CHAPTER 10: THE TRAITOR EMERGES

Months passed by since the collapse of LEF. The DEAD MEN had grown stronger than ever. BravoCastle was holding some training sessions with the smaller recruits. He went on a legion with a few members to harvest some nearby covenant. The group finished up and entered the loading dock. He hopped out of this fleet but was surprised to see Leatherface standing there at the bar. He was partially wearing his armor even though it wasn’t war time and had been drinking copious amounts of a substance that looked similar to redrum.

*Leatherface had been spending a lot of time in the LAB lately. He fancied himself quite the chemist and conducted experiments which he delivered reports on. They used the intelligence he gave to weaponize chemicals of debris in their systems. He had discovered a unique formula to make their ships appear invisible with a unique cloak effect. Leatherface had been concocting a unique combination of redrum with a substance he found in the galaxy which changed the chemical compound of the nano bots. He found that the nano-bots thrived on hosts. Instead of joining the team legion, Leatherface had spent the past 3 nights pulling all-nighters in the LAB to find a compound that would render his new brew of redrum more potent and deadly than the one the DEAD MEN had been using for war. He finally found a potential formula that would fuse with the new matter he harvested without the original redrum nano bots killing their host. He raised his beaker to the sky like a mad scientist and imbibed his own potion.*

“Hey Leather…I didn’t see you out there today. Is everything okay?” BravoCastle observed this new unique bottle Leather was tightly grasping. It looked similar to redrum but he could tell it was not the same.

“Everything is just fuUUUUhhcking fine.” Leatherface arrogantly mocked BravoCastle. In the distance he saw a familiar face. Leatherface’s eyes grew wide and tense once he saw Phaera exit their fleets and begin to clean the loading dock. “HEY PHAERRRRA!” Leatherface shoved BravoCastle out of his way and tromped over to Phaera in an obvious confrontation. The nano bots from the partial armor he was wearing began to radiate as though they were being charged by his rage. Leatherface came inches within Pharea’s face and began to scream, “FUCK YOU!”

Phaera adjusted backwards slightly and put his hands up as if to slowly back away. BravoCastle rushed over to mediate the dispute.

“Hey woah woah…Leather… what’s the reason for this?” Both BravoCastle and Phaera noticed an unusual change in Leather’s nanobots color. He wasn’t glowing red as the nano bots would normally. His armor was a vibrant and electric blue. “What are you drinking? Why are you drinking redrum? We aren’t in war?” BravoCastle attempted to swipe the bottle from his hands but Leather pulled it back quickly and drank another swig.

“It’s mine! A new formula specially made. A superior one!! And WAR IS UPON US! THIS asssssshole here…needs to learn how to follow MY fucking commands!” Leatherface stuttered slightly backwards. “This here is my special recipe. I found a unique property to make our murder juice more potent and I’m testing it out. Maybe… I should test it out on YOU!” Leatherface pointed at Phaera as he began to lay his hand on his weapon.

BravoCastle stepped in between the two and put his hand forward eyeing the gun Leatherface was about to draw. He held one hand there at Leatherface as he pushed Phaera back. Without taking his eye of the gun, he gave the order, “Pharea, finish your duties outside the loading dock. You’re dismissed.” He turned to Leatherface who was still caressing his weapon with his fingers. “Leatherface…What the fuck. I’m trying to be patient here, but this is too much. I’m sorry I need to talk to Ragefish about this. This is the 4th outburst I’ve seen this past month. And what war are you talking about? There is no war right now…. You’re not acting yourself. We need to get you medical attention.”

Leatherface scoffed as he began sauntering away to his quarters.

“A war is coming! I’ve seen it! You’ll see Bravo…” Leather turned to the whole loading dock and yelled out so all members could hear his words before he exited. “YOU’LL ALL SEE!”

As soon as he left BravoCastle sent a message to the rest of the officers and one urgent transmission to Ragefish.

*Ragefish, this is BravoCastle. We need to talk as soon as possible. We need to prep the medical dock*