Gods Have Been Watching

[DarkPhoenix141]

(As if the title wasn't an indicator, this story will be filled to the brim with Gods Will Be Watching references, because I love that game. This won't have any chapters [Or few if I get tired of writing, like this one for example] because that defeats the point of this being a chronicle of this specific character, just roll with it.)

Liam stood against a wall gasping for air, the situation was enough to bring the calmest zoltan to his knees, hails of bullets impacted the walls at the intersection between the two hallways, a select few zoltan soldiers left the cover of the hallway, none survived. Thousands of thoughts ran through Liam's mind, the briefing had been short and to the point: A group of humans have taken hostages in an orbital laboratory, take them out with as few casualties as possible. These lead to many more thoughts: What faction are they from? Rebels maybe, but they would come in force, without the leisure of hostages. Liam took a few potshots at the doorway, which was blocked by a filing cabinet prevent in from closing, one man took cover behind the filing cabinet, two others on the walls on the sides of the door, another in the open taking potshots at anyone that moved. Liam stayed close to the wall as he moved to a piece of cover halfway between the end of the wall, and the room with the terrorists. A few zoltan moved out but were taken out in a hail of gunfire. Liam peaked up to take a shot at the hooded men, and in a flash of purple his head came off as a result of a plasma shotgun blast. A horde of zoltan forces entered in response in a hail of green lasers the terrorists were pinned down. The room soon fell deathly silent as the zoltan decided not to press their advantage. "Burden, you good?" shouted one terrorist to his companion on the opposite side of the door, "Yeah, I'm fine, Briggs you good?" shouted the terrorist on the left side of the door to the terrorist hiding behind the cabinet "Yup, perfectly fine here, Griffin I assume you're fine?" he said to the terrorist on the right side of the door "Yup, what about Phoenix?" he said, the fourth terrorist lying motionless on the floor, he lazily said "I'm good, barely". As zoltan security forces began assaulting room Phoenix grabbed a random scientist of the four huddled against the wall, handcuffed him and held a pistol to his head, shouting "YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP AND THIS ONE DIES!!" at the security team, who immediately backed off to the two hallways, taking cover away from the intersection. The team opened fire against the zoltan team, killing a few and causing an ion explosion, the corpses of the zoltan were immediately present despite the blasts. Soon a man came out of the room at the end of the lab, the break room, four zoltan scientists cowering against the wall. Phoenix rose and stood in front of the man in his grey-blue t-shirt under a fashionable white suit that earned him the nickname "Elvis in space", Burden rose similarly and hooked up his hacking interface pad to a wire leading to one of the two large monitors, he made it show the net-security and the leftmost one show the progress of the analyses of the database, he began to maintain net security as the zoltan tech-guy began to intrude on the hacking of their database. "We've got company!" Briggs shouted as he saw the zoltan security team begin entering the hallway, Phoenix looked at a hostage "Leon, the hostages are secured!", Leon calmly spoke at the team in response "Good work guys. Attention everyone, may I have you attention for a minute? This siege is an act on behalf of the UPF. You are being held as our guests until we can retrieve your outstanding research on biological anomalies and viruses. Seriously good job on the crap. Briggs, Griffin, you're on shooting duty, don't let those damn guards get anywhere near us", Briggs immediately responded "Got it", Leon continued, "Burden, keep the net stable while I hack the database, if that tech guy gets anything done, you need to fix it" Burden looked up from his pad and calmly responded "They won't see us coming", Leon smiled and continued "And you, Phoenix, keep the hostages in check and aid Briggs in the negotiations, make sure Burden does his job too" Phoenix calmly responded with a smirk on his face, hidden by the mask that covered his mouth and nose "My pleasure". Leon tore his suit off and sat down with a wire hooked into his brain, he began searching for the research in the database. Phoenix knew what to do, he had been in the situation before, keep the hostages quiet and project a character on them, make them think you're someone you're not, that keeps them in check for a short while, he knew exactly what to say meanwhile Burden took his hood off but kept the mask on, while the rest of the team kept the black hood, black mask and black cape and brown baggy shirt and pants on, as did Phoenix. He took a hostage and handcuffed him and held a pistol to his head, shouting at the guards to get back, while Briggs peaked up from his cover to see, the guards stopped moving and retreated again, Briggs nodded in approval. Phoenix replaced the hostage and retook his cuffs back, and continued to stare at the confused hostages, who kept silent. "You're still one of the best, even with that arm" Briggs said in reply and Phoenix took his right arm out of it's sleeve revealing it to be a robotic replacement, and he clenched his fist to test it, then replacing the sleeve.

The situation stayed the same, the guards didn't move and Burden kept the network in check, however one hostage spoke, "He's distracted...", Phoenix kicked him and brought him to the front with Briggs, yelling at the guards to back off. They didn't, Phoenix leveled his pistol and fired at the security team, Briggs and Griffin opened fire as well, a few green lasers went high over Briggs' shoulders, he gunned down the aggressors before reloading, the hostages cowered and trembled from the gunfight. Phoenix let them speak (But only to him) for a minute calming them. The "conversation" was brief, but the hostages looked calm to know that the terrorists had the souls not to just kill them off, of course Phoenix constantly reinforced that wasn't the case, and that if they died him and his team would die, causing them to be nothing more the necessities and resources, nothing more. Soon Briggs noticed a few guards moving up on the team and he opened fire, a short firefight ensued, forcing Phoenix over to maintain the situation, Griffin opening fire in bursts every now and again while Briggs gunning down any aggressive soldiers, Phoenix taking potshots at the guards. Briggs reloaded and calmly spoke "Two hostiles down", the hostages remained calm, but a select few were nervous, knowing terrorists, they probably would either kill them now, or when they're done with whatever they're doing. One hostage got up and prepared to assault Phoenix, however Phoenix hit him with his rifle butt, and rolled him back into line with the other hostages. However the two large screens went red with a large red "WARNING" on them Leon clenched his fists and groaned with pain while Burden furiously and nervously tried to regain control of the network. Soon Phoenix had to tell him to kick the zoltan tech guy off the network and Burden obeyed, he responded relieved and gasping for air "Fixed. Sorry Phoenix, this tech guy is good, remind me to reinforce the security every now and again okay?" Phoenix walked over to Briggs, but he heard a hostage whispering to another hostage "Our database is too well protected" and he walked over there, yelling at the hostage to shut up and not to try anything, with more vulgarity and screaming.

