"Congratulations on your promotion Corporeal Harlowe." Morgan's Drill Sergeant said with a firm grin. "Despite all my harshness to you and your fellow company men, you all managed to make it here. I've talked with some of my higher ups, and we want you to meet your new team. You may know some of these people."
Turning so that Morgan could see behind him, the Drill Sergeant nodded to him, clasping him on the back.
"Welcome to S.C.O.R.E son. This is an elite group of soon to be ODSTs. I specially recommended you and Amber to be a part of the program. I don't know the full details, but an ONI official wanted to use this team for some special missions. You're a helluva soldier, Mack, and I know you'll go far."
Morgan nodded, before saluting his old superior, approaching the new ODST team, his beloved Fiancee talking with them.
"Oh Morgan, these guys say they know you!" Amber smiled, her helmet at her side. "Special Forces! This is pretty fancy!"
"Lieutenant Richard Coldwell. Behind me are Private Phil Durgin and Lance Corporal Josh Durgin. Behind them is Craig Connery. Before I continue the formalities, I should remind you why you were specially selected to join us. I... am your Cousin. Petunia Durgin is my sister, and that makes Phil and Josh my nephews. In case you don't get the big picture, everyone in this squad is related to each other in some way. Amber, being your wife to be, was also invited to increase your chances of cooperating."
"What about Connery?" Morgan said with a nervous eye. "The name Craig sounds familiar."
"He says he's related to you, but he won't give the specifics, and I'm not going to push. He's been with the squad for quite some time, and he's a helluva solder."
-------------------------------
"Jesus Christ Iceman!" Amber yelled. "Josh is hit! Phil, get over here!"
Phil ducked under the constant fire of the rebels, as Amber dragged Josh behind the barrier.
"I can patch him up." She said, looking over towards him. "But it's going to take a bit."
"Do whatever is necessary Doc." Phil said, crouching over his older brother's prone form. "Just make sure he's still alive, won't you? He may be annoying, but he's my brother!"
Holding his position, Phil breathed in deeply, before checking around the corner, the enemy's fire on their position becoming heavier and heavier by the second.
"Brains!" Amber called him by his call sign, as he turned to face her, her brown eyes glancing at him. "This Jersey barrier is the only thing separating us three from the enemy. It can't take too much more fire. You NEED to actually fire your damn weapon!"
"B-but I can't, I... I just can't." Phil shook his head.
"You listen here, dickhead." Josh grumbled from the floor. "Dying isn't on my current list of things to do. So how about you turn off your flight switch for a goddamn second and FIGHT!"
Phil only sunk down further, as the Jersey barrier behind his back continued to crumble away. Despite his best efforts, he just didn't have the heart. The only reason he had joined the military to begin with was to make sure him and Josh could afford to actually live without debt.
Hunkering down further, Phil remained frozen in place, as Scotch approached him from the side, slapping his helmet.
"C'mon boyo! Demo, Iceman and I can't do this all ourselves!"
Standing from his position, Morgan opened fire in sync with Craig and Richard, as they stood their ground. But still Phil couldn't do it, he couldn't fight.
"What's on your mind old man?" Blaine asked, entering the room as Morgan sighed, coughing audibly into a handkerchief.
"Nothing much, boyo." Morgan turned in his swivel chair, overlooking Josh and Phil in the War Games room, fighting simulations of Forerunner and Covenant enemies. "Just reliving moments from my younger years."
"Oh yeah?" Blaine puzzled, taking a seat beside his father. "About what?"
"The Twins." Morgan grinned, looking over towards them with a sense of pride. "Separated, they are nothing. But together, they could take on an army of Forerunner Knights."
"Look, pop." Blaine said, leaning towards his father. "You can't worry about them forever. You're retiring from the military soon, and while I know it's a difficult transition for you, I can assure you they'll be alright."
"I want to be sure." Morgan replied stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Even if they do have the Spartan IV augments, I want to see if Phil can manage now."
Blaine sighed, shaking his head before turning to the microphone, turning the loudspeaker on.
-------------------------------------
"Alright you two, Morgan isn't fully satisfied with your combat prowess. Do the old man a kindness and show him what it means to mess with the Durgin twins? I'll be turning your enemies to Forerunner Knights, and they'll be put on difficulty level Heroic. Do not disappoint him."
