First light

With a quick nod, Skylar proceeded to cautiously sweep through the zone. It was an uneventful search, to say the least. Nothing was left other than casualties the enemy had left behind.

Once satisfied that he'd thoroughly swept the area, Skylar reported in to Shrike and headed towards extraction. He couldn't help but dwell upon how many men the opposition must have had at their disposal, to be able to commit that many to a single ambush. There was no telling how many were defending that weapons depot.

Carbine stopped with the interrogation after hearing Shrike's orders. He looked down upon his target, laying limp. The pathetic thing had passed out from the pain. The cat proceeded to throw the limp subject into a fireman carry and started to head towards the extraction point.

Along the path towards extraction, Carbine began to think to himself,

"This assignment should have been a simple one... But then again, knowing my luck it's never simple. Something is off with this operation. This is something much more then assigned squad protection duties... my hellcats better not be subject for cleaning up after G.U.N. again... or there is going to be a problem..."

After sometime, he reached the extraction point. He looked behind himself and saw Skylar not to far behind him and assumed shrike was not to far behind. He threw their prisoner into a seat and strapped him in. Carbine then sat himself down in the chopper, he grew a little shaken, he remembered the last time he was in one of these things. It blew in half, nearly cost him his life, luckily during that time the trees were nice enough to slow his plummet to the earth, but seeing how this was mainly a concrete jungle, he would not be so lucky this time around.

"Freakin' metal death trap... I'd rather fly on my own..." The veteran grumbled.

-Shrike was not quiet done. After the crisis Ark gate situation 3 years ago It had changed the soldiers ways a lot, anger, violence became ever more higher, more intentional chance for him loosing it and kill people. He knew this and so did G.U.N he also knew it would cost him his career if such a act would happen but there would come times when he would have reason for such overkill. In his hand he held a small device not much bigger then the palm of his hand, He heads over in the direction the attack had originated. He found a small town with dark legion troops being welcomed by the locals. He saw this as a act of traitors. And traitors did not sit well with him. After seeing enough he hit the button on the device as it began too blink on and off, He hurls it into the town as far as he could throw it.

 " Overwatch this is Hammer 1-2....Artillery beacon in place.....Fire at will...Make that town look like the surface of the fucking moon."

-Distant rumbles were heard as massive cannons open up the shells zooming past the sky smashing into the town leveling every thing in there path. Shrike showed no remorse or mercy too traitors too the cause of the war.-

An ear-shattering scream resounded overhead as a volley of artillery shells ripped through the air. Skylar had heard no report of friendly artillery on his comm channel, and assumed the worst. The fox instinctively tensed up and dove to the ground upon hearing the sound, and was relieved when the thunder of their impacts reverberated quite a distance away.

Somewhat confused, he stood back up and continued to the waiting chopper, eventually embarking the vehicle. After taking a seat and raising his dust-covered goggles onto his helmet, he attempted to speak over the sound of the chopper's rotors. "Did anyone catch an advisory for that arty? I thought we were clear!"

Carbine heard the whistling of the head shells smashing the earth. Triggering a flash back:

His old C.O. from his first squad on his home planet leviathan, Bell, stood over him, a blinding light flashing behind her:

"Corporal Vilch get up! Get up! We need to get to the edge of town! They have left us behind! On your feet! Heavy artillery has already been advised to level the ground beneath our feet! RUN! RUN LIKE YOU GOT A PURPOSE! G.U.N. has abandoned us! GET UP!"

Carbine snapped out of his flash back and spotted Skylar sitting across from him, the cat's eyes were narrow as if he had just witnessed a ghost, blood ran from his nose. "a... crap..." Carbine proceeded to wipe the blood from his nose, hoping Skylar didn't notice his little episode.

He responded, looking outward toward the smoke, zooming in with his right mechanical eye. "There was no advisory for this attack. I'm assuming this was an unprovoked order. That town is leveled, doubt anyone survived." The cat's eye zoomed away from the smoke, then locked onto Shrike in the distance. "I think I know who signaled the strike though."

Carbine felt anger grow in his belly, "There better be a good reason for leveling that town..." His fists were clenched, if it was one thing that angered him, was the killing of the many, to destroy the few who are of guilt.

-The chopper began too lift off along with its main escort there next stop would be the central base at Station square. However the Lone G.U.N marine never returned he had remained behind too do something he wanted too do...make sure there were not witnesses. He had a distinct hatred for the legion they were the ones who tried too revive project Arkgate and start it all over again. He was about too go too any length too prevent another massacre He heads into the town through the smoke , debris and the dead killing off any survivors he came across It was silent as only a few gun shots went off. As shrike stood in the forsaken town. Memories of a darker time returned. Simply referred too as " The first encounter" Which left him the last soldier standing.-

" The legion must never get there hands on project arkgate...they will use it for there own will...and this world will fall into chaos."

