Mess. [Completed]

NOTE: This is the direct continueation of Think On Your Sins, which is a story on the old Database here: http://www.bungie.net/en-us/View/community/Groups/Post?id=3633725&groupId=17370 (Begin at bottom; it goes up in order from there.)

Anyways, so, I decided that this will be the second half of what's happening in this chapter of Vance's life.

Thank you and enjoy the story!

So how this works is: Each of the three characters has a few parts. It'll go: Vance, Colin, Nine, repeat until the bit is finished. Enjoy!

---

Vance, Colin, and Nine touched down on Earth in New York City. The people were in a panic, and the fact that Spartans were there either made them feel safer or more worried.

"What exactly happened?" Colin asked, walking behind Vance and Nine.

"Hacking caused a chain of explosions. Thousands died." Vance said, keeping his steady walking pace.

"There are, luckily, only two places where this could be done. Linda and Bailey are on Overwatch. I'll take the Remote Armory Station downtown, and you two will hit the ONI Site." Nine, the CO of the operation, ordered.

"Well why can't I go to the armory?" Colin argued.

"This is all your choice, I hope you realize this." Nine looked at Vance and pointed at Colin. "See ya on the flip-side sixteen." Nine waved Vance off before walking away between to police cars.

"Why the Hell will he not see I'm a good fighter?!" Colin turned with Vance.

Vance put a hand on Colin's back, "Cause you're being a douche-y, whiny, bratty kid." Vance laughed as he walked ahead of Colin.

They eventually made it to the ONI Site. As they crossed the bridge with an armored guard, they saw as several dozen UNSC ships bugged out, flying out into space somewhere.

"Huh." The security guard looked up.

"What?" Vance asked, stopping.

"I didn't think there were flights today. Should'a signed up." He shrugged as he opened the very large door before them.

"Maybe they left without you." Colin tried joking, smiling under his helmet. The security guard gave him a blank, angry stare and he waved them inside.

Before they could do that, a large ship came into the atmosphere above the city. Nothing compare to a frigate, but not much smaller. It was on fire, crashing extremely fast and extremely close. Suddenly, buildings and water and other debris began flying under it's explosive impact. All in the surrounding area were dead.

"Whoa. What the-" A piece of a building, at lightning speeds, flew at the ONI Site, hitting the bridge the Spartans were on.

Everything shined white. Vance could hear crackling and small explosions, but couldn't see or move. He wondered if he was dead, but the closest he got was very peaceful and pretty "awesome". This hurt. a lot.

Suddenly, Vance woke up, surrounded by burnt and broken metal and fire. He was safe, his shields heavily damaged.

"Colin?" He said, disoriented. "Colin?"

There was nothing. Just a few minutes ago, he was standing inches next to him, where a heavy piece of metal laid.

"COLIN!" Vance jumped up, moving all the metal he could, seeing only the dead body of the security guard.

He noticed footprints in the rubble, leading out through a small crack in the husk of melted metal.

Vance crawled out, a trail of blood leading inside of the ONI building through a destroyed wall. It was around midnight, and the city was on fire. There were UNSC ships flying around.

Looking over to the other side of the completely destroyed bridge, there was a group of people waving under spotlight of a Pelican. If Vance could get picked up, he could contact Bailey and find Nine and Colin.

As Vance began to wave and shout, the Pelican opened fire on the group and swooped their spotlight to Vance, who quickly rolled to cover. After a few seconds, the UNSC Pelican left.

"What the Hell is happening?" Vance stood up, beginning to follow Colin's trail of blood.

Colin woke up, a large splatter of blood to hes left, probably the security guard, and Vance on his right. Colin patted him a little, knowing very well that he was alive.

"Mother fucker." Colin smiled, seeing a pipe in Vance's side. If he didn't wake up soon, Vance would be dead. But, upon self inspection, Colin realized he had some debris in is shoulder, blood pouring from the wound. "Oh. Ah. Oh God." Colin fell on his back, eventually rolling to his stomach and practically crawling out of a small opening in the tomb the explosion caused.

The second he popped his head out, Colin felt the butt of a gun on the side of his head. It was an ugly, humanoid figure. Obviously not human, but looked a little like one.

"Check inside." The voice, human sounding, but incredibly fake sounding. These were artificial soldiers.

Colin kicked it's knee in, jumped up, and shoved his fist through it's skull. In a trained, fluid motion; Colin turned the soldier around, grabbed his gun, and opened fire. All bullets coming at Colin were stopped by the dead synthetic.

With all five or six of the soldiers dead, Colin figured more would be on their way. He couldn't fight with his amount of blood loss. He retreated into the ONI Site.

The halls were empty, a few dead bodies here and there to brain the chain of blankness. Knowing he needed to complete his mission; Colin made his way down to the City A.I. Core down the Data Hive before passing out from blood loss. Fighting death, Colin tried to crawl to no avail. He looked up; seeing an odd sight: a human female sized hologram. She wore a tight, 20th century, red dress. She looked down at him, her stance very human.

"I bet you're such a pretty boy under that helmet." She smiled.

Colin blacked out.

"Hrk..."

A heap of metal shifted.

"HNNNNNNG..."

More creaks and rustling, and grunts of effort echoed down the street.

"FUCK THIS..."

With a resounding boom, Agent Nine stood up straight, shrugging off beams of broken metal as he cracked his neck and knuckles.

"Falling from orbit is one thing, getting SHOT is one thing, but I'll be FUCKING DAMNED if I'm BURIED ALIVE." Nine, feeling particularly vengeful and foul mouthed, looked around for his guns.

"Oh GREAT. Friggin' PERFECT. Where are my damn guns?" Nine paced, looking around.

POOM. BOOM.

"What the hell?"

CRAKOOOOOOOOM.

Hot, impersonal, and entirely blunt, the shockwave of an exploding pelican hurled Nine to the ground. He fell face flat, his teeth clacking together as his face hit the pavement.

Dazed, he looked around, and found his helmet, scooping it up and slapping it on.

"...Fuck guns. Whoever did this to New York on MY watch is getting a healthy helping of BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA." Nine stood and cracked his knuckles. "WHO WANTS A BEATDOWN?! TERRORIST ASSHOLES!!!"

Shouting into the hot wind, his echo was his only answer. He was alone.

Hssssss...

