Arizona awoke less violently this time around, Kappa's gentle urgency bringing him back to reality in a snap. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had a dream instead of the usual round of regrets that filled his head. It wasn't a nice dream per say, something to do with a woman training or in combat, but at least it wasn't him this time around. Plus she wasn't that bad to look at.

"Mr.Arizona, you're still wanted for assembly, if you want that is. Kappa said once more, breaking the Agent out of his reverie.

"You know what? Yeah, let's do this." He answered with a unusual amount of enthusiasm. Surprising even himself.

Making his way to the briefing with everyone else. He wasn't surprised to find himself on a team with one of the people he had deemed a moron, but he thanked whoever found it to keep him away from West. He would honestly shoot him if given the chance, bull-headed narcissist that the guy was. Of course, Washington wasn't much better, as evidenced with whatever the hell he was doing with the new guy.

"What is even happening here?" He asked one of his teammates who seemed focus on Washington as well, Kappa politely supplied her name as 'Ms.Kansas'. He thanked the A.I silently, despite already gathering as much on his own.

Garret started to think back to his days on Reach, back when he had his first assignment. Then suddenly, West zoned completely out of the real world, staring off into space.

It was PFC Garret Hood's first day with his new regiment. He was incredibly excited to show off his new marksmanship skills to his teammates. His CO grabbed everyone's attention so he could introduce him. "Ladies, I'd like you to meet our newest recruit. A teenager fresh from his training, but apparently good enough to be assigned here immediately upon finishing training. Private First Class Garret James Zenith Hood."

His fellow marines nodded in his direction then went back to eating their meals. Garret got his food and wondered where to sit, since everyone seemed to have no room for him. He looked around and saw the computer specialist and the engineer he saw earlier. He went to go sit with them.

"Hello, private. Name's Cook." Responded the engineer.

"And I'm Poindexter. I know, cliché name for a computer geek like me, right?" Followed the computer guy. Garret smiled at these two and thought about how great it was to have people to openly let him into their clique.

"West Virginia. Agent West Virginia, I have your answer. You are to report to drop pod Oh-Seven Alpha for your deployment. You will be dropped out of range of the enemy's scanners. The Director also warns that stealth is of the utmost importance in this maneuver, but has the utmost confidence that you know what you're doing." Delta said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right. I just need to go g-"

"You're equipment has been transported to your pod for you."

"I was going to say pod, Dee. Sheesh." He said smirking.

"No you weren't. With all due respect, you were-"

"It's a joke, Dee."

"Of course."

With that, West got up off the wall. "Well, wish me luck, team. I'm heading on down to the red zone to set up." He said loudly enough so all could hear him, and he waved to everyone individually on his way out. He even gave Arizona a genuine, friendly wave as he walked past him to the door. Once he was all the way at his pod, he cracked his knuckles as Delta asked him if he truly meant to be friendly to Arizona despite the fact that both of them knew he hated West, to which West replied with a simple, "Of course. Why wouldn't I have?"

West climbed into his pod and braced himself in, harness and all. "Preparing for atmospheric reentry. Are you ready, Agent?" Asked a robotic, friendly female voice.

"Um, I've never done this before, but... Yeah. Let's do it." He said, and gave a two thumbs up.

"Excellent. Atmospheric reentry commencing in 10.... 9.... 8"

"Here we go."

"7... 6... 5..."

"I think the best advice to give would be for you to "Just breathe."

"4... 3."

"Thanks, Dee."

"2... 1..."

West looked over and saw his rifle, but with it was not the standard magazine size for most sniper rifles. This one was a small extended mag that held six .57 caliber rounds instead of four. He thought he was in heaven. "Oh my..." He reached out to grab it when the female voice cut him short.

"Firing Pod Oh-Seven Alpha."

The pod suddenly dropped toward the planet with such momentum that it caused West's arms to fly straight up into the air. "AAAAHHHH.... CRAAAAAP." He said, frustrated he didn't get to touch the beauties next to him. "COOOMMMME OOOONNNN!" The heat of reentry was starting to become noticeable, and he was sweating under his armor. "Delta! How much time to impact?"

"About one and a half seconds."

"Wha-?!"

