Per 
On a day like many others, it is cold. A man wearing a Jeans jacket, dark Jean pants, and a shirt, white, with stains of alcohol on it; sits in a pub alone to pass the time.
A TV behind the bar table starts to play an ad. "Alaska, a place to come and find comfort, joy, and peace. Come to Alaska and find everything you want and more".
The man sits in one of the many bar stools. He then looks up to the TV after the ad finishes. He has black hair, a thick beard and mustache, a strong body, and a stern face to go with it. He looks around to see brown wood panels, stools with polished brown leather, and red painted steel trims lining the walls. The bar sits right in front of him with his drink on it. The man stares at his Scotch. He then downs it and wipes his face clean.
The man gets up and walks out the bar, and the bartender wishes him, "a good day". The man just grumbles at that and moves out the door, back into the night lights of Anchorage.
The man thought of how he got here. How he had to get away from The Foundation. The Foundation, they were funny, as they kept trying to bring him back, they kept sending a woman he once knew. A woman he knew very well, and was once close, very close to. Anchorage this was the last spot he had left, where he could be away from them all. He thinks how it better buy him more time. It has to buy him more time, at least more than Juneau, or Fairbanks did.
Soon enough though, old problems emerge and he notices that he's being followed. The man knowing who it is, just hopes she'll leave him alone this time. But he knows that is unlikely, so he just sighs and continues to walk the streets of the snow-covered city. Wanting to be left alone, he turns a corner into an alley. He stops for a moment, in hopes to see her pass by him. But as he waits he hears someone.
"Can you help me, change any change will do", the voice sounded shriveled and weak. A woman steps out of the dark and into the light. She looks like total hell, rags torn and a ripped skirt to accompany it, all covered by a tattered cloak. She reaches out with a hand covered in wrinkles, and liver spots. Some of her veins were showing through her skin.
The man reaches into his jacket, then pulls out 12 dollars; all that was left after his bar visit. He drops the 12 dollars into her hand, and she holds it tight, grateful for his generosity.
The woman smiles, but then her grin turns angry. Her cloak moves out of the way, for a shotgun to appear firmly in her grasp. "You have more, give me it all now motherfucker"! The woman isn't as weak as he'd originally thought.
The man just stands there, disappointed he knew this might happen, but he knows how to get out of it. "Fine, take it all" he mutters as he takes off his jacket.
The woman approaches him cautiously and starts to rummage through his pockets. As she feels a gun she tries to pull back.
But the man grabs the shotgun and butts her nose with it. He pulls the pump back as he aims it at her, loading a shell into the barrel. After the pump moves back into position, he feels the weight of the gun in his hands, and smiles, an old friend. "A Mossberg 500, good gun". A sudden, powerful flash goes off and the woman goes flying backward.
The woman's body crumbles at the force exerted from the blast. Shock and fear runs up her entire body to her face as she hits the snow. A crunch is heard as her bones break then settle. It all stops with her lifeless in the snow.
The man breathes in one heavy breath as the snow settles, then walks back to the street. The man can tell the woman following him is still there, he looks back and sees her. He looks to her, while he still holds onto the shotgun.
She's holding his jacket and is gesturing for him to take it. "Good to see you, Riggs. How have you been"? The woman had bright black hair, a curved fit body and legs he almost couldn't take his eyes off of. That smile on her face, that was the best feature though. Her smile is inviting like it meant more than just asking how he was.
He thinks how it's been a long time since he's seen her. Riggs walks to her and grabs his jacket as she lets it go, then walks away, back to his apartment as she follows him.
When the two enter, she heads over to the couch, then sits down, and as she crosses her legs she asks. "So how has life been for you since the last mission"?
Riggs knows what she's here for and just stands there. "No, I'm not getting pulled back in, not this time". Riggs starts his coffee machine, the woman gets up and walks behind him.
She leans herself against the kitchen table. "So you don't want in. Well, that's a shame because, Crafton, Rolando, and Talistin have all already signed up". She places a contract with the Foundation symbol at the top of it, on the table.
Riggs glances at it then back to his coffee. "You said when the last one was over you'd never need us again".
The woman laughs at that. "You know that was bullshit, I mean the famous Anon squad was never going to be retired".
Riggs pours himself a glass of coffee then one for her. As he hands it to her he gestures to the contract. "What happened to the last Anon squad"?
The woman takes a sip of her coffee, trying her best to be seductive but burns her tongue. "Fuck, that hurts".