"Huh?" Nine looked around. Nine looked around, and was greeted by a spray of lead. His armor was peppered for a moment as he dove to cover.

Prioritizing targets. Nine looked around. He was still angry, but his anger was focused. Professional. Cold.

He moved swiftly from cover to cover, approaching the enemy who was targeting him.

There are three. Assault rifles. Flat footed and clumsy. I'll catch up to them in three.

Nine leaped over their cover, and the creatures faced him.

For a moment, he hesitated.

He'd never seen such a profoundly ugly creature in his life. Roughly human in terms of visage, its skin was a strange, interlocked patchwork of grey, strung together flesh.

His hesitation was immediately halted when one stepped forward and swung at him. Nine wrapped an arm around its elbows and yanked back, breaking both arms. He swung his arm and snapped the creature's neck with his gauntlet.

Forgetting its weapon, another charged, and Nine planted a boot directly into its ribs. He turned and issued a harsh, sharp series of blows to the last, turning rib-cage into sawdust with his punches.

They're DURABLE. This isn't flood. It's despicable, but it ain't flood.

"...Lussssssst..." One of the creatures rasped, in a snakelike, deep, harsh voice. "Failed...Lussssst."

"Sorry bro. I ain't into you." Nine brought his boot up, and then down, slamming its face into the pavement. Its skull held, as white, oily blood sprayed the pavement.

Nine turned to the others.

They were gone.

"GOD. They're clumsy but smart." Nine looked around. His motion tracker was one circular error message.

"...Fuck. The quantum mirror must be busted. My tracker'll be useless unless Bailey decided to march down here and fix-"

Nine felt a sudden, thrashing weight in his back. The two creatures forced him down, and Nine felt boots driven home into his ribs and shoulder.

"Hold him!" One of the soldiers barked, their orc-like faces twisted in furious glee.

Nine easily broke free. They were a bit stronger than the average human, but Nine was not average by any stretch.

Nine reached out and seized one's neck with both hands, squeezing the throat shut. The Spartan rolled over the dying creature, claiming an assault rifle from the ground.

"POINT BLANK, SHITHEAD!!!" Nine opened fire, and the bullets slashed the creature's body to and fro as the Freelancer fired from one knee, taking care to hit every major organ with controlled bursts.

As expected, the creature fell forward, oily white blood slashing from its wounds.

The scent was one of the few things that ever made Nine wretch. Nine stood, fastening his commandeered rifle to his back.

"...I got work to do, huh?" Nine looked up at the acrid sky. He could hear more of the disgusting soldiers.

"I need more weapons."

---Written by Bad John---

WOOOOOOOO!

In retrospect, he did nothing important, but still WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The title makes me think mess hall.

White blood... And servants of Lust?

I don't want to think about it...

Manny wrote:White blood... And servants of Lust?

I don't want to think about it...

AHahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Ahem.

Heh.

Jesus Christ guys. Jesus Christ.

"COLIN!?" Vance said, stumbling along a wall of the ONI facility; his blood painting the wall behind him as he went on.

After what seemed like hours of wandering, Vance located a med bay. He learned of the door's stuck condition as he tried to open it. With what little strength he had left, Vance pried the door open and collapsed on the other side of the door.

"A Spartan!" A woman cried.

"What the Hell happened out there?" A man asked loudly.

Suddenly, he looked up to see a woman flip him over. "Get me some bio-gel." She ordered. All Vance could see was a blur of her white skin and blond hair. "Are you okay?"

"There's another Spartan here... Have-"

There was a sudden surge of pain followed by relief as she slotted the tube into his wound after pulling a pipe from Vance's side.

"Sorry. We'll get you up and able here soon. Rest now." Her words became fuzzy as Vance passed out.

---

"I never got a chance to thank that woman. Who was she?" Vance said as a nurse injected him with drugs.

"Jessica. She was a medical staff here. Since you opened that door, we've been able to get food. She should be thanking you." The older nurse smiled as she walked away.

Just then, Vance got a good look at the woman who saved his life. Blonde hair, fair skin, hazel eyes. She was beautiful.

God. Damn it. NO! Vance panicked to himself.

"You've been out fro three hours. If you wanna find you friend, you'd better go. We found your helmet outside; but it's too busted up to even fit on your head." She said.

"Y-yeah. Thanks. Bye." Vance stood to leave.

"Hold on there. We'd be starving to death if you didn't open that door back there. Can I at least get your name?" Jessica stopped Vance.

"V-vance. My name is Vance." He broke eye contact, his flight sensors in his brain was going nuts. He escaped, feeling fine enough to fight. If those soldiers from last night were still about, he'd need to.

And that's what happens when Spartans are raised as people. They get soft and develop emotions.

Lol jk. Seriously. However Spartan IVs are more likely to develop normal relationship because they were civilians for a good chunk of time.

Vance also seems to attract all teh wimminz. First the Juilet chick, then Maddy, now this blonde.
Makes sense since Vance is based off you, who looks like a much younger Sargent Johnson. After all... Johnson knows what the ladies like.

Colin: Part 2

There was a fuzzy blur for a while before Colin jumped up. He was in an unfamiliar room, and whatever weapons he had were gone now. 

As he stood up, Colin noticed his wound was gone, burned shut. 

"A 'Thank you' is always expected after someone saves your life." An older man said from the shadows behind Colin. 

"Cossack? Doctor, what happened here?" Colin ran over to the old man. 

"I'm going to be blunt with you, Spartan. I need your help."

Colin inspected Cossack, looking for injuries. "Anything."

"Is Vance dead?" Cossack asked coldly. 

"What?"

"He was with you. Did the impact kill him?" Cossack stood up, now angry. 

"He was hurt and out cold. He'll either bleed out or wake up here soon. Why?" Colin took a step back. 

"I know about it, Colin. I know all about you and Vance's woman. He doesn't treat her right, am I correct? He doesn't do what you would do for her?" Cossack looked deep into Colin's eyes. "If Vance is dead. She'd yours. If Vance isn't dead, I can fix that fairly quickly." Cossack smiled. 

"The A.I. Vance has been hunting. They're yours." Colin said, eyes wide. 

"Not quite. I control them, but Vance technically made them. He ever tell you about his service on Requiem?"

"No." Colin was starting to get scared of the words coming out of the Doctor's mouth, praying that the next one will confess his joke. It never did. 

