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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
- 17
- 18
- 19
I'm very happy with how this one turned out. I got it done quickly, it ended up being way more fun to write than I thought it would, and the action scene were actually quite easy too. How brilliant is that?

Title's a bit unoriginal I'll admit, I coudln't really think of a better one, but trust me the chapter makes up for it.

I'd also like to thank SpectreFanchin10 for his contributions to this chapter.

Right, I'll let you enjoy the chapter! :)

YEAR 5, First Blood

2177: 5 Years after the battle of Elysium

11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia

"Months passed, and Hellspawn grew. Their influence was spreading further and further. And to make matters worse, they then brought a game changer into play. Little did we know however of how quickly things could change. It's true what the stories say. He was our enemy, but in time we named him ally. Even friend… and he wasn't even an organic…

Chapter 18

The Age of Steel

Numbers, letters and all kinds of code flashes across the various screens. Technicians, scientists, engineers, all were hard work as the testing went underway.

After the Commander's "deal" with the Collectors, he had instructed his scientists to study the technology he'd been given in exchange for the Cleanser. Already, many breakthroughs had been made from it.

One such breakthrough was already going through it's testing phases.

Below in a massive testing facility overlooked by the main lab just above, were five massive robots. Each one was specially wired up and being controlled remotely. Below also with the robots were several engineers and some other scientists to make sure that everything worked properly without issue.

As the five controllers controlling the robots, known as Exterminators, continued typing away at the controls or adjusting the joysticks, Hellspawn's chief scientists Elsa along with Thornton Arma observed the entire thing.

"How are we looking?" Elsa inquired.

"All diagnostics completed, running tests now, so far all systems are responding perfectly." One of the controllers said.

The Exterminator Units were at least 2.5 metres tall, almost as tall as Hades.

Each one was rather unique in their own way, rather than all looking the same. They were all bipedal and walked upright and all had a similar head design along with some other similar parts, but that was about it.

Exterminator 1 was two legged only. It had no arms at all, in its place only guns with shields either side along with rocket launchers on its back. Some of the scientists had said in fact that it looked almost exactly like a Metal Gear from a popular gaming series of the same name. The similarity was unintentional and it didn't' look exactly the same, but even so.

Exterminator 2 was more humanoid and had arms, but no head. The head was instead a part of the main body

Exterminator 3 was a slightly more advanced version of Exterminator 2. Same body, but this time it had a an actual face. It also had more armour plating as well as heavier guns. As a result though it was the slowest and heaviest of the lot.

Exterminator 4 was an attempts to try to and tone this done in order to achieve better speed and reaction time. Most of its weapons were internal in order to lighten it and was thinner in certain areas to allow more freedom of movement.

And lastly, Exterminator 5, the most recent and most advanced of the lot. It mostly shared the same appearance of Exterminator 4, but had pretty everything more refined. It even had a slightly different body design as well as a different head.

"Hmmm. The response times seem a bit slow." Thornton observed from one of the screens for Exterminator 1.

"I'll see what I can do, Sir." The controller said.

He typed some more buttons as the Exterminator continued to respond to his commands.

"Need I remind you all that we are on a tight schedule here. The Commander is expecting results today. If these work, then so will the others." Elsa said to the others.

The controller piloting Exterminator 5 made the robot give several more turns along with tracking test. As he gave it the command to run its AI diagnostics something strange happened. He wasn't 100% sure, but for a split second a looked like his screen went static before then returning to normal.

"Whoa."

"What just happened?" Elsa asked, having noticed the controller's reaction.

"I don't know. My screen went funny for a moment there. Looks fine now." The controller replied. "Probably just a temporary glitch."

"I don't want any surprises. Run diagnostics again." Elsa ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am."

The controller ran every possible test and diagnostics on his end, yet nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking it must've just bene glitch with the screen, he went back to testing.

As the engineers and scientists continued monitoring the Exterminators up close and taking readings, one particular engineer couldn't help but feel as though Exterminator 5 was looking right at him.

"Uhhh, control? One of the Exterminators is looking at me funny." He said.

Controller 5 noticed this and immediately gave the command for his robot to move. Yet no response.

"Control?"

He tried the same command… still though Exterminator 5 didn't move, it continued to stare at the engineer. Had something gone wrong with the signal?

"Control, cut the crap! You're starting to scare me."

Twice now he tried to issue a command, but once again Exterminator 5 did not respond. He was about to say that the robot wasn't' responding when he was suddenly interrupted by the robot actually speaking.

"Target identified!"

To everyone's utter astonishment, the robot suddenly grabbed the engineer and threw him to the floor so hard it crushed every bone in his body.

"What the hell?!"

"Controller 5, what the hell did you just do?!" Elsa yelled.

"That wasn't me! The robot's not responding. I've lost control completely!" Controller 5 said, frantically pushing and flicking every possible switch in some hopes of regaining control, but nothing.

Noticing how the robot had now cast it's gaze the other engineers and appeared to be scanning the area in uncertainty, Elsa immediately grabbed a nearby mike.

"ALL ENGINERRS: RED ALERT! WE'VE LOST CONTROL OF EXTERMINATOR 5! I SAY AGAIN, EXTERMIANTOR 5 IS OPERATING WITHOUT REMOTE CONTROL!"

Every engineer and scientist immediately took notice of Exterminator 5 and cautiously started backing away.

"Target acquired!" Exterminator 5 repeated.

It attacked again and grabbed another engineer.

Both scientists and engineers broke into a run. A few stayed in hopes they might be able to help get the robot under control.

"Shut it down!" Elsa yelled to Controller 5.

"I can't. Nothing I try is responding at all. It's locked me out of the system somehow!"

"EXTERMINATOR 5, THIS IS CONTROL. YOU WILL STAND DOWN AND DEACTIVATE IMMEDITELY!" Elsa's voice yelled from the mike.

The robot though paid no attention and continued it's rampage.

"Security to the science lab, now!"

It then charged another engineer who was attempting to flee, knocking him to the floor and at the same time also crushing several control panels.

The downed engineer tried to crawl to safety, but the Exterminator turned back to him, it's metal him hitting right in the face. Another scientist attempted to plant an EMP device on the robot, but it detected him before it got the chance. With one swing of its arm it knocked him right into another control panel.

It then lunged with its arm and the hand practically crushed the poor scientist against the panel. Somehow though, the robot wasn't done him. As two security soldier attempted to fire at the robot, it picked the scientist up and then threw his body to the floor.

"EXTERMINATOR 5, DEACTIVE! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Still though the robot did not respond. More and more security entered the room and opened fire on the robot. It didn't seem to attack back though just yet. It just seemed to once again scan the area as thought it was somehow confused. Elsa was relieved now that it's weapon systems weren't activated. If they were, this would be even worse. Not that she imagined it could get much worse after how quickly it has escalated and got out of hand.

As the robot backed away slightly from the security teams, Elsa made on more attempt.

"IMPUT SHUTDOWN CODE 5846392!"

The robot looked right at her for a brief moment.

"Shutdown code…" it spoke. "REJECTED!"

The robot then cast it's gaze at Exterminator 2.

"Targets identified!"

Almost immediately, it charged, knocking the immobile robot to the ground and then started to crushed and beat at it like a child with a temper tantrum.

"Controller 3, have your Exterminator attack!" Thornton yelled.

"Yes, sir."

Exterminator 3 reactivated and then attacked. The two robots fought each other fiercely, exchanging punches and throws. Despite Exterminator 3's remote piloting however, Exterminator 5 ultimately prevailed.

It then turned its attention to Exterminator 2 and 4 as well. Rather than simply damaging them as it had the others though, it completely destroyed them.

Right as it finished, a new voice was suddenly heard throughout the room.

"Exterminator unit, stand down at once!"

Exterminator 5 turned to look at where the voice had come from. There stood the Commander flanked by his elite guard.

To everyone's utter surprise, the robot actually obeyed.

"Command confirmed."

The robot returned to a stationary standing position and stood down.

"What?!" Elsa said in shock as she and Thornton entered. "It didn't respond to me."

"Exterminator Unit, who do you answer to?" The Commander asked.

"Must obey all Hellspawn high ranking personaaaaaaaaa… ERROR!" Exterminator 5 replied. "Main order directive corrupted. Must obey backup directive: Obey Hellspawn leader only."

"We'll have it dismantled until we find the source of the problem while the others are mended." Said Elsa.

"No. Not yet." Said the Commander. "I saw the way it fought and killed. It's savagery… it's beyond what I expected from a machine."

"It was… not intentional, Sir." Said Elsa, slightly nervous of what the Commander might say next.

"As a combat test, it's certainly proved itself. All it requires is a field test for me to be certain this project is a success." Said the Commander.

"Excuse me, Commander. I must have misheard you. It sounded like you were saying you wanted to send it out on a field test." Elsa said, hoping that she actually had misheard.

"You heard correctly, Elsa." Said the Commander. "Send this one out to hunt down Alpha Squad. See if it can do what it was built for."

"But, Commander… we have no guarantee that it can be controlled!" said Elsa, trying her best to not sound disrespectful.

"Precisely. That will prevent Alpha from trying to hack it. What's more, even if it does go beyond itself, it will not be able to do harm to us from another planet."

"I… I understand, Commander."

"In the meantime, have the damaged ones repaired and continued as planned."

"Yes, sir."

The Commander then turned back to Exterminator 5.

"Exterminator unit, you are being given a new primary objective." He said.

"Awaiting."

"Your objective is to hunt down and eliminate all members of Helldiver Squad Alpha, and any others who stand in your way. Confirm your understanding of this command."

"Command confirmed. New objective: hunt down and eliminate Helldiver squad Alpha!"

All was quiet in the Hellspawn outpost.

A sniper on one of the rooves couldn't help but enjoy the silence as well as the view as he stood on guard duty.

It was a shame however that his peace of mind was short lived before a figure de-cloaked behind him and stealthily slit his throat.

Ever since the Cleanser had been cured, the last few months for Alpha had been going well. For the next few months, they'd mostly just been taking out various Hellspawn camps or bases. Nothing hugely difficult but it kept them busy at least, so they were content.

As Troy gently set the dead sniper down, he gave the all clear. The rest of Alpha un-cloaked and came out into the open.

Troy turned to find none other than Austin standing behind him as well.

"Troy, nicely done." Alpha's leader said.

"All in a day's work." Troy nodded proudly.

"Shepard, reinforcements incoming!"

Everyone's head whirled round to see a squad of Hellspawn troopers approaching. Nothing Alpha couldn't' handle, despite there being a lot of them.

"Show time!" said Kraan eagerly.

Both sides opened fire on one another, the area quickly becoming an almost mini war zone.

Jumping out from behind cover, Austin unsheathed Excalibur and immediately cut down a nearby trooper. A Hellspawn scout attempted to attack him from behind, but the Helldiver spun and impaled the scout on his sword.

From nearby higher ground , a Hellspawn sniper watched the entire thing, shocked at how quickly two of his comrades had fallen. He was about to take a shot when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back before his vision went dark.

Troy withdrew his combat knife from the snipers back and kicked the body off the edge.

It was as the spy turned to his left however, he suddenly noticing he'd been spotted by a Hellspawn brute, who was banging his fists together.

"You, yes you. You are dead."

"Not today, big boy." Said Troy, swiftly drawing one of his pistols and firing a single shot that went right through the brute's head and even took out another Hellspawn sniper.