Phoenix walked over to Leon, "Progress?" He inquired, Leon was too busy rummaging through files for the specific files he wanted, "Good, we scanned 50 hard drives, nothing so far that we need" Leon replied, Phoenix returned to Briggs and Griffin, who were talking about their escape plan once the search for the research is complete, Phoenix calmly ordered "Open fire" and Griffin and Briggs opened fire on the security force moving in at the group, who made significant progress while they weren't looking, the firefight was brief and the two soldiers that moved up were gunned down and killed. Phoenix looked at the monitor and saw the security was degrading, and shouted at Burden "Reinforce the security NOW", Burden nodded and with a few beeps of the touch-pad the security raised back to 100%. A long period of silence ensued, between both the hostages, who exchanged uneasy glances between each other, and the terrorists who remained silent in general. Briggs took a few potshots at the passing guards, warding them off. "Hey, Burden get a camera up, I need some eyes in the corridor" Phoenix said "Got it" Burden said in response, a few gunshots rang out, rattling a few hostages, as Briggs engaged a few zoltan security soldiers that closed on their position. "We need to negotiate now, they're not stopping" Briggs said, breaking his silence, Griffin took a few potshots at the guards taking cover in the hallways going left and right, while Phoenix moves over to the hostage, "You're going to be fine, you here me" he said to one of the hostage, however a few zoltan opened fire causing a hail of green lasers of untold numbers that forced the Hostages to the ground, and Phoenix to crouch down, "WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!" shouted one of the hostages "NO YOU'RE NOT! WE NEED YOU ALIV-" Phoenix's shout was interrupted by a laser whizzing across his hood causing him to crawl over to the right side door for cover, the trio of gunners traded shots with the zoltan security force, Briggs in the middle of the chaos shouts at Phoenix "THEY HAVE RIOT SHIELDS! JUST STAY DOWN!", Griffin pops a grenade near one of the shielded groups, it explodes however it causes the corridor to fill with fire from the grenade that causes a large flash of flame to against the entrance to the room, the windows in the corridor a cracked but unbroken. "Next time just shoot the windows out! Or just light the place on fire that works too!" Phoenix yelled, angered by the event. The hostages sit up, rattled and terrified but the uneasiness is broken by Leon's voice "WE GOT IT'S LET'S MOVE!" everyone drops everything but Phoenix, who brings a hostage with him at gunpoint, they move back to a ladder and the zoltan security forces breach the room, a standoff ensues however Phoenix moves up the ladder with the hostage, the guards uneasy. Phoenix takes a potshot at the guards and kills one, the resulting explosion clipped Phoenix's knee, Briggs who had been in the situation before knew it stung and burnt like hell. At the top of the ladder as they move to the airlock a stun grenade pops up and three zoltan guards and one with a shield open fire and confusion ensues, Burden stands closest to the airlock with Leon, Griffin crouches next to Phoenix, who is on the ground with his hostage opening fire with his pistol, and Briggs lays on the ground shooting with his rifle. "Griffin MOVE NOW!" Phoenix shouted over the firefight "Not leaving you here!" Griffin replied in his trademark British accent, equally anxious about the situation "EH! BURDEN GET OVER HERE!" Griffin shouted to Burden, who ran over shooting at the guards. "I thought they wouldn't see us coming" Griffin said, joking in the chaos "Well they saw us coming, sorry bout that" Burden responded. "IF YOU SHOOT THIS ONE DIES!" Yelled Phoenix, his voice ended the conflict and the team retreated, weapons raised in the direction of the guards, the retreated to the airlock and closed the doors. "Alright, get in your suits" Leon said, putting a proper suit for space travel on, as the rest of the crew did, the group of five open the airlock and the zoltan hostage flies off into space, the zoltan security crew breached the airlock causing them to fly out, soon the terrorist team halted themselves near a dropship, which opens it's doors for them. They enter the ship and after going through the lock, take their suits off and pick a bench and relax, Burden breaks the silence "Mission accomplished I guess" Phoenix follows "Tell me we got it all" Leon sits while the others lay down, holding a USB Drive, he moves a bit of his blonde hair out of his eyes and smiles "We did, we got it".

The ship lands at a deserted and grey planet, the team enters a cave that is littered with computers, notes, hard drives and maps. A man is sitting at a computer with three large monitors who stands up in the presence of the team "Good to see you guys" he said, Phoenix responds first "Good to see you Adrian", Leon walks over to the computer and sits down, he brings up a map of a planet with the geographical coordinates in green on the top right, the blue rotating simulation of the planet in the center and a lot of of data on the bottom right and top left, and the bottom left showing drop coordinates. The team automatically knew that they were going back to the field and Leon's briefing backed that thought up "We need to get these fed researcher's research on biological anomalies there" Phoenix stood arms crossed and spoke what the team thought "That's a horrible explanation, why?" Leon faced him and spoke like no one would understand "Trust me on this, what they have will help us tremendously" Phoenix looked uneasily at Briggs, then looked back "If it helps us. Do it".

