Armorines (Valiant Comics)

The Armorines start as a response by the U.S. Government to the perceived threat of the powerful alien Manowar Class Armor controlled by Aric Dacia. Under the leadership of CIA agent Peter Garrett and U.S. Marine Colonel Gardner, the United States Government investigates the existence of aliens on Earth. After collecting and modifying a few examples of Spider Alien for their own use, and also monitoring Aric’s use of the X–O Manowar armor, the government determines that the armor is too powerful to be in anyone’s hands but their own.

To that end, the government develops Project: Deep Freeze, a plan to lure Aric to Antarctica, where he will be subdued and stripped of his armor, which will then be taken to Amundsen-Scott Station, a U.S. Government base that has been built into a massive crater.

Project: Deep Freeze fails, but using the alien weaponry the government has already collected, and data gathered by examining the X–O Manowar , brilliant weapons technology expert Dr. Phillip Zahn develops the Armorines’ battle suits. These advanced battle suits are worn by a group of specially trained Marines, and each Armorine in the field has a “co–pilot” back at the base that remotely controls certain aspects of the armor’s functions.

This set–up makes the Armorines the finest combat unit the world has ever seen.

History[]

Unit, Corps, God, Country[]

Unit, Corps, God, Country - Part I[]

Arriving to an abandoned armory in Hudson, New York, Harold Lewis, Antonio Cordova and James Earl Williams met with Colonel Gardner, who took them down to the Factory, a workshop where Dr. Phillip Zahn inducted them on the specifications of the Armorines battle–suits while Michael Sirot, an NSA agent attached to the project, demonstrated its weapons systems to them. Skeptical of Sirot’s code of honor, Lewis questioned his qualifications, so Gardner revealed the existence of the X–O Manowar to him and said hat Sirot was the only survivor of Operation Deep Freeze. Ordering Lewis and the others to report to Camp Pendleton to meet their co–pilots, Gardner told them that their first mission would be to seize and destroy the X–O Manowar.

Several hours later in Gardner’s office, Zahn expressed concern over the Armorines being ready to face Aric two weeks from then, as well as worry over what Peter Garrett would think. Dismissing his qualms, Gardner assured Zahn that once this affair was over Garrett would find himself in trouble with his superiors.

The next day at Camp Pendleton, as Lewis stepped out to the stairway for a smoke while he waited for the briefing to start he met Major Myra Lane, who he defined on the spot as being top of her class and decorated for superior performance during training but lacking actual combat experience, a combination he deemed dangerous. Before Myra could retort, Lt. Hossen walked in and let them know that the meeting had begun.

At the briefing, Gardner assigned the team’s configuration order; while Sirot became point man with Hossen as his co–pilot, James Earl and Antonio became Wing Men A and B backed up by Second Lt. Pierce and Lt. Dominguez respectively. Finally, Lewis became the unit’s anchor man with Myra as his co–pilot, a notion that did not sit well with him. Turning the meeting back on the issue at hand, Gardner told the Armorines that their primary target was Aric Dacia and the suit of alien armor in his control from which the Armorines’ technology was derived from, a threat to national security he confessed would not be an easy task to stop.

Twelve days later, in a top secret training field, Sirot’s inadvertent break from the team’s formation resulted in his getting shot by a tank during a live–fire exercise that he survived thanks to the protective field activated by his co–pilot. After destroying the tank with his PBC, Lewis chastised Sirot for his grandstanding. Two nights later aboard a helicopter headed for upstate New York carrying the Armorines to their battle with Aric, while donning his battle–suit Lewis mused over how his teammates, even Sirot, had congealed into a unit. Meanwhile, at the Hotel Pullman Highland in Washington, Peter Garrett and Helen Mandrake mocked Gardner for believing the fake orders that they planted telling the Armorines to go after Aric, a ruse designed to have the Armorines kill Aric for humiliating her and push Gardner out of his way by getting him tried.

Unit, Corps, God, Country - Part II[]

Early one day at his house in Ulster County, Aric walked into the cellar and donned the Good Skin for the first time since his return from South America two weeks earlier, and much to his delight he discovered that the X–O, which he felt he had come to depend on, had healed from the effect of Randy’s psyche. Sometime later, after Aric and Randy Cartier had departed for Orb Industries, the helicopter carrying the Armorines landed outside the house and the marines hid throughout the property and prepared for Aric’s return.

An hour later at Orb Industries, Ken Clarkson informed Aric that he had been unable to find any reference to Reece anywhere in Spectra’s records, a admission that greatly angered him. Calming Aric down, Randy offered to send three people from her department down to South America to uncover who bankrolled Reece and his men, a proposal that due to his lack of patience Aric was reluctant to accept, but nevertheless agreed to. That afternoon while leaving work, Aric saw Randy and Paul talking in the parking lot, and at her insistance that Paul was a friend he did not dwell on it. Meanwhile in Washington, Peter and Helen learned that the Armorines were close to engaging Aric and looked forward to their killing him.

While on his way home from work, Aric was anxious to don the Good Skin and let off some steam from the situation with Spectra, when just then Sirot shot his tires with an ion blast, which sent the car careening off the road. As the car flipped in the air, Aric summoned the armor, which broke through the walls of the cellar and toppled the Armorines as it flew towards its master. Garbed in the X–O, Aric rose from the wreckage of his car and confronted the Armorines, who he accused of being posers in fake good skins. Engaging the Armorines in combat, Aric was initially surprised by the similarities between their armors and his own, when then he discovered that, unlike the X–O, the Armorines could not fly, a discovery he used to his advantage against Sirot, who he enveloped in a tractor beam and dropped on the Ashokan reservoir.

Driving towards Randy’s house, Paul chastised Randy for what happened in Afghanistan, when then she saw the fight between Aric and the Armorines in the distance and told Paul to stop the car so they could help Aric. Surrounded on all sides by the remaining Armorines, Aric barely withstood a barrage from their ion cannons that forced him to crash into the ground. Investigating the crash site, James Earl fell for Aric’s ruse and was unprepared for a shot from his ion cannons that breached his armor’s integrity and forced him to eject and activate the self–destruct mechanism, which destroyed his battle–suit and maximized the X–O Manowar’s energy–absorption capabilities, rendering Aric defenseless. Emerging from the reservoir, Sirot joined Antonio and Lewis, who ordered them to regroup and make sure James Earl was okay before they converged on Aric. Back in Camp Pendleton, General Kendall arrived to arrest Gardner for issuing false orders to attack Aric.

Following Lewis’ lead, the Armorines assumed a formation in front of Aric to shoot him with their particle beam cannons to neutralize the X–O Manowar by causing a feedback on its systems. Before they could open fire, Randy and Paul came running down the hill and tried to stop them. Though Lewis initially hesitated to fire with civilians present, after Myra informed them that Randy and Paul were Canadian Secret Service agents possibly in league with Aric, Sirot ordered them to fire. Just then, Myra relayed General Kendall’s order to abort the mission in lieu of Gardner’s arrest, but , Sirot refused to obey and continued firing until his co–pilot cut his armor’s power. Enraged, Aric wanted to kill the Armorines for breaking his truce with Senator Ackerman and the President, but Randy and Paul convinced him to let them go, which he reluctantly did.

One week later in Washington, Sirot and Garrett reached a deal for Garrett to leave the Armorines out of his plans in exchange for Sirot not revealing his indiscretions and role in Gardner’s arrest. Meanwhile in Ulster county, Gunny Lewis arrived at Aric’s house and assured him that they had dealt with the people behind the attack, and to learn from him the answers for all the questions he had that his superiors refused to give him.

Fathoms Below[]

Fathoms Below - Part I: White Death[]

500 kilometers off the Southern Coast of Australia, four Navy SEALS dove into the ocean to search for the USS Benchley, the second of two US submarines to sink under mysterious circumstances in six months. As the SEALS made their way into the sub, unseen forces that tore them to pieces attacked them.

