I

He remembered all of it. He couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. What they had done to him was unforgivable beyond any measure, but it had given him a fighting chance, and the chance to help humanity prevail in their survival. Without it he would not be alive. But seen just as military hardware it was hard for him to make much contact with others, sometimes it made people wonder if he was even human, having a deep voice made it worse since people never saw his face. He did have several friendships, but something told him they would not last. The Covenant, the alien alliance that nearly wiped out mankind, had killed millions of lives, and many those of whom were close to him. This sometimes angered him, that he would get too attached to the past. It was hard for him being the type of Spartan he was, not to bring it up every time he tried to think of something else.

Now, here he was in an ONI facility, getting ready for a takedown op. Being an assassin that was what he did, and usually worked alone. Back then he used to be a Headhunter and still was technically, but hadn't seen much of it once the Spartan-IV program began in 2553. His armor was also specifically modified to aid him in missions that required great use of stealth. All of it was MJOLNIR GEN2 Powered Assault Armor, what Spartan-IV's use nowadays. The helmet consisted of a Deadeye model; his shoulders Rogue model on the left and a War Master model on his right. His torso made up of a VENATOR class, while his legs were ENFORCER. His primary armor color was steel and his secondary being cyan. He had a PIONEER visor, with a color resembling cyan as well. For his years of being an assassin he was lucky enough to have made it this far; then again most of his tasks were just hit-and-run type situations. But that doesn't make it easy; many other Spartans assigned to assassinate a target usually found in the Covenant were killed, some were taken prisoners and tortured. Those that didn't speak were killed, being all of them as far as he knew.

"Something wrong?" Ryan, an ONI officer and a formal UNSC sergeant walked into the room, making sure all the equipment was working well. The Spartan didn't answer at first, he was still thinking.

"None sir." The Spartan finally said.

"Ready to get back on the job?" asked the officer, staring up at the Spartan. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"A few years I believe," the Spartan said thoughtfully.

"Most of the time was spent in training I presume? Well it'll pay off. We got word from a UNSC ship that will come by to get ready for a search mission of," he paused. "I'll fill you in the details later." He patted the Spartan on the back. "They're taking several Spartan-IV's with them in case things get a little cranky, told them you'd be great for this kind of stuff since you've had experience with the whole hide and seek type deals from your previous missions."

"Do you know which ship it is?" The Spartan stared at Ryan for a moment.

"I didn't catch its name. Once you come back I'll have more information for you. In the meantime, I'd like for you to see someone." Ryan pulled out a data crystal chip from his pocket. "ONI decided to let her accompany you this time, since you and her get along pretty well." The Spartan took the chip and inserted it into his helmet, and a familiar voice began to speak to him.

"How's it going hotshot?" Nikka said, who was the main AI assistant of the Spartan. She had been with with for most of his operations.

"How have you been?" The Spartan smiled inside his helmet. It felt good to have his companion once more.

"ONI's been messing with me for a bit now. They shut me down to keep me in a clean state, otherwise I would have gone into rampancy. It's been awhile since our last adventure," she said, having a smooth tone in her voice.

"Alright. Nikka will assign you any high level Covenant Remnant troop that we know the location of. These guys have been causing some trouble to some of our ships, and we need them to go. Once your target has been eliminated Nikka will bring you back here, and hopefully the ship I was talking about will be here by then. We'll then see your results and see if you need any further training. You are a go." Ryan then stepped out of the room, leaving the Spartan and the AI. Nikka began to locate a target until she had one.

"Initiating takedown operation. Time to prove yourself once more." Nikka began activating the teleporter.

"Half of the UNSC and ONI already know what I'm capable of, it's just been a long time I've been in action." The Spartan looked around the square room, finding nothing but the door behind him, and the equipment that was going to be used to teleport him to a target.

"Maybe with the attitude you have they're not really sure. They don't exactly expect your type of behavior the way it is with you being a Spartan," the AI made him remember of how he felt that both the UNSC and ONI only saw him as a war-machine that was used to accomplish top-level missions. Possibly made just to eliminate any threat to them.

"I only act like this when I'm not in the field," the Spartan thought out loud, realizing Nikka had heard him.

"You are different, no one has ever met a Spartan of your type before. That, I can assure you. Maybe that's why they chose you back then. I'm actually starting to like it," Nikka added a playful tone on that last sentence. "You awake now?" She asked the Spartan, making sure he was ready to start the teleportation unit.

"I always am," the Spartan said, his voice being deep and strong it had a serious tone to it.

"We'll see if that's true," Nikka said, turning on the teleporter.

A sudden white flash covered the Spartan, the room they were in changed. Violet pearlescent metallic walls replaced the casual grey-toned UNSC ones. As soon as this happened the Spartan knew where they were from the large structural form of the room. A Covenant CSO-Class Supercarrier, since at first everything seemed to get bigger and knew the inside of other Covenant ships well.

"What do you think you're doing?" Said the Spartan, standing still with his head tilted slightly to the left as if expecting Nikka to be there so she would see his surprise.

"You never know when you might get inside one of these. Better to be prepared right?" The AI replied chuckling.

"I doubt I'll end up in one, the Covenant Remnant barely have any ships this size because the Covenant itself doesn't exist anymore. Besides, these carry massive infantry that only MAC cannons can deal with, and may I remind you this was the type of vessel that took a major part in destroying Reach." The Spartan pulled out an MA5D Assault Rifle from his back and rested it on his arms so it was aiming upwards. "Who am I looking for?" He began to walk to a doorway on his left.

