-Daniel’s P.O.V.-

I could almost imagine the taste of the blood from the wolves. Silver and black splatters that covered the walls and showered their kin in gore. It wasn’t alive, no living thing would throw itself into a grinder like this. Not alive in the strictest of senses, but they came back all the same. A shotgun burst blew the head off of one, bullets carrying through and shearing through other wolves limbs and torsos. Legs splintered - actually splintered like glass and metal had somehow been molded into flesh - chests heaved gouts of shimmering blood as they collapsed. These creatures were messier than wolves, juicer.

The thought sent a wave of revulsion into my guts as I watched the tide of wolves rush forward through the tunnel together. Three scooped at my leg with claws and teeth.

Fran’s feathery-spears punched through their skulls.

I grunted out a thanks, we didn’t have time for anything else. Hundreds of rounds emptied out from my arm, my cannon fired the moment it reloaded. Aiming was a reflex based on what monster was closer at the time.

They lurched forward again, a tube of flesh that made me wonder why there weren’t more ‘Wolvens’ out there.

I nearly tripped, and found claws scrape against my mech suit, I could feel the shudder and screech as they did so, flakes of steel coming up with them even as I managed to quickly backstep.

Into the room we went, backpedaling all the while, Matthew and Alice at our backs, dealing with their own problems.

A wolf grabbed onto my arm as I guarded, it’s distended jaws like a snake.

I felt the pressure increase, saw the fangs drill through my armor like butter.

Until now, it was as I remembered, we’d won down there in the hole.

But that bite kept going, closing, inevitability as I screamed, watching it’s black gums sink under the steel. It’s eyes, empty like a doll’s eyes if they were designed to seep hatred, glared at my helmet. The pressure increased and I panicked, breathing hard, screaming.

“No! No! Get off!” I shouted, reaching over.

Three more wolves bit onto my other arm, weighing me down. Another bit my leg, and another lurched to my chest, clawing deep for a hold as it’s mouth distended horrifically as it tried to fit my head in its mouth.

Agony ripped through me as the first wolfs teeth met flesh, a splash of red flaring deeply with the sparks that spat from my arm.

And then its horrible maw closed the rest of the way.

I bolted upright, awakened from my nightmare with a cold sweat pouring off of my back. I gripped my right arm in my left hand, a scream threatening to come out at any moment.

Steady. Calm. Be stronger than your fear.

I repeated the mantra in my head, biting my lip to keep from breathing too loudly, still hoping to not wake the woman by my side. I exhaled, slowly, shakily.

My arm was fine, everything was fine. I hadn’t lost my arm, I didn’t lose my life. We were fine, we’d survived, we’d kicked some ass and gone home.

“Love, are you okay?” Fran leaned up, grasping at my bare shoulder. I looked to her, blue eyes dim in the darkness of her home. The blankets tumbled off of her naked body as she rose, but she didn’t care. She looked at me, in my eyes, pulling herself up to come level with me.

“Nightmare?” She asked, a knowing look in her eye.

I opened my mouth to speak, feeling my throat catch. A nightmare, an intense one.

She understood, and pulled me close, back down. There was no judgement in her eyes, though I could tell that she was sleepy even in spite of the effort she put forth.

“It’s okay.” She cooed in my ear gently, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I…” Words seemed impossibly hard at that moment. I shook my head with a scoff and smiled warmly. Without words, I leaned up and kissed her. She returned the gesture, her soft lips touching my own. We stayed like that for a while, kissing gently, touching our cheeks together, and she snuck one up on my forehead before she forced me back to resting next to her, locking eyes with me.

Now her eyes were quite awake.

“You know I’m here for you?” She spoke, “Just like you were there for me.”

“I know,” I uttered, grasping the hand she placed against my cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She leaned forward, putting a forehead to mine.

“It was about the wolves… The one that got on my arm. Guess it got to me a bit more than I thought.” That was an understatement, but I didn’t want to delve into the details.

Fran didn’t need to push, “It’s alright. We’re together, here.”

“But…” The question tried to push itself free, but I couldn’t say it. It was my fear crawling up.

“What will be, will be.” Fran seemed to know what I was going to say, “I don’t know if we’re cut out for fighting biotics or not, but someone has too.”

I moved to open my mouth, and she pushed a finger to my lips to stop me.

“And if either of us is going to do it, then both of us will.” She smiled wryly.

With a deep breath, I steadied myself, “I guess I can’t argue with that.”

“You could, but I don’t think you’d like losing?” She quirked a brow at me, and I felt a tremor of a laugh well up from my chest.

“Then we’ll just have to always have each other's backs.” I smirked, pulling her closer to me, feeling her against me.

She surprised me with a hand caressing my back and going lower. “I’m very okay with that.”