The next day, inside one of the specially constructed domes outside Camp Pendleton, Gunny Lewis coursed through an exercise in an effort to show the Brass that they did not make a mistake by putting him in charge of the Armorines. Falling into a tank filled with water, Gunny contacted Major Lane, who, using a virtual reality environment to monitor his status, informed him that due to the armor’s lack of underwater gear the water had rendered the ion blade inoperative. Slicing a piece of the wall with the laser cutter, Gunny learned that the tank had a triple hull, when just then, a battering ram hit him from behind. Requesting lower body maximum strength augmentation, Gunny used the force of the ion cannons together with the battering ram’s momentum to blast his way out of the tank, a maneuver that Dr. Zahn found to be unorthodox but impressive.

Several days later, General Kendall briefed the Armorines on the disappearance of the NAVY SEALS, who never resurfaced after loosing communication. Told that they would be diving with another group of SEALS to find out what happened to the others, General Kendall ordered the Armorines to destroy the USS Benchley to prevent its cargo of high–tech weapons from falling into enemy hands. Calling the Armorines’ attention to a ballast and propulsion unit that he designed to compensate for their armor’s weight, Dr. Zahn informed the team that the underwater activity would decrease their weapons system’s output, while light refraction would reduce their ion cannon’s effectiveness by 60% or more depending on how deep they went. Finally, Kendall said that they could not just blow up the sub’s core, that first they would need to raise it to the surface.

Four days later in Sidney, Gunny introduced Sirot, and Myra to Tristan Atkins, a shark hunter friend of his who told them to expect sharks to attack them. Warning them that the terrain where the Benchley had sunk was unstable, Tristan said that the sub was on the edge of a precipice and that too much activity might cause the wreck to go over the side. Telling them to familiarize themselves with the area, Tristan said that he wanted to make sure they were prepared for the dive, as there would be no second chances.

The next day, the Armorines, Tristan, and the SEALS found the wreck under the ocean. While two SEALS, Castillo and Ferrer, stayed behind to examine the hull, the Armorines went to look for the crew’s bodies. As the SEALS discovered that an energy weapon had breached the hull from the outside, a shark attacked them. Meanwhile, as the Armorines and Tristan were at a loss to discovered that the crew’s bodies were nowhere in sight, they received a distress call from Castillo, who said that Ferrer was dead. Finding Castillo cornered by the shark, the Armorines opened fire on it, when then a second shark pushed Gunny out of the sub. In a daze, Gunny witnessed three sharks eating Ferrer while two others menacingly approached him from opposite sides.

Fathoms Below - Part II: Frenzy[]

Aboard the Armorines chopper, 500 kilometers off the Southern Coast of Australia, Major Lane attempted to establish contact with Gunny. Reporting back, Gunny requested back–up against the sharks, when then one of them grabbed his propulsion unit in his mouth. Firing an ion blast at the shark’s fin, Williams freed Gunny. Exiting the sub, Tristan told the Armorines to focus their attack on the sharks’ weak spots, but then one of them crushed him against the hull and broke his ribs. Killing the shark, Gunny grabbed Tristan while Cordova and Williams finished another great white. Using the shark’s feeding frenzy on their own to their advantage, the Armorines returned to the Benchley. Splitting up, Gunny and Cordova left to find the core, while Sirot went with Roth, the third SEAL, and Williams to set up the explosive charges. Finding the nuclear core, Gunny requested assistance to get Castillo and Tristan out, so General Kendall sent a rescue team to retrieve them.

Hours later, as Williams, Sirot, and Roth finished setting up the explosives, two hammerhead sharks attacked them and killed Roth. During the attack, the sharks damaged Sirot’s communicator, so Williams sent him to the surface while he stayed behind. As Sirot exited the Benchley, he came upon a Spider Alien vessel that shot him with a concussion blast. Inside the vessel, the aliens’ leader ordered that Sirot be brought onboard.

An hour later, after Gunny and Cordova secured the nuclear core to the cargo lines of a chopper, they went back to get Tristan and Castillo out. Inside the Benchley, Tristan and Castillo strapped themselves to two trained dolphins sent to rescue them. While Cordova escorted Tristan and Castillo to the surface, Gunny stayed behind to finish off the great whites. Back inside the sub, Williams activated the bomb’s timer and left.

As the last great white pushed him against the hull of the ship, Gunny’s propulsion unit shattered. Facing the white’s gnashing teeth, Gunny fired a massive ion discharge into the shark’s mouth and killed it, but the blast destabilized the sub, which fell over the edge before it exploded.

Elsewhere, Sirot awoke inside the Spider Alien vessel surrounded by corpses.

Fathoms Below - Part III: Enemy Action[]

500 kilometers off the Southern Coast of Australia, as Gunny fell down the abyss beside the Benchley, unable to rise up after loosing his propulsion unit, Williams dove toward him and pulled him up. Several kilometers away, the Spider Alien vessel entered the wreck of an oil tanker, where a group of aliens greeted Aristedes and Marc Anthony. Leaving to meet with Chantilla, the tanker’s leader, Aristedes told the others to retrieve Sirot. Inside the vessel, the aliens found Sirot’s empty armor, and thinking that Aristedes had picked up a useless piece of junk, dragged it out of there and took it to the trash. Behind them, Sirot rose up from a pile of corpses and, armed with a side pistol, followed the aliens to find out what he had gotten into.

Sometime later, General Kendal informed Gunny that Sirot was still missing. Contacting Major Lane, Gunny requested a replacement propulsion unit and asked her for Sirot’s status. Told that despite having lost visual and audio contact with Sirot they were still tracking him, Myra informed Gunny that Dr. Zahn had found a way to keep the sharks away by rerouting the circuitry in the armors so that they would emanate a sonic jam.

Following Sirot’s signal to the tanker, Gunny requested an update and learned that Sirot discarded his armor, which Zahn wanted retrieved at any cost. Deep inside the tanker, Aristedes and Marc Anthony met with Chantilla and Sasha, his chief scientist. Informing Chantilla that Shanhara’s death ensured that their gathering could take place without further interference, Aristedes demanded that Chantilla deliver the equipment he raided from the Benchley, which contained data on the satellite guidance systems of the world powers they could use to block the humans’ radar when their forces met their mothership. Holding the black box that contained the information, Aristedes and Marc Anthony returned to their vessel. Just then, Sasha smelled Sirot standing behind a wall. Throwing him on the floor, Sasha vomited in Sirot’s mouth and paralyzed him with her venom. Telling Sasha to take Sirot to the farm, Chantilla ordered his guards to bring him his armor.

Finding Sirot’s armor in the trash, the Armorines swiftly dispatched a trio of Spider Aliens sent to retrieve it. Meanwhile, moments after Aristedes’ vessel left, Sirot awoke in the farm, a laboratory in the tanker filled with glass containers that held mutated great whites whom Sasha bred to find food for the aliens. Just then, the Armorines breached the laboratory and engaged the aliens. Grabbing Sasha, Sirot demanded that she give him the details on the gathering, but she refused, so he snapped her neck. Throwing Sirot’s armor at his feet, Cordova told him to put it on while he kept the aliens at bay. Seeing Chantilla escape, Sirot wanted to go after him, but Gunny ordered him to stand down and leave with them before any reinforcements arrived. Though it upset him to let Chantilla escape, Sirot blasted an observation window so that they could all swim out.

Elsewhere, Chantilla activated the tanker’s self destruct to prevent the humans from learning what they had been up to. Watching the explosion from a safe distance, Gunny asked Sirot if he could explain what happened . Uncertain of the details, Sirot assured Gunny that they had not seen the last of the Spider Aliens.

Prelude[]

Debriefing[]

Inside a training dome just outside Camp Pendleton, Gunny and Sirot engaged in a sparring session to test an experimental harness created by Dr. Zahn. Repeatedly punching Gunny, Sirot told him to retire before he got one of the other Armorines killed in action, and that his days in the outfit were numbered. Throwing a punch, Gunny asked Sirot what he was talking about. Hitting Gunny on the neck with his elbow, Sirot told him that Senator Ackerman wanted him off the team as soon as General Kendall fell the other recruits were properly trained. Grabbing Gunny, Sirot mockingly said that he was a thirty–eight year old retread close to retirement whose life was in shambles and whose past was more than a little shady. Angered, Gunny repeatedly hit Sirot until he knocked him out. Shutting the harnesses off, Zahn terminated the test to stop the men from killing each other. His head pounding and his chest on fire, Gunny took the harness off, upset that Sirot could tell how weak he was, and walked out of the dome after taking a cigarette from Major Lane.

