Aline help her newly born son on her hands for the first time. Her life was perfect, she had found her perfect match, their business was booming she had her two sons with her, she had never been happier in life, not even on her wedding day. This was truly the happiest moment in her life.
But this was just the first day, her husband, Adolf hid his grim face with a slight smile. He had never fully smiled, or even laughed, it was always a slight, calm smile. This was the worst day of his life. Everything went down from here on. He never wanted a second son. He only wanted one. In fact, he never imagined his wife would be Libertonian, his father was a farmer when he was growing up, a farmer who had been taken advantage of by Synth Foods. His life was hard, and then he had met Aline.
She was different to him, not like the other Libertonians, who only cared about business when visiting Stuttgart. He proposed in just 6 months. And then he realized what a terrible mistake it was...both of them knew very little about each other. He had never told her he only wanted one son, she had never told him she wanted two. As time went by they kept find out things about each other, almost all of them were bad for the relationship. He was conservative, she was liberal. She had many lovers in the past, Aline was his only love.
Adolf only wanted one son, and thus he only loved one of them, the first one, Doug. As Marcus grew, he found himself missing something, something everyone else had, his father's love. But he didn't get any. He was aristocratic, his parent's businesses were booming, he was on the top of Planet Manhattan, partying and failing school as he grew up. When he was 15, it finally came to an end. His parent's had divorced. His mother kept telling him it wasn't his fault, but he always knew it was. They were both right.
Doug was different, his older brother was the perfect son, and not just good school grades, he had the best values instilled in him. Values that soon got him into the Navy. Doug had enlisted as soon he got out of school, his father was proud. His mother was worried. He flew out of west point with unbelievable marks, he had gotten to the rank of captain at least a few years earlier than most other pilots would. He was a master at the skill of flying a Guardian, his enemies had to think twice before attempting to shoot him down...
Marcus on the other hand was different. He was an underage drunk, kept on partying and wasted his earlier years in life. He passed school, just barely made it out, and managed to get into a cheap engineering school. By then he had learned (the hard way) not to waste his life, and just barely once again, got a job in Detroit Munitions. He'd never imagined this place would remind him of his nightmares just a few weeks later...
And then it happened. Doug got LSF intelligence that the Xeno's were going to attack Detroit lane. He rushed to the location, arriving just in time. Marcus watched as his brother was forced to ram into the last xeno ship in order to destroy it, in horror. Marcus's life changed from there on. His father, in his anger, accidentally killed his mother, and was sentenced to life in imprisonment. He had nowhere to go, no family.
He hated the Xeno's, he began to hate all unlawfuls. He went to the LPI recruitment center. As he began to fly his new ship, he looked to the sun...amidst all the pain he'd felt his life, he'd finally found a reason to continue it. Revenge...
Life in LPI hadn't gone the way he had expected, but Marcus was glad the way it was. He soon forgot all about revenge. He wasn't getting paid, but he had some of the best food in the world for free. His workplace was always enlightening, in fact, it was almost a comedy series in real life for him. But there were serious times along with him. He had to painstakingly get used to the fact that every trader or person he met would make fun of him with donuts stereotypes or the fact that he was overweight. He wasn't into donuts, neither was he overweight. It made no sense to him. And then there were the annoying pirates. There was a new trend setting up. He began to see pirates not fighting in fighter's or bomber's anymore, but rather in gunboats. He applied for the SWAT program as soon as he could to get his hands on the new Roc.
There were many engagements, most of them weren't good for him. He thought he saw everything, and then the Rheinlander's invaded. His first battle against them, he didn't last 5 seconds. Why? he was shot down by friendly fire...