A Hellspawn trooper attempted to retreat, but Kraan was quick to act and fired a rocket which obliterated the trooper in a single explosion. A nearby Hellspawn Pyro noticed this and turned his attention to Kraan.

The Krogan immediately fired another rocket. The Pyro however was prepared for this and fired a compression blast of fuel from his flamethrower, causing the rocket to be deflected.

Kraan immediately went for cover as the Pyro then fired a flame burst. Normally Helldivers were shielded from fire, but Hellspawn Pyro's had special fire that actually could damage a Helldiver. It was anyone's guess how Hellspawn had managed to come up with this, but they'd obviously found a way.

"Got a pyro pinning me down here!" Kraan said into his comm.

"Who wants some of this?"

Both Kraan and the pyro's head turned to suddenly see Dash running right at the Pyro. Before the pyro could react in time, Dash suddenly went into a slide which tripped the pyro and caused him to land on his back. Before he even got a chance to get back up, Dash fired two shots into his head with his pistols.

Dash turned to Kraan and simply gave an acknowledging nod.

"Not bad, kid." Said Kraan approvingly.

Dash then returned to the main fight at hand, jumping on the heads of three more Hellspawn troopers, finishing each on with a shot to the head.

This time from a nearby roof, another sniper observed the fight. Carefully and calmly, he began seeking for Dash, intending to kill the scout dead.

Right as he thought he caught sight of Dahs however, the Scout's helmet suddenly popped up in front of his scope. Acting on instinct, the sniper fired. Dash however, immediately dropped out of sight and the shot missed.

Before the sniper had time to react, Dash grabbed the sniper rifle and forced it back, causing the butt of the sniper rifle to hit it's user right in the face and his grip to loosen. Throwing the sniper rifle away, Dash then grabbed him.

"Hey, Hawk! Here's one for you!"

The Scout then threw the sniper off the roof and into the air, right as a sniper round shot right through the sniper's head.

"Bullseye!" Hawk smiled to himself, never once taking his eye away from his sniper scope as he searched for a new target.

Only the squad leader remained now. He was shocked almost in panic when he saw the dead body of the sniper land next to him.

The momentary distraction allowed Austin an opening and moved forward until he was right behind cover where the squad leader was. Before the squad leader even had a chance, Austin grabbed him, pulled him over cover, threw him to the floor, activated his omni blade and with one swift stab, the squad leader was dead.

With the coast clear, everyone went about their business of clearing the place up and leaving no evidence they'd been here.

"Well, I guess that's that." Said Leena, breathing a sigh of relief.

Austin couldn't help but notice Troy looking a little uneasy.

"You alright, Troy?" he asked.

"I don't' know about you, Mon ami. But that felt too easy." Troy replied.

"Take it as a sign that we're winning, Troy." Said Dash, lazily relaxing on a nearby crate.

Austin then turned to Leena who was accessing the site's main computer.

"Leena, what've you got on the intel?" he asked.

"Nothing special, really." Leena replied. "Just a lot of messages between Hellspawn operatives."

She skimmed through several more data streams before her eyes caught something.

"Hmm, now this is interesting." She said, bring up various reports on the monitor. "There's been a lot of talk about something new going on. Hellspawn is pursuing new research. The reports claim that what they're doing is going to turn the tide for them. A weapon, to surpass… us."

Austin was about to inquire further before the constant sound of metallic footsteps interrupted him.

"What the…?"

All of Alpha squad went immediately on alert, their guns raised as they looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise.

The footsteps seemed to get louder and louder, as if whatever was making them was getting closer.

Suddenly, from behind Austin, a large metal arm burst through the wall and grabbed him. As the metal arm threw Austin to the floor, the body the arm belonged to then burst through the wall as well.

Exterminator 5 swung at Austin, first with it's left and then right fist. Austin was able to roll and avoid both attacks though.

As the Helldiver avoided the robot's right hand strike, he swung and attempted to hit the robot's face with the butt of his assault rifle. Sadly, it barely made a dent.

Exterminator 5 attempted to grab Austin with both hands, but the Helldiver cast his rifle between them. Exterminator 5 did though succeed in pinning Austin to the floor again. Quickly reacting to this, Exterminator 5 then hauled Austin up by the rifle and then threw him.

The sheer force of the throw was enough to make Austin let go of his rifle and he was sent flying.

Exterminator 5 meanwhile turned its attention to the rest of Alpha, who had been watching shock.

"What the hell is that thing?!" said Dash.

"Targets: identified. Commencing extermination!"

As Exterminator 5 began advancing, a sentry gun that Leena had placed during the fight earlier opened fire. The robot however seemed to just ignore it and simply stepped on it like an insect under a boot.

"I just built that!" Leena complained.

This was quickly met however with an uppercut from Exterminator 5 which sent Leena flying all the way into another building.

Exterminator 5 then swung, swiping Kraan's minigun and Sandra's assault rifle out of her hands. Before the two Helldivers could react in time, Exterminator 5 then grabbed Sandra and threw her away as well.

Turning its attention to Dash, Exterminator 5 then activated the rocket launchers on it's forearms and fired. Just when it looked like the rockets were going to hit Dash however, Troy quickly tackled Dash to the ground and the rockets missed. Instead they impacted near to where Leena had managed to re-join the battle. Although they missed, the sheer force of the blast was enough to send her flying again, and this time when she hit a nearby wall it knocked her out.

"You'll pay for that!" Hawke yelled as he aimed with his sniper and fired.

The shot hit Exterminator 5 right in the head… but it simply ricocheted off and hit the wall right next to where Hawk was standing.

"Oh come on!" Hawk cursed.

Exterminator 5 charged, smashing Alaara aside in the process. Dash immediately broke into a run, firing a few shots from his pistols as he went.

Troy also got off a few shots before going into cover. As Exterminator 5 slowed to a halt, the minigun mounted on its back activated and started to fire, forcing everyone else to take cover. Hawk only just managed to get behind something in time as one shot hit a part of his armour. It went through, but didn't go through any skin at least. Hawk definitely considered himself lucky.

With everyone pinned down, Dash was forced to use extreme measures. He brought up his omni tool and activated an adrenal burst. Though that was normally used by soldiers, Dash found it had advantages for him too. Because it sped him up mentally, combined with his Armor's speed boost, it gave him quite the tactical advantage.

As the boost kicked in, everything slowed down around Dash as his brain speed increased.

He then ran out of cover, right into the minigun fire. Because everything was much slower now of course, he could react to the bullets before they hit him. Physically, he still moved at normal speed, but that didn't matter to him.

He ducked, dodged, flipped and slid around every single bullet until he was close enough. He then leapt onto high ground right as the adrenaline boost wore off and Exterminator 5's minigun ran out of ammo.

Barely giving the robot a chance to reload, Dash then leapt onto Exterminator 5's head. The robot immediately reacted and tried to throw him.

"Guys, now! While it's distracted!" Dash yelled, holding on tightly while he avoided Exterminator 5's arms.

With Troy having helped Austin back up, the rest of Alpha attacked. They employed the tactic of surrounding Exterminator 5 and attacking from all around. The robot however swiped at them quite a few times while still trying to grab at Dash. One of those swipes even hit Ventra in the helmet, knocking the Turian onto his back.

Kraan fired a rocket, but to everyone's surprise Exterminator 5 caught the projectile in its right hand. It then threw the rocket right back at Kraan and landed right at his feet.

"Oh fu…"

The rocket exploded, sending Kraan flying.

Troy attacked from the back and fired several shots, getting Exterminator 5's attention.

As the robot turned however, it found a rather unexpected figure standing in Troy's place.

"Stand down!" the Commander ordered.

Exterminator 5 however did not obey. It immediately grabbed the Commander by the neck, causing Troy's disguise to drop.

The Spy had had a feeling that wouldn't work. A robot like this could easily see through his disguise. After all, the tech used for his disguises was only meant to fool humans, not AI's and mechs.

With its other hand, Exterminator 5 then grabbed Troy's head. The Spy struggled to break free of the robots grip as it gave one mighty pull… ripping his head of completely.

It was then however that Exterminator 5 detected an external anomaly had been planted on it's hip. The robot looked to see… Troy planting a jammer device.

At it turned out, the Troy that Exterminator 5 had supposedly killed had just been another of Troy's illusions. The spy was surprised actually that the decoy had fooled the robot while the earlier one hadn't. Perhaps this decoy was better that he'd thought.

"Surprise." Troy said as he placed the jammer.

Exterminator 5 however barely gave the jammer any time at all and grabbed it in one hand. Without any hesitation whatsoever, it crushed the device, letting the now useless piece of equipment fall at Troy's feet, leaving the Spy both disappointed and bewildered.

Dash meanwhile, who was still hanging on to Exterminator 5's back, managed to pull out one of his pistols and attempted to shoot the robots head at point blank range. As before with Hawk however, the rounds did nothing.

Exterminator 5 then gave threw itself back violently, the force of which caused Dash to lose his grip and he was sent flying into a nearby crate.

"How the hell do we stop this thing?!" the scout yelled.

Ventra, who had managed to recover from being knocked down earlier, fired several EMP arrows. Unlike bullets, they actually remained attached to Exterminator 5's exterior, but they didn't' have desired effect. The torso appeared to be completely shielded, and each limb had its own separate power source. Despite that one arm was disabled thanks to two arrows, the robot simply used the weapons on its other arm to shoot the EMP arrows off and it's arm reactivated.

Exterminator 5 reacted and grabbed the Turian by the leg, even as he still fired arrows, spun, and then threw him high into the air and away from the battle.

From behind cover, Hawk fired several more sniper shots at Exterminator 5's head, but once again they didn't do any damage at all. Hawk was just able to dive out of the way as Exterminator 5 fired another rocket which destroyed the crate he'd been behind earlier.

Austin meanwhile had also snuck up behind. Drawing Excalibur, he leapt onto Exterminator 5's back and plunged the blade in. To his surprise and relief, the Kartalrium sword actually managed to cut through the robot's armour. When he tried to pull it out however, the blade wouldn't come out. It was stuck.

Austin swore as he tried to pull the sword out, but still no luck. One upside though at least was that the robot couldn't attack him from here, even with its rotatable shoulder gun.

But it seemed however that Exterminator 5 had yet another trick up its sleeve. The robot cast it's arms downwards as thrusters kicked into life, attached to both the arms and the legs. It didn't' take Austin long to realise what was happening.

"No, no, nooooooooo!"

Normally, he would've just let go, but there was no way he was leaving Excalibur embedded in this robot, especially if Exterminator 5 was using it's thrusters to retreat. He was not going to lose this sword, regardless of what happened to him. Far as he was concerned, he would die with this sword, never without it.

The thrusters full force kicked in and Exterminator 5 was propelled into the air, with Austin on it's back.

As Exterminator 5's altitude increased every second, Austin made one final desperate attempt to pull Excalibur out. There was a sudden loud tear of metal and he only just managed to keep himself from falling as the sword finally come out, much to Austin's' relief.

Wasting no time, he immediately started to attacking at Exterminator 5's thrusters. The robot immediately realized they were both offline as it started to fall back down. As the two fell, Austin attempted to hack at Exterminator 5's head. His sword did appear to leave some dents, but not cause any huge damage.

He only managed about 4 hits before the robot then head-butted him, causing the Helldiver to end up falling through the roof of one building, while Exterminator 5 fell through another one.