"When exactly was it our job to make the Old Man proud?" Josh turned to his twin brother, who shrugged. "Scotty or Gaspar didn't have to earn his pride."
"Well, we are his blood relatives. I'm sure he's worried sick about his retiring later this year and leaving us behind."
"But we're Spartans now!" Josh said, flexing his muscles. "There is no reason to fear for us!"
"Being a Spartan ain't what you make it out to be." Phil shook his head. "-and can I just say what a hypocrite you are? You always berated Blaine for being a 'freak' when we first met him. But now you think you're the rat's ass because you have the augments yourself."
Around them, the environment shifted to one of Requiem's many landscapes, as floating metal walls appeared before them. In the distance, Forerunner Knights roared their metallic roars as they raised their swords.
Taking cover behind their walls, Josh and Phil pressed flat against the clean, polished forerunner alloy. Both peeked out, their assault rifles roaring to life as they fired clip after clip into the encroaching enemies.
One Knight foolishly walked in between their walls, staring at Phil, as Josh lightly tapped it on the back. Turning to face the other Spartan, the Knight forgot entirely of Phil's existence, as the younger twin smashed his rifle's butt into the back of it's leg, lowering it to the ground.
Josh, the stronger of the two, thrust his fist into it's face plate, denting the tough alloy, causing the Knight to crumble into a heap, before disappearing into a stream of data.
Nodding at his brother, Phil clasped hands with Josh, as his older brother hefted him, spinning in a circle, as Phil began to float above the ground.
Timing it correctly, Josh threw Phil like an arrow, his aim true, into a horde of the creatures. Cheering at his successful throw, Josh had no idea of the Lance Knight behind him, as it impaled him with it's sword, causing him to fizzle out of the existence of the simulation.
Phil stood in the horde of the creatures, firing his rifle at the hording robots, many of them falling to his relentless surge of bullets. Looking over, he watched as Josh de-materialized from the simulation. Locking up, he turned to his enemies, as he froze up.
Even though he knew his brother was still alive, he couldn't help but feel trapped, alone, completely vulnerable. Closing his eyes, the Knights grew ever closer, their orange energy blades ready to dissect him. Throwing his rifle aside, he clenched his fists, waiting for his release.
Time seemed to slow for Phil, as he realized it was his hesitations that had killed Coldwell in that mission all those years ago, and it was the one that had proven an issue under Blaine's orders during the Covenant War. He relied way too heavily on his older brother for guidance, yet claimed he was the more mature of them.
It was then that he felt a fire burning within his stomach. As he recalled all of his greatest failures, the fire was only stoked, until the inferno swarmed to every muscle in his body. He didn't care who or what, but he was going to hit something or someone, and he was going to make it count.
The Knight in front of him swung it's blade down towards him. Morgan and Blaine watching from the observatory, Morgan somewhat expecting the simulation to be over before it started.
Phil had other plans.
Catching the blade with his left hand, Phil smirked beneath his visor at the Knight, before grasping the base of the blade with his right arm. Yanking with all of his might, the sword detached, as the Knight exploded in a brilliant white light and data particles. Hefting the sword, Phil turned in a complete circle, slashing at whatever Knights came into it's path, the Promethean's blade slicing through them faster than warm butter.
At the stop of his spin, he threw the blade over his head and straight into the chest of a Knight Commando. Rushing towards the nearest Knight, Phil struck his fist deep into it's chest, before swiveling on his heels and punching the ground, the Knight still attached.
On contact with the flawless flooring beneath them, the Knight dissipated from his hand, as he jumped backwards and over the thrust of a Lance Knight. Stepping on the back of it's knee, Phil pulled his pistol from his hip and fired three rounds into the back of it's 'head'.
Diving at it's corpse, he grabbed it's Binary Rifle, before shouldering it almost immediately. Firing point blank into the stomach of the Commander before him, the shot went through the Battlewagon and Knight behind it, all three of them dissipating into nothing.
It continued like this for a brief half hour, until Blaine finally stopped the simulation himself. Folding his arms over his chest, he smirked towards Morgan, who stared in awe and pride at Phil, his biggest concern.
"You see, Pops?" Blaine asked, as Morgan smiled proudly. "Phil is more than capable of fighting his battles. He just needed to discover his fight part of his fight or flight instinct-."