And then there was [Cartel], a bunch of annoying know it alls who all acted dumb and/or bossy. It was against their leader, Don Buccaleto, he scored his first kill. He met up with 2 other bounty hunters, after hearing reports of a Tridente gunship in the area. When they arrived, the Don himself was there, along with one of his henchmen. The tridente was the first to go, relieving them of their troubles. They lost a pilot trying to take it down, Marcus moved in for the kill on the Don, his SNAC was ready, he took a shot, and a damn lucky one. the Don went down in flames. His henchman was almost an unbelievable flier however, it was impossible to shoot him down. And then another 2 gunboats came in and took care of them, Marcus knew he didn't stand a chance and ran as the rest of the bounty hunter's were shot down. He felt no guilt in letting them die, as long as he had lived...
And that didn't go well with Sergeant Vincent Price...
//The following posts have been taken from Sunbucks. I cannot quote them all, but Hack, The Master Elite, and Donutman (somewhat) contributed
Marcus was in the middle of his movie marathon at Sunbucks one evening. He'd never thought he'd see a day like this coming...
Marcus was in the midst of watching the movie's when suddenly the door to sunbuck's opened. Marcus usually just glanced over to see who it was and then would usually get back to his business. H glanced.
And he glanced one more time.
He rubbed his eyes.
He got up and walked to the person who was standing in front of the door.
"Hello Marcus..."
"It can't be..."
A few of the other officer's turned around thinking a celebrity had just walked in.
An officer pulls up next the Marcus.
"Dude, who is this guy, your missing the movie."
"He's...he's..my..brother..."
"Yeah, so? stop wastin' our time and get back to the movie!"
"He's...supposed to be dead."
Everyone turned their heads.
Joe turned his sead and said what everyone was thinking.
"Say wha?"
Marcus pulled out his sidearm instantly and pointed it towards His brother's (Doug) head. The other LPI officer reached for their weapons, some of the officers yelled stand down. Marcus wouldn't listen. This was personal.
"You've got a lot of explaining to do butthole."
"Its complicated."
"I don't give a damn whether its complicated or not. I'mm the one with the gun, my safety is frickin' off."
"That never scared me, you know that."
Marcus fired his sidearm right beside Doug, the shot hit a coffee mug.
"Watch. Me."
Doug saw his brother had changed since the last time they saw each other.
"You point that weapon, YOU BETTER BE READY USE IT MARC."
Marcus, evidently pissed off, smacked Doug with the butt of his sidearm. Doug fell to the floor, his head bleeding.
"DEAD PEOPLE, STAY DEAD, THEY DON'T COME BACK ONCE IN A WHILE TO SAY HI!" Marcus screamed. The other LPI Officer's reminded themselves of Sergeant Price. No one dared mutter his name, they knew Marcus didn't believe Price existed. Doug accepted the fact that Marcus was no longer a civilian, and that he could hit someone with the butt of a weapon really hard.
"Now, you tell me what the hell happened Doug, this hasn't gotten ugly yet..."
"Allright...I survive-"
"No kiddin.'"
"CAN IT MARCUS! IF IT WASN'T FOR ME YOU'D BE FRICKIN' DEAD!"
Marcus quietly switched on the safety, but didn't lower his weapon.
"As I was saying, when the xeno's were attacking Detroit, LSF Intercepted that attack before, and I managed to get my hands on that intel. The xeno's somehow managed to get a nuke mine. You were on that transport which was shipping light arms from Detroit, and they disrupted the lane. I shot down as many as I could, but my weapons were overheated, I scanned all the nearby xeno ships and found the one with the Nuke, I rammed it."
"And thats when and where you died. I saw you die with my own eyes. I stayed there for days looking for an escape pod. You're supposed to be dead."
"I know, right before I rammed the ship so I could destroy the nuke, I did eject. My ship got in the way of the nuclear explosion, and shielded me from it too. But no one could spot my life pod, it stopped working except for life support. The radiation blocked most of the scanner's from detecting what was there. So I just stood there."
"You expect me to believe that? Our ship had advanced cargo scanners, those CAN scan radiated area's you dumb fool!"
Marcus became angry again, his brother just lied. Again. He turned off his safety on his sidearm once again.