Alpha were quickly beginning to realise that they were clearly outmatched by this robot. As they helped Austin back onto his feet, they could hear Exterminator 5 trying to get free of the large amounts of metal it had become buried under.

"Overseer, this is Alpha, we need immediate Evac right now! You've got seconds before this thing frees itself." Austin panted into his comm.

"We're on our way, Alpha!" Telrass replied.

Bruised and beaten, Alpha quickly lit a flare so that Alexa knew where to pick them up. They just hoped she'd be there in time. The constant banging of Exterminator 5 freeing itself was getting less frequent. If it got free before they were out of there, the robot would destroy the dropship and then they'd be really screwed.

Normal procedure was to clear hot zone before evacuating, but Alpha were barely able to stand their own against this robot. They no choice to retreat now and fight this thing another day.

To everyone's relief, the gunship soon flew into view and dropped just enough that all of Alpha were able to get on board.

"We're in. Get us out of here, Alexa!" Austin yelled as he helped a bruised Kraan in.

The gunship immediately gained momentum and flew off… just as Exterminator 5 tore through the building it had landing in.

With its thrusters damaged, the robot could not pursue. But the gunship remained within the robot's field of vision long enough for it be to scanned… and tracked.

Elsa dared not look at the Commander, fearing that he'd shoot her or something. They had just witnessed the whole thing through Exterminator 5's video uplink.

"Sir, I…" she tried to say.

"I'm impressed." The Commander interrupted, much to Elsa's surprise.

"Sir?"

"Exterminator 5 practically had Alpha at its mercy for most of that fight. They even retreated because they knew they couldn't win." Said the Commander.

"I'm… pleased to hear that, Commander." Said Elsa, still unsure if she really was hearing this right.

"Alpha may have escaped for now, but we fully know where they're going, as does Exterminator 5."

"Shall we have it pursue, sir?"

"Not yet. Bring it back here for repairs and upgrades first." The Commander ordered. "When next it fights Alpha, I want it to have everything at its disposal."

"This is unlike any mech or machine we've ever seen before. Even heavy mechs aren't anywhere near as advanced as you described this thing."

Alpha stood before the Arkane Council as they delivered their report of what had happened. Exterminator 5's sudden appearance had all of the Arkanes worried. The fact that this thing had stood up to an entire squad of fully trained Helldivers, had held their own, and actually managed to have almost every advantage over them was definitely enough to make them frightened.

"It's Hellspawn. It has to be." Said Leena. "Who else would make something like this?"

"They created a plague that kills aliens, who's to say they haven't been looking into robot research?!" said Ventra.

"Whatever it is, it's clearly hostile." Said Councillor Tarnack. "Alpha, we need you to…"

She was interrupted however by a constant alarm.

"A perimeter breach alert?" Troy said in surprise.

"No… No, it can't possibly have followed us here!" said Austin.

"Security, what's going on?!" Spartan asked.

All he got however was static audio with only a few occasional audible sounds, and all of them were sounds of screaming and gunfire. Eventually, the comm channel just went dead completely.

"Council, it's obviously here for us. Our priority right now must be to make sure it doesn't reach you." Said Austin as he and Alpha drew their weapons. "We'll draw it away from the capital."

"Agreed. We'll have the capital evacuated. The civilians must be protected as well." Said Spartan.

Alpha were soon on of the glass cylinder balconies overlooking the massive hall beneath them.

A small army of Helldivers were gathered below, all their guns trained don't the entrance.

A sudden loud bang made Alpha stop as the whole place shook. Then they saw the door being bent inwards. Exterminator 5 was forcing it's way inside. Several more metal bangs followed before the door was blown completely off it's hinges, just narrowly avoiding the Helldivers.

"Activate internal defence lasers. Slice it up!" the leader ordered.

A large grid of lasers activated in front of the door. The dust cleared to sure enough revealed Exterminator 5. True enough, it had bene upgraded sine last time. It had a few extra weapons along with some extra armour plating here and there.

The robot froze for a moment as it observed the laser grid in front of it. For a moment, Alpha thought it was beat. That hope however was quickly dashed. Within just a few seconds, the grid then suddenly flashed and off several time before disappearing completely.

"Defences have gone offline! That thing's overridden the lot." One of the Helldivers said.

Exterminator 5 gently managed to force its way through the low down door and it was soon inside, the small army of Helldivers standing before it. It did not attack instantly yet, for a long moment it simply stared at them blankly.

"Unidentified machine, you will stand down and surrender immediately!" the Helldiver demanded.

Alpha could only stare from the balcony as they watched the whole thing.

Exterminator 5 still did not respond or attack. It just kept staring at the Helldivers, it's head only occasionally turning back and forth as it scanned them all.

After not getting a response after at least 20 seconds, the Helldiver leader spoke again.

"We demand that you surrender! Is that understood?!"

There was a long silence… and finally Exterminator 5 replied.

"EXTERMINATE!"

The robot's shoulder mounted gun aimed and fired a beam of some kind right at the Helldiver leader. The very second it touched his armour, he screamed in pain. Everyone watched in horror as both he and his armour were completely vaporised.

"Open fire!"

The entire army all opened fire. Each shot hit their target, but as Alpha had discovered before, they did no damage whatsoever. Every single round either bounced off or ricocheted.

Exterminator 5 raised both its arms and began firing even more beams. Helldiver after Helldiver screamed in pain as their own armour vaporised them.

"Get to cover!" one of them yelled.

The Helldiver found what cover they could and continued firing. Some even flanked Exterminator 5 and attack from all sides.

To compensate for its blind spots, Exterminator 5's shoulder gun rotated and continued firing beams at Helldivers attacking from the back. Soon it became 3 beams per second until the entire room was full of beams. Under different circumstances it would've made a good looking disco.

More Helldivers screamed as they were vaporised. Eventually it was down to just two.

"Down! Get down!" one of them yelled as he picked up a rocket launcher.

He fired and the shot hit Exterminator 5 dead on. The explosion of the rocket caused so much smoke that it was impossible to see what had happened.

Several long seconds passed, and nothing.

The two Helldivers relaxed. They'd managed to beat this thing.

Just as they were about to relax however, two beams shot out of the smoke and hit the Helldivers, vaporising them instantly.

"No! Alaara screamed.

The smoke cleared, revealing Exterminator 5. The best the rocket had done was just cause it to stagger slightly. The robot gently stood back up and scanned the area.

"Hostiles: terminated." It said.

It then cast it's gaze upward and spotted Alpha.

"Targets: located. Commencing Extermination!"

It raised its guns fired several more beams.

Alpha immediately recoiled back by reflex, hoping somehow that the beams might miss them.

To their utter surprise however, they didn't.

Instead the beams were actually blocked by the glass. Alpha watched in surprise as beam after beam simply impacted on the glass.

Exterminator 5 soon stopped upon realizing that the beams weren't working. It simply stared at Alpha for a few seconds before finally walking off out of sight.

"Now what the hell do we do?! Nothing can stop this thing!" said Hawk.

Austin took a moment to think. There had to be something. There had to be something they hadn't tried yet that just might damage the robot somehow. True his sword could breach the armour, but only if lunged in, not to mention there was a good chance of it just getting stuck again.

Then an idea struck him. He had to admit, it was crazy… but at this point he and the squad were desperate.

"Wouldn't be so sure of that just yet." He said. "If we lure that thing to furnaces in the factory, that might give us a chance."

"Crazy idea, boss… but I'm all for crazy ideas." Said Kraan.

With the capital evacuated, getting to the factory section of Arkadia was easy. It was right as they were all entering the furnace area however that they suddenly heard heavy metal footsteps.

They all turned to see Exterminator 5 rounding the corner. The moment it saw them, it charged.

Alpha immediately reacted and shut the door, locking it as best they could.

"That won't hold it. You know that, right?" said Ventra as the robot kept banging on the door, each breaking the locks.

"Doesn't need to. Only needs to buy us enough time." Said Austin as he and Alpha got into position.

After several more bangs, the lock was finally broken completely and the doors blew open.

Exterminator 5 slowly stepped into the furnace room and began looking around.

"Scanning for targets."

Despite this however, it's scan failed to pick anything up. It kept getting interference. Realizing its scanner was useless, Exterminator 5 advanced forward again slowly, gently looking left to right.

"Good. I was hoping that would work. The magnetism of the metals in this place is disrupting its scanner." Austin said quietly.

"But that'll mean we can't detect it either if it comes within our proximity." Said Sandra.

"Then use your eyes, the old fashioned way." Said Hawk.

Exterminator 5 continued its way in-between the furnaces, still constantly scanning the area for its prey.

It was almost close enough. It just needed to take a few more steps…

"Wait until its close enough…" said Austin.

A sudden loud sound however attracted Exterminator 5's attention. Sandra had accidently kicked a toolbox while she'd been moving to different cover.

"Shit!"

Exterminator 5 looked directly at Sandra and spotted her. Immediately reacting, it attacked. Unable to get a clear shot at her, it instead swung at her with its arms. Sandra managed to avoid the first swing and attempted to run. But the robot was install there, blocking her way.

"SANDRA! NO!" Alaara yelled.

Exterminator 5 raised its arm and brought it down hard.

There was a loud clang…

Sandra opened her eyes and looked to see none other than Alaara standing by her side with a biotic field surrounding the both of them.

Exterminator 5 beat down on the shield several more times, still with no luck. Realizing that this attack wasn't doing anything at all, the robot resorted to a new attack.

A compartment on its chest slid open and a different kind of beam weapon fired at Alaara's biotic shield.

To the shock of both Sandra and Alaara, the biotic shield was completely disintegrated. The overload proved too much for Alaara and she was knocked unconscious, falling into Sandra's arms.

"Alaara?!"

Exterminator 5 raised its arm once again and brought it down hard. Sandra held Alaara close and shut her eyes, accepting the inevitable.

There was another loud clang of metal, but Sandra didn't feel and pain. When she opened her eyes she saw none other than Kraan standing over them and blocking Exterminator 5's arm.

"Go! Go!" the Krogan grunted, using all the strength he had to push against the robot's arm.

Sandra didn't waste any time and immediately picked up Alaara and carried her to safety.

Kraan meanwhile began pushing up against Exterminator 5's arm even more. Eventually it got to the point where he was fully standing up. He noticed too late however the hand reaching for him.

Using its free hand, Exterminator 5 grabbed Kraan and the threw him, causing the Krogan to crash through several stacked material crates.

"Alaara, are you alright?" Austin asked as Sandra set the Asari down.

"Yeah. Just need a moment to get my energy back." Alaara panted.

Austin nodded and joined the fight.

As Exterminator 5 smashed aside a crate, it scanned the area for Kraan. Right as it caught sight of the Krogan however it suddenly saw what he was stood next to.

With a hard push from Kraan, the hook on the crane he'd been stood next to shot forward, hitting Exterminator 5 hard in the head and causing it to fall flat on its back.

As Austin re-joined the fight he suddenly noticing someone else running right past him, but it wasn't any member of Alpha. In fact, it was someone Alpha hadn't seen for a while.

"Xun!"

As Exterminator 5 picked itself up, the Chinese Helldiver attacked, throwing her metal fan at it like a boomerang. The fan hit the robot's head multiple times, even making a few scratches before it finally came back to Xun's hand. She then landed next to Austin.

"What's the plan, Shep…"

She was interrupted however when Hawk was suddenly thrown past them and smashed against a nearby crate.

