<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Prologue</div><div class="spoiler_body"><strong>Name:</strong> Jonathan Gates<br/><strong>Rank:</strong> Petty Officer Second Class<br/><strong>Branch:</strong> UNSC Special Operations - Spartan<br/><strong>Location:</strong> UNSC Infinity<br/><em>"You ain't nothin but a Hound Dog"</em><br/><div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/c/c0/Vasili_Avatar.jpg)</div><br/>Spartan Gates.<br/>Had a nice ring to it, however his pride for the Corps was much. The first day he had gotten his armor he had taken the left shoulder piece to a Custom Shop on Earth and gotten the ODST insignia etched into the plating along with the units he'd served in.<br/>Of course, he'd gotten hell for it.<br/>Commander Palmer claimed it weakened the armor there.<br/>Four re-issues later, Spartan Gates was allowed the Custom design, but only because he had proved the Commander wrong in a series of tests.<br/><br/>In fact, the special design allowed him a special reunion before his...punishment.<br/><hr/><br/>All Spartan-IVs were asked to join the program.<br/>All, except Gates. And where, he didn't mind being a Spartan, always ready for Combat, always in the shit...he didn't like the <em>Navy</em> part.<br/>Probably the reason why Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck refused to join the program. That and the fact that his team wouldn't be with him.<br/>But that didn't stop the Marine from accepting to tour the UNSC Infinity.<br/><br/>Being in a formal military uniform while aboard a UNSC Battle Ship was...weird.<br/>Sure, he'd done it plenty of times before, but not as a guest, and not on a ship he had no sense of direction in.<br/>This led the good Gunny to a dilemma.<br/>Somehow he had gotten separated from his group and ended up standing in the middle of the Hangar surrounded by Navy personnel and Spartans.<br/><br/>As Buck glanced around to ask for directions it looked like everyone was too busy to give him an answer until a Spartan with an ODST Insignia on his Armor passed by.<br/>The ODST Gunnery Sergeant stared at the Insignia as it passed him by with a small feeling-, "Marine!"<br/><br/>Spartan Gates stopped in his tracks as the title was called out.<br/>There were other Marines who volunteered to be a Spartan, sure, but they were so full of it, they've forgotten who they really were. And there was no one on the ship that ever called him by that title.<br/>Plus, he'd heard this voice many times before.<br/>Helmet still on, he let it hide his grin as he turned towards his former Fire Team Leader.<br/>"Good to see you again Gunny."<br/><br/>And of course, "Uh...well, I didn't think anyone would know me here beyond the higher."<br/><br/>"I could never forget the best Fire Team Leader I've ever had."<br/><br/>"...and you are...?"<br/><br/>Spartan Gates laughed and shook his head.<br/>He had served with Buck on Reach, and was reassigned to another unit just before New Mombasa.<br/>The Battle of Earth saw to Gates' temporary promotion to Lieutenant where he commanded a Company of ODST Marines who had lost their Captain.<br/>As far as Battle Experience went, he had more for it.<br/>Commanding a Company was...hard.<br/>Gates took off his helmet and tucked it under an arm, the augmentation obvious in the form of his height.<br/>"Sergeant Jonathan Gates. PFC, when we were in the same Fire Team on Reach."<br/><br/>Edward Buck's eyebrows cocked upwards as those memories ran through his head.<br/>Buck's reintroduction into a Life was apparent when he stuck his hand out to shake.<br/>"Gates!? I heard you took a Battlefield Commission on Earth. Read the Report too, helluva job Marine."<br/><br/>Gates accepted Buck's hand and gave a firm handshake, careful not to crush the man's hand. "Thanks Gunny. But Command didn't think I was fit for the job of an Officer and shipped me over here."<br/>As the Spartan let go of Buck's hand he had a sinking feeling the Gunnery Sergeant read that part of his report as well.<br/>He'd be right.<br/><br/>In fact, Buck was surprised Jon Gates was still alive.<br/>Not only did he sleep with anything that had a hole between its legs, his Combat prowess was something to talk of.<br/>How many times had Gates' ideas been rejected because it put himself and the rest of the unit in danger?<br/>Once, on Reach, Buck and his Team faced off against four Covenant Wraiths with a nearly depleted Spartan Laser.<br/>Buck had his men spring an ambush in hopes of luring the wraiths into a bottleneck where they could deal with them one by one, until Gates blew up a cliff face and buried/disabled the Wraiths under a pile of rocks, nearly burying them as well.<br/>Ed Buck took his hand back and offered his former underling a polite smile.<br/>"Can't imagine why."<br/><br/>"So, how'd the Rookie fair after my reassignment?"<br/><br/>"Quiet. But one helluva Soldier. We got separated on the drop to New Mombasa, I met up with the rest, you remember Mickey and Dutch. The Rook was on his own for most of it. Patched myself in to the Super-Intendent when we had a break and watched a lot of the Security Footage. If I didn't know any better I would have said I was watching a Spartan go to work."