Riggs looks at her panting from the pain, he remembers her panting once before, but for a very different reason. Riggs tries to move closer to her.
She just pushes him away taunting him. "Bad boy, you should not want what you can't have".
Riggs stares back at the contract as she pushes him away. "Tell me what happened to the last Anon squad"? This time he sounds much more demanding.
She relents. "Anon was found dead when trying to retrieve a package known as 'The Ping'. It's a device that was leading us to the box, you almost had back in Idaho all those years ago. But we failed to recover it before a new GoI got to it".
Riggs intrigued by what she tells him asks. "And who is this new GoI"?
The woman smirks. "Are you interested now, because if you want to know more, you'll have to sign that contract". She then pushes the contract to him.
Riggs smiles at the thought of working for them again. However, he knows full well if he signs this, then he has to do another 10 years with them. Riggs thinks for a minute to weigh all his options and think if he truly should join them once more. In the end, he signs it anyway then hands it to her.
The woman smiles before she suggests. "After you get acquainted back in, we can catch up, if you know what I mean".
Riggs watches her as she exits the room, and moves in just the right way. Riggs briefly remembers fond memories, then laughs until a hologram of a site director pops up in his apartment. Riggs gets a look of disappointment as the site director stares at him.
"You'll get your time with her later".
"Uh-huh sure I will, like how last time I did until you interrupted it". Riggs starts to look at the site director with both hate, and regret that he didn't kill him when he had the chance. Of all the memories he did have, the ones of the site director were the worst of all, always there to ruin the fun.
The site director just ignores Riggs glaring at him and fills him in on the situation. "This mission will be unlike any other that you've had to face".
Riggs steps into a Pave Low, as he sits down he plays the hologram again before the Pave Low takes off.
"This mission will require better equipment than you're usually used to. It will even require better training, luckily for you and your squad we have a new training system".
Riggs finishes listening to the orders when the Pave Low lands.
"You'll be entering into a base in the Atlantic 4 miles down, so be prepared for anything".
Riggs enters into the site as the final message plays.
"Good luck Anon we are counting on you".
Riggs looks around and sees rafters up high, as well as computers down low able to calculate 100's of times faster than even the Summit computer. He walks forward to see parking spaces filled with Humvees, Abram, and Altay tanks, all the latest models thought to be discontinued. When he's halfway to the Armory, he sees helipads with enclosed roofs above them.
Sitting on the helipads were Apaches, UH-60's, Pave Lows, and even a few Ospreys with rocket pods and Vulcan guns on the front.
Riggs tries his best not to smile at that sight of them, but can't help himself. When he starts to get close to the Armory, Foundation staff and D-class start to recognize him.
Some people start to mutter. "It's Riggs, he's back", "I can't believe he came back", "holy shit, he's here". Some of them even start to applaud him for returning.
Riggs knew he was liked but not to the degree everyone is showing. As Riggs enters into the Armory everyone goes quiet to wait and see who else might come out with him.
Riggs closes the door to the Armory, and the site director sees all the commotion from his office.
The site director talks to O5-2, but then stops them and walks out to the balcony of his office. The site director was simply known to everyone as (All-Father), he was one of the most entrusted site directors. As he had been with the Foundation for close to 50 years. All-Father looks out his balcony and yells. "What the hell is everyone doing get back to work"!
Everyone either ignores him or didn't hear him, and all of them just continue to stare at the Armory.
All-Father storms past the hologram of O5-2 only for them to yell.
"All-Father".
He stops and looks back to the O5. "I'm sorry but I must go someone very important has arrived". Just as the O5 goes to say something All-Father turns off the hologram. All-Father thinks how he'll likely pay for just hanging up on an O5 member but then remarks, as he enters onto an elevator. "To hell with them, the conversation was boring anyway".
All-Father moves down to the main floor, while Riggs gets to see his old squad in an Armory with walls covered by racks of guns and armor. He sees Crafton first, a noble and modest man that always tries to put the squad before himself.
Crafton has the face of what many could say is nothing but purity in heart and kindness, along with a blonde beard and mustache, with short hair.
Rolando, on the other hand, is rugged looking with a light beard and thin mustache. His rugged looks are a perfect match for his personality. He is harsh at times, but usually to make sure no one got themselves killed.
Talistin the final member of the squad looked clean, but in reality he's funny, but not the kind of funny that is joyful, more or less dark, and manic.
