Marco stood with his rifle clutched in his hand, undecided of what to think of the situation. He didn't even know if he could properly "Think" right now. Tyson becoming an altered? What happened in the fissure? Why Tyson and not Cooper? How could one become or *even be* an altered? Bodhi walked away as if this was a casual Monday afternoon, is he not also taken aback by all of this either? There were too many questions and not enough time to answer as Darren called him over.
They all walked in a pack this time, no reason to be separated at this point as the mission was done. Darren tapped into Marco's head, "What did bodhi tell you?" A moment of Radio silence, he answered as he glanced over, "Tyson's an altered, whatever that means." There was no further contact than that, what else was there to really say, he would have to question Tyson about it later but now it was more important for everyone to get back to the landing zone. The quiet environment felt more unsettling, feeling as if something could happen at any moment despite only one variable changing.
The handlers kept their eyes open, They walked in a straight line besides one another, the carriers on the outside, handlers in the middle and the adjusters on the inside. Cooper's walk became mechanical, never looking away from what was ahead, meanwhile Tyson kept looking around, his gaze often high towards the sky. The cliffs around them slowly subsided before arriving back at the long stretch of fields. They all stopped for a second, they didn't feel like waiting for "night" to arrive, not that it would get darker, but because they would have to spend more time in this damned place.
"We go on." Darren said taking the first step, no one objected, they were now left totally exposed as they walked. Darren tapped in once again, "You look a bit less disconcerted, let me ask you a question." He went on, "how do we even go about reporting this?" Marco thought as he walked, his eyes glazed over the surroundings rather than actually looking out for anything, "Is this something that we should even report?" Darren glared at Marco briefly, "What do you mean is this something we should even report, why the hell not?"
"If what Bodhi and what I assume Cooper told you is true, then we would have to dispatch of Tyson at this very moment." Neither of them stopped, but once again that radio silence stuck through. Marco continued, "These are unprecedented circumstances, first we have to know what we have to do *before* we get to the extraction." "I wasn't told what to do in the academy if something like this happened... I don't think anyone ever thought a situation like this would arise." Darren said before going silent. The group trekked on without stopping for a second, at most the handlers would turn to make sure they weren't being followed by some freak like the one they saw the other day.
In the distance they could once again see the long wall they came across as their journey began. They approached it, they had been walking for many hours at this point, Cooper's legs were almost giving out from having to walk as long as they did. They stopped before it, him leaning back against the trees and falling to the floor. Everyone else stood around him, Bodhi and Kailey murmured amongst themselves, Tyson gave them a displeased glance as he approached Cooper.
"Get up." He commanded. Cooper looked down between his legs not lifting his gaze. "Get UP" He said in a louder more demanding tone, his right hand reached down at him. Without hesitation, Kailey grabbed his wrist, holding it in place. Darren and Marco both raised their rifles up, with a snap, near the handle, the casing became undone. Their guns were back to their original hand cannon state. They lowered them down to the floor, Tyson looking over his shoulder as they did so, he turned his head the other way to look at Kailey who was holding him in place.
"What?" She said as she tightened her handle on his wrist, "You got a problem with him, you got a problem with me." Bodhi walked carefully around Tyson's back, he wasn't trying to be sneaky. Amused by everyone's reaction, Tyson let out a snarl before breaking into a belly laugh. "You think THAT'S enough to stop me?" He gritted his teeth before raising his fist into the sky, breaking free of her grasp. Cooper stood up and ran to the side as Bodhi lunged at Tyson who had turned around, squeezing him against the wall by his torso.
Cooper ran towards Darren and Marco who had now raised their guns at the ensuing brawl. "EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!" Yelled Marco as cooper ran behind them and crouched. Pinned to the wall Tyson smirked, lifting his elbow up and slamming it down on Bodhi's back. It left an indentation on his armor, driving his feet a small amount into the ground. Kailey ran up and swung her fist into Tyson's chest, drawing out his breath. "IT WILL TAKE A HELL LOT MORE THAN THAT TO GET PAST THIS ARMOR!" Yelled Bodhi as he pivoted on his left foot, turning around and suplexed Tyson, driving him into the wall. His body went limp, Marco and Darren approached slowly as Kailey helped Bodhi off the floor.
Tyson's lifeless body draped off the tree, his head seemingly stuck in the trunk. "What the FUCK are you two doing?" Kailey let go of Bodhi as she walked towards Marco and Darren, grabbing them by the collars. Neither of them really had an answer, her voice deep with rage, "Get a grip." She said furrowing her face, Cooped looked past them at Tyson, Bodhi was turned around facing them. Tyson's body jerked once, Cooper's eyes widened as he yelled at Bodhi "Watch out!"