Within the hour they were aboard the dropship to Vinoscis, armed and uniformed. They landed just twenty minutes out from the cave laboratory, Adrian, Briggs, Griffin, Burden and Phoenix all hooded and uniformed, with rifles loaded to match, Leon stood in his baggy tan pants and blue-grey shirt, he wore a coat over it because of the planet's generally cold climate. They moved quietly through the woods until they reached an entrance to the cave, two soldiers in the Federation's trademark white grey and blue colors, they talked for a minute, one flicked a cigarette, then they went inside. Briggs moved first into the cave followed shortly by Phoenix and Adrian, then Leon, then Burden. Briggs entered the room and got the attention of the soldiers and shot two five round bursts into each, a third soldier in the corner dropped his laser rifle "Smart move, get over with the scientists" Briggs said, the soldier walks over with the scientists, who exchange uneasy glances. Leon begins talking "Good evening ladies, gentlemen, keep calm because we are not here to hurt you, continue your research and give it to us when you're done and no harm will come to you okay?", the scientists exchange more uneasy glances but sit, Leon stands next to the computer and begins issuing orders,

"Briggs, you're on lookout, if the feds show up, take them down.

"Got it"

"Phoenix, Adrian, keep the hostages down, don't let them make a run for the distress beacon"

"Roger"

"Burden, keep the distress beacon from relaying and help me retrieve their research"

"Sounds good"

Leon sits down at the computer and Adrian forces the scientists to continue working, while the engineers, doctors and soldier are just sitting around in control of Adrian and Phoenix. One of the doctors examines Phoenix's rifle, unique in multiple respects, it was a black block with an oval curved top piece for movement, a long barrel, and at the bottom of the blocky center piece was two slanted rectangular pieces at the corners. the result is V with a flat vertex and at the top a straight line, the magazine was large, about the size the holder's hand, with glass near the edges for visible info on how much ammo is within the magazine, along with a LED counter on the end of the curved top piece showing 32 bullets at max, the stock looked similar to an ancient M16 stock, albeit thicker. She looked on at Phoenix who inspected his rifle, Adrian patrolled around the hostages uneasily and at Leon, who hacked while the scientists worked, she took notice when Phoenix lit a cigarette and sat down next to her. "Is it bad if I smoke in here?" Phoenix said, through his cigarette the doctor replied with wariness "No, so long as we have vents or an opening we should be fine", Phoenix nodded and puffed, while Briggs crossed his arms and legs and laid down, obviously tired because he had the bad job. Adrian ordered a few of the doctors over to help with the research, which was progressing fast, while Leon accessed and copied their files, the research was progressing faster due to both the encouragement by rifle to the head, and due to the limitation of what they wanted, which was biological anomalies for viruses such as Virum-364, statistics stated that research would only take a few hours, but the hostages were calm, the feds unaware, few things could go wrong, Phoenix put his cigarette out and fell asleep, knowing this could take a while.

Phoenix awoke to a boot in the chest "Rise and shine Phoenix, this is almost over" Adrian said, obviously annoyed by having to calm and intimidate the hostages by himself, Leon got up with excitement and shouted "We've done it boys! We are one step closer!" Phoenix was surprised by the quick nature of the mission, both in it's inception as a briefing, and in it's ending. The happiness was ended by a federation soldier entering the room with a guard of soldiers "Let's cut the small talk and threats, surrender now" the captain said, however a brief gunfight ensued that caused the death of the soldiers, causing a valiant and cowardly soldier to toss tear gas, with a gas mask on two federation troopers run into the gas, only to have Phoenix unload a clip into them with his pistol and exit the smoke , then Adrian and Burden came out, then Briggs and Griffin. Burden and Phoenix on their knees coughing and sweating, Adrian crouching coughing and Griffin and Briggs standing coughing "Where's... Where's Leon?" Phoenix said through the coughing and sweating "I dunno... Thought he was with you" Briggs said coughing as well. Soon the hostages came out, all 15 of them, coughing. "Well... This is just great... What now?" Said one of the scientists, Phoenix, still on his knees looked at them over his shoulder states clearly and bluntly "Like it or not, we're in this together, we need to set up camp and get a signal out, get us out of here" everyone looked uneasy at each other, looking like they'd much rather be stranded on a deserted and frozen planet with someone else.

Briggs cut a log down and placed it in a rocky bonfire, lighting with one of Phoenix's cigarettes, which would allow them to survive a few nights, Adrian and Griffin hunted a few buffalo like creatures and birds, enough to feed the entire camp for a night, Burden spent the day trying to get a signal out, and Phoenix spent the day cooking and hunting, while the rest of the crew went about their random tasks of helping one person or the other, most rested or cooked. The female doctor walked up to Phoenix, her blonde hair covering her face "Hey" Phoenix looks at her, sharpening his knife for hunting and skinning, he looked up from his task. "Hey" She sighed and closed her eyes, and looked at him nervously "I'm Sarah" Phoenix stopped sharpening his knife and looked at her "Hello Sarah, well met" she sat down next to him "So... If we get out of this would you like to... Go out some time?" she said, sheepishly "I can't... I'm married" she looked both embarrassed and confused "Is she used to you doing this sort of thing?" Phoenix smiled like he found out someone was lying about something "Yup, she does it with me sometimes" Sarah did little more then go "Hmm..." and sit there, other then the small talk and the general hustle and bustle of the camp, an awkward silence fell across the fireplace "Maybe you should go and do a check up on people, gives you something helpful to do" Phoenix said and Sarah went off to grab her medical gear, joined by another doctor. Night soon fell and most of the camp ate well, and slept well with the terrorists taking shifts as guards, and a rifle at ready for anyone that could use it.

