The Life of an ATLAS Boy

Not a Rookie Anymore

"See?! I told you he'd get cocky. Now my niece won't stop talking about how good of a Soldier John is."
"Irons. How do you feel now that SENTINEL captured John? Do you feel good? Now you're going to hear Dawn say that she's worried about where John is. What'll be your excuse this time? I mean, you lied about Samuel's death to his-"
"Just shut up about that Andrew! It's not my fault that the corrosive bomb got touched by it's casing. Anyways, I'll just tell her that I saw a good soldier in John and I moved him up to being more in the action."
"Now you'll never stop wanting to hear a field report if John's alright or not."
"That I can lie about that."
"I'd take a raincheck on that, but we should rescue Corporal Olsteen."
"I'll send in a rescue team after we're done talking."
"Then I'm leaving for the day, Jonathan Irons. I'll talk to you tomorrow. you better send that rescue team."
* * *
Thump thump...
My heart beats echo in my ears.
Thump thump...
I try to remember what's happening, more on what happened.
Thump thump...
My blurred eyes don't help the situation. Nor do my constant black-outs.
Thump thump...
I hear a voice, but it's muffled. I try to make out the words.
"C'mon! Get the ATLAS up..."
Thump thump...
"Remove his Exo! Check him for an-"
Thump thump...
I feel myself hauled up on something, and I feel shackles click on my wrists and ankles.
Thump thump...
"Give him some time to recover. When he does, check his condition. If he needs medical attention, get him a med-"
Thump thump...
"He's blacking out!"
I feel the world go dark once more. When I awake, I'm in a white room surrounded by people in white lab coats and cyan face masks. My head kills, my legs throb and my arms are like Jello as the doctors examine my body. They're saying something, but I can't make out what. I close my eyes and try to make sense of what's happening. I open my eyes, and one of the doctors is helping me up. I look down at the floor, my black shirt and ATLAS pants and black boots are still on. I try to take a step, but I fall and the doctors help me up. I try again, but fail. The doctor on my left says something to his buddy on my right.
"What..." I ask the man on my left. "What... what are you saying?"
"Ah, you aren't a mute," he says with a deep English accent. "How do you feel, ATLAS?"
"Where am I?" I ask.
"SENTINEL Medical Wing," the man on my right says. "We're just taking you to General McDonnell now for an interrogation."
Oh shit, I thought as the doctors basically dragged me down the hall to a room. I get to meet the leader of SENTINEL. But all I want is to just see Dawn, but I think that's too much to ask for.
I see SENTINEL Guards eyeing me underneath their helmets, wanting to spit on me whenever they get the chance to. The hallway is dark, but the overhead lights make it seem brighter.
Thump thump...
Oh God, I'm going to pass out! I thought.
"Catch him!" a doctor says as I go limp once more.
When I awake, I'm sitting in a chair in a light grey room with fluorescent lights lighting up the room. I bring my arms up to stretch them, but they won't go any further than my last rib. I look down, and I see that I'm handcuffed the the chair. I try the stand, but my legs are strapped down as well. Damn, this guy must know well, I think as I examine the room once more. that's when I see that a wall is actually a glass pane with limousine tint, concealing whoever sat on the other end. I put my hands on the table and put my head on them. That's when I hear a door open. I look up, and I see no other but the SENTINEL General "Kingpin" McDonnell himself.
"Pleased to meet you, Johnathan Jacob Olsteen," he says in a calm voice. "How are you this fine day, ATLAS Recruit?"
I could lie and say that ATLAS will come and attack, but like they'd save me, so instead, I said, "Could be better," trying to smile in the process.
The General grunts as if trying to laugh, and he asks, "What do you remember?"
"If you ask me," I say with a hint of anger, "then you might as well kill me, since I won't tell you anything."
McDonnell laughs. "So you think it's that easy?" he chuckles, then his face goes straight. "I'm only asking simple questions. I don't want to send you back to Irons like this." He points to me. "So, with Irons being an old friend, I want to send back his Recruits all nice and cl-"
"I'm not a Recruit!" I yell at him. Calm down John. What would Dawn think of you?! I snap at myself. I calm down, and finish my sentence. "I'm actually a Corporal."