An hour later, in General Kendall’s office, Senator Ackerman demanded that the General pull Gunny from the unit, citing the success of their mission to Australia as an example of the Armorines’ capability without him. Accusing the Senator of being unreasonable, General Kendall told him that they needed four fully–trained Armorines to face the hostile aliens, whom, from Sirot’s debriefing, they suspected posed a threat to the entire planet. Refusing to pull Gunny long as there was a chance that they would go to war, the General told the Senator that if he had the country’s best interest at heart, he would agree with him. Upset by the General’s implication, the Senator dropped the issue, but warned Kendall that once they dealt with the alien threat he would force Gunny to retire and that he should start looking for replacement for him immediately.

Meanwhile, across the globe, Spider Alien vessels departed for space.

That evening, Hossen walked into the officers club just as Pierce, Dominguez, and Lane made a toast to the completion of the Armorines’s first mission. Telling Hossen that they were thinking of heading into town, Piece and Dominguez invited him to go along, but he declined, as he was on his way to give Sirot a beeper at Dr. Zahn’s behest. Hearing Hossen say that he wanted to get to know Sirot better, Pierce and Dominguez asked him why he wanted to know someone who treated him like dirt. Walking away, Hossen said that Sirot probably acted like a jerk because nobody had bothered to try to make him feel like part of the team. Feeling sorry for Hossen, Pierce and Dominguez invited Myra to go with them, but she declined as well and left.

At the non–commissioned officers club, James Earl introduced Anthony to Lance Corporal Sean Kranick, a friend from boot camp, and invited him to sit down with them, but Anthony was on his way out to pick his fiancée at the airport. Just then, Major Lane walked into the club and went to look for Gunny, who was sitting on a cabin at the far end of the room. Walking up to Gunny, Myra noticed that he was drinking a soda and commented that it defeated the purpose of trying to drown his troubles. Standing up, Gunny told Myra that he was a recovering alcoholic and walked away, leaving her to ponder her faux pas.

In a top secret strategy room somewhere in the camp, Zahn informed General Kendall and Senator Ackerman that the aliens had clocked their presence from their radar systems, just like Sirot reported. However, using reports of UFO sightings made in the last few days around the world, Zahn found the alien fleet, a discovery confirmed by an observatory in Colorado. Seeking to avoid a global panic, Kendall worried that launching a space shuttle to intercept the fleet without the press finding out would be a problem. Offering a solution, Ackerman suggested contacting Omen Enterprises, which possessed a privately funded space program. The catch, however, was that they would have to work with some of their people.

While working out at the gym of his house in Laguna beach, Sirot answered the door bell and saw Hossen at the door with his dog. Looking to make conversation, Hossen told Sirot that he had a beautiful house, while acting rudely, Sirot told Hossen that he did not have all day and asked him what brought him there. Showing him the beeper, Hossen said that Dr. Zahn wanted him to have it so that he could reach him. Snatching the beeper from Hossen’s hand, Sirot sourly asked him if there was anything else he wanted, so Hossen invited him out for a drink. Telling Hossen that he knew what he was not interested in what he was doing because he could not afford to be, Sirot closed the door and sent him on his way.

That night, Myra chased Gunny across Camp Pendleton to talk to him, but he walked away from her. Urging Gunny to listen to her, Myra said that she found out that Sirot was not lying about Ackerman’s desire to pull him from the unit. Though Myra offered to speak with Kendall on his behalf, Gunny told her that he did not want her help. Upset, Myra told Gunny that he could not fool her, and that she knew how much Project Armorines meant for him. Opening the door to his room, Gunny asked Myra to consider that Sirot and Ackerman were right, and that he was getting too old. Walking inside, Gunny was surprised to see Cora, his daughter. While Gunny apologized to Cora for not picking her at the airport, his beeper went off and he had to leave. Promising that they would talk when he got back, Gunny kissed Cora and left. Several miles away, Anthony and his fiancée, Sarah Vaughn, checked into the Marriott, when just, then his beeper went off and he had to leave.

Making his way across a long hallway, Gunny wondered why the others were not there with him. Thinking that they had called only him to pull him from the unit and force him into early retirement, Gunny dreaded meeting with General Kendall. Nonetheless, Gunny walked into the room and saw the General waiting for him. Taking Gunny for a walk, Kendall told him that the Armorines were going on a search and destroy mission against an alien fleet orbiting the Earth. Taking Gunny into a briefing room, Kendall informed him that they would be going up with a civilian outfit they had encountered before. Opening the door, Kendall properly introduced Gunny to the HARD Corps.

Chaos Effect Delta[]

The Gathering – Part I: A Call To Arms[]

At the office of Toyo Harada in Bolivar, Aric Dacia asked Harada if he had any information about the Spider Aliens, whom he was certain were up to something after they sent a thief to steal a ship in Orb Industries. Confirming Aric’s suspicion, Harada said that he had recorded dozens of Spider Alien vessels leaving Earth. Presuming that they were gathering in space planning an attack, Harada told Aric that Omen Enterprises and the government faction that ran the Armorines were launching two shuttles out into space to investigate. Interfacing with Harada’s computer, Aric downloaded the location of the Omen spacecraft into the Good Skin and took his leave. Before Aric left, Harada reminded him that this was another favor he had done for him with no questions asked, and that he expected him to do the same for him someday.

Inside a van somewhere in Ohio, the kids from B–Squad drowned in Dr. Eclipse’s liquid body one by one until Butch MacFaddin let out a sonic scream that blew the top of the van off. Chocking on Eclipse’ fluid, yet still alive, the kids crawled into the road, where Victoria Martinelli saw Dr. Eclipse looming over them with a mocking smile on his face. Taunting them, Eclipse challenged the kids to take on him, so Sam Silently stood up to face him. Grabbing Sam in his oversized hand, Eclipse pulled him toward his mouth, when suddenly, the chaos effect enveloped the world and filled him with an influx of necromantic energy. Mad with power and delusions of Godhood, Eclipse took to the skies and left the B–Squad behind to wonder what was happening.

Amid glowing chemical lights, Harada told Walter, Katsumi, and others that he had spent two hours reaching out across the globe and felt the fear, confusion, and death left in the wake of the chaos. Explaining that the laws of nature no longer applied, Harada said that a dark energy was sweeping the world, blocking the sun’s rays and disrupting the electromagnetic spectrum, causing electricity to become erratic. Proclaiming that they were witnessing the fall of man and that they were spinning chaotically in a world that no longer welcomed them where science no longer ruled, Harada said that magic and Faith Herbert were their masters. Fearing the worst, Harada told Walter that he believed that the Spider Aliens were behind the worldwide crisis, and that the Armorines, Omen Enterprises, and X–O Manowar might be battling them in deep space with the fate of everything hanging in the balance. Pointing out that communications were out, Walter said that there was no way they could find out what was happening, but Harada suggested that there was a way he could find them.

Somewhere in West Virginia, Faith landed in the woods to find shelter from the weather before she got lost in it. Just then, a dog called Chief jumped her from behind and threw her on the ground. Following Chief, Jack, a young kid, apologized to Faith and pulled the dog off her. Introducing himself, Jack told Faith that he and his uncle had a campsite nearby and invited her to join them. Five hours later, somewhere in Ohio, the kids from B–Squad gathered around a campfire beside their van and wondered when the skies would clear up again.

In Bolivar, while on their way to a specially prepared room, Harada told Walter that he planned to reach out mentally to the Omen shuttles in space to take possession of somebody’s body, preferably Aric’s, so he could not only see the end of the Spider Alien threat, but play a part in it as well. Disrobing to go inside a sensory deprivation chamber, Harada told Walter to transcribe everything he said, and that even if the chaos effect ended, he was not to be disturbed. Entering the chamber, Harada spent the next few hours focusing his mental abilities in an effort to reach out to any of the warriors fighting against the Spider Alien forces.

High above the Earth, the Armorines and HARD Corps engaged the Spider Alien fleet in a no holds barred battle. Astonished, Cordova could not believe that they were taking on an alien fleet in space, while Sirot was satisfied that the proof was right in his face. Seeing a squadron of alien warriors coming their way, Flatline suddenly grabbed his head and keeled over in pain as Harada took over his body. Staring out into the void of space, Harada looked at the others with contempt.

