As Alec and Whisk set out for Mars to find Simons, Alec began to think about the choices he had made from the time he had woke up to the decision to naming their new found ship Leviathan. Alec’s memory had almost fully been restored; all he needed to restore the rest was a little chat with Simons. Alec was convinced that Simons was the one responsible for Alec’s mishaps, but Alec wasn’t sure, there was still a piece of the puzzle missing. As the Leviathan passed through the artificial atmosphere (created from terraforming), Jk-Bx stood above the cockpit blaring The Ride of the Valkyries. Whisk flew the ship in Simons last known position; an abandoned outpost nears a destroyed terraforming machine to the south of the Dead Forrest, this is believed to be Simons last known position. “Listen,” Alec started to say to Whisk and Jk-Bx. “When we land, I’m the only one going in. This is between me and Simons.” “How,” Whisk spoke in a stern tone. “Did you know that Simons was here at this specific location? I mean, it’s not like someone just told you.” “Some FWC Mercs told me,” Alec responded. “Apparently, he didn’t pay them enough for protection from his enemies. They told me just to be mean, I guess.” As the ship approached the outpost, Alec looked at the dunes of the Mars surface, like oceans of red sand; they buried many secrets from the golden age, waiting to be discovered. Alec longed to be free from the demons restraining him from going out into the wilds and explore. “Where about two minutes out,” Whisk said as he looked at the digital map. “Get ready.” Alec went to the back of the ship, to the armory; Lyle had stocked it with a few useful options: Two sniper rifles, a few sub machine guns, several rifles (ranging from scout, to carbine, to assault rifles.), semi-auto handguns and revolvers, and also three shot guns. Alec chose to only take his side arm, “Classic,” so Alec put “Painful Reunion” on an empty rack. Alec also didn’t bother taking any grenades, he’d just improvise from the fallen Mercs; he wanted to deal with the Mercs quietly as possible, but not a necessity, Alec wanted to have Simons all to himself without alerting him too soon. “Okay,” Whisk said, doing a scan of the outpost. “We-you have a total of seven hostiles between you and Simons. All look to be human, all look to be weekend warriors, but you can never be too sure these days.” Alec dropped off the back of the ship and landed with a thud in the sands below; Alec signaled to Whisk that he should hold back and wait for Alec to return. Alec started his short hike to the outpost by approaching downwind from the outpost, to hide any scent he may give off. The outpost only had three buildings, two watch towers, and two landing pads; the outpost was in a circular shape, having a large compound in the center of all of it, and had a wall going all the way around it having only one gate to get in and out(save for a huge hole in one side). Alec noticed that the Mercs had booby-trapped the hole in the wall with explosives, but Alec noticed that the Mercs had no one near it; the wall was about nine feet tall, so Alec couldn’t see it over it, but he did see two Mercs that were occupying one tower each. Alec decided to set the traps off as a distraction, causing these yahoos to look the other way as Alec quickly put his new found strength and height to use by running and using the momentum to climb over the concrete wall. Once inside the compound, Alec made quick work of the Mercs; taking them down one by one, Alec started with the two Mercs in the towers, scaling to the top of one and braking his neck, then using the Mercs own rifle to shoot the other Merc. Alec yelled into one of the Mercs masks that he saw a Fallen at the front gate, to confuse the Mercs. Alec then slid down the ladder of the tower and picked his next target, a Warlock who looked to be the leader; he was standing behind two of the Mercs covering the front gate. Alec got behind the leader and stuck his blade into the body of the Merc, directly into his heart and left lung, pushing him forward towards the two other Mercs, pulling a pin on an H.E. grenade that was on the Warlocks belt. The two Mercs turned around and approach the body of their leader, only to be killed by the detonation of the H.E. grenade as they kneeled to check him. The last two came running around a building on the other side of the compound; but a sand storm had started, and Alec sank into it, like a shadow into the night. Alec got behind them, just as they found the bodies of their leader and two partners. The storm blocked visibility, but Alec’s enhanced vision through the exos’ eyes helped him detect or at least guess what about ten feet in front of Alec may look like. Alec