//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: The Arrival 
// Story: A Hero of War 
// by MintMetal 
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										Chapter 1
“Ugh…”  Getting up from the beach that housed the wreckage of K.R Zero Twenty (King Raven); a muscular Gear stood up. Getting his bearings, Carmine noticed his helmet was missing. Scanning his surroundings for his trusty helmet, after a second of searching the beach’s sand it came into view. He squatted down to retrieve it, wiping off the water with his wrist-which revealed an abrasion made by a Longshot round-he reacquainted it where it longed to be, on his blonde hair covered dome. A feeling of safety washed over his body, his helmet had saved him from death’s vice many times in the past. Fucking Stranded… couldn’t tell a Leviathan from a cat fish. He thought, remembering the time when Cole, Sam, Baird and he, himself went to Hanover to scavenge for supplies. He smiled underneath his helmet at the fond memories. A groan interrupted his reminiscing; Carmine turned towards the wreckage-where the voice originated from-and spotted the pilot of the Raven sprawled on the beach apparently still alive. He waltzed over to the downed Gear and lifted him to his feet. 
The sounds of Gorasni’s air support filled the air. Guess we won; wish I coulda beat the living shit out of that bitch Queen. Carmine thought grimly. Remembering he was still on the beach he raised his arm and waved those towards his position to get a ride back to the buildings.
A helicopter’s driver had spotted the two and began its descent on the beach. Touching down on the sand, Carmine hefted the pilot’s arm over his shoulder and began walking towards it at a slow pace. A cough emitted from the Gear he was supporting.
“Hey man, you okay?” Carmine asked his fellow brother in arms.
“I just survived a helicopter crash,” the Gear replied with a little irritation in his voice. “I think it’s okay to cough a little.” Jeez, don’t have be such an asshole about it… Carmine retorted in his thoughts. An awkward silence ensued as he lifted the man-with ease-into the chopper. Carmine followed suit, standing in the COG helicopter Clayton took a seat. He was met by the friendly face of Sam Bryne. Sam smiled at him then turned her attention to the Gear next that had just coughed again. 
“Hey buddy, are you alright?” Sam asked with genuine concern. The Gear repeated what he had said to Clayton earlier; Sam frowned and leaned closer to Carmine. “Wow, what a dickwad.” Sam insulted the Gear with venom in her words. “Yeah, tell me about it.” He agreed with a nod. 
“So, how was the beach?” She said hoping to strike a conversation. 
“Well, the service was complete shit, but the locals were very friendly.” He said with sarcasm. Sam couldn’t help but let out a light giggle. Something to treasure now a days. Carmine actually liked Sam; she was smart, humorous, intelligent and shared his hatred of the Locust. But the most important thing was she could actually shut Baird up. The woman of his dreams, Ma would’ve loved her.
“Hey. Hey!” Sam said, attempting to gain her fellow squad mate’s attention.  Carmine shook his head and gazed upon her. “Day dreamin’ of me, aren’t cha?” Sam teased. Carmine blushed; lucky for him his helmet prevented her from seeing his embarrassment.
H-how did she know? She’s a mind reader? Pfft, wouldn’t count on it bud. Carmine was puzzled on how she was able to “read” his thoughts. 
Sam put her glove covered hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. “You know I was just kidding right?” Sam reassured him.
She’s kidding. She’s just kidding. Of course she’s kidding; no one can actually read minds. Smooth move Clay, c’mon say something. Say something dammit! He let out a light chuckle. Whatever, good enough.
“Well, looks like we’re here Carmine.” Sam had announced.
The swooshing of the K.R slowly died down. Glancing out of door Carmine realized they had reached their destination, some facility looking structure. Sam was the first to get out; Carmine’s eyes gazed at her slender curves but he quickly shook his head and mentally slapped himself, for he had remembered what his Ma had taught him about respect. Lowering his head to exit the Raven he caught up to the southern islander. Glancing at his fellow squad member Clayton wondered what they were doing here. Realizing that he wasn’t getting any answers from his mind he decided to ask Sam about it.