The Gathering – Part II: Search And Destroy[]

On the morning of June 20, 1994, in a remote launch site owned by Omen Enterprises located somewhere in New Mexico, the space shuttles Voyager and Intrepid launched into orbit carrying the Armorines and HARD Corps within them. Inside the Voyager’s cargo hold, while Major Lane complained over the cramped space, Hossen felt elated that they were going out into space, but urging him to loose the starry–eyed attitude, she told him that they were going to war, not an episode of Star Trek. Behind them, Gunny agreed with Myra that they could not take the luxury of taking in the scenery, not when an alien invasion threatened the entire Earth. Soon, the shuttles reached escape velocity and were well on their way to rendezvous in high Earth orbit.

Down in ground control, Zahn told Sigmund Heydrich that he was surprised that he did not sent Softcore up with his agents since she activated their Harbinger powers. Explaining that they had found that they ran less risk of discovery by keeping Softcore at the home base on all of HARD Corps’ missions, Heydrich said that it gave them tighter control over the Corps’ members. Offering his due respects, General Kendall told Heydrich that he found the ability to brain–fry their own personnel on a whim to be somewhat disturbing. Telling Kendall not to be sanctimonious, Heydrich accused him of building his distinguished marine corps’s reputation on false propaganda and deceit. Looking to dissuade the argument, Zahn called Kendall and Heydrich’s attention to a monitor. Behind them, Softcore established contact with the HARD Corps aboard the Intrepid and told them that she would be switching them to shield mode until further notice.

Onboard the Intrepid, Flatline told Hotshot that he was not too keen on working with the Armorines, who tried to kill them. Agreeing with him, Hotshot said that if they turned on them while they were up there they would be dead meat. Calling them paranoid, Gunslinger told them that what happened before was a mistake, and that Gunny Lewis was a good man, when suddenly the shuttle wobbled and threw them off balance. Running to the cockpit to find out what happened, Gunslinger learned that there was some kind of major disruption in the Earth’s electromagnetic geosphere and that the pilot had lost contact with Voyager.

Reestablishing contact with Intrepid, the two crews learned that there was some kind of global disturbance that caused a communications blackout that left them completely cutoff from Earth. Contacting Gunslinger, Gunny turned his attention to a massive alien fleet in the distance that had spotted their approach. Back in ground control, Kendall found Zahn staring at the sky, amazed by the electric field that encompassed the Earth, and ordered him to return inside to help Heydrich’s staff. Telling the General that there was nothing they could do, Zahn said that the aliens may have caused the electrical freeze using some type of weapon to keep them defenseless for when their invasion force stroke. Looking at the sky, Kendall proclaimed that that could mean the end of everything as they knew it and Zahn concurred. Meanwhile, onboard a Spider Alien vessel, Marc Anthony told Aristedes that their mothership was not scheduled to arrive for a few hours and asked him what they were going to do about the two shuttles, which surely contained a human attack force. Reluctant to risk loosing anymore ships, Aristedes ordered Marc Anthony to sent out three squadrons of their finest warriors in X-O Wolf Armor to engage the humans in hand–to–hand– combat.

Equipped in EVA suits, the HARD Corps exited the Intrepid’s cargo bay through the open canopy while the Armorines approached them in their armors from the Voyager. Hearing Flatline complain about being stuck on shield mode and loosing their offensive strategy, Gunny realized that cut off from Softcore they could not switch to any of their other powers, which put them at an immediate disadvantage. Showing off a high–tech gun, Hammerhead told Flatline to be glad that he insisted that they bring those along. Nevertheless, Gunny suggested that they work together and watch each other’s backs. Agreeing, Gunslinger said that their first priority was to find a way to disable the aliens’ ships. Watching the alien’s first wave of defense troops bearing on them, Gunny ordered everyone to lock and load for a fight.

His heart pounding like a hammer, either due to an adrenaline rush or the cold fear at the sight of the aliens, Gunny wondered if they were going to have a chance against them and their technology. Contacting Myra, Gunny told her to scan the outer hull of the closest ship to find a weak spot they could penetrate with their weapons. Taking Gunslinger with him, Gunny blew a hole on the side of a Spider Alien vessel with his ion cannons and the two of them went inside to find its main power source and destroy it. Meanwhile, outside, Toyo Harada’s consciousness took over Flatline’s body. Taking the others by surprise, Harada used his Omega Power to switch powers and dispatch two alien warriors, then he flew away, leaving Shakespeare in doubt.

Inside the alien vessel, Gunny and Gunslinger reached the engine room. While Gunslinger kept the aliens at bay with his force field, Gunny fired his PBC cannon at the engine and destroyed it. Blowing a hole through the hull, Gunny and Gunslinger escaped the vessel before it rammed another ship. Taking cover behind a shield, the two withstood a massive explosion that resulted from the collision of both vessels. Floating aimlessly, at the mercy of two alien warriors, Gunslinger was too weak to put up another shield, while the energy levels in Gunny’s armor had dropped severely and were a few minutes away from going back on–line. Just then, X–O Manowar destroyed the aliens and rescued them. Cursing the hard skins, Aric promised that they would die like all the rest of their kind. Assuring one another that they were on the same side of the battle, Gunny, Gunslinger, and Aric went their separate ways to fight the aliens from multiple fronts.

Elsewhere, Harada in Flatline’s body watched as the Armorines and HARD Corps engaged the aliens in futile battle atop an alien vessel. Showing outer disregard for the other’s safety, Harada ripped the alien vessel to shreds. Taking cover behind a shield, Hammerhead told the others that he was beginning to believe that Flatline was not himself.

The Gathering – Part III: Old Acquaintances[]

Leaving Harada’s office, X–O Manowar took off for space, delighted at the prospect of the coming slaughter. Satisfied that Harada’s information confirmed his suspicions about the aliens, Aric vowed that they would not escape his wrath. Urging the Good Skin to hurry and take him to his enemies so that he could fulfill his blood oath, Aric broke orbit right as the necromantic energy pouring out of Ivar’s time arc enveloped the Earth and momentarily lost touch with the armor. Staring at the Earth, Aric surmised that the aliens were responsible for the energy web around the planet and vowed to make them pay dearly, when suddenly he heard Paul’s voice screaming in his ears. Skeptical at first, Aric listened as Paul said that the X–O armor had not fully absorbed part of his consciousness during the joining due to his being a human host and not an alien. Deducing that the disturbance had awoken Paul, Aric promised to deal with the situation after they killed the aliens. Meanwhile, at the Orb Industries medical center, Ken and Tilly Milton discovered that Krollos had escaped.

Above Earth’s atmosphere, Harada took over Flatline’s mind and flew away, while Sirot broke ranks and left. Aboard an alien vessel, Gunny and Gunslinger destroyed the ship’s power source, causing the vessel to ram another ship and explode. Delighted by the sight of so many hard skins, Aric inferred that the gathering must have been why Aristedes desperately wanted Shanhara out of the way. Holding Aristedes responsible for the death of Shanhara and Paul’s current predicament, Aric promised Paul that he would find him and make his juices flow. Floating aimlessly at the mercy of two alien warriors, Gunslinger was too weak to put up another shield, while the energy levels in Gunny’s armor had dropped severely and were a few minutes away from going back on–line, when then X–O Manowar destroyed the aliens and rescued them. Cursing the hard skins, Aric promised that they would die like the rest of their kind. Assuring one another that they were on the same side, Gunny, Gunslinger, and Aric went their separate ways to fight the aliens from multiple fronts.

Meanwhile, in a small town near Vancouver, Randy informed the rest of Department W that David’s autopsy revealed that whoever murdered him was an experienced assassin. Explaining that the coroner found a gelatin fragment and broken skin along the bruise on David’s neck, Randy said that David was poisoned. Calling it a unique method of assassination, Ian said that the only individual in their files that fit that mo was an assassin who called himself Snakebite, named after the legendary silent killers of World War II. Intent on tracking down Snakebite, Randy urged the others to help her. Just then, a sniper’s bullet killed Stephan.

Breaking into an alien vessel, Aric found Aristedes on the bridge and tore him asunder, then he blasted Marc Anthony into space. Elsewhere, Gunslinger and Gunny went to find Flatline, who unlike the other Corps was not stuck in shield mode. Contacting Myra, Gunny learned that Sirot was onboard one of the alien vessels and had shut off visual and audio contact with Hossen.