took one as a shield and shot the other; Alec turned the surviving Merc around and asked him where Simons was. “I,” The Merc stammered. “I don’t know.” The Merc could see Alecs blue eyes through the sand, filling him with fear what he might do next. “Tell me,” Alec started to say to the Merc. “And I’ll let you live. The Merc hesitated, and then decided it was better to report back to his superiors that they were attacked by Fallen and he was the only one to make it. The Merc informed Alec that Simons was in the building across from their ship. Alec released the Merc, watching him run in a direction towards one of the buildings. Alec headed to the building across from the ship; the door was locked from the inside, so Alec broke it down. Simons had been sitting in a chair, staring at the door way. “Finally,” Simons began. “Took you long enough, Alec. Hope you did those Mercs in so I don’t have to pay them. Let’s talk.” Simons lit a new cigar and stood up from the chair; he started walking around while Alec just stood in the door way. Simons started to speak as he sat down in the chair again. “You’re not the first, you know,” Simons said. “Dozens of men, and women, have been used like you to do dirty work throughout the city, wastelands, and galaxy. You though, have expressed the most free will; of course, some one removed your tracker and computer override control, which I used to manipulate you to do what I wanted.” Simons had a crooked smile on his face, biting down on his cigar. The stormed raged on as Simons informed Alec of how a certain Elders member had been doing it on his own, until he needed certain people to disappear, where Simons came in. The Elder, So Fawn, had been smuggling Red Glimmer into the city illegally, just to make himself rich. “Why?” Alec asked. “Why, what?” Simons asked. “Why were you there the day my family died?” Alec Asked The smile left Simons face, he suddenly became very nervous. “I,” Simons said in a quieted voice. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I….had nothing to do with them. They weren’t even exposed to be there! Were we to set a beacon off so that Fallen or Hive would find your house, so they could do our dirty work.” “Why, me?” Alec asked. “Because,” Simons said with fear in his eyes. “You were on a list of acceptable subjects for the Delta program, but you turned down the offer. I swear, didn’t mean for your family to get killed. I mean, how were we to know that a Hive made a small nest in the bunker under your house!” Alec suddenly was taken back, the memories came flooding back. Alec had just come home, he had been away for too long, Alec wondered why no one called or answered his calls. Alec searched the house, but no one could be found. “The bunker.” Alec said, suspecting that’s where they’d have gone to hide in case of danger. Alec went to the basement, found the trap door that led to a tunnel that led to the bunker. Alec was running as fast as he could, he noticed all too well the scent of Hive residue. Then Alec opened the door the bunker and found the worst sight he had seen inside. Eleanor and their children had been cocooned into the nest of the Hive. Alec couldn’t believe what he saw, three small bodies and one large one sticking out of the wall, the life being drained from them. Alecs face could see the remainder of Eleanor’s face through the residue, she looked awake. Alec tried to cut her free but it didn’t work, the hive residue was too tough. Alec looked into Eleanor’s eyes; she looked over at the small bodies, then back at Alec, a tear in her eye. Alec knew what he had to do, but he didn’t want to do it. Alec stood back and drew “Classic,” and using all his will power, pulled back the slide. With tears in his eyes, Alec shot the first three smaller bodies, and then turned to his wife, Eleanor. “I’m…I’m,” Alec stammered, tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.” Eleanor mouthed the words: “I forgive you, and I still love you.” “We will meet again, my love,” Alec said as he pulled the trigger. Alec walked back up into the house in shock. He made his way to the living room and fell to his knees, pleading to Christ about what had just happened. He felt he was to get up….get started with his new job; God wasn’t done with him yet. Alec looked at a picture of family on the wall, deciding, that he had to be strong and make sure that what befell his family, as well as others, did not happen to anyone else in the future. As Alec looked out the living room window, he saw a man standing in military style fatigues, a scar on his face, and smoking a cigar. As Alec went to go outside, the missile hit the house. Then, Alec woke up in that hospital. (End flashback.) [b]Continued below.[/b]