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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, Alpha Origins	By : Veyron722skyhook Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6171 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or it's characters. They belong to Bioware and EA. No money/profit is made by me from this.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
I imagine this comes as a welcome surprise.

After I wrote a certian scene in this, I decided to set myself a deadline to get this done in tiem for Haloween, and I succeeded.

So this is it. This is where ALpha finalyl meet their arch enemy.

I'll warn you all right now this chapter is rather dark. It contains extreme scenes of torture (and I do mean extreme), blood, explicit gore detail, and a scary scene. So it's probably not for the faint of heart

HAPPY HALOWEEN! Hahahahahahaha! ;)

YEAR 4, The Rise of Hellspawn

2176: 4 Years after the battle of Elysium

12 Years before the Battle of Arkadia

"Now we knew the name of our enemy. But it was from there our story was about to take a very dark turn, and stay that way for several years. We were soon to be reminded of what the true definition of evil really was.

Chapter 16

The Black Helldiver

"We are Hellspawn! I am its Commander! And you, Helldivers… you will pay for your interference!"

Those were the last words spoken before the transmission terminated.

A week had passed since Alpha had learned about Hellspawn and its leader. Now it seemed that organization had emerged with what could only be described as an "attempt" at a threatening message.

Alpha had to be honest, the transmission had been rather underwhelming. The figure in the message who called himself the Commander seemed to be just a hooded figure with a rather shrill and raspy voice. In fact he even spoke like someone who was in love with the sound of his own voice.

The symbol for Hellspawn, which had been shown in the transmission, was simply that of skull and crossbones (using knives and guns instead of bones)

"That's it?" said Dash, almost in confusion. "That's the leader of the organization we've been looking for?"

"I know. From what the Intel suggested, and the fact that they hired the Slayer; I was expecting someone more… threatening or cold and calculating. But this guy, I can barely take seriously." Said Sandra.

"Cold calculating types don't usually bother with terrorism. It's too risky for them. Most terrorists are ordinary people. Of course that doesn't make what they do any easier to forgive." Said Austin.

"Always the voice of wisdom." Said Alaara.

"Least this means we'll be able to take them down easier." Said Kraan, banging his fists together.

"And it would seem that time is now." Said Austin. "I just received a message from the Arkane Council. They managed to trace the message."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Dash optimistically.

Oddly, the signal's point of origin seemed to be …. Just outside the star cluster where the Citadel was located. Both worrying that the threat was so close, and at the same time confusing. Alpha would've thought that Hellspawn would be out in the farthest reaches of the terminus systems were it would be hard to find them.

"Are you sure this is right?" Leena asked, puzzled.

"Positive." Sandra replied.

"Doesn't make any sense though. Why hide in Council space?" said Ventra.

"Well if you think about it, it's the last place we would think to look. Sometimes the closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm." Austin simply shrugged.

"I still get the feeling this might be a trap. It's too easy. The Council tracked the signal very easily, and the mansion it's coming from doesn't seem that heavily guarded." Said Alaara.

"We're always trained to expect the worst." Said Hawk, loading up his sniper rifle.

The mansion had plenty of security, but it wasn't' enough for Alpha to even feel challenged. This was sort of security they were taught to avoid in basic training.

Soon they reached the back entrance.

"Can you get us in?" Austin asked.

"Please. I was taught how to hack through these in basic training." Said Leena smugly.

She walked up to the control panel and began hacking in using her omni tool. She seemed to find it even easier than she found she would.

"Wow, these are dated. Someone needs to upgrade their security protocols." She said.

Sure enough, she managed to gain access without any difficulty. Once everyone was inside, it didn't' take them long to find what they were looking for. They were one floor above where there was some kind of set. Cameras, dark lighting, and in the centre of it all, the Commander himself, clad in nothing but black robes and a hood that hid his face entirely.

Austin took a charge from his belt and placed it on the floor.

"This is it, Alpha. We do it by the book, take the Commander alive and avoid killing anyone that's unarmed." Said Austin.

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay… 3… 2… 1!"

The device exploded and everyone leapt down the hole, immediately pointing all their guns at the camera crews and the Commander.

"Everyone on the ground, now!" Austin yelled.

Everyone immediately got down on their knees, including the Commander.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell!" he said.

"Don't move." Austin ordered as forced the Commander's hood back.

He'd almost expected a hideously scarred or deformed face. Instead it was just a perfectly normal human face with a slight beard and moustache and bald head.

"I'm not moving." He said. "You want something, take it. Although the guns are all fake, we don't use real ones."

"What?"

"Well you see…"

"Just shut up, you! We're only gonna ask you once. Where's the Commander?!" Kraan growled.

It seemed clear now this man in front of us was not the Commander. He couldn't be. Clearly this had been a decoy or something.

"He's here. Well, he's here but he's not here."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated."

Finally getting sick of this, Austin shot one of the lights to show that he meant business. That was enough to get the decoy to talk.

"Who are you?!" Austin asked.

"My name's Shane. Shane Walters." The decoy replied.

"What are you, a decoy? You're a double, right?"

"What? No, of course not." Said Shane.

Austin however raised his gun to tell Shane to make sense.

"Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor! An actor!" he immediately said.

"What?"

"It's just a role." Shane explained. "The Commander, it's not real."

"Why? Why are you masquerading as a terrorist?" Sandra asked.

"It's my job. I was paid millions for it, and I really needed the money so how could I not refuse? They gave me things, they gave me this palace, they gave me all I could want. The thing was, he needed someone to take responsibility in order to throw of the scent of some… "people" who were hunting him." Shane further explained.

"He? He who? Who hired you?" Kraan asked.

"I don't know. I was hired anonymously by some secret organization that said they needed someone to pose as a leader called the Commander for some organization called Hellspawn. Not related to you at all is it?" Shane asked.

"We'll ask the questions here, mate." Said Austin sternly as he forced the barrel of his assault rifle right up close to Shane's forehead.

"So you took on the role of a terrorist for someone unknown because of the money?" said Alaara.

"Yes." Shane replied. "That's it. Just a harmless bit of acting. Nothing more."

"Well I'm sorry but we've gone through a lot and nearly died to find the truth about this "secret organization" so you're going to have to answer for that. You better have some kind of Intel we can use to track them down or else I may as well just put a bullet in your head." Austin threatened.

He wasn't being serious of course. He was only bluffing in order to get Shane to talk.

"The datapad! This datapad contains all I have on this mysterious organization. Most of it's encrypted, and it's mostly just messages, but it's at least something." Shane said quickly as he took a datapad out of his robes.

"Well done. You just saved yourself from death." Said Kraan.

"So I'm free to go?" Shane asked hopefully.

"Free? I don't think so, pal. You're under arrest." Said Austin as he cuffed the actor's wrists.

Alpha were somewhat disheartened by another loss. They'd been so sure this would be it. Though they had to be honest, it had been far too easy.

"Can't believe we were fooled by this." Dash sighed.

"None of us could've known. Still, the Slayer went through a lot of trouble to keep this fake data safe." Said Sandra.

"Well it helped fool us."

"Any progress on the other data?" Austin asked.

"Not yet. Still decrypting." Leena replied.

"Shepard, we're getting a call." Said Sandra. "It's General Zartrack."

"Zartrack?" Austin asked in surprised. "Patch him through."

The holo image of the legendary Arkane Helldiver General himself appeared in front of everyone.

His armour had the same helmet design that all Helldivers had. Once again though there were some additions. In particular there were two large horns attached to the helmet and he had a large white mane attached to his back and shoulders. In addition he had several ammo canisters strapped to his armour and three katanas on his back. Overall he had a warlord type of look to him and also a look that was distinctive enough that anyone would recognize him anywhere.

"Shepard, it's been a long time." He said.

"It's a pleasure to see you as well, General." Said Austin as he saluted. "What can I do for you?"

"I saw your report from the mission. Seems the hunt is still on." Said Zartrack.

"Unfortunately yes. But Leena's already decrypting some more data we managed to recover. Hopefully, this one will give us the break we've been waiting for." Said Austin.

Sure enough, at that moment, a beep suddenly came from Leena's computer.

"Commander, data decryption complete." She said.

"Send it through to Zartrack as well." Austin ordered.

There was a short pause as Leena began analysing the data. She then spotted something rather interesting.

"Oh those sneaky little boshtets." She said.

"What is it?"

"Hellspawn are still real." Said Leena.

"What?!"

"They knew we were on to them, so they created a decoy of themselves. The Quarian explained.

"Why though? Why not simply create an entirely separate decoy?" Austin said.

"Once again, last thing we'd have expected." Said Zartrack.

"So they're still out there?"

"Yes, but I think I saw something in there about a location. Hang on." Said Leena.

She pressed a few more buttons. Suddenly the screen went rather static.

"Whoa. Okay, that's not meant to happen." Said Leena, backing away in surprise.

"Is it a virus?" Sandra asked in worry.

"No, it's some kind of… message." Said Leena puzzlingly.

The screen then went even more static. Then it suddenly went black.

A new image then appeared on the screen. A fiery ring of skulls, each one of every alien species in the galaxy. In the centre, half the skull of a human and the other half the helmet of a Helldiver.

A small bit of text then also appeared. It only read four words…

"DID YOU MISS ME?"

Everyone felt a little uneasy after that. They had no idea what it meant. Far as they were aware, there weren't any of their old enemies that could've come back. Not to mention that this symbol they'd just seen was something they had never seen before at all. Even Zartrack seemed to give the same impression.

"Okay… that's rather creepy." Said Dash nervously.

"General, do you know what it means?" Austin asked.

"I wish I did. We've made a lot of enemies in our time, but I don't know of any that could pull off something like this." Zartrack replied.

"Are you sure?"

"I swear it."

"Leena, tell you have something."

