James got up on his feet, and the group continued pressing onward through the bunker. "How far do you want this relationship of yours to go James?" Ghost asked him as he continued firing into the horde as they traveled.

"You're asking me this now?" James thought in reply, using the telepathic link between the two of them.

"Well, it's not like there's a real threat to you right now right?"

"No, but I still need to maintain focus and you asking me about my future with my girlfriend is a bit distracting."

"I'm sorry, it's just that, I've noticed people giving you and Cameron stares."

James then sank his solar-charged fist through a knights torso.

"What kind of stares?" He asked crushing the stone-like heart in his hand.

"Well, they look at you two weirdly when you're together."

"Do you hear them say things Ghost?"

"No, but I have seen their faces. It's kind of a taboo relationship you two have."

James then heard a loud screech from the inside of the bunker. It was unlike any he had heard before. "What was that?" He asked.

"It's Omnigul, hurry!" Eris replied over the comms.

The group then ran up the stairs to see the bunker empty. There was nothing inside that would indicate to them that anyone had even been there in the first place. "Eris, there's nobody here," Aaron remarked reloading his handcannon. The team began to fan out with the hopes of locating this Omnigul character. Unbeknownst to them, she locked them inside of the bunker. Omnigul then let out another scream, and the four-man fireteam immediately turned around to face her.  "You fools!" She exclaimed laughing maniacally. The team then ran up to the two doors that would have let them get out, but they didn't budge. They chose not to open the doors with force, because Rasputin may not take it that well.

"Release us, foul creature!" Sidriks exclaimed pulling out his swords banging on the titanium door.

Omnigul continued to laugh. "Foolish creatures, there is nothing that you can do to stop the coming of Crota!" Green summoning circles appeared behind them, and the group turned around to face them. Then a giant ogre appeared. "TREMBLE BEFORE THE MIGHT OF CROTA!" She exclaimed fading away. The ogre was massive in comparison to the typical ogres they came across. The beast let out a deep roar as it slowly moved forward, shaking the base as it stepped.

"Plan?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, Sidriks use your ax and cut the tendons on the back of its legs. Aaron, deploy a trip mine below the ogre when it starts to fall. The detonation should pierce its chest. James, you  then use the solar arm sword thing, and pin it's head to the floor."

"Then what are you going to do?" Aaron asked taking a trip mine from his belt.

"I'm thinking about that." She replied reloading her assault rifle.

Ever since the team took down their first target together on the moon three months prior, they've hit the training room together. Creating new scenarios for them to accomplish. The giant ogre was one of the targets that they set up to practice team takedowns.  They've accomplished many of these over the past couple months, several of their important targets were of the same size. Cameron was always the one to coordinate these next level attacks; she was a tactician through and through. Most titan strategies involved hitting a target with as much force as possible all at once. Her mind worked differently, using the mass and size of a target to the advantage of her team.

Causing the target to be unbalanced was a typical trope of her tactics. Whenever she was in a fireteam that wasn't this one she would always get stares and a lack of coordination. This was no temporary team; she found the team she needed to get things done. Most missions that should only take about thirty minutes took a temporary fireteam almost an hour more than they should. She learned to appreciate the amount of trust she could put in this team.

Sidriks activated his battle ax as Aaron began to distract the titanic ogre dancing in front of it like a complete buffoon. The ogre kept trying to hit Aaron with his eye blasts, but Aaron would just move to a different location. Continuing to dance around. Cameron just looked at him oddly; it's not that his moves were bad it was just odd that he was doing this at this time. But it was working to their plan.

Sidriks sneaked behind the ogre as it was enraged trying to shoot the hunter taunting him. Sidriks then took his ax slicing the area where his hamstrings met his calves. The Ogre began to collapse because of the disconnection. Aaron seeing his chance took the tubular grenade throwing it underneath where the ogre was going to fall. The grenade hit the metal floor and with a click and a whir it was primed and ready to fire.

James then leaped up into the air as the ogre had it's lower abdomen torn open by the impact of the grenade. Priming his solar arm sword as he landed on its head. However, the ogre tried to grab him when he landed. James then had an idea, activating one on his other arm pinning the ogre's arms to the ground. "NOW CAM!" James yelled.

Cameron ran up to the ogre with her fist radiating electricity. She then leaped slightly using her lift ability to gain some extra momentum. She pulled back her fist, and when she got within arms distance of the beast, she connected her fist with his head causing it to rupture. The explosion of the ogre's body got ash all over the place. "Well, we should go check on Rasputin, make sure that nothing happened," Sidriks remarked as the group walked over to a control panel.