And the pod hit dirt. After a few moments, he recuperated highly impressively quickly, and got out of the pod. He had a trip mine, two frag grenades, two smoke grenades, six mags of Sniper rounds and his personally chosen rifle from the armory, and he had his magnum and five spare mags for that, though they too had extended magazines. He checked to see if his guns were chambered, then he looked around at his environment. Dense forest. At least it isn't jungle. He thought to himself. He kissed one of the sniper mags and smiled at it, holding it as though he was genuinely in love. After shaking his head affectionately at it, he placed it with the rest and got to work.

---

West, after about an hour of hacking at underbrush with his custom knife, reached an already nice overlook that gave a good view of a good majority of the reactor complex. Guards were everywhere. None of them looked potent though. He glanced around at the outsides of the complex and saw an even higher point on which he could perch nicely. There. And with that one worded thought, he trekked up to the overhang.

When he got there, he realized there was a pair of armed guards approaching him. He quickly reacted, as they spotted his white armor in the small clearing he had found himself in amongst trees. Well, that and they were five yards from him. He had no choice. He flung himself at the closest guard and sliced his neck before he could raise his gun. Then, while still in full swing from the attack he made, he let go of the knife and threw it at the other, nailing him in the left eye, through his ODST visor. "Booyah." He whispered as he recovered his knife. "Did I stir up any commotion down there, Dee?" He whispered.

"None of them are any the wiser."

"Great." West answered, and continued on until he reached his destination. He put his knife away and pulled out his sniper rifle. As he went prone, he pulled some moss over him so as to hide his white suit color. "Alright, can we have a thermal view of the compound?" He asked. Delta didn't verbally respond, but instead simply activated his thermal vision. Forty guards outside. Two warthogs and a tank, he could see. Inside the complex wasn't much. It was all blocked out by the heat from the reactor. "Okay... X-ray please." After his vision was changed, he could see people everywhere within the complex. At the heart of it was a trio of guys at computer terminals, one of which had to have been the hacker.

West turned his enhanced vision off and looked around the outside some more through his rifle scope. Immediately, he picked one out of the crowd with a female body posture and energy sword. "And there's the dangerous one." He said. "Any secure comms I can use to radio home to Wash?"

"Scanning channel for any listeners... You're good to go. Speak."

"Okay, Washington. I've located two of the three high priority targets. Also, looking around, I can give you guys good areas to drop in right on them. I'll submit the data once you are ready for it so your AI can redirect your pods to the locations." He said, then laid there in wait for the cavalry.

"May as well get comfortable..."

Milo watched the others get up and leave off towards the "Mission briefing."

"Alright, Gamma, time to go... don't even get to eat... this day just gets better and better doesn't it?"
"I'm not sure what you are talking about"
"Gamma, come on"
"But what if it's a trick?"
"Oh, you're right that would be a good trick taking all the agents in one room, and then blowing up the room... clever people.."
"Do you still want to go?"
"Not really now that I'm thinking about bombs..."
"But what if it really is a mission briefing?"
"See now you're doubling back on yourself"
"Yes and you're now thinking about going"
"Maybe.." Milo said as his head started buzzing slightly, "What's that?"
"Mission data,"
"Oh... so it was a real briefing...?"
"It appears so,"
"You knew it was real the whole time didn't you?"
"You have no proof"
-Milo facepalms- "Let's get moving, mark it on the HUD. Gamma, thats the womens quarters..."
After this Gamma fixed the marker as Oregon ran to the meeting. "Sorry I'm la- Washington... why are you... oh well. Here and reporting for duty, now what do I need to do?" he asked a little out of breath, before feeling his stomach growl.

Garret zoned out whilst waiting for his team, remembering events that hit him hard.

A few months later.

"Blackjack!" Cook claimed proudly, pulling all the cheese puffs into his pile.

"Oh, come on. You've gotta be cheating or something. Counting cards, I dunno." Garret responded, trying to act frustrated but obviously amused by Cook's surprisingly good luck. These guys were smart and lucky, and he always envied that about them. At least he had skill.

"Nope, it's all in the cards, baby." Cook chuckled, and Poindexter laughed with him.

"What do you find so funny, Dex?"