"I KNOW! Jesus Christ, let me finish! at least thats the one thing that hasn't changed about you-"
"Shut up. Go on."
"Like I was saying, it turned out the LSF hid everything. The hole xeno attack was staged by the LSF. They managed to allow the Xeno's to get hold of the nuke mine."
"Thats impossible."
The other officer's couldn't believe what they were hearing. Some of them began pointing their weapons from Marcus towards Doug, his brother.
"Apparently, they staged the whole thing so they could get their hands on me. They managed to pull me out of there and took me to...well..ya'know..."
Other officer's began muttering 'Blindspot'.
"They had some critical information, the LSF. Apparently they needed me to be officially dead for some investigation."
"You're telling me LSF 'killed you' so they could send you under cover in Rhienland?"
"No, they kept me here in Liberty. Due to recent, well, nomad movements in Manhattan, we had reason to believe some people were infected. We had had intel one of them was in LPI."
"You mean...ya'mean Jeff?"
"Yeah, you know that guy?"
The other officer began mumbling to themselves about Jeff, some recalled their last conversations between themselves and Jeff.
"No, I don't know him, but these guys do." Marcus pointed at the rest of the officers at sunbucks. One officer, confused, mistaken Doug for having done something to Jeff and pulled out his weapon and fired. Luckily, he missed, and a whole army of LPI jumped on him to restrain him.
"Jeff left. He went...somewhere..." Marcus said, noticing an inconsistency with what Doug was saying.
"I know, I arrived to late. We couldn't st-"
"Who's we."
"LSF butthole, stop interupting."
"Up yours."
"AS I WAS SAYING, I failed my mission, couldn't stop him..."
"This doesn't make sense...LSF...they would know if you came here...they would have you killed..."
"I know...I just wanted you to know that I was alive, before I really died. Again."
"Dammit Doug...it made sense when you were dead, why the hell did you have to tell me why you were alive?!"
"What? I thought you'd be happy to know I was alive, I didn't expect half of Fort Bush to pointing guns at my face dammit!"
"Doug, before you died, I was lazy, didn't give a crap about anything. And then my brother, and officer in a Navy, died. That gave me meaning, something to fight for, AND NOW YOU'VE RUINED IT COZ' YOU'RE ALIVE!"
"What the hell?"
Nobody could understand what Marcus just said, but nobody had the time to think about it
The LSF had caught up. The doors opened and the agents walked in.
Doug slowly whispered "Shoot me now, dammit stop lookin' at 'em just shoot me!"
Marcus, without thinking shot his brother. Doug fell to the floor, all lifeless, blood spitting out of his head.
"Ah, good job officers." The agent saw what Marcus did to his own brother.
"We see you managed to find out the Rhienland Spy. Good job shooting him on sight. The less of them, the better."
Marcus stayed quiet and stared at the LSF Agent's put his brother into a body bag. The agen't noted his silence.
A few hours later...
Marcus sat by in Sunbucks, alone. He thought about what he had done. He wondered what would the LSF Agent's have done if Marcus didn't kill his own brother. He wondered what he would've turned into if his brother didn't die that day. Would he still be here, in Fort Bush, eating donuts, getting tazed, flying his libby? Perhaps not. He'd be in his previous dull job. Designing weapons and making them. It may have sounded creative, but all he was doing was creating the same shotgun in two different ways. He thought about his brother and all the time's he had with him.
Marcus stood and looked out the giant window at sunbucks. He just came back from the largest engagement he went through in his life, in fact, he never though such a large battle would occur on his watch.
4 Corsair capital ships, 2 Legates, one Geb and an Osiris managed to find their way into Manhattan, how this was possible, no one knew. The Missouri, would definitely have noticed and moved into position to defend, even if it was outgunned and outnumbered.