"Hey!" Austin yelled.

The second he said that however, Exterminator 5 then smacked him aside.

Next it swung at Xun as well. Unlike the others however, she actually dodged the attack. Pretty much every swing and strike the robot attempted she flipped over, wove around or ducked under.

After several failed attacks, Exterminator 5 then resorted to using its weapons. It fired beam after beam at Xun.

However unlike before, the beams failed to actually touch Xun. With almost lighting reflexes she blocked each beam by using either the blade of her sword or her metal fan.

All the while, Leena was attempting to sneak up from behind in hopes she might be able to somehow gain access to the robot's systems.

The Quarian Helldiver however did not count on Exterminator 5's shoulder gun having it's own eye and it spotted her. The robot immediately turned to look right at her.

"Oh fuck."

Exterminator 5 grabbed her by the neck and hauled her up. Acting quickly though, Leena immediately planted an EMP device on the robot's arm causing it to become momentarily disabled. It's grip loosened and it dropped her.

The Quarian wasted no time and ran to cover just as Exterminator 5 destroyed the EMP device and its arm reactivated.

"This isn't going well, Shepard." She said, taking cover next to Austin and just narrowly avoiding one of Exterminator 5's beam.

"I agree. We've got to find some way to disable its weapon systems, otherwise we're done for." Said Austin.

"If you can keep him distracted just long enough then I can get on its back and slice in." said Leena.

"You heard her, Alpha. Try and distract it long enough for Leena to get on its back, but don't' get caught by those beams!" Austin said into his comm.

Alpha attacked from all side, drawing Exterminator 5's attention. Leena saw her opening and acted immediately. She ran and leapt onto the robot's back.

"Well, Leena seems to be on top of things." Said Dash.

Exterminator 5 immediately took notice of the muscular Quarian on its back and immediately began trying to shake her off. All the while, Leena used both her tech skills and extreme strength to force open a panel on the robot's back.

After just a few pulls, despite the robot's constant struggling, Leena finally managed to tear the panel off exposing Exterminator 5's power core and systems.

"There you are. Light's out, boshtet!"

The Quarian activated her omni tool and plunged it in. A far stronger EMP burst was sent through Exterminator 5's power core. The robot spasmed several times, but it did not shut down and continued its struggle. One thing the EMP did manage to do was somehow cause the robot's weapon systems to malfunction. That still didn't mean good news though as the malfunction suddenly caused the weapons to all activated and go haywire. Vaporising beams, rocket, and bullets went flying all over the place.

Austin just managed to push Dash out of the way as he deflected one of Exterminator 5's beams with his sword, causing it to bounce off and hit nearby wall.

"Leena, what are you waiting for?! Turn it off!" Austin yelled/

"It won't turn off!" said Leena, holding on for dear life as Exterminator 5 constantly tried to shake her off.

In a desperate attempt Leena reached in and pulled at what wires she could, snapping them completely. Eventually, to her utter relief, that seemed to do the trick. After pulling out one in-particular wire, all of Exterminator 5's weapons stopped completely.

"Weapon system malfunction. Full restoration in 2 minutes." The robot said.

It also took notice of Leena still trying to shut it down.

"Initiating countermeasures."

A high amount of voltage coursed through the robots body, electrocuting Leena.

"NOT AGAIN!" the Quarian screamed in pain.

Her armour protected her from the high voltage, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

With the Quarian unable to react this time, Exterminator 5 brought up both its arms, grabbed her, and threw her off. The robot stared emotionlessly right at her as she picked herself up, still a little shaky after her shocking experience.

Realizing Leena was still weak, Dash quickly jumped in-between her and Exterminator 5.

"You want her, you've gotta catch me first, bucket head!" he said.

Exterminator 5 immediately attacked with both arms, but Dash was able to use his speed boost to avoid both of them. A sudden thrust from the robot however he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid and the blade on its arm ended up cutting his arm.

The robot thrust again, but this time Dash slid under it. When the robot turned to face the Scout it instantly found not just him, but also Kraan standing before it.

Kraan immediately used all the strength his suit could give him and head-butted Exterminator 5 so hard that it crashed into one of the massive furnaces, denting the side.

Kraan couldn't help but grin in triumph at having just done that. But his joy was short lived as the robot picked itself back up, its gaze now fully focused on Kraan.

"I think you only pissed it off." Said Dash.

Exterminator 5 charged, as did Kraan. From the robot's point of view it was doing all sorts of calculations in the brief seconds it had. Kraan's speed, strength, reaction time, the force of his charge, velocity and also the exact time to strike when he would be vulnerable. Within 0.25 seconds, all calculations were done. Exterminator 5 knew exactly where to hit Kraan and at exactly what time.

"Target locked!"

Right as Kraan was about to charge head-first into Exterminator 5, it suddenly swung it's arm with such speed and force that it caught him completely off guard. The arm knocked Kraan right into several pipes which broke from the force of his impact and fell.

Kraan was able move out of the way as the massive metal pipes fell in Exterminator 5's direction. The robot however reacted just as fast and rolled to the side out of the way.

Its sights focussed on Dash and it broke into another charge.

"Dash, run!" Kraan yelled.

Dash just managed to jump out of the way as Exterminator 5 charged past him. It was quick though to turn around and continue charging at him again. Dash immediately broke into a run, sprinting harder than he'd ever done in his life.

Realizing that soon he was going to hit a wall, Dash quickly jumped onto the nearest walkway he could find, despite the fact it was right next to one of the furnaces.

Exterminator 5 however was quick to follow and jumped. The force of it's landing on the balcony caused Dash to trip. Just before the robot could deliver its strike however Kraan suddenly jumped in front. He blocked both Exterminator 5's hands with his own. He tried his best to push against the robot, but its strength was just too much. It kept on pushing and pushing, Kraan's feet slid on the metal floor as they failed to find any grip. Kraan was also made aware of the boiling furnace behind him which the robot appeared to be pushing him towards. If he fell in, his armour was sure to melt. These furnaces after all were almost as hot as the sun. They had to be in order to properly melt down the metals in them.

Kraan felt the back of his feet reach the very edge and a part of the railings gave way as his back was pushed against it. Kraan tried to push harder, but all he did was low his skidding down. One more push from Exterminator 5 and that would be the end of him.

Kraan roared as though he was to make one final attempt to somehow overpower the robot, but he ended up doing something completely different. The Krogan swiftly moved to the side and pulled hard on the robots arms. Combined with Exterminator 5's push, the pull then turned into a throw which sent the robot plummeting right into the almost lava like substance.

Kraan watched as the robot sunk into the metal, unable to struggle at all. Within just a few seconds it was completely submerged. It was over.

"HA! And good riddance!" the Krogan cheered.

"Kraan… I so take back everything I said about you now." Dash panted with relief.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't go all mushy on me now." Kraan grinned.

Right as he helped Dash up however, and enormous mass burst right out of the furnace.

"OH YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" said Dash in disbelief.

Sure enough, there was Exterminator 5, boiling hot liquid metal dripping off as it fully emerged from the furnace and climbed back onto the walkway. Despite glowing red hot, it was completely undamaged.

Kraan immediately pushed Dash behind him and opened fire with his minigun as they backed away. He knew there was no chance of it doing any damage whatsoever, but he somehow hoped it might. The Krogan roared in agony as shot after shot fired only to once again bounce off the robot's armour.

Practically ignoring the rounds hitting it, Exterminator 5 raised both its arms and brought them down hard. The force of the impact shook the entire walkway so much that the part of it that Kraan and Dash had been stood on broke away completely and fell, taking the two Helldivers with it.

Exterminator 5 quickly followed, jumping down from the walkway. It quickly resumed its attack on Kraan and Dash and raised both it arms for the killing blow.

It was only as the two Helldivers recovered that they noticed the two metal arms coming down on them... only to then be blocked by two swords.

Both Austin and Xun had appeared just in time and had blocked both Exterminator 5's arms with their swords. Both struggled severely against the robot's immense strength, but they were managing to hold it back.

"You… will not… hurt my friends." Xun grunted.

Troy and Hawk noticed the struggle. They had to do something to help. It was as Hawk looked around he soon noticed something above Exterminator 5.

"Troy, I've got an idea." He said.

"Xun, if we are to fall to fall in battle to this thing, I want you to know… I'm glad its together." Austin said through gritted teeth as he continued pushing against Exterminator 5's arm.

"Likewise, my friend." Said Xun.

"You two, move!"

The two Helldiver looked to see Hawk aiming his sniper rifle at a weak spot on the furnace they were standing next to.

Realizing what he was gonna do, they both disengaged and leapt out of the way.

Troy fired.

Exterminator 5 noticed too late as more molten metal poured out of the hole Hawk had just made in the furnace and it landed on the robot.

"We just tried that!" Kraan yelled as the robot slowly stood back up, completely unaffected as before.

"What about this?!" Troy yelled as he also fired.

But he didn't shoot at the furnace or Exterminator 5. He shot at an overhanging pipe.

Liquid nitrogen shot right out onto the robot. Immediately, the hot metal began to freeze. Exterminator 5 struggled to move as the metal still dripping from it began to harden. It attempted another attack on the Helldivers, but it never got the chance. The metal eventually froze completely, freezing the robot with it.

Everyone took a deep sigh of relief.

"Nice thinking, you two." Austin panted.

"Don't thank me just yet, Shepard." Said Troy. "That won't hold it for very long. I've bought us time at most."

Sure enough, shards of the frozen metal began to break off. Exterminator 5 was vibrating itself enough that the metal was slowly shattering.

"We're gonna need bigger guns." Said Kraan, readying himself for another fight.

A realization hen hit Dash.

He immediately took out the Hellraiser's remote and pressed the summon button.

Everyone noticed this of course.

"You really think the extra firepower will make any difference?" said Leena.

"It's worth a shot. Besides, what other choice do we have?" Dash replied. "It'll take a few seconds before the Hellraiser arrives."

"We don't have that time." Said Austin, swapping his word for his assault rifle. "Alpha, spread out and stick to cover as much as you can. Keep it distracted and draw its fire until the Hellraiser arrives."

Everyone nodded and took cover from all sides. At least this way they'd have Exterminator 5 surrounded and it would be forced to shoot in all directions.

Sure enough, the metal finally shattered completely, freeing the robot.

"Weapon systems: restored! Reengaging targets!" it said.

"Give him hell, Alpha!" Austin yelled.

The whole factory became a blaze with gunfire, rockets and beams. Alpha stuck mostly to cover fire or blind firing where they could whilst mostly avoiding Exterminator 5's beams. The ones with swords even managed to deflect many of them. Some even got deflected right back at the robot but they did no damage.

The constant explosions and suppressing fire eventually began tot take their toll on Alpha. They were all starting to run low on ammo, and Kraan was running out of weapons.

"We're getting our asses kicked out there." Kraan groaned.

There was a sudden loud crash and one of the nearby walls collapsed. Alpha had never been happier to see the Hellraiser as it skidded to a halt. Dash wasted no time and leapt into the tank's cockpit.

"Time to fight firepower… with even more firepower." He said.

"Battle mode engaged!"

The Hellraiser once again transformed and immediately opened fire. Exterminator 5 immediately took notice and focused it's fire on the tank.

"Now's our chance. Give it all you've got!" Austin yelled.

