HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

    I must say for the past two months we've done really well. I thought that there would be more deaths from diseases and riots from widespread panic but since the Locust and Lambent are dead there's not much to be scared of if you count off the hostile Stranded and since the imulsion's gone we don't have anymore cases of rustlung. It was nice while it lasted but now since all the wonderfuel's gone all we've got is this really shitty old fashioned fuel. But if the COG and UIR can work together to solve this problem then we might just stand a chance.
(Jakson Derric, former Stranded doctor. Traxia Hospital)
***
Locust cave.
6.1 kilcks outside Traxia.
One hour into mission.
    Marcus stepped forward and lowered his Lancer. Scanning the room he wasn't able to see any more dead Locust but there were a lot of defences and guns facing the strange wall. Anya walked over to him and slung her rifle over her back.
    "Should we call this in?" she asked.
    "Do it," Marcus said. Anya pressed her finger to her ear and connected to CIC.
    "Command, this is Anya, can you read me?"
    "Yeah, a little static but you're clear," Bernie said.
    "We think we've found the reason behind the Locust base."
    "More like the reason it's here," Baird said quietly.
    "Shut it Baird," Bernie said, "What did you find?"
    "A lot of unmanned defences, pointing towards something that looks like a wall of imulsion."
    "Whoa, get out of there!" Bernie said.
    "It's okay Granny, it's not imulsion," Baird said.
    "Well then what is it?" Jace asked.
    "I dunno, but it doesn't look harmful."
    "Even if you think it is I don't think you should touch it," Cole said. Baird tapped his chin and then picked up a rock. He tossed and caught it a few times before hurling it into the shimmering wall. The rock passed through and made the surface ripple violently until it gradually calmed.
    "How about that, it's like water," Sam said.
    "Yeah, but how deadly is it to us?" Marcus asked.
    "What do we do then?" Cole asked.
    "We can't just leave now, there might be something important," Baird argued. Marcus was about to say something but he saw the bottom left of the wall ripple and a discolored tail pass through.
    "Over there! I just saw something pass through it."
    "Like what?" Sam asked.
    "Might've been a dog or something."
    Well if a dog can go through that then shouldn't we be able to?" Jace asked.
    "Maybe we should wait, until we get reinforcements," Anya said.
    "No time, that thing could be a spawning pool for Lambent," Marcus said.
    "Lambent?" Sam asked.
    "I thought your dad's weapon killed all the Lambent?" Cole questioned. Marcus took hold of his Lancer and walked closer to the shimmering wall.
    "It might not have reached this for deep into the cave. We should take a look and confirm it's safe."
    "And if it is, hey, no more big-ass evacuations," Baird said.
    "Baird's got a point, man," Cole said, "No way in hell I wanna move across the planet to find a new city and I don't think the civvies would like it either."
    Marcus gave a long sigh as he paced back and two up and down the shimmering wall. It was true about no-one wanting to move again now that they had just found a new place to restart what was left of the governments. Marcus didn't like how everything for mankind had gone downhill since the Pendulum Wars, but once the Locust emerged all of the fighting for the simple necessities of life became a fight for life itself. Nothing so far had gone right for him but he hoped that soon once Sera was rebuilt he might be able to start a new life, that is, if he lived long enough to see Sera get rebuilt. He paused in front of the center of the wall and gently placed the muzzle of the weapon into the strange substance. It shimmered and rippled a little but when Marcus brought it out the end of the gun was fine.
    "So what do we do now?" Baird asked as he strolled up to Marcus. Marcus placed his hand back under the Lancer and gripped it tight, he didn't want to hang around but whatever had ran into the wall was gone, maybe there was a reason behind it.
    "I think this leads somewhere, I think we need to go through."
    "What?" Baird asked, "You think that leads somewhere?"
    "It could be some sort of Locust camouflage technology that we haven't discovered yet."
    "Do the Locust have that kind of tech though?" Anya asked.
    "They must if they've been scavenging COG bases for the past fifteen years," Sam said. Cole scratched the side of his head in confusion.
    "So the creepy wall imulsion is now supposed to be a magic door? Damn, I think I've breathed in too much rotting Locust."
    "I think Marcus so far has been breathing in the entire dead army back there," Baird said, "Marcus, you seriously think that something's behind that?"
    "Whatever that thing was that ran into it sure as hell didn't come out, there has to be a reason why."