It was a bright red that red however subsided. "Эти ульи существа так легко обмануть. Благодарим Вас за прибывающих, когда вы сделали. (Those hive creatures are so easy to fool. Thank you for arriving when you did.)" Rasputin stated to the group.

"Пожалуйста. (You're welcome)" James replied.

"You can speak Russian?!" Aaron exclaimed.

"Yeah, I always wondered how I could understand Captain when we first met. Apparently, I had that language in my personal database. Tambien yo hablo Espanol, Watashi wa nihongo mo hanasu, je parle aussi français. (I also speak Spanish, I also speak Japanese, I also speak French)"

"How many languages do you know?" Cameron asked him.

"I'm not sure. Thus far I only know the five." He replied to her.

"That's amazing!"

"Это действительно интересно. Но у нас есть более неизбежную проблему. Мои сканирования показывают, что есть больше ульев солдаты в этом районе. Я могу закрыть бункер, но мне нужно, чтобы заботиться о солдат снаружи. (This is really interesting. But we do have a more imminent problem. My scans indicate that there are more hive soldiers in the area. I can seal the bunker, but I need you to take care of the soldiers outside.)" Rasputin stated to the group.

"Понял. Мы будем заботиться о нем как можно скорее. (Understood. We'll take care of it as soon as possible.)" James replied to the AI construct.

"What did he say?" Sidriks asked him.

"He said that there are significant concentrations of hive soldiers throughout the Cosmodrome," James replied.

"Throughout the Cosmodrome?" He asked.

"Yeah, or at least that's what his scans told him."

"Отлично. Теперь, когда вы понимаете, убирайтесь из моего бункера перед тем более улей войти. (Great. Now that you understand, get out of my bunker before more hive come in.)." Rasputin stated to the group.

"Вы получили его босс. (You got it, boss.)" James replied.

"What did he say now?"

"Get out."

The four of them left the bunker with Rasputin sealing the door behind them. "I still don't know how you can know four other languages and not know about it," Cameron stated to him.

"Well, I didn't know I could read Spanish until we went to Peru. I had no idea I could speak it until a little while afterward. The same was the case for the others; I had no idea beforehand until I went to the countries that the language belonged to."

"That's kind of stupid. You forgot that you could-" Aaron said cutting himself off before he could finish that sentence. He nearly forgot that James was only resurrected three months ago, and a good portion of his programming was a mystery to him. It would only make sense that he would have no idea as to the fact that he could without having material he could read. "Sorry, I was about to make a stupid comment." He said to the group.

"It's okay dude, relax," James replied.

"So, you know five human languages?" Sidriks asked him.

"Apparently I do."

"Interesting. I'm more curious as to how you learned you could speak Japanese."

James then held out his sword for the group to see. "I found out that I could speak it when I visited the country to forge this." He said igniting the blade. The energy formed a large blade made out of dark metal with a curved edge.

Sidriks couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of the blade. Able to be activated at a moments notice, yet be so elaborate that you could call it ceremonial. "It's a beautiful sword James." He said to him taking in the sword's elegant designs.

"Thank you. I took the design from the ancients of the region, they're blades were lighter, but they were usually sharper than those of medieval knights." He replied.

"So that's why you made the sword the way you did?" He asked.

"It was statistically the best option. Not to mention I just love making things." He replied.

"Really? I actually didn't know that about you." Cameron stated as the group continued walking through the Old Russian snow.   

"Well, I do." He replied to her. "More than you know." He thought to himself looking at her. He had been making something for her for the past three months. It has taken him an eternity to make it just right. It's the ring. Not just any ring, it was the one that he would propose to her with. He just didn't know when the time was right, also not to mention he was still in the process of cutting the jewels. Petra was kind enough to give him some Reef amethyst to work with; he didn't tell her specifically what it was for. All that he told her was that he wanted to start experimenting with interests and he wanted to try making jewelry. She did think it was rather odd that a warrior of his caliber wanted to try doing something so delicate.

As of this moment, nobody but him and Ghost knows that the ring even exists. It took James so long just to get the base idea of the ring put to paper. He then had to go out and find the raw materials to make the ring, sometimes even going into the reef and tearing the material out of asteroids. It has been a long journey for him to make this, and every moment he spent would be worth it. Every lie, every excuse would be worth it.

"So James, you wanna go home?" Cameron asked him.

James thought about it for a moment, giving a glance over to Sidriks and Aaron. "Go ahead pal; we'll take care of this." He said to him.