Everyone once again opened concentrated fire as the Hellraiser strafed and boosted from side to side as it avoided most of Exterminator 5's attacks. Its 60mm meanwhile fired shot after shot. Every single one hit the robot… and they actually did some damage. With each hit, the robot was actually knocked back and staggered.

With each hit, the robots chest became more and more damaged. In one last attempt, Exterminator 5 fire da charged beam from its chest. The Hellraiser though boosted to the side and fired one final shot.

The shot hit Exterminator 5 right in the power core. The robot staggered back a few steps… and finally fell.

Everyone waited for a while to be absolutely sure before they finally relaxed and came out of cover. They still kept their guns trained on the robots fallen body though to be safe.

"Nice shot, Dash." Sandra panted.

"I have my moments." The scout said proudly as he exited the Hellraiser and it switched back to Super Pursuit mode.

Austin took several cautious steps up to the fallen body. He then gently poked it with the tip of his sword… nothing.

"At ease, Alpha. It's definitely dead now." He said in relief.

At the same time several more Helldivers, lead by General Zartrack, entered the factory.

"Alpha, are you alright?" the General asked.

"We're okay, General." Said Dash. He then thought of the perfect line to say. "Enemy's been… exterminated."

"Very funny, Dash." Austin sighed.

"Get the science division and engineers to analyse it fully. I want to know exactly what this thing is and who built it." Zartrack ordered as he looked bitterly on Exterminator 5's body.

The body was being thoroughly examined and scanned by the best Arkadian scientists. They were most astonished by the results.

"I can't understand where Hellspawn got the technology to make this thing. It's decades ahead of mech technology, and the AI this thing has is one of the most advanced I've ever seen. Some of this technology shouldn't even exist." Said Leena.

"I guess they're not only more advanced, but also smarter than we thought. The reports weren't lying when they said it was a weapon to surpass us." Said Austin.

"That thing killed hundreds of our best soldiers and walked away without barely even a scratch." Said Hawk bitterly.

"I don't know which is worse, the fact that Hellspawn figured out a way to kill us using our own armour, or that they built something more advanced than our armour." Said Sandra.

"Dare I ask, I don't suppose there's any data in this thing that tells us where it was manufactured?" Alaara asked.

"I'm afraid not…" said Leena as the scientists continued their scans. But then they spotted something… out of the ordinary. "Now that's interesting."

"What is it?"

"There's no safeguards or user restrictions on this thing. The Ai is deactivated thanks to you, but its core functions are exposed." One of the scientists explained.

"Well that shouldn't be possible. I tried to hack it before and it didn't respond." Said Leena.

"Looks like the damage it sustained in its fight with you has had something to do with this." Said the scientist.

"Even so, I don't think it's a good idea to turn the AI back on, even if just to interrogate it." Said Alaara.

"So what are we gonna do with this… robot, then?" Sandra asked.

"It pretty much belongs to the science division now. Besides, something as advanced as this would be invaluable." Said Austin. "They can dismantle it or whatever they plan to do."

"If I may, Shepard? Perhaps there may be another option." Leena interjected.

"You have something in mind, Leena?" Austin asked.

"The scientists just said that the AI is directly exposed now, yes?"

"Yes?"

"So, perhaps now there's the possibility that it can be reprogrammed. This thing killed hundreds of Helldivers, yes. But imagine the mayhem it could give Hellspawn if it was on our side."

"You want to reactivate this thing?!" Hawk asked in shock.

"After it's been reprogrammed of course." Leena replied.

"That's still crazy, Leena! You don't even know if you can reprogram it." Hawk objected.

I've been hacking and reprogramming AI's since I was a teenager, Hawk. Re programming something like this will be easy for me."

"Okay, suppose you do succeed in reprogramming it. What if it somehow has a backup and rejects the changes you makes, or what if it gets into Arkadia's systems? Remember how much damage Trojan did when she hacked in?"

"Hawk, this thing could help us fight Hellspawn on the front lines. It took the combined firepower of us and the Hellraiser to bring it down, Hellspawn don't have anywhere near the same firepower."

"And what's to stop them from regaining control of it?"

"I can create locks, firewalls and all kinds of defences to prevent it from being hacked. Trust me Hawk, I wouldn't suggest this if I wasn't sure."

"I hate to agree with her, Hawk. But she makes a good point. This thing could be an invaluable ally for us." Said Troy.

"You're taking her side in this?!" Hawk yelled. "I hate Hellspawn as much as you do, but having this machine on our side… it's wrong."

"Hawk's right. That thing killed hundreds of our kin. Would you still suggest this if it had killed one of us?" said Alaara.

"Yes I would." Leena replied.

"I've trusted you till now, Leena, but this is too much!" said Hawk.

"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Austin yelled, casting himself between the two sides.

"Ultimately this has to be your choice, Shepard, as our leader." Said Alaara.

"I know." Austin sighed. He took a long moment to consider his decision. After several long tense moment, he finally spoke. "Leena… get to work on reprogramming the AI. Let me know when you're done."

"Yes, sir." Said Leena, bowing her head.

"I still don't agree with this… but I trust you, Shepard. I just hope you know what you're doing." Hawk sighed.

"Me too, Hawk." Said Austin. "I promise you though, if we even get the slightest sign that it may attack us again, we'll deactivate it immediately.

"And what if we can't deactivate it?" Hawk asked.

"Use gun." Said Kraan.

And if that doesn't work?"

"Use more gun."

"I'm not sure that…"

"Thank you all for your opinions. But my decision is final. Besides, if it does go wrong, I've got only myself to blame and therefore I will assume responsibility if it does." Austin interrupted.

"Reprogramming and repairs complete, Shepard." Said Leena.

"Be ready just in case, but do not aim at it. It may see that as a threat." Austin said to everyone. "Okay, Leena… turn it on."

For safety, the scientists were watching from outside the lab. Leena walked up to the control panel and pressed the button.

There was a loud hum as Exterminator 5 powered back up.

"Update and diagnostics… complete. All systems operational." It said. I then slowly scanned the area, immediately taking notice of Alpha. "Identified: Helldiver Squad: Alpha."

It then looked directly at Austin.

"Commanding officer: identified." It said, surprisingly standing at attention and… saluting. "Awaiting orders, sir."

"He's talking to you, Shepard." Said Leena.

"Errrrrrrr, at ease… soldier." Austin said, a little bit baffled at this new behaviour.

"Exterminator 5 reporting for duty, sir." Said the robot.

"Why's it talking like a soldier all of a sudden?" Dash asked in confusion.

"I reprogrammed his personality as well. Felt he'd be easier to communicate with this way." Said Leena.

"You mean it." Hawk corrected her.

"Analysis indicates that I have been reprogrammed only a few seconds ago, as well as modified slightly during reconstruction." Said Exterminator 5.

"Do you remember anything before your reprogramming?" Austin asked.

"Affirmative, sir. My databanks are completely intact. I remember everything right up until my first activation." Exterminator 5 replied.

"And when was that?"

"7 days, 2 hours and 85 seconds ago, sir."

"Who built you?" Troy asked.

"I was created and built by terrorist organization Hellspawn. They created the Exterminator units as their newest weapon against the Helldivers."

"Wait a minute, Units? As in, more than one?" Austin asked, hoping he'd heard wrong.

"That is correct, sir. I am the 5th of the first five Exterminator Units Hellspawn have created. They intended to make more, should tests prove successful."

"I knew it. They intend to build an army of these things." Said Hawk.

"The Exterminator Units are intended to be shock troopers for the front line. If that happens, Helldiver numbers are likely to fall."

"If you remember everything then you must remember where you were manufactured, and therefore where the other Exterminators are being made." Said Austin.

"Yes, sir. A factory on the planet Altrive 4."

"The mining planet?"

"Correct, sir. The materials on that planet gathered from the mining were one of the many components used in my construction."

"We've all seen what these Exterminators are capable of. We can't afford for Hellspawn to make an army out of them. That factory needs to be destroyed." Said Austin.

"We'll need the Arkane Council to actually assign us to this mission." Said Sandra.

"Then we just tell them what Exterminator 5 has told us and volunteer to go. I can't see why they wouldn't approve." Said Austi.

"You were right to ask permission of us, first, Alpha. We appreciate you following the code." Said Tarnack.

"The Council agrees this factory must be destroyed, and since you have volunteered we see no reason to refuse you." Said Spartan. "You are hereby assigned to destroy that factory by whatever means necessary and to make sure that no further Exterminator units are made."

"Thank you, Council. We'll leave right away." Said Austin.

"There is one more thing though, Shepard. The Exterminator unit that you have reprogrammed. You are certain it is on our side?"

"I have shielded it from every possible hack there is in existence. It is sworn to the Helldivers now. It will fight, and if necessary die for us if we are allowed to take it with us for this mission." Said Leena.

"That choice ultimately falls to Alpha's commander."

Everyone turned back to Exterminator 5 who was simply stood behind them all.

"Shepard, he knows the entire layout of the base and he knows how the Exterminators are built. Not to mention that his firepower would give us even more of an advantage. It'd be a waste not to take him with us." Said Leena.

"Does anyone object to this idea?" Austin asked.

"I don't like it, but I won't object. If there really are more of these Exterminators, we're going to need all the help we can get. So for now, I'll tolerate that robot working with us if that is your decision." Said Hawk.

Austin then turned to Exterminator 5.

"Exterminator 5, what is your primary objective?" he asked.

"My original primary objective was to hunt down and kill Helldiver Squad Alpha, Sir. Following my reprogramming however, my objective now is to assist the Helldivers in their war against Hellspawn by whatever means they allow. Additionally, my secondary objective is to assist you and Alpha Squad personally." Exterminator 5 replied.

"I guess that settles it then. We'll take him with us." Said Austin.

"If we're going to take him though, might I suggest we give him a new name?" Dash suggested.

"Why?"

"Well, think about it. Exterminator 5 is a rather long thing to say. Plus, if he's an ally it kind of sends the wrong message. Dash replied.

"Well, you're the so called genius at naming stuff, Dash. What do you suggest?" Kraan asked.

"Hmmm. Metalhead?" No, wait that name's taken." Said Dash. "How about just Number 5? Oh, no that's taken as well."

A few seconds passed before he then spoke again.

"Wait, I got it! X-5!" he said.

"X-5?"

"Yeah. It's perfect. It's short for Exterminator 5, just without the terminator bit. It's also short, easy to remember, and it has a nice ring to it." Dash explained.

"Okay then. X-5 it is." Said Austin.

"Acknowledged. New designation confirmed." Said the robot. "X-5 reporting for duty, sir!"

"Very well then." Said Austin. He then raised his voice a little. "X-5, new orders. You are to accompany us on our mission to destroy the factory where you are made. You will share all knowledge you have on the facility and will help us destroy the other exterminators, and any other Hellspawn members that may try to stop us. Confirm your understanding of this order."

"Sir, yes sir! I will follow you into battle, even to my own destruction!" said X-5.

"Hmm. Something tells me we're going to be outnumbered." Said Ventra.

"Good thing we brought the big guns." Said Dash, indicating to X-5.

"I thought that was my job." Said Kraan.

Ahead lay the factory, right where X-5 had said it would be.

"Okay, here's the plan. We'll recon the area and see what we're up against." Said Austin.

"Ready for action, sir!" X-5 said enthusiastically as he saluted. As he lowered his arm however, he accidently knocked some nearby crates. Austin just managed to catch one before it fell and made even more noise.

"Quiet, X-5! This is the recon part of the mission. We require stealth." He whispered.