    "So what do we do?" Anya asked.
    "Best course of action would be to see if anything behind there could be a threat."
    "Any ideas, Marcus?" Cole asked.
    "Best thing to do would be to send Jack through first, he can cloak and scout out whatever's behind there."
    "He'd better not get lost because if he goes then we've got nothing to crack doors with," Baird said.
    "I know how valuable these bots are, Baird. Jack can take care of himself."
    Jack made a few beeps and slowly advanced towards the wall, the surface rippled violently as the bot's thrusters neared it but calmed once more after Jack had been engulfed by the substance. One minute passed, then two, three. Delta was seriously beginning to wonder what lay behind the Locust camo wall. But what didn't make sense was that if it was there to hide something wouldn't the defences be facing awayfrom the wall and not pointed at it? After what felt like an eternity Jack re-emerged from the wall, totally unscathed and functioning normally.
    "So is it safe?" Jace asked.
    Jack gave a few beeps.
    "I think that's a yes," Baird said. There was something about him and how he understood Jack. Marcus took up position in front of the squad.
    "Okay Delta, get ready to move in."
    "Lemme radio Command and tell them what's going on," Anya said.
    "Good idea," Sam said, "I don't want to be labeled as 'MIA'."
    Anya flicked on her radio and connected to CIC. There was a little static but soon she managed to hear Bernie on the other side of the radio.
    "Command, this is Delta. We're going through the wall, Marcus thinks it's a Locust camouflage wall hiding something."
    "Okay, be careful," Bernie said.
    "If it's safe we'll return and send coordinates so that we can bring in more Gears, Delta out," Marcus said.
    Anya switched off the radio and looked up at the wall. She didn't know if going through the camo wall was safe but then again, if there was anything dangerous behind it then they had to find out.
    "So then, who's going through first?" Jace asked.
    "I will," Marcus said, "We must know what's behind here. No time for debating who get's to be a future martyr, we gotta do this."
    Marcus stepped closer to the wall and slowly placed his hand into the shimmering substance. It rippled like it usually did but the feeling that Marcus experienced was like he plunged his hand into a fire and then into a bucket of ice water. He pulled his hand out and examined it, the glove was undamaged and after he took it off his hand, his hand was also unscathed and was fully functional. Marcus placed his glove on and looked back to his squad.
    "Follow me Delta."
    The Squad stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at each other before facing the shimmering wall. Baird cringed but stepped forward with the rest of the squad through the shimmering wall. He felt the hot then soothing cool feeling wash over him, he opened up his eyes and found himself standing in a much larger cave. The shimmering wall was now behind him and a light breeze coming from the opening of the cave hit his face once he turned back around.
    "This...isn't what I was expecting."
    "None of us were expecting this," Cole said.
    "I was hoping for something a little more impressive," Sam said. Marcus took a few steps forward and let his eyes adjust to the darkness, there wasn't much here aside from a few pieces of Locust equipment and sandbags.
    "Well isn't this nice?" Baird said irritably, "Nothing but more frigging rock, and where the hell are we?"
    "Um, in a cave?" Jace said slowly.
    "God, don't pull that shit. I thought I was the one to point out all the fucking obvious shit."
    "Sorry man, I was just wondering if I could do it as good as you."
    "You've got a lot to learn before you reach my level."
    Marcus and Anya ignored Baird and tried to figure out how deep the cave was. It ran on for what looked like a few miles but then it slanted upwards slightly, there was a small bar of light at the end of the cave, proving that there was a way out. Marcus pressed his finger to his radio and tried to contact Command but all that came back was static.
    "Shit," he mumbled.
    "Any ideas?" Anya asked.
    "Well it's too far to walk and the 'Dill won't have enough fuel to scout out this place and return."
    "So what do we do then?"
    "Go back, get Carmine and his Raven and fly in. The cave is big enough for a Brumak, a Raven's going to be no problem."
    "You think Hoffman will allow it?"
    "At this point he has no choice."
KR-59.
Inside the Locust cave.
Two days after discovery of base.