Dex laughed even more. "This guy's poker face is only any good when he plays cards. Remember the time he tried to lie to the Lieutenant about stealing some potato chips from the mess hall, but he tried to-" by this point, he couldn't contain his laughter. "He tried to tell him that the bag that said potato chips on it wasn't even food, and that they were computer processors he needed for a repair?!"

Garret cracked up with him and looked at Cook. "Oh, man. Now I see where all your lying skills went into. Explains why you're so good at cards!" He fell backwards onto his bunk."

"Okay, okay you two. Calm it down. I know I'm a terrible liar. It doesn't mea-" Just then, the facility alarm sounded. Boots were heard marching out in the halls, and in a few short seconds, periodic explosions began to rock the base. "Attention, all hands on deck. Report to your designated defe-" Another explosion sounded much closer, and screams were heard out in the halls.

Hood opened the door, and looked around. Caved in ceilings, dead soldiers, and scattered weaponry on a nearby Spartan-III that had been stationed here- and she was obviously dead. Hood turned to his friends. "Guys, we need to get out. Now." He went to search the Spartan for ammo and any more weapons. He found a sidearm and a few clips for it, as well as a few magazines for the MA5B Assault Rifle that lay next to her. He took the AR and its ammo and gave the handgun to Cook once he stepped out of the room.

Poindexter looked down at the dead Spartan. "I... I thought Spartans never die?..." He said solemnly. "That's what they always said."

"Come on, you actually believed that crap? No matter how good you are, no one is invincible Dex... No one." Garret replied in a somber tone. He checked ammo counter on his rifle, seeing a satisfying but not perfect 23. Good. "Let's go, there's no telling how much time we have." He said, and began his jog down the hall of the facility as another explosion shook the place with a sound like thunder.

Washington to one last look at the briefing room, watching West leave to be dropped in early he made his way to the shuttle bay. Preparing his loadout he did a double check on his loadout. Happy that everything was in order he looked at the drop Pelican that would be taken. Outfitted for high orbit drops it had many pods strapped to the sides and was almost twice the size of a regular pelican, built to drop them in then zoom out. Looking at he remembered how much he hated Halo dropping. The gut wrenching G force and of course the crashing, that was his least favourite part of it. As he was imaging the idea of plummeting to his death the Counselor walked in, as several of the engineers stopped to salute or bow his destination was set on Washington.

"Good evening Agent Washington. How are you today? Ah. Gearing up for the mission then I see.

Washington turned to The Counselor he wasn't a person to salute or bow to a superior, not after what he had seen in the war against the flood. Washington didn't like this man, something about the Counselor was off. He just couldn't place his finger on it. "Good Evening to you too Counselor. I'm doing okay, not looking forward to the Halo drop, Never did trust these buckets of metal we're dropped from the sky in.

The counselor chuckled lightly, looking down at his PDA he tapped it a few times before replying. "We've had some reports that your A.I. may be malfunctioning. Have you noticed anything irregular about it?

Washington Said yes but what came out was. "No sir, nothing Irregular at all."

"Okay then, we'll keep an eye on you just in case these A.I.s are experimental, so they might be a little buggy. It's best we squash these bugs before they become a problem. The counselor walked away and out of the shuttle bay. Washington was a loss for words.

"Epsilon, What the fuck did you just do?"

Epsilon appeared looking sheepish. "I'm sorry Wash, I didn't want you to tell him I might be faulty, he'll rip me out of your skull and lock me away again. I don't think I could deal with being alone with it again." Epsilons voice was full of terror now and Washington was getting quite concerned.

"Easy there Epsilon. What do you mean by alone with it? With the other A.I.s? But, you're all separated so why does it matter?"

Epsilons voice cut out and was replaced by thousands of different voice speaking in unison. "I am the Alpha I am who was, I am what was destroyed in pain and suffering I was the First."

Now it was Washington's turn to be afraid. The voices cut out leaving the sound of a woman crying in his head. "Umm, Epsilon? You alright?

The crying faded out replaced with Epsilon's voice "Yes, why do you ask? Come on Wash, it's almost time for the mission to start. West has submitted a report of his current location and oh the enemies he can see. Beth is there she is currently guarding the permitter. However due to the lining of the Reactor room is having trouble telling who else maybe inside the building.

