u/Rekrios

So I've been working at Home Depot for 4 years now and ever since then I've had one particular coworker who has been invredibly antagonistic and subtly hostile towards me specifically, likely due to me being autistic and him unable to handle that. Now, I think I like my job but hes legit my only problem.

Now, I am NOT a confrontational person, I have never hit someone in my life and I do not like getting angry. I additionally have a high tolerance and am willing to put up with people's BS for YEARS. Its why I put up with this guy for so long.

He left for a year then came back and the last 8 months have been genuinely some of the most frustrating and high tension moments Ive had at the store. Its gotten to the point where I am mere comments away from punching him. Last week I was so fed up I was one smug comment away from blowing up and screaming at him.

I have done all that I can to work with him, Im respectful, listen to his orders, meet him halway in discussions, and whatnot. But he doesnt at many times, hell the first interaction I have with him makes him angry on some days, its ridiculous.

Legit I will ask him where product goes, he tells me I know where it goes... no tf I dont thats why Im asking! We (more specifically I) build palettes, he dismantles them because I didnt do them his way. If I put a box in the wrong place or not to his pleasing, he glares at me, shakes his head, grumbles, or shit talks about me.

These last few weeks him and his friend call out of work on truck arrival days, forcing me to work the trucks. So my exhaustion has led to me being very low tolerance lately and Ive reached my breaking point. Its gotten to the stage where looking at him angers me.

Legitimately I do not know what to do, I have reported him several times, and Ive tried to control my anger either by composing myself or attacking carboard boxes. I dont even know if Im asking for advice or just ranting.

We all know the Vex are a Collective Consciousness, meaning their is no "true leader" as all bodies work together as one. However that has fundamentally made the Vex as a faction the least interesting due to no central figurehead to identify or talk to, its always voiceless bots. Now Maya Sunderesh / the Conductor is a rising figurehead but its very apparent that she's just a splinter in the Collective, as those not under her commandstill function independently.

The most powerful Vex are the "Axis Minds" which run entire branches of the Vex Network and control over Vex Units, like Queen Bees. This implies that there is at least a heirarchy of power to the faction, like Quira & Atheon controlling their own collectives. With that in mind, there could theoretically be an "Overmind" that commands other "Axis Minds", similar to the Zerg in StarCraft or Ultron and his many bodies. Basically: Overmind > Vex Mind > Vex Units.

Now that's not to say it is the leader, but instead would be the "Collective Intentionality", a voice that speaks for all Vex and the overlining goal of the Vex. Think of it like a Black Box, which acts as the code of a computer which itself runs programs, Vex Units are programs, Vex Minds are programs, the Network is a computer, and the Overmind is the Black Box. One possible member could be the Glass Minds hinted in Final Shape, which were a type of Vex cultivated by the Precursors.

One important note to make is the SCALE of such a mind, we've seen how ginormous certain Vex Minds can get like Atheon, Quira, Koregos, Argos, and the Gate Lords. But an Overmind that controls other Vex Minds with be ENORMOUS, the biggest Vex ever. Now something we haven't seen yet are Vex "Machine Worlds" with Mercury nearly becoming one. An Overmind would absolutely live on or BE a kind of Machine World, similar to Ego in the comics.

Basically, with how Axis Mind's operate, I think a heirarichal "Overmind" could exist, but the scale would have to rival The Witness in side, possibly living in a Machine World just to sustain the heat.

I saw a clip on Twitter where it was a mod that replaced Noble 6 & Kat's model, so Noble 6 got shot in the head instead, it was just a funny meme. But it got me thinking, would the story change all that much? The difference between 6 & Kat is simple, the former is hyper-lethal the other isn't.

After Noble 6's death, the missions left are The Package & The Pillar of Autmn (Also Lone Wolf, but that's more of a send off / epilogue). In those missions, Noble 6 needed to take out Anti-Aircraft Sky Strikers, then defend the SWORD base gate for Jun to open it, there Noble Team went to the underground base to secure Cortana.

If Kat was alive, they could've gotten the gate to SWORD Base open much faster, allowing Halsey was more time to prep Cortana (However that wasn't particularly that big of a deal in the original story). She also could've determined that the underground base existed before even Dot or Cortana informed them of it, which could've sped up defense preparation, however that's likely debatable. She could possibly speed up the decrypting process with Halsey thanks to her cryptanalyst and hacker experience.

I think the most interesting question is who would Cortana chose as her courier? Noble 6 was likely chosen due to their hyper-lethality and Spartan-II survivability. Among the final four members of Noble Team, the only one who would realistic be a good carrier would be either Carter (Due to his stoicism and dedication) or Emile (Due to his tenacity and ferocity).

Following this, Carter goes to the ship-wrecking yard Aszod where they face heavy air bombardment. Its possible Kat could've set up a jamming signal to hide their Pelican longer than usual, allowing them to get more distance to Aszod, but considering the Covenant's expert tracking tech and ground forces, its debatable. She could assist Emile in fighting off the Banshee's.

I think something to consider is Kat's future reaction to Needle weapons, given she would witness Noble 6's death, its possible future subanese weapons could trigger her, but probably not. She would also have an extremely intense emotional reaction to Carter's suicide, maybe even distract him with alternative plans. This could actually make her more dedicated into getting Cortana to Aszod.

Now the final question, could Kat & Emile make through Aszod and to the Mass Driver? Its a good enough debate to say no, due to Kat's less-than-efficient lethality compared to Noble 6, she and Emile would be delayed constantly from the Scarab, Elites & Brutes. However she could've possibly found shortcuts to the shipyard that neither 6 or Emile could've known about. Additionally she would demand to use the Mass Driver the Marines rigged up and maybe even hotwire it to fire faster.

This would leave Emile to fend off the waves of Brutes, Elites, and Covenant by himself. Given how he dies in Reach, its possible Emile could drop dead from the waves of enemies as he would get overwhelmed by the army or locked in a rage duel with a Brute. Worse yet, Kat would probably get killed much earlier from the Covenant from extra enemies.

Given that Kat would take the Mass Driver, she would surely die to the Elites, which now bears the question, would Emile jump on Pelican before Kat's death or be willing to stay behind and defend? He likely would, he was fully willing to stay on Reach and was telling 6 to leave, he would also be enraged at Kat's death and gun to her location. Its likely he's firing the Driver as much as he can (However, in game he fires it much slower than Noble 6 does), so its very much possible that he could defend the Pillar of Autmn long enough for it to escape, matching Noble 6's defence. Whether Emile could MAKE it to the Mass Driver with all the Elites blocking him is another question.

Also, surfing through Package & Pillar of Autmn missions, Emile makes a lot of remarks about Kat's death, such as missing her or saying "this is for Kat". It would be interesting if they had heart-to-hearts during the trip to Aszod, comfort her about Carter's death, and if her death would enrage him on his run to the Mass Driver.

Overall, in my opinion its heavily debatable, its possible they wouldn't make it due to Noble 6's hyper-lethality speeding uo the trip, but Kat's expertise allowing shorter travel time, assisting Halsey, and possibly hotwiring the Mass Driver. It would be EVEN tighter than Reach's events which were as tight as they could be.

https://preview.redd.it/2r8ymfwuiweh1.png?width=1040&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e38a7518e47b53be65bd2af028b7b513bbb843c

https://preview.redd.it/mgx38eeclvdh1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=e244b3c576287a8bc8bb08871a2f4fd8ffea89cc