Escorting her, a mechanical warhound of some kind stepped out of the vehicle. It'd been stripped of its armaments, but it still looked dangerous, hydraulic legs armored and weighted to the point that when it jumped out of the truck, the ground shook a little. Its scarlet sensor pod locked onto the Spartans.

"So, this is the famous Noble Team," The leader of HA spoke, crossing her arms to her chest as she sized them all up. She quickly turned her attention to the two present Nikke Squads, cracking a smirk, "Underworld Queen, Perilous Siege… Nice to meet you girls without any of you having to point a gun to my face or a blade at my neck."

"Miss Harper," Carter decided to be respectful when discussing matters with the woman. Anyone willing to talk things out and even help with an investigation like this was a godsend, so he wasn't gonna screw it up. He asked, "Hope you don't mind us asking you some questions about some of your compatriots?"

"You mean Crow, Viper and Jackal?" The woman inquired, putting a hand on her hip. She was clearly well aware of the threat as she spoke, "The ones that took almost half of Heavenly Ascension with them to God-knows-where just so they can keep being pains in the ass after you all decided to help the Outer Rim? I'm perfectly fine answering any questions you think will help put them all six feet under."

"They ain't working alone. I doubt Crow would be able to put two and two together without some helping hand," Rosanna mumbled, scratching her chin. She leaned her assault rifle-size Tommy Gun on her shoulder and looked at her comrades, then at the Perilous Siege girls. D was glaring at EH, rather obviously, while K held her arms crossed to her chest, orange eyes locked onto the (former) Terrorist leader.

"And that's where Dhoban comes in… C'mon. We'll show you inside the house here," Moran spoke, then waved her inside the house. The teams all fell in, surrounding EH and making sure she wasn't going to try and screw them out of finding some answers. Weapons close, they advanced into the room, where medics had put the dead Marines in body bags, then to the hatch.

"Ah…" Harper let out as she knelt beside the hatch, peering down into the tunnel below. She spoke, "Classic…" with a hint of ire to her former comrades, then explained, "One of the old Maintenance Tunnels. We used to run supplies between the various outposts in the Rim with these. The more 'extremist' side's probably still using them now."

"Any idea what they might be trying to do?" Carter inquired, then looked down and told the woman, "The extremists' attacks have been relatively sparse," as she ran a finger over the edge, finding nothing but congealed blood. A small pool of it lay at the bottom, probably from one of the Marines that was slumped over the edge.

"Looked less like attacks and more like supply gathering to me. At least from the reports I've read," Rosanna spoke, cradling her weapon and tapping her hand against the drum mag.

"I agree. It seems as though they are stockpiling anything they can get their hands on," D also offered, her gaze shifting to the corpses laying on the floor not that far away. Marines that had simply been doing their jobs as local security and protection for the average civilian, murdered because they were in the way of a madwoman and her friends.

"... I wonder…" EH seemed to pause, scratching her chin. She blinked, eyes widening, then whispered, "Son of a bitch, I should've mentioned it to them before I got called here," as she called her wardog over to scan the hatch. The Spartans and Nikkes around her exchanged concerned glances,

"You look like you know something, ma'am. It might help save a lot of lives," Carter requested while the others prepared to make some light guesswork of what the woman was about to tell them. Kat had guessed that it was some sort of simple terror plot involving a bomb, Emile thought maybe a shooting involving a lot of extra ammo, Jorge-

"I do…" The woman sighed, "And it will…" then she turned to fully face the team, "You know how we're called 'Heavenly Ascension', right? Lobbying for the rights of the Outer Rim and all. And engaging in terror actions, rather obviously. Well, a lot of us realized that the previous government wasn't gonna listen to us. Hell, if they had their way, we'd have been exterminated a long time ago just for not being citizens… So, we decided we'd get out."

"Get out?" Sakura raised a brow, arranging her cover.

"How?" Moran asked.

"I was just about to explain that," Harper sighed deeply, then, with her arms crossed to her chest, she began, "Gist of it is? These Tunnels saw the most use during the NUEG's takeover of the Ark… We were packing up for a trip to the Surface, to live there. All of us," before gently making broad motions with her hand, meaning she was referring to the Outer Rim.

"The Surface? Your people are suicidal," Rosanna chuckled darkly. Humans couldn't survive up on the surface without a lot of help and a lot of Nikkes as bodyguards, much less alone. EH's plan and whatever her, Crow and the others had thought up would probably be something completely stupid. Sakura and Moran glared at her for a moment, causing her to frown.