Days past without incident, until one night Phoenix got up and simply didn't return, until the next morning, where he returned with many of the weird buffalo things, that had a grey and black fur, after skinning one it was revealed it had a brown and black and tan underside that felt the torso of the creature in question, between the two is a liquid soluble, white and powdery fur, making it possible for one side to be drenched and the other side completely dry, with enough hide to make a large tent he did, taking a few wooden stakes and made a large orb out of square pelts, with a few more for blankets and bedding, he then cooked a few meals and took the bloody bones and placed them outside the came, scorching them to scare off some of the wild predators. With enough food to last a few weeks causing a raise in morale, with some glimmer of hope. More days past until finally, the loud hum of a Kestrel Class vessel overhead the landed a few minutes away, that the team boarded.

Phoenix did little more then give the pilot specific coordinates and request to be brought there, where a different Kestrel class vessel waited that the terrorists boarded. A Russian voice came over their earpieces "Well it's good to see you again, how was it spending four weeks on a frozen planet eh?" said the Russian pilot "Kill it Yuri, bring us home" and he did as per normal, with the occasional debate between the pilot and crew but that ended as they landed on the deserted planet, and his ship was in an entrance to the cave on the west side. However this silence of waiting for something to do was interrupted by rumbling, like the cave was about to cave in however as a Burden and Briggs left the cave, they saw it was a Federation cruiser firing an ASB down onto the world at the team and dispatching a few dropships with squads of troops to hunt them down, Yuri picked up Briggs, Adrian and Griffin, but Burden and Phoenix were running from the ASB fire, Burden went ahead of Phoenix to reach the agreed upon LZ until an ASB shot landed near him, knocking him to the ground in a cloud of smoke. "BURDEN! HOLD ON!" Shouted a voice from the clouds Burden was barely conscious from the blast, but he recognized the voice, Phoenix was coming to help him, through the smoke his suspicions were confirmed, Phoenix wasn't going to leave him behind and he picked Burden up and started running with him on his shoulder, it took a while but soon he could see the Kestrel Class cruiser, "The Raven" overhead, which landed and picked the duo up. Aboard The Raven things were bad, with a cruiser on them they needed to take it down, Phoenix came to a plan.

Utilizing the cruiser's four Burst Laser Mk. 2 they would engage the engines and then the weapons, from there they would ignore the systems and fire on the hull itself which would render the vessel inoperable for a good period of time, letting Adrian line up a shot with his high power rifle to find and destroy the cruisers weak spot created by lasers. So they began, moving dodging the large beams and heavy lasers, taking distracting potshots on the cruiser, until finally they fired, knocking the tier 3 shields out and rendering it's weapons inoperable, and engaging the engines making it a sitting duck. "Move around the ship, see if you can find a weak point!" Adrian yelled from the open cargo door to Griffin, who was relaying the requests. Yuri continually took potshots at the armor until the ship was bleeding fire from it's fuel lines and the ship's engines were dying, and Yuri assaulted the engines and bottom rear of the ship until Adrian scanned and found access to the reactor, destroying it would destroy the ship, Adrian took the shot and it pierced the armor, running through a worker in the core and impacting a coolant line and breaking the glass and hitting the core, causing it to overload and fill the ship with fire and vaporizing the rooms above and below the reactor core, the cruiser fell to the ground and crumbled.

"Well, where now?" Phoenix inquired, because of the destruction of their current HQ

"I know a place, were you can hide until this whole thing blows over" Yuri said in response.

"Where?"

"A refugee camp, hidden on a deserted planet outside of Federation controlled space, and the rebels tend to just leave it alone, nothing there of interest I guess"

"I guess we already chose a side, get us there if you can"

Yuri took them to the planet, dodging or destroying the automated rebel scouts and once they landed, it looked like a homeless camp with a slight prison feel, almost everyone noticed it, except Yuri, who answered the question they all thought.

"A refugee camp, for those who just want to out wait this bloody war"

Armed PMCs walked about the camp, they said nothing and did nothing, just walked around looking for something. But Phoenix noticed a face immediately, he walked over to a stranger wearing a familiar shirt and pants, he turned him around by the shoulder and saw Leon, who didn't look much different "Phoenix, you look like hell" he said "Well, that's deserved. What happened back there on Vinoscis? Where did you go?"

"I went left and got out through a ladder, and managed to get to a dropship that brought me here, where I made and met a friend of Yuri's, Nikolai"

Yuri walked over with a smile on his face as another less husky individual with a noticeable earpiece and scar across his cheek walked over "Phoenix have you met my friend Nikolai?" Yuri said jollily, Phoenix stood warily "No, but Leon told me about him"

"Eh, I hear you are man of action, can you do something a little... Drastic for me?" Nikolai asked, trying his hardest not to offend Phoenix on accident, Phoenix loosened himself "What?" Nikolai walked off to an empty briefing room, a large monitor showing the coordinates of a planet unconsciously known by Phoenix Nikolai broke the silence "I sent a team over to this location to find the source of a signal here, they never returned"

"How many?"

"20 Men breaching the facility itself, 10 men on backup, none returned"

"What are we looking at?"