Talistin even looked wily but that may have been since he was an explosives expert from Australia. Talistin's skin has a dark complexion with a more caramel color to it.
Rolando looks Mexican, or Latino, he'd never say which but he did know how to speak almost every dialect of Spanish, as well as quite a few other languages.
Crafton was tan but German, his accent was heavy. Even though he could be understood well by others, they'd often make jokes about Nazis and German folk around him.
Crafton was fine with his squad joking about it, but if anyone else did it, well let's just say they better be faster than him.
Rolando, on the other hand, loved to joke about his heritage, constantly claiming. "Juan Soto is my great-great-grandfather".
Talistin didn't like talking about his past though. As his ancestors were Africans who sold other Africans. The squad respected this and would rarely bring it up.
Riggs is the least known of all, even the squad having served with him for 10 years only knew he is American. The squad would constantly bug him about his past wanting to learn anything but he never relented. The only one that did know anything is the woman that came to his apartment. She was there for what all went down. She had a much more clear memory of what had happened, and how it all ended.
But Riggs isn't going to concern himself with that right now, instead, he wants to just get acquainted with his squad again.
As Riggs looks at them Crafton mentions. "He's been looking at us blankly for the past five minutes".
Riggs moves out of the daze and realizes what he's been doing. Riggs stares at his squad with a stern face. "It's good to see you all again, even though these are likely dark times".
Rolando sighs in agreement. "Yes Dark times, yet again they come".
Talistin looks at all of his friends with regret. "The times don't seem to be getting any brighter, just farther and farther down into that deep pit".
Crafton tries to have an upbeat attitude as he mentions. "The Germans thought during both WWI and WWII that the Light would never be found, but in the end it was. It will be found here and likely by us, I know it".
All of the squad grin at the thought of them being the Light the world is looking for.
Riggs thinks maybe then he could be with her and not lose her once more. Crafton thinks of returning home to Germany after this is all over, while Rolando thinks of finding lost treasures of all the banditos he read about. Talistin just thinks of how he could go to Africa, then maybe become a politician to right some of the wrongs his family created.
All of the squad then see the metal door to the Armory slide open into the wall, and hear All-Father. "My God you are all here". All-Father has a look of great shock, that she got them all. All-Father takes a good look at them all. "So has she informed you"?
A hologram of the woman appears at the end of a table littered by armor, weapons, and gear. The hologram looks to All-Father then the squad. "Welcome back to the site soldiers. It's been too long".
Talistin simply stares at her as he remarks. "No 12 years hasn't been long enough".
She just replies. "Yes, it has. Because a new GoI known as The Infinity Coalition has popped up. This organization as far as we know is much larger than us, and has much better MTF's or whatever they call them than us".
Riggs laughs before he mentions. "So you need the best back, the guys that can rival even Samsara".
"If we're not better" Rolando chants with an inflated ego.
All-Father compliments them. "You were until you left. Now is the time to prove yourselves once again. Crafton, you're the best Technician we could've ever asked for. Rolando you have the best accuracy we have ever seen, never miss do you". All-Father turns to Riggs and Talistin. "Talistin your knowledge of other cultures and history has allowed you to be the best tactician there could be. And finally Riggs your constant research into Dimensional Powers led you to us, we helped you learn of the powers hidden within the human mind. Allowing you and you're squad to obtain Super Strength, Quick Reflexes, and even a slight bit of Future Sight. Without you Riggs, Samsara never would've been possible".
Riggs looks on with that stern face he always shows, as his squad looks on at him with pride.
All-Father cuts off the joyful mood. "But we didn't bring you here to brag about your accomplishments. We brought you here because of this". All-Father throws a disk into the center of the table. The lights in the room go dim and a display of a hologram appears from the disk. A box, black with grey ridges, and an ominous neon purple glow going around the center of it appears.
The squad looks on remembering this box.
Riggs looks at it then to All-Father then to her. "You're serious you found it, but all those years ago we found nothing when we went after it".
The squad all look down in shame, this was the only mission they ever failed at, trying to obtain this box.
Riggs eagerly orders his squad. "Get ready we are moving now".
All of the squad starts to put their gear on but All-Father stops them. "You are the backup", the whole squad comes to a dead stop and looks angered.
Riggs becomes immensely frustrated with All-Father. "Backup to who a bunch of bitch ass MTF's that don't know what they're doing".
All-Father understands their anger but recommends. "You should be nicer to Samsara when you see them".