After ripping the heads off two aliens, Sirot linked his armor to the vessel’s computers, unaware that an alien had trained his weapon on him. Startling Sirot, X–O Manowar killed the alien. Grabbing the interface, Aric asked Sirot what he was doing, so he told him that the NSA wanted him to retrieve as much information about the aliens and their technology as he could while he was up there. Silently, Aric ripped the interface from the aliens’ computer and shattered it in his hand, infuriating Sirot, who accused him of being a stupid, arrogant brute. Just then, the alien ship shook up and threw the two men off balance. Lighting the darkened room with his omni beam, Aric told Sirot that the others might be trying to disable the ship from outside.

Finding Flatline attacking the Spider Alien vessel with arc charge, Gunslinger ordered him to stop what he was doing and told him that one of the Armorines was on board the ship. Calling him naïve for not realizing that Sam Kim was no longer in control of his body, Harada said that the aliens posed a threat to everything he had tried to built and that he did not care who got killed as long as those damned creatures were eliminated. Vowing that he would not be denied Harada delivered a fatal charge that destroyed the alien vessel.

The Gathering – Part IV: Unholy Alliance[]

Finding Flatline attacking the alien vessel, Gunslinger ordered him to stop what he was doing, and told him that one of the Armorines was on board. Calling him a fool, Flatline said that the Spider Alien posed a threat to everything he had tried to built and that he did not care who was in the way of his slaughter of all of those creatures. Vowing that he would not be denied, Harada delivered a fatal charge that destroyed the alien vessel.

Gathering the Armorines and the Corps, Gunslinger told them that Harada had possessed Sam, and that in his eyes they were expendable. Certain that Sirot was dead, Gunny accused Harada of murder, when then Myra informed him that Sirot was alive and headed their way. In awe, the Armorines and Corps watched as the X–O Manowar armor in its ball configuration flew toward them from the explosion and opened up to reveal Sirot and Aric inside it. After thanking Aric for saving Sirot, Gunny confronted Michael for shutting off visual and audio without permission, but all Sirot would say was that he had his orders. Interrupting Gunny’s reaming of Sirot, Major Lane informed him that one of the alien ships had broken formation and headed for the Voyager. While the others dealt with the fleet, Gunny and Aric flew toward the shuttle to take care of the aliens.

Soon, Aric and Gunny found the vessel attacking the Voyager, which was taking evasive maneuvers. Aware that the shuttle could not avoid the alien lasers for long, Gunny worried that if they did not save the shuttle, they would all be stranded in space. Attacking the ship from different flanks , Aric and Gunny destroyed it. Reaching the shuttle, Gunny raised Myra on their comm–link and told her that the shuttle was hit hard but the hull was not breached. Meanwhile, Sirot suggested that they kill Flatline, but Gunslinger told him that killing Sam to get rid of Harada was not an option as far as he was concerned. Pointing to the last three alien vessels, Shakespeare informed Gunslinger that they were reconfiguring and that Harada had gone on the offensive.

Contacting Harada, Gunslinger urged him to halt his assault, and told him that taking on the Spider Aliens alone was suicide, but Harada ignored his warnings and engaged a squadron of aliens in Wolf armor. Urging Harada to realize that he was jeopardizing the mission, Gunslinger told him that he if he really wanted to beat the aliens he would work with them. Though he was hesitant to work with his would–be assassins, Harada agreed to let the Corps and Armorines protect him while he single–handedly knocked out every alien ship. Protected by the Corps’ shields while the Armorines took out the aliens, Harada destroyed the alien vessels.

Weakened, Harada turned on his brief allies to avenge their assassination attempt on his life before he lost his hold on Sam’s body. Shooting Shakespeare out of his way and disabling an Armorine, Harada, certain that he would not harm him as long as he was in Flatline’s body, grabbed Gunslinger’s neck through his force field and threatened to blow up his helmet, when, suddenly, an Armorine tackled him and pushed him off Charles. Exhausted, and unable to hold much longer, Harada barely had enough strength to raise a force field to deflect a burst from Sirot’s PBC cannon. Regaining control of his body, Flatline came to unaware of what happened.

Sometime later, Gunny and X–O Manowar took out the remaining alien ships while the Armorines and the Corps took out the last of the armored aliens, bringing an end of the Spider Alien threat. Soon, while Gunny informed the team that it would take a few hours to make repairs on their shuttle, Gunslinger bemoaned the fact that as long as the energy field was around the Earth they could not get back, when then the disturbance disappeared as soon as it appeared. Contacting the Intrepid, Gunslinger urged them to reestablish contact with ground control. Shacking Gunslinger’s hand, Gunny told him that as soon as they made contact with ground control they should get out of there, while X–O would stay behind to help the Armorines get back safely. Parting ways, Gunny and Gunslinger agreed that they were getting too old for their line of work.

Aftermath[]

Unwelcome Visitors[]

Inside a Spider Alien vessel that fell behind schedule to gather with the rest of the fleet in orbit around the sun, Captain Naida ordered its crew to maintain radio silence so as to not risk the Earthlings picking up their transmissions. Just then, a First Among Equals walked on the bridge and alerted Naida that they had approached the prearranged coordinates but there was no sign of the fleet.

Meanwhile, while Aric Dacia used the X–O Manowar to help the Armorines repair their shuttle high above the Earth, Gunny Lewis, concerned over reports that there was worldwide destruction left in the wake of the freak storms, hoped that his daughter Cora was alright. Soon, the shuttle’s systems were back online and Myra informed the crew that they were going home. As Myra opened the cargo bay doors to let Gunny and the others inside, she detected an alien ship much bigger than the ones they had encountered before approaching from the direction of the sun. Refusing to rest until all the Spider Aliens had been exterminated, X–O Manowar flew toward their vessel, while behind him Gunny rallied the rest of the Armorines to follow him.

Reaching the vessel, X–O Manowar and the Armorines engaged a squadron of aliens garbed in wolf armor in battle, and during the skirmish, Gunny, amazed by the size of the vessel, wondered why the aliens had sent so few of their troops after them and concluded that they did not think they posed a threat to them. Just then, a tractor beam dragged the Voyager inside the alien ship, and Gunny tried to disrupt it with his ion cannons to no avail. After Myra told him that there was nothing in their arsenal that would take the beam out and that it had to be taken out at the source, Gunny ordered Williams to get back inside the shuttle and protect it and the co–pilots once they were taken aboard. With Aric’s help, the Armorines breached the alien vessel and split up into two teams; while Aric and Cordova went in search of the computer systems to shut off the tractor beam, Sirot and Gunny, with Myra’s guidance, went to find the ship’s power source to start their diversion there.

Inside the mothership’s command center, Captain Naida ordered his brethren to track the X–O armor and capture it, then he sent the First-Among-Equals to meet the occupants of the shuttle and question them about the location of the fleet, making sure to kill anyone who did not cooperate.

Elsewhere, Cordova and Aric reached the computer room, where after killing two alien guards Aric used the X–O to interface with the computer systems. Unable to shut off the tractor beam from there, Aric accidentally triggered some kind of alarm that activated some sort of liquefied ooze that filled the room and shut down both of their armor’s systems, as well as rendered them unconscious.

Meanwhile, Gunny and Sirot came upon an engine room that looked like nothing they had seen on the smaller ships. Unable to scan the field surrounding the equipment, Myra warned Gunny that she did not think he would be able to penetrate it even with the PBC, but he nevertheless fired a concentrated assault with Sirot. Unfortunately, their weapons had no effect on the field, which absorbed what they threw at it. Although Myra warned Gunny to cut off their attack because the power drain was going to leave them both without operational weapons systems for hours he refused, claiming that they had no choice and could not let a vessel that large get any closer to the Earth. Just then, a failsafe in the armors shut off the PBC due to the drain on its systems and three alien soldiers entered the room. Unarmed, Gunny and Sirot made a run for it while Myra and Hossen re–routed all remaining power to their protective fields. Looking to take cover while their weapons came back online, Gunny and Sirot turned a corner and fell into a hole that opened beneath them.