"He had a dumb A.I. Named Dex. Dex was his best friend for years. I found him; a rampant Forerunner A.I. Floating through space. When I cut off all the crazy, which was 98 percent, all that was left was Dumb. When Dex reached Requiem, he woke up, 100 percent. After not only escaping countless Covenant and Promethean forces, Vance used the Master Chief's attack to board the ship attacking Earth to find Dex, now 001 Dexterous Renegade. Vance should have died, but somehow, Dex was able to self-terminate Renegade. Being so powerful, the A.I. Fractured and returned to me. 8 of them. With them, my plan has gone smoothly. Pride caused distress among hundreds of planets before he was killed. Another Insurrection is on the rise. Sloth collected millions of Dumb A.I. before Greed terminated him. I have millions of synthetic soldiers under my arm. ONI had them made to mini Alize Spartan casualties. Now, Colin. You have a choice; join the winning team, or die fighting by the side of a man you hate. A man who has destroyed millions of years of knowledge. A man who would kill you without thought if given the means. Your choice." The speech was long, but Colin soaked in every word. 

Cossack was right, Colin had to make a choice. 

Nine lucked out. The armory was heavily damaged, but the arms were hardly scratched.

"Hm. I can't have Bailey build me a pair of new guns, so I guess this shit'll suffice." He milled about, and plucked a battle rifle off the wall.

The heavy barreled weapon seemed to call to him.

"Alright, little buddy. You can come with me." Nine smiled. "I'll bring some of your friends too." Nine plucked a pair of grenades from the wall, and grabbed a submachine gun for use as a side-arm. He shouldered the rifle, checking the sights. Smart linked. He was all set.

Just as Nine was finishing up getting ready, he heard the low, scratchy voice of the synthetic soldiers he faced earlier. Just A LOT more of them.

Nine hid behind a shelf. He expected them to storm in. The battle rifle would be WONDERFUL for picking them off.

"Let's just blow the damn place up!"

One of the soldiers barked the words. Nine heard the others grumble and agree, coming to a consensus.

Nine whispered to himself as he heard a few rocket launchers load up. "Let's actually NOT blow the place up."

Nine rose to a ready position, prepared to flee, and he began to run out a nearby door.

SHOOFFFFF

Nine knew the sound of rockets firing well.

"NONONONONONONONONONONO" Nine lowered his shoulder and battered a door down, the fire of the explosion behind him heating his back.

His armor was a little singed, but he was alive.

"Get him!"

The soldiers opened fire all around Nine. Nine shouldered his gun and returned fire. Their aim was shoddy, allowing him to retaliate with lethal efficiency. Each three round burst left another enemy dead.

A particularly crafty opponent, unseen by the Freelancer, aimed a sniper rifle, the red dot following Nine's head along its shaky, bobbing path.

In a stumble that both embarassed Nine and saved his life, his foot caught on the side of a curb, forcing him to stumble.

The sniper, unable to correct, squeezed the trigger, The shot grazed Nine's helmet, leaving a burnt scar on the side. "FUCKER!!!" Nine growled, ready to return fire on the enemy.

Before Nine could draw a bead, the sniper was dead. In a fraction of a second, the soldier had been dispatched by a sniper round from elsewhere.

Nine lost track of the curiosity as another soldier approached, attempting to bust his helmet with the side of his gun. Nine avoided the hit with ease, and swung his battle rifle's stock, battering the enemy. White blood sprayed, as Nine gleefully pointed his rifle.

"POINT BLANK, SHITHEAD!!!"

Nine fired, the three rounds tearing apart the soldier's face. He backed down from the remainder of the soldiers, who were approaching from all sides. Nine turned and sprinted into the city.

"HOLDUP."

A strong arm wrapped around Nine's throat. Assuming it was another Synthetic Soldier, Nine turned to wrap his hands around the attacker's throat.

"Hold on, HOLD ON." The attacker was ten times stronger than Nine assumed, seizing his hands and throwing a hard knee into his stomach. In mere seconds, Nine was planted face flat on the ground, with two heavy attackers seated on his back.

You'd better kill me, motherfuckers... Nine, seething with anger, felt his arms pinned behind his back. When I get up, you're fuckin' DEAD.

More soldiers passed by as Nine's captors pulled him into a small alley. Nine was tossed into a dumpster, winded and confused.

Minutes passed.

"...Alright. Coast is clear."

The dumpster opened, and Nine bursted out, his gun shouldered.

Four Spartans stared at him, amused.

Zimm, Jorge, Maura, and Lucy. Maura removed her helmet. They were all in Nine's situation just an hour ago. Tired, battered, but still combat ready.

"Sorry we clocked you. You're makin' too much damn noise in the city." Maura grumbled as she helped Nine step out of the dumpster. "We heard you takin' it to those ugly bitches. Good job."

Nine looked at Lucy. Her sniper's barrel was still hot. "I'm guessing you were covering me from here? I barely noticed."

"I stopped them from landing a kill shot on you twice." Lucy kept her helmet on, likely to mask her prideful smirk. "Thank me when we get home."

Zimm typed on his TACPAD. "Bailey helped us assemble. Billy is giving her close cover. They're locked down in a bomb shelter on the edge of town. we're gonna go get her and take her out of the city."

Nine smiled. "I approve. Let's go."

"...One problem." Maura lowered her head. "The new guy, Vance, is still in the city. The weird kid still is too. Mark was the last Freelancer out, and he hadn't seen them."

Nine's blood ran cold. "Any communications from them?"

Bailey's voice came through Zimm's TACPAD. "John, the UpperCut has been tracked a little deeper in the city. I know you're hurt, but Vance could use a hand."

Nine nodded. "I was going to volunteer anyway. You guys get Bailey. I'll look for Vance."

"We ain't heard from Colin either." Maura seemed uncharacteristically on edge. "I know you don't like him, but if you could find him too, it'd make cleanup a little easier."

"Fine. But if I have to rescue anybody else, I'm taking their paycheck." Nine turned to Lucy. She could tell he was smiling, even with his helmet on. "Do I get a goodbye kiss?"

"Hah hah NO. Go do your job." Lucy turned her nose up at him, as Nine smiled, and wrapped his arm around her waist, giving her a brief, somewhat annoying hug.

"Love you."