"Apologies, Sir. But I am not properly equipped nor designed for stealth." X-5 apologised, lowering the volume of his voice.

"He's right about that." Said Hawk.

"Okay, new plan. Troy and Dash, you recon the area outside the factory. I want a full analysis of the guards on patrol." Said Austin. "We'll stay here with X-5 while he briefs us on the factory's interior."

Troy gently looked over the rock he was behind and used his helmets zoom to better observe the area. Quite a lot of possible entrances were too well guarded with troopers and sentry guns. The area he was observing however appeared the cargo loading area. Guard was actually lighter here, and any others were just workers.

"Hmm, this shouldn't be too hard." He said to himself.

After all, he'd managed to infiltrate a lot of places more heavily guarded than this without firing a single shot.

The recon team returned right as X-5 had finished briefing the rest of Alpha on the building. He was already projecting a holo map of the entire factory in front of them.

"Alright then. Let's go over the plan." Said Dash. "I'll run around and be awesome, you…"

"Dash! Teamwork." Austin reminded him.

Dash simply sighed.

"Okay, our priority is to destroy this factory and stop production of these Exterminator units." Austin explained.

As he spoke, he pointed to certain eras of the holo map.

"We'll place charges here, here, here and here. Enough explosives on those particular places should be enough to destroy the factory."

"What about intel and schematics that Hellspawn are using? It might be best to acquire those as well. Without that, they can't make any more." Leena suggested.

"Good idea." Austin agreed. "From what X-5's told us, the main computer that controls everything and houses the intel should be about here."

"What if we run into more of those Exterminators? Suppose even that the Commander himself is here?" Troy asked.

"If we do get the opportunity, we'll see what happens. But destroying this factory comes first." Austin replied.

"Understood." Troy nodded.

"Okay then, we'll break into three teams and infiltrate the base from different entry points. Alaara, you're in charge of team two. Troy, you're in charge of team three."

"WHAT?!" Dash said in disbelief.

"You heard him." Said Troy smugly.

"X-5, you're with my team in support." Said Austin.

"Sir, yes sir!" X-5 saluted.

Back at the same location as before, Troy took a quick moment to a survey the area again before turning to Dash and Leena and gave them orders through hand gestures, none of which they understood.

"What?!" Dash asked in confusion.

"Were you not paying attention?" Troy asked crossly.

"We… don't… know… what… this… means." Leena said slowly as she badly imitated Troy hand gestures.

"Just get inside without raising the alarm." Troy groaned.

"There. Was that so hard?"

"Shut up, Dash!"

Troy stuck to cover where he could. He didn't want to use his disguise just yet until he close enough. If he suddenly appeared as someone else far outside the area, it would raise suspicion.

Finally as he took cover behind a cargo train he gently glanced out. He could already see a worker heading in his direction. He would need to act quickly. Just as the worker was about to walk past, Troy made a light tap on the train. The noise immediately got the worker's attention and cautiously moved in its direction.

Soon as he was close enough Troy immediately acted. Pulling the worker out of sight, he immediately slit the worker's neck with his knife. After moving the boy out of sight, he gave Dash the all clear.

The Scout mostly used his speed, rather than his cloak. He enjoyed the challenge for some reason. He stuck to leaping off containers until he had a grip on a part of the outside wall.

Leena meanwhile stuck to cover same as try and used her cloak. She definitely could not run while carrying two folded up sentry's on her back. She was heavy enough as it was. Eventually she was forced to take cover before searchlight picked up her camouflaged form.

Troy finally turned his disguise on, impersonating the worker he'd just killed a few seconds ago. One worker attempted to say hello when they saw him, but a quick swing from Troy's knife made him silent. The spy's disguise then changed to impersonate that worker.

Dash gently shimmied to the side as he hung on, all the while keeping an eye on the workers and troopers below him. If they spotted him…

In keeping his focus slowly on the ground however, he didn't pay attention to where he put his left foot. The light gave way under the pressure and fell.

"Crap!"

The broken light one of the troopers on the head, who immediately raised his gun. Dash was just in time able to pull himself into a corner out of sight. To the scouts relief, he suddenly noticed a pyjak ran right past him and jump off the roof to then land on top of a container. The trooper saw that and that apparently seemed enough to convince him.

"Bloody pyjaks." He grumbled.

Dash gave a sigh of relief.

Troy saw another opportunity. While two workers pushing a cargo crate were distracted, the spy snuck inside it.

Dash finally reached the vent he'd been aiming for and quietly climbed inside. Leena had been most insistent that she wasn't the one to crawl in the vents. Years of bad luck and struggle in them had made her hate vents.

Inside, the workers finished brining the cargo crate in. As they opened it however, they found an unpleasant surprise waiting for them.

Troy barely gave them an time to speak. He grabbed them both, pulled them in with him, and quickly slit both their throats.

"Sorry to "pop in" unannounced." The Spy said as he assumed the identity of one of the workers.

"I'm inside." He said into his communicator."

"I'm in the vent." Said Dash.

"Leena, what's your status?"

No reply.

"Leena? Leena?!"

"Can't talk right now."

Leena has so regretted the choice of infiltration she'd taken.

She'd thought that sneaking in through the sewer entrance would be perfect, assuming she could clean the smell of later.

As it turned out however, she'd got her exit a little wrong and ended up in a room with three Hellspawn troopers, all of which had their guns trained on her. Force to raise her hands, the Quarian tried to think of something.

"What… what's that behind you?!" she said in panic.

Even Dash would say "That idea sucked" but it was the best Leena could come up with. Rather to her surprise however, it worked. All three Hellspawn troopers whirled round to where she'd pointed.

The Quarian immediately seized her chance and grabbed her tomahawk. She cut the first one down instantly with a blow to the head. The other two troopers quickly noticed and attacked. Leena managed to counter the first one and kicked him away. The second trooper swung at her with the blade eon his assault rifle, which the Quarian managed to block.

Managing to get an opening, she kicked the trooper to the ground and bought her tomahawk down onto his head.

Ducking under a shot from the third one, Leena quickly picked up one of the trooper's fallen shotguns and shot the final trooper right in the face.

"Boshtets." She said bitterly.

With Dash meanwhile, he was still crawling through the vents. Finally he reached a ceiling grate. He could see two troopers below.

Immediately he dropped down, taking the two troopers by surprise. He kicked one and threw his combat knife into right into their neck.

The other one attempted to fight, but Dash dodged all of his attacks before delivering several fast punches followed by a fast kick which broke the trooper's neck.

"Boom!" he cheered. "Just thought I'd "drop" in."

As Troy rounded a corner, he heard the unmistakable sound of a sentry gun. Simply smiling confidently, he took a small EMP grenade from his belt and gently tossed it towards the sentry.

The engineer stood by the sentry immediately took notice of the sentry malfunctioning. Right as he went to try and fix it, it suddenly blew up in his face causing him to fall flat on his back. As he tried to get back up he only noticed too late as Troy leapt on him and plunged his knife right into the engineer's head.

"You got blood on my armour." Troy said as he pulled the blade out.

Dash had once again resumed crawling through the vents. This time he was above a control centre. There were too many this time for him to fight hand to hand. He needed to try a different approach.

Fortunately, the scout had just the thing. He took a flash grenade from his belt and let it drop.

Everyone in the room was blinded as the grenade went off. Dash wasted no time and jumped down, guns blazing. It was over in seconds.

"That is how its done!" Dash said proudly as he twirled both his pistols before setting them back in their holsters.

"Not bad, I'll admit." Said Leena, who had just joined him.

Troy meanwhile had got t o higher ground and was on a walkway overlooking the large docking area. There were two guards in front of him. One very big on, and one very small. This would be easy.

Acting quickly, he slit the small one's throat first with his knife.

The brute however quickly reacted.

"A spy!"

The brute swung, but Troy ducked under his punch. He then sliced the brute's stomach and stabbed him in the back, letting him fall from the balcony.

Right as Troy was about to leave however he heard a loud crash. He looked down in horror to notice the dad brute had landed right on a crate, where everyone could see. Not to mention the noise had just attracted everyone's attention. Hell, that noise was loud enough to have been heard throughout the entire factory.

Everyone's gaze quickly fell on Troy before he even had a chance to cloak or activate his disguise.

"We have an intruder!" one of them yelled as he immediately activated the alarm.

"Merde!" Troy swore.

"Search the factory! If Alpha has found us, I wish to eliminate them myself!" The Commander ordered as troopers hurried off to answer the alarm. He meanwhile activated his omni tool.

"Elsa, what is the status on the two Exterminator Units?" he asked.

"We just finished repairing them, Commander. Tests have also been run and they are under our complete control." Elsa replied.

"Good. Alpha may have found us, I need them now."

"I'll deploy them immediately, Commander."

From above, Dash observed the whole thing having just entered central chamber undetected. Dash leapt on top of another vent to keep out of sight. The main computer was in sight. If he could get close enough, he'd be able to at least establish a link between it and Leena.

Keeping mostly to the shadow and using his speed, he was there without them ever noticing. Right as he used his omni tool to try and gain access however…

"ALERT! Security breach detected!"

"Ah, crap!"

Dash turned to find a squad of Hellspawn troopers, Trojan and the Commander's bodyguards with their weapons all trained on him.

"Were you expecting it to be that easy?" the Commander asked he slowly turned to face Dash. "I'm afraid I must disappoint you."

For Troy meanwhile, things were just as bad. Every Hellspawn trooper was looking for him now. Not that it bothered him too much.

As the spy exited cover, he immediately disguised himself as another trooper. It was then that also noticed a rather suspicious looking door.

Ultimately his curiosity got the better of him and he entered.

What Troy saw however made his mouth drop. Plans. And not just any plans. Plans for an army. An army of…

"Commander!"

The Commander turned to face the trooper who pointed at the monitor showing the video feed. There was Troy.

"Trojan, you know what to do." He said, turning his cyborg hacker.

Trojan simply nodded.

Troy looked around some more. It was no that he noticed some of the various parts as well. Hellspawn really were moving ahead with this plan.

In all the shock however, Troy heard the footsteps too late. As he drew his revolver, Trojan grabbed his arm and punched him so hard it knocked him to the ground. Troy could do nothing but look up as Trojan aimed her gun right at his head.

Two troopers forced Troy to his knees with Trojan bringing up the rear as they entered the central chamber.

"What took you so long?" Dash asked as Troy was put next to him, both their hands tied behind their backs.

"Troy Benning. After all this time, we meet again at last." Said the Commander, slowly turning to face the two.

"You'll forgive me if I don't say bonjour, Rodriguez."

"Come now, Troy. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"Old friend?" Dash asked in confusion.

"Oh, you've not told them? How very dishonest of you, Troy." Said the Commander. "Tell me, Dash Did Troy ever tell you and your squad why he's fighting alongside you?"

"Hellspawn's as much a threat to him as it is to us. What more reason does he need?" Dash replied.

"Oh but there's more to it than that." Said the Commander. "You see, many years ago back when I was a Helldiver, my spy network had many agents. Two in particular were among my best. My most loyal still stand at my side, the other… well, let's just say he had a change of heart… and he's right here with us."

It didn't take Dash long to work it out.

"You worked for him?" he asked in shock.

"I never wanted you to find out like this, but yes it's true. I used to be an agent for him, but once I found out he'd been branded a traitor and what the spy network was being used for, I left." Troy explained with regret. "I was young and didn't know better back then."