Talistin comments. "Those assholes, without us they wouldn't even have their precious abilities".
Riggs just sighs in frustration, Crafton looks to the door as it opens, and Samsara walks in, along with a square-shaped device colored black with grey outlines.
Crafton glares at Samsara. "Looks like the children came back from their field trip".
Samsara-1 just glares back. "And it looks like the old dogs haven't been put down yet".
Rolando gets a devious smiles as he says. "Well, I guess I should do what my ancestors did, and mug them right". Rolando walks forward but Riggs moves his hand in front of him. Rolando stops then stares at Samsara with both hate and frustration.
All-Father waits for everyone to calm down before he mentions. "Not only will Samsara be going with you but so will MTF Sigma 66. Currently, Sigma 66 is made of one member from the G.O.C., two from the Choas Insurgency, and one from The Infinity Coalition. We had captured the last one not too long ago, luckily he had an explosive collar on his person. We got it on him and have control of it".
Samsara-1 then gets a call. As he answers it he pulls out a disk and a hologram of O5-2 is seen. "You are to leave to site-13 you're needed there now, it's gotten worse".
All-Father knows full well why O5-2 is doing this but also knows he can't do anything about it.
Samsara-1 apologizes. "I'm sorry, but you know we have to go".
All-Father waves them on then rubs his head as they exit the room.
Anon all look on at All-Father as he stokes his head through his grey hair. All-Father sighs.
He rubs his eyes then whispers. "Fuck, now what do we do". All-Father composes himself and moves his head back up to Anon. "We have one trouble spot that the Maz Hatters are looking into; go there till I find out what I need".
Anon all put their gear on and exit the Armory to thunderous applause by all the staff that was waiting to see them.
As Anon moves to an Osprey, they feel low. Lower than they've ever felt and each clap from the crowd feels like boos and laughs at how pathetic they feel. All of the squad enters onto the Osprey and waits as the bay door closes.
Talistin hits the wall of the Osprey after the door closes. "Are you fucking kidding me our first day back for the next 10 years, and we're put on babysitting duty".
Rolando agrees fueled by his anger. "That's just fucking it, they'll never respect us. I mean they wanted us to take the back seat to Samsara, fucking Samsara"!
Even Riggs has a look of hatred for the Foundation, he then turns his gaze to Crafton seeing him just sit there. Crafton sees them all staring at him.
Rolando walks toward Crafton as he taunts him. "What is the Nazi pissed he doesn't get the kill the inferiors".
Crafton bursts out in anger and pushes Rolando back. "You know what homeboy, fuck you".
Rolando gets up and then in Crafton's face. The height difference is blatantly obvious, Rolando being only 6 feet, while Crafton is close to 8 feet. The two glare at one another covered in armor made of Kevlar with Titanium plates layered over it. Rolando sits back down and Crafton moves farther down the Osprey to sit near the cockpit.
Riggs demeans them all. "Are we done acting like children because if All-Father was to see us like this, he'd likely ground us".
Rolando apologizes while Crafton just stares at Rolando then looks back into the cockpit. Riggs looks at his squad with shame, not happy to see them anymore.
The Osprey takes off and heads for Idaho. As the squad moves to Idaho, they all rest up for what they hope is an exciteful day. The Osprey flies for hours and as the squad moves past Idaho's borders, they're all suddenly woken up by alarms blaring and red lights flashing. Riggs pushes himself up, then yells out orders. "Get out of the Osprey now"!
Talistin wakes up and groggily mutters. "Fuck, what is it now"?
Riggs turns Talistin's head to look out one of the windows. Riggs and Talistin see the engine on fire and falling apart, just before the propeller shoots off into darkness below.
Rolando runs to Crafton and kicks him to wake him up. "Get your German ass up dammit".
Crafton looks to the engine practically gone and runs over to the parachutes. Riggs pries the cover off of the compartment holding the parachutes. He throws one to Crafton, who then throws it to Rolando.
Talistin grabs one and kicks the bay door open, then yells. "Let's move now, now, now"!