“Hey, uh, Sam, what are we doing here?” Clayton question, hoping she knew as well. “Well, I was on my way here but the pilot spotted you and decided you could use a lift,” Sam said, not answering his question. “Oh, we’re going to meet up with Cole and that arsehole Baird. ‘Suppose to clean up any of the Grubs left, starting with this place.” Sam answered, finally. Clayton smiled under his helmet at this information. More Grubs to kill? Nice! Today was going to be a good day for Clayton.
~-~-~
Sam and Carmine were strolling down the hallways of Azura’s source of camouflage, still searching for their two teammates. A shocking revelation came to Carmine as he did not bear any weapons. Yes, he could make any he confronted Locust regret they ever met him with his brute force, but it didn’t hurt to have a face full of Gnashed buckshot in their ugly face just in case things went south.  Scanning the gory bodies of Grubs’ he found his first weapon, a Longshot sniper rifle. 
Why were those Grubs using snipers indoors? Remembering that they were Locust, he brushed that thought aside. Besides, anything or anyone that could kill the Grubs was a friend of his. Not soon after he spotted his best friend: the Gnasher shotgun. He bent over and retrieved it. Satisfied with his load out, he jogged to Sam and began the search once more. 
After about another fifteen minutes of patrolling the elegant and body ridden halls of Azura the two Gears heard a pair of familiar voices.
“I told you already, that there are Jacuzzis here!” That voice sounded like an irritated Baird. “Yeah, well the Cole Train ‘ll believe it when he sees it!” The other voice was obviously none other than the Thrashball super star: Augustus Cole. Hearing the friendly voices, Carmine and Samantha sped their pace to a jogging motion. 
“Hey, when do ya think Sam’s gon-”Baird’s sentence was interrupted by a noise coming from behind them. Turning around they were met by the friendly faces’ of the rest of their squad mates. 
“Well, finally decide to show up Samantha?” Baird asked with a hint of annoyance. “Oh and hey! Cole, look whose back from the dead!” Baird added pointing to Carmine. 
“Well shit… you are one tough son of bitch, Carmine.” Cole complemented, glad that he didn’t lose another teammate. Carmine just waved his hand at the two. Looking past them Clayton saw a large metallic door, unlike the fancy wooden ones from the corridors behind them. 
“So, are we just gonna lollygag or are we gonna do our jobs?” Asked Sam whom was feeling impatient with her team at the moment. 
“Well, if you didn’t take so long maybe we would have been done by now. Hmm?” Baird said in his signature smartass tone. Sam was going to cuss Baird out but Cole spoke up before she would have the chance to. 
“Alright, alright, ladies break it up. Now, we gotta get in ‘n search for any surviving Grubs and then we can hit the Jacuzzis! Woooooo!” Cole finished with his signature cry. Cole quickly opened the door and the rest followed weapons at the ready.
Well, I could use a nice bath. And some bacon. Mmm, bacon. Carmine’s mouth drooled at the thought of his favorite crispy food.
~-~-~
This whole “mission” had been a disappointment for Carmine. About halfway through the “Maelstrom Facility” -as Baird called it- Clayton spots a large cylinder with a lever on the side of it. 
The battle between curiosity and common sense commences. One side of his consciences he should pull the lever, the other says he should just leave and get back to his team. Thinking about it for a couple more seconds he decides to pull the lever. 
Slowly walking up to the lever, Carmine clutches the handle firmly and pulls down. Nothing. 
Well, that was anticlimactic. Sorta hoping here that something was gonna happen. Oh well. Clayton thought somewhat disappointed that nothing had happened. 
He turned around and took one step forward but stopped. Suddenly, the floor began to vibrate. Carmine spun around to glimpse at the machine he had just activated. It was emanating a vibrant white light; Carmine was in awe to say the least. 
“Mother…” He muttered before he attempted to sprint away.
Holy shit… what the fuck did I just do?!? He began thinking as he began to pump his legs to get the hell out of there. Shit shit shit shi- Clayton’s figure was unexpectedly engulfed in a white light. First his vision blurred then everything went dark. He was now in an endless void of black.
