Mark couldn't move as he woke, he used all his strength to open his eyes and saw his body was wrapped in some kind of medicinal wrap. His eyes opened further and he looked around, he was in the Black Legion hospital, which meant.
"DOC! ANYONE!?" Mark asked, a solo pair of footsteps, then.
"Well well well, look whos awake. Welcome back from the dead." Valkyrie laughed, walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Angel... I have to ask you something." Mark said, Angel gave him a knowing look.
"No, you can't have them taken off, your body needs to heal, those were third-degree burns." She said.
"But, but but." Mark pleaded, trying to move the stiff wrap around.
"If you don't rest, then you don't get to plan for the assault on ONI." Angel said Mark narrowed his eyes at her.
"You wouldn't dare." Mark growled.
"I would, if you dont rest, so please, do." Angel said, leaning down and kissing his forehead.
"Now I have to go, we are going on a raid on ONI. Do you need anything?" She asked, Mark thought for a moment.
"Im fine, but can I at least have something to watch cartoons? My show got a new season." Mark asked, Angel rolled her eyes, and nodded.
"Fine, here." She said, handing Mark the remote, then she kissed his forehead again and left the room.
Mark waited for a while to make sure she exited fully, then turned the power on.
"Alpha, my room, now." Mark said into the remote.
"Already here." Alpha laughed, walking into the room.
"Atta boy, come on, get these things off me. I have work to do." Mark said, raising his arms. Alpha pulled out a blade from it sheath and slowly started cutting the bandages. Soon enough mark was released from the constraints, and he looked at his arms. They weren't too badly scarred, the burns were deep down inside, he could feel the burns threatening to pain him.
"You are a lucky one sir, if you didnt have your clothes on with that armor, you would have been more severly burned, and your mask malfunctioned because of the smoke, so you werent burned there either." Alpha explained.
"Thanks Alpha, now, can we wrap them in a thin layer of that burn suppression stuff?" Mark asked, Alpha nodded, walking to the cabinet and coming back with what looked like a roll of bandages, but the moment they touched Marks arm the burns felt better. With Alphas help he wrapped his arms and legs, and walked over to the door.
"Wheres my armor?" Mark asked, looking back to Alpha, the armor looked away.
"Alpha... where, is, my, armor." Mark asked.
"They are trying to repair it sir, but the circuits are fried, it will be some time before you can use it again." Alpha finally said, Mark sighed loudly, shaking his head.
"Alright, come on, lets go find out whats going on." Mark said, walking out of the door.
Mark looked around him and saw hundreds of new faces. "What the hell? Where did all these recruits come from?" Mark asked.
"One thousand two hundred and fourty six new recruits since the Black Legion showed what ONI did, you can thank shadow for that Mark." Alpha said, Mark gave him a confused look.
"Shadow gave us the Access codes, and we copied everything, and posted the most gruesome of the files, like what they did to Shadow." Alpha continued. Mark stopped.
"What? What did they do to Shadow?" Mark asked, turning to face Alpha.
"Tortured him sir, they were sure he knew where we were, and once they found out everything they could, they tasked him with one mission, to find and kill the person 'imitating' you.... and Mark?" Alpha asked, Mark nodded.
"Your sister ordered it, all of it, us being sighed as traitors, Allison being allegedly marked KIA, your rise of rank, the Black Spartans Armor.... everything." Alpha said, Mark snorted.
"Why am I not surprised, don't worry Alpha, we will make her pay for it." Mark said, walking away.
"Thats lame! NO FAIR!" A crowd had gathered at the arena, all watching a fight. Mark walked to the window to see Sixer sparring with a group of spartans.
"Ahem!" Mark cleared his throat, a smile growing. The fight stopped, and everyone looked to Mark.
"Sixer, I thought you knew better then to pick on the recruits," Mark said, shaking his head.
"Didnt think you were up to it sir, you seemed to be asleep." Sixer replied, walking towards Mark.
"Hmph, if I had any say in it, you would have been ass deep in the ground." Mark snapped back, the crowd started to murmur, and hype, the battle.
"You feeling up to it? Then bring it on." Sixer challenged.
"Not me, I dont have my armor, so.... ALPHA, you will fight Sixer." Mark ordered. Alpha stepped forward, and the crowd's excitement grew.
"Hmm, you really dont want to win do you? Fine, I accept." Sixer laughed, taking an offensive stance.
"Mark? Are you sure?" Alpha asked.
Mark nodded, and slipped an armor override into Alpha's hand. "Just to make sure his ego is in check." He whispered.
"But where in the world did you get th- Oh, you pickpocketed me while I wasnt looking." Alpha said, looking at his open pockets.
"A lesson for you, a lesson for him." Mark smiled, and pushed Alpha forward, giving a evil grin.
"Begin!" He called, the duo sprung into action, fighting back and forth, and finally, Alpha placed the suppression on Sixer, who froze in place.
"Match." Mark laughed, walking over to Sixer, he looked around for a second, then turned and kicked the imobile sixer, sending him flying into the air, and crashing down to the dirt.
He walked over and took the suppression off Sixer. "Cheating bastard." He growled under his breath.
"Have to prove to these rookies who's the top man here, even without my armor." Mark said, extending a hand down, Sixer cracked his neck, and grabbed Marks hand.
"As always, you are my boss." He laughed. Mark laughed back, and turned away.
"You been to visit Yin yet?" Sixer asked.
"No, I havent, where is he? He wasnt in the medical wing." Mark asked, walking through the hall.
"Up in Alpha teams room, he's under house arrest until his lungs heal." Sixer said, motioning to the elevator ahead.