Lucy shoved him, and Nine was off on his hunt for Vance.

Vance: Part Three

Patting against the fairly light armor the soldiers had, Vance had collected an assault rifle with plenty of ammo and two magnums with less of the sort between them. Having just eliminated all five of these soldiers without any weapons, Vance examined himself and found he had several bullet wounds on his armor, none painful of course.

"Synthetic..." Vance examined a dead soldier, pale white skin and wrinkled face very off-putting when crossed with it's humanoid features: glowing blue eyes, sharp teeth, black eyebrows, and barely existing noses. They were very ugly. "They're much more accurate than the average man; definitely stronger than any Marine I've met. But they're ONI..." Vance wondered this fact as he continued deeper into the ONI Site.

Suddenly, Vance dove silently into cover as he heard the deep, scratchy voices of a few dozen more synthetic soldiers.

"What about the Spartans? The rest of the Freelancers?"

"We'll kill them all too. Once we find this one, we'll locate that female doctor."

"Decker Squad may have a bit of trouble if these Spartans are as good as they say."

"Decker Squad won't have an issue. Remember: once their shields die, it only takes at least one bullet to kill them."

Angered by the chatter, Vance began forming a plan in his mind. As they walked towards him at a faster pace, his plan was reduced to a few quick actions rather than an elongated engagement.

Vance threw a grenade into the center of the group, killing a few on impact. Vance ran out, blowing one's head off as he ran through the smoke.

Four dead, two damaged, six remain.

The smoke from the dust and grime of the damaged building stayed in the air. A fist flew at Vance; he countered, throwing the soldier over his shoulder and shooting it dead. Another tried to tackle him to the floor. Using the momentum, Vance rolled back and ended on top of the synthetic, letting out a barrage of punches to cave it's metallic skull in.

Six dead, two damaged, four remain.

The smoke, dirt, and grime fell from the air, clearing out the combat zone: an open area with collapsed ceilings surrounding it; fallen support beams the only cover available. Vance unloaded on a soldier who popped out of cover. Knowing how quickly three guns could kill him, Vance ran to cover as a sniper narrowly missed his neck. That gave Vance a little incentive to dive to his cover.

"Have some courage you pasty pricks!" Vance blind-fired at the sniper, forcing it into cover.

"FOR LUST!" The sniper cried out as it ran right at Vance. As it approached Vance's cover, he pulled it to his side and sent a fist through the synthetic's head.

Vance grabbed the sniper rifle and popped out of cover and aimed down his sights.

In that moment of clarity. A second felt like five, five felt like ten, and so on. Vance lined up his shots, two in quick succession. Two trigger pulls, two loud shots, and two far left misses.

"God damn it!" Vance said as he threw the sniper across the cover, sending the barrel into one of the soldier's necks.

Vance stood, both magnums drawn. When the final remaining soldier came out of cover to attack, it was killed almost instantly by a single gunshot. With two more bullets, the two damaged soldiers were also finished.

No more soldiers were seen the rest of the time Vance was in the Site. Eventually, he made it to Cossack's office, where he saw the two standing there.

"Colin. Thank God. I thought I lost you kid." Vance smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. Colin stared in amazement from behind his visor.

"Doctor. You have a way to get you off this planet?" Vance asked, almost out of breath.

"Yes. I've been programming the tags for the pelican outside to match the enemy's. But, I must ask for your help in a few things. Very important data is in the floor below this office. I need you to purge an A.I. down there. Colin, will you get Lilith to the terminal I showed you earlier?" Cossack handed Vance a purge and Colin a chip.

"Lilith?" Vance asked.

With that, a red A.I. hologram came out from the chip in Colin's hand. She wore a skinny red wine dress, black hair, and pure red lips. Very human for a hologram. "That's one of the things I go by." She said in a seductive voice.

The two split up. Vance went down stairs to where he was instructed. Just before he inserted the purge, a familiar voice said him name. A voice Vance never thought he'd hear ever again.

"Vance."

"Dex."

There was a long pause between words. Vance set the purge on the table, knowing full well he could never use that.

"It's been a while. A long while."

"You're dead. You-" Vance dropped his gun on the ground as he arms and knees began to shake in disbelief.

"Renegade died. You and I beat him. But before he died, he took back control and fragmented into 7 large pieces and... Me... 2% of his capacity. I'm not exactly the Dex you remember, little things about him are in the other fragments. But because I'm so small, I got all the rampancy."

"Dex..."

"Vance. Lilith up there is Lust, the biggest of the fragments. Willis is Wrath. Envy isn't here. I'll help you stop Lust. I'll be with you until you stop her." Dex sat there for a few minutes explaining everything to Vance. His creation, Cossack's actions, and his involvement in this attack. [color=darkblue]"Once we beat Lust and Wrath, you have to make me a promise Vance.

"What?"

"Use that purge. Kill me. Vance... I've been killed and brought back over and over. My mind has come and gone, and it always will. I'm suffering every minute here. I'm tired."

Vance stepped forward, grabbing Dex's chi and holding it to the back of his head, where Dex enter his old, melted chip inside of Vance's neural implant.

"The original Dex left quite the mark here. While I'm here, fighting off rampancy with the older me should be a lot easier. Thank you, Vance."

One tear fell down Vance's cheek as he picked up his assault rifle.

---

"Ah. Vance, have you-"

Before he could finish, Dr. Cossack felt a bullet hit his shin, fired from Vance's gun. Before Vance could fire another, Colin came up behind him, throwing Vance against the wall.

"Vance! He has Lust in his implant!"

Vance drew his weapon. "Colin, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up!" Colin brought his shotgun up and moved in closer.

"Why are you doing this Colin?" Vance asked, his voice hard and angry.

This was going to get real bad, real fast.

Colin: Part 3

"Ah. Vance, have you-"

Before he could finish, Dr. Cossack felt a bullet hit his shin, fired from Vance's gun. Before Vance could fire another, Colin came up behind him, throwing Vance against the wall.

"Vance! He has Lust in his implant!"

Vance drew his weapon. "Colin, what the hell are you doing?"

"Shut up!" Colin brought his shotgun up and moved in closer.

"Why are you doing this Colin?" Vance asked, his voice hard and angry.

"Because, you deserve nothing you have! Especially Maddy!"

"What are you talking about kid."

