"He did what to Zeus!?" Derek's voice rang out with anger as the Pelican took the Team back to the Fire of Dusk.

"Boot, I told you already. Asher was planning on killing the poor boy in his former home- and he defaced the poor kids home by destroying it. Here, I recorded the confrontation."

Faux played the video and showed Derek what had happened.

"U...Uh, where am I?" Zeus woke up and rubbed his head. "Derek? How did I get here?"

"My dude, you have just leveled yourself up to an awesome Spartan. Commander Palmer called all of us back to our assigned ships to see what exactly happened and how many are missing."

"Derek, what happened?" Zeus asked, bewildered, forgetting what had just happened to him not thirty minutes prior.

"Three teams of Spartans pulled a coup d'e'tat today," he said, full of sorrow, "they thought with their big egos that they could take us down but they couldn't. You proved that."

Zeus felt his face and saw in the reflection of his helmet on the seat across from him the gash that trailed down the left side of his face.

"Oh. Yeah. I had forgotten after I had been knocked out by a brick. Speaking of which," Zeus instantly thought of Riley and his face went from bewildered to straight out terrified. "Riley's gonna be super pissed when she sees the gash on my face."

Derek and the AI laughed at Zeus.

-----------------------------------------------

The Pelican landed in the Fire of Dusk's hangar and Zeus jammed on his helmet to prevent anyone from seeing what had happened to him.

"Colonel, the Commander would like to see you in the communications bay. Spartan Riley is looking for you also." An ODST informed him and saluted.

Better save Riley for last, Zeus thought as he sprinted to the comms bay. When he got there, the commander sighed a breath of relief.

"Take your helmet off, Spartan. That's an order." Palmer snapped.

Zeus slowly took his helmet off and saw the commander's face go from relieved to horrified "Asher did that to you?" she asked, concerned.

Zeus sighed after he had realized that this gash was pretty bad. "Faux is sending you the data, ma'am."

She watched the video and smirked. "You put him in his place, but he escaped along with Finn and Alicia. They're going to be a thorn in your side for a while. Does Riley know of what he did to you?"

He blushed. She knew, as did all the other Spartans, that they were an item and that they loved each other. "No, ma'am, she doesn't. What are my orders?"

"Don't try to change the subject, Makara. You have to say what we agreed on in boot camp."

"Oh, fine. You were right, Sarah Palmer. You were always right and I should have done what I needed to do in the first place."

"Okay, good. Report back to me at 0800 hours tomorrow morning, Zeus. Go get that wound cleaned up and go report to Riley and make sure she knows you are okay. Palmer out."

-----------------------

1600 Standard Time

"Oh my gosh! Zeus, what happened to you!? Riley asked as he came into her room.

He stayed silent, walking up to her and hugged her.

"What happened to your face?" She asked, alarmed, and ran her finger gently down the cut.

"Nothing happened. Don't worry about it. All I want to talk about is how happy I am to see that you're okay." 

She squeezed him tightly, and he felt her shudder and then melt in his arms.

"Derek told me," she began, tears falling down her face, "that Finn, Alicia, and Asher defected to the insurgency. He told me that he found you laying unconscious with your helmet on."

"I can send you a link of the fight if you want-" 

"Don't do it, Faux. Give us some time alone," Zeus's voice quivered, and him and Riley let go of each other at the same time. He looked at her, and she wept, and his heart shattered inside of him.

Asher had not only berated Zeus's family and God, but he had hurt Zeus physically and had shattered Riley's security.

"Riley," he began, and then unstrapped his breastplate and let it clink on the cold metal floor as he ran to comfort her.

"W-was he alone?" she stuttered as she wept, clutching Zeus tightly.

"Honey, please. Don't worry about it. Whether if he was alone or not, I was not about to die in the place that I had dreaded going to forever. I held on to God, and especially on to you. I was not about to leave you, Derek, and every single person on this world that I swore to protect."

The door opened, and Reeva and Erica walked in.

"Major Walden commanded us to come get you and to bring you to the infirmary." Reeva said.

"Not now, Reeve, can't you see they need a moment? Chappy almost lost his life," Erica stated with compassion, and slowly backed out the door.

"Reeva, get out." Riley stated with anger as she clutched Zeus tighter.

"Orders are orders, Lieutenant." Reeva stated coldly, and tilted her head.

Something must have happened while I was away, Zeus thought.

"Reeva, I won't say it again. Get. Out." Riley shoved Zeus aside, and walked up to Reeva.

"Lieutenant. His wound has a possibility of getting infected-"

"I can make my own decisions, Captain. Please, leave us." Zeus said.

The tension in the room was so bad that someone could have cut it with a knife.

Z walked in after Erica had explained the situation to him. "Captain. Lieutenant. Enough." He separated both of them by putting himself in the middle of them. Zeus was afraid that both of the women would try and hurt Z. " Your friend here has experienced one of the most gruesome days of his life and--" he looked at Zeus--"has earned a mighty battle scar to prove that he faced one of your best and survived."

"Well, we still need to get that wound dressed." Reeva said, and walked out, punching the wall and leaving a dent in it.

Zeus grabbed his breastplate and helmet and walked up to Riley. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" He kissed her on her cheek softly and walked out, forgetting that she had just shoved him away.

-------------------

"I can't believe you didn't show her the video," Derek said in mild excitement as Zeus was getting his wound cleaned and his head checked. "She would have thought you were ten times hotter than what you are to her."

"You obviously forgot how Riley feels about these things..." Zeus said as Reeva cleaned his head wound. "She gets severely upset and worried. Especially when it comes to me and my past."

"Riley obviously cares about you a little too much." Reeva said, sounding a slight bit jealous. "I mean, why would she have flipped out when she had heard that you had gone missing?

"Because, she's Riley. My Riley." Zeus said with pride.

"But.... your Riley just shoved you away in a fit of rage." Reeva said, sneakily.

Faux's orange light popped up in the room before Zeus could defend Riley's honor.

"Boot, you might want to turn on the television in here," Faux said, a little worried.

Derek turned on the television to see the Insurgent's General Tal Perrault with Asher beside him.

"Men and women of  the UNSC and the world of Harvest, we have come to bring judgement on you for forgetting us in our times of need. Three of your super soldiers have defected to my side. This one behind me has a message for a Colonel Makara."

Asher walked up to the camera holding the same little boy Zeus had saved on his first night on Harvest. He broke his leg and threw him to the side, where he could hear the boy crying in pain.

"NO! STOP!" Zeus yelled at the screen, horrified at the inhumanity Asher had become.

"You see what you have done, Zeus? We are going to take over this planet. And then, we are going to kill you and your screw-up and your geek queen and everyone who means anything to you. You cannot stop the Viper from striking." Asher said with a wicked grin on his face.

With that statement, the screen faded to black.