Pariah

Characters

 * SPARTAN Slade Wilson
 * Captain Amanda Waller
 * SPARTAN Billy Wintergreen
 * Gunnery Sergeant Armand "Dragon" Zao
 * Corporal James "Fury" Gordon
 * Corporal Russell "Spanner" Williams
 * Lance Corporal William "Crater" Gibson

Prologue
0600 Hours, 21 February 2565 (Military Calendar) / En Route to Lian Yu System "Contact with ONI Base PURGATORY was lost last night." SPARTAN Wilson knew that Purgatory was a secret ONI base on a jungle world far from any human colony. Far enough away that no one would would know how to get there or even stumble upon it by accident—or whoever they were keeping there couldn't leave. He heard rumors of unsanctioned ONI experiments and/or interrogations going on there. "We can neither confirm nor deny any validity of these rumors." Captain Waller once told him.

The two SPARTANs and four ODSTs that composed this team answered to Captain Amanda Waller of the Office of Naval Intelligence's Advanced Research Group. The SPARTANs had the MJOLNIR Gen III Armor, while the ODSTs had TRIDENT armor based on a modified Semi-Powered Infiltration suit design from near the end of the Great War.

Slade Wilson prepared to step into the Single Occupancy Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle, also known as a "Drop Pod". Usually the motto for these things was "feet first into hell". Slade felt that "feet first into purgatory" was more appropriate motto for this situation.

Entering the pod adjacent to his was Billy Wintergreen. Billy Wintergreen had modified his visor to appear to be dual-colored.