"We call it Codename: Prospect"

Phoenix sighed and spoke softly and calmly "Get Yuri ready, let's go"

2 Hours later The Raven breached the atmosphere and the cargo bay door opened, Adrian, Briggs, Griffin, Burden and Phoenix stood in it, hunched over to prevent from falling, seemingly randomly the team prepared to jump, Burden and Phoenix slid down while everyone else simply jumped. The Raven pulled up when Yuri' voice came over the earpiece "I'll see you at the LZ. 12 Hours". Briggs, Burden and Phoenix look up over the dunes, Burden taking notice of a few shards of a large boulder Phoenix attempted to speak softly "We've been here before" Briggs looked at Phoenix's bionic arm "No shit". The group trekked for miles until they crested a hill and a large walled structure was in sight. In the center a large spire and many courtyards and buildings, with multiple back alleys, making it almost impossible for any security detail to patrol it without risk, the walls were lined with graffiti tags and the entrance was dusted and the metal rusted, the barbed wire was coated liberally in blood and obvious signs of a firefight such as bullet holes and blood stains, a hole at the top of the wall with a blood trail running across it and blood trails running up and over the walls indicated the mission failed before it even began, or something else. The winds blew sand everywhere and Phoenix slid down the small hill to inspect the blood. The splatters indicated that someone was moving fast up the wall, something a normal man just couldn't do, there were also similar signs at the base of the wall, as if something carried or jumped up the wall with a bleeding corpse, there were no obvious shell casings or bullets dug into the sand, nor were there any laser or plasma burns. Phoenix ran up the wall and grabbed onto a pike where the barbed wire was implanted into the wall and found that at the bottom, a few corpses that were bloodied, mutilated or simply dead from the fall, one corpse was little more then the top half above the hip, the the rest no where to be seen, the other corpse was pale like he had been there for a while, a large pool of blood was a round him and he looked like he had been torn by the barbed wire when he was forced over the wall, the final corpse had seemed to have died from the fall, there was little blood around him and one arm was bent the way no arm should be bent, Phoenix climbed down to meet with his colleagues after inspecting the incident.

"Something bad happened here" Phoenix said, looking grim "How do we get in there?" Adrian said looking frustrated and confused, but Phoenix simply walked off to the wall and went left, motioning for his team to follow him. Soon enough they were looking at a hole in the wall, clean of blood and with the hole large enough to climb up from the bottom of it, "Damn, I guess that's our entrance" Briggs said, his arms crossed. Phoenix went over to the wall and jumped up it and crouched, Adrian ran up and Phoenix pulled him up with his bionic arm, repeating the process for the rest of the team, with that step done they dropped into the dark facility behind two large silos, hidden in the shadows. A brief scream followed by gunfire indicated that either they weren't alone, or that the automated security came online, Phoenix made a hand signal that indicated he would volunteer to take point, weapons raised they went through the shallow opening between the silos, one at the time. At the end was duel parallel walls which were extremely short, revealing a large rectangular courtyard with AIUs roaming about, white flood lights lighting large portions of the courtyard as a whole. Out of no where from a back alley between the courtyard and the only exit ran a man, unarmed and terrified, a few turrets and AIUs opened fire, killing him "Ballistic weaponry, that's new" Phoenix said, calm despite the incident "Yeah, most turrets run bullets for some reason, guess it's easier to build" Briggs said calmly, behind Phoenix who crouched down, Letting Briggs peer overhead. Phoenix froze and the rest of the team hit the deck behind Briggs when and AIU turned it's camera to the entrance, it stood there for a moment before going into search move, luckily ignoring the crew and analyzing the courtyard instead. Phoenix inspected it for a minute, it had a glorified security camera on it's head as a scanner, three rectangular and thin metal rods being used as supports for the neck while a larger rectangular block took the center, this design followed each limb, the center had a relative V shape for the upper torso, which devolved into three metal rods going from bottom to hip on the front and back, with smaller metallic tubes running coolant or wires through to the hips and center, which contained the A.I. module.

[Tharsis]

Do these characters have anything to do with the Engi Conspiracy topic? I wasn't sure, they seemed similar, but still acted a bit differently.

[DarkPhoenix141]

Do these characters have anything to do with the Engi Conspiracy topic? I wasn't sure, they seemed similar, but still acted a bit differently.

They are the same people almost exactly, I set this a few weeks after the final event in the Engi Conspiracy giving me a little leeway to do something original.

Next chapter will be written sometime today or tomorrow.

[Tharsis]

A new event happened. The Engi lost most of their offensive fleet to the CSS Orion and some space mines.

[DarkPhoenix141]

(And here it is)

Chapter 2: Learn more about the one who watch us all.

Phoenix looked over his own shoulder in to consult with Briggs "How do we kill him?" Briggs spoke between clenched teeth "Head or upper chest, be silent and fast, those turrets will mess you up if you fail. Got it?" Phoenix nodded with approval "Got it, Adrian, Burden, hug the walls and look for turrets, Briggs Griffin keep lookout while I take that guy out." Everyone nodded, knowing their tasks, Briggs and Griffin stood on the left and right of the AIU while Adrian and Burden scanned the visible area for turrets. Phoenix stood hunched over and soon wrapped is arm around the neck of the AIU and his knife into the upper chest of the bot, and pulling it's corpse to the shadow of the rightmost wall. "Target down, anything?" Phoenix said to Burden, who occupied the right wall "One on the water tower just left of the house at the end of the right wall, another on the house by the alley that the soldier came from" Burden said, as if he was ready to, as he would've put it "Do this" with the look he always got when a successful terrorist attack went through. "Well, how do we get out of here" Briggs said concerned about the turrets, Phoenix looked at the wall just a few feet behind Burden, "There we go, over the wall" he said whispering to avoid attracting any more AIUs or worse, the turrets. The team gather around the wall and jumped into another courtyard just right what seemed like a makeshift barracks formed from a house, floodlights lighting the courtyard, making it impossible to move without detection from a turret. "Maybe the house somehow?" Adrian said, inspecting the window "Too noisy. And the floodlights are on the door Hmm... Let's hug the houses on the south wall and head for the gate on the east side in front of us. Make sense" Phoenix said, pointing at a gate. directly in front of them, which looked weathered and rusted covered in graffiti tags and blood smears. The team moved in single file hugging the wall, keeping an eye on the turrets and flood lights, Phoenix and Briggs sweating with anxiety. However before long they were at the open part of the gate and were able to use it as cover and exit into a new but dark courtyard, on the north wall there was an open gate with light flooding out. "What the..." Burden said looking puzzled "Let's see what's going on out there" Phoenix whispered, calmly, moving to the gate and peering out to get a visual on the entirely lit courtyard, occupied by PMC soldiers that looked like Nikolai's men, and Federation soldiers of unknown purpose.

