"Are you alright back there?" Grayson questioned in a worried voice.

"Peirs is alive."

"What? No, he's dead, Ronin." Ambros said simply. Grayson placed up his hand, for Ambros to keep quiet.

"He's alive! I just saw him in my mind. He doesn't look the same though." I suddenly started to describe to them, how he looked and everything. There were needles sticking out of his neck, three long ones. The glowing red eyes, the veins-.

Suddenly a hole went through the windshield and hit the back seat, missing my face by inches.

"You were right!" Grayson yelled, then turned off the headlights.

I kept my head low, watching the scenery go by. The sky was lit up fully, with stars that shined brightly.

We came to a stop. The town we stopped at was quiet and looked abandoned. That doesn't mean no one was here though. There was diffidently going to be snipers.

"How about we go around, the court is West from us. We should be able to access the balcony. But we have to be on alert. The Xenos up their game. They turned some of the missing people into them." Grayson suggested. I had to admit it was a good plan. There was going to be a lot of Xenos and I didn't want to run into any of the ones I haven't seen.

I exited the vehicle and took my gun with me. I flicked the safety off and was ready. The street lamps lit up our view. We took the back area. It looked more like a thick brush, and a couple of tree's each 10 feet. We quietly watched where we stepped. We followed the school yard style fence. I got a chance to even see a few of the new Xenos. Some looked like soldiers, some of them looked like they had mechanical bodies. They carried a different style of weapons as us.

"We should be getting there." Ambros whispered to the two of us.

Then I spotted someone on the rooftop of a building. The building was next to the Court house. The Court had over six floors.

"Sniper, four'o'clock." I whispered to Grayson. We stopped for Grayson to take the shot. He managed to take the one on the rooftop out quietly. The body fell off the ledge and smashed into the metal garbage cans.

"Shit." I mumbled, hoping the other Xenos didn't hear the loud commotion

We waited a second and listened. Nothing, thankfully I was in relief. We finished our walk over to the pillars of the back of the court house. Grayson and Ambros went first then I went next. I tossed my gun up to Ambros. Then I clipped the rope into my belt loop and started to climb.

I was halfway up.

"Behind you!" Grayson whispered/yelled. They both started to shoot at the Xenos. I felt something grab my calves.

I quickly took out the blade from my back and hit it as hard as I could. To my surprise, it split the thing in half. Ambros held onto the rope, while I placed the blade back into the sheath.

I reached the balcony and took a second to catch my breath.

"You're pretty good at that blade thing already, I guess. Let's get moving." Ambros suggested. I gave a brief nod. I looked back for a moment, in case someone was following.

Grayson kicked the door open. And there were a lot of Xenos waiting. I started to take out one at a time with my gun. I corner covered and took another out.

Then we made our way down the halls. The flooring was impressive, but had a new colour on it after we went through here.

"Secure the 4th floor courtroom. They are in the fourth courtroom. Be on alert, Echo Squad." HQ said from the other line. I pressed the earpiece on my ear and replied.

"Copy that."

"How exactly are we going to get to the fourth court room without being seen?" Ambros questioned Grayson and I.

"I am unsure, but there are already 100 men in the courthouse fighting against those things. It will be impossible for us not to be seen." Grayson replied sarcastically.

I looked around then saw a vent on the side of the wall. It was eight feet in the air.

"Hey, what about the vent?" I questioned, they both stopped arguing for a second and looked.

"We won't be able to fit, but you can." Ambros said, crossing his arms. I passed Grayson my sword and gun. Then Grayson exchanged weapons and gave me a couple of handguns.

"Give me a boost." I requested one of them to. I quickly took the vent off and tossed it down. Making a metal crash sound, but that did not matter.

I squeezed into the vent and started to crawl.

"Take one left and you should be there." Grayson said from the communicator.

"Roger that." I whispered and made quiet, but quick moments. I took a left. Then suddenly I came to a stop when I saw something large crawling. It suddenly saw me. It looked like a large purple bug with sharp pincers, and bright, green eyes.

It started to crawl quicker over to me. I shot it quickly with my handgun. The shot from the gun echoed down the vents. Then I heard more of those cry's.

