2140 HOURS, NOVEMBER 9, 2554 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

HALO INSTALLATION: SIRCA - UNKNOWN COORDINATES

Tysiac had his helmet off and resting in the crook of his arm as he took another draught of the local beer inside the bat-creatures' tavern. Out of fear of not damaging the owner's bar or other furniture, the man had opted to stand and have his drink. The helmet alone would've been enough to cause damage if he tried to place it on a table. The rest of the armor would've destroyed any chair they had because of the sheer weight of it.

He heard the familiar voices of Tucker, Simmons and Grif as they wandered over towards the tavern entrance. Tysiac didn't bother to look towards them before hearing Tucker give a startling yelp and the other Chupadores give their own reaction to seeing a human's face.

Tucker was the first to speak up as Tysiac turned to look, rubbing one of his claws against the brown hair atop his head, "Geezus, Church was right. We really have the same hair."

Tysiac gave a brief look at his own hair before turning back to take another drink from the beer bottle. As much as it was against military standard to have as much hair as he did, Tysiac often ignored it. He could keep it out of his eyes and face whenever he had the helmet on, and it felt comfortable.

Deciding to speak up, Tysiac looked over to the turquoise Chupa and asked, "Finally started to not get your ass kicked in training yet?"

"Oh, fuck you!" Tucker grumbled back as he went over to one stool and asked for a bottle from the bat-creature tending the tavern, "Besides, pretty sure I'll be learning to kick your ass soon." Tysiac gave a look of amusement towards the Chupa. The boy was still as green as grass to fight even a UNSC recruit, and seeing him still getting beat up by the guards and their captain proved every inch. Put that against a Spartan-III and it would've been a guaranteed circus show.

Having looked at Tucker, Tysiac noticed a new difference from the Chupadore. He wasn't in his undersuit anymore. Instead, Tucker was wearing what appeared to be traditional robes of blue and light purple. A brown belt helped cinch the robe and leggings to his body with the energy sword strapped to it, while he had yellow bands around his ankles and wrists. If one had to ask Tysiac, Tucker looked like he was trying to pass cosplaying as a monk.

Tucker gave a sudden jolt as he seemed to have realized something before making a gesture towards Tysiac, "Master Juwo's asking for you, said he wanted to see the both of us and Church." Giving a quick inspection of his bottle, Tysiac downed what was left and placed it on the bar. It was a bit strange to him that Tucker was addressing the village leader with even a modicum of respect, giving his entire personality was trying to look good and flirt with women. Wordlessly, he gave a quick sweep of his hair before making his way out, helmet still in one arm and leaving an exasperated Tucker behind to catch up with him.

Tysiac didn't feel like wasting much time in reaching Juwo. There wasn't anything left in this village that he hadn't documented for ONI to see, and he was considering the idea of leaving the group of Chupadore Misfits behind as he ventured further out and either look for the Monitor of this Installation. He raised an eyebrow at seeing Kai's antics where she was currently attempting to pole-dance upside down from the rafters, much to the bat-creatures' interests and to her brother's dismay when he heard her and raced out of the tavern. Tucker was shortly behind him, and Caboose had apparently taken notice of the two and scampered on all fours to join them. Tucker gave a curt insult to the man for whatever reason as they made their way to the village leader.

Rolling his eyes before coming to a stop, Tysiac gave a quick salute to Juwo, who gave a returning bow towards the man, "Thank you for coming so quickly. The White One will be joining us soon."

Caboose bounded to Tysiac's side as he looked up and stared. After a few seconds, the ONI Spartan took notice and gave a glimpse back to wonder what exactly the blue Chupadore was looking for.

Apparently it was something important to the alien and nonsense to Tysiac, because not soon after locking eyes, the Chupadore said with some wonder, "Are you Tucker from the future? Did Tucker do something that made your face like that? Do you speak in Terminator?"

Tysiac replied with a simple "No," as he looked away just in time to see Church arrive with a grumble.

The Chupadore's claw was rubbing his stomach as he inspected between Tucker and Tysiac. Church decided that the first thing to say as he arrived was, "Goddamnit, I don't know which is worse: The Tucker that looks like an exotic dancer falling into a dumpster or the Tucker Look-alike that actually scares me."

Tysiac raised an eyebrow, "You really want to know?"