After the tractor beam dragged Voyager inside the alien vessel, Williams exited the shuttle to make sure that the aliens did not get inside. Soon as the doors opened, Williams came face to face with the First-Among-Equals, who, surrounded by three alien champions, ordered him to surrender themselves and their vessel without resistance or face immediate execution.

Sacrifices[]

Aboard the alien mothership hovering above the Earth, Williams engaged three alien champions in combat to prevent them from taking control of the vessel. As the shuttle’s pilot, Hailey, ran back inside the ship, an alien champion followed him, so, to stop him from going inside, he closed the hatch. Enraged, the alien tossed Hailey against the deck and feasted on his juices.

Elsewhere on the ship, Gunny and Sirot hung precariously off the ledge of the hole that opened beneath them. Noticing a small access port, Sirot swung toward it followed by Gunny, then the two men made their way toward an exit 20 meters in front of them. As they made their way down a dark tunnel, Gunny worried that splitting up the team might have been a mistake, considering that everyone on the team was suffering from extreme exhaustion after their battle with the aliens’ fleet. Just then, Gunny and Sirot came across a nesting are where they witnessed two aliens holding a human captive for their queen to feast on. Despite their lack of weapons, Gunny and Sirot agreed to free the poor bastard and kick the aliens’ ass. Leaping off the ledge, Gunny and Sirot engaged the aliens in hand to hand combat, starting with the queen. Together, the two Armorines pounded the beast to death and killed the other aliens. While making sure that the human they rescued was all right, Gunny was astounded to discover that he was a US Marine just like him.

At the command center, Naida and Tasha gazed at Aric as he floated in a tank filled with chemicals powerful enough to neutralize the X–O and keep him sedated. Unable to find a way to sever the link between Aric and the armor, Naida worried that if he should break free their forces would be helpless against the firepower at his command. As two aliens held Cordova, Naida asked him where their fleet was and Cordova told him that they were all dead. Slapping Cordova across the face, Tasha told him that they were gathering their forces to go home and leave Earth, but if he had truly destroyed them, then she swore she would seek retribution.

Within the alien’s nest, Sirot stomped on every alien egg he found while Gunny informed Private Anderson, the man they rescued, that he had been in stasis for 20 years. Learning from Myra that Aric and Cordova had been captured, Gunny decided to find them using the signal on Cordova’s armor to track them as Aric’s armor was the only thing that could get them out of their predicament. Since their weapons were still offline, Gunny also decided to release the 28 men held in the pods in the nest to create an army to accomplish their mission.

Back in the hangar, Williams killed the alien champions, but during the melee one of them ripped out the belt on his capacitor ejection system, which meant that his PBC was no longer operative. Looming over the First Among Equals, Williams took him hostage in the hope that he would help them escape.

Meanwhile, Tasha informed Naida that 30 humans were blasting their way up to the command center, and realizing that the humans had breached their nest, Naida worried that they had killed the queen. As Gunny and his ad–hoc army of men and women plucked out of time, some of whom had been in those pods for hundreds of years, made their way inside the command center, they freed Aric from the tank he was held in and killed Tasha. Shortly, the Armorines and Aric killed every alien in the command center, but lost eight of their own in the process. Though Aric desired to hunt down the other aliens within the ship and continue the slaughter, Gunny convinced him to hook up to the ship again and shut off the tractor beam holding their shuttle so they could get the people they rescued away from there. In seconds, Aric released Voyager and, with Gunny’s approval, triggered a self–destruct failsafe that, once triggered, would go off in 30 minutes.

Shortly, while Gunny helped the others inside Voyager in the hangar area, Myra alerted him that a group of armored warriors was waiting outside to seize the shuttle. As Aric took off to take care of them, Anderson told Gunny that after he and the others drew straws earlier, it was decided that he would lead the group that would take over one of the alien ships so they could escape. Though Gunny wanted to go with him, Anderson closed the hatch behind him and left, assuring him that he would see him back on Earth.

While Anderson and the other humans ran interference, Voyager took off and escaped the alien vessel, which began to break up behind them. Suddenly, just as Voyager and X–O Manowar were at a safe distance, the alien vessel exploded. Standing beside a window, his head hanging from his shoulders, Gunny mourned Anderson’s death.

Interlude[]

Retrieval[]

Somewhere in Nicaragua, six hours following a successful deployment, Gunny rescued Major Jones from a cell inside a rebel camp, but as they escaped, one of the rebels shot Jones on the shoulder. Joining the other Armorines, Gunny ordered Williams to use his particle beam cannon and level the structure. As the team left to rendezvous with the extraction chopper, Sirot chastised Gunny for letting Jones be injured.

One week later, Sirot still mocked Gunny over what happened with Jones, so Myra told him that Gunny’s performance was exemplary and took part of the blame for letting Jones get shot. Entering the room, General Kendall informed the team that in ten hours they would encounter a similar scenario to the rescue mission and that he expected more than satisfactory results. Showing the Armorines a picture of Dr. Constantine Kagan, the commander of an Iraqi oil complex where he experimented with the production of biological weapons, Kendall informed them that their mission was to extract Dr. Dale Betterton, a top American scientist that Kagan coerced into his service, and deliver him to a submarine that would return them to American soil. To avoid a repeat of the previous mission’s fiasco, Zahn gave the Armorines a standard issue armor for Betterton, sans armament, which would ensure his safe return to the States, an idea that Gunny was not too keen on.

Shortly after the Armorines left, General Kendall received a call from Senator Ackerman, who told him that the NSA had determined that Kagan had to be eliminated, and that Sirot had been given the necessary information. Though Kendall protested, Ackerman ordered him not to get in Sirot’s way.

Moments later, while Kendall linked to Gunny’s retinal projection scan to monitor the team, the Armorines attacked the oil rig. After breaching the preliminary defenses, Sirot took control of the unit guided them toward Betterton. Though Gunny challenged Sirot’s command, Myra informed him that Kendall had verified Sirot’s command of the Armorines. Shortly, the Armorines found Betterton in a laboratory and gave him the protective armor. As they prepared to leave, however, Sirot informed the unit that Kagan was the real threat, and that they were not leaving without taking him out to stop him from releasing a biological toxin that would burn sand off the Sahara.

Elsewhere in the compound, Kagan monitored the Armorines as they approached him, until Sirot destroyed the camera he was using to watch them. As Kagan contacted the guards to informed them of the Armorines’ location, the unit breached his laboratory. As Sirot ordered Cordova to kill Kagan, Kagan threatened to free a pneumofluoridic replicating virus that would kill them all. As Gunny ordered Cordova to pull back, Betterton said that he believed that Kagan was bluffing and that he did not think he could have finished the virus without him. Making a run for it, Kagan collided with Sirot’s empty armor, then, suddenly, Sirot came up from behind him and wrestled the virus’ vial off his hand. Recognizing Sirot, Betterton unexpectedly kicked him in the face and accused him of leaving him to rot in Iraq. As Williams and Cordova held Betterton back while he ranted that the NSA had sent Sirot to kill him, Sirot activated an injection in the protection armor that put Betterton to sleep. While Sirot threw Betterton over his shoulder, Gunny ordered Cordova to blast them a way out of there.

Escaping the rig, the Armorines ran toward the Persian Gulf, where they rendezvoused with the submarine. Inside, as Sirot accused Betterton of forgetting the oath he had made to his country, Betterton said that after he sat in prison for a year after the Gulf War, he finally agreed to make the virus for Kagan because he realized that the US and the NSA had forgotten about him. Upset, Sirot told Betterton that clearly the NSA had not forgotten about him, and that he just did not wait long enough. Pulling Sirot back, Gunny told him that they were not there to judge Betterton, but, then, ominously, Sirot said that he would be judged, and that treason was still the highest form of crime in their country.

One week later, Sirot visited Betterton in his apartment and informed him that the lab looked over the virus sample which Kagan threatened them with and discovered that it was completely inert, meaning that that whatever help he gave them was not yet enough to pose a threat. Delighted, Betterton confessed that he had misled Kagan at every chance he could, then, while serving Sirot a drink, he asked him for the real reason he was there. Suddenly, Sirot shot Betterton in the head and, as he walked out, said that the NSA would not be as easily mislead as Kagan, and that orders were orders.