Washington was worried for his own safety now, Epsilon was having some major malfunctions and there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Pushing it aside he would confront this issue after the mission. Opening up the coms he radioed all agents heading out on the mission. "This is Agent Washington to all Agents. The mission is a-go please make your way to the shuttle bay and gear up.

Once everyone was here and on the Pelican they headed out. Epsilons words played on his minds the entire journey up to the moment the drop pods were launched. [b]"Great I love this part. The pod slammed into the ground the door blowing off allowing Washington to exit. He and his squad had been dropped further away than the distraction squad. "Okay guys and gals, distraction Squad go make some noise you're free to open a can of hurt on them. West keep an eye on the enemy, looks from here like they may have some Rocket launchers. My squad we're moving in cautiously and quickly, no noise."

The distraction squad would find plenty on enemies in the way however there would be no sign of Beth or George.

As Washington's squad moved into the facility they met little resistance with only a few guards in there way. "This is strange where the hell is everyone? You would think that this place would be guarded by the best of the best unless this is a trap. But why go to all that trouble?"

West took aim once he heard the teams drop in. He observed the enemy as they started to pick up activity. They started filtering into different directions and, judging by the angles, setting up an ambush.
"Aye aye, Cap'n." He responded when Wash ordered him to keep an eye on the enemy. "I've already got something for ya. They know you're here, and they're either setting up an ambush or clearing the way for something else. I can't tell from here though, so I'll keep you posted. West out." He informed Wash of all he could see.

"There are two enemy soldiers following behind the squadron. Might I suggest you take the shot when they are lines up in such a manner that you hit both with the same bullet?"

"Already on it, Dee." Replied West, as he took the shot once they overlapped each other through his scope. He hit the front one in the head, and the second through the neck. "Bingo, two confirmed EKIA." He said proudly, then turned to see what the squad was walking into.

After a read-up on what was going to be happening, and a quick conversation with Iota, Kansas felt her pod hit the ground, and then blinked as the door blew off. She looked out for a moment, as if she had second thoughts about exiting the pod, but she was ushered along by an annoyed Iota.
"Hurry up. You're being slow. If you continue at this pace, it'll be mission-complete before you take a single step out of your pod. No excuses. Everyone will think you are a liability." The AI said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, daddy. Please, don't ground me. I'm a good girl, I swear. I'm not a liability." Kansas says, her voice being the sarcastic imitation of a small child. She laughs, stepping out of her pod. "See, I'm out of my pod already."
"If I was physical, I would slap you. Hard." Came the reply from the AI.

Drawing her M7, Kansas walked with the squad. She heard what Washington was saying about there not being many hostiles, and she couldn't help but notice the same thing. "Well, they might want to make it look kinda like it was a power outage. If they had troops everywhere, it'd look a helluva lot more suspicious. That, or if it was seen that there was just a small group of terrorists, not that many troops would be sent. Right?" Kansas says.
"I hate your analysis of the situation."
"Kind as ever, aren't you, Iota?"
He chose to stay quiet as Kansas listened to the COM, and sighed. "Or they could be setting up an ambush. Fair enough. I was wrong. Iota, stop laughing at once, meanie." Kansas says, grinning. "If there is a terminal somewhere, maybe I can try and access some systems. Like, doors or maybe cameras."

Montana was beginning to get frustrated with the lack of enemies to fight. They had been given the job to be a distraction yet so far there had been no one to even distract. Had the higher ups even gotten the right place he began to wonder as Omega inside his helmet growled in agitation wanting to destroy or kill something.
"Where the hell is everyone?" Montana said to himself aloud as he walked with the others that were part of the distraction team ",Did they miss the memo on getting their asses kicked today or what. Some first mission this is."
In his frustration he kicked a wall causing a dent in the side of it as he kept moving. How was he suppose to prove his worth when there was nothing to fight? Granted it could of been a trap but even if it wasall atrap, waiting for that trap to be sprung was going to drive him mad.
Patience is key sometimes, Omega grumbled not much thrilled by the idea of a lack of enemies to kill.