"We're in love, Vance. We've been together for over a month now. You never treated her right, not like I could." Colin slowly moved closer to Vance, step by step.

"What...?" Vance said, his gaze piercing.

"Yeah. I LOVE HER VA-" Colin tilted his gun slightly as his emotions came through in body language. Vance grabbed the barrel of the gun, pulled Colin in, and punched him hard.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKER!" Vance kicked Colin down, then again three time while he was on the ground. "I TAUGHT YOU EVERYTHING!" Vance stepped over Colin, ripping off his helmet. "I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING!" Vance punched Colin over and over until he tried to block. Then, Vance grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground. "I GAVE YOU MORE THAN YOU DESERVE!" Vance picked Colin up, throwing him through Cossack's coffee table.

"You treated me like shit!" Colin shot up, coming to blows against Vance. Their hits were back-and-forth until Vance kicked Colin into a wall. He stepped up to Colin, grabbing his shoulders and driving his knee into Colin's torso before throwing him out through the window on the large balcony.

"You treated me like a kid." Colin stood up, beaten and tired.

"I would NEVER do you like this! You and Maddy were ALL I HAD LEFT!" a tear ran down Vance's cheek as he drew his magnum. "I loved you Colin! I loved you like a little brother! I loved Maddy with all my heart, AND THIS IS HOW YOU FUCK REPAY ME! I've given EVERYTHING for you two! I almost died for her, and I almost lost myself for you!" Vance pressed the barrel of his gun against Colin's temple.

Vance's voice suddenly got eerily calm, "I've done everything I could for you, Colin. Now you've just given me another reason not to trust anyone."

Before Vance could pull the trigger, Colin reversed it; disarming Vance and kicking him back into the office.

"Go to Hell." Colin pulled out his shotgun and shot Vance in the shoulder as he stood up. "Just die!"

Suddenly, Colin felt someone else's boot kick him, sending him down onto the floor. I was Nine.

"Don't try it kiddo." Nine said, gun aimed right Colin.

Colin tried it.

With a risky rush, Colin pushed Nine's gun aside and slammed his fist against Nine's head, making him stumble a little.

From there, Colin immediately started dying.

Nine swept Colin's legs and kicked his face, sending blood flying. Nine hit Colin's chest and face with his fists repeatedly until Colin couldn't take anymore.

"Wrath!" Colin cried for help as he fled with Cossack.

Vance and Nine turned to see a horrible sight. Though Nine was there, he had never seen the big-body of the Greek incident. Delta. Cossack had upgraded Delta's suit to house Wrath.

"Run." Vance said, blood leaking out of his mouth.

"Arming firearm." Wrath said with a happy tone as he rose a turret.

"Yeah, no. Let's go with your plan." Nine looked to Vance as he quickly put Vance's arm around his shoulder and began to run, jumping out of the broken window, escaping with minimal damage to either's shields.

I liked it.

One thing though, Dex's blue text is hard to read.

Home.

2 Months Later

"In other news, the terrorist occupation on New York City has officially been lifted. The leaders of the attack have been identified as both agents of ONI an the Freelancer Program directed by Doctor Billy-Jean Bailey.

The Mastermind is thought to be a recently decommissioned A.I. known as 'Dex'. Though thought to have been destroyed during conflict around the time of the New Phoenix event four Months ago.

Most of the work, however, had been confirmed as done by a now rouge Spartan, Vance Rojas, who was also Dex's handler. They are now on the run, news on their situation will com shortly.

I have with me now, the hero of this entire horrible event; Spartan Colin Straub, who saved ONI official Doctor Cossack.

So, tell me Colin, what was your experience down in the city?"

"Well, I was there with Vance, my mentor, hunting a rouge A.I. who turned out to be Dex. He started laughing as he saw the Freelancer over-watch frigate crash down. He had apparently used other rouge A.I. to collect Dumb A.I. to control the synthetic soldiers he convinced Cossack to build earlier. We were both injured when debris from the crash hit us. I woke up some time after him and made my way to Cossack. He patched me up for a few hours before Vance showed up with Dex, gun pointed at Cossack. I was able to defeat him initially, but his soldiers soon came and he ran. Cossack was shot during the engagement and I extracted him as soon as possible."

"Wow. So, did you see anything like this coming since you were so close to the terrorist?"

"Yeah, but not on this scale. He seemed... Unpredictable at best. I assumed he would just beat someone up and be free of it for the next couple months like he always did, but I guess not. It's tragic that he felt he had to kill so many people, too."

"So, on top of a medal of honor, what other things will you be rewarded?"

"I, due to the questionable nature of the program, quit the Freelancers and re-joined ONI. I am to be receiving my medals and promotion next week at a ceremony on Luna."

"Well, I'm sure everybody must be very proud Mr. Straub. Thank you for the interview. Earth, this has been Diana Sanders with you on Motherworld News. Goodnight, and stay safe.

"What are we going to do?"

"First; I'll kill Colin. Then Cossack. Then I prove I'm innocent. You still got feeds to News and data?"

"Yes, Vance. You do remember our agreement, right?"

Vance chuckled to himself a bit. "Yeah. I'd almost hoped you'd forget."

Dex sparked, his voice beginning to get multilevel-ed and fuzzy. He was succumbing to rampancy. "It's time, Vance.

Vance held Dex's newer chip against the back of his still burnt neural implant. Dex moved between chips and Vance inserted him into the computer before him.

"Inserting purge." Vance said as he slipped the red chip into the slot next to Dex's.

"Vance..."

"I don't wanna hear it." Vance was on the brink of tears, it was audible to even Dex's literal mind.

"It wont hurt, Vance. I promise." Dex lied.

"I've lost everything. My entire life is gone. Dex, why do you have to leave me too?" Vance began to cry, tears flooding up the bottom of his helmet.

Dex contained the unimaginable amounts of pain from his voice, "If anybody can do this alone, it's you, Vance." Dex's hologram began to get faint.

"I don't know if I can do it all alone." Vance tried to fight back to tears to little affect.

"I believe in you. Hey, you never know, maybe I can see you on the other side someday."

"Ha. Where someone like you would go is a little north of where I'd go. Even then, I don't think you'll go to Heaven or Hell."

"Why?" Dex was almost invisible.

"You deserve more peace. You deserve home."