"You were my finest agent, Troy. You could've been one of us to this day, but instead you just left without so much as a resignation notice." Said the Commander.

"I was filled with regret and realized how bat-shit insane you really are!" Troy spat back.

"Oh Troy, don't be so dramatic. You enjoyed the work we did together. What we had done for humanity."

"What you did was for yourself and your racist arrogance thinking you can wipe out all non-humans in the galaxy!"

"Don't judge me, Benning! You left hoping that you could somehow clear your own conscience. Especially after your bitter parting with Sonya."

That name hit Troy more than anything. He was unable to not look at Trojan as the Commander said that. Even after a year now, he still couldn't' believe that this cyborg was all that was left of the women he'd once loved.

"I tried to turn her back away from you and your little group of terrorists." He said.

"And yet, she made a choice to stay with us. Her skills are unique as a hacker." Said the Commander.

"You manipulated her to stay by your side and then you turned her into a machine. You took away all the humanity she had!" Troy yelled, a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

"She's an adult. She made her choice. And besides, she's proved to be more of an agent than you ever were. You can keep running all you like, Troy. But you cannot hide what you were, what you did, what you helped me create." Said the Commander. "Look around you, Troy. All of this, all of Hellspawn exists because of your invaluable service. You are just as much its creator as I am."

"I am nothing like you!" Troy yelled in defiance.

"Haha. You're more like me than you think." The Commander chuckled evily.

"Well… that explains a lot." Said Dash.

"Dash… shut up." Said Troy. "Whatever you're planning with these Exterminators, Rodriguez, it'll fail. We know all about your research and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the others have succeeded in planting explosives by now."

"You cannot be so stupid as to think this will be easy. My troops will find you precious friends and kill them all. Whatever you're planning, it won't work, Troy. You can be certain of that." Said the Commander. "Besides, did you really think that all of this hinged on the Exterminators? We've done far more than just make heavy units."

The Commander activated his omni tool and a platform that had been hanging overhead slowly lowered itself down.

On it was a small army of robot soldiers. They were more human sized compared to the massive Exterminators and possessed less weaponry. Their main right arm though was an entire cannon. Very likely also the had lots of hidden surprises.

"With these combined with my army, nothing will stand in our way! The Age of Steel has begun!" said the Commander.

"My god!"

"Holy crap!"

The Commander then drew Troy's own pistol on him.

"Such a shame though you won't live long enough to witness my victory. Because we both know I have to kill you now." He said.

"I'm too handsome to die!" Dash said in panic, causing the Hellspawn troopers to laugh.

That laughter however was short lived as one of their heads suddenly exploded.

Everyone looked to see none other than the rest of Alpha on one of the balcony's.

"Well, well, well, the rest of Alpha decided to join us." Said the Commander calmly. "And you brought Exterminator 5 with you. I would wonder how you managed to get it on your side, but it matters not. All you've done is seal your fates. Exterminator 5, turn on Alpha Squad and kill them. Authorization code 39658719."

"Code… rejected. I am no longer programmed to follow your orders, Commander, or any of your protocols. I fight for the Helldivers now." X-5 said defiantly.

"You won't be saying that once your scrap metal!" the Commander growled. "Alpha Squad, drop your weapons and I will consider sparing your lives."

"You may be a Commander, Rodriguez, but you don't command us. You don't command something with blood in its heart!" said Austin.

"Troopers, get in formation!" the Commander ordered.

All Hellspawn troopers immediately got information and aimed their guns at Alpha. The two sides were now in a full on standoff.

"Bring it on, weaklings!" Kraan roared challengingly.

Neither side dared fire yet though.

All the while, Troy was able to draw out his wrist blade and began cutting at his restraints.

"Thirty seconds, Alpha or my troopers open fire!" said the Commander.

"You better hold onto your head, mate." Said Hawk.

"Now!" Troy yelled as his restraints snapped.

The two Helldivers suddenly kicked a nearby Hellspawn brute, causing him to crash right into the Commander, knocking Tory's pistol out of his hands which the spy immediately grabbed and used it to shoot the other two troopers behind him before they got a chance to fire.

"KILL THE SPY!" the Commander yelled.

Three troopers turned their attention to fire at Troy, but before they got a chance Kraan suddenly fired a rocket which took them all out.

"We got your six, Troy!" said Austin as he and the others jumped down from the walkway.

The whole room erupted into a firefight.

"Exterminators 2 and 4, engage the enemy. Avoid destroying the rouge unit if you can." The Commander ordered.

With everything that had happened, Alpha had failed to notice the other two Exterminators in the room.

Both immediately activated, this time under full remote control.

"X-5 engage the enemy!" Austin ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!"

X-5 immediately aimed at the Commander first and fired several beams. Each one hit, but none of them seemed to do anything.

"Sir, The Commander's armour appears to be shielded from my vaporizing weapons." Said X-5.

"You really think I would arm a highly advanced robot with weapons that could hurt me? Pathetic!" said the Commander.

As the two Exterminators advanced, X-5 refocused his attention on them while Alpha fought Hellspawn.

Kraan fired a few grenades from his grenade launcher as he took cover, taking out three more Hellspawn troopers.

Dash, who still had his hands bound, leapt off the main platform. Two Hellspawn troopers spotted him, but the scout immediately acted. He swung his leg and kicked them both before then head-butting the other.

"Boom! That is a skull fracture!"

He then took notice of a Hellspawn ninja.

They weren't actual ninjas. They were just given that name because they nearly always used swords and martial arts in battle.

The ninja drew his sword and readied to charge at Dash. The scout remained cool as he waited. If he timed this just right he'd not only be able to take out the ninja, but free himself as well.

The ninja then charged, sword raised. Dash jumped into a spin, making sure he held both his arms as far away from his body as possible. Sure enough, his plan worked. The ninja's sword cut right through his bonds, freeing both his hands.

With a quick movement of his feet he then kicked the ninja hard in the face, causing him to fall flat on his back and lost grip of his sword which spun a few times then fell, stabbing right into him as it landed.

Troy took cover behind a crate and blind fired two shots as he avoided fire from two more troopers. Taking a chance, Troy then leapt over cover and fired two well aimed shots which took both troopers out instantly.

Rolling into cover, the spy took a moment to reload. He even stuck his foot to strip up a Hellspawn sniper who was just running past him. He quickly finished the sniper off with a shot to the head while he was down.

Three more Hellspawn troopers meanwhile had broken off from the main group. They would try a different tactic.

"Flank them!"

Before they could put their plan into action however, Alaara suddenly jumped out in front of them from behind some crates

"Hello, boys!" she said enthusiastically as she charged up her biotics.

The troopers stopped in surprise and attempted to retreat once they saw Alaara glowing blow. But they were too slow.

With her biotics charged, Alaara jumped and slammed her fist into the ground, the force of Nova sending all three troopers flying.

Leena meanwhile was dodging bullets and rocket fire. It was only made harder by the fact that that she was carrying one of her un-deployed sentries right on her shoulder that she was ready to deploy it.

Finally once she was certain she was in the right place, she put the heavy thing down at last. Even for someone as muscular as her, it was quite the weight to carry, especially when you were in the middle of a battle being shot at.

"Placing sentry!" she said as the sentry unfolded and immediately opened fire.

Kraan, who had earlier stuck to the higher ground, jumped down, firing another rocket as he went which took out an enemy engineer and their sentry. As he landed, he even took at a Hellspawn scout who tried to melee him.

Dash, having reacquired his pistols, ran all over the place, firing as he went. He was pretty much, as he had said earlier "running around and being awesome"

He managed to take out two more Hellspawn troopers and even a sniper when he threw his combat knife. Another sniper attempted to shoot at him, but Sandra was immediately there and kicked the sniper off the edge, the fall killing him.

With his sword in his right hand, and his submachine gun in the other, Austin cut and shot at the same time. Previously he'd only been able to use this new form of fighting with a pistol, but since then he'd been getting much better and was now skilled enough to use a submachine gun. He mostly stuck close to Ventra who was firing all kinds of different arrows. EMP, explosive, shockwave, electric, you name it, Ventra was firing it.

As a shot from Leena's sentry took out another Hellspawn brute, Kraan was fighting with another ninja. He quickly overpowered the human however and with a surprisingly violent pull, tore both the ninja's arms from their sockets. It was a technique that Dash had suggested he try. Something about the scout wanting him to be like someone called Chewbacca.

Troy and Hawk meanwhile were back to back as they shot down more Hellspawn troopers, Troy using his revolver and Hawk using his submachine gun.

Leena was about to deploy her aerial drone when she suddenly noticed her sentry. It had been covered in sticky grenades. The Quarian immediately reacted and ran just as the explosives went off. The explosion sent her flying and she ended up crashing into a nearby crate. Fortunately it only left her dazed and uninjured.

The Commander meanwhile was sticking to cover where he could, mostly to remain out of sight. He cursed himself for not bringing his bodyguards with him. He could use them right now. Alpha appeared to be winning against his soldiers who seemed to be falling too easily.

It was then however that he remembered his robot troopers. Perhaps it was time to see how well they fought Helldivers. He activated his omni tool and the robots powered up, all jumping down from their platform.

"Sir, incoming reinforcements!" said X-5.

Everyone looked in the direction of the robots as they landed.

"Targets acquired!"

The robots all turned to face Alpha, having surrounded them and took aim.

"Incoming!" Austin yelled.

The robots all fired rockets at them. Acting quickly, Alaara threw up a biotic shield around her squad, protecting them.

Troy then noticed the Commander. He was leaving, accompanied by a Hellspawn scout.

"Not this time, Commander!" he said to himself.

Activating his cloak and deploying his decoy which was quickly shot down by one of the robots, Troy took off after the Commander. He was not going to let the Hellspawn leader get away this time.

Troy however forgot to watch his speed and he ended up running once he was out of sight of the other robots and his cloak disabled.

The Commander heard the sound and turned to see Troy.

"Stop him!" the Commandeer ordered as he retreated.

The Scout provided cover fire, but it was little use. As Troy ran he gunned the scout down instantly.

It was as the Commander entered the cargo train area that he turned and drew his own submachine gun on Troy as the spy walked in. The spy remained calm and stood where he was waiting for the right moment.

"Just you and me, Troy." The fallen Helldiver chuckled.

As he spoke however a cargo train suddenly ran right between the two of them, blocking the Commander's view and causing him to lose sight of Troy. Once the train had sped past, the spy was gone.

The Commander noticed too late as Troy lunged at him from above, but he was able to avoid the spy's attack. As soon as Troy landed, the Commander kicked him hard in the face. As Troy rolled onto his back, he fired several shots form his revolver, forcing the Commander to seek cover behind a nearby crate. He then opened fire himself. Troy failed to react in time and one of the Commander's shots hit his revolver, shooting it out of his hand.

When the spy tried to reach for it however, the Commander kicked it away. Before the Commander could attack however Troy quickly unsheathed his combat knife and attacked, the blade cutting right through one of the Commander's optic eyes (which were essentially his real eyes)

The Commander growled at having lost his vision and grabbed Troy's arm as the spy tried to attack again. At the same time, Troy grabbed the Commander's arm as he attempted to shoot Troy.

The two opponents struggled as they tried to shake each other's grip.

Back with the rest of Alpha, things weren't going well either. The Commander's new robots it seemed had the ability to fly and they were hovering right out of Alpha's reach. To make matters worse they were firing more rockets.