He turned around almost instantly, By the time he did, Tyson's hand was nearly at his face. Raising his arm as fast as he could and ducking his face down trying to block the blow. At this, Tyson grabbed and twisted his upper arm, ripping it off in one clean motion as he dashed past him. Bodhi fell to the ground gripping the wound at his shoulder, Tyson held on to the arm, inspecting it. "Too bad that armor doesn't protect your weak frame." He had a shit eating grin on his face, he turned his face at the group and as he did, BLAM. A bullet punched through his face, a hole clean from his eye to the back of his head formed as he fell.
Bodhi screamed in agony as Kailey and Cooper both checked on him, She reached into one of the compartments, pulling out a tourniquet which she tightened around his shoulder. Darren and Marco both ran towards Tyson who laid motionless on the ground, still holding onto Bodhi's arm. Marco crouched down and reached for it, another laugh came from Tyson's mouth. His one eye shot open as he looked at Marco's horrified expression. Darren stepped back with his gun aimed at Tyson's head, who stood up and lifted his hands in the air. "Relax. may I?" He gestured at Bodhi with the arm he was holding. Darren gulped, if a bullet to the head didn't stop him, what could?
Tyson walked past him without an answer, Darren yelled at Marco with a broken composure, "What the HELL do we do?"
He whistled as he approached Bodhi, Kailey stood up and walked down towards him. In one swift motion, she threw a punch directly at his face. He caught it with the palm of his hand, gently wrapping his fingers over hers. "Paper" he chuckled as he lowered her hand and kept walking towards Bodhi. Crouching down next to him, he waved his arm in front of him. "Hello?-" Bodhi looked up at him with hazy eyes, despite the tourniquet, he was still losing a lot of blood. "I believe this belongs to you!" He said, pointing at him.
Cooper watched in horror as Tyson pushed Marco's amputated arm into the open wound, he turned around pale faced, nearly throwing up. He wrapped his hand around the wound, spinning it in circles, holding the arm in it's correct position. Kailey approached and looked down at Bodhi who was closing and opening his fist. He was still dazed, the pain lingered, or so he thought. She kneeled next to him as Tyson stood up. He clapped his hand, ridding them of the filth.
Darren and Marco approached him, seeing Bodhi's arm back in place once again. Tyson walked around him and clasped his hands together. "What do you want?" Asked Darren in a more authoritative tone. They both still had their guns in hand, but they were aimed at the ground. "Let's calm down now, I don't want to hurt anybody." He motioned with his hands as if to lower the tension. His gaze was relaxed, he looked at them as if he was looking down at a pack of sad puppies.
Marco gripped his gun but relaxed once he weighed his options. At this distance, there was nothing he could really do if Tyson lashed out. "What do you NEED?" Asked Darren again, driving the conversation. Tyson pouted and nodded, "I need to go back home" with a big smile on his face. Darren and Marco looked at each other for a second, they assumed the obvious which meant back on earth. "And what if we don't do that?" Marco asked bluntly.
Tyson tapped his chin as he walked around them as if sizing them down. "I like you guys, I don't want to hurt you. And I don't think you have a real choice." Darren and Marco kept a serious face, taking a deep breath each. "Either you call the extraction pods and we leave." He stands in front of them once again with his hands against his back, he looks around and signals the general area. The hole in his face still visible. "Or we stay here, you starve to death, and I just wait for whoever comes next" He smiles widely.
Sick bastard. Those are the only two things that Marco could think of as he looked at whoever this was. He snickered and turned around, looking at the surrounding valley, he bit his lip pensively. "How big are our rations?" he asked Darren telepathically. "Assuming he doesn't raid our portions, a 12 days." He nodded as he listened to Darren. He turned around, walked to Tyson placing his hand on his shoulder, "We're staying here," and went back to the other three, leaned up against the tree line.
Tyson shrugged, "suit yourselves." and began walking past Darren. He took a step back, pointing his gun at Tyson's chest, "Where do you think you're going." Tyson looked down as if disgusted, he took the barrel of the gun and placed it on his forehead. He closed his fist and hit it against his ribcage, Darren looked down, he was hitting the spot where part of his jumpsuit was missing. "If your rifle couldn't stop me with THAT kind of firepower" Darren looked back up as Tyson's grip tightened on the barrel. The hole through his head began to close up, a dark crimson puddle which twisted into a pitch black eye. Specks of white dust floated around inside as they settled into his Cornea. Darren's hands became shaky at his powerlessness in this situation. "Then what could this little toy do to me?" His white pupil stared into Darren's soul as his eye came back to normality, the hazel color within coming back. He smiled once again, placing his hand on his shoulder and walking past him out to the field.
"Oh" He turned around, raising a finger into the air, "If you try to call that ship without me? I'm gonna be back MUCH quicker than you can think." He pointed his finger at Darren then the group who were now all arguing. He gave him a wink before turning around and whistling as he walked away.