Phil stood there, fists clenched as he breathed heavily, staring up towards the window, Morgan glancing down at him with a wide grin.
"-He's a helluva soldier." Morgan finished.
Turning so that Morgan could see behind him, the Drill Sergeant nodded to him, clasping him on the back.
"Welcome to S.C.O.R.E son. This is an elite group of soon to be ODSTs. I specially recommended you and Amber to be a part of the program. I don't know the full details, but an ONI official wanted to use this team for some special missions. You're a helluva soldier, Mack, and I know you'll go far."
Morgan nodded, before saluting his old superior, approaching the new ODST team, his beloved Fiancee talking with them.
"Oh Morgan, these guys say they know you!" Amber smiled, her helmet at her side. "Special Forces! This is pretty fancy!"
"Lieutenant Richard Coldwell. Behind me are Private Phil Durgin and Lance Corporal Josh Durgin. Behind them is Craig Connery. Before I continue the formalities, I should remind you why you were specially selected to join us. I... am your Cousin. Petunia Durgin is my sister, and that makes Phil and Josh my nephews. In case you don't get the big picture, everyone in this squad is related to each other in some way. Amber, being your wife to be, was also invited to increase your chances of cooperating."
"What about Connery?" Morgan said with a nervous eye. "The name Craig sounds familiar."
"He says he's related to you, but he won't give the specifics, and I'm not going to push. He's been with the squad for quite some time, and he's a helluva solder."
-------------------------------
"Jesus Christ Iceman!" Amber yelled. "Josh is hit! Phil, get over here!"
Phil ducked under the constant fire of the rebels, as Amber dragged Josh behind the barrier.
"I can patch him up." She said, looking over towards him. "But it's going to take a bit."
"Do whatever is necessary Doc." Phil said, crouching over his older brother's prone form. "Just make sure he's still alive, won't you? He may be annoying, but he's my brother!"
Holding his position, Phil breathed in deeply, before checking around the corner, the enemy's fire on their position becoming heavier and heavier by the second.
"Brains!" Amber called him by his call sign, as he turned to face her, her brown eyes glancing at him. "This Jersey barrier is the only thing separating us three from the enemy. It can't take too much more fire. You NEED to actually fire your damn weapon!"
"B-but I can't, I... I just can't." Phil shook his head.
"You listen here, dickhead." Josh grumbled from the floor. "Dying isn't on my current list of things to do. So how about you turn off your flight switch for a goddamn second and FIGHT!"
Phil only sunk down further, as the Jersey barrier behind his back continued to crumble away. Despite his best efforts, he just didn't have the heart. The only reason he had joined the military to begin with was to make sure him and Josh could afford to actually live without debt.
Hunkering down further, Phil remained frozen in place, as Scotch approached him from the side, slapping his helmet.
"C'mon boyo! Demo, Iceman and I can't do this all ourselves!"
Standing from his position, Morgan opened fire in sync with Craig and Richard, as they stood their ground. But still Phil couldn't do it, he couldn't fight.
2557, Infinity's War Games Simulation room
"What's on your mind old man?" Blaine asked, entering the room as Morgan sighed, coughing audibly into a handkerchief.
"Nothing much, boyo." Morgan turned in his swivel chair, overlooking Josh and Phil in the War Games room, fighting simulations of Forerunner and Covenant enemies. "Just reliving moments from my younger years."
"Oh yeah?" Blaine puzzled, taking a seat beside his father. "About what?"
"The Twins." Morgan grinned, looking over towards them with a sense of pride. "Separated, they are nothing. But together, they could take on an army of Forerunner Knights."
"Look, pop." Blaine said, leaning towards his father. "You can't worry about them forever. You're retiring from the military soon, and while I know it's a difficult transition for you, I can assure you they'll be alright."
"I want to be sure." Morgan replied stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Even if they do have the Spartan IV augments, I want to see if Phil can manage now."
Blaine sighed, shaking his head before turning to the microphone, turning the loudspeaker on.
-------------------------------------
"Alright you two, Morgan isn't fully satisfied with your combat prowess. Do the old man a kindness and show him what it means to mess with the Durgin twins? I'll be turning your enemies to Forerunner Knights, and they'll be put on difficulty level Heroic. Do not disappoint him."
"When exactly was it our job to make the Old Man proud?" Josh turned to his twin brother, who shrugged. "Scotty or Gaspar didn't have to earn his pride."