"Vance-"

Vance took off his helmet and wiped the tears from his face with a smiled. "Go home, Dex. Go home."

Vance pressed the last button, and Dex was gone. This time, however, he never came back.

With all the might he had, Vance smashed his hand through the computer monitor and into the wall. His cry and impact was heard throughout the apartment complex above him.

As he stepped outside several minutes later, Vance put on his gloves hiding the fact he had one robotic arm. Now in his civvies, his armor about to detonate next to the computer, Vance had now covered his tracks. He was a ghost, no one would be able to find him easily.

On Luna, Vance acquired a sniper rifle and a vantage point for the ceremony below.

Step One: Kill Colin... In progress.

Renegade

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming out this evening. I introduce to you a few very important things." The UNSC general read his talk from a piece of paper, but he believed the lie he was about to talk about.

"Today we remember the millions who died on that fateful day in New York City. As a race, we've been through the rough. Wars and terror lead us farther into the darkness. There are few brave men and women among us today; one of which is my dear friend Colin Straub. Not only did he save Doctor Cossack, who was able to eliminate every single synthetic soldier through a special purge, he was able to pinpoint a traitor we would have never seen coming. So, I present to you- the Colin Straub New York Memorial, and, Captain Straub himself!"

Vance gripped his Sniper Rifle tightly, sweat beating down his forehead as he waited for the perfect moment to fire. No wind on Luna, so the only worry is the drop. Vance wasn't a sniper, but he knew he could do it.

No..., Vance said to himself as he saw Colin walk up in his decorated uniform and receive a Medal of Honor. Not only that- Maddy was there.

Colin began giving the large crowd another bullshit speech. Vance had half a mind to shoot him there, but Maddy was a worry. If anyone there could kill him, it would certainly be her.

Sights right on Maddy, Vance saw her head shift. Withing a few seconds, she was looking right at him, worried. As she stood to alert Colin, Vance had a split second to decided:

Shoot or abort.

Vance shot.

In an explosion of blood and brains, Maddy's head bursted open and her body tumbled next to Colin, who was in shock for a second.

Vance aimed as quickly as he could, ready to pull the trigger and end Colin, but when he did, nothing shot, and his hands jerked.

A huge black armored man stepped on Vance's sniper, crushing it. Vance turned and attempted to punch his knee in, only to dent the thick armor. Vance stood and got a look at the too familiar helmet.

It was Wrath in Delta's armor.

"You're right, I should be. It's a shame you and your weak team took my sister too." Wrath, one of the 2 A.I. fragments of Dexterous Renegade, stood tall over Vance.

"You both didn't get robotic bodies, did you?" Vance put his hands in the air, looking to distract so he can slowly moved to his shotgun behind him, a trick he learned from Nine.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Lust and I would love to snap your neck after New York. So, for my namesake, I WILL!

A gun slotted out of Wrath's shoulder, shooting a high concentration plasma at Vance's legs, who rolled back away from it, grabbing his shotgun.

"We've gone through this part idiot; bullets don't phase this body. Then again, without your armor, they'll probably phase yours."

"Uh-oh." Vance was at a loss of ideas as Wrath slowly laughed while he drew his SAW.

He shot Maddy?

Am proud son, am proud.

Under The Knife

Vance flew through the rooftop vent; the force of Wrath's kick propelling right into it.

"Why don't you just kill me!?" Vance exclaimed, bloody a bruised from getting kicked around for the past few minutes.

"If that's what you want..." Wrath kicked Vance in the rib, rolling him over a few times.

"I guess that really is what you want? Dex is gone. Colin, you understudy, is past you. Your girlfriend is dead now, and your only friend in the world is sleeping in a tube with the legion. You're life is over. I should just put you out of your misery; shoot you in the head and collect the bounty for some upgrades... Or I could let your brain hemorrhage after I beat you to death. Yeah, I like that one." Wrath continued beating Vance while he was on the floor. With that body, he'd be able to snuff Vance out with a single punch, but he enjoyed this far too much to do that.

A decision he'd later come to regret.

Vance rolled away from one of Wrath's fists with surprising speed. He rolled back and grabbed a frag grenade from Wrath's belt; jamming it into a crevice in his armor and kicked him away.

"What the-"
The explosion tore Wrath's chest piece apart from behind it, causing him to drop his SAW and exposing mechanical innards.

AHH!

Seizing the opportunity to it's fullest, Vance grabbed the SAW and didn't let go of the trigger. The high rate, high powered, high rounded bullets began to rip at Wrath's mechanical center, causing him to back up as well. Vance pressed forward until Wrath stepped right off the building, slamming hard to the ground below.

"DOUCHE!" Vance yelled down at the moaning Wrath.

Vance took out the round drum from the weapon, bet the barrel, and threw it into the distance. Wrath wouldn't be incapacitated for very long, so Vance ran.

As the unarmored Vance jumped over the fairly narrow gap between buildings; a Pelican rose to his level on the rooftops, a sniper mounted up with a laser sight in the back.

"THIS IS THE POLICE, STOP NOW OR WE WILL SHOOT!"

Vance stopped for a second, planted his feet, raised the finger between his index and ring finger, and continued running.

The sniper fired, grazing Vance's left shoulder. Though he stumbled, Vance did not stop for anything. He moved faster than any police officer would be able to in order to pursue.

With a little time between shots, the police sniper fired all three remaining shots, and all seemed to miss.

They all did, all but one.

The bullet connected; hot steel running through and through Vance's leg, sending him tumbling to the floor and rolling off the side of the building into an alley way, a trail of blood behind him.

---

"Check the dumpster." The man ordered the two policemen. They moved to it, assault rifles raised.

"I've got blood. He's fallen in." The one officer said with a chuckle.

"Opening." The other said, lifting with one hand and rifle at the ready with the other.

Suddenly, the dumpster flew open, the large man grabbed both officers by their body armor collars.

"YOU FOUND ME!"

Vance pulled them in, killing the two helpless officers with a snap and a stab. He, however, was suddenly pulled out by the back of the neck and thrown into a wall.

"Once they come, pull off my helmet and throw the both of us into the door." The armored man, obviously a fairly large Spartan, said very quietly as he put a cold blade to Vance's throat.

"You got him!" Several more officers said cheerfully before noticing their dead comrades.