We kissed again, and I felt my strain fade away. We didn’t know what was going to ever be in store for us, but we knew one thing at least.

There’d always be the two of us, no small comfort amidst all of this craziness…

-Matthew’s P.O.V.-

Headquarters was really coming along. And when I say that, I mean really coming along, it was virtually an entirely new building at this point. I was even beginning to suspect that Doug wanted to turn the place into a fortress.

Based on the fact that the windows were now reinforced glass, capable of withstanding small arms fire with minor scuffs, I think he was getting pretty close to succeeding.

“Hey, what’s up, boss?” A pair of men walked up to me, one with short brown hair, the other with black hair bound in a ponytail. It took me a moment to realize who they were.

“Louis and Benjamin,” I smiled, the red line of my helmet quirking with a harsh red twist, “Well, just returned from a rather interesting hunt… How are you settling in?”

Louis, the taller of the two, smirked as he patted the stock a reaper modified rifle over his shoulder, “Pretty damned good, we got a group together, just down one member so far. The Legion Database is a godsend out there.”

I nodded, not certain exactly what they would be so impressed by, “What’d you end up using it for? I’ve been too busy dealing with new biotics that I haven’t used it.”

Benjamin spoke up, his stocky build filling out a almost space-age looking set of combat fatigues that were probably quite new. “Well, coordinating with other groups to keep tabs on hunting zones is pretty useful, especially in real time. Whenever one of our guys saw something, they’d tag it and we’d flank it.”

At that, they turned and pointed out the other three members, truly only leaving them one short. In spite of how dark it was outside, plenty of people were still awake in the lobby, the newly installed generator doing wonders for powering the building. They enjoyed air conditioning and some of the finer amenities as they talked, moving over to a small section near the edge of the cafeteria that was repurposed for some table-games like ping pong and the like.

I noticed something as they moved, and on the backs of the two men before me. Their rifles had large extensions to their barrels, something that I immediately realized was a silencer.

“Ah, that’s an oversight…” I murmured and winced at myself, realizing I could have been using one the entire time.

“What was that?” Louis asked, turning back to me.

“Nothing important,” I shrugged morosely, “Any case, wanna check the ladder? See how many points you boys raked in?”

They didn’t seem to notice my embarrassment, “Sure. I bet we’re at least fifth place. How’d your team do?”

Another smile spread on my face, mirrored on my helmets opaque screen like a red demon, “Oh, decently.”

They shook their heads, and we made some small talk as we went to the screen. I enjoyed this, and the vague activity here and there where people sat around the larger screens was pleasant. I was afraid that the Legionaries would take themselves too seriously, but that looked like it was just me being paranoid. Some people sat at the new round tables with a screen built into the middles where teams could discuss plans and general details. There were even holographic displays if someone wanted to share a 3D image of something, which one such group was doing as they studied up on the anatomy of one of the biotic bears, trying to figure if there was a particular way to bring one down.

Information sharing in the Legion was king, never again did I want someone to die because they had no idea what to expect. Nothing short of a new entry or a Unique anyways.

“Wow, there’s already a few teams,” Louis whistled, looking up at the large screen, red color predominant upon it, framed in black steel that gave the thing a very durable and almost sinister appearance. The first fifteen spots already had people in them based on teams with at least two people, though there was one guy in the rank three spot that was solo with 100 M.E. to his name.

Unsurprisingly, my team had really raked in the points.

Rank 1: Matthew “Reaper” Todd’s Team (920 Points)

Rank 2: Louis Athello’s Team (200 Points)

Rank 3: Richard “Adder” Nordsen (100 Points)

“What and the actual hell, dude?” The two looked to me, “How the hell did you guys rack up that many points? It’s just ten percent of the kills, right?”

I nodded, “We took out a hive, they were a pain though, they didn’t give much M.E. independently considering how much of a problem they were to kill.”

“That was the new entry, right? Gray Wolves, or somethin’?” Benjamin asked, “The file said they resurrect, how… what did that even mean?”

A wave of frustration washed over me at that, “They literally came back together after getting destroyed. I think a few of them stopped getting back up, but we had to take out the core first to really stop it.”

“Well, that’d do it, I guess.” Louis snickered as we looked back to the board.

“Who the hell is Richard Nordsen, anyways?” Louis added, and I found myself thinking that very same thing. Whoever it was, I think they had a class like myself. The middle part between the first and last name in quote seemed to be a class listing. Usually it’d be a nickname, or cal-sign, but that’s the most that I could guess. Some small piece of humor that the Legion would get something that sounded like a snake, all the better for taking things down. Still, I had to admit that I wanted to meet this person.

He’d had to have at least gotten 1000 M.E. solo in order to contribute that many points. It was only the first real day that we’d been open. Maybe he was trying to establish himself?

“Hey, Matthew, some guy is here saying he wants to join, says you know him?” Someone called out from near the front of the building.