By the time Marcus jumped into his SWAT bomber, the Navy has mobilized the Battlecruiser Equilibrium and the Carrier Thunderbolt. But it was too late, the corsair ships began to retreat into the California system. Marcus volunteered to scout out while the rest of the ships were stationed at West Point. As soon as he got to Riverside, he saw massive ships, and screamed for back up. He didn't know what to do, should he follow them? they would engage if he followed them, but if he sat there they would just escape.
He had to take the chance, he took the trade lane and followed them to California Minor. Another freelancer managed to show up, he cut the trade lane. The bounty hunters showed up next, and were eager for a fight. The corsair ships weren't shooting back, Marcus screamed them to stop engaging, he didn't to be blown up by a ship 6000 times his size...
They managed to stall that ship till the Equilibrium showed up, but before he knew it, that ship literally disappeared. The ship hit the trade lane and ran for it. They chased it to the gate, everyone started firing, Marcus knew this was the last chance, he shouted them to get out of Liberty and simultaneously fired his SNAC.
And then the order came in, they were take the fight to Magellan. The thunderbolt, equilibrium, and a whole number of bounty hunters and freelancers along with a few LPI were there. They hit the trade lane to Freeport 4, IMG territory. The Corsair ships weren't running anymore, they stayed at Freeport 4. Perhaps they thought we wouldn't attack them there? He didn't know. He listened in as the commanders debated on whether they should begin an engagement (of this magnitude) in front of an IMG base. Sure they wouldn't like it and would be pretty mad about it too, but the corsairs were holding them hostage, someting had to be done.
Meanwhile, he began getting reports from Manhattan, the damage wasn't as bad as he expected. Even if Liberty was controlled by Outcast allies, he didn't expect there to not be very little damage. Maybe the corsairs weren't their for Manhattan...maybe they were hunting down the Exiled Cassus Belli...Marcus didn't care, he just got the order to begin firing.
It was the most intense battle he had seen, it was a miracle Freeport 4 wasn't destroyed, yet it was a tragedy the Thunderbolt went down...a lot of people died.
At least they managed to take down 3 out of the 4 corsair ships...the fourth soon went down in Bretonia. As Marcus flew back to California a whole bunch of traders squabbled, not believing that there were Corsairs capital ships invading. Marcus lost it, he saw hundred of people die like never before...he killed his brother, but he was never that cold inside...
Marcus strayed off on patrol. LPI never bothered checking, and there weren't any criminals running about. A navy officer said they took care of all the Cartel and Legacy boys an hour ago. He had nothing else to do. He wanted to go somewhere he could think quietly. New York was definitely not the place. The Rheinlander's could show up any minute in Texas. California was a safe place to be...but he didn't like Planet LA. The architecture was just strange to him, it looked like an ancient civilization on drugs...
He found solace in Planet Denver, Colorado system. Sure, the place was plagued by Xeno's, but the Navy said they took care of everything an hour ago. It would be at least a few days before anything happened. He glided down to the planet, but he didn't touch down. He flew around the mountains, made sure none of the planet borne LPI saw him, he knew they'd just ask for help looking for more undesirables...
He found a nice mountain, the snow shining white with near silver rocks. It was a clean place, no debris fields, no stations, no civilization. A place where he could quietly think about what happened. He used to believe the rumors about Alaska, and what Zone 21 hid. That was before. And then his brother died, and the corsairs launched a massive attack, how they managed to get in without the Outcasts known was damn near impossible, but he knew his brother wouldn't lie to him. Alaska was definitely a rumor.
As the sun began to shine, he climbed up to the clouds and swam in them, with his Liberator. It was a unique moment, he was in a trance. A drug like state, but completely natural. He put on his favorite slow songs...he liked the melody in slow songs. It was relaxing as he put the ship on autopilot whilst looking at the blue sky. He didn't want this moment to end, it was almost as good as being in love.
"You know, your brother wasn't lying."
Marcus jumped up, the moment ruined. He was pissed, plain pissed. The one time he could be away from all this and it gets ruined. And by a person with a thick Rheinland accent? He wondered...