Shocked, McDonnell says, "Hell! If I knew what you were capable of, I would've put you up to Sergeant right away." I feel myself blush, and the General continues, "I could give you this rank- in fact higher- only if you join SENTINEL TASK FORCE, and leave all of your ATLAS boy life in the past." He offers his hand. "Join us, and together, we can take control and bring world peace."
I have to say, this is a tough offer. Join SENTINEL and get a higher rank, but betray my friends, family and Dawn, or stay with ATLAS and keep everything normal. Finally, I end up saying, "I will not betray my brothers and sisters over a rank."
McDonnell looks at me sternly, and I wince under his gaze. He then says, "Fair enough." He turns his back on me and leaves the room. I sit in silence, not moving a finger. I think that they've finally left me alone, I thought. Or have they? Will they kill me? Or let me see Dawn again? Or-
My thoughts are interrupted by an explosion and the blaring of alarms.
"Breach in front wall," a female robotic voice repeated. "All hands on deck."
I can hear the thumping of exo-suits go past the room. The muffled commands seem direct at certain troops. I think that they're wanting to guard my room, but I can't tell. Then the only sound being made is the quiet alarm buzzing and a red flashing light in the center of the back wall of the room is the only light in the room. Five minutes must've passed when a silenced gunshot and a thump on the glad startles me. The world goes silent once more, then the glass breaks, shards flying at me in all directions. I cover my head the best I could, and when the last shard falls, I look back at the wall of glass. It's not there, but instead an ATLAS Soldier is standing in it's place. He runs to me, drops his gun and starts to cut me lose.
"Don't worry John," he says. "We're the Rescue Team that you know about. We need to get you back home. Irons wants to see you."
So Irons isn't as relentless as I thought. He wants me to live. How nice. As I run out of the room, I search one of the fallen SENTINEL for a weapon. I manage to find his AK-12 along with three spare mags. I stuff the mags into my pocket and run into the fray, weapons blazing
***
20 July 2054 13:00:35
Now where's John today? Dawn thought as she walks the halls. It's lunch time, and Dawn hasn't seen John for a few days, which got her worried. He's just so sweet and caring. Maybe I should make him my boyfriend...
A guard walks by, but instead of carrying an EPM3, which Dawn knows the design all too well, he carried a HBRa3. She frowned and continued to walk along.
Where the hell could he be?
Just then, she saw John's brother.
"Sir! Sir," she called. The man turned around and looked at her. "What do you want help with?" he asked.
"Are you John Olsteen's brother?"
"Ya. What's happened to the kid now?"
"He's not here," Dawn said with a touch of fear in her voice.
"What?!" John's brother raged. He calmed down, and said, "He hasn't been home for three days. Rumor has it that SENTINEL took him hostage." He paused to breathe, then continued, "I know you're worried about him, but we have a rescue team en route to the base. He'll be back in no time."
Dawn smiled through her tearing eyes, and thanked John's brother. She walked away, but not to class. She walked to the armory.
***
"C'mon! Move it Olsteen!" Commander Jiroux yells at me as I take a mad dash to the awaiting Warbird. I turn and fire the last few shots of my second clip in the AK-12. I reload and run at the same time, and it isn't fun. I manage to insert the clip and cock the hammer back in time since a MAAWS rocket explodes thirty paces behind me. I practically shit my pants and run faster. ATLAS Soldiers all round me fall, and that's when I see that more ATLAS Dropships are coming down. This isn't a rescue, I think as I continue to run. This is a full-scale attack!
Once I find a good spot in the middle of the ATLAS lines, I crouch and start unloading until the click happens. I throw the AK-12 to the ground, turn and run for cover. I see Commander Jiroux and run towards him. Luckily, there's a spare BAL-27 with a grenade launcher, Hybrid Sight. I'm pretty sure the thing has Advanced Rifting, which is a modification that allows maximum range. I grab it, and stand at attention.
"Ah, I see," an ATLAS Captain said. "Seems like you're ready to go. But you might need a few things." He hands me an old-time bullet-proof vest and a backpack with everything I need.
"Take care, Corporal," he says as he goes back to planning. I dash out just as another Dropship lands, and all the Soldiers run out. I look around, and see that I could flank from the armory side. I run as fast as I could, dodging bullets that nearly miss me. I hear the footsteps of an exo-suit behind me.