A part of the holo map then suddenly lit up and zoomed in on a planet way out in the terminus systems.

"Yes! Yes, I've got it!" said Leena, almost excitedly. "The intel points to a remote location on this planet here."

"That makes more sense. Seems like the sort of place you'd find a terrorist organization." Said Ventra.

"And as luck would have it, there's been a report from a nearby Helldiver squad of suspicious activity there." Said Zartrack. "You should act on this immediately. I'll notify the council."

"Roger that, General." Austin nodded.

"Be careful, Shepard. If it's the real thing this time, I imagine they won't go down without a fight." Said Zartrack.

"We're counting on it." Said Austin.

Two days, Shane had been in prison now. To be honest, it hadn't been that bad. His sentence was only for 6 months after all.

Plus, he did seem to get some attention. Most unfavourable due to everyone finding his performance of the Commander a joke, but there were a few who admired him for it.

Recently in fact, he'd been interview regularly by a woman named Jane Smith. Apparently she was a doctor who was studying him in some fashion.

He'd already recounted everything to her such as his recruitment by an unknown client, his interpretation of the role he'd played, and now they'd moved on discussing the response.

"So what about the fact that you're performance has caused… anger with some people? Some who are particularly dangerous." She said.

"You don't' need to tell me, sweetheart. I've seen those extranet message boards. Vicious." Said Shane.

"I'm not talking about the extranet boards. I'm talking about Hellspawn." Said Jane as she took out several datapads and set them on the table in front of Shane.

"Come again?"

"A terrorist group. Founded and lead by The Commander. Officially they've been dormant ever since their creation, but it's been recently suggested they're becoming more active and may finally be ready to reveal themselves." Jane explained.

Each datapad showed some kind of image pertaining to what looked like terrorism. One above all stood out. It appeared to show some kind of ring of skulls, each one of every alien species in the galaxy. In the centre was half the skull of a human and the other half the battered and broken helmet of a Helldiver. The entire ring, along with each skull also appeared to be on fire.

"What, Hellspawn? Are they real?" Shane asked, almost in disbelief.

"This intel comes from the top." Jane replied.

"That is so cool." Said Shane admirably.

"Shane, you told me that you got this role you had researched it thoroughly." Said Jane, somewhat baffled by the fact that Shane didn't realise that Hellspawn were real.

"I'm an actor, love. I always lie in interviews." Shane admitted smugly.

"So you mean to tell me that you don't know anything about the real Commander himself?" said Jane. "Trust me when I tell you, he is someone who's bad side you do not want to get on. He puts a whole new meaning on the words fear and evil."

"Blah blah blah. Who cares?! It's not role the people remember, it's the actor. Me!" said Shane.

"You're right. And for that offense you will soon suffer horribly with a hole in your body." Said Jane.

"Sorry? What?"

"You heard me."

Jane suddenly whipped out two pistols and shot down all the guards surrounding them with almost lightning speed.

When she suddenly turned back to Shane and aimed her gun at him however, she found that he'd managed to pick up on of the fallen guard's guns and was pointing it at her.

A long silence followed.

"You know… I can't think of a single thing to say." Shane eventually said.

"You're not capable of pulling that trigger, Mr Walters." Said Jane.

"I'm an out of work actor, love. You've no idea what I'm capable of, and thanks to some of my previous work I'm pretty good with a gun." Said Shane.

"Still not capable of pulling that trigger." Jane smiled smugly.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because the safety is still on."

Shane looked at his gun. The safety wasn't on.

"No it's not…"

But before he could finish, Jane suddenly fired. Her shot knocked the gun right out of his hands.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"If you really knew how to use a gun, you'd know to never take your eyes off your opponent." Said Jane, the barrel of her gun now touching Shane's forehead.

To Shane's surprise, Jane then literally pulled off her hair, revealing it to actually be a wig. In its place was a medium length amount of black hair. She then did something even more surprising and literally removed her right eye, revealing that also to be fake. In its place was a blue cybernetic one.

"Wait… wait, I know you. You're that bounty hunter I've heard so much about." Said Shane.

"Consider this a lesson in what's real… and what's not." Said Shadow. In the process, she pulled back her right sleeve to reveal the same symbol that Shane had seen earlier in the datapads about Hellspawn.

"Why do people keep pointing guns at my head. Please, I don't want to die." Said Shane.

"Target acquired. I'm in position. Extraction unit mobilize." Said Shadow as she touched her ear. She then turned back to Shane. "Oh I'm not here to kill you, Mr Walters. I'm here to break you out."

"That's… nice." Said Shane.

"Not really. You see, my employer wants to meet you." Said Shadow.

"Do I know him?" Shane asked.

"No. But under his orders you take his name… and then made a complete mockery of it. Now he wants it back." Shadow replied.

"Oh…. No, sorry. I still don't' get it."

"You will."

And with that, Shadow suddenly hit him over the head really hard with her gun, knocking him out instantly.

A cold chill greeted Shane as he slowly regained consciousness. He found himself lying on a rather cold stone floor. As his vision slowly cleared, he expected to be able to see something, yet even when he was finally able to see his own hands clearly, he saw nothing else. Wherever he was, it was completely pitch black, save for a little bit of mist and fog.

He found the air surprisingly dry and he actually coughed a bit at the dryness in his throat. Each breath of this air felt like there was barely any oxygen in it, and it made him shiver as an icy chill ran throw his body with each inhale.

He looked around a bit more, trying to see any form of light, but there was nothing. He looked up, hoping he might see the night sky or something like that… still nothing.

He gradually stood up, his legs almost struggling from the effort. He began to worry how long he'd been out. He also rubbed his head as a slight headache suddenly came to him, particularly in the area where Shadow had hit him.

As he continued looking around, he began to get a rather worrying and uneasy feeling. Where was this place? How did he get here? Why was he here? He felt an almost constantly nagging feeling that he should leave, but that was difficult when he couldn't see a thing.

He took a few cautious steps, his hands stretched out in front of him as though he were blind in a hope that he'd touch something in the darkness.

Within just a few steps, it seemed as though the fog suddenly grew thicker. The cold grew worse, and he began to feel his teeth chattering, each continuous breath constantly fuelling his coldness. Was he in the North Pole or some place?

The uneasy feeling he'd had earlier began to grow worse and the headache seemed worse too. Now it not only hurt where he'd been hit, it now hurt everywhere, as though his brain was being crushed by his skull.

Several more steps later, and he suddenly felt his hand touch something. It felt solid. It was very cold, but at the same time smooth like the floor. He cautiously edged a bit closer to see. It looked like some kind of black stone, or marble. On closer inspection it looked like he was touching the base of a statue. When he looked up however, he saw nothing. It was just too dark.

A new feeling came to him. It was that feeling that someone often got when they thought someone was right behind them. For a long while, Shane dared not turn around for not only fear that someone actually was behind him, but also fear of what he might see.

Then he heard something. He wasn't sure for certain, but it sounded almost like a footstep. Despite it being a relatively quiet sound, and not something sudden it was enough to make Shane jump and is if by reflex he quickly turned, partly braced for whatever he might see.

Nothing.

All he saw was more fog, and that made it all the more harder to actually see anything.

Then he suddenly spotted something out of the corner of his eye. His eyes almost immediately darted to the location.

Still nothing. Just more thick fog.

Shane tried to relax. It was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. He tried to take a deep breath, but each inhale of this cold icy air actually hurt. Like he was breathing in a substance that was slowly eating away at his lungs from the inside.

After a few seconds, Shane finally turned back to the stone he'd touched earlier. He ran his hand along it and followed, hoping this might lead him to something else, preferably a light or fan switch, something that would allow him to see better.

It went on for a surprisingly long time. With each step, the fog grew even worse now, and eventually it became so thick that Shane could just barely still see his own hand. His eyes began to sting as well and he had to blink almost every second to stop them hurting.

A sudden sound made him stop dead in his tracks. It was very faint and he only just heard it, but the sound was unmistakable. The sound of a terrified scream stayed in his head for a long time. It almost petrified him and he became too afraid to move for fear of what might happen.

He dared to risk one little step. The moment he did however, another scream came, this time louder and sounding so close it could've been right in front of him for all he knew.

And then he heard something worse. It was only a whisper, but it was definitely a voice.

"Look behind you."

Shane almost immediately fell to his knees in fright, closed his eyes and covered his face hoping and praying that he'd be safe.

"I said look behind you."

As the long and unbearable seconds passed, another sound came to his ears. This time constant, and very audible. It was hard to tell exactly, but it sounded almost like a very warped church bell. It constantly rang in his ears and he worried he might go deaf from the sound of it. Still, he dared not look or remove his face from his hands for fear of what might happen next.

Still the ringing continued. No more screams followed, but every so often he'd hear another footstep here and there. Some very far away, some frighteningly close to him.

Eventually after what felt almost like an hour, he heard nothing. Still there was the church bell sound constantly ringing in his ears, but there were no screams or footsteps. Finally plucking up some courage, Shane dared to risk one little glance.

All he saw was more fog, just as thick as it had been before. Very slowly, he got up, still cautious just in case something happened.

He took a very cautious step forward…

Nothing happened.

Shane breathed sigh of relief. Perhaps whatever it had been making those noises was gone. But that didn't stop him from feeling like he wasn't alone and that someone, or something, was watching him.

He calmly reached back to try and find the wall again, but he only ended up touching more fog. This confused Shane greatly. He'd only taken one step, he couldn't possibly have gone that far from the wall, could he?

He stepped back a few paces, still keeping his hand out expecting it to touch stone again, but all it ever touched was more fog.

The confusion baffled him. He was confused afraid, cold, and was starting to feel rather dizzy and unfocused. He'd completely lost his bearings, and he was still afraid that any second something was going to jump out of this fog and attack him.