"Yeah, well, not much of a choice when you don't know if the next government's gonna be worse than the first…" Elysion replied, staring at the Spartans, visibly tense.

Kat asked, "How did you plan to get to the surface?" as she kept an eye on her motion tracker, making sure nobody was sneaking up on them. Only allied IFFs showed on the HUD for now, though that could change at the drop of a hat. She saw everyone else was just about as tense as her, including Jorge. And he was never this tense.

EH took a visible pause, pondering clearly whether she should mention the items or not.

"... The materiel we were moving was explosive in nature."

K seemed to pause, an incredulous look on her face. She began to laugh uncontrollably, while D stared ahead with concern. The Spartans and Marines suddenly braced for the worst. K asked through the laughter, "A bomb. You were building a bomb to dig your way to the Surface?" as if the woman was mad.

"A big one, too. High-yield…" EH didn't relent or smile. She was dead serious, which made K freeze, eyes widening.

"If it's powerful enough to crack its way to the surface from this deep in the earth's crust, I'm warning command," Carter spoke, then put a hand up to his helmet's com piece, engaging an encrypted channel. He called out, "Command, this is NOBLE ONE. Be advised… Possible CODE BLACK. Heavenly Ascension's Extremist side and former Chief Deputy Dhoban might have a high-yield explosive device with intent to detonate for maximum damage."

"We need to take a dive into the tunnels to check them out," Kat spoke tersely, kneeling beside the hatch and preparing to jump in headfirst. Or feet first, really.

"I know," The Commander replied morosely, sighing as he listened to Andersen call their troops.

"Wouldn't recommend it. Crow's posse spent a while booby trapping them. One wrong step and we're all ash…" EH replied as she looked Kat in the eye, or, well, the visor. She saw how tense the Spartan was, much like everyone else present. Hell, she even saw Emile glaring at her, but chose to ignore it for now. There were much bigger fish to fry.

"Then we gotta figure out what they're intending to hit before they do it. A bomb like that will kill too many people," Jun stated, hefting his Sniper.

"Question is why is Dhoban so willing to detonate a MOAB in the middle of the Ark…?" Sakura whispered to herself. She noticed the confusion from everyone else, then explained, "His Psych profile and history put him as an avid supporter of the Ark and a hater of the Outer Rim," as she lifted up her phone, pulling up the files on the man.

"Maybe that's why. He doesn't like the fact the Outer Rim folk are becoming Citizens," Jorge suggested with half a mouth.

"Son of a bitch was born there, though. You'd think he'd be happy more of his own are getting out of the muck," Emile scoffed, lowering his arms by his side and staring at the hatch. He clearly wanted to follow the bastards in. Spartan Armor could withstand a ton of damage, so why not bother with a jump down and fight the traps?

"We won't figure anything out by sitting here and talking. Sir, orders?" Kat asked, turning to Carter, who'd just finished the somewhat one-way conversation with Andersen and the rest of High Command. The rest of Noble straightened up, rifles ready as the rest of the Marines filed out of the room, the Corpsmen carrying the bodybags to the trucks.

Though Carter turned to EH to ask her something first, the one to speak to Harper was Rosanna herself, de-facto leader of Underworld Queen. She asked Harper directly, "EH. Do you know any possible stashes or safehouses not yet torn down during the reconstruction process that Exotic and the Extremists might use?"

"I do. C'mon. We oughta move fast," She replied, tilting her head to the trucks.


Eden

Scout drones of Eden had reported a new contact not far from the Oasis City itself. Inherit had answered the call for a closer look and were now preparing their equipment. Six slotted extra magazines into the chest rig of his armor. He looked ahead at the rest of Inherit, noticing Johan preparing his own equipment.

Courtesy of Six's own personal weapons being copied, Johan had received a slight upgrade. In his bionic hands, the man cradled a copy of the M392 DMR now, with an M6 Magnum on his hip. Both weapons had been made out of material found in Eden, which was somewhat more advanced than UNSC-standard stuff.

Still, Six couldn't exactly complain. What he had to worry about, though, was team cohesion. He hadn't gone out with the gang, just fought them, so that metric alone was the only way he could judge if he fit the mold of this squad. Racking the bolt of his own DMR, which had been reinforced with similar materials as those in Johan's guns, which included upgraded ammunition, the Spartan made sure it all worked smooth as butter. It did.