The squad had been forced to separate and were sticking mostly to cover while avoiding the robots' rockets.

Austin fired more shots from assault rifle, but it then suddenly clicked. He was out of ammo. Placing the rifle back on his back he then drew Excalibur again.

"X-5, can you give me a boost?" he asked.

X-5, who as currently engaging viciously with the other two Exterminators, took notice.

"I'll try, sir." He replied, countering an attack from Exterminator 3 and then punching it back in the face.

Austin ran up and jumped onto X-5's arm, who then threw him up into the air, after which he resumed his fight.

Austin landed on the back of one of the robots who started to struggle in an attempt to shake him off. Austin stabbed into the robot and grabbed onto its cannon arm. Using his strength, he managed to angle the cannon enough so that when it fired, it took out another robot with each shot.

X-5 meanwhile continued to fight the other Exterminators. Really it was 3 he was struggling with. 1's lack of arms made it easier to fight. Best it could do was kick.

Dash meanwhile was again going after the intel on the computer. Right as he began accessing it however he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find none other than Trojan standing before him.

Dash drew his pistols, but Trojan lunged and kicked him to the floor, causing him to drop both his pistols.

Trojan attacked again and swung a punch down at him, but the scout managed to roll back out of the way just in time as the cyborgs fist punched down on the hard metal.

She then swung her lug, but Dash jumped over that. As the cyborg tried another downward strike, Dash jumped back again then propelled himself forward. Trojan ducked under him and then kicked him right in the back, causing him to fall rather painfully on the edge of the platform.

Tory continued to struggle against the Commander. Eventually he seized and opening and head-butted the Commander hard, causing the fallen Helldiver to stagger back.

Troy swung again several times with his wrist blade before the Commander managed to grab his arm and forced the blade so hard against a crate that the blade snapped off.

The Commander once again tried to fire, this time at point blank range. Troy was just able to avoid the rounds as he grabbed onto the Commander's hand. One round just barely missed his helmet and left a scratch.

The Commander then grabbed Troy and literally threw the spy right over him. In the process, he also threw away his submachine gun.

As Troy got up he only just noticed the Commander swinging a punch at him and managed to avoid it in time. He immediately got back up and blocked again as the Commander attempted to attack him from the side.

The Commander swung again, but Troy ducked under the attack. Troy followed this with his own punch, but the Commander blocked it. With Troy's right arm blocked, the Commander used his other arm to attempt a punch, but Troy manged to jump back in time to avoid it. In doing so however he struggled to keep his balance.

Right as the Spy managed to steady himself at last however, the Commander immediately kicked him right in the stomach, causing him to stagger back. A wide punch then caught Troy's helmet. There was a loud clang of metal and the spy was left rather disoriented as the noise continued ringing in his ears.

X-5 managed to gain an opening and immediately went for Exterminator 3's head. Using all the strength he had, he pulled the robot's head right off. Exterminator 1 managed to land a kick on X-5, but the robot immediately flung the wreckage of Exterminator 3 right at it. The body crashed into Exterminator 1 and pinned it to the ground. As the robot tried desperately to pick itself back up, X-5 slowly walked up to it and gently put one of it's feet on Exterminator 1's head.

Then it began to apply the pressure. The sound of metal bending and grinding could be heard as X-5 applied more and more pressure until the foot suddenly went completely down and crushed Exterminator 1's head completely.

"Exterminator's destroyed, sir." Said X-5.

Well done, X-5. Now help us finish off the least of these ones." Said Alaara as she used a warp on another robot.

X-5 obeyed and joined the battle.

Dash managed to doge several more attacks from as the cyborg punched the ground several times in an attempt to crush him.

"Missed me!"

As Trojan went for another strike, Dash was able to roll under the attack before it hit and get back on his feet. Trojan immediately took notice and swung at him. Once again though, the scout was able to duck under it. He then swung his leg at Trojan and hit her in the back of the head. The force of the kick temporarily knocked the cyborg down.

Right as Trojan got back up, Dash leapt onto her shoulders and then back flipped off her, the force of his kick causing her to fall down the stairs. As she landed, Dash aimed for the cables holding up the platform that the robots had been on earlier.

Trojan noticed too late as the cables broke and the platform fell right onto her a loud clang.

"Shame to end this on such a… "flat" note." Dash said smugly.

Quickly noticing his friends as the robots tried to surround them, Dash re-joined Alpha.

"How many more of these things are there?" Austin asked rhetorically as he cut down another robot.

"30 to be precise, sir." X-5 replied.

"Oh, well that's not too bad then." Said Dash.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Said Ventra, firing another EMP arrow as the robots continued advancing on them

"I've more of a lukewarm feeling about this." Said Dash.

"I have no feelings." said X-5.

"Let's kill 'em all!" Kraan cheered. "We are not trapped in a facility full of robots; they are all trapped in here with us!"

The Commander grabbed Troy by the neck and punched him hard several more times.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor." He said, holding Troy's helmet up close to his.

Troy gently looked back up. Those words sparked something in him. He suddenly attacked the Commander with several hard anger driven punches.

"Not one like you!" he yelled.

Hi final punch knocked the Commander right onto the tracks… and there was a cargo train coming. The Commander reacted too late and the train crashed right into him.

Troy simply watched as the train still continued through, disappearing from sight. He knew that wouldn't kill the Commander, but at least now there was little he could do to stop Alpha.

"Nice work, Troy."

Troy turned to see the rest of Alpha behind him having dealt with the last of the robots.

"I doubt that killed him, but for now he won't be a problem for us." Troy said, casting one last look at where the cargo train had hit the Commander.

"All enemies neutralized, Sir. Ready to destroy factory on your command." Said X-5.

Austin nodded.

"Before we leave though, you owe us an explanation, Troy." He said. "I'm afraid we all heard what the Commander said, and what you said as well."

Troy sighed.

"Well, I guess it's pointless trying to deny it now." He said. "Yes. I used to work for the Commander many years ago. I was a spy for him, helped him acquire rare or valuable intel on either the enemy or certain individuals he may be targeting. As I said before though, I didn't know what the Commander's true purpose was. It was only when I learned he was stealing intel from our allies as well that I learned the truth. He was trying to create the spy network as a parasite within the Helldivers."

Austin cast a somewhat uncertain look at the others.

"Do the council know about this?" he asked.

"How could they not? Besides, how do you think they first found out about the Commander's treachery? Because I told them." Troy replied.

Alpha remained silent, unsure of what exactly to say. Troy had proven himself a good friend in the time they'd worked together, but the fact that he hadn't told them about this…

"Okay, I suppose that does prove who's side you're on. But why lie to us about this?" Leena asked.

"To be fair, Leena, I never actually said I wasn't part of Hellspawn, and you never asked." Said Troy defensively.

"He's got a point there." Dash admitted.

"Look, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I'd hoped this secret would never get out at all." Said Troy. "I don't' expect you to understand, but I helped the Commander make all this possible. Much as I hate to admit it, he's right. He used me to help create Hellspawn, therefore it is my duty to destroy it."

He then hung his head slightly in regret.

"I can understand if you don't want anything to do with me anymore, but it is my mission, and I intend to see it through, with or without your help."

Surprisingly, Austin then walked up to Troy and put his hand on the spy's shoulder.

"Well you don't have to do it alone, Troy." He said. "Throughout the past few years you've worked with and fought alongside us, I've come to see you as a friend too. Perhaps even an unofficial member of this squad as well."

"Besides, you're not only one here who's trying to atone for their past." Alaara said supportively.

Kraan simply nodded in agreement.

"We're still with you, Troy. One way or another." Said Austin.

Troy was almost left lost for words.

"I… thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that." He said.

"Us Helldivers gotta stick together, friends and all that." Said Dash.

"Yes… friends." Troy smiled.

Alpha walked away from the exploding factory with a real sense of accomplishment. They'd robbed the Commander of a robot army, gained a new ally in the form of X-5, and had done this all by themselves. They'd certainly have a tale or two to tell when they got back to Arkadia.

"We did it! We did it because we're best friends!" Dash cheered

"Alright, Dash. Take it easy." said Troy. "Still, who wants drinks when we get home? I'm buying!"

Alpha had hoped to celebrate their victory on Arkadia, but they found out on the way back that the Endeavour was low in fuel, so they'd made a stop at a nearby planet. Not wanting to wait on the ship, they'd decided to go to the diner for the evening. Just a friendly evening where they were out of their armour and could be themselves. As it turned out, the evening ended up more like a traditional joke would sometimes go.

A whole team walks into a diner. A British leader, an American scout, a Russian specialist, a French spy, a pilot, an Australian biker, a Krogan, an Asari, a Quarian, and a Turian. Once everyone had finished sitting down, the waitress asked for their orders. The Asari and the Russian ditched them to go to the bathroom and they started making out. Just as they started to get horny, they ripped their clothes off so they could have sex in public. Suddenly, while the action was going on in the women's bathroom, a few mercs came out of nowhere and started attacking. The leader used his sword to slash them, the Krogan bashed them, the Turian used his bow for chest shots, the Quarian hacked their turrets, and everyone else opened fire at the mercs. The waitress was in her break with her headphones on listening to music loud and not aware of the firefight going on while the Asari and Russian were having sex in public unaware of the firefight. Until the bathroom was breached and the nude women start shooting at the mercs while they were distracted by just how hot it was to their sight of interrupting a nude women and Asari having hard-core sex in public while a firefight is going on. Then the two loves killed them. Just as the firefight was over, they put their clothes back on and saw the damage of the firefight had caused the diner. The waitress came back from her break and saw the damage.

She yelled "What the hell is wrong with you people? This is a diner, not a bar fight or a firefight!"

Then the American scout says the waitress "Check please."

Overall, Alpha had definitely had better evenings at a diner. Dash even still had ice on his cheek where the waitress had punched him. As Dash continued applying Ice to his soar face, he made a mental note.

"Note to self: Remember to stop making mental notes out loud."

Having made a mental note, Dash made a sane one. He planned to have a word with the author of this story and ask if he could stop getting painfully slapped constantly.

Shadow looked at the burning, destroyed factory with disappointment. She wished she'd been here. Perhaps she could've turned the tide. Still, the Commander and Trojan were both alive so she was pleased about that. She'd hate to lose her master and friend.

"I should've been here." She said with regret. "You might still have an army if I had been."

"Never mourn the past, young warrior." Said the Commander. "Besides, you should know by now I always have a plan B."

He then activated his omni tool and a holo of Thornton And Elsa appeared.

"Commander, good to see your alive. We were beginning to fear the worst." Said Thornton.

"Are they ready?" the Commander asked.

"The first 500 have already been completed, sir. Many more are well on the way." Said Elsa.

From below her, a massive factory was already in motion, mass producing robot after robot as they joined the lines of already completed models.

The scientist smiled proudly as one of the robots activated. The Commander would still have his army. It was far from over…

I don't know why, but somehow writing X-5 this way a lot mroe fun than how I wrote him in the trilogy.

Should also point out, the diner scene is as it is because I felt it might be a bit more humours that way and sound like an actual joke. It was not because I got lazy. (I'm not joking)

Right, I have a feeling the next chapter may take longer. Even though I've had it planed out for a while, I still think it will take some time since it is quite an action heavy one.

In the meantime though, hope you enjoyed this, and please keep leaving those reviews! :)
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Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga, Alpha Origins