"Thanks," James replied. Cameron had the two of them transmatted up to her ship, and they began flying off to the tower. James looked at her as she continued to fly the ship. He loved the way that she looked. Her hair was a snow shade of white, a nearly perfect contrast to her tan face and blue eyes. Her complexion was smooth, silky. His mind began to wander and to think thoughts that made him blush and his power core slightly increase it's pumping of energy.

"What?" Cameron asked with a slight giggle in her voice.

"Oh nothing, just admiring a work of art." He said to her.

"I wouldn't say that." She replied.

"Well, it's true Cameron. You're beautiful."

"You really think so?"

"Of course I do."

The pair then landed their ship down at the tower hangar. James then pulled up Aaron and Sidriks on his comms. "You guys want me to report to the vanguard?" He asked the two of them.

"Nah, we'll take care of it when we get back. Stop screeching you stupid gray piece of garbage." Aaron stated to him turning off his comms unit. The couple arrived at their apartment; it was about six pm.

"So, do you want to go out to dinner tonight?" James asked her.

"Um, sure. Where do you want to go?"

"There's a really nice place downtown that just opened up, the lights dream."

"That sounds fantastic," Cameron replied.

"I'll just go get ready, anything, in particular, I should wear?" She asked him.

"I think the dress code is formal attire." He replied.

"Perfect!" She exclaimed going to the bathroom to take a shower.

James then heard a knock on the door. "Who is it? He asked walking up to the door. Charon was on the other side. "Hey, how's it going?" he asked him.

"Oh, I'm doing okay. I was just coming by to ask you if you were ready to go get your memories." He said to the Exo.

"Um, I'm actually going to be going out to dinner with Cameron tonight. We're going to the new restaurant that opened up downtown." James replied.

"Okay. Just let me know when you want to go, and also, I don't want Cameron coming with us."

"Why?"

"I've seen you two around the tower James. I know how much you care about her, I don't want you to lose her like I lost Kronah. Please, trust me."

James thought about it for a moment. How would he react if Cameron had died, and he couldn't do anything to help her? He started to think about it, and then he had reached a decision. "Okay Charon, she won't come with us." He replied.

"Okay, enjoy your dinner." He replied with a smile walking down the hallway. 

Charon knew what it was like to love and to lose. He felt a pain that nobody should have to bear, especially a guardian as kind as James. He would do everything in his power to make sure that nothing horrific befell him and his girlfriend. Charon's mind began to wander as he sat down under the tree in the Tower Plaza. He put his head down for a moment, listening to the calming December breeze until someone approached him.

"Hey, um, Dad?"

Charon looked up and saw Nova standing above him, with her seeing eye dog Ghost at her side.

"Nova? Are you okay?" He asked. He felt odd, just a few hours ago she didn't even want to hear about him, now she was talking to him? None of this made any sense.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just wanted to apologize."

"Apologize for what?"

"For being such a complete jerk to you for the past three months. I talked to Ikora for a couple of hours after I got out of the training room and she convinced me that I was being irrational. You didn't know about the fallen in the city, it wasn't your fault Dad. I forgive you." She said to him.

Charon then stood up from his place under the tree and gave her a hug tearing up from her words. "Thank you. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too Dad. Can you do something for me tonight?"

"Sure, anything." He replied.

"I wanted to take my girlfriend out to dinner somewhere nice tonight. I was wondering if you could take me there."

"Sure. In fact, I'll pay for your dinner tonight Nov."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I know just the place, a friend of mine said that he was going to be taking his girlfriend there in a couple of hours."

"What's it called?"

"The Lights Dream."

"That sounds great, I'll call Katie, and I'll tell her that I want to take her out to dinner tonight."

"Sounds good." He said as he followed Nova to her living space.

Much like James and Cameron, Nova and Katie also got stares from people when they were together. They were in love with each other but that wasn't what drew people's attention, it was the fact that Katie was an Exo, Kathrine-012 was her full name. Nova didn't know, but even if she did it wouldn't matter to her, she cared about her too much to care. She could deal with the stares and the quiet conversations about how their relationship doesn't work. Those she could hear made Katie sad. She would recall her coming to her house when there were times like that. Having to re-express her love for her over and over again in different ways just to get the idea across that all that mattered was the two of them. Not what other people thought of them. Nova and Kathrine met when Nova was in her first few days of high school. Sometimes at night, Nova would reflect on the day that she had first met Kathrine.

The first real flirty comment she said went something like this. "I may not be able to see your face, but I'd bet you're as beautiful as you sound." Since that day it seemed like the two always wanted to be with each other, no matter what time of day it was.