Private Wars[]

Somewhere in Mexico, Michael Sirot, sans his armor, breached the fortress–like manor of Arturo Vasquez, a Cuban refugee and retired respected physicist rumored to be working on some new weapons designs who Zahn suspected might even have gotten hold of some Spider Alien technology. Skeptical to believe that Vasquez had retired, the NSA sent Sirot to get his hands on his designs for national security. Upon entering the house, Sirot discovered that Vasquez had already built a prototype based on a Spider Alien gun. Although he wondered if it was operational, Sirot put that aside and went to find the safe.

Meanwhile, in the White House, President Bill Clinton presented the rest of the Armorines with Medals of Honor for their courage and dedication while fending off the alien invasion. Telling the unit that they were lucky to have service men and women of such strength of character protecting not only their beloved country but the entire global community, Clinton said that it was unfortunate that no one could know of their bravery given the nature of a covert outfit such as the Armorines. Thanking the President, Gunny assured him that he could count on them to continue to serve the country’s best interests.

Shortly, during a dinner to celebrate their decorations, Williams and Cordova discussed Cordova’s upcoming wedding with his fiancée, Sarah, while, by the bar, Pierce and Dominguez regretted that Hossen could not be there because he was helping Sirot on his assignment. On the terrace, Myra bluntly told Gunny that Ackerman was on the warpath to get him kicked off the team, and that though she knew he wanted her to butt out, she wanted him to know that for what it was worth she thought he was getting a raw deal and that she did not want to see him go. Back inside, President Clinton congratulated General Kendall over the fine job he had done with the Armorines. Sharing his satisfaction with the unit’s performance, Kendall told the President that it was a shame that they were being forced to undergo some changes to the roster, and that he was afraid that loosing Gunny was going to demoralize the whole outfit. Confused, Clinton asked Kendall to explain himself.

Back in Mexico, Sirot removed blueprints and computer disks from Vasquez’s safe that he surmised were the bulk of his research for the past couple of years and put them in his knapsack. Leaving before he ran into any more of Vasquez’s thugs, Sirot came out into the balcony and saw Vasquez and Javier Cortez, a big–time smuggler/weapons dealer, talking in the courtyard. Listening in, Sirot learned that Vasquez was sending a shipment with the latest batch of hardware to buyers in Miami. While Vasquez ordered Cortez to make sure that Colon and his band of guerrillas paid up, and Cortez assured him that they were not going to blow up a deal which could finally give them the means to take down Fidel Castro, Vasquez received a call informing him that the blueprints and disks were missing. Suddenly, the lights on the compound came on and Vasquez and his men discovered Sirot on the balcony.

Retreating inside the room while Vasquez’s men opened fire on him, Sirot donned a strength enhancement harness just before two thugs entered the room. After shooting the men, Sirot made a break for the roof and leapt off it into the forest. As two thugs and their dogs gave chase, Sirot ran into the woods.

Meanwhile in Washington, General Kendall visited Senator Ackerman in his office and delivered him a Presidential order that ensured that Lewis would remain the Armorines’ field commander at least as long as President Clinton’s administration was in power. Leaving the Senator’s office, Kendall told him that Clinton wanted him to keep his grubby hands off the whole project, and that he was certain that not even him had the clout to disobey the President of the United States.

Back in Mexico, Sirot arrived at a hidden spot where he had stashed his armor and put it on just before the thugs caught up to him. Shortly after disposing of the thugs, Sirot reached the rendezvous point and saw a chopper coming toward that he believed was his transport, but as he contacted Hossen he learned otherwise. Engaging the chopper in combat, Sirot swiftly caused it to crash against a mountain and destroyed it. Certain that Vasquez would believe that he died in the crash, Sirot hid while he waited for Hossen to retrieve him.

The next day at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, General Kendal met with Gunny Lewis and told him that Senator Ackerman was out of their hair for good, and that he had made sure he could remain anchorman of the team indefinitely, a position that as far as he was concerned he could maintain as long as he wanted.

The Cuban Connection[]

The Cuban Connection - Part I: Maneuvers[]

Somewhere in the snowy Colorado mountain, Williams and Cordova climbed the side of a mountain garbed in armor designed for cold weather conditions, when, suddenly, Williams accidentally triggered a trip wire that initiated an avalanche that caused him to fall. Halting his fall with a gauntlet attachment that Zahn incorporated into the armor, Williams continued the climb with Cordova. While climbing to the top, the two men fend off a bullet barrage from two buried gun turrets. Reaching the top, Cordova made his way toward a red flag, when then Gunny came out from under his feet and pushed him off balance. Shooting Williams with a sonic cannon that disabled his armor, Gunny made a break for the flag, but then Cordova fired a bolo at him that threw him to the ground. As Cordova picked up the flag, Gunny called an end to the exercise.

Watching from a nearby hill, Kendall congratulated Zahn on the new gadgets he added to the armors. Just then, Sirot drove up to the General, who told him that the report on his mission to Mexico got the brass concerned that the cartel business could escalate into something major, and that the President wanted the Armorines to get involved. Upset, Sirot demanded to know in what capacity the Armorines would be involved and asked if they were going after Cortez, but saying that this was no longer an NSA job, Kendall told Sirot that he would have to wait, and find out with the others. After congratulating Gunny and the rest of the unit, Kendall suggested that they packed up and got back to camp before the snowfall got heavier. Later that night, an individual whose features laid hidden in shadow, broke into the armor and altered one of the Armorines’ gauntlets, then he escaped in a snowmobile.

The next day in Miami, Florida, Cordova took the unit to his mother’s house where they met his family. Shortly, while Cordova reunited with Sarah in the kitchen, Myra joined the others in the living room where they were watching a protest in Guantanamo Bay on the television. As Cordova’s father said that the US had closed the door on Cuban refugees, a confused Gunny asked him what he meant. Telling Gunny that Clinton’s executive order reversed the preferential treatment Cuban immigrants had received, Cordova said that all the people escaping Cuba were being picked up by the Coast Guard before reaching Miami and ferried to a US military camp on Cuban soil, which left their lives in limbo and had the exile community in arms. Putting an end to the political discussion, Cordova’s mom called everyone to the dinner table.

The next day, the Armorines settled inside a tent on the Everglades where Kendall briefed them on Vasquez. Informing the unit that Sirot’s mission to Mexico had not only confirmed the rumors that Vasquez had gotten his hands on Spider Alien technology that he used to develop an arsenal of powerful weapons, Kendall said that it linked him with Javier Cortez. Saying that both men were apparently connected to a large underworld cartel, which had been gaining economic strength in the past few years and that the brass suspected might be hooked up with Webnet, Kendall told the unit that Cortez and Vasquez had successfully sold those high–tech weapons to Eduardo Colon and his band of guerrillas. Ordering the Armorines to protect Fidel Castro and apprehend Colon before Colon’s army of unsanctioned U.S. citizens invaded Cuba and assassinated Fidel, Kendall told them to make sure to avoid any entanglements with Castro himself and his regime.

Somewhere between Cuban and Miami, the Armorines launched into battle from inside an American submarine using underwater sleds. While on their way to Cuba, Gunny chastised himself for not listening to his instincts and pulling Cordova from the roster. Certain that the notion of protecting Castro was tearing Cordova apart, Gunny hoped that he would not do anything rash mid–mission. Approaching a reef, Gunny ordered the unit to maintain radio silence while they waited for Colon and his men to make their move.

Five hours later in Cuba, Colon emerged from the water in a high–tech suit of armor with his men, who, armed with Vasquez’s weapons, secured the beach. Realizing that due to the storm they had come out slightly off target and that they were a mile away from Castro’s private compound, Colon ordered his men to follow him through the brush, certain that given that the island was pretty much deserted they would have no hassle. Suddenly, the Armorines emerged from the ocean and engaged Colon and his men in battle. Just as unexpectedly, gun fire from the trees that killed some of Colon’s men took him and Gunny by surprise.

Assured by General Kendall that they were working alone, Gunny wondered who was attacking then, when then he saw a group of tanks bearing down on them.