"Deuces!" Vance yelled as he threw his hands back, grabbing and tearing off the helmet. Vance turned into him and tackled the Spartan through a door and down a flight of unlit stairs.

They tumbled allover each-other; Vance swore he felt a robotic hand as they did.

Vance landed on top of the Spartan, the room too dark to see his face. He grabbed the blade from the ground and held it to the Spartan's throat.

"What do you want!"

"My blade back!" The Spartan pushed Vance into another room just to Vance's right. Soon, he stood up and held his hand out. "Stay up there and make sure he doesn't slip away!"

"Get the fuck back!" Vance held the short blade up.

"We only have a few minutes," Will clicked the lights on, revealing him and his machete to Vance. "kick some walls and break some glass while we talk."

"What the hell do you want?" Vance said as he threw a chair into the wall.

"To help you. What the hell was that down there!?" Will tipped a table over and kicked it into some chairs, adding to the commotion.

"Long story, ask Nine whenever he pops up. Long-story-short: I need to kill Colin and Dr. Cossack. Unless you wanna help me with that, then I'll be on my way. I'LL KILL YOU!" Vance added the last bit to add to the fight.

"Take my machete, it'll cut anything. Look, the only thing I can offer you are locations. I'm on the case of killing you; so just give me a message through your mother so I can find you and we'll do this." Will kicked in the wall next to the door to the stairs.

"Did they extract the items on site at the ONI that was damaged in New York?" Vance punched in a window.

"Yeah, it's all in storage in a warehouse just outside of New York. Why?" Will stopped for a second.

"We find my helmet, we find my helmet cam. I had to ditch it after I fought Colin. They did that asshole bad-guy thing and told me their whole plan thus far. But first I kill Colin."

"Son, that'll be harder than you think. He's gotten ranked up to Captain, Cossack has kissed enough ass to get him just under Commander Palmer. He sent me on your ass to torture the both of us. And his armor is..." Will paused.

"UpperCut Mark VI, I assume."

"It's practically your armor but grey. He really like's riding your style." Will turned up his nose to the thought of Colin.

"He know's I'm after him now, Dad. I need you to tell Doctor Bailey that I'll be in New York. If John get's back, tell him to meet me there. Once I find that helmet, I'll need her to upload it to everyone who can help me. If John doesn't show up, find me there in a week and I'll need you to snuff out Cossack while I face Colin." Vance punched a table, breaking through the thin metal.

"Fine. Now run. I set you up with a small suit kiosk two blocks down from here behind a bar. It'll get you to Earth under the tags of Spartan Gavin Kendrick, A527. I love you son. Be careful." Will kicked another chair across the room as he put his hands on Vance's shoulders.

"Yeah, we're aren't quite there yet, Dad. I'll see ya. Oh, and Dad?" Vance stopped as he began walking away.

"Yeah?"

Will flew into the wall, busting his head a little as Vance ran.

He was on his way to New York.

The Key

"Name?"

"Gavin Kendrick."

"What is the destination of your trip?"

"New York City, North America."

"Sorry, New York is closed for repairs."

"The closest you can get then, please."

"No problem. Your destination will be Allentown, North America."

"Uh." Vance had a 100 Mile walk once he landed. Not the most exiting of journeys.

---

After the trek, Vance looked down at the city he had spent months fighting in. It was under serious repair, the skeletons of new buildings already propped up and the debris either melted for metal or recycles for new parts.

All those months of hard, desperate combat to survive as the synthetics slowly got more and more upgrades.

The storage facility was extremely large, obviously ONI in it's triangular design. Due to him being a Spartan, there were no questions asked asked as he walked in.

Unfortunately, it took over an hour to locate the 50 meter area of the things recovered from the New York Delta Site. After that, it took under four hours to locate unknown objects, which was in three boxes Vance's size.

"Can I help you?" A familiar female voice startled Vance, which was embarrassing because he had his radar active.

"Hello." Vance turned quickly to see an all to familiar face: the blonde doctor who patched him up on the day of the crash. "Jessica, if I remember correctly?"

"What?"

Vance took off his helmet and regretted it when she reacted to his face. He forgot for a second that he was a known terrorist.

"Wait, stop." Vance grabbed her and cupped her mouth as she began to scream. "I'm not a terrorist. I was framed. I have a gun, and if you scream I'll shoot you. Just wait, and you'll be the first to see it, okay? You not gonna scream?"

Jessica nodded.

"Good." Vance let her mouth go and she removed herself from his grip quickly.

"I helped a terrorist. I had to lie to the police so I didn't get arrested." Jessica talked to herself, out of air. Vance sifted though the first box.

"A-ha!" Vance held up his red and white Warrior styled UpperCut helmet. He placed it on his head and toyed with it a little until he took it off.

"Keep your neck stiff. Put this on, but be careful- it's heavy." Vance handed Jessica the helmet. For about five minutes, she sat there watching the truth. The unedited, non-propaganda, truth.

"Wow."

"Yeah. Crazy, right?"

"Yeah. So, what do we do?"

Vance laughed as he took his helmet back. "I'm taking this and sending it to everybody. You're going home. You're gonna forget you even saw me."

"Sorry. If I'm already guilty of aiding a wanted terrorist, I'm going all the way. I'm a doctor, I follow-through."

"This is none of your business, for one! Two, why are you even here!?" Vance was annoyed at all the help people were offering. He thought he had it, and Jessica was just there to take the brunt of the frustration.

"I needed to get my tools. This just opened up and they were my father's." Jessica looked over and grabbed the roll of medical tools.

"Yeah, your thing is just there, but a fucking helmet is... Look, there's nothing you can do for me! All you could do is get in my way and get yourself killed."

"Well, you're not just walking out of here with that. I'll take it to my car and get it where you need it to go." Jessica mockingly turned her head up as she spoke, snatching the helmet.

Vance huffed, knowing he wouldn't win. "Fine. Take it to Luna, Newton. Go to 016th Uriah Street and give it to the woman there. Write her a paper note that says 'from V, to W', can you do that?" Vance got stern with her and tilted his head in to drive the importance of this.

"Yes. Yes I can. I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah."

"And, Vance, was it? If you ever need anything like... A bullet removed from you chest, find my place here." Jessica handed him her card, her full name and address on it.

By the time Vance looked back up to where she was, Jessica was gone.