"Hmm, I guess Yang is with him as well?" Mark asked.
"Actually not, Yang has been going off base for the last few days, taking a solo pilot ship out with him, but no one knows where, and he refuses to say, well... actually he just gets all kinds of mumbly." Sixer laughed.
"You dont think its a?" Mark asked.
"Girl? I have money on it." Sixer laughed.
"Well, I cant be the only one who thinks of settling down after ONI gets whats coming to them, I mean seriously, we havent had a break in years." Mark laughed, walking along.
"Full retirement? Or just prolonged vacation?" Sixer asked.
"Prolonged vacation, and not even that, I still plan on working, it's just I want to go full contractile mercenary, when I get a contract that peeks my interest, I do it, otherwise, I rest." Mark said, dreaming about a vacation to a sunny beach near a crisp ocean.
"Probably thinking about a beach house near the ocean aren't you?" Sixer asked. Mark nodded, and let out a laugh.
"That would be nice." Mark said, sitting down at the canteen table.
"That would be nice... but from what I hear, you still owe everyone a barbeque." Sixer said, sitting across from him.
"I had forgotten about that... I will have to ask Johnson if we could still do it at his house, if not, I mean... we could just do it here." Mark suggested.
"No, I refuse, I was promised a barbeque on our home turf, not this place." Alpha said defiantly.
The trio laughed together and spoke for some time as Mark and Sixer grabbed a plate and dug into the food. They talked while they ate, until a devastating event happened, one that would change all their lives, and would come with the deceleration of war against ONI and any of its allies.
"Mark!" Alpha called, sounding urgent, he pointed out of a window. Mark squinted at it.
"FUCK! UNSC SHIPS IN OUR AIRSPACE! WHERE DID THEY COME FROM!" Mark yelled.
"Alarm! Alarm! Enemy ships have entered our airspace, this is not a drill, this is not a drill." Alpha set off the alarm, and it blared throughout the base.
"Incoming cannon fire!" A soldier called. The cannon fire was held off by the shields, and it marked the ships as hostile.
"All defenses fire! Alpha! Get me on the line with the Legion Navy!" Mark ordered, Alpha walked over and gave him a radio.
"This is Alpha Team Commander Mark Church, HQ is under heavy fire from a UNSC fleet, we need immediate assistance! Any ships nearby respond!" Mark called.
"BL HeartBreak is inbound, t-3." A ship called out.
"BL SwordFire is deploying fast flyers, we will be right behind them." Another ship called out.
"Alpha Team Commander Be advised, this is BL Chaos, we are inbound, but have a transmission from your second in command." Cat said through the radio.
"Send it." Mark replied. "Valkyrie, we have at least six warships here, including wha-"
"Its me Mark, but continue, what do the ships look like?" Shadow asked.
"Confirm Shadow, all but one is standard, the outlier seems to have taken a few points from the covenant, its shaped like a javelin, any inf-"
"Get out of there! NOW!" Shadow yelled.
"What? Why?" Mark asked.
"Its a Railgun! Its going for the core!" Shadow yelled back, Mark looked up to Alpha, the core was below...
"Shit! I have to go get them!" Mark called, dropping the radio, and running past the soldiers.
"Get away from the tower! Move! Get to the ships!" Mark yelled, running past.
"Make a hole!" He yelled. The crowd parted slightly as soldiers ran past.
"Its charging up!" Alpha called.
"I can make it!" Mark demanded, he ran into the elevator and smashed the top floor button.
"Mark! Its firing!" Alpha yelled.
"I can make it!" Mark yelled back. But, just as the doors opened, a huge ball of flame sent Mark flying to the ground,and the elevator was sent to the bottom floor as an emergency before it locked itself down, and Marks last glances of light, was of the door closing.
--
When Mark came to, he found himself laying in a burning elevator, the door slightly open. Mark forced himself to his feet, shaking his head to wake himself further. He pried open the doors and continued forward.
"They have to be okay, those rooms were built like tanks, they have to be okay." Mark muttered to himself, as he limped forward, his vision fading in and out. He found the stairs and walked up them, seeing the burning and melted metal around him, he continued all the way up the stairs, and more than once did he slip on charred bodies, their faces the only assurance that they weren't his Spartans. He finally opened the door to Alpha teams chambers, and nearly fell into the huge hole at the center.
"Yin! Yang!" Mark called, No response.
"Caiden! Corbin!" He tried again. Still nothing, Mark limped over to their rooms, and when he tried to open Yins door, he found it blocked. Mark smashed against the door, again, and again, and again. Finally breaking it down. When he did, he came face to face with the dreadful truth. The twins were both lying under the bed, old armor on, but neither were moving.
"Yin, Yang, no." Mark said, running forward, and lifting the bed off them, tossing it to the side. The two didnt move and Mark bent down, and lifted their helmets off, one by one. They were clenched together, but, as Mark moved Yin's hand, he found 2 small holo tapes in their hands.
The first was labeled. "The Best of the Black Spartans." And the Second, made Mark hurt, it was labeled. "If we've fallen in Battle." Mark sat back, pulling his fallen comrades close. Tears burning his cheeks as he squeezed their lifeless bodies, softly sobbing.
Till I see you in Valhalla, this is goodbye, my friend, goodbye my brothers. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust.
Let me assure you, who have slain my brothers This. Means. War.
All quotes aside, this chapter was bound to happen one day, and I am sad that it had to, the Black Legion family lost some of our brothers, but ONI, will pay a thousand fold for their deaths. -H27 Venom
Fair winds and following seas until we meet again, in the next life.- H27 King