I turned my gaze, as did some other curious onlookers, and immediately the man who stood there next to the Legionnaire glowered at the person who shouted. He seemed to take no small amount of pleasure in teasing the fellow, though.

With a bemused shake of my head, I walked forward. Most people went back to what they were doing, chuckling or smirking at the man's continued expense. Louis and Benjamin, curious, walked with me, interested in whatever might be going on.

As I approached, I noticed something off about the pair of them. First off, the man who called us over was… different. Nothing seemed out of place when I casually inspected him, but I felt some kind of sense of wariness wash over me as I approached. Even my suit responded, a pinprick of red appearing on my helmet, pointing at the man, a camera feed studying minute motions.

It almost made me stop in my tracks. Smith was still somewhat in charge of my suits systems while I finished adjusting to them, but I didn’t think this was him. This awareness came from me, and I realized what it was when I looked at his eyes.

They were calm, collected, and had a cold quality about them like a snake’s eyes, assessing both the man and now me.

That was hardly something that I felt should set me at edge, even as I saw that his posture was relaxed and unguarded. A ghost of a smile traced his lips, friendly and normal, and a hand rested on his hip as he continued to speak to the man beside him in low tones. Even as he did so, though, I felt like his eyes never left me.

We closed the distance, and for a heartbeat that anyone else would have missed, the two of us fully took measure of the other.

Before that moment could linger and make things awkward, I spoke to the Legionnaire, “The Adder, I presume?”

He blinked in momentary surprise but quickly controlled it, his smile growing wider, and only then did I realize it was genuine.

Was he just testing me? I realized that the sense I’d felt from him vanished into thin air. Like a cold hand that I somehow only noticed when it left my shoulder. It was a surreal feeling, and I had to wonder if something to do with the Reaper part of me was active beyond what could be explained with mundane senses.

“Perhaps,” he answered coyly, “The name’s Richard Nordsen, pleased to make your acquaintance.” He nodded to me, though he didn’t hold out his hand, “I’d like to talk at length, but I have to do something urgent right now. I hope you don’t find that rude?”

I shook my head, “Not at all. My doors always open, or whenever you find me around.”

He nodded gratefully to me and gave a passive farewell to the others. I wondered where the man had come from in the first place, he was younger than I was, that was certain. Thoughts rattled around in my head, considering who that guy was, and what he might want out of all of this. Admittedly, some of those thoughts came around to whether or not I could pull him into my team; I liked winning and having that Rank 1 spot a bit more than I thought I would.

“Anyways, you are?” I turned my gaze to the newcomer, and immediately had to keep myself from scowling.

He wore a simple white shirt and camo-pants that were a bit baggy on his form. A scar on his face and the tattoo that slinked up from his collarbone into sight immediately struck me as someone I recalled.

When Daniel and I had just finished being ‘rewarded’ our classes and came home, we were blocked by the Bulwark’s men.

One such individual was a prick who refused to let us get through to our home. Fran had apparently escalated the issue to one of the supervising officers, but I’d never heard anything about it after, I wasn’t terribly interested in it after all. A lot of things had happened since then.

That particular prick was standing before me right now.

And while I don’t count myself as particularly petty, I had to admit there was a small part of me that immediately wanted to get him out of my face.

The biggest reason not too, logically, was that he’d simply made a mistake when he was on duty, and if I turned people away for accidents and making mistakes, I’d be hard pressed to find help.

If was honest, though, the real reason why I didn’t turn him away then and there was the nervousness that seemed to waft off of him. It was tempered by grit, though, I could tell he fully expected to be rejected, but there was a hope there that kept his gaze strong and his chin set.

“My name is Jack Knight.” He introduced himself without skipping a beat. At this, I paused, still thinking about what I wanted to do. I couldn’t keep some of my displeasure from seeping into my posture, and all three of the men around me could clearly tell that I was less than happy.

Before I could speak and allay any concerns, Jack hurriedly spoke up again.

“I wanted to apologize before anything else. Back when I was on the cordone and keeping people away, I really thought you and your friend were just trying to sneak up to the obelisk. I know an excuse isn’t going to help, especially since I breached the protocol there, but I wanted to ask for your forgiveness on that, even if I don’t have the right to join your Legion here.” The words spilled out quickly, but clearly.

And I completely forgot how to speak for the next several seconds. A silence settled over the group, Louis and Benjamin lightly cringing at what they assumed was me remaining nonplussed and unimpressed.

My helmet, luckily, shielded the fact that I totally had no idea how to deal with this.

He just apologized to me, and I think it was definitely the most stiff and formal apology I’d ever received. On top of that, it was earnest and he seemed to mean every word of it! I mean, it was kind of nice, but at the same time, what do I even respond with?...