"No." Church grumbled as he looked at Tucker, "But I wanna know why Tucker's dressed like that. Seriously, he looks like the rats had their way with him."

Tucker gave a scoff as he bragged and igniting the energy sword, "Sure you wanna keep askin' with this sick-as-hell sword with me, smartass? I just graduated from Badass Academy, and this is my corroded tee!"

"Karategi." Juwo corrected, which Tucker slightly corrected... If barely.

He turned the sword off as he continued, "Master Juwo's been teaching me Kickass-Fu! So now I got skills for kills, bitch! Could lay you flat faster than I did yo' momma the other nigh-WHOA-HEY!!"

Church, having lost his patience, grabbed Tucker's outstretched hand and picked him up as the smaller Chupadore squirmed and protested. Giving a heave, Tucker quickly learning his teammate's intentions and was just as quick to protest and tell Church to let him go. Church ignored him and threw the turquoise alien into one pond of water with a loud splash. Tysiac simply watched the spectacle with a bit of amusement while he noted Juwo and his grandson with mixed expressions over seeing their supposed "Chosen" being handled too easily.

Caboose protested, "Oh come on! That's not fair! Tucker said I couldn't go swimming in the black stuff because that's how dinosaurs drowned!"

"Shut up, Caboose." Church lazily told his teammate before asking, "Really, cheese puffs. What am I doing here?"

Juwo gave a sigh as he began, "Do you know our story, the one of the White Wolf?"

"No." The Chupadore answered curtly before his eyes slightly widened for a moment, "Wait. You mean the dumb legend you talked about the first time?" Getting a nod from the bat-creature, Church shook his head, "Then yeah. No. You called me all this way to tell me a story?"

The village leader shook his head, "Be still and listen, and you may grasp the truth: The White Wolf is an old tale, told to our children and children again. He is the Great Destroyer, the one bringing despair wherever he goes. He has no ally, serves no master, and knows no friend. Everyone in his path is rent asunder by his teeth and claws, and everything around him is brought to ruin. To stop such a thing, only the blade of the righteous can stay him. Only the pure of heart can stand up to the beast and hope to survive. On that day, the sky will catch fire and darkness will be purged from the world..."

Taking a breath to collect himself, Juwo then asked Church, "Do you understand?"

While Church responded with having little to no clue what the village leader was talking about, Tysiac pondered over the whole of the story and what he had learned beforehand. The leader had called it a time of changing, meaning that this was a sort of fixed point where crazy things occurred before being told they get better. Putting the story to that sort of thinking...

Tysiac gave a quick look over his armor's color, ensuring that it didn't somehow change to white without his knowing. Finding it to still be the color scheme of predominantly black with dark green, which was meant for forest camouflage, the man ruled himself out of the story... Agent Maine of UNSC Project Freelancer might've suited the bill in a way... That's if he somehow came back to life, given the autopsy report made at Sidewinder.

His mind turned back to reality when he saw Church reach behind him and pulled out the bit of fabric with part of the UNSC's logo on it, with a dripping wet Tucker complaining about where the Chupadore has been keeping it. After handing it over, Juwo commented, "This is the token of the Movement."

"Movement?" Tucker repeated before asking, "Isn't that the anti-Omega group that sprays tags all around bus stops n' shit?"

"They are people who live under the earth as we do, for fear of the Faceless God. Their leader is one of your kind, one named Wash."

Church and Tysiac gave a small start, though the man's reaction wasn't as excited about the name as the Chupadore was. Church was quick to ask, "That's the name I heard. You know where to find him??"

Tysiac, in the meantime, was... Conflicted. If the bat-creature was referring to Washington, then things may yet end up becoming complicated in ways he might've not expected. He barely remembered the current status of the only two survivors of Project Freelancer having entered retirement. He couldn't remember the details clearly, or perhaps he never knew much more than this.

"As they are called, they do not linger in one place for long." Juwo explained as he handed off the fabric, "However, there are special routes that will lead you to them. Andee knows these paths, and he shall guide you."

He turned to look at his grandson, "Lutane, leave us and fetch him. Church, please come closer."

His grandson didn't seem happy at the idea, as he quickly spoke something to Juwo before being interrupted with an edged tone, "I know it. I see it standing before my own two eyes. You are dismissed, Great Lancer. I'd like to speak with my pupil and his friends alone."