~-~-~
Sprinting to the origins of all the commotion in the next room, the three Gears were astonished when they found out that nothing was out of place, except Carmine. 
“Bloody hell… where the hell did Carmine go? He was just here a second ago!” Sam said, worried that her friend had disappeared.
“Shit, does this mean we have to spend more time here looking for him? I mean this is already a waste of time since there are no Grubs here.” Baird added, and was rewarded with an elbow to the ribcage by Sam. “Ow! Hey, what was that for?” Complained Baird, confused on why he was assaulted.
“Hey dickhead, open your eyes. One of our own is missing, and we have to find ‘em” Samantha said simply so Baird could get the idea. 
Cole decided to pipe up seeing as they were doing more arguing than searching. “Well, we ain’t gonna find ‘em arguing and standing her! Let’s get movin’!” Cole attempted to get his teammates moving. The three soldiers started a slow jog out of the room and started their search.
~-~-~
Once more Clayton felt himself drained of all strength and the will to get up. His eyes fluttered open and his vision became clear. He was astonished at what he was staring at. Trees and grass-that aren’t dead or withering away- and little bunnies (that were running away from him…)! Once more the Gear stood up. Taking in the immersive sight in front of him, he began to take in his current situation.
Oh man… where the hell am I? And why is it so fucking cartoony? Where in Sera am I?  Wait… am I even on Sera. I have to be? Right? Maybe I’m dead. Fucking stupid-ass me having to go and mess things up. Well, at least I can see Benjy, Ant and Ma. Many thoughts on the situation were running through his mind.
To test his theory that he was indeed dead, reached for his back but felt his weapons still equipped on his back. Still not convinced he’s alive he slides his right hand inside his armor. There he feels three COG tags. Two of them belonged to his deceased brothers: Anthony and Benjamin. He reaches further down into a concealed pocket and picks out a plastic bag. Unlike the COG tags, the contents of the bag could be stained my blood, hence the bag. Inside there were many folded letters that Benjamin, Anthony and Ma wrote to him. 
If I was dead, how can I still have these? Proving his theory false he realized to what extent his fatigue brought him.
Yawning, he decided he would go to the nearest tree and take a little nap.
Sitting in the shade of nature’s oxygen bringers, he closes his eyes.
~-~-~
A certain timid Pegasus was tending to her animals but was interrupted by a pack of bunnies scampering forwards her. She smiled, but it quickly turned to a frown to see that they were obviously terrified. 
In a soft, concerned, mother like voice. “Oh my! What’s wrong friends?” 
A brown coated bunny creature hops forward, and points its paw toward the open field behind them.   
“I-it’s over there?” The bunny nodded. “Well, alright, I’ll go and check.” She was a little hesitant at first, but when she glanced at the bunnies she knew that whatever was over there was bad. With that Fluttershy was off to see what scared those animals half to death.
Arriving to the clearing that the bunny directed her to, she did not see anything besides the usual: grass and trees. She decided to investigate further, just to be sure. Since there was obviously no one in the field she decided to check the trees. 
Trotting cautiously, Fluttershy hears what she believes is snoring. Although it doesn’t sound like normal snoring, instead it sounds almost distorted. Now scared, the cream colored pegasus is starting to feel regret coming here.    
Looking at each trees’ base, she finds nothing. But the snoring is getting louder as she progresses her search. After a minute there is only one more tree to check. Gulping, Fluttershy peers around the corner and was terrified at what she saw. 
There, sitting against the tree’s trunk was a bipedal creature. In what appeared to be a helmet and armor that had blue lights emitting in certain spots. It didn’t have any fur on its body (or what she could tell what was its body) instead it was replaced by skin-which possessed a light peach tone- looking at its fore hooves she noticed the arms were very muscular. As she moved in front of it she read the words: Grub Killer. Horrified at the writing she let out an ‘Eeep!’ she quickly put a hoof to her mouth to stifle her noise.
About to run away she remembered her animals and how frightened they were of this thing. Erasing all fear with determination-going against every sane thought-Fluttershy reached one of her frontal hooves to lift the creature’s helmet up...