I sighed loudly, but before anyone could hopefully misinterpret the gesture I spoke.

“Alright, alright, I appreciate your apology and… I guess I forgive you?” I almost felt like my skin writhed in embarrassment. The look on his face was almost palpable, and I cringed at myself even as I realized that Louis and Benjamin almost barked in laughter behind me, Smooth, ‘I guess I forgive you?’ the hell is that? It’s yes or no!

[Excellent inter-social interactions. I’ll be sure to show you this moment later.] Smith’s voice practically dripped with sadistic amusement.

“Look, it’s fine.” I hurriedly gesticulated, “I may be a bit petty sometimes, but not that bad. I do have some questions though, and answer them truthfully. Honestly, I’m not turning away people at this point, unless I think they’re a danger to those around them.”

“Uh… well, I’m definitely not?” He blinked, a visible amount of tension draining from his shoulders.

I gave him a pass on the half-question half-answer. “Come, let's sit down. And you two come with, you’ll be the witnesses on this one.”

“We’re doing what?” Benjamin quirked a brow, “Witnessing is a thing now?”

“Special case for the peanut gallery,” I shrugged noncommittally.

They clearly didn’t believe that, but we moved on anyways, finding a place around one of the small tables with a projector built in. I tapped into it with my suit.

“Alright, let’s start simple. Why do you want to join my Legion?” I asked, finding comfort in the process.

Jack didn’t miss a beat, “I’m tired of sitting in the city and not doing anything. I want to fight biotics.”

I paused at that, “Hmm… I want to be perfectly clear on this point. What we do here isn’t going to be gentle on you, or probably your sanity. It comes with its perks, but the fact of the matter is that you’ll be going out into biotic-controlled regions to hunt them down and gather information. It’s not going to be some heroic march, out one and only concern is to kill them, no matter what kind of method we have to abuse. That might be boring, it might not. You might eventually want to quit because you’re tired of doing nothing but killing them day in and day out. That might not sound like much, but I’m predicting that the biggest reason why people will leave is just being sick of killing them over and over. Can you do that?”

My words seemed to surprise him. I think he expected me to roll right on through to more questions, but he did, to his credit, give what I said a few seconds of thought.

“Yeah, I don’t mind it. Honestly, it’s not the boredom that’s getting to me, I’m just worried that we’re not…” He hesitated, looking to me like I might not like what he was going to say.

“Go ahead, free license here.” I nodded to him.

“Err… well, not to say you guys aren’t doing a lot already, but I’m just afraid that it’s… not enough?” He swallowed, and then added quickly, “I mean, as in it’s just too slow, like we need to pick up the pace. I already heard that there were some crazy biotics starting to come out of the woodwork, I just want to get rid of them before we have something so bad that we can’t do anything about it.”

There was a heavy silence then, and I could tell that the men at my sides were in a brooding silence. Perhaps they thought the same. In any case, I couldn’t say that I could fault Jack for his fears. They were, after all, quite valid to me.

“I had more questions in mind… but I don’t think they’ll be necessary.” I nodded to him, catching his surprise with a bit of amusement. “Louis and Benjamin, can you take him into your team? He should be decent at least, but I want your team up to snuff to handle the moderate threats.”

“Do we get a say in that?” Benjamin coughed.

“I mean, I could find another spot for Jack,” I shrugged.

“Not that,” Louis pointedly leaned forward, “What if we don’t want to handle bigger problems?”

“You don’t have too, but you won’t stay rank 2 with that attitude.” I goaded them, “I mean, Adder’s in third and was solo, whats your guys’ excuse again?”

“Oh, really now? Them be fightin’ words, bub,” Benjamin mocked offense, his curly bearded chin up in a comical display, “Better guard your lead, we’ll be taking it from you soon enough!”

“If you think you can.” The red gleam from my helmet shone brightly as I challenged the men. They grinned back, and then rose while officially introducing themselves to Jack.

After another moment, Jack called to me as they virtually dragged him away, “You won’t regret this!”

I let out a quiet sigh, and uttered low so only I would hear it. “I hope not… just don’t die out there.”

Allowing myself to linger there, I wondered just how many people I would possibly send off to die in the wilderness. No casualties so far, but that couldn’t hold forever. I knew we were strong in spirits now, but what about when the dying started? What about when we didn’t even know where someone had disappeared too? What would the Legion do then?

A gnawing sensation of anxiety rolled through me before I found myself clamping down on it like a steel trap.

We’d kill every last goddamned biotic that dared show its face around us. If someone went missing, we’d steam roll over every horror in our way.

I rose from my seat, moving off to the second floor and my now revamped personal office space and room.

We’re The Reaper’s Legion, and I’d make sure that our Legion would be here to stay…

End Chapter 17 of The Reaper’s Legion

The Reaper’s Legion Founding Arc Complete