ORIGIN

Stone Cold

Meanwhile, Jason Stone was by himself in a different area of the outpost. The room he was in was a luxurious one. However, it was often used by corrupt Brigade officers who did "business" with Shinobi Noble honey-trappers and other band affiliates. The room was complete with a mini bar among other plushy amenities. It smelled like cigarettes and expensive perfume. But as fancy as it was, all the room seemed to be was a chamber of bribery and hypocrisy. Stone had just finished having a long and heated discussion with his arch-commander, Blake Austere. He was getting ready to take a shower and leave the colony on his personal ship to go home. But his conscience had been bothering him more and more as the months passed. He had a nagging gut suspicion that his arch commanders had been using him and his partner, Mike Hizbin, to set up Ezrith Helix and his men for a while now. But the funny thing was that he only recently realized it. Mike Hizbin knew it the whole time, but just like everybody else in the division, Mike stayed secretive about certain details of their cases. He only fed Stone bits and pieces that made little sense when put together. He felt like a stone-cold fool. For one thing, even though Mike Hizbin was a rookie, he jumped two positions ahead of Stone in a year. With an open bottle of liquor, his shirt off, and the blasters in his holster exposed, Stone paced around the room in heavy thought. For ten years he had sincere aspirations of being the best arch commander in Plumorita, much like the men before him whom he studied his whole life. Among the few was Max Archer. When the galactic news announced Ezrith Helix and Max Archer as Plumorita's most wanted traitors to the Star Brigade, he couldn't believe it. It made no sense! But in the back of his mind, he knew that it had to be like everything else his superiors told him; just like all the other things he had to piece together.

For most of his teen years, Stone was a drug and gun runner for Cowboy Syndicate in the band's early days. That was back when their leader wasn't a proud cyborg. He even did a few side deals with the Darksiders back then. All he gained for it all was a head filled with pain and a body covered with scars and some tattoos. He knew Mike Hizbin was more "successful" because of all the corruption that shrouded the Star Brigade. And this shroud of corruption seemed to be closing in on Stone fast; backing him into a tight corner. And all he knew to do in a corner was fight or kill. As he guzzled down the last bit of liquor, he wiped his mouth and threw the empty bottle against the wall, shattering it. He grabbed both of his guns from the holster and sat down in a chair in heavy contemplation. He put the guns to each of his temples as they charged up. All he wanted to do was right all the wrongs he committed in his past. That's why he joined the Star Brigade in the first place. But all the Brigade wanted to do now was misguide him even more. He was fired up and hadn't taken his anxiety pills in a week.

By this time, Ato was running out of the courage it took all his strength to muster. Taunting him with his wicked laugh, Laughing Shadow began torturing him. He used creepy, robot insectoids that took form from his nano-tech armor. Ato wanted to give in, but all he kept thinking about was all the oppression he went through on that dreaded moon. He kept reliving that torturous noble fist training and the years of him and his siblings being slaves. But the thing that allowed him to go on was defeating Shimoto.

Meanwhile, a few cells down, WarFace was trying to get Ezrith to join him in his reign over his outlaw band and Plumorita's entire division of the Star Brigade. He promised Ezrith that he would make sure he would die wealthy; wealthy enough to take good care of his family, including Oasis, forever. He also promised him near-immortality if he chose to get repurposed by Alpha Maximus. But he told him that if he didn't accept the offer, he would harm Oasis. Ezrith felt compelled to at least say yes more each time WarFace showed him Oasis' photo. It was unnerving. But right before WarFace could further impose his automatum, they both heard the sound of laser blasts outside the room. Laughing Shadow and Ato heard the same thing as well.