Sliding the weapon on his back, he then hefted a duffel bag full of extra ammunition and the Plasma Grenades he had brought with him prior to perishing, scanning the Hangar they were set to depart from. Few vehicles resided within, if any. Most were unmanned, except for a few dirt-bikes and tanks that were being tended to by drones, other human folks and Nikkes.

The squad stood before him. All of Inherit, Dorothy included. She noticed him looking at her, then smiled mischievously and asked, "Admiring your Goddess?" trying to make the Spartan laugh. Noah let out a short chortle as she shifted her hovering shields into position and checked to make sure the heavy plasma emitters worked. Electricity sparked between the superconducting coils…

"My ass," Six shot back, doing a quick press-check of his pistol, "I'm just surprised you're coming along, considering how much you love your Garden," then he slung the pistol onto his thigh. Harran looked at them, chuckling a little as she spun her scythe in her hand. Johan rolled his eyes, meanwhile, slinging the rifle over his shoulder alongside his own backpack of supplies.

"Heh. Well, what can I say? I can't let all of you have fun alone," Dorothy quipped, a grin on her face.

"Six is right," Harran voiced, still amused, before stating, "You're usually too busy to tag along with us," as she checked her own flight systems, wings extending and retracting while her crow drone sat down on her shoulder, mechanical eyes recording the team for Cecil and for the rest of the command staff at Eden.

"Do I really need a reason beside understanding the new foe we're set to face nearby our own home?" The girl who visited the Wizard of Oz inquired jokingly, before noticing that nobody was buying her BS. Not even Six. She sighed deeply, scoffed and replied, "Fine. I suppose I want to see the Surface from up-close, not just from behind a glass dome. See how Humanity's remnants are holding. That sort of thing…"

"Uh-huh…" Johan finally spoke up, then changed subjects, "Do we have any intelligence when it comes to this Heretic?"-

"Fire-breathing, supposedly heavily armored and angry. One of the Queen's right-hand women. That's all we know," Harran replied rather blandly, leaning the scythe on her shoulder. The bird cawed mechanically at them, almost sounding bored while the seeming personification of death cast a glance back at Six's own personal air escort. Isabel loaded fresh rounds into her weapon, before checking her own flight system with a smug grin.

"Shouldn't be too bad." Noah boasted, "We have heavy weapons and the New Guy with us. Plus, my shields can withstand a little heat!"

"Don't get too cocky, kid… An unknown's more dangerous than an enemy you've fought before," Six told her as he walked forward. She scoffed, pouted, then stuck her tongue out at him exactly like a little kid would, which caused Dorothy to let out a chuckle. She quickly checked the power pack of her rifle, sliding it out, then gently sliding it back into the ornate rifle.

"He's right. New enemies are far too unpredictable. Keep your eyes peeled and be ready for anything," She then said to them, slinging a pack of supplies over her shoulder, too. Hers included repair equipment, extra ammunition and supplies for the team, while Harran's and Isabel's had extra fuel for their packs.

"Good to see your inner officer side show up, Dorothy. At least we know it wasn't all boasting," Harran joked as she set her pack to auto-trim the wings for whenever they needed it. Her bird, meanwhile, extended its own wings and started flying around in a test run. Noah yelped as it flew over her head, nearly hitting her, then glared at Harran.

"Oh, hush, Harran. Be more like Isabel," Doro replied with a mischievous smirk, while Isabel paused, blushing.

"You mean infatuated with the guy who kicked my behind? I haven't found him yet, thank you," Harran laughed, causing Isabel to immediately want to realtor. The Spartan simply looking back at her made her shrink, however. Her gaze fell to the floor as she continued loading her ammo, grumbling like a lovesick schoolgirl.

"Enough," Johan barked, causing everyone to stiffen up and look at him. He then ordered, "Six, take point. Everyone else, be ready. We'll encounter a lot more Raptures than just the Guard protecting the Heretic along the way…" as the Hangar opened, revealing the vast, rocky desert outside to the team. A gust of wind blew dust inside the hangar.

"Roger," They all replied loudly. Six did as ordered, leading the way forward while making sure to overcharge his shields in front of him. The young Spartan's mind still wandered to that Olly Olly Oxen Free signal, the one radio signal he recognized in this mess of a world. He had no way to go looking for it right now and it irked him to no end. Though, much to his surprise, one of his first friends here had noticed it. Dorothy herself gave him a gentle pat on the back, smiling more genuinely…

He nodded in thanks, then took lead again, drawing his rifle…