Then suddenly, as if by magic, all of the fog disappeared as though it had never been there. The air was still dry and freezing though.

Shane once again looked round, expecting to now see something. But there was still nothing but black. Then something new happened. He smelt something. He may be confused and frightened, but a human would recognize that kind of smell anywhere, the unmistakable smell of smoke.

This made Shane both worried and hopeful. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and fire meant light and warmth.

But at the same time, was it just a little campfire, or was this the sort of fire that Shane didn't want? The kind that was big, out of control and burned down buildings?

At this point, Shane was too cold and desperate to see something other than his own hands that he didn't care. Following the smell, he started walking a rather fast pace.

Suddenly the screams returned, this time constant and loud, followed by an almost demonic laughter. Shane though at this point had become desperate, he couldn't stop himself. Still he continued walking. The screams and laughter only intensified, blocking out the sounds of his own footsteps. Suddenly a new noise came to his ears, the sound of fire crackling. Shane immediately quickened his step, he must be getting close.

More and more intense it grew, he heard further screams of terror and pain, some voices even whispering about fire, and being burned. Still though Shane continued, hoping any second to catch sight of that welcome orange glow…

And then it all stopped. Shane suddenly felt his foot catch on something and he tripped, landing on something unbelievably ridged. The familiar feeling of the cold black stone greeted him. When he finally opened his eyes he once again saw the same black smoothness, only this time it wasn't a wall. He'd tripped and was currently lying on a flight of steps. He slowly looked up to where they led. At the very top he could see what looked like some kind of stone slab.

Shane was just about to pick himself up when a new, haunting, noise suddenly made him freeze. The very slow sound of stone grinding against stone filled his ears. He watched as the slab slowly rotated, revealing that it was actually the back of a throne of some kind.

Shane's heartbeat increased to an almost unbearable level and sweat poured down his face as he was frozen with fear, waiting to see what was sat on the throne.

Finally it stopped as it faced him. It was still so dark that Shane could barely see. But he saw something alright. A large dark figure of some kind. He could only see the shape, but there was one other thing that he did see that stood about above all else.

Eyes. Two crimson red eyes were staring right at him.

Shane dared not move. He barely even breathed as he simply lay there on the stairs. He stared at the figure, and it just stared right back, unblinking and unmoving.

Then a voice spoke. A deep growling and almost unnatural voice with a terrifying echo came from the figure. Each word sending chills down Shane's spine and only amplifying his fear.

"Welcome, Shane Walters. I have been expecting you."

Then slowly the figure began to rise. Eventually standing up at an almost terrifying two metres, it slowly began to move forward.

Shane almost immediately picked himself up and tried to run. The very second his feet left the steps however a massive wall of flame suddenly leapt to life in front of him and blocked his way. Shane tried to turn to go the other way, but there was fire there too. Shane stopped and backed away from the intense heat, yet still he felt like he was boiling.

He looked around in desperation. The whole place was on fire, and he was trapped.

He looked back at the figure. To his horror, the figure was on fire too, now looking practically like a demon of some kind. He still couldn't see what this thing actually was, but he was certain that it intended him harm.

From behind him, Shane could also see the throne more clearly. What he saw only made his terror worse. The throne looked as though it was composed of bodies. Worse still they were writhing and screaming as they tried to free themselves from the throne, but to no avail.

Suddenly he felt something touch his leg and before he knew it he was pulled to the ground. To his horror, he found dozens of corpses swarming him, each one trying to seize him and pin him to the ground. He tried to shake them off, but there was too many of them. Within seconds, all his limbs were pinned down.

The screaming, the laughing and the warped church bell once again returned, this time so loud, Shane felt like he'd go deaf any second. He braced for the inevitable that these undead would kill him any second, but they didn't. Instead they just kept him pinned in place.

Some of them then parted to allow the terrifying figure to walk past them, some of fire causing them to catch fire as well, yet they did nothing, nor did they give any indication that they were in pain.

The figure slowly knelt down and moved closer until its face was right up close to Shane, the heat from the fire singing his eyebrows and facial hair.

It was now that he was finally able to see the figure's true form.

Despite how dry his throat was and the fact that there was barely any air left for him to breath, Shane cried out in terror as the figure spoke again, this time just saying two words.

"Scared yet?"

The wheels of the Hellraiser gently touched down on the ground and the gunship detached.

"Be careful down there, Alpha." Said Telrass.

The Hellraiser was quick to speed off in the canyon area. Despite the rainy weather, that did little to slow it down. Soon though, they came to an area too small for the giant tank to fit in.

"No way we're gonna fit through there. We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot." Said Austin as he raised his harness.

Dash simply sighed as her got out of his seat and followed the others. At the same time, he engaged the Hellraiser's deadlock system and cloaking device. Last thing any of Alpha wanted was for this to possibly get stolen or sabotaged, him most of all.

They proceeded through the gap and into the canyon. Soon as they got only a few metres in however something rather odd happened. For a brief moment, all their HUDs went static for a moment before returning to normal.

"What the…" said Leena in surprise.

"Overseer, this is Alpha. We're getting some interference here. What's the issue?" Austin asked.

"Unknown, Alpha. Could be the terrain. I'll see if I can clean it up." Telrass replied.

"Copy that."

They continued on for several long minutes. Still there was no sign of anything. No base or anything or even the other Helldivers who said they'd meet Alpha here.

Suddenly the static happened again, this time way more intense.

"Agh. That one was even worse." Said Ventra.

"Something's way wrong here. There's no way our gear should be acting this way." Said Leena.

More static again, making it a lot more difficult for them to communicate with each other.

"Cross comms getting worse." Said Dash.

"Mine too." Said Kraan.

"Sandra, any adjustments you can make locally?" Austin asked.

"Nothing that would help. It's something about this place." Said Sandra.

For a moment, Ventra suddenly stopped and looked around for a moment.

"What is it, Ventra?" Austin asked.

"I keep getting the feeling we're being watched." The Turian replied suspiciously.

"Our sensors aren't picking up anything. It's probably just your imagination." Said Sandra.

"For all our sakes, I hope you're right."

They continued on for several more minutes, the canyon getting much deeper and also taller. It was hard for Alpha to deny their concern. More and more this canyon looked like the perfect place for an ambush.

Their maps indicated they were close, but so far nothing. No guards or anything. Finally as they got close enough that they should've been able to see their target however, things eventually started to take a turn for the worse. Telrass' voice suddenly came through the comms again, but it was barely audible.

"Alpha, this is Overseer, we just…"

But it suddenly cut off and was completely replaced with static before Telrass could finish.

"Overseer? Overseer, we just lost you. Say again." Said Austin. But there was no reply. "Overseer, do you read me?"

"I've completely lost the signal, Sir. I don't understand it." Said Sandra.

Once again, all their HUDs suddenly went static, this time even worse than before.

"For god's sake, stop it!" said Dash in frustration.

Ventra suddenly whirled round in alarm and drew one of his arrows. He didn't' fire, but he kept it drawn, as if expecting an attack any second.

"Ventra?"

"I'm sorry, guys. But I'm sure now that we're not alone. The interference, losing contact with Telrass, this isn't coincidence. Especially since we've just entered…" he said. "Oh no."

"What?"

The answer quickly came when everyone found hundreds of laser dots, all pointing right at every single one of them.

"Oh bloody hellfire." Austin sighed.

"It's a trap." Ventra also sighed.

Everyone went to raise their weapons, but the second they did, several shots suddenly fired out of nowhere and hit them.

They almost immediately felt a massive surge of electricity from all their suits. They all immediately shut down and fell, completely frozen and unable to move.

"Suit jammers. Really beginning to hate those." Hawk groaned.

All they could do was look from inside their helmets. Confirming their suspicions, several figures soon appeared. Either rising from behind rocks, or shedding camo disguises and other such old fashioned ways of remaining out of sight.

"Alpha, this Overseer, I just lost all your signals! What happened?!" Telrass yelled. "Alpha? Alpha?! ALPHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Very slowly, Austin felt himself regain consciousness. The room he was in was darkly lit, but it was enough for him to see.

As he slowly looked up, he found another Helldiver knelt down in front of him and looking right at him as he regained consciousness.

This Helldiver looked incredibly worse for wear. The metal of his armour was way darker than the usual colour, he had scratches all over and he wore black sleeveless trench coat that reached all the way down to his ankles. It was rather tatty and even had some tears and holes in it at the bottom. He was equipped with two sub machine guns across his chest, and another two on each thigh. He also wore a tight fitting black hood which practically hugged his helmet.

"Ah good. You're awake." He said, his voice sounding surprisingly normal for a Helldiver considering they often had their voices changed a little by the helmets.

"Where… where are we?" Austin groaned slightly. He was able to relax slightly knowing he was in safe company.

"You're safe. But first, might I ask why you're all the way out here?" the Black Helldiver asked.

"We came here looking for the real Commander. We were told you knew where he was." Austin replied.

"The Commander?" the Black Helldiver said in surprise. "Never heard of him."

Austin was about to speak, but then a light suddenly came on, revealing another person on the knees with a bag over their head. He was also knelt on a puddle of dry blood.

The Black Helldiver walked up to him and took the bag off. Austin was shocked to see none other than Shane. He had tape over his mouth and looked pretty beaten up, but it was definitely him. The Black Helldiver slowly circled him.

"And you, sir… the name, Commander ring a bell?" he said as he ripped the tape off of Shane's mouth.

"Please… I'll do anything you want, just no more. I can't take it." The actor begged.

To everyone's utter horror, the Black Helldiver then suddenly upholstered one of his guns and used it to repeatedly beat Shane across the face several times.

"CAN'T YOU JUST PLAY ALONG?!" he said. His voice suddenly changed from being normal to a much deeper and almost terrifying growling voice with an almost unnatural echo.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Austin yelled, he attempted to get up to stop the Helldiver, but he suddenly found that he was shackled in place, as was everyone else.