Riggs runs back to the cockpit, as the rest of the squad jumps out. Riggs opens the cockpit door to find both pilots passed out, but not hurt in any other way. Riggs grabs them both and drags them to the bay door which is now slamming against the Osprey. Riggs attaches a parachute to each of the pilots then pulls the cord and kicks them out. Riggs goes to pull his as the second engine blows up. His chute deploys then goes flying and out the side door, getting caught in the propeller of the second engine. Riggs manages to stop it from dragging him outside but the propeller gets stuck, and the chute's cords pulls tight on his neck. Riggs thanks God for his Super Strength or he'd be getting choked to death right now. Riggs pulls on the wall of the Osprey trying to free himself as the Osprey hits a mountain.
Rolando and Crafton glide down to the ground, as they look on to see the Osprey hit the mountain. Rolando lands first and just before Crafton lands both of them see the Osprey explode into a large fire. Rolando hopes to God that Riggs got off, but Crafton knows he was stuck as he could see what was going to happen. Crafton marks this as one of the moments he regrets having Future Sight. Crafton pulls off his chute and Rolando removes his.
Rolando turns to Crafton as Crafton says. "Did you see what I saw"?
Rolando shrugs, Crafton becomes furious with Rolando. "What do mean by shrugging, don't you still have your Future Sight"!
Rolando sighs with regret. "No, I stopped using that years ago. Why was what you saw bad".
Crafton can see Rolando worried and lies. "No Riggs made it off the Osprey, but he's on that mountain so we need to get to him now".
Rolando looks around then asks a bit confused. "Where's Talistin"?
Talistin starts to descend lower and lower, he tries to see where he's going but it's pitch black. Talistin finally feels his feet land and touch the ground. Talistin removes his chute and tucks it back into his backpack. He then feels his waist and puts on a helmet made of Kevlar and Titanium plates, with reinforced glass as the visor. Each of Anon was given these helmets. The helmets for the squad were special, as they were able to block any chemical, or bio-hazardous material or gasses. The helmets could also display how much energy, ammo, equipment, and what kind of weapons they had left. It even could tell time, sense motion, and location if it knew it.
Talistin looks at all the displays that pop up and he sees they're in Idaho, Rocky Mountains. Talistin sees his allies are 8 miles away and he's about 400 feet beneath the ground. Talistin tries to see anything above him and sees light at the end of a very long tunnel. He then uses his reflexes to try and jump up the hole he fell into. Talistin jumps from rock to rock with each one he passes breaking on his feet. As he gets halfway up jumping from rock to rock, he slips on a smooth rock and falls 200 feet, landing feet first. The ground breaks beneath his feet as hits it. Talistin simply stands back up unfazed by it but frustrated he can't just jump his way out. Talistin decides to sit and wait, figuring his squad or Riggs will find him.
Riggs wakes up and sees a massive piece of the Osprey on him. He easily pushes the metal chunk off of himself. Riggs then tries to walk but falls, as he feels a sudden stabbing pain, he looks to his waist and sees shrapnel in it, right where his leg connects to his waist. Riggs pulls it out struggling to do so, as he gets it out blood pours out. Riggs then puts it back in and looks back to the Osprey now burning. He stares at it trying to find the fuel tank. Riggs sees it's not ruptured but it's surrounded by fire. Riggs tries to pull himself to it but the metal piece in him moves and comes out.
Blood starts to pour out again, as he moves forward, and a trail starts to follow him. Riggs takes notices as he feels something warm, he then pushes himself backward and puts it back in. Riggs decides the best option is to wait for either death or his squad. Riggs then looks to his waist again and sees a helmet. He reaches down struggling to do so, as each move feels like his waist is snapping out of place. Riggs grunts as he manages to grab it then puts it on.
Riggs watches as the helmet lights up, but he sees something a symbol of a dot with a line in it. He moves his eyes to it and it opens.
An AI talks to him. "Hello I am D.A.A., it's pronounced day if you were wondering", she sounded light-hearted and very cheerful.
Riggs coughs before he replies. "Hello, D.A.A., can you help me"?
"Of course what do you need, medical aid, instructions, or contact with your squad". D.A.A. patiently waits as Riggs tries to catch his breath.
"All of the above would be great".
D.A.A. then does a scan. "It appears you have a large metal piece of an Osprey lodged into your waist. Recommendation, pull it out then cauterize the open hole". D.A.A. does another scan. "Best options that were found. Option one: take that metal piece in you, and heat it with the gas in the fuel tank. Option two: take out the metal piece and place your waist against the hot metal already by the fuel and fire. Final option: wait for help then ask them to cauterize it".
Riggs breathes heavily before coughing up blood. "Can't wait…so going with option two".
D.A.A. acknowledges this, then suggests. "I would run to the Osprey and force myself against it, just saying".