The captain gave an angry grumble but didn't speak up as he marched away as both Tucker and Church quietly bickered with each other before the now pale-white Chupadore stood in front of Juwo as he asked, "Alright, what is it?"

He quickly recoiled when Juwo stretched out one of his hand-wings towards the Chupadore, making the village leader tsk at him, "Peace. You are too tense. I only want to look into your eyes."

"Yeah, you can do that without fucking touching me!" Church retorted before he relaxed enough for the bat-creature to stare.

He remained silent for a few moments before telling Church, "Your aura is filled with anger, but I do not see hatred. Merely deep regret."

Juwo looked over to Tysiac as he gave a gentle wave with his hand-wing for the same. Seeing no harm, the human stepped closer and locked eyes with the village leader, noting once again the pure white part of his eyes in contrast to the usual yellow tinge his species had. For a moment, Tysiac wondered if the leader was more exhausted by his age than he let on, as something seemed to be that noticeable before Juwo responded, "You walk deep in shadow. And your hands are just as stained. Yet, you bear no thirst for violence... But you bear ghosts, some of them I fear you will find soon from the Movement."

Tysiac shifted uncomfortably as he stepped back and letting Caboose have his turn. Tysiac felt the pang of unease as he recalled the name “Wash” and the situation he was in. Ignoring both hints as to what the man was going to find from the Movement was asking for trouble, especially when you work with a good deal of black ink with ONI. The question that lingered unanswered was which of his ghosts. The few he knew during the Human-Covenant War were long dead and two who once were something he could call friends were also dead...

Unless there was something Covenant related, or even Flood related... The former Tysiac could handle a Covenant threat, but the thought of containing, or recontaining, the Flood on Sirca was terrifying all on its own.

"Hey!" Church's voice called out, snapping Tysiac's attention towards the entrance of the room, "Mush face! You coming or gonna stare at the water more?"

A small snort left Tysiac's nose as he put his helmet back on, sealing it with a small noise as he marched out to the Blues. Whatever comes, it's unlikely to be pleasant. But he'll endure. It's something he's established on being good at since his augmentations, besides his twisted luck.

=-=-=+=-=-=

Then again, he might've found his match on what to endure. The Reds were stubborn in following the Blues out on top of them being kicked out of the village. And as Andee put it, "I'm not making two trips." So much to Tysiac's misfortune, he had to endure the banter between the Chupadores and religious zeal that the Chupa named "Sarge" apparently had embedded in him. Thankfully, he could lag behind the group and keep an eye out for them that way, having Kai being a buffer between the Chupadores and their inane talk.

Though if this was half of what the Simulation Troopers were like during their stint with Project Freelancer, it was a wonder that both Agents Carolina and Washington had clean psych evaluations.

His mind began to brood as they came through a long hallway, ignoring the changing topic about the bat-creatures' expressions and insults that had been thrown Grif and Simmons' way. The first few thoughts dwelled on the White Wolf tale that Juwo had shared. Even if it was a predicted prophecy, which even by Tysiac's standards was often not something to give much credit to because of the Covenant and their damned Prophets having started the war. Still, if the prophecy was supposed to happen, trying to discern all that the elder bat-creature said from symbolism and into reality was lacking in a few specific details. The skies catching fire; the darkness being purged... Did he mean the activation of this Halo?

From what had been studied about the Halo Installations and some of the more helpful Monitors, their firing methods consisted of gathering and producing a lethal form of radiation, specifically designed to eradicate sentient life by supermassive neutrinos and then unleashing it in a 25,000 Lightyear radius. The burst was tuned to the frequency of the nervous system of every macroscopic organism that the Flood could infect. Given the report of the battle on Installation 05, the center of the Ring produced a type of plasma-like fire that made shadows either stronger in places like caves, or just vanish altogether....

Wasn't there a report from one Monitor that there used to be twelve Halos before they were replaced by the seven Halos the UNSC encountered?

The motion tracker suddenly lit up. One unknown contact. Far from the group.

Tysiac immediately dove to one side and took shelter behind one pillar as he almost called out towards the Reds and Blues. However, he immediately fell silent on seeing a large net fall on top of them. Tysiac would've tried to help. However, seeing the Chupadores continue to squirm and tangle themselves further by the net made it difficult on where to start. Suddenly another unknown contact registering on his tracker, the man elected to remain put.