And then it finally hit them all. The awful truth. They came to find the Commander… and they were looking right at him. The real Commander… was a Helldiver.

After finally finishing his beating of Shane, leaving the actor even more bloodied on the floor, the real Commander slowly turned to look at Alpha.

"I'll deal with you lot in a minute. But first I have some unfinished business to conclude." He said, turning back to Shane.

"Why are you doing this?" Shane asked weakly as he spat blood. "It was only a role."

"I gave you that role to be as distraction only. Not for you to make me and my organization look like a joke. The only way you could've possibly done anything worse is to create a hugely popular RPG franchise and ultimately have it end with only three choices that are virtually the same and differently coloured." Said the Commander angrily. "God, there mere thought of that depresses the hell out of me."

"HEY! Only I'm allowed to break the fourth wall in this story!" said Dash.

He was quickly silenced however when the Commander suddenly fired a shot that barely missed his head.

"You stay quiet, kid. Or I'll put one in your mouth first." He warned.

Dash immediately stopped talking.

The Commander then turned back to Shane again. He knelt down until his helmet was right up close to Shane's face.

"Many of my followers now call for your blood, Mr Walters. And I… being a man of his word… am more than happy to oblige."

To everyone's horror, he then shot Shane in the leg so many times that he literally severed it completely from his body, blood gushed from the wound and all over the floor. Shane screamed in pain. He attempted to grab his bleeding leg, but the Commander forced him back down and kept him pinned with his foot.

Then the Commander moved to Shane other foot and did the same. Multiple shots and the limb was quickly detached. Then he repeated this for both Shane's arms as well. By the time he was down, Shane now lay in a pool of his own blood, completely limbless.

"Please! Just kill me. I can't take it anymore." He cried, barely able to speak through the almost unbearable pain he was in.

"Was only blood they called for, not your death." Said the Commander, once again kneeling down in front of Shane. "But that's not what I want."

Very slowly he aimed the barrel of his gun right at Shane's forehead, ready to take his final shot.

"Know that as you die, this will be an act of mercy."

He pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked. Shane's eyes suddenly flew open in surprise. The Commander also looked at the gun with surprise. He then turned back to Shane.

"Oh dear, Mr Walters. This really isn't your lucky day at all." He said evilly, his tone of voice clearly giving the indication that was smiling under his helmet.

"What do you mean?" Shane asked, barely able to talk now with the constant pain and blood loss.

"Well you see, I really want you dead, and a bullet to face is very quick. But when I run out of bullets… well, that doesn't' stop me from getting what I want. And unfortunately for you… I am the sort of man who is not afraid of getting his hands dirty."

The Commander placed his gun back in its holsters. He then seized Shanes' head in his hands

"When I run out of bullets, first I do this."

He then plunged both his thumbs right into Shane's eyes. More blood began to bleed from the wounds. Shane once again cried out in pain, this time constantly and he attempted to struggle, but was barely able to do anything due to his lack of limbs.

"I revel in your screams…" said the Commander as he continued keeping Shane in palace letting the poor man continuously suffer. "And then finally I smash your skull in, like this!"

Sure enough, he brought both hands together and crushed Shane's head completely. Blood, bone and bits of brain were blown out all over the floor, some even landing on the Commander.

To say that Alpha felt sick at the sight would be an understatement. In fact it was a real surprise none of them had been sick at the sight. Though they did look away as the Commander ended Shane's life. They couldn't' bear to watch anymore.

The Commander slowly rose and brushed some of the blood and bits of Shane's brain off of him uncaringly.

"Clean this mess up, thoroughly." He ordered.

Two Hellspawn soldiers emerged from the darkness and began the process of cleaning up.

Finally, the Commander turned back to Alpha, every single one of them shackled in place next to each other.

For a while he simply paced, waiting for Alpha to speak first. When no speech came however he eventually broke the silence.

"I suppose you expected something else, hmmm?" he asked. "Well, as we all know in our line of work, appearances can be deceiving."

He continued pacing back and forth, his red optic eyes looking at each member of Alpha as he did.

"Bet you never expected this now, did you? One of your own, a full traitor, the leader of a terrorist organization." He said. "Shocked? I would be."

Still Alpha remained silent, the shock of both the reveal and Shane's barbaric death left them pretty much lost for words.

"The legendary Alpha Squad. I've watched you for some time, you know. Taking down the crime lords, defeating some rouge Batarians, ruining my supply raids… You are… a very unusual squad." Said the Commander.

He then looked directly as Austin. He walked right up close and leant down till he was eye level with him.

"The Alliance soldier, so scared of command." He said.

This shocked Austin even more. How the hell had he known that?

The Commander then turned to Kraan.

"The Krogan, the killer of his own kind."

Kraan too had the same reaction.

The Commander then turned to Alaara.

"The Asari, haunted by her past."

Then Dash.

"The little boy, who lied. Constantly trying to keep the madness at bay while also worried whether the author will kill him off or not."

Sandra.

"The comm expert, still searching for daddy."

Leena.

"The Quarian, so afraid of being weak."

He didn't seem to mention anyone else. Instead he simply stood back up again. He then walked up to a nearby table which all of Alpha's weapons laid out. He walked from one side to the other, running his hands curiously over each one.

"The Arkanes must hold you in very high regard to give you all this. All these weapons, all this equipment, all this…"

He suddenly stopped in surprise when he came to Excalibur.

He gently drew the sword from its scabbard and looked at it intriguingly. He then drew another sword that he'd had strapped to his back the whole time. He held the two close in comparison and weighed them.

Austin was almost petrified with shock when he saw how almost identical the Commander's sword looked to his. It was almost virtually the same save for a few noticeable differences.

The blade was slightly longer, as was the handle. It was clear this one was designed solely for two handed use.

Like Excalibur, it too had writing on the blade in Arkadian. This time though it said the same thing on each side. Austin was able to get a good look at the writing which was the sword's name.

Clarent.

"But that's impossible." Austin said, so quietly that only he and Alpha heard it.

The Commander then walked to Austin and raised Excalibur till it pointed at its master's face.

"How did you come by this sword?" he asked, a hit of anger present in his voice.

"What does it matter to you?" Austin replied sternly.

The Commander however raised the blade a bit more till it touched Austin's chin, or rather the bottom of his helmet.

"I'll ask the questions here, boy." He said. "Now, I'll ask you again. Where did you get this?"

"It was given to me." Austin simply replied.

"By Zartrack, no doubt?" The Commander asked.

"How did…"

"…I know?" the Commander finished. "I'd know his craftsmanship anywhere."

Austin took a moment to process this, and then he the realization came to him.

"You were one of his students." He said.

"Yes. Back then, I was his favourite, and none of you were anywhere near the Helldiver I was." Said the Commander.

"And I suppose you're the one who sent the signal?" Sandra finally asked.

"After all these years, and I'm still able to fool the Arkanes. That's one thing I do like about them: predictable." Said the Commander.

"So what's this all about then?" Austin asked. "Why betray the Helldivers?"

"I have my reasons." The Commander replied. "But what should really concern you right now is what I have planned. Though I'm sorry to say you won't be around to see it. Do you know why?"

He gently set Excalibur back down on the table on holstered his own sword.

"Oh, let me guess. You're gonna kill us." Said Dash obviously.

"Kill you? No." said the Commander. "Obviously I'm going to kill you anyway, but not yet. I don't want to rush it. I'm saving it up for something special. And bother asking me, because you know I'm not going to tell you. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprises for the people reading this story either, would we, Dash?"

Dash didn't say anything, but he looked unnerved.

"Well, enjoy your stay here. You'd best get used to the cell, because you're going to be here a long time." Said the Commander, turning to leave. "So nice to have finally met you in person though."

The guards followed as he left and the door was sealed behind him, leaving just Alpha alone.

"Okay, normally I'm not intimidated by guys like that, but that was both messed up and creepy. That guy gave me chills." Said Dash.

"How'd he know all that private stuff about us?" Leena asked.

"Expert at deduction, maybe?" Sandra suggested.

"Right now, it doesn't matter. What we should be worried about is the fact that we're stuck here, and Alexa and Telrass have no idea where we are. Not to mention how long we could be stuck here… inside our own suits." Said Austin.

"And nobody said I had the right to remain silent." Said Dash.

"For crying out loud, Dash. You have the right to remain silent. What you lack is the capacity." Said Kraan irritably.

"Good. I'd go mad within the hour."

"Surprised you weren't already."

There must be some way out of here." said Ventra.

"Well, I don't' see any way we can get out of here and we're sealed inside our own suits." Said Austin. "Unless Alaara magically has a key tucked between her breasts… unlikely, we're not getting out of here anytime soon."

"Since when the hell has Alaara had something between her breasts?" said Leena.

"When has she not?" Kraan replied.

"You've been waiting to use that one, haven't you?" said Alaara.

"Wait… something's just occurred to me." Said Hawk. "There are only 8 of us."

Everyone looked around. He was right. They were all here, save one. Troy.

As if almost instantly triggered by Alpha's realization, several shots were suddenly heard from outside the door. Several tense seconds followed before the door slowly creaked open and a guard stepped in.

For a moment, Alpha felt as if there hopes were gone. But then the guard suddenly activated his omni tool and disengaged everyone's shackles, allowing them to fall to the floor.

For a moment, everyone looked at the guard in confusion. But it soon became clear when the guard activated his omni tool again and his form instantly changed into a welcome sight.

"Troy!" Dash cheered.

"How the hell did you find us?" Sandra asked as everyone picked up their gear from the table and worked on rearming themselves.