The Cuban Connection - Part II: Crossfire[]

Caught smack dab between the Cuban forces and Colon’s men, the Armorines fought against both sides. Engaging a Cuban soldier in a mobile tank unit unlike any he had seen before, Gunny opened fire on it with his PBC, but he fired from too close and the blast sent him reeling backwards. Laying on his back, with the armor’s power levels practically drained, Gunny was a sitting duck for a Cuban soldier in a mobile tank unit that loomed over him, but then, Sirot defeated the soldier and rescued him. Fighting Colon and Castro’s men side by side, Sirot told Gunny that Cortez was playing two sides of the fence and sold arms to both Castro and Colon’s guerrillas. Meanwhile, Colon ordered 20 of his men to stay behind and deal with the Armorines and Castro’s army while he and the rest of the guerrilla proceeded to their primary target

Finding himself hesitant to attack his countrymen, Cordova’s indecision almost cost Williams his life, but he soon came to his senses and helped the rest of the unit, which, shortly, stood triumphant over their enemies. Whereas the others saw victory, however, all Cordova saw was the death of his own people, and refusing Gunny’s pity, he walked away. Several miles off the Cuban cost, in a U.S. army submarine, Myra informed General Kendall that the storm had severed their visual and audio contact with the Armorines.

Hours later, as Colon and his men attacked Castro’s compound, Fidel commanded his forces from one of the strategy rooms within the compound. Elsewhere in the fort, as Colon’s men reached the armory to make sure to destroy Castro’s munitions, the Armorines breached the fort and engaged them in battle. Confronting Colon, Cordova advised him to stop his bloody rampage before he was forget to get rough, but Colon accused him of being a traitor to the cause and to his people and shot him. Though Cordova pleaded that Colon listen to him, Colon shot him with a blast that sent him flying into the courtyard. As Colon gloated over his swift defeat of Cordova, Williams came up from behind him with his gauntlet blade activated and ripped the fuel tanks on his armor. Following two of Colon’s men to Castro’s strategy room, Gunny killed one of them, then, as he convinced the other to drop his weapon, Sirot unexpectedly killed him much to Gunny’s dismay.

Running away, Castro reached the courtyard and got inside a jeep, unaware that Cordova was watching him. Aiming his gauntlet at the jeep, Cordova wrestled with whether to kill Castro or not, but, luckily, he ultimate decided to let him go, much to the delight of Williams, who was watching him from nearby.

Shortly, back inside, Sirot and Cordova convinced Gunny to let them destroy Castro’s weapons caches, stretching Kendall’s order to destroy all of the cartel’s weapons to include the ones Cortez sold Fidel. Hesitant, as their orders were not to provoke Castro or his regime, Gunny nevertheless allowed the rest of the unit to destroy the cache. As the Armorines made their way through the jungle to reach Guantanamo Bay, Sirot assured Gunny that Castro would blame the destruction on Colon and that no one would connect it to them, a statement that, to Gunny, sounded like the always–popular famous last words.

The End?[]

The Ties That Bind[]

Somewhere in Washington DC, Senator Ackerman keenly studied video footage of the Armorines destroying Castro’s weapons cache that Peter Garrett provided him with, certain that it signaled the end of Gunny’s leadership of the unit. Confused, as Ackerman had lobbied to put the Armorines in action, Garrett asked him why he was so hell bent on putting the kibosh on the whole project. Dismissing his misconception, Ackerman told Garrett that his quarrel was only with Gunny Lewis, which for personal reasons did not concern him. Pointing out that the kind of scandal he was plotting could ruin many careers, including their own, Garrett insisted that it did concern him, but Ackerman assured him that the only looser in that affair would be Gunny.

Several days later, in California, Gunny noticing a car following him shortly after he left Camp Pendleton. Turning his car light off and speeding up, Gunny hid behind some bushes and saw as his pursuers drove past him. Disappointed, as a confrontation could have led to some answers, Gunny left his car, when then, a second car stopped beside him and three armed men with masks ordered him to put his hands in the air. Though Gunny put up a fight, the men swiftly defeated him and took him with them.

Hours later, Senator Ackerman arrived at a cabin in the woods where the men kept Gunny tied to a chair. Dismissing Garrett and the other men, Ackerman stayed to talk with Gunny, who wondered where he had heard Garrett’s name before. Though Gunny accused the Senator of kidnapping him, not only did Ackerman assure him that no one would take the word of a recovering alcoholic over the word of a US Senator, he also told him that there were plenty of witnesses who would verify his attendance at a big soiree in Washington.

Showing Gunny the video footage of the Armorines destroying Castro’s cache of weapons, a direct violation of the United States’ neutrality act, Ackerman sarcastically told him that if the tape got out, it would mean the end of the Armorines, and possible court-martials for the whole unit. In exchange for his resignation from the unit and his take of early retirement from the US Marine Corps, Ackerman promised Gunny that he would be more than happy to make sure the footage would never leak to the press or his superiors. Astounded, Gunny wanted to know what made Ackerman think that he would go along with that farce, to which Ackerman replied that he would do it for the sake of the other Armorines, who had no reason to pay for his sins. Holding a piece of cloth to Gunny’s mouth to render him unconscious, Ackerman said that the ties that bind them were stronger than Gunny realized and that he expected his resignation on Kendall’s desk the next morning. Shortly, Garrett’s men returned Gunny to his car and left him there to wake up. The next day at Camp Pendleton, Gunny walked into Kendall’s office and delivered his resignation letter.

The next day, at one of the training domes just outside the camp, Kendall gathered the Armorines around and announced that, effective immediately, Sergeant Gunnery Lewis had resigned from the US Marine Corps, and that their new commanding officer in the field would be Sergeant William Sturgess. Acknowledging that that was an unexpected announcement, Kendall informed the unit that there would be a quick briefing in his office later that day, then he left them to be acquainted with their new anchorman. Confronting Gunny in the hallway, Myra accused him of lying to her in Washington, of only caring about himself, and staying with the unit as a way to score enough brownie points with the top brass to secure a nice pension and early retirement. Sorry that she felt that way, Gunny told Myra that she was wrong and walked away.

That night, Sirot confronted Gunny in the barracks, and unlike Myra, Gunny was unable to convince him that his decision to leave was his own. Telling Gunny that despite their differences in the past he had come to respect him and was there to offer him his help, Sirot asked him what Ackerman had on him. Certain that Sirot had betraying him, Gunny told him that he had seen the tape taken with his armor’s onboard camera, but then Sirot left in a huff and Gunny realized that he was innocent after all.

The next night, Sirot broke into Garrett’s room at the Plush Hotel Pullman Highland in Washington wearing a black suit with a mask and assaulted Helen Mandrake, who he knocked out and hid in a closet. Hours later, when Garrett arrived, Sirot knocked him off his feet with a punch to the face and then tired a noose around his neck. Looming over Garrett, Sirot removed his mask and accused him of using him to get Gunny off the unit. Pleading for his life, Garrett offered to make a deal with Sirot and pointed the finger at Ackerman. Aware that he could not touch Ackerman, Sirot picked up a cushion from the coach and implied that he would send him a message with Garrett’s body. Though Garrett refused to believe that the NSA would allow Sirot to kill him, Sirot informed him that the NSA sanctioned the hit, as they had discovered that he personally set up the initial meetings between Cortez and Colon. Sarcastically telling Garrett that he did not need to remind him that supplying guns to citizens intent on invading foreign soil was an act of treason, Sirot shot him through the cushion and then tossed him out the window. Waking up sometime later, Helen exited the closet and was shocked to find Garrett hanging from the balcony. Hours later at Senator Ackerman’s country estate somewhere in Upstate New York, the Senator received a package from Sirot that contained Garrett’s bloody glasses and a note that said “It would be wise to stay out of affairs that don’t concern you!”.

Several days later, while he read about Garrett’s death on the paper, Gunny remembered that he had heard his name before when Aric Dacia once told him about a CIA man who was hooked up with Ackerman. Thinking that it was too much of a coincidence for it not to be the same man while he packed his bag, Gunny wondered if Sirot was somehow involved in his death, but as he exited the barracks he dismissed the notion.

Meeting with the rest of the unit in the parking lot, Gunny told them to take it easy and be good to Sergeant Sturgess, certain that they would make him proud. Turning to face Myra, Gunny told her to take care of herself, but she gave him the silent treatment and turned away from him.

Walking away from the others, Gunny cursed Ackerman and refused to let things end like that. Vowing that it was not over, Gunny thought to himself that, eventually, he would be back.