"What the?! Who the hell are you? Get lost! Your ruining everything!"
Marcus realized he was overreacting. He took a deep breathe and relaxed. But it was his brother he was talking about...
"How...how do you know my brother?
"He was a good friend of mine...I feel as though you may be one as well..."
He had no idea what the mysterious Rheinland accented man was, his brother never told him anything about this, or him.
"What do you me-"
Marcus noticed he was talking to a Rheinlander. All Rheinland citizens were deported shortly after the war began. This was strange, he wasn't supposed to be here. The Rheinlander replied before Marcus finished his question however.
"I believe your overextended silence could only mean you have noticed that I must be a Rheinland spy."
"Yeah, and you better start explaining yourself real fast."
"That I will, check your console, you should be receiving something momentarily." The spy said as he chuckled.
"How do I know when I open this file it won't set a bug on my ship and shut it down. Hell, how do you even know I'm here? If you hacked into the LPI Mainframe, it would say I was in a patrol! Not here!"
"The eyes never lie Mr. Lindberg."
Marcus suddenly turned his Liberator in all directions. He looked at all the mountains, in search of something...a ship, a person, anything.
"Where are you dammit! Show yourself!"
Being in the LPI, Marcus was ambushed a lot by pirates. He never liked it and found it overly irritating. It was something neither he nor anyone else would ever get used to.
"I am sorry Mr. Lindberg, being a former policeman myself, I know what its like and how much of an annoyance it is. But consider this a Blind Date eh?"
The spy chucked again...Marcus didn't like it. This guy sounded cold and sinister. Was he trying to recruit him into something? Why would a Rheinland spy contact a lowly police officer? Psychological warfare? Not at this small a scale, he would've heard something at the comm channels by now. And he was too lowly a target anyways...it didn't make sense...Why him?
"No. This isn't a blind date."
Marcus charged his weapons and began flying like a coordinated acrobat. He had to end this.
"That's what I used to say...unfortunately, it is a blind date. I personally don't understand the concept of a blind date, but I find myself entrapped in this snare."
"I never asked for your opinion, now show yourself."
Marcus turned on his cruise engines as he said that, he was being followed, best to get out of here. Perhaps its was a just an LSF training operation to see whether he was a Rheinland operative.
"Its strange how you say things which imply you are eager to fight, however your ship seems to be cruising away from the planet, as if you are trying to escape."
"No kidding, do you really need to state the obvious?"
"Seeing as you did not, I felt I had to point it-"
"What do you want with me dammit! Just tell me! What you think I'm working for the Rheinlander's just because I strayed off my patrol?!"
Marcus was infuriated. He lost it. This was it, he was screaming all over the comms in anger.
"No Mr.Lindberg, I simply wish to offer you my condolences over the death of your brother. And to tell you who he really was...."
Marcus's head was boiling as he desperately attempted to find the hidden Rheinlander. He couldn't take it no more. It was coming back...everything. He thought he had gotten over it, he thought he could forget his brother and what happened to him. He had no family, and even if his colleague's at the workplace were there for him, they wouldn't know what it was like. They wouldn't know what to say, even for the few that were present when he killed his brother.
He gave up. He stopped looking. He had accepted he had finally gone mad through hearing all this Rheinlander speak nonsense. It was simply his brain crushing him. He needed something...something that would help.
Marcus kept his comms completely silent...that Rheinland nonsense wasn't speaking anymore. He had a rough day...he was probably cracking under the immense pressure. He signed off for the day, he was done with al the reports and reading the memo's.
Instead of going to his paid for quarter's in Fort Bush, he decided to get out his father's savings. Marcus managed to get some of his father's money before he went to Sugarland. By all means, Marcus was a billionaire and could spend the rest of his life in luxury, in fact he could've even started his own company, but he chose against it. He hated his father so much he wanted nothing to do with him. His brother never felt the need to use the money...while he was still alive anyways...