"I never left. I cloaked the second I saw those laser dots. Just managed to avoid the incoming fire." Troy explained. "There were too many for me to fight, so I decided to just tail them for now. Eventually of course they came here, and now here I am. Just in time in fact."

"A couple of seconds earlier wouldn't have been so bad either." Said Kraan.

"Anyway, think it's time we gave the Commander a little surprise of our own." Said Hawk.

Thanks to Troy scouting the facility for a bit, it didn't take them long to find the control room. The Commander was stood on an elevated platform in front of several holo screens.

Below him were several Hellspawn officers typing away at various interfaces.

"Sir, we just tracked a fast moving aircraft near our borders. This thing just pulled a J turn clocking in a 12G's. I don't know anything that can do that." One of them said.

"I do." Said the Commander. "They're obviously searching for our prisoners. For now, just keep an eye on them. If they end up coming to close though, shoot 'em down."

"Yes sir."

Rather than sneak up, Alpha decided this time to use the element of surprise. They all immediately leapt from the balcony they were on landed only a few metres behind the Commander.

Almost immediately they all pointed their guns right at the fallen Helldiver. The officers barely had any time to react and instead simply remained still.

The Commander didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, he sounded just as calm as before.

"I'm impressed. I confess myself curious how you escaped, but it doesn't matter now." He said.

"Surrender now, Commander. I won't ask again." Austin ordered.

"You're not going to kill me. You need me alive." Said the Commander, almost like he was reminding Alpha of this.

"We'll kill you if we have to."

"I very much doubt that. Besides, I'm the one in control here."

"Errr, who's got the guns here? Oh yeah, us." Said Dash.

"I think you'd better count again."

Before Alpha even had a chance to process this, hundreds of laser dots once again appeared all over them as hundreds of Hellspawn troopers suddenly appeared out of hiding spots and aimed their guns right at Alpha.

The officers also now drew their own guns and pointed them at Alpha.

"Oh shit tits." Alaara sighed.

"Keep your guns trained on them. If they look like they're even planning to try anything, open fire. Oh, and avoid their chests. That's where their armour's the strongest. Aim for weak spots at the knees and under the arms first then concentrate fire on the necks." The Commander said to his men. He then turned back to Alpha. "Drop your weapons, or they shoot. And don't think these will just bounce off your armour like all rounds do. Each gun is filled with super armour piercing rounds, designed cut through your armour like tissue paper."

Alpha very reluctantly threw all their guns to the ground. Unknown to everyone however, as Dash dropped his pistols he managed to slide a small device into his hand and he pressed a button on it twice.

"Good to see you know how to obey orders." Said the Commander.

"I sincerely hope this isn't all you have, Commander." He said. "We've come too far to fail now after all we went through tracking you down.

"Tracking me down? You are the ones who are outgunned here. I caught you." Said the Commander, a slight hint of confusion in his voice.

"You may be cruel, Commander. But if there's one thing you're not, it's cunning." Said Dash. He then turned to Alpha. "Guys, you might wanna duck."

The very second the last word left his mouth, there was massive explosion. The wall behind them quickly became non-existent as the Hellraiser burst right through it. It flew right over Alpha, heading straight for the Commander. The fallen Helldiver failed to react in time and the tank smashed right into him, sending him flying against the opposite wall and burying him under a pile of rubble.

"What the hell is that thing?!" one of the troopers yelled.

"SHOOT IT!"

The troopers immediately all opened fire on the Hellraiser. Alpha just managed to avoid the shots.

"Get in! Quick!" Dash yelled as the Hellraiser opened up to accept its occupants and driver.

Alpha didn't need to be told twice and they all ran in. Dash also immediately got into the cockpit. As the Hellraiser sealed itself back, Dash immediately accelerated into a power slide and the Hellraiser switched to Battle mode.

Still Hellspawn continued firing. Despite them using super armour piercing however, even they failed to penetrate the Hellraiser's almost indestructible armour.

The tank was soon quick to return fire. The minigun fired first, instantly taking out at least ten troopers in one second. Then the main cannon also fired, one shot alone destroying an entire balcony while the minigun continued firing.

The troopers tried grenades, but those barely even scratched the Hellraiser. The entire room became a complete war zone as the noise of gunfire and explosions became constant.

With each soldier the Hellraiser gunned down, two more seemed to appear. Dash though barely even broke a sweat. For a moment, the Hellraiser ceased fire completely. Thinking that they now had an opening, the troopers only concentrated their fire. Their hope however was short as the Hellraiser's missile barrage fired. Rocket after rocket fired simultaneously, each one hitting its target. Explosion after explosion filled the air and the entire place collapsed.

When the smoke finally cleared, there was virtually nothing left. The entire place had been completely reduced to nothing.

After a few seconds, everyone stepped out of the Hellraiser.

"Wooo! Now that was a blast." Said Dash.

For once, Alpha actually agreed with them. And it wasn't like they'd had to worry about the Commander being killed in all that. He was wearing a Helldiver suit after all. He would've survived that easily.

Sure enough, small pile of rubble parted as the Commander slowly pulled himself out. The sight of Alpha's guns greeted him once again. This time Dash even had the Hellraiser's cannon and minigun aimed right at him. The minigun was even still spinning, ready to fire any second.

"Last chance, Commander." Said Austin.

The Commander looked at Alpha for a moment, considering his options.

Then he slowly unholstered all four of his sub machine guns, dropped them and slowly sank to his knees with his hands on the back of his helmet.

"Very well… I surrender."

The Commander was almost immediately placed in one of Arkadia's maximum security cells the second Alpha returned to Arkadia.

For now, Alpha had also stood watch until General Zartrack arrived. He'd been quick to react when he heard that this was, or rather had been, one of his former students.

The General soon turned up and Alpha saluted.

"Time to say, hello." Said Zartrack as he motioned for Alpha to stand at ease.

Alpha nodded and the bulkhead door that had earlier stood between them and the Commander opened.

For a long moment, the Commander simply looked at Zartrack. The General stared right back. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that it really was him.

"You're smaller than I remember." The Commander finally said.

"Whereas I barely remember you at all." Said Zartrack.

"Strange. For me it feels just like yesterday." Said the Commander. "Were you surprised?"

"Not particularly. But then you always were an unpredictable one."

"Maybe that's why you liked me so much."

"You flatter yourself."

"Still no remorse, after all these years."

"Regret is unprofessional."

"Regret is unprofessional? I survived that crash, sure. But it wasn't without a price. My helmet became dislodged from my armour and my face ended up in the fires." Said the Commander, sounding almost in pain as he recounted the experience. "It… burned all of my flesh, but I didn't die. Life clung to me like a disease. And then, as I lay there on life support in a hospital, and finally knew why I had survived. I had to look at you one last time… before I killed you."

"Well I hope you're used to disappoint." Said Zartrack. "Commander, you'll be transferred to the Arkadia prison where you'll remain there until the Arkane Council deem you fit to stand trial…"

"Say my name. Say it! My real name. I know you remember it." The Commander interrupted.

"Your name was struck from all records the day you betrayed us, and it'll stay that way. Soon, your future will be as non-existent as your past. We'll never see you again." Said Zartrack.

He and the others turned to leave, but the Commander spoke again.

"Do you know why I'm still in this armour?! Do you know what it does to you?! Fire?"

The Commander then reached up for his helmet. The air locks disengaged and the helmet unlocked from the armour. Very slowly, the Commander lifted it away… then slowly looked up, revealing his face.

Although, to call it face maybe wasn't right at all.

There was barely any flesh at all on the Commander's face and the only small bits that there were looked as though they were dead and rotted, barely clinging to his exposed skull. From the looks of things, the Commander had suffered a combination of first, second, and third and worst of all fourth degree burns, which meant that the burns extended through the entire skin into underlying fat, muscle and bone.

His entire skull was completely blackened and charred along with his teeth, there was barely any muscle on his face at all, save for the muscles needed not only for him to operate his jaw, but to actually keep it in place. Other than that, there was no other muscle or flesh, making him incapable of any kind of facial expression. No lips, no eyelids, no ears, no nose, nothing.

But most noticeable of all though were his eyes. He didn't even have any. As a result of losing his eyelids, he had obviously lost them. It was anybody's guess how he could actually see.

It was like staring at an undead zombie. It was hard to believe that he still able to function in this state, let alone stay alive. Most people would prefer death.

The mere sight of it, made all of Alpha feel like they were about to throw up any second.

"Dude, that is messed up." Said Dash.

"Dash, shut up or you're gonna make me sick." Said Sandra nauseously.

"Looch uhon your work… aster." The Commander managed to say.

Due to lack of lips and a mouth, he was unable to pronounce certain letters properly. No doubt his helmet had some kind of translator to fix that.

Zartrack didn't say anything, but he did look like he too was unsettled by this. Eventually he left, and Alpha followed.

The Commander slowly placed his helmet back on and it resealed. He watched them all leave with a sense of satisfaction. The fools. They had no idea what was coming.

"I want him under surveillance at all times. He does not escape this time." Said Zartrack.

"Yes, General." One of the guards said.

Feeling that Alpha deserved an explanation, he turned back to Alpha.

"His name is Bounty Vlad Rodriguez." He explained. "He used to be one my favourite students, but he made himself a traitor when he started to stealing vital Intel from our allies and selling them to the highest bidder. He attempted to escape on a dropship so I had no choice but to shoot him down. If I'd known he'd survived though…"

"The future is always in motion. You said that yourself." Said Austin.

"True." Said Zartrack.

"One other thing, if I may ask, General." Said Austin. "His sword…"

"I know." Said Zartrack. "You see, I made his sword long before yours. I never felt like it was perfect though, hence the name Clarent. It was never intended for him, but he managed to steal it on the day he betrayed us. I assumed it was destroyed with him. Thus it led to me forging a new one. Yours."

"So in a way, your sword's got an evil twin." Dash joked.