    Carmine gripped the joystick tightly as he maneuvered around the oversized doors and into the room that contained the Camo Wall. Several Gears on the ground looked up at them as they flew over. Marcus had delivered Delta's findings to Hoffman the second they got back to Traxia, in response Hoffman sent half a battalion of Gears to clean the place up and see if it truly was clear of Locust life. So far they had found nothing but weapons and scavenged COG equipment. It wasn't much but it did spark a little hope in the demoralized Gears. The only thing that was out of place was the fact that the UIR hadn't shown up to see what Delta discovered, normally when Gears or Indies found something interesting that would've made the news back before E-Day both sides would gather up at the location and just sit around for a little bit chatting with each other while the officials took a look around the place. It seemed to ease the former tensions between the two governments and it also made the process of getting Sera back to what it was feel easier. But both sides knew that Sera was beyond any quick repairs, constant war had done nothing but destroy the planet.
    "Are we there yet?" Baird asked.
    "No Blondie, shut it," Bernie said.
    "Nice of you to tag along, commander," Anya said.
    "I was getting sick of being in that stuffy office and I needed to see this for myself."
    "Well what we found isn't too impressive."
    "Boring as hell is more like it," Jace said.
    "I was really hoping we'd find buried treasure," Sam said sarcastically.
    "Gold and jewels won't do shit around here now," Marcus said, "A patch of farmland is much more valuable than all the  money in the Jacinto vaults."
    Carmine's voice chimed into the conversation.
    "Okay guys, strap in. Big shimmering wall of weird shit coming up."
    "I hope we don't crash," Baird said quietly.
    "How far have you gone into the cave?" Bernie asked.
    "Not far," Marcus said, "We just stood at the wall and then went back. Also once we go through we're gonna be cut off from the rest of the COG, there wasn't any radio communication."
    "So you're saying if we get stuck on the other side of this wall we're fucked?"
    "Yep, no way to call for help."
    "I like these odds," Baird said shakily.
    "Okay everyone," Carmine said, "Here we go!"
    Delta squad grabbed hold of the handholds that hung from the walls and ceiling. Bernie however kept both her hands on her sniper rifle, she looked around the compartment and saw each of the squad was bracing themselves. She had no idea what to expect so she nudged Cole who was sitting next to her.
    "Why are you all tensed up?"
    "I forgot you weren't here last trip," Cole said, "All I wanna say is be ready for the fire and ice."
    Bernie sat and stared at him, slightly perplexed and confused. She shook it off and followed what the squad was doing and braced herself for whatever was about to hit. Carmine called from the cockpit saying that the front of the Raven was now in the substance and he was going through in one quick swoop rather than go through slowly and risk getting shot by Locust that everyone knew wasn't there. But everyone knew that after fighting the same enemy for the past sixteen years you've already learned how they operated and how they fought, you just didn't know when it was coming. Jace sat back and loosened his nervous grip on the handhold above him, there was no possibility of Seeders and Nemacysts now but there was no denying that each and every Raven pilot still feared the living anti-air missiles and the creature that spawned them. The Raven shuddered and then pitched forward suddenly and shot forwards through the shimmering wall, this time, no-one felt a thing, aside from Cole who was leaning out of the Raven vomiting as Baird held onto the back of his belt.
    "I much prefer this now than last time," Baird said.
    "Why's that?" Sam asked.
    "Last time he almost coated his Lancer in puke."
    "Erughhhh," Jace moaned.
    "Ugh, I really hate flying," Cole said as he pulled himself back into the Raven.
    "Don't sweat it buddy," Carmine said, "We'll be out of this cave in no time."
    "I bloody well hope so, I hate it here underground," Sam said. Baird said up and took hold of his Lancer again.
    "How do you think we feel? We had to fight the Locust in their own frigging city."
    "No argument here," Jace said.
    The flight out of the cave was much longer than the squad expected but the light coming from between the compartment windows indicated that the exit to the cave was coming up quickly. The Raven ascended into the sky as the cave finally opened up and Carmine was able to relax, but what he saw outside the cockpit made him freeze in amazement.
    "Whoaaaaa. Guys, take a look outside."
    "What's out there?" Cole asked.
    "Just open up the doors."
    Marcus stood up and opened up the starboard side doors and shielded his eyes from the blinding light, once his eyes adjusted he stared out of the Raven in astonishment. The rest of the Squad gathered up around behind him and stared out of the Raven too. Outside was land, lush, green and totally untouched by war, Locust or the infamous Hammer Strikes. The Squad was speechless, then Marcus spoke up, saying only three words that pretty much described what everyone was thinking.
    "Holy fucking shit."

