REDEMPTION (3rd Book of FEAR)

- chapter one -

"This is Church from...Alpha...if you're getting this, it's an emergency... Send help! Please! Send help!"

"You've got to be shitting me..."

***

"Quiet," a gruff voice barked, "There's something out there."

Locus grumbled multiple strings of curse words under his breath, stepping over the debris of his crashed ship with anger. He kicked a piece of burning metal with his foot, grinding his teeth in frustration. This better be worth it, he thought.

"Is it Church?" An oddly familiar voice chirped. Locus activated his camouflage immediately, approaching the unknown. "No. Something in the shadows..." A red soldier growled.

When the collection of various colors of armor came into his view, Locus cursed another series of god forsaken words. He found them... For better or for worse.

"Something..." Sarge whispered, "evil..." Locus fizzled into the soldiers' view, grumbling, "That's not funny." The Reds and Blues screamed, each one of them unholstering their weapons and aiming them at the mercenary.

Sarge, who was extremely low on sleep and belligerent, took a swing at the man. Locus watched as the soldier's weak arm pelted his chest plate. The mercenary looked to the Reds and Blues for help once Sarge's rested there, and his weight settled on Locus.

"Is he snoring?" The green and grey armored soldier threw the man to the ground, who continued to sleep. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Tucker growled, his finger tensed on the trigger of his DMR.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Locus dropped his SAW, holding his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, "I heard your relay. I came to help, but my ship crashed." Caboose, who was the only one without his gun pointed, gasped excitedly, "You heard Church?"

"I thought it was y-" Locus seemed confused, thinking that the beacon was a call for help or maybe a discreet SOS. "Yeah, Caboose," Tucker interrupted the mercenary with a knowing glare, "He heard Church."

Locus swallowed his sentence and kept his hands in the air. "You said your ship crashed?" A woman in white and cobalt armor tilted her head, taking a step towards the man.

She was equipped with an Intruder class helmet, and if Liz was next to him... She would be able to give him the whole rundown on how that armor was used skill-wise and utility-wise. He envied her for that.

"Yes. I was just getting warmed up to the controls when I intercepted the relay," Locus peered at her quizzically, his voice hesitant. The woman stuck her hand out to him, firm and confident, "Dylan Andrews. Investigative journalist to the Interstellar Daily. And, you are?"

I didn't ask for your résumé, Locus rolled his eyes. He gazed at her outstretched palm for a moment, suddenly feeling grateful for the rare kindness. He took her hand, then shrugged, "I'm... just an old acquaintance."

Tucker, who still had his gun aimed at the mercenary's head, chuckled bitterly and puffed his lips, "Psh, more like fu-"

"Alright, listen," Locus snapped, suddenly frustrated with the teal armored soldier. "I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm not asking for you to forget everything I've done..." The man mumbled, looking to the ground in guilt.

"I can understand that," he softened his voice, "I'm just asking you to give me a chance to help you find your friend." Locus paused for a moment, waiting for the Reds and Blues to finish exchanging thoughtful glances with one another.

"I can leave right now, and you will never see me again. I swear," Locus cleared his throat. Then, the man dropped his hands from the air and shrugged, "But, by the looks of it... I think you're gonna need all the help you can get."

It was silent for a moment, and Locus almost started to turn around and walk off. But, Tucker sighed and shook his head. "I would be lying if I said we weren't at a dead end..." He grumbled, reluctant to admit it.

Locus smiled under his helmet, nodding in agreement with the leader of the squad. Suddenly, two cameras appeared next to the soldier's visor. It was a man in the same color armor as the reporter... Locus clenched his teeth.

"What... are you doing?" He snarled, resisting the urge to punch the cameraman in one of his lenses. "Oh, sorry!" The energetic man took a step back from the mercenary, "Just getting some great cutaway shots!"

"This soap opera is gonna be amazing!"

hey everyone! i'm so excited to start this new book!!!! i'm feeling super inspired and i love it. so, you've probably noticed already that i changed the events from season 15. yes, i know locus doesn't show up in the group so early. i hate going episode by episode because it doesn't really seem like it's my story then because i'm literally just typing word for word what the characters say and that's boringggg. so, sorry if i'm disappointing you, but i'm going off of the main story line just a little bit. some of the same events will occur, like how the blues and reds meet our lovely little rainbow and how locus meets up with grif. (yes, don't worry... grif will be here.) i'm just changing some things to keep it interesting for you guys and to keep you guessing! got any questions or ideas about this new book? comment or PM me! i would love to hear your predictions and/or suggestions. thanks for reading, guys! <3