"To be honest, I think that could actually be true." Said Zartrack. He then decided to change the subject. "You've done well, Alpha. The Council are very pleased to finally have this behind us. They've insisted that you have a week's leave for all your hard work."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Austin nodded gratefully.

As Zartrack left, Austin noticed that Alaara was leant against the nearby wall for support. She looked just about ready to faint.

"Are you alright, Sandra?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I'm just… still a bit shocked after seeing his face." Said Sandra.

A week had passed. Alpha were simply enjoying the last day of their leave while it lasted. After that, it was back to active duty. They were glad though finally be putting Hellspawn behind them and hopefully get back to fighting Batarian slavers.

It was quite nice to be back in Arkadia. Everything was quiet and at peace, especially on a night like tonight.

Supply drops came in practically every hour on Arkadia, so the place was often far too busy. It was the perfect weakness to be exploited. If the security teams had been more thorough with their scanning of one in particular container, they just might have noticed something a little out of place.

As said container was deposited in storage and the workers left, it suddenly began to change. As if it were a transformer of some kind, the container changed into a humanoid figure that immediately hid behind another container out of sight.

Though humanoid in appearance, it was anything but human. All metal from head to toe. Most might even mistake it for a mech, but it wasn't that either. For this thing had something that a robot did not have, a human brain.

The mechanical cyborg wore a metallic trench coat that reach down to the ankles, had clawed feet and a visor on its mask that was completely smooth, plane and expressionless with no eyes or mouth or anything.

The cyborg scanned the area to make sure it was clear before popping out of cover. It kept crouched and low so as to avoid detection as it snuck between various different crates.

It's objective was in sight, but it didn't' see any way to get inside the elevator without being seen. Soon though, right opening came when the cyborg spotted a worker getting in. Seizing the chance, the cyborg leapt onto the ceiling and quickly crawled, just managing to slip inside as the doors closed. Thanks to its clawed feet, the cyborg was able to remain attached to the elevator's ceiling. It was ready to act though should the elevator's occupant spot it.

Eventually, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. While the occupant stepped out first, the cyborg waited for a few seconds, before also crawling out, still attached to the ceiling.

It waited for a while before ultimately making its move. Very gently it first let it's legs go. Then very gently, it let it's lower body down with an almost gymnast like grace. Finally it's hands let go as well and landed very softly on the floor.

Quickly checking to see if the coast was clear, the cyborg walked up to a nearby terminal. It paused to check one last time to be absolutely certain, and then began accessing the computer.

Holo screens immediately flashed to life in front of it. A brief noise startled the cyborg and it raised its right arm as it transformed into a submachine gun. Several long seconds passed but nothing happened. Relaxing, the cyborg went back to work.

Once it had done all that needed to be done, it gently took a cable from the machine. On the back of its head a small compartment slid open, revealing a socket connecting directly to its human brain. Without even a moment's hesitation, the cyborg plunged the cable in.

The computer went static for a moment before then returning to normal. With its brain now directly connected to the computer, the cyborg began hacking into Arkadia's main systems, a constant stream of data flashed all over its visor.

Alpha's apartment was mostly quiet with everyone simply relaxing. Dash was watching a bit of television, Austin was reading a magazine, Leena was doing a little bit of weightlifting, Kraan appeared to be snacking on a giant turkey, and everyone else was either in another room or doing other things.

Their relaxing however was suddenly interrupted when the lights began to flicker on and off constantly.

"What's going on with the lights?" said Dash.

The holding cells were under heavy 24/7 guard, especially with the Commander now in them.

The flickering lights were happening on their end too, but their main priority was making sure that the prisoners didn't escape.

Their guessing as to what was up with the lights was suddenly interrupted when they saw a blonde haired woman carrying a large bad walk up to them. She looked like an everyday civilian.

"Visiting hours are ten to four, lady." One of guards said, making it clear that the woman couldn't walk past.

"Your timetable's just been changed." Said the woman.

Before the guards had time to react, she suddenly took out several devices and threw each one at them, each device disabling their suits.

Once she was past the guards, the woman dropped the bag she'd been carrying and unzipped it. Inside lay her armour.

Shedding her disguise, Shadow quickly armed up. She then activated her comms.

"I'm in. Find me his cell."

The hack continued. The cyborg almost had access. At the same time, it received the call from Shadow. While still hacking into the Helldiver's systems, the cyborg simultaneously accessed the prison logs. The cell was quickly located, and the information was sent.

"This is Alpha Squad, what's going on?" Austin said into his comm.

The only reply he got was static save for a small fraction that he was able to understand.

"Been infected… Intruder… The whole system's been compromised!"

Then suddenly the lights went out completely. Every screen also started projecting a small sentence.

TROJAN: SUPERIOR. HELLDIVERS… INFERIOR.

"Oh shit. Shit! Shit! Shit!" Leena sword almost in panic. "We've been hacked."

Several guard almost immediately arrived at the entrance to the prisons. They were quick to remove the suit jammers from the others and got them back on their feet.

"Shoot anything that walks through that door." One of them said as the guards readied their weapons. "Anything."

Shadow slowly walked up to the cell holding the Commander. He was chained in placed and his cell was fitted EMPs set to go off if he so much as scratched the cell's glass.

With the power down however and the cyborg's hack having prevented backups system from coming online however, there was little keeping him cooped up now.

All Shadow had to do was break the shackles attached to the chains holding him place, and she did just that.

The Commander forcefully pulled them all. He even threw one at the glass, smashing it to pieces. As he walked out, he was quick to take notice of the Helldiver Slayer in front of him.

"Shadow. Never a doubt." He said. He would've smiled if he could.

Shadow slowly dropped to one knee and bowed her head.

"Master." She said with respect.

"Rise, my friend."

Shadow did so and immediately handed her master back his weapons which he immediately holstered.

The guards kept a constant eye on the doors, ready to fire the very second they spotted something walk through. They were both so focused and nervous about what would happen next that they didn't' notice the door behind them open and several smoke grenades rolled out.

From the other side of door, the sound of an explosion could be heard along with brief gunfire before it all went silent.

"I see you didn't come alone." Said the Commander.

"He was most insistent." Said Shadow.

The two walked through the door as the smoke cleared. Dead Helldiver littered the floor, along with a few missing some armour pieces. As another dead Helldiver fell, a tall and simply massive muscular man walked out of the smoke. He wore a basic suit of armour, was nearly 2.5 metres tall, wore a skull like helmet and also a few basic weapons strapped to him.

"You really would think they'd have better security in this place." He said.

"Hades. Good to see you, old friend." Said the Commander.

"Same to you, boss." Said Hades, bowing his head in respect.

As they talked, they failed to notice one Helldiver still barely alive. He manged to raise his gun, but before he could fire, a foot suddenly stood on his arm and a guns hot him in the head.

Everyone looked in the direction of the shot.

There stood the cyborg.

"And you brought Trojan as well. Excellent." Said the Commander proudly.

"Well, I couldn't' have possibly pulled this off without her." Said Shadow.

Trojan remained silent as her right arm sub machine shifted back into a normal arm. At the same time she activated her omni tool. It replayed a recording of what had been going through the Helldiver's comms before her virus shut them down. At the same time, her visor showed the soundwave bar of the recording as it played.

"The whole system's been compromised!"

"Good work, Trojan. Now… time for me to an honour a promise to an old friend." Said the Commander.

He lead, the others followed.

The Commander noticed that Hades seemed to be chuckling a bit.

"Is there something amusing, Hades?" the Commander asked.

"Strange actually." Hades replied. "I've broken out of eight prisons in my time, but this is the first one I've broken into."

Zartrack had been in a meeting with the council when the system has suddenly bene hacked. His immediate first priority had been to guard to the council.

It was barely a minute later when the doors at the far end suddenly burst open and Hellspawn walked in. The very second, Zartrack spotted his former student he immediately opened fire. The rest of the Helldivers in the council chambers soon followed. The Council themselves quickly dove for cover.

Hades, Shadow and Trojan all went for cover as well, but the Commander simply stood there.

Every single shot from the Helldivers that hit him simply bounced harmlessly of his armour. Helldiver ammo was standard issue, and so was never designed to pierce their own armour. But the Commander had super Armor piercing. Every shot he made, killed a Helldiver instantly.

"Our weapons aren't having any effect. The rounds are just bouncing off his armour." One of them yelled.

A door on the far side suddenly opened and none other than Alpha joined the fight. They too had to dive for cover, but the extra concentrated fire did force Hades, Trojan and Shadow to stay in cover more.

"This isn't a simple escape attempt. The Commander's been planning this." Said Austin, blind firing as he ducked to avoid some shots from the Commander.

The gunfire continued for some time before Austin suddenly had an idea. He got Alpha's attention and then pointed to the fire extinguishers.

Getting what Austin had in mind, they all shot the fire extinguishers, each one shooting clouds of gas all over the place. Within just a few seconds, it cast a thick cloud between them and Hellspawn.

"Get the council out! Get everyone out, now!" Zartrack ordered.

Completely blind, and knowing now he had no chance, the Commander was forced to abort.

"Fall back! We're leaving." He ordered in frustration.

The rest of Hellspawn obeyed and retreated with their Commander.

"General, you should look after the Council." Austin advised. "We'll deal with him."

A dropship awaited them on the landing platform. It didn't matter too much that plan B had failed. They'd have another chance soon enough.

As they were about to reach it however, a rocket suddenly flew right past them and destroyed the dropship

"Leaving so soon, Commander?"

The Commander and everyone else turned to see all of Alpha.

"Helldivers. So predictable." Said Shadow.

"Last chance, Rodriguez. Surrender, or this time we will kill you." Said Sandra.

"Numbers aren't in your favour either. Because there's 9 of us, and only 3 of you." Said Dash.