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

    I must say for the past two months we've done really well. I thought that there would be more deaths from diseases and riots from widespread panic but since the Locust and Lambent are dead there's not much to be scared of if you count off the hostile Stranded and since the imulsion's gone we don't have anymore cases of rustlung. It was nice while it lasted but now since all the wonderfuel's gone all we've got is this really shitty old fashioned fuel. But if the COG and UIR can work together to solve this problem then we might just stand a chance.
(Jakson Derric, former Stranded doctor. Traxia Hospital)
***
Locust cave.
6.1 kilcks outside Traxia.
One hour into mission.
    Marcus stepped forward and lowered his Lancer. Scanning the room he wasn't able to see any more dead Locust but there were a lot of defences and guns facing the strange wall. Anya walked over to him and slung her rifle over her back.
    "Should we call this in?" she asked.
    "Do it," Marcus said. Anya pressed her finger to her ear and connected to CIC.
    "Command, this is Anya, can you read me?"
    "Yeah, a little static but you're clear," Bernie said.
    "We think we've found the reason behind the Locust base."
    "More like the reason it's here," Baird said quietly.
    "Shut it Baird," Bernie said, "What did you find?"
    "A lot of unmanned defences, pointing towards something that looks like a wall of imulsion."
    "Whoa, get out of there!" Bernie said.
    "It's okay Granny, it's not imulsion," Baird said.
    "Well then what is it?" Jace asked.
    "I dunno, but it doesn't look harmful."
    "Even if you think it is I don't think you should touch it," Cole said. Baird tapped his chin and then picked up a rock. He tossed and caught it a few times before hurling it into the shimmering wall. The rock passed through and made the surface ripple violently until it gradually calmed.
    "How about that, it's like water," Sam said.
    "Yeah, but how deadly is it to us?" Marcus asked.
    "What do we do then?" Cole asked.
    "We can't just leave now, there might be something important," Baird argued. Marcus was about to say something but he saw the bottom left of the wall ripple and a discolored tail pass through.
    "Over there! I just saw something pass through it."
    "Like what?" Sam asked.
    "Might've been a dog or something."
    Well if a dog can go through that then shouldn't we be able to?" Jace asked.
    "Maybe we should wait, until we get reinforcements," Anya said.
    "No time, that thing could be a spawning pool for Lambent," Marcus said.
    "Lambent?" Sam asked.
    "I thought your dad's weapon killed all the Lambent?" Cole questioned. Marcus took hold of his Lancer and walked closer to the shimmering wall.
    "It might not have reached this for deep into the cave. We should take a look and confirm it's safe."
    "And if it is, hey, no more big-ass evacuations," Baird said.
    "Baird's got a point, man," Cole said, "No way in hell I wanna move across the planet to find a new city and I don't think the civvies would like it either."
    Marcus gave a long sigh as he paced back and two up and down the shimmering wall. It was true about no-one wanting to move again now that they had just found a new place to restart what was left of the governments. Marcus didn't like how everything for mankind had gone downhill since the Pendulum Wars, but once the Locust emerged all of the fighting for the simple necessities of life became a fight for life itself. Nothing so far had gone right for him but he hoped that soon once Sera was rebuilt he might be able to start a new life, that is, if he lived long enough to see Sera get rebuilt. He paused in front of the center of the wall and gently placed the muzzle of the weapon into the strange substance. It shimmered and rippled a little but when Marcus brought it out the end of the gun was fine.
    "So what do we do now?" Baird asked as he strolled up to Marcus. Marcus placed his hand back under the Lancer and gripped it tight, he didn't want to hang around but whatever had ran into the wall was gone, maybe there was a reason behind it.
    "I think this leads somewhere, I think we need to go through."
    "What?" Baird asked, "You think that leads somewhere?"
    "It could be some sort of Locust camouflage technology that we haven't discovered yet."
    "Do the Locust have that kind of tech though?" Anya asked.
    "They must if they've been scavenging COG bases for the past fifteen years," Sam said. Cole scratched the side of his head in confusion.
    "So the creepy wall imulsion is now supposed to be a magic door? Damn, I think I've breathed in too much rotting Locust."
    "I think Marcus so far has been breathing in the entire dead army back there," Baird said, "Marcus, you seriously think that something's behind that?"
    "Whatever that thing was that ran into it sure as hell didn't come out, there has to be a reason why."
