The Helldiving Knights

Chapter 6 Return of The Aussie Knights

Tahimik awoke what felt like days later. His body was achy and sore, and his chest still screamed in pain from the terminids' acid. To his surprise when he awoke, he wasn't wearing his helldiver suit, but rather his original Aussie Knight armour. It felt weird having his original helmet on. He honestly had found his helldiver helmet quite comfortable in the way that that the multiple panels that made up the helmet could tighten or loosen and even move to allow for more flexibility and comfort. He especially liked the way that helmet had shutter for the visor, allowing the purple sight to be covered by the dark red of the rest of the helmet, meaning he could use his parasite's echolocation rather than his own eyes. But despite all that, he found a spark of joy in wearing his dynamic, half silver half normal helmet. He had oddly missed the shards of crystalized parasite hanging over his visor, sharpening his vision and giving it definition. But most of all, he missed feeling like his old self again. He missed feeling like the next step in Spartan's evolution, and not just some expendable fancy soldier for Super Earth's armed forces.

Tahimik sucked in some deep breaths through his nose and exited the medical ward. He blinked sleep from his eyes and straightened his back. Today was a new day, a fresh day of fresh opportunities. But no matter how much joy he tried to create within himself, something didn't feel right. In fact, something felt incredibly wrong. Tahimik entered his personal quarters and approached his cabinet. He slid open the doors and watched as the light flashed on, revealing his helldiver armour. He let out a small frown before placing the chest plate over his Aussie Knight one and snapping all the other segments and pieces on. Lastly, he picked up his helmet, but instead of replacing his current, classic one, he decided to just hold the helldiver one under his arm. As he left the room, he made sure to pick up his Adjudicator assault rifle and placed it on his belt by his hip. His tendrils tucked in as he ducked into the main room of the SES Spear of Democracy and opened his holographic screen. An urgent message appeared at the top of his screen. He tapped and opened it. It was from Nemesis, and it wasn't good.

Meanwhile, on the SES Wings of Freedom, Jiron had awakened from his slumber. He too was wearing his original Aussie Knights armour. Jiron stretched and yawned, making sure not to break any hydraulic pumps or exposed pipes in the process. Despite the many years since the unfortunate attack at New Adelaide's sports oval, and him receiving his cybernetic implants, it never meant that he didn't need to be cautious when moving. He was just thankful that he had just finished college and was in professional sports when the attack from The Foundation had happened, and that he wasn't in the middle of his schooling career. Dusk had attended the same college and school as him, so both of them knew how ruthless the other students there were. Jiron would've been torn to shreds by the bullies if they had seen what he saw as a horrific cyborg creation. Thankfully, Dusk always had his back. In fact, he spent most the time in the hospital alongside him during his steep recovery. It practically brought a tear to his eye to know that he would never see Dusk again. Truthfully, if he were to die today, in battle, he wouldn't deny it. Rather he would greet death openly if it meant he could see his best friend again and spend the rest of eternity together.

Jiron pulled himself out of the hospital bed and walked himself over to his room. Like Tahimik did previously, he too retrieved his helldiver armour and wore it, though more honourably than Tahimik did. Jiron itched the back of his neck and scratched at his arms before opening up his forearm screen. There, a bright red notification popped up. Upon clicking on it and viewing it, Jiron was overwhelmed with shock. It was an emergency broadcast from none other than the commander of the Aussie Knights. Nemesis had sent out a message, though it was quite secretive and inconspicuous. It read, "To H-1 and J-3, I need you to enter our old identities, to speak to the past version of ourselves. This may not make sense as of currently, but I promise, this is an urgent action that must be completed, B-2 signing off". Jiron looked around in confusion. What was Nemesis talking about? Though he wasn't sure what it meant, he knew it was something that likely only involved the Aussie Knights. Nemesis' scrambled words reminded Jiron of a puzzle or riddle. Nemesis never said anything without meaning, even if it didn't seem like it. "Speak to the past version of ourselves", Jiron repeated in his head. What could that mean? That's when an idea struck him. What if Nemesis wasn't talking literally, but rather metaphorically. Was he actually referring to how they used to speak to each other in the past, essentially, "speaking to past versions of themselves". Jiron grinned and clicked a button on the side of his helmet. Slowly, a small flexible metal tube slid out from the side of his helmet. On the end of the tube, a little cylindrical shape began to form. It was a microphone, like one connected to a headset. Jiron tapped on the mic, testing if it still worked, and to his surprise it did. With one hand he adjusted the volume and with the other he tried tuning into any of the systems or channels. None worked, well all except one. Channel three was up and running, and Jiron managed to trace an active broadcast from it. Though it took him some tries, he managed to connect to the channel, and to his upmost surprise, he heard a familiar voice. "This is an outgoing broadcast to all surviving Aussie Knights members. This is your leader, Nemesis speaking. I bring about news and information to you all. Super Earth is corrupt and maniacal. They do not care nor respect us! We are merely tools in their endless pockets. But no longer! Stand with me today brothers and sisters, and I promise, I will lead you to victory one last time. For our fellow knights who are no longer amongst us, we salute and fight in their honour." Nemesis announced.