"Federation soldiers... What are they doing here?" Adrian said in a whisper, "I have my thoughts. Let's move" Phoenix whispered as he moved out the gate, making sure to stay low and out of the fenced yard, that was entirely lit by floodlights on the rooftops, safe for the sides of several buildings. "Hug the west side walls, there's a building north side that has what we need, let's go" Phoenix whispered to Briggs, who passed it on to the rest of the team. The team stayed in single file walking slowly hunched over, against the wall, trying to avoid the floodlights and soldiers until they reached the supposed security room's door. "We need to get this open, and fast" Griffin whispered calmly, putting his ear to the grey metal door "Crowbar..." Briggs said through clenched teeth, anxiously, Adrian broke the silence "I got a blowtorch, we can melt the hinges" with a nod of approval from the team he got to work melting the hinges and over the course of half a minute completed the job, the team uneasily walked into the main room, preparing to go up the stairs. With an uneasy nod the team walked up the the two sets of stairs and quietly dispatched the soldier working with the security panels, with two large monitors for cameras out of view of the courtyard, the glass window in the room was a functional monitor, complete with zoom capability. "Burden, hack their server" Phoenix said as Burden hooked his PDA up, "Two servers, one is just some random the other is a... Federation Server" Burden said with slight shock.Burden took control of the cameras while the rest of the team looked eagerly to whoever was coming to meet the PMC Commander. Briggs looked in shock as a Federation officer walked in "Is that a..." "It is... A Federation officer... What is he doing here" Griffin said angrily, Phoenix shushed them as the officer shook the hand of the PMC Commander

"Good evening sir, I understand you have information on a possible rebel settlement" The officer started

"I do, and we have the chemical weapons to destroy it"

"What's the catch?"

"You look the other way about us having chemical weapons and give us some cash money for our services"

"I like that deal, but before I make any decisions you have to explain the chemical weapon exactly, symptoms and such"

"Bloody coughing, weak muscles, nausea, vomiting, pupil dilation and numbness, death results in 10-30 hours"

"Hmm... How much money do you want?"

"2,000,000,000 credits and enough scrap metal to build 200 Class A warships, I'll send you the blueprints later"

"That's a lot of cash and a lot of scrap"

"We take all the risk and you get all the glory. And the sweet bonus that comes with destroying a rebel facility. The Federation is dying, you need the glory and the money when everything goes to hell"

"... Fine"

"A quick negotiation eh? I'd thought you'd haggle a little bit more"

"I will, 2 Billion credits? Quite a lot for launching a terrorist act completely ignored by the Federation"

"I understand that, but as my boss would put it, It it's not a matter of what our services are worth, it's a matter of what we need. I don't necessarily agree with that idealism but he is who I work for and with, I have to listen to him"

The duo walks over to a corner where the team was just hiding, Burden taps into the camera on the corner, the voice of the PMC Commander ran on first, as if he was speaking for a while.

"...He won't let me tell you that. In case someone is here"

"Haha... Well who does he work for, work with?

"Again can't tell you that. In case someone lived to hear this"

"No one should have, why did he send the team anyways? To kill me, us?"

"Nikolai wouldn't let him just go himself, he wanted to make sure all our bases were covered"

"Not like he created more problems for you"

"And you, blackmail is extremely easy when you win either way"

"And when you were there and with the man you sent him to kill in the first place"

"Hahahahaha."

"So. Where is this rebel base you talk of?"

"Sector 89-2 Paxa. Abandoned completely except for the rebels here and there, most people are civilian soldiers, militia fighting on behalf of the rebels"

"How does this help us then? You do know I have the best interests of the Federation at heart"

"You do know that's bullcrap and lies right?"

"Granted..."

The team stood in awe as Burden tried to hack into a new camera, uneasiness filled the air as open mouths continued to try to recall what was happening, Phoenix broke the silence "Paxa 89-2... That's the refugee camp." Briggs spoke in both shock and anger "And Nikolai... He betrayed us?" Phoenix's eyes widened and his pupils dilated, "They're going to bomb the camp... Dear god..." however as they began to talk again Burden hacked a new camera, and the Fed Commander's voice began again

"So. It's agreed upon, 1,000,000 credits and enough scrap for 900 Class A warships or what design again?"

"Have you heard of the United Phoenix Federation?"

"A thorn in our side we'll destroy if we get the chance"

Phoenix stood there seething with anger, Briggs was equally angry, but he hid it

"Yes well, their Venix Class Custom warships are required if they want to survive, wars and terrorism are becoming ever present on their new homeworld"

"Hahahaha. I give them a month or a year before they all die, if the rebels or federation don't get them, starvation, their leader's suicidal tendencies or one of their other many enemies will. Soon they'll be at our doorstep begging for forgiveness, or death, or both"

Phoenix cocked a pistol and began to walk out the door, grunting with rage, Briggs put his hand on his shoulder and held him back as Burden hacked a new camera, with the commander talking first again.

