As dawn broke and the sun rose we gathered our gear and began traveling once more to the north west, as we did i began to take in the lush jungle around us, vines hanging down from the trees, a ruined gas station being submerged in trees, vines and moss, i never took the time to admire this world only fight on it, i never once took a single moment and its sad to me, sad that we have to fight these battles, these wars that will never end, that will never falter because the people will never falter. These thoughts consumed me as we continued our journey through jungles, swamps and eventually the plains where we collapsed onto our backs from exhaustion, we had finally made it to the plains that hug the southern region of the Federation country which led to the southern shores to the oceans of this planet, as we approached the sands of the shores we saw a young couple possibly late teens early twenties the both of them, the man looked like he was from the Desert Region while the lady was clearly from the Federation City, she even looked familiar too i remember seeing her walking in the town square with her parents when i first arrived at the Federation City, Locust pointed his rifle demanding an explanation, they pleaded for mercy. The young woman on her knees, hands clamped towards us saying "please Sir forgive us were not criminals i swear to you, we just wanna be in love, to embrace each other away from the eyes of judgement" i looked at him and then at their vessel, it was an old UNSC sand crawler that was remade into a boat capable of sea travel, it was a tall and wide vessel that looked as if it was capable of carrying ten soldiers. I looked back at Locust who then looked at me and sighed before shrugging and putting his rifle to the side, we tell them to stay put and we walk to the side away enough not to be heard, i look at Locust his face puzzled as he removed his helmet asking "whats your take on this Hyde? Your not from this world so you dont have our traditionals rooted into you like i do or others do" i looked back at the couple who began to pray quietly to whoever they believed in, as i looked at them my gaze became more focused on the ocean and my thoughts began to run before suddenly we heard behind us the sounds of metal stomping. we put on our helmets and turn weapons in hand to meet what was slowly approaching, it was Corvine! I ran to him asking "how did you find us Corvine? Were not even close to the Federation City i thought they locked you down" he took one more step towards me and let out a loud metallic laugh saying "fear not, we shall be coming with you to ensure theres no issues" my face became puzzled as i asked "we? But i only see you Corvine" and as i said that the rest of our original squad, Dr. Levine and a scientist all become visible, Jackal drops down from the rocket launcher on Corvines right shoulder, Sharktooth drops down from his other shoulder and the scientist and doctor drop down from seats that were attached to Corvines Reactor that makes up his back. Jackal walks to me and pats my shoulder "do you honestly think we would miss something like this Hyde? Lets fortify their craft and get rolling by dusk" he looks back at the Scientist and they both nod at each other like a form of unspoken code and everyone begins removing their armor except for sharktooth who opens a panel on his back using a touchpad on his right wrist plate, i ask "whats going on?" And the scientist pulls out a small tablet from his bag explaining "we need to fully deactivate all of the trackers in their armor to ensure nobody follows us, once we do we will upgrade in a way your vessel and get the hell out of here" i nodded in agreement and saw from the left an even bigger sand crawler made into a boat move to the other boat and connect to it making it one giant boat. An hour goes by as the scientist deactivates the trackers, everyone puts on their armor and loads Corvine and the rest of our gear onto the boat and we set off the coast into the oceans of the planet, the planet named Eternia. We powered off Corvines body so he could temporarily rest and recharge his reactor core, as we do we also set up a lounge area where we sit for the current voyage. I turned to the girl and removed my helmet asking "what is your name?" She looked at me "my names is Rosemary Sir" and i nod in acknowledgment, Jackal looked at me and asked "hows that head of yours? Because before we do anything we should examine your current state Hyde" i nodded and get up, Jackal does too and guides me to the examination room Dr. Levine had set up, in the middle was the examination bed which she told me to lay on with my helmet on which i did, Dr. Levine grabs a cable and plugs it into the back of my helmet saying "this may hurt Hyde" and begins to scan my brain. Levine and Jackal monitor the datapad thats connected to the examination bed in concerning silence for several minutes to the point where it made me feel tired just laying down, Dr. Levine shook her head a concerned look on her face as she spoke "Hyde your body is being taken over by this armor slowly but surely until you have fully succumbed to whatever energy is in it, we dont have much time left" i sigh as it begins to rain outside the rain drops falling on the window to my right. The good Doctor had removed me from the device connected to the examination table and i began to stood straight and put on my helmet asking "is there anything we can go to prevent or at least slow down the growth?" She looked at me as if that was the worst question i could have asked at that moment saying "there is but you wouldnt like it, in order to fully understand and contain whatever is on this armor we would have to put you in something similar to what Corvine is in" i looked down at the floor and sighed before nodding. As the days progressed we fished and established a small greenhouse for crops the scientist had collected, Dr. Levine had tried putting me in Statis until she had saw that it made my condition a little bit worse over time so now i just walk around the vessel normally, Locust would be fishing as Jackal ran samples on the water for filtration and the young couple helped with meal preparations as i made my way to the helm of the vessel to sit down and monitor our course the boyfriend of Rosemary following in and sitting in the seat in front of me asking "where exactly are we going? If you dont mind me asking" i look at him for a moment studying his figure, his look, i leaned forward and asked in response "whats your name?" He made a look of realization and responded "my name is Gerald Sir." And i nodded "look Gerald i understand this isnt what you were expecting when you first came to that shore but where were going is worth the journey and the secrecy" i went on as my eye flickered about in my helmet, i shook my head and my eye went to normal slowly.