"Bring more men, and maybe it'll be a fair fight." Said the Commander. "Take them."

Hades and Shadow charged while the Commander remained behind.

Austin of course instantly went for Shadow first who immediately drew both her swords and locked blades with the Helldiver.

"So you're The Commander's pet now, Shadow?" said Austin.

"His money's green, and as a bonus, I get to kill you." Said Shadow. "So you know my name now? Good. At least you can die knowing exactly who killed you."

Austin was quickly joined by Alaara and Ventra who helped keep Shadow on her toes a bit more at least.

Sandra meanwhile went after the Commander directly. It was at the very last minute when he drew his sword. Sandra found his style very familiar indeed. She and Austin had sparred together many times, during which they'd often grown used to each other's fighting styles. The Commander was very similar. Definitely a huge difference however was that he used his sword two handed compared to Austin's one handed style.

He seemed to be on the defensive side for now. With each attack she did, he simply blocked but did not attempt to riposte. Sandra began to get a little annoyed by this. He was clearly toying with her. Most likely he felt she wasn't' worth the effort. Well she'd show him.

Dash meanwhile had gone directly after Hades.

One would've thought that'd be suicide, someone of his somewhat small size against someone so huge. But Dash was certain of one thing, he was fast and agile, whereas Hades would be slow. Someone that, yes he'd be strong, but there's no way he'd be able to move as fast as Dash could.

"Are you ready to die, small one?" Hades asked challengingly.

"I might be. If I have to keep looking at that shit stain you call a face." Dash replied.

He immediately drew both pistols and fired. All rounds imply bounced off of Hades' head until both guns clicked.

Dash looked at his guns with surprise.

"Okay… that usually works." He said.

"And so does this!"

Hades swung a punch, but Dash managed to avoid it.

Using both his speed, and the time he had until Hades pulled his arm back, Dash immediately reloaded and fired again. Once again however, the rounds simply bounced off. Hades was quick to respond to this and swung his arm to the side. Dash failed to respond in time and was hit so hard he went flying for at least two metres. It was a wonder he managed to stop before he fell off the platform.

Hades tried to stomp on him several times, but the scout managed to roll out of the way. He attempted to aim, but Hades quickly grabbed the gun with one hand and punched him with the other, at the same time tearing the gun out of Dash's hands and literally crushing it.

"That was my favourite gun!" Dash yelled.

Hades though simply responded by pulling Dash back up onto his feet and then kicking him so hard he was once again sent flying, this time into the wreckage of the dropship.

Sandra upped the speed and ferocity of her attacks, her arm almost becoming her blur with each strike. Finally, she managed to get an opening and thrust. It didn't impale as she intended, but her attack did manage to scar the Commander's helmet.

The Commander was quick to respond to this by finally attacking. The two locked blades with one another, one opponent trying to overpower the other.

"You fight well. Were you not a Helldiver, I'd ask you to join me." Said the Commander, impressed by what he had seen.

"Never!" Sandra yelled.

She attempted to force the Commander, but he surprised her by instead pushing back with an almost frightening amount of force. He pushed both her Sais to the side and then suddenly punched her with such force that it literally knocked her helmet right off. Sandra fell to the floor, dazed and her vision blurred. The Commander struck both her Sais with his sword, knocking them out of her hands.

Sandra could only see the blurry silhouette of the Commander as he raised his blade to finish her. Right as he did however, he hesitated for a moment. Sandra couldn't tell for certain, but for a moment it looked as though the Commander might be lowering his blade.

Before anything more could happen however, Kraan suddenly charged right into the Commander. He tackled the Commander to the floor and attempted to punch him.

The Commander however turned the tables on him by blocking Kraan's fist and then kicking him so hard, Kraan actually though he was flying for a moment before he landed back on the ground again.

The force of kick had come as such a surprise to Kraan he was left temporarily dazed. Unlike Sandra however, he shock it off quicker and immediately tried to get. Before he could however, the Commander' foot suddenly pinned him to the ground as the fallen Helldiver stood over him.

"You think you're strong, Krogan?" he said.

With his free hand, he then grabbed Kraan by the neck and to the Krogan's utter horror hauled him right up off the ground. He was left hanging in the air, the Commander's hand gripping what it could his throat. Kraan was almost paralysed with fear. How was this possible? A human Helldiver could barely lift a normal Krogan in this way, yet the Commander was lifting him, who was twice as strong as a normal Krogan, and also heavier, without any effort at all.

Austin too glanced this as Shadow kicked him back for a second. He too was shocked.

"Oh my god!"

"You know nothing of true strength." Said the Commander with disgust.

"What… are you?!" Kraan choked.

"I'm complicated." The Commander simply replied.

He then threw Kraan to the ground with such force that it not only crated a small crater, but it knocked the air right out of the Krogan's lungs.

Disoriented, Kraan only noticed the Commander' blade come down too late.

Before it could hit him however, there was loud clang of metal against metal. A second blade had suddenly blocked the Commander's. None other than Austin had just saved Kraan's life.

"Don't hit my friends." He said.

He then pushed his blade upwards which made the Commander skid back a bit. As he did, Austin helped Kraan up.

"Help the others. I'll take care of him." He said.

Kraan simply nodded and immediately went after Hades.

Speaking of which, the muscled giant pulled Dash out of the wreckage and held him up by the neck.

"Time to die, boy."

Before he could deliver the killing blow however, Kraan suddenly charged into him. Unlike the Commander, this time Kraan was successful and he manged to land a few punches before Hades eventually kicked him off.

Kraan was somewhat surprised when Hades drew himself up to his full height. Almost any Krogan would definitely find this human intimidating.

"You're big. I've fought bigger." He said.

He then delivered an incredibly hard head-butt. TO his surprise however, Hades actually did the same. The two opponent's heads came together with a loud clang. Kraan was just as shocked as before when Hades to almost absorb the head-butt completely.

"Oh crap." He said in worry.

"Not like me you haven't." said Hades.

The giant then brought his knee right up into Kraan's face, knocking the Krogan back and against one of the landing's platforms lights.

Leena meanwhile was "attempting" to fight Trojan. However she was not faring well at all. The cyborg was smaller, faster, impossibly more agile and stronger than her. Every attack Trojan either countered or blocked. Leena was beginning to doubt if Trojan really was a cyborg, because she sure as hell didn't act like one. A quick scan though proved it to her. Trojan was 99% machine, save for something in her head, her brain. Apparat from that though, Trojan was completely cybernetic which in this gave her a huge advantage over the muscular Quarian.

Rather shockingly, when Leena attempt another attack, Trojan manged to get hold of the chest piece on her armour and literally ripped it clean off. She then hit Leena in the chest so hard that the Quarian felt a sharp pain as her heart temporarily stopped.

She fell to her knees clutching her chest as her heart mercifully restarted. The shear shock of it however combined with her somewhat weakened state left her unable to continue fighting.

Right as Trojan readied to deliver the killing blow however, Troy suddenly uncloaked and hit Trojan really hard over the head with the bow staff that had once belonged to Shadow.

The cyborg's attention as immediately focused on him.

"Help Kraan. I got this." Said Troy.

Leena nodded and ran over to help Kraan.

Right as Hades was about to punch Kraan while he was down, Leena suddenly punched him first, causing him to stagger back. As the giant regained his senses, Lean helped Kraan up.

"A Krogan and a Quarian. This is gonna be fun." Said Hades.

Trojan attempted to fire at Troy, but the spy managed to block each shot with his staff. Despite only having it for a short while, he'd become quite good with it.

When he attempted another attack however, Trojan literally pulled the staff out of his hands and threw it away. She then drew a rather large combat knife from behind her back and attacked. Troy barely managed to keep up with the cyborg's speed and ferocity.

As Trojan attempted a two handed lunge, Troy counted it. As he did however, Trojan suddenly flipped right over him, managing a slight scratch on him in the process before landing back on her feet.

Troy looked at her in surprise. He'd seen that move before, but by someone else. Someone he had not seen for a very long time. Someone he'd been very close to…

"Only one person in the entire galaxy knows that move…" he said in disbelief. "Sonya? Is that you?"

Trojan didn't respond and simply looked at him, her head tilting slightly.

"You won't talk." Troy said, puzzled. "Or… you can't talk."

"Can't talk." Trojan played back.

"What have you done to yourself?!"

Austin and the Commander simply circled one another, neither attacking just yet.

"You know, I meant what I said before. That really is a fine sword. But I wonder… do you know how to use it?" the Commander asked.

He barely gave Austin any time to respond before attacking. Both opponents stuck to their preferred style. The Commander, two handed and Austin one handed.

Austin immediately recognized Zartrack's fighting style in the Commander. Seemed that although he was a former Helldiver, a lot of the training he'd received had sunk in and was still present.

The Commander naturally attacked first, forcing Austin to defend. Austin attempted to push back on one particular attack, but the Commander quickly exploited this and tripped him up. He attempted to slash at Austin while he was down, but the Helldiver managed to avoid the strike and then delivered a really sharp kick to the Commander's helmet, causing him to stagger back with an angry grunt.

Austin quickly got back onto his feet and readied for another fight. The Commander also quickly recovered, and he looked angry now, so to speak.

Now Austin attacked first, starting off with a spin lunge. Naturally though, the Commander managed to block each strike. Sparks flew from both swords as Excalibur clashed with its twin.

The two ended up in another blade lock and this time Austin made the first move. He managed to trip the Commander, but unlike him, the fallen Helldiver managed to force his blade to one side and then grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him up just as he had Kraan earlier. The Commander gave a slight chuckle and then threw Austin to the floor.

Austin blocked several more attacks before getting a third blade lock. This time, he pushed harder. For a moment, he managed to push the Commander back a bit, but just when it looked like he had the advantage, the Commander then pushed back with full force. He forced Excalibur to one side and then head-butted Austin so hard that he staggered back.