"Shit!" I cursed quickly crawling to where I needed to go. I knew they hated light, because they flinched when the one passed over the vent covering. That must be where Courtroom four is! I quickly pulled the pin to the grenade, and tossed it down into the Courtroom.

Seeing the three Xenos interacted, then a sudden explosion came on the table top. I jumped down quickly when I heard the cry's up close. I embraced for the impact, breaking the table in half. I was sprawled in an awkward situation. I raised my head from the ground and noticed something. There was one Xenos soldier right in front of me.

'Kill the soldier.' Something said in my mind. But I knew that was from the other person's thoughts. I quickly shot it before it turned around. I leaned against the jury area. Two men came through the door in a shock. I tried to catch my breath. I quickly stood up.

"Thank gosh you're here, Commander Ronin. We are not trained for this! We came to investigate, but more than sixty percent of us are dead." One of the soldiers said in worry.

"Relax, we'll try to get you all out of here in one piece-"

"Ronin, you're not going to believe this, on your six." Grayson called out. I knew they made it easy here.

I turned slowly then was in shock.

A ghost stood in front of me. Somers! He had dark circles under his eyes. His hair was super short and he wore different clothing. He wore a navy blue sweater and a pair of jeans.

He smirked and I was in shock. My breath started to shutter.

"Long time no see, Sweetheart." He said, holding out his arms. I walked over to him slowly and placed a hand on his cheek. I wasn't sure if this was real! But I was so happy to see him.

"What no hugs? It's been three years, man." He smirks. Tears started to take over. I reached my arms around his neck and embraced for a hug. He lifted my legs up so I could reach his height, onto his waist. I couldn't help but to hold onto him. This was real, this wasn't Harry Potter bullshit magic!

"I thought I lost you." I whispered, placing a hand on the back of his head.

"I know, Peirs is not who he is anymore. He joined them, as an Xenos. The government kept the MIA's and illegals down underground." Somers said. I couldn't believe he wasn't dead!

"What did they do to you?" Grayson questioned, I had to admit he looked like he hadn't gotten sleep.

"Pills, shots, but they started experimenting on the illegals. The rock that we found years ago is believed to make soldiers stronger. They got more creative with experimenting on the illegals." Somers replied to Grayson.

"I feel like this place isn't the best to catch up on things. Somewhere more quiet, we'll talk." He whispered to me.

"Alright." I whispered back, he placed me down gently.

"Man, this seriously can't be. I-I went to your funeral." Ambros said to Somers.

"Where did you find him, Gray?" Ambros questioned Grayson. Grayson crossed his arms with a confident body language.

"Outside, he was wandering around. It seems like he was in shock. Man, it seems like you're a ghost." Grayson jokes, Ambros wasn't too happy to see him back.

"You died in the wreck-"

"Not exactly." Somers' voice sounded more deeper and smooth. This must have been a three year thing I missed.

Somers started to walk over to the seats next to the door. He took a seat and was going to start answering our questions.

"He's been going through this trial since I found him. He explained how they kept him in an underground hospital. It has something to do with Militia operating in this area." Grayson said then Somers corrected him.

"Reborn program, it's a black ops R&D thing. They are using the materials we found in the rock in Iraq. In order to make better Soldiers. Just like my darling here, the veins on the side of her head says a bit." He kept his eyes to the ground for a moment. Then he started to have this wild cough.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion sound. It came from within the Court house. It shook the floor, making me shake a bit.

"I don't buy it, Somers. Maybe for the enemy, but the U.S soldiers, Delta force, I just can't believe this." Ambros said rubbing the back of his neck in concern.

"Cool your jets, Ambros. We will get back at whoever did this to him." I said, keeping an eye on the door for a moment.

"That's very kind of you, Ronin. I am sure you all will-" Somers started to cough aggressively hard again.

"We put all of our shit on the line and this is our payback? The Colonel wouldn't just lie to us." Grayson said, then suddenly Ambros got in Graysons space. This made my stomach churn.

"He bailed on us, didn't he?" Ambros questioned making Grayson growl in frustration. They treated Somers like he wasn't even there.

"What is their agenda?! I don't believe this hunk of bullshit that your telling us, Somers!" Ambros raised his voice trying to get past Grayson.

"They're just following the guy in charge. The one that broke us off." Somers responded with a calm voice. He stood up after his sentence and stared at us one by one.