    "So what do we do?" Anya asked.
    "Best course of action would be to see if anything behind there could be a threat."
    "Any ideas, Marcus?" Cole asked.
    "Best thing to do would be to send Jack through first, he can cloak and scout out whatever's behind there."
    "He'd better not get lost because if he goes then we've got nothing to crack doors with," Baird said.
    "I know how valuable these bots are, Baird. Jack can take care of himself."
    Jack made a few beeps and slowly advanced towards the wall, the surface rippled violently as the bot's thrusters neared it but calmed once more after Jack had been engulfed by the substance. One minute passed, then two, three. Delta was seriously beginning to wonder what lay behind the Locust camo wall. But what didn't make sense was that if it was there to hide something wouldn't the defences be facing awayfrom the wall and not pointed at it? After what felt like an eternity Jack re-emerged from the wall, totally unscathed and functioning normally.
    "So is it safe?" Jace asked.
    Jack gave a few beeps.
    "I think that's a yes," Baird said. There was something about him and how he understood Jack. Marcus took up position in front of the squad.
    "Okay Delta, get ready to move in."
    "Lemme radio Command and tell them what's going on," Anya said.
    "Good idea," Sam said, "I don't want to be labeled as 'MIA'."
    Anya flicked on her radio and connected to CIC. There was a little static but soon she managed to hear Bernie on the other side of the radio.
    "Command, this is Delta. We're going through the wall, Marcus thinks it's a Locust camouflage wall hiding something."
    "Okay, be careful," Bernie said.
    "If it's safe we'll return and send coordinates so that we can bring in more Gears, Delta out," Marcus said.
    Anya switched off the radio and looked up at the wall. She didn't know if going through the camo wall was safe but then again, if there was anything dangerous behind it then they had to find out.
    "So then, who's going through first?" Jace asked.
    "I will," Marcus said, "We must know what's behind here. No time for debating who get's to be a future martyr, we gotta do this."
    Marcus stepped closer to the wall and slowly placed his hand into the shimmering substance. It rippled like it usually did but the feeling that Marcus experienced was like he plunged his hand into a fire and then into a bucket of ice water. He pulled his hand out and examined it, the glove was undamaged and after he took it off his hand, his hand was also unscathed and was fully functional. Marcus placed his glove on and looked back to his squad.
    "Follow me Delta."
    The Squad stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at each other before facing the shimmering wall. Baird cringed but stepped forward with the rest of the squad through the shimmering wall. He felt the hot then soothing cool feeling wash over him, he opened up his eyes and found himself standing in a much larger cave. The shimmering wall was now behind him and a light breeze coming from the opening of the cave hit his face once he turned back around.
    "This...isn't what I was expecting."
    "None of us were expecting this," Cole said.
    "I was hoping for something a little more impressive," Sam said. Marcus took a few steps forward and let his eyes adjust to the darkness, there wasn't much here aside from a few pieces of Locust equipment and sandbags.
    "Well isn't this nice?" Baird said irritably, "Nothing but more frigging rock, and where the hell are we?"
    "Um, in a cave?" Jace said slowly.
    "God, don't pull that shit. I thought I was the one to point out all the fucking obvious shit."
    "Sorry man, I was just wondering if I could do it as good as you."
    "You've got a lot to learn before you reach my level."
    Marcus and Anya ignored Baird and tried to figure out how deep the cave was. It ran on for what looked like a few miles but then it slanted upwards slightly, there was a small bar of light at the end of the cave, proving that there was a way out. Marcus pressed his finger to his radio and tried to contact Command but all that came back was static.
    "Shit," he mumbled.
    "Any ideas?" Anya asked.
    "Well it's too far to walk and the 'Dill won't have enough fuel to scout out this place and return."
    "So what do we do then?"
    "Go back, get Carmine and his Raven and fly in. The cave is big enough for a Brumak, a Raven's going to be no problem."
    "You think Hoffman will allow it?"
    "At this point he has no choice."
KR-59.
Inside the Locust cave.
Two days after discovery of base.