While awaiting an answer, Skylar couldn't help but notice his squad-mate's distant demeanor. He was somewhat curious as to what had overtaken Carbine's attention, but upon hearing about the destruction of the town, his concern had indeed shifted. "...Town? As in, a civilian town?"

Bewildered, he quickly glanced out of the doorway at the billowing columns of smoke in the distance. Awestruck by the humanity of it all, he spoke under his breath, "...Shrike, what have you done?..."

Over the course of an hour he had witnessed the loss of hundreds of lives. What had started out as a simple search and destroy mission had hideously deformed into a bloodbath, pulling in both the innocent and the guilty... Though he was sure Shrike had his reasons, Skylar could not grasp the fact that his actions had utterly decimated the very citizens they were here to protect.

Wide-eyed and speechless, he slowly turned forward in his seat again, his mind felt as if it was tied in knots; Some rather dark memories of his own had been provoked by this incident.

He continued to sit quietly for quite some time, his light grey eyes staring ahead blankly.

A few moments passed, the tech fox in front of Carbine was staring off blankly. The cat knew he had time to kill, and his trust is not easily earned. With this, he decided to attempt to make conversation with Skylar. He reached into his tattered kevlar pocket and pulled out what looked like a small candy bar, he always kept one on his person, in case he came across a few unfortunate children during conflict.

He cleared his throat, his raspy accent noteable, "Oi, tech boy. Skylar." he broke off a piece of what appeared to be dark chocolate from the bar and offered it to Skylar. "Takes the 'dge off, next best thing to cigarettes in my book." The cat said, thinking how good a smoke sounded at the moment.

Carbine knew, as a Commanding Officer back on Leviathan, that bonding with your squad mates was the best way to maintain morale. He knew, just as he, that Skylar was disturbed. Believe it or not, past the cold, metal, right side of his face and bionic elbows, he was just like anyone else, he had fears, he had memories, he had nightmares.

-Shrike slung his weapon over his shoulder and returned too the evac chopper where the other two were waiting, he boards it strapping himself into the seat giving the all clear for take off. The faceless soldier sat quietly with blood covering his armor and helmet. He did not seem phased at all that he had just ordered the destruction of an entire town. No remorse or mercy was spared. His actions dictated a far worse out come if project Ark Gate would fall into there hands. He knew the rest of the soldiers had no idea of the crisis that happened 3 years ago and most would never understand it either. Regardless he did his job and that is all that mattered. He picks up coms with HQ.-

" HQ this is hammer squad...all hostiles neutralized..primary objective completed ETA too base is 10 mikes Hammer 1-2 out." 

-He switched off his coms and goes silent.-

The fox sharply glanced up at Carbine, as if unexpectedly pulled from a trance. He wasn't quite sure how to react to his generosity, but was appreciative nonetheless.
"...Thank you." He said, as he accepted the offering, showing a timid smile of gratitude.

The simple comfort did help him to feel more relaxed, though his occasional skittish glances towards Shrike were proof enough that he was still tense.

It wasn't till about this time that Skylar was able to get a good look at Carbine's augmentations. He tried not to stare, but his inclination towards all things mechanical practically demanded that he did. As much as he wanted to inquire about them, he felt that they were probably deemed necessary under some potentially dark circumstances. Though Skylar chose to remain silent out of respect, his curious stare was most likely a dead giveaway.

Carbine smiled at the timid fox, "Not a problem." Carbine then turned his attention to the silent marine in the corner. He studied Shrike's demeanor. Silent, Upright and Strongly built, a tank of a man, if he even was anymore. Carbine then noticed the prisoner coming out of his black out. The legion soldier looked at the cat angrily, "You're crazy if you think capturing me will do you any good, they will kill all of us before reaching the landing zone."

Carbine cracked his knuckles and nailed the prisoner right in his left eye, leaving a devastating black circle, knocking him out again. Carbine scoffed, "Much talk, no bite, typical coward." He then began to go through the prisoners clothing, searching for any bugs, in which he did find one, it was small, and appeared to be only a simple tracking devise, or a recorder. The cat crushed most of it between his fingers and pulled out the chip, tossing the rest of it out the side window of the chopper.

"hmmm...." He pondered on what the chip was for, more than likely for tracking, but Carbine had to know for sure. He cracked his neck and felt around the back of his head on the metal side. He poked a soft spot that opened up into a port, he stuck it inside and the data began to display within his mech eye. "interesting..." He pulled out the chip when he was finished and crushed it between his fingers just in the same manner as the bug and tossed it away.

Carbine then proceeded to pull out his P.D.A. and typed in a few Coordinates in a note file, then saved it. He looked up at the fox again, noticing the tech boy's curious stare, he then looked at shrike, who seemed to be almost in a sleep-like state, or so he assumed. Carbine then turned his attention to the fox.

"So, I think I'm just gonna be rather blunt. Do you want to ask questions about my augments? If that's the case, fire away. I don't hide my scars in shame."

The cat finished, leaning in a little to see if the fox would reply, "For every answer I give you, you mind answering my questions?" The cat asked.