Suddenly there was another loud explosion that shook the room.

"Doctor Weis said something about how she has the cure." Ambros pointed at me, then Grayson took over his glide.

"So you're going to use her like a lab rat, is that what the plan is?" I raised my eyebrow. They started to act as if I wasn't here.

"Either way, even with the cure or not. You were always a friend I admired, Ronin."

"That's Commander Ronin, they moved her up the rankings-"

"Just Ronin, let's not get too fancy so soon." I had a fluttery feeling in my chest. I felt heat rise from my gut to my chest. It was a nice feeling.

I bit my lip and stared at the floor, I felt my cheeks burn. This was the first time this has happened and I was embarrassed. I slightly turned my head so they wouldn't notice. I pretended to do something with my gun.

"I see what's going on here. Your being nice to her, just to get help from us-"

"Ambros, not another word. We owe it to him, to get him help. We left them behind and they stayed and fought." I said sliding back the slider to my gun. The brass escaped the chamber and bounced onto the wooden floor.

"Sorry, boss." Ambros mumbled under his breath. Then there was another explosion that rattled the floor and made the glass fall off of the judges stand.

"Ronin, we have to get him out of here." Grayson suggested with a worried tone. A bit of dust came down from the sealing. Then there was rattling from the vents. They all looked at me and I closed my eyes and let out a sigh.

"What was in the vents?" Grayson questioned and I shook my head.

"We have to focus on getting Somers out of here." I said ignoring Grayson's question.

"We should take him back to the base camp, Colonel Greens says-"

"No! Not that guy. Green's a politician and tried to pull the death card on her." Grayson interrupts Ambros, and suddenly this turns into an arguing game.

"Our orders are to take-"

"Ambros, don't say one more word about orders. We can sneak him into camp and take him to Weis, along with Ronin." Grayson sounded like he was done being pushed around by Ambros.

"They both can help me, I guess that's the plan." Somers said confidently. Ambros started to protest against this once again.

"Look Grayson, I put this uniform on to-"

"So did Somers, Ambros. Ronin nearly died when Colonel Green barked his orders. He made the mistake of not telling Weis or you, that she was coming along. This is what we are supposed to do. Defend against all enemies and domestic." Grayson said and took a moment before he continued.

"He's a soldier, just like all of us. He did his job and look what they did to him." Grayson growled. Graysons gaze went from Ambros to me.

"Her as well, the Colonel nearly pulled the death card for her, when she went into that damn coma! I don't give a damn what our orders are right now. Until we find out what the hell is going on: I am looking out for all of you guys." Grayson argued with Ambros. I knew Ambros was thinking of his family at the moment.

"Easy for you to say, you don't have a family your going back to, neither does she-"

"Shut the fuck up. The hell you know about my family? I was the reason why I can't go back to see them..." I growled, suddenly my voice cracked.

They all went silent for a moment, then listened. My chest started to tighten. My stomach started to twist. I felt my heart in my throat. No doubt Ambros wished he could take back what he said.

I gulped then started to talk. "The reason I joined Echo Squad was I had nothing more to lose. The Iraqi gang leader came to my home that day and wanted my father to pay his debts. The det was two lives and I got to keep one. He told me I can choose. I chose my brother to live. He was only just a young boy, almost graduated. Then they shot all of them and left..."

"I guess I kept my own life, that was the deal. I mean, the choice they gave." I added, I quickly wiped the tear that escaped my eye. I looked away at first.

"Look Ronin, I am sorry. I didn't mean to go that far."

"I accept it. Next thing harsh from your mouth, Ambros? I might have you on the next flight out of here, for a bit." I threatened, I needed to keep them in line if I was going to step up.

"Yes ma'am." Ambros put on a charming smile.

"One more thing Ambros, I can prove that the reborn program is real. Now take me to Noah-"

Another explosion went off, indicating that they had arrived.

"They're making their way to the upstairs door!" A soldier yelled.

"Thirty seconds!"

I passed Somers my M16A4 Assault rifle. He needed something to defend himself, he didn't even have a Kevlar vest on how bad this was. Somers was a somewhat better shot than I was, when it came down to fast decision shots.

I reloaded the clip to my handgun. It was time to get out of here.