    Carmine gripped the joystick tightly as he maneuvered around the oversized doors and into the room that contained the Camo Wall. Several Gears on the ground looked up at them as they flew over. Marcus had delivered Delta's findings to Hoffman the second they got back to Traxia, in response Hoffman sent half a battalion of Gears to clean the place up and see if it truly was clear of Locust life. So far they had found nothing but weapons and scavenged COG equipment. It wasn't much but it did spark a little hope in the demoralized Gears. The only thing that was out of place was the fact that the UIR hadn't shown up to see what Delta discovered, normally when Gears or Indies found something interesting that would've made the news back before E-Day both sides would gather up at the location and just sit around for a little bit chatting with each other while the officials took a look around the place. It seemed to ease the former tensions between the two governments and it also made the process of getting Sera back to what it was feel easier. But both sides knew that Sera was beyond any quick repairs, constant war had done nothing but destroy the planet.
    "Are we there yet?" Baird asked.
    "No Blondie, shut it," Bernie said.
    "Nice of you to tag along, commander," Anya said.
    "I was getting sick of being in that stuffy office and I needed to see this for myself."
    "Well what we found isn't too impressive."
    "Boring as hell is more like it," Jace said.
    "I was really hoping we'd find buried treasure," Sam said sarcastically.
    "Gold and jewels won't do shit around here now," Marcus said, "A patch of farmland is much more valuable than all the  money in the Jacinto vaults."
    Carmine's voice chimed into the conversation.
    "Okay guys, strap in. Big shimmering wall of weird shit coming up."
    "I hope we don't crash," Baird said quietly.
    "How far have you gone into the cave?" Bernie asked.
    "Not far," Marcus said, "We just stood at the wall and then went back. Also once we go through we're gonna be cut off from the rest of the COG, there wasn't any radio communication."
    "So you're saying if we get stuck on the other side of this wall we're fucked?"
    "Yep, no way to call for help."
    "I like these odds," Baird said shakily.
    "Okay everyone," Carmine said, "Here we go!"
    Delta squad grabbed hold of the handholds that hung from the walls and ceiling. Bernie however kept both her hands on her sniper rifle, she looked around the compartment and saw each of the squad was bracing themselves. She had no idea what to expect so she nudged Cole who was sitting next to her.
    "Why are you all tensed up?"
    "I forgot you weren't here last trip," Cole said, "All I wanna say is be ready for the fire and ice."
    Bernie sat and stared at him, slightly perplexed and confused. She shook it off and followed what the squad was doing and braced herself for whatever was about to hit. Carmine called from the cockpit saying that the front of the Raven was now in the substance and he was going through in one quick swoop rather than go through slowly and risk getting shot by Locust that everyone knew wasn't there. But everyone knew that after fighting the same enemy for the past sixteen years you've already learned how they operated and how they fought, you just didn't know when it was coming. Jace sat back and loosened his nervous grip on the handhold above him, there was no possibility of Seeders and Nemacysts now but there was no denying that each and every Raven pilot still feared the living anti-air missiles and the creature that spawned them. The Raven shuddered and then pitched forward suddenly and shot forwards through the shimmering wall, this time, no-one felt a thing, aside from Cole who was leaning out of the Raven vomiting as Baird held onto the back of his belt.
    "I much prefer this now than last time," Baird said.
    "Why's that?" Sam asked.
    "Last time he almost coated his Lancer in puke."
    "Erughhhh," Jace moaned.
    "Ugh, I really hate flying," Cole said as he pulled himself back into the Raven.
    "Don't sweat it buddy," Carmine said, "We'll be out of this cave in no time."
    "I bloody well hope so, I hate it here underground," Sam said. Baird said up and took hold of his Lancer again.
    "How do you think we feel? We had to fight the Locust in their own frigging city."
    "No argument here," Jace said.
    The flight out of the cave was much longer than the squad expected but the light coming from between the compartment windows indicated that the exit to the cave was coming up quickly. The Raven ascended into the sky as the cave finally opened up and Carmine was able to relax, but what he saw outside the cockpit made him freeze in amazement.
    "Whoaaaaa. Guys, take a look outside."
    "What's out there?" Cole asked.
    "Just open up the doors."
    Marcus stood up and opened up the starboard side doors and shielded his eyes from the blinding light, once his eyes adjusted he stared out of the Raven in astonishment. The rest of the Squad gathered up around behind him and stared out of the Raven too. Outside was land, lush, green and totally untouched by war, Locust or the infamous Hammer Strikes. The Squad was speechless, then Marcus spoke up, saying only three words that pretty much described what everyone was thinking.
    "Holy fucking shit."