"Who are you?" I ask through the earpiece that connects to nearby ATLAS helmets. Me and the stranger continue to run along, and we finally reach an outpost. We hide there since no one has seen is yet.
"Tell me," I ask the stranger once more. "Who are you?"
The stranger begins to take off their helmet, and that's when I see it.
"Dawn! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Just making sure that you're safe," Dawn says in a sweet but scared tone. "I worried about you."
I blush a little, then say, "This isn't the place for someone li-"
"John," she says. "My uncle's Jonathan Irons."
I stare at her, amazed. I really don't know what to say. The girl of my dreams is Iron's niece... That's the last thing on my mind.
"That's... umm..." I can't find the words. Suddenly, a grenade explosion causes us to jump. We duck behind the wall as the pings of bullets erupts against the metal plate.
"Take off your exo," I order Dawn.
"You mean everything? I'm not su-"
"I mean the metal thing strapped to your back."
"Oh. Well, here ya go," Dawn says as she unhooks her ankle straps, then her wrists. The black exo-suit falls to the ground like a man fatally wounded. I grab it and start hooking it up when I feel the battery being held up. I look behind me and I see Dawn holding the battery up on my back.
"Thanks," I say, and Dawn's eyes sparkle. I get up, and Dawn continues to hold the battery against my back. I hook up both my wrists, and Dawn offers me her gloves.
"Take them," she says. "You need them more than I do."
I smile as I take them and put them on. I see an old beanie lying on the ground. I put it on, making it cover the back of my head. I grab my BAL and sprint out of the cover. I see ten SENTINEL Marksmen and Assault. They see me, and I boost jump in the air. I let bullets fly out of my BAL-27, the rate of fire steadily increasing. I release the trigger as I land, and stand still. Soon, the SENTINEL regain their will and peek out again. The barrage of bullets begin again, and I strafe right as the bullets narrowly miss my legs. I strafe back to the outpost that Dawn was in. That's when I feel it hit me. An EM1 laser burned my right leg, and I fall.
"John!" Dawn yells. I put my hand up, stoping Dawn from coming. I grab my bag and open it up. I see an ATLAS 45mm, and pull it out. I start firing as I crawl back. The slide cocks back, and I try to get up. I stumble as bullets miss me by inches.
This is how I die, I thought. I die by SENTINEL. I die with Dawn looking at me, and I never even asked her yet. Just get back and do it.
I limp back, and when I finally reach the outpost, I jump in just as a frag exploded. Dawn's crying as she hugs me.
"I have something to ask you," I say panting and clutching my leg.
Dawn looks at me, her face fresh with tear streaks.
C'mon you pussy, just ask her! "Will you be my girlfriend?"
She puts her hands over her mouth, and the answer surprises me.
"Yes," she says.
She wraps her arms around me, and I accept her and hug her back. She buries her face into my vest. Time seems to stop; the bullets cease to hit the outpost, the screams stop and all motion is frozen. I finally have a girlfriend, I think as Dawn hugs me to pull me closer to her. She looks up at me and smiles a smile I've never seen before, and I smile back.
"I think you'll need this," my new girlfriend says as she hands me her helmet. I take it and put it on. The usual commands and screams of the countless ATLAS forces full my ears.
"Try to make it back safe," Dawn says as I rush out of the outpost and to the wall.
***
Dawn sits down and smiles. Did John just do that? she thought to herself as she curled up. Grabbing the BAL-27 that she came with, she peeps out to make sure John's ok. Turns out that he's now taking fire. Dawn raises her rifle just like her uncle taught her to and started to burst the shots out. All of the bullets miss, except for one which buries into the shoulder of a SENTINEL. He falls, clutching his arm as his friend helps him. "Sons of bitches need to learn not to shoot at my new boyfriend," Dawn mutters under her breath. She continues to fire. A sudden click from the BAL-27 signals that the magazine is empty, so Dawn ducks down to reload when the pinging of metal starts again. In panic, she drops the gun and holds her hands up to her ears. John, she thinks. Just don't go out. Don't leave me here. Please come back.
The sound of an exo-suit boost jumping is sounded in the distance, followed by an explosion and the sound of a BAL-27 firing. Then it goes silent. A sudden shake in the earth startles Dawn, and she sees her new boyfriend standing tall, holding his BAL in one hand.