Riggs gets up but then falls again as he feels like the metal is digging into him. Riggs forces himself up and pulls out the piece before he runs waist first into the metal. Riggs feels a hot searing pain like he's being cooked, and passes out after pushing himself onto the metal for 30 seconds.
Crafton and Rolando now halfway up the mountain look up to see the Osprey starting to cool down. Rolando attempts to use his Future Sight, then pushes Crafton down.
Crafton gets back up and turns to Rolando fuming. "What the hell was that"?
Rolando immediately pushes Crafton down again just before a rocket goes flying by.
Crafton gets up and pulls out his gun, an M134 Minigun. Crafton then grabs the ammo hanging from his backpack and loads it into the gun. He uses his Future Sight then shoots. The sound of barrels spinning and bullets shredding trees moves everything into a quick motion. Crafton sees soldiers rushing out of the trees and blows holes in them as each bullet passes through them. Guts, organs, and chunks of flesh go flying turning the snow red.
Crafton continues to shoot as the last body hits the snow turning the snow into red mush.
Rolando thinking it's over grabs Crafton's arm pulling at. "Stop man you're wasting ammo".
Crafton pushes him off simply by moving his arm and continues to shoot at the trees until he sees bullets deflect off of something.
An APC, specifically a Mowag Piranha, with a 75mm tank turret on top. The APC bursts from behind the trees launching brush, and roots out of its way as it charges them.
Both of them stand at the ready as it barrels towards them.
Talistin makes his way through the cave and has been going for a while now since he decided waiting for his squad was a dumb idea. He starts to hear shouting and a heavy vehicle pushing with as much force as it can. Talistin then sees a light at the end of the tunnel and runs out, only to see Crafton holding an APC in place as it tries to push forward. Crafton starts to push it back, causing its wheels to spin out of control and lose its traction.
Rolando cheers Crafton on as the APC is being completely controlled by Crafton now. "Push that fucker over".
Talistin runs to them as Crafton lifts the APC and flips it on its side. Crafton falls to his knees out of breath, Rolando and Talistin see two soldiers climb out of the APC covered in Kevlar and Ceramic armor.
Both of the soldiers start to shoot at Crafton with 1911's. Each bullet bounces of his armor.
Rolando retaliates, shooting them both in the knees with a Desert Eagle.
The soldiers armor stops the shots from getting through but their knees buckle and they fall to the ground. Talistin runs up to the soldiers and hits them in the head with his gun, knocking them out.
Riggs wakes up and doesn't move, as he notices two soldiers near him. The soldiers move closer to the Osprey and start to inspect it. As they inspect it Riggs takes a quick peek. Riggs sees soldiers wearing Kevlar and Ceramic plates, with a logo on their shoulders he's never seen before. One of the soldiers comes out with a rocket launcher, an AT4 painted black with the Foundation symbol on it also black. The soldier looks over to Riggs. "Guess he was Foundation, what do we know on them". "Other than they think they're the good guys, and contain dangerous items", the soldier laughs a bit after saying that. He then goes on. "Not much at all, so we should take this one, he might be able to be brought back".
The first soldier smiles. "Yeah, anything to get out this cold". "Hey you should enjoy the cold, it's nice to get out of that base, and get some fresh air". The first just gestures to Riggs. "Let's just get him and go". The second seems disappointed. "Fine don't enjoy the outside". Riggs feels them pick him up, he tries to move but can only twitch. The two soldiers drop him with the first jumping back. "Holy shit he's alive"! The second calmly pulls out a syringe. "Don't worry buddy I have wait ails you". Riggs feels a point go into him, and then he goes completely limp. The soldiers pick him up and they carry him off.
Crafton, Rolando, and Talistin happy to see each other once again, all greet one another with joyful tones. They all stop then look up the mountain, hopeful to find Riggs. Crafton and Rolando decide to move up the mountain, while Talistin stays with the two knocked out soldiers. One of the soldiers starts to wake up, she tries to move but can tell she's tied up.
She looks to Talistin to see a rifle, an M14 SOCOM pointed at her, then mutters. "Oh shit".
Talistin takes his gaze off her just for a few seconds as he sees the Sun rising. "Fuck we've been here for hours". Talistin wasn't happy to see the Sun, knowing that meant they had been there for close to 9 hours. He looks back to the woman then to the Sun just before his stomach growls. Talistin sighs. "Damn".
