[center] [h3][color=a0410d] [b]Luke Godfrey
[/b] [/color] [/h3][/center]

Luke stumbled out of the church, a bit of rubble nearly tripping his tired legs before he emerged into the cold rain, wincing as the cold droplets splashed onto his exposed head. Where was his helmet? It was all a blur, his mind could not think straight at the moment, their victory over the mighty Green Fox left a stale taste in Luke’s mouth. There was no glory, no grand thrill of overcoming a great enemy. It was just him killing another man in this war. The way he killed him though and those damn memories… it all seemed to have drained him. Why did he feel so numb? Where was the feeling he wanted, the feeling of accomplishment and glory? It was all so frustrating, but he had no energy to show it. Instead he simply made his way back to Jean and Thomas, briefly wondering about the condition of poor Thomas. Unfortunately once Luke got a look of Jean and a motionless Thomas, it was pretty clear the end result of their encounter. A small sigh escaped Luke as he reached the two and stared down at Thomas, an emotionless gaze lingering over the corpse. [color=a0410d]“Sorry pal,”[/color] was all he could mutter before running his dirty hands through his hair. 

He glanced over to Jean as he stated they all fucked up and offered no reply, seeing no sense to throw his opinion in the mix. Even he knew now wasn’t the time. [i][color=a0410d]‘Just bad luck is all,’[/color][/i] he thought to himself as he bowed his head and muttered a quick prayer for the fallen hero before walking up the street, letting Jean cover up the bloody stump. As he waited up the street keeping guard he glanced over to see Jean finally finish up and lift the corpse up with Victoria. It seemed like a burden to carry him back, but Luke knew he had no say in the matter. He hadn’t really talked to the guy too much, but from what he had seen he was a decent guy. A shame decent people die, but this was war. At least they got the fucker who took him out. There was some solace in that… wasn’t there? He shook his head, clearing his mind of the thought before moving, staying ahead of the two as he silently took point. The trek back seemed shorter than before, even with them carrying a dead body back. Soon they returned to the camp barricade, Jean signaling the guards as they approached. 

As they entered Luke glanced to the guards and saw their shocked expressions as they laid their eyes upon the fallen Thomas, all of them in a state of disbelief and sadness. Luke simply walked on by before seeing the state of the camp after the empires bombardment upon them. It was a sad sight indeed, but Luke only had one thought on his mind. [color=a0410d]“God I need a drink,”[/color] before reaching for his canteen, though arched a brow as he noticed it missing. [color=a0410d]“Son of a bitch,”[/color] he muttered in annoyance. Thinking back, he must have lost it in the chaos of their encounter with Green Fox. With a small sigh he walked over to a nearby pale of water and scooped up some cool water with cupped palms before greedily slurping it all away. As he went for another scoop he noticed a few people approach from he left and glanced over to see a some random soldiers approach him, all of them wearing mixed emotions of curiosity, anger and sadness. Luke arched a brow before slurping up some more water before flicking his hands dry and looking up at them. [color=a0410d]“What?”[/color] he questioned with a low voice. The first soldier out of the group looked to the others before speaking up. 

“You were out there, with the scouting team weren’t you?” he asked before glancing over to the corpse of Thomas. Luke followed his glance and stared at the fallen soldier before rising to his feet.

[color=a0410d]“Yeah, what of it?”[/color] he asked with slight annoyance. Luke managed to notice the soldiers fist tighten and arched a brow. 

“What… what happened?” he asked before falling quiet, letting another soldier, a young girl speak next. 

“How could he of all people… who did this?” she questioned, or more like demanded with a small yet venomous tone. Luke silently stared between the two before looking back to the rest of the soldiers all waiting for an answer. What was he supposed to say? That Thomas had some shit luck and got his leg blown off? It’s how it happened, but for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to tell them that. Instead he looked around, noticing a few more soldiers who heard the questions being ask pause and listening in. Luke was about to wave them off and head back to his tent, but the jingling of metal reached his ears and paused as he realized what made the noise. A thought ran through his mind before he looked back to the group with a hard look. 

[color=a0410d]“You wanna know what happened?”[/color] he asked, his voice growing so they all could hear and gaining more nearby soldiers attention. With a deep breath Luke gritted his teeth and spoke. [color=a0410d]“Green Fox happened!”[/color] he hissed with venom and earning shocked expressions and chatter. Soon enough more soldiers approached, all their attention drawn to Luke as their urge to know how such an unfortunate ending befell their hero. Now seeing more soldiers approach Luke pulled over an empty ammo box and stood atop it with a hard gaze looking out to them all. [color=a0410d]“That’s right! We encountered Green Fox during our mission! That bastard, that scum sucking snake of the empire ambushed us as he hid away in his damn hole! Thomas… I couldn’t do anything to stop it. We all fell for that cowards trap and Thomas fell victim to the rats tricks. Before I knew it he was… he was on the ground, to far for me to help him,”[/color] Luke fell silent afterward after noticing more soldiers approach and shook his head. [color=a0410d]“When it was all over I was… we were to late, Thomas had passed,”[/color] he muttered with a lowered head. As he looked back up he saw the mixture of anger and sadness within the soldier's eyes. 

[color=a0410d]“It’s true, we were unable to save him, but I promise you that coward Green Fox will never claim another life of the Federations armies!”[/color] he swore before ripping out the deceased Fox’s dog tags and holding them up for all to see. [color=a0410d]“We made sure that bastard never fires another shot!”[/color] he declared with gritted teeth. The soldiers all looked in shock and awe as they stared at the dog tags. [color=a0410d]“That’s right, those bastards dared take a hero such as Thomas from us, so we’ve taken theirs. An eye for an eye!”[/color] he barked as he dangled the tags with a vicious shake. [color=a0410d]“Thomas was to great of a man though compared to that damn coward, so we’ll make sure to take more than just a pathetic excuse for a sniper from them! We’ll march right through this city and push the bastards out once and for all!”[/color] he proclaimed with confidence and earning a few loud shouts of agreement. [color=a0410d]“We won’t stop here though, no, we’ll keep pushing until we’re knocking down the Emperor front doors! We’ll make them pay for this war! We’ll make learn what happens when they fuck with the Federation!”[/color] as he finished several soldiers shouted and cheered to his words and seemed to have a new wave of confidence and determination wash over them.

[color=a0410d]“In the name of Thomas Carter and all of our fellow fallen comrades, we’ll make them pay!”[/color] he boomed before hopping from the ammo box and marching his way through the crowd of amped up soldiers, all ready to strike back against the empire. As he made some good distance from the crowd he gave a small sigh and glanced back to see them all disbanding with new eagerness to fulfill their duties. A small smirk came to his face to see the results of his little speech before turning forward and making his way back to his units tenting area. Thomas's death was an unfitting end for him, but maybe his name could still be used to inspire others to keep fighting on. Luke chuckled before placing the tags into his pocket and continued on.