"Hey there."

The ONI agent froze as he heard that ever so familiar voice. Out of all the voices he had to hear again, hers wasn't the one he felt he wanted...

He edged around the pillar to see and sure enough; he saw the familiar brown and black helmet of C.T on a female Chupadore alongside a male with a gasmask. She may not have been wearing a copy of the MJOLNIR powered armor and instead was in a cropped leather outfit, but her voice and the helmet were unmistakable, "You guys are in a restricted area."

Tysiac silently cursed as he checked his rifle, ensuring it was still the same Lockdown Paint. He heard an explosion of gas and checked again as he heard the Chupadore Reds and Blues coughing in the midst of a green sort of gas in the darkened hallway.

Seeing that the gas was partially covering their sight, Tysiac quickly moved and found a new spot to hide in the corridor. Whether he was still spotted or they had motion trackers as well, C.T's voice immediately called out after him, "Hey! How 'bout you come out and we don't need to get drastic with your friends here?"

He didn't immediately answer as he shuffled closer against the corner of his new hiding spot. The Reds and Blues coughing quieted down, making him realize they had used some kind of knockout gas to subdue the Chupadores. He clicked the safety off on his rifle as he replied through the comms, with some attempt of getting onto her frequency. After getting a jolt and her voice coming through, Tysiac replied softly and keeping his helmet speakers off, "Cute of you, thinking they were friends."

She gave a soft curse as the motion tracker began telling him they were moving down the hall towards him. That same voice then came through the comms, "Cute bluff. But pretty sure you wouldn't be following them if they weren't. So how about we play nice? You come out and nobody gets hurt."

Tysiac instinctively gave a snort that was sent through the comms as the words left his mouth, "Oh please, you've never played nice, Cons-"

He immediately bit back the rest of his words, his eyes widening as he realized what he had said before turning off the comms and mentally kicking himself. He should never have done that under any circumstances. The C.T he knew was dead. One of the two marks immediately stopped and disappeared from his motion tracker. Very likely the Chupadore with C.T's voice.

She didn't speak up on the comms and Tysiac wasn't hearing her speak to her partner. Then, the tracker picked her up again as he saw her sprinting around the corner, where he was with a makeshift sword out in one hand and a pistol in the other. The Chupadore woman checked both sides of the hall as she slowly made her way down the hall.

The comms opened up again, C.T's voice now agitated, "Alright, you fuck. Now you have me interested. Either you come out, or I get to put a few bruises for free."

Tysiac stayed utterly still. He couldn't shift or move around as it would've attracted her eyes to look up as he said in a lower and quieter tone, "That's if you can find me."

An unknown voice came into the frequency, belonging to a male, "Look, we're not interested in putting holes in people, but you and the group got caught here and we're wanting to know why." The blue, male Chupadore with the gasmask moved his rifle to rest the top of it against his shoulder as he idly looked around, "And we're not leaving till we have everyone. So let's quit the Hide and Seek."

"Depends. Do I get to keep my things if I did?" Tysiac's right leg was slowly becoming stiff, however, he ignored it as the two Chupas passed right underneath him.

C.T's voice came once more, "Depends. You gonna cooperate and play Twenty Questions with us?"

"Depends again. Do I get to keep my things and not have to play Fusillade?"

"Only if you show up and quit this game."

Tempting, especially as they were slowly making their way and checking the pillars now. Though they hadn't spotted him yet, it'd be a matter of time and given they had captive cargo, and didn't believe his bluff about not being with them.

The two were about to go further down the hallway before Tysiac moved his rifle, aimed it between the Chupadore with C.T's helmet and the gasmask wearer and activated its equipped flashlight. They looked down before spinning around and looking up to find Tysiac holding himself between the ceiling, the wall and the protruding pillar supports. His spare hand was trying to hold him into the corner while his boots magnetised to the ceiling and slanted part of the wall.

C.T gave a loud and angry curse through the helmet as the Chupadore woman reluctantly put away her sword while the male placed one claw on his hip and rested his rifle against his shoulder again in amazement. Tysiac turned off the flashlight before landing with a heavy thud as he kept the rifle close to his chest and spoke through the helmet speakers, "Well?"

Red vs Blue © Rooster Teeth. Halo © 343 Industries. Concept by Myshu, assisted by The Department of Chupapology.