<br/><hr/><br/>As the two caught up, high above Commander Palmer watched with stress and anger levels on the rise.<br/>Why?<br/>She had just found out Gates had slept with every woman on board the UNSC Infinity save herself.<br/>Jealousy? A Fat Negative on that.<br/>"Spartan Gates!"<br/><br/>Gates heard it.<br/>But, at that moment he was no longer a Tool of the Navy but a Weapon of the Marine Corps.<br/>He had a rightfully earned Title, Goddamnit!<br/>Use it!<br/><br/>"Spartan Gates!"<br/><br/>Gunny Buck glanced upwards at who was doing the yelling and would swear later he had seen an imminent erupting Volcano instead of a female Spartan.<br/>"Well, Gates. It was great seeing you-"<br/><br/>"Nah, don't mind her. It's probably something that happened last week."<br/><br/>"Gates. You <em>really</em> don't learn do you?"<br/><br/>"...Spartan Gates!"<br/><br/>Buck reached up and smacked Jon Gates upside the head. "When a woman is calling you in that tone, you have two options. Run to her, or Run away, and seeing as you're on a ship, running away will only get you into more trouble."<br/><br/>"GATES!"<br/><br/>Spartan Gates bowed his head in defeat, but kept his grin, looking back up to the ODST Trooper.<br/>"I was assigned here, I never accepted the position."<br/><br/>"I know, Marine. Your ideas are suicidal, but your skills are beyond any I've seen, even the Rook. Wherever you are, no matter what you become by choice or otherwise. You'll always be a Marine, and you'll always Represent."<br/><br/>"If I had a choice I'd stay with the ODSTs. The Covie war, is done, but there's something else going on."<br/><br/>"I know Marine. Now hurry up. Momma's calling and she looks awfully pissed."<br/><br/>Gates laughed out loud and put his ODST helmet back on, in fact, it was the same one issued to him since Boot Camp, save for the few times he had to reinforce it.<br/>UNSC Command thought he was nuts when he requested to use it with his Spartan Armor.<br/><br/>"GAAAAAAAATTTEEEESSS!!!!"<br/></div></div><br/><strong>Rank:</strong>PFC<br/><strong>Branch:</strong>UNSC Army<br/><strong>Location:</strong>On the corner of No and Where<br/><strong>Present Day</strong><br/><em>"And the White Knight is talking backwards..."</em><br/><br/>The days go by one after another.<br/>It was a weird feeling.<br/>The days themselves go by slow, however the months pass like nothing.<br/>How many months has it been since those UNSC bastards stripped him of his rightfully earned title?<br/>Marine.<br/>The word echoed in his head over and over as he slowly Geared up at the beginning of the day, and Geared down at the end of it. On his bad days, the dull echo of the word became screams. He was being chewed out by his conscious like a Drill Instructor chewing out a recruit.<br/><br/>He had gone to see a shrink.<br/>Gone to see if he could be medically discharged for it.<br/>But it wasn't enough.<br/>Rather, it was enough, but not for someone like Gates.<br/><br/>Where had he gone wrong?<br/>How could the UNSC abandon him so?<br/>What about the Corps? Did General Hogan even try?<br/><br/>These questions plagued him day and night.<br/>So much so that he had not had sex since being transferred.<br/>He'd been in the red light district, of course. Hoping a good lay would get his head back in place, but he couldn't bring himself up to it.<br/>In more ways than one.<br/><br/>U. N. S. C. Army. Private. First. Class.<br/>Gates.<br/>Jon Gates.<br/>It made him sick.<br/>Made him hate the UNSC.<br/>Made him want to get away.<br/>But to where?<br/>How?<br/><br/>His thoughts led him away from his Patrolling Platoon with M739 Light Machine Gun in hand (though at a rather low rank he was put into a position that required him to carry the Squad Automatic Weapon), he ended up at the loading docks.<br/>He ended up staring at the Ohana booth, standing behind a lone figure, crouched behind some trash cans.<br/><br/>Gates, blinked several times as he senses came to him.<br/>In the dark cloud of this nightmare, there was a sudden ray of light.<br/>A ray of Hope.<br/>The<del>Army Trooper</del>Marine looked down at the crouched figure and didn't think anything of it.<br/>There were many like him.<br/>Dumpster Divers. Trash Golems. There were many names for those types.<br/><br/>As he walked towards the ray of light that was the Ohana stand, something replayed in his head.<br/>Something from his last days on the<em>Infinity</em>. But why now?<br/>Why were the words of Gunny Buck playing in his head.<br/>How he was always a Marine.<br/>How he would always Represent.<br/><br/>PFC Jonathan Gates seemed to stand straighter, and taller, and walk with more pride, as his eyes darted here and there, checking everything at the stand from the training course, to the people. How they stood, what they wore.<br/>As he got close to the stand he stopped and cleared his throat loudly to get their attention, if he somehow hadn't yet. "Morning. I'd like to see some Papers for this temp set-up."<br/>His eyes caught a shimmering light on the ground, and a glance confirmed it to be the brass end of an empty shotgun tube.<br/>"Also papers for any Firearms you may hold on your person or property."