"So, I should be going, any other instructions?"

"Transfer the funds to this specific account and send all the scrap to a specific location, exactly"

"Obviously if you're boss wants to keep this all a secret"

The duo went their separate ways, the Commander into a repainted Federation scout, and the Federation Officer into the one of the cars in a Federation convoy, and drove off into the morning light. Phoenix broke his own silence and the silence in the room "We need to go, Adrian can you get us transport?" Adrian spoke softly and calmly as per normal "I will, I'll bring it to the courtyard, stay here if you can" the team nodded as Adrian walked down the stairs, calmly. The team waited for thirty minutes until Adrian's calm voice came over the radio "Got a car, ETA two mikes" Burden, Briggs and Phoenix looked at each other while Griffin sat sleeping "What took you so long?" Adrian took a second to respond "Security protocols on high alert and the Federation was making a go for it, took me a while to even find a vehicle" Phoenix stood uneasily, but soon Shepard broke through into the courtyard killing the few PMCs still there, Briggs jumped through the window, soon the rest of the team followed, and soon they drove into the lit desert.

"Yuri we need an evac ASAP" Griffin said, standing up in the back with his finger on his ear "Of course ETA thirty mikes, any obstructions?" Yuri said "Yeah, we need to handle some business, okay?" Phoenix said, setting a new objective for his crew. "So... Who we after" Briggs said, looking at Phoenix suspiciously he responded "That Federation commander. Lives are at stake here, we can't just let him get away with this" Everyone looked at each other, Adrian turned into where he saw the Federation convoy leaving, and over the course of twenty minutes they traveled across the dunes until they saw the convoy Griffin and Burden opened fire, While Adrian drove and Briggs prepped to help Phoenix assassinate the officer. "Once you jump onto the roof, I'll toss you your gun, take that bastard out" Phoenix nodded and jumped from the Jeep to the Humvee-esque vehicle, Briggs tossed him his rifle and Phoenix jumped onto the hood and shot the driver one of the guards and the Commander, before tossing a grenade into the window and jumping back onto the jeep, while Griffin and Burden opened covering fire.

The silence was deafening, aside from the occasional scuffle (That Adrian would ignore) no one spoke until they reach The Raven, when Yuri asked them a question that no one knew how to answer "Did you see any Federation soldiers?" everyone looked uneasy, Yuri could easily be in on it, or he could just be asking a harmless question, they needed an answer, Phoenix spoke up "None that we saw, there could have been but... We didn't see any" Yuri smiled and spoke "Good. Get some rest boys, you'll need it" everyone went to their bunks, Burden slept above Griffin, Briggs above Phoenix and Adrian by himself. Phoenix had a strange dream that night: He awoke in a field sleeping with his legs spread out against a tree, a familiar women in a hood with blonde hair sat on her knees next to him, Phoenix was sweating despite the cool breeze and soft grass, a familiar bronze city in the distance, the woman sat smiling, Phoenix was gasping for air, but the woman kept on smiling, occasional stroking his hair or moving the hood he wore "W-Where am I?" Phoenix said, slightly trembling, the woman took the hood of and started stroking his hair "You're home" Phoenix got up and the woman sat on her side seductively as Phoenix wandered to the bronze but familiar city, the glowing words on the entrance said "Machina Legion" and Phoenix started gasping again. He walked through the city, many merchants spoke to him, generally compliments or simple statements of how his presence honors them, until he sees a man and several soldiers on a street corner, the man is familiar, his name tag on his outfit read "Micheal Graves" and as he finished his cigarette, the world dissipated into a sandstorm on a familiar planet, and Phoenix passed out. He awoke with a strange man or creature standing next to him, wearing a skullcap and a pair of goggles that formed a rectangle across his face, with a mask covering his mouth, two others like him stood while he sat on his knees next to Phoenix, and spoke words that Phoenix had heard before "Maybe you'll learn more about the one's who watch us all..." he then stood looking down at Phoenix "Gods have been watching" and he and his company walked off into the storm and dissipated into grey and black smoke, leaving Phoenix in the storm.

Phoenix awoke gasping and heavily breathing and sweating, Briggs looked over his bed to see Phoenix sitting on the edge of the bed "You okay?" Phoenix spoke through heavy breaths "Yeah... I'll... I'll be fine" he walked into the hallway, put his uniform on and slept by the door, his arms and legs crossed.

[DarkPhoenix141]

Chapter 3: Whatever Means Necessary.

Briggs, Griffin and Burden stood over the sleeping Phoenix, who laid in full uniform, arms and legs crossed like he had a problem and just didn't care, the team of three looked at each other, both amused and concerned, Briggs tapped him with his foot and Phoenix spoke drowsily "Go away, I'm taking a nap" Briggs looked at Burden who had an idea. Burden kicked Phoenix in the stomach with the force of a prison guard dealing with a restless prisoner, Phoenix laid for a minute on his side holding his stomach his knees pulled up in as a instinct to protect himself from further attack, while Briggs and Griffin looked at Burden, one with irritation and the other with respect. Phoenix rolled onto his stomach and pulled himself up, while Briggs looked at him with a smirk "We're almost back to the camp, c'mon, get up" Briggs motioned for him to get up with his hand, Phoenix constantly wincing Burden looked at him with a terrified look in his eyes "Oh crap did I hurt you?" Phoenix opened his right eye in an attempt to block the pained look from a broken rib in his eyes "Nah... I'll be fine" a brief thud as the ship landed and the exit bay opened, the team of 5 left the ship, only to see Nikolai and Leon a few feet away, Leon smiling. "Glad you came back in one piece" Leon said, a smirk on his face while Briggs and Phoenix exchanged glances, not knowing exactly what to say Leon broke the silence and wariness "Hey we got a surprise for you, now it's a bit... Dramatic but you'll love what it's going to get us, trust me!" Leon ran off happily, his blonde hair bouncing with is run. The team stood still as mercs surrounded them, Nikolai smiling with happiness like he just caught a criminal and the mercs looking like at any moment the team would turn on them, and they would have to shoot them, however Leon returned with a vial and a datapad, showing them both to Phoenix "What's this?" Phoenix said with a look like Leon had just done something terribly wrong "This is a datapad, I've got four cruisers ready to bomb the living hell out of this camp, with chemical weapons" Phoenix looked shocked, he assumed that Leon of all people wouldn't be in on this, Phoenix spoke slowly and warily "What's that vial then..." Leon smiled and held it for others to inspect "The chemical weapon, capable of bombing a large city" everyone's eyes widened in shock of this realization.