Austin just managed to recover in time as the Commander swung at him again several times. He avoided each one and managed to land a punch on the Commander, but at the Commander quickly recovered from it and spun. Austin failed to react in time and Clarent cut rather deep into his side, drawing blood.

The Helldiver fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding side.

The Commander slowly walked up to him and raised his sword.

"You just ran out of time." Said Austin.

Two Hellhounds suddenly hovered over the landing platform.

"STAND DOWN! REPEAT: STAND DOWN!"

The Commander though remained unfazed by this and immediately opened fire. The hellhounds quickly returned fire, but like before their rounds had no effect on the Commander's armour.

"Sir, this platform's getting too hot." Said Hades, managing to avoid a few stray rounds.

A rocket was suddenly fired and it hit one of the hellhounds, causing it to collide with the other.

Another dropship then rose up into view, this one belonging to Hellspawn. The Commander, Shadow, Trojan and Hades all got in.

"You got off easy." Said Hades.

Austin attempted to throw another tracer, but Shadow immediately shot it.

"Not this time, Shepard."

The dropship sped off into the sky, soon vanishing from sight.

Having been locked up for so long, the Commander had missed the red and fiery atmosphere of the planet inferno in the element cluster. That was where Hellspawn's main base was.

The volcanic planet was ideal not only for mining the natural resources that could be found in the lava, but the intense geological activity created natural scanning interference which was perfect for keeping prying eyes away and preventing anyone from discovering the fortress.

Built one the side of a mountain and overlooking both a massive lava river and the vast view of the rest of the volcanic land, the facility was simply massive. Almost the size of a small city, it served as a factory, mining facility, and fortress all in one. Most referred to it as fortress though as it made them feel safer, especially considering the dangerous environment outside.

The Commander, Hades, Shadow and Trojan all walked onto a platform that began slowly rising up, granting them a better view of the massive factory facilities in front of them.

"Ah, there's no place like fortress." said Shadow relaxingly as the platform finished rising.

"All we've been missing is our Commander." Said Hades. "Good to have you back, boss."

"Ah! You're back, sir." Said voice.

A man dressed in a business suit soon joined them. Hellspawn's weapons manufacturer, Thoron Arma. He'd come a long way from being interrogated by crime lords all those years ago.

"Someone took his time." Said the Commander.

"Not easy to sneak out of a board of directors meeting. Price you pay for being successful." Said Thornton.

"Just don't forget who made you so." The Commander reminded him.

"Or the rock you crawled out from." Shadow added.

"Shadow. Well, it's good to know we're not running low on crazy." Said Thornton. "Still all ten fingers?"

Shadow put up both her hands before shortly giving Thornton the finger. He simply chuckled.

"I trust all has gone as instructed during my absence?" the Commander asked.

"Indeed, sir. We've even managed to exceed those expectations." Said another voice this time female. "My apologies for being late."

A scientist, German judging by her accent with red hair and wearing quite a bit of tech on her. Elsa Gunther, Hellspawn's main scientist and tech expert.

"You always have been a busy woman, Elsa. I don't blame you." Said the Commander.

Elsa simply smiled and bowed her head in respect.

"I'm sorry to hear your assassination of General Zartrack failed, but at least you made it back to us." She said.

"I will have plenty more chances in the future. Now that the Helldivers know of us, things are sure to change. We have long prepared for this, we have grown stronger, while they rested in their cradle of power, believing their people were safe and protected." Said the Commander.

As he spoke, he noticed Trojan seemed to be giving the impression she was trouble by something.

"You seem troubled, Trojan. Is something the matter?" he asked.

"Sonya? Is that you? What have you done to yourself?!" Trojan's recorded voice repeated.

"Wait, I know that voice." Said the Commander in surprise. "So, our old friend Troy is with them as well. Seems we're all running into old friends these days."

"Some more than others. I'm starting to grow tired of Shepard constantly evading me. Now I not only want to kill him, but I'd very much love to also tear that suit from his body." Shadow growled.

"And you will, my apprentice. In time." Said the Commander.

He then spoke louder so that he addressed all of Hellspawn.

"WE ARE AN ARMY WITHOUT A NATION, AND THEY WILL LEARN TO FEAR US. ALL OF THEM!"

Everyone who heard cheered.

"But first, I think it is time we set the record straight once and for all. It is time we showed the galaxy, that unlike my worthless decoy, we mean business." Said the Commander. "Prep the set. Let's make television."

The Commander's quarters were a large and darkly lit chamber. Often he had some kind of smoke in the air as well in order to add to the atmosphere. Since so many people would be in here this time however, he'd turned it off. When turned away, the throne looked out of the massive window to show the vast volcanic planes of Inferno along with the view down of the volcano the fortress was situated over.

"You know the drill, everyone. No talking and no eye contact unless you want to get shot in the face." Hades ordered to everyone.

Within just a few seconds, the large doors lowly creaked open, the Commander walked in, followed closely by his elite guard.

They were clearly not human. Machines of some kind with disk like heads, clad in dark red robes and wielding staffs of some kind.

No one made a sound, nor dared look at the Commander as he walked past them and slowly ascended the steps until he reached his throne. He turned and slowly sat down. His guards also turned and stood to attention, remaining so still one would almost think they were statues.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

The Arkane council were already in talks after the incident that had occurred. The security was going to be doubled and also tightened after what had happened. The fact that a cyborg, a bounty hunter, and a muscular giant had managed to get in and break one of their prisoners out was disgraceful.

Their talks were interrupted however when the entire room went black and large holo image of Hellspawn's symbol was projected in front of them.

It appeared to be in every single channel. Those in charge of communications attempted to make adjustments, but they did not.

"General, I think you should see this."

Zartrack recognized the symbol almost immediately.

"Oh no. Not again. Is Alpha getting this?" Zartrack asked.

Alpha planned to head back out into space on the Endeavour eventually, but after their battle they needed rest and recovery. So for now, they were once again back in their apartment, most of them working on fixing some of their armour, or treating any cuts or bruises.

"Shepard."

Austin turned and saw Hellspawn's symbol on all their screens.

"Where's it coming from?" he immediately asked.

"I don't know. Unlike the last one, I can't pinpoint it at all. Every time I try it switches. He's also broadcasting this to everyone. The entire galaxy is seeing this." Sandra replied.

The hologram then flashed several times, each flash emitting some static screams of some kind before it changed completely to show the Commander, sat calmly on his throne.

"Good morning. To those of you who do not yet know me, allow me to introduce myself. I use the name Commander, and I am the founder of Hellspawn: an organization that you have been led to believe is nothing more than a smokescreen. Well, I can tell you all now that Hellspawn is very real, as am I." he said.

The Commander then gently rose from his throne and stood up.

"Now I can imagine what you are all thinking right now. You had no reason to take the decoy seriously. Why should this one be any different? And so, I demonstrate my point."

He motioned to someone off screen and two of his guards brought someone forward. They had a Helldiver restrained with the use of their staffs. He was badly beaten and was missing loads of pieces of his armour, including his helmet.

The guards then stepped back out of shot, leaving just the holograms of the Helldiver and the Commander, who slowly drew one of his guns and knelt down next to the Helldiver.

"Tell them your name, Son." He said.

"Yeah? Screw you!" The Helldiver spat back.

"Oh, this one still has some fight left in him. Good, that'll make this all the more satisfying for me." Said the Commander, slowly standing up and circling the Helldiver.

"Meet Sergeant Joshua Trankard. A good strong name, a good strong job. Feel free to check your records if you wish, but he does work for you, and I'm sure he's a really good guy… and I'm going to shoot him in the head, live in front of all of you in 30 seconds."

The Commander calmly checked his gun and made sure that his audience was aware it was loaded.

"Some people call me a terrorist… I consider myself a teacher." He said. "Lesson number 1… is obedience."

He then shot Joshua right in the leg, causing his to scream in agony.

"Lesson number 2, show respect for your elders."

Then the Commander shot the other leg, causing Joshua to fall to the ground.

"And Lesson number 3. Heroes… there is no such thing."

To everyone's horror, the Commander then shot him right in the back of the head, his super armour piercing round blowing the poor man's head completely apart.

A long silence followed while the Commander allowed his audience to take it all in before he finally spoke again.

"I imagine by now that you are all wonder what is the point of all this? What do I really want? Do you hope that you can reason with me? You won't be able to reason with me, I can tell you that. What do I want? It's perfectly simple. The Helldivers, bruised, battered, beaten, broken, dead! Wiped from the face of the galaxy. And when I am done, I will turn my attention to the parasites who think this galaxy is there's… aliens. As of now, for all you non humans, this galaxy is no longer yours, and it is no longer safe for you. You can try and hide or fight, but in the end it will amount to nothing. My army in infinite. You will eventually be killed, or worse, and nothing will have changed." He said. "My attentions are of course focused on the Helldivers first. They will be the first to suffer my wrath. And as for Alpha Squad, since I know you are no doubt watching this as well, I'm going to offer you a choice. Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death? Either way, if we cross paths again… I will burn you. I will burn the hearts out of you. And I assure you, I'm a man of my word."

Alpha simply cast looks at each other. It would take more than an idle threat to scare them, but even so…

"Let this be a warning to all of you, to the Arkanes, to the Helldivers, and to the entire galaxy. As of now, Hellspawn is at war with the Helldivers." The Commander continued. "You know who I am. You don't know where I am…"

The hologram then flashed and zoomed in on just the Commander's helmet.

"And you'll never see me coming."

I'll admit the main fight was a little bit rushed, but I'm still satisfied with this chapter.

Hope you enjoyed, and aren't frozen with fear. ;)

Looking forward tos eeing what you say about this one. See you in the next one! :)
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, Alpha Origins