"Well, we are his blood relatives. I'm sure he's worried sick about his retiring later this year and leaving us behind."
"But we're Spartans now!" Josh said, flexing his muscles. "There is no reason to fear for us!"
"Being a Spartan ain't what you make it out to be." Phil shook his head. "-and can I just say what a hypocrite you are? You always berated Blaine for being a 'freak' when we first met him. But now you think you're the rat's ass because you have the augments yourself."
Around them, the environment shifted to one of Requiem's many landscapes, as floating metal walls appeared before them. In the distance, Forerunner Knights roared their metallic roars as they raised their swords.
Taking cover behind their walls, Josh and Phil pressed flat against the clean, polished forerunner alloy. Both peeked out, their assault rifles roaring to life as they fired clip after clip into the encroaching enemies.
One Knight foolishly walked in between their walls, staring at Phil, as Josh lightly tapped it on the back. Turning to face the other Spartan, the Knight forgot entirely of Phil's existence, as the younger twin smashed his rifle's butt into the back of it's leg, lowering it to the ground.
Josh, the stronger of the two, thrust his fist into it's face plate, denting the tough alloy, causing the Knight to crumble into a heap, before disappearing into a stream of data.
Nodding at his brother, Phil clasped hands with Josh, as his older brother hefted him, spinning in a circle, as Phil began to float above the ground.
Timing it correctly, Josh threw Phil like an arrow, his aim true, into a horde of the creatures. Cheering at his successful throw, Josh had no idea of the Lance Knight behind him, as it impaled him with it's sword, causing him to fizzle out of the existence of the simulation.
Phil stood in the horde of the creatures, firing his rifle at the hording robots, many of them falling to his relentless surge of bullets. Looking over, he watched as Josh de-materialized from the simulation. Locking up, he turned to his enemies, as he froze up.
Even though he knew his brother was still alive, he couldn't help but feel trapped, alone, completely vulnerable. Closing his eyes, the Knights grew ever closer, their orange energy blades ready to dissect him. Throwing his rifle aside, he clenched his fists, waiting for his release.
Time seemed to slow for Phil, as he realized it was his hesitations that had killed Coldwell in that mission all those years ago, and it was the one that had proven an issue under Blaine's orders during the Covenant War. He relied way too heavily on his older brother for guidance, yet claimed he was the more mature of them.
It was then that he felt a fire burning within his stomach. As he recalled all of his greatest failures, the fire was only stoked, until the inferno swarmed to every muscle in his body. He didn't care who or what, but he was going to hit something or someone, and he was going to make it count.
The Knight in front of him swung it's blade down towards him. Morgan and Blaine watching from the observatory, Morgan somewhat expecting the simulation to be over before it started.
Phil had other plans.
Catching the blade with his left hand, Phil smirked beneath his visor at the Knight, before grasping the base of the blade with his right arm. Yanking with all of his might, the sword detached, as the Knight exploded in a brilliant white light and data particles. Hefting the sword, Phil turned in a complete circle, slashing at whatever Knights came into it's path, the Promethean's blade slicing through them faster than warm butter.
At the stop of his spin, he threw the blade over his head and straight into the chest of a Knight Commando. Rushing towards the nearest Knight, Phil struck his fist deep into it's chest, before swiveling on his heels and punching the ground, the Knight still attached.
On contact with the flawless flooring beneath them, the Knight dissipated from his hand, as he jumped backwards and over the thrust of a Lance Knight. Stepping on the back of it's knee, Phil pulled his pistol from his hip and fired three rounds into the back of it's 'head'.
Diving at it's corpse, he grabbed it's Binary Rifle, before shouldering it almost immediately. Firing point blank into the stomach of the Commander before him, the shot went through the Battlewagon and Knight behind it, all three of them dissipating into nothing.
It continued like this for a brief half hour, until Blaine finally stopped the simulation himself. Folding his arms over his chest, he smirked towards Morgan, who stared in awe and pride at Phil, his biggest concern.
"You see, Pops?" Blaine asked, as Morgan smiled proudly. "Phil is more than capable of fighting his battles. He just needed to discover his fight part of his fight or flight instinct-."
Phil stood there, fists clenched as he breathed heavily, staring up towards the window, Morgan glancing down at him with a wide grin.
"-He's a helluva soldier." Morgan finished.