Phoenix spoke first breaking the silence "What does this do for us exactly?" Leon put his hand on Phoenix's shoulder "Money, supplies, scrap. All the essentials to make sure we make a comeback. I only want the best for us... For our race. The Rebels have offered their support once we launch the canisters, they want to see them in action. Come with me." Leon walked off motioning for the rest to follow him. They walked for a hundred feet until they reached a bunker, which Leon opened and entered, holding a gas mask "We should be safe here, or we can leave in the Raven, your choice" while he spoke Nikolai and a few PMCs put on gas masks, while Yuri and Nikolai left for the Raven. "Leon, I know you, I know you want what's best, but this isn't the way, far from it as a matter of fact" Phoenix said trying to keep calm and speak slowly, Leon laughed as he responded "Resources and money at the expense of others you don't even know. Who wouldn't take that?" Phoenix and Briggs looked at each other, before Phoenix spoke to negotiate "You're not genocidal... I know you" Leon laughed again, and pulled out a pistol "Are you saying you know me? You're not far off, but you're still wrong" Briggs growled and raised his weapon "TO HELL WITH THIS" he shot two PMCs and Leon escaped before he could stop him, meanwhile Adrian killed the other three PMCs in the room the team pulled out their weapons, raised their masks and exited the room, running to the Raven to stop Leon. Chaos ensued as PMCs opened fire at the fleeing group, Phoenix moved first, Burden behind him Briggs behind him and Adrian and Griffin covering the group, killing any troublesome PMCs while Phoenix kept Leon in sight. "Hold them back!" Phoenix said while he ran into the back cargo door, he was surprised by Nikolai when he leaped from a corner with a knife, however Phoenix stabbed him in the neck, however as he entered the room before the the pilot's room Yuri came out with a rifle and aimed it at Phoenix's neck, forcing Phoenix to grab the barrel and pull it up, before he could level his pistol to Yuri's head and kill him. All while Leon attempted to enter the pilot's room to send the message to launch the attack, Phoenix took potshots with his pistol causing Leon to look at him, giving Phoenix enough time to grapple him and begin punching and kicking. The brawl began, Phoenix kicked and punched while Leon punched kneed and elbowed him, Leon grabbed Phoenix's fist and kneed him in the abdomen, but Phoenix took used his right arm and brought an elbow to his forehead while his guard was down, Leon responded to this by grabbing his right arm and bending it to the right, Phoenix took the opportunity to punch Leon in the chest, causing him to release his grip. The fight continued, Phoenix taking the occasional leftward kick with his right leg, which was blocked by Leon raising his left arm, Phoenix continued to punch Leon in the upper chest and head, with straight punches and uppercuts, until Leon stood against the wall weakened, Phoenix began to strangle him hoping to finish the fight, while Leon beat on Phoenix's arms in an attempt to escape.

"You... Know... Something Phoenix...?" Leon said choking for air, and Phoenix loosened his grip, merely holding him by the neck, moving to the middle of the room "You don't understand what I want to do right?" Leon said, like he just won, Phoenix spoke angrily "You wanted to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and hundreds of your own men." Leon responded calmly and accepting "I don't like it either, but we need to do what we need to do. You never could do what was necessary" the trademark burst of a plasma pistol was heard and Phoenix felt a pain in the middle of his chest, the firing of the pistol occurred four more times and Phoenix collapsed on the floor, bleeding from his chest profusely. Leon held the smoking military grade plasma pistol up that he obtained from his black holster, an obvious sight on his blue-grey shirt and baggy tan pants, Phoenix could barely understand how he missed it,or how he planned to stop him from using it, however as he thought of ways to survive Burden walked in, weapon raised and his eyes down the sights he fired ten shots, and eight missed, Leon took cover behind a wall and took potshots at Burden and Briggs as he entered the room, while the two sides took potshots at each other, Phoenix crawled behind a wall into his room and grabbed a laser pistol, it was weak but would do the job. Phoenix placed his back against the wall to his room and leaped out as Leon shot, injuring him in the shoulder allowing Burden to finish him with a plasma shotgun burst to the stomach Burden spoke angrily "Lights out asshole" Phoenix laid down on the ground, a trail of blood coming out of his mouth "Get me out of here" with that, the team nodded and Briggs headed for the control panel for the pilot of the ship, to leave the planet.

[DarkPhoenix141]

Don't quote spam please.

Gods may be watching but the moderators aren't.

[Tharsis]

Phoenix sure took a beating that time, the Gods may not be just spectators.

Or Phoenix is really just that tough to take several plasma shots to the chest and survive.

[DarkPhoenix141]

"We've been through worse..."

[Tharsis]

I'm sure. What hell will Phoenix go through next?