"Don't worry," he says. "It's all clear." So Dawn picks up her BAL-27 and follows John's speed as they march into the building.
***
Why did you take her with you? I asked myself as me and Dawn ran through the halls to the Armory. I check down each hall that divided off, saying, "Clear," every time I didn't see anyone. I now know that I'm not only fending for myself, but Dawn as well. I unfold the grenade launcher, just to see what it looks like, when a small group of SENTINEL come running down.
"There he is!" one yells as he raises his weapon. I pull the trigger on the launcher, and the far end of the hall fills with flames. Where the SENTINEL Soldiers once were is now a pile of bodies and burnt exos. Dawn and I run past them, afraid that more would come. We turn a few corners, and soon end up where we want to be.
"This is it," I say. "Time to make shit happen."
I force open the doors with the extra strength of my exo-suit and gloves. After straining myself, they finally part. I step in first and find the lights. Then, I help Dawn in, and when she is, I hold her close. I show her around, and unlucky for me, it isn't the same as the ATLAS Armory. The wall where the exos were is now at the back, but they don't seem to be open. I guide her back, and I find a release button. I hit it, and all the remaining exo-suits are now in a line, standing like the front line soldiers. I help Dawn into one, fastening her ankle straps and then her wrist straps. She smiles at me, and I move a piece of hair out of her face. Her smile grows wider, and her eyes sparkle like never before. I help her walk off the exo-suit stand and lead her to the gloves. However, the variety was thin, since all the gloves were seeing action. The pair that interested Dawn the most were the Bloodshed gloves. I hooked them up, and led her next to the helmets. Her helmet of choice was the SENTINEL Specialist helmet. I led her to the knee guards, and her interest was focused on the heavy Maelstrom shin guards. I led her to the weapons, and lucky me, there was a KF5 already equipped with a Red Dot, a foregrip and a laser sight. I found a PDW, and gave it to Dawn as her secondary. Once she had everything on, I have to say, she did look beautiful. I smirk slightly and put on Dawn's old ATLAS Tier 1 helmet and got out of the Armory. Except we were surrounded by a group of five men.
"Drop your weapons!" one of the SENTINEL Soldiers said to us. Dawn walks up beside me, and I look at her, and she me. Dawn starts to drop her KF5 as I drop my BAL-27. I put my hands behind my back as I pull a pineapple grenade from my back pocket.
"On yer knees!" the man yells again, and as I drop, I pull the pin. I roll it underneath me, and I grab Dawn and run.
"Hey-" the man says is last word as the grenade explodes and I jump on Dawn to protect her. We got into the Armory as it exploded though, so we were safe. I look out of the crack, and the once perfectly grey walls were now a burnt black with fragments of the floor embedded in them.
"Thank you," Dawn says quietly as she leans her back up against the door. I look back at her, and she takes off her helmet. I look at her, then the wall, then back at Dawn. I walk over to the wall next to Dawn, and I wind up to punch it when a voice inside my helmet makes me stop.
"We have a hostile swarm inbound!" The voice belongs to Commander Jiroux. "Holy shit, that's a huge swarm... Hit the deck!"
I could hear faint explosions as the drones dove to the ground. I have to help them, I thought as I looked at Dawn, her body huddled up as if she's cold. I have to do something to keep her safe.
That's when metal came into metal as my right glove burst through the Armory wall, and light flooded into the room. I ripped through the metal like a knife does butter, and make a hole big enough to fit through.
"John..." Dawn quavers. "What are you doing?"
I dash out, using the extra boost from my exo-suit to propel me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Dawn reach her arm out as if to grab me. Once I get far enough away, I stop and look up. The near mid-day sun gleaming down. I look ahead, and I see the swarm that is attacking the ATLAS Dropships and Soldiers. I run towards what was happening. I hear a noise, something like a robotic laugh mixed with an empty 105mm Paladin cannon, a Warbird flying in low orbit, a shrill scream and the buzzing of a billion bees, come overtop of me. I knew what was going to happen. I run as fast as I could go, and that's when I see the outpost that me and Dawn hid in. I start running towards it, but I slip and fall. The impact knocks the wind out of me. Gasping, I cover my head with my hands. That's when the feeling of flight comes over me.