The woman gestures to the APC as she says. "There's MRE's in it".
Talistin not wanting to let her out of sight gestures for her to get them. She obliges, Talistin follows her a good distance away to the back of the APC.
She then gestures to the APC. "Can you get the door"?
He points the gun to her then to a tree 10 feet away. The woman rolls her eyes but moves anyway. He moves to the door quickly and opens it. The woman walks back and enters into the APC. As she rummages through, Talistin gets a peek at her and notices she's pretty. Brown hair, a decent face, and a good build on her.
The woman then comes back out with 3 MRE's in her mouth. She drops the MRE's back at the side of the APC and suggests. "Can you cut me free so I can eat"?
Talistin huffs then throws her a knife, she grabs it and uses it to cut her hands free and moves them from behind her back to her front. Talistin throws another set of zip ties at her feet. The woman huffs as well and puts them on.
The woman looks to Talistin. "So are you Foundation"?.
Talistin sits down as he leans on a tree, then hits the snow. "Yeah". He didn't sound too happy when he said that though.
The woman looks to the Sun. "Do you know who we are"?
Talistin smiles. "The Infinity Coalition".
The woman laughs. "Yeah or at least what's left of them on Earth". She pauses to look at the sky, soon though she looks back to Talistin. "Most of us left Earth long ago and moved to the stars, but an unlucky few million of us get to stay on Earth", the woman seemed deeply saddened when she spoke. She looks to the ground in what is a deep shame. The woman breathes out then chuckles. "Funny how things end up, how things go". She looks at the trees and all the birds that start to chirp. "Sometimes they go so right, others they go horribly wrong".
Talistin stares at her knowing that kind of failure and pain. He knew that kind of pain well. He knew it from the mission to obtain the box from The Infinity Coalition, all those years ago. How bad that mission ended, especially since Anon was once made up of 40 squads just as powerful as him. But now here he was with his squad. The only ones left and barely holding itself together.
He looks to her knowing he shouldn't speak to the enemy. In the end, though, he relents and speaks. "A long time ago, and I mean a long time ago. Me and my squad were the best there was".
As he speaks, Riggs is being carried through a corridor, made of Concrete and metal linings. "We were unbeatable, we even killed a supposed god. Everyone says he was a god, but when we met a real god we couldn't kill it. Because we met God". As he finishes speaking Riggs is hooked up to chains and left in a cell.
The woman has a joyful grin run across her face as she remarks. "I, I mean we, The Infinity Coalition once met a being known as an Infinite. It was amazing, we never knew they existed up until that point. But when we met one…we knew we had to follow it". Talistin smiles at the thought of meeting someone like that again. The woman looks down at her MRE and opens it. She sees chili.
As Talistin gets up he sees he hasn't opened his MRE either. Talistin not hungry anymore walks over to her and sets her free. She looks surprised but happy.
Talistin looks to her happy with his decision. "I can't put someone like you in chains". Talistin then begins to head up the mountain, but she stops him and takes off his helmet, then kisses him on the cheek. She holds him there and tells him. "We captured someone calling himself Riggs, I can have him freed if you want".
Talistin just smiles at her, and she knows what that means.
She goes to the APC and grabs the radio. "Hey you there Sergeant".
"Yeah what is it".
The woman sighs. "Man is he gonna be pissed. Let Riggs go".
"What are you out of your damn mind we just got him chained up".
"That's an order so do it now". The woman became extremely stern and waited with a pouting face for his response.
The Sergeant sighs. "Yes Ma'am, it'll be done".
The woman then walks over to Talistin and hugs him before she goes back to the APC. She waits there as Talistin moves on.
Talistin finally sees Crafton and Rolando after walking for what feels like hours, he looks past them to see Riggs beaten and badly hurt. Crafton and Rolando help Riggs up.
Rolando jokes. "God do you smell like shit".
Riggs just grumbles, but then tries to speak through his numb jaw. "Fuck you". All of them laugh.
As the sun shines even brighter they see a Foundation helicopter over the horizon coming to get them.
It lands and Samsara walks out. "Good to see the old dogs didn't die".
Anon just smiles now seeing Samsara in a new light. And gets on the helicopter to go back home. As the chopper moves past the Sun Talistin looks on at the mountain knowing full well he'll have to return. But not as an ally, instead as a conqueror like his ancestors. But he decides not to worry himself with that, and instead just be happy with what's to come next, some peace.