"Why do the women in my life have to be tougher than me?" Vance mumbled to himself as he walked out the other direction.

"Hey, big red!"

Vance turned to the male voice behind him, meet ing a heavy fist to his face.

"The real Gavin want his armor back. Though the grey and orange random look fits you well!" Colin cracked his knuckles as Vance stood up.

"I had to change it up a little bit; you've obviously been riding my dick so hard that it's starting to go out of style." Vance smiled under his unfashionable recruit helmet.

"You killed her you son ofa bitch." Colin stood there, fists clenched and his head tilted in anger.

"What do you want me to say? I'm souwy? Sorry kiddo, I wont! I had to kill the person who'd be able to take me out so I could cap you, but Cossack's lap dog seemed to trifle me a bit there, huh?"

"You don't think I could kill you?" Colin seemed to get angrier by the second, his words coming out through clenched teeth.

"No, I know you can't."

The second Vance finished his sentence, Colin went for a punch. Vance grabbed it and lifted it to the other side of him, opening up Colin's side for a knee and then an upper cut to the face, knocking Colin back.

Colin re-gained his stance, hands up and ready to fight. The stance was like a carbon-copy of Vance's the two strafing around each-other in a circle. Colin let out a slap, mocking a punch. When Vance brought his hands up to block Colin jammed his fist into his stomach, then Vance's face, then repeated that move once more before finishing with a powerful elbow to the side of Vance's face.

Vance was turned around by Colin's below, phased a little. Before Colin could grab him, Vance swung his right arm at Colin's head, which he easily ducked. Vance followed it by an upper-cut; Colin went flying back onto the floor. Before Colin could recover, Vance slammed his knee on Colin's chest and unloaded his right fist, also his robotic hand, into Colin's face several times.

Fighting through the pain, Colin grabbed his knife and jammed it into Vance's wrist and twisted, disabling it. Afterward, he kicked Vance in the face, rolling him back.

"You never stopped! EVER! Never backed down! Even when I beat you, you just kept on going 'til you won! Look what your lancing has gotten you! A dead A.I. friend, a robotic hand, at one point your shoulder was basically crippled! Stop being STUPID!" Colin pulled out his magnum, having won this conflict. He shot, twice in the chest and once in the shoulder. Vance fell back to the floor, shields now down.

As he aimed, Colin imagined what Vance had taken from him, not even thinking of everything he had given him.

Just then, a heavy hand turned Colin around and socked him. The brown blur gave the identity away of the assailant.

Colin swatted away the flurry of fists from the hands of Nine. He eventually grabbed them both and head-butted him three times, finishing with a knee to Nine's gut.

Nine dropped down to a knee, one leg extended. He swept Colin's legs and drew his knife. In a fluid, definitive motion, Nine jammed his knife into the side of Colin's neck. Blood poured out.

"YOU DON'T FUCK WITH MY FRIENDS YOU LITTLE PRICK!" Nine twisted the knife and tore it out at an angle. The amount of blood pouring almost doubled. He'd be dead within a few minutes.

---

A heavy boot kicked open Jessica's door, the heavy rain outside becoming twice as loud.

"Doctor!" Nine yelled as he came around the corner.

"Yes?"

Nine dropped Vance on the coffee table, blood seeping from his armor. "I don't care what it costs ma'am. He had your card, and he needs your help. Please, make him well." Nine took off his helmet, Colin's blood still stained onto it.

"Okay, um... Go into the closet and grab my tools. I'll need your help to remove the armor."

Nine was on the task. Within the hour, Vance was stable and the bleeding stopped.

He was going to be just fine.

---

"What happened?" Colin woke up slowly, his voice raspy and sore.

"I brought you back from the world of the dead." Cossack smiled, standing over him.

"I lost. Nine killed me." Colin slammed his head back, his neck still hurting. "How did you save me?"

"They filled your neck with biofoam and I set you up with gear to help you breath. Sadly, you're stuck in your armor until I can create a safe environment for you you receive tech located locally in your neck."

"So, you Vader'd me." Colin sighed.

"Essentially." Cossack patted Colin's shoulder as he walked out of the medical room.

"Lust? I'll need your help if I'm going to beat them. I'm not strong enough to take both on." Colin sat up, still in pain.

"Whatever you ask, Lust will provide, sweet-cheeks." Lust said, seductively.

Clean Up

Three Weeks Later

"Earlier today, thousands of copies of the incriminating footage from Spartan Helmet Camera A705 was released, proving that Colin Straub, who was once a man-kind hero, was in fact a key member to the terrorist faction. While Doctor Cossack, the true brain behind this horrible act has been arrested, Spartan Straub has been presumed killed by Freelancer Agent Nine down at the New York Clean Up. More information will be presented to you as we get it. This has been Diana Sanders on Motherworld News; providng the truth to Earth and all her colonies.

"Stuck up bitch." Vance turned the news off, irritated at the report.

"What's wrong? You did it. You're not a terrorist anymore." Jessica smiled as her head rested on Vance's shoulder.

"The press just pisses me off, that's all. I guess being labeled a terrorist will do that to ya." Vance rubbed his eyes and smiled as he stood up from the couch.

"I can only imagine."

"My blood is still in your carpet." Vance pointed as he left the living room and went into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass and filled it up with ice and water before walking back to the couch.

"I doubt we'll ever clean up all of it. It's just a part of the house now. Adds character." Jessica laughed to herself a bit.

"Yeah, well, I'm getting my ass in bed. I've got a lot to do tomorrow." Vance took off his robotic arm and placed it on the coffee table. Jessica immediately took it off and gave it back.

"That's just wrong." She turned her nose up to the hand as Vance picked his nose with it in his real hand. "Besides, don't you think you've done enough for that place? You practically served in Hell back there."

"Everybody calls every battlefield Hell. I find it relaxing. But when you think about it, any buildings that were still standing when the frigate hit, I probably blew up or managed to knock down. It also gives me something to do while I'm on leave."

"How many others are back there rebuilding the city?"

"A couple of the Spartans I served with down there. I say it'll be done in two years tops." Vance smiled as walked into the bedroom backwards, facing Jessica. He fell into bed hard enough to make noise. Though he never felt rested, he slept plenty before going back out and helping rebuild New York from scratch.

Maybe, with a couple months of hard work, he'll finally clean up and forget all about this mess.