Marcus forgot about his father, deliberately, and took some cash and went to a nice posh hotel in Plant Manhattan, he booked a penthouse for the night and got himself a masseuse, but a massage wasn't exactly what he got from her.
He crashed into the bed as he waited for his 'massage'. When he finally heard the door open, he complained in a tired manner. "Next time...please get here faster..." he said, his mouth halfway into the pillow.
3 HOURS LATER...
Marcus was deep asleep. In fact a person could say he was dead asleep. Even then, a slight creek of an sliding door awoke him. He jumped up and pulled his sidearm out and pointed it to the nearest person he saw, the masseuse. She slightly awoke wondering what was going on, and why her arm was around Marcus's pillow, and not his body. Marcus put his gun back quietly but fast as the masseuse woke up. "I'll just be gone for a little while" he said whispering in her ear. "Okay honey" she whispered calmly as she smiled herself back to sleep.
He took back his gun and got himself into some clothes. He walked slowly and suspiciously to the door, his gun out, when suddenly a hand grabbed his neck and a knee kicked his gun away. He suddenly felt a shower of pain a syringe was stabbed on his spinal cord. He then went back to sleep...
A splash of ice cold water hit Marcus all over his face and body, he was awake. His head was lying uncomfortably on a metal table, which only added to the sharp pain he felt through his body when he tried to move.
"Here, have this...Marcus."
Another syringe hit Marcus hit his neck, but he didn't feel any pain. In fact, all the pain started to go away. Painkillers...this doesn't make sense Marcus thought to himself. He was in a dark cell with a hanging light bulb in the ceiling. There weren't any restraints on him. He scanned the room with his eyes, attempting to see if anyone was there with him amongst the darkness. He could find anyone, but as soon as he set his eyes on the table, he found a document. He wondered how someone threw the bucket of water at him, but he decided not to waste his time. Perhaps that document has some answers...
It had 'TOP SECRET' written on it. On the top it said 'English Translation'. He concluded this was definitely a Rheinland document, maybe they wanted to put some propaganda in him. He took a look at the document and put it down. No...I won't let them brainwash me...
"Mr. Lindberg, read the document. It is there for a purpose."
Marcus realised the voice was coming from a speaker, he was definitely in an interrogation room. Was this the LSF trying to see whether he was loyal? No...can't be, I'm just a police officer...I'm not that important... He thought to himself. Was the LSF trying to recruit him, by first seeing whether he was really loyal to Liberty? There was no way he was going to join the LSF, he saw what they did to his brother, he just wanted to live his life, maybe not peacefully, but he didn't want to be a part of anything big, LSF was just like that...He then noticed the voice was the same Rheinlander which he met in Planet Denver.
"You...what the hell do you think your doing!" He shouted, at the top of his lungs.
"Trying to get you to understand why your brother defected to Rheinland."
"You don't KNOW my brother, he was just as loyal as you were you disgusting Rheinland freak!"
"Read the document."
"No...never. That's the one thing that's different between our two countries...I have the right to say no...you force your people read your poison..." Marcus quoted passionately.
"The difference between my country and yours is that we know you country has been taken over by nomads who are subsequently attempting to brainwash-"
"SHUT UP! Your country lies! That's all they've ever done! Your country was the one infected with nomads! Your country was the one that nearly destroyed MINE! Now...now its time for payback..."
The room remained silent for 5 minutes. Marcus sat down on the floor, wondering what was next.
"Read the document Mr. Lindberg."
Marcus sat silently. He thought of his father. The one time I use his money and I become a PoW...Great... he thought to himself.
Suddenly a gas began pouring all over the room. Marcus stood up and inhaled all the oxygen he could and attempted to last out as long as he could, trying to find a way out, but his efforts were vain. He fell to the floor.
After a while he woke up again. He stood up, and walked towards the table and began reading the document. Marcus couldn't figure out why he began reading it, but he found out why the Rheinlander had drugged him into reading the document...