"Vrul A'Oma, an Elite Commander. Displaying his picture on your HUD now," Nikka paused for a moment before continuing, as the Elite's profile came into view on the Spartan's visor. "He's known for wielding the Energy Sword pretty well."

"That won't save him." The Spartan sounded as if he wasn't entirely sure about that.

"Yep, you're right. You can do better. And you do know almost every high-ranking Elite carries one of those?" Nikka imposed sarcastically to intimidate him.

"At least I can manage to get out alive." He turned sharply around a corner, making sure nothing was around them, since his motion sensor only detected movement.

Everything was clear until he came into a hallway with an Elite with his back turned to him. His rank was minor, judging by the color of his armor which was a medial dark and pale Spartan pulled his combat knife out. Quickly he grabbed the Elite and cut his throat, covering his mouth before he could yell in pain and alert others. Blue-purple colored blood was splattered on the walls, along with a small puddle that formed underneath the Sangheili's throat once his body fell to the floor.

"Movement detected ahead, from what I can tell it's heavy infantry." Nikka exclaimed when the Spartan began to walk again.

"Elites?" The Spartan crouched, trying to look for the hostiles Nikka had mentioned.

"Mgalekgolos," Nikka said with a worried tone in her voice.

"Hunters can be avoided easily if I'm careful enough. I'm known for that. And I can take them down either way." The Spartan reassured the AI.

"It's the part where avoiding them that troubles me, if they spot you they'll shoot their Assault Cannons, and the blast will have most of the ship aware of your presence. This isn't a simulation, just to point that out," Nikka said with the same tone.

The Spartan looked back at the Elite's body, and saw two Plasma Grenades next to his body. He grabbed them, then faced forward again. "Just in case things get out of hand."

The Hunters passed without noticing him, and after he saw they were gone he came out from behind the pillar he took cover in and continued to move forward. "With a ship this size, he could be anywhere. Set a waypoint to his location. Use the ship's communications system and broadcast channels to try and see where he is." The AI did this immediately.

"Got him. He's in the hangar, and apparently leaving the Supercarrier. I'll put the transmission on your HUD." She did so rapidly. The Spartan soon heard the familiar sounds of the Sangheili. Lucky for him, years of fighting the hinge-heads allowed him to understand what they were saying.

"He's making preparations. How long do we have until we reach the hangar?" The Spartan began to run through the hallways until he got to a large corridor.

"ETA three-mikes. You'll have to hurry though," Nikka looked for faster routes than the one they were taking.

"Any hostiles nearby?" The Spartan aimed left and right when he got to another doorway.

"Yes, five of them. Zealots, from what I can tell."

"Is there a way past them?" Red markers began to appear on the Spartan's motion sensor.

"No, I can't find any. Looks like you'll have to deal with them," Nikka replied.

"Maybe we can catch up to the hinge-head in time." Right when the Spartan said this, the Zealots saw him in front of them and the Spartan came to a halt. The five Zealots pulled out Energy Swords, each glowing brightly as the blade gleamed as it came out of the hilt in a rapid succession.

The Spartan threw one of the Plasma Grenade's at the Zealot that was in front of the rest. He missed, but it stuck to the one behind the first Zealot. Two of the other ones, which were side by side, were stunned by the explosion, and another one had its shields flare brightly. The Zealot in front lunged at him with the sword; rolling to the side the Spartan grabbed the Zealot's elbow and broke it. He cried out in pain, giving the Spartan enough time to disarm it. Once he had the sword in his hand he stabbed the Zealot through it's chest, killing it instantly. The two remaining Zealots both threw grenades at him, and quickly reacting before they could explode the Spartan jumped onto one of the Zealot's chest and plunged the sword into it's head, with blood spattering the Spartan's helmet, the grenades behind him exploding just as he did this. When the Spartan stood up the last Zealot swung his sword at him, the Spartan had managed to parry it and sent the Elite back. When the Elite tried to gain its balance once more the Spartan performed an uppercut with his left fist on the head, making him fall on his back. He then grabbed the Elite by his neck.

"Where's Vrul A'Oma going?" The Spartan said sharply. The Elite did not answer at first, in fact he chuckled, giving him the impression as though he was going to keep quiet. To his surprise he spoke, in English as well.

"Your race will be crushed by our feet, you and all the other insects!" The Elite didn't get to say anything else as the Spartan cut its head off with the sword.

"Was that necessary?" imposed Nikka.

"They've done worse things to us," he said, as he ran towards the hangar, the Energy Sword still in his right hand.

"The hangar is close, but Vrul is leaving soon," Nikka displayed a map of the Supercarrier on the Spartan's HUD, showing that it was only thirty meters away.

Suddenly they came across another Hunter, but before the Spartan could do anything it fired its Assault Cannon at them. The Spartan jumped at the last second, and the Fuel Rod made a gap on the wall as soon as it hit it.

"Use the gap to get there! It's directly beneath one of the tunnels!" Nikka exclaimed. The Spartan did so, and got to a spot where the waypoint Nikka had placed was underneath them.

"What now?" The Spartan looked back and dodged another Fuel Rod fired by another Hunter.

"There's an elevator to your right, that should get us to the hangar. Hurry!" Running towards the elevator, the Spartan heard noises made by heavy machinery, and he knew Vrul A'Oma was already in a ship, and was about to leave the Supercarrier. Once the elevator opened he saw the Elite was in a Phantom, and in a quick way to prevent him from leaving he hijacked one of the Wraiths left of him.

"He's leaving!" Nikka yelled as the Spartan climbed on the Wraith.

"No, he isn't." Just as he entered cockpit, the Spartan fired the Wraith's mortar shot, and it hit the Phantom's engines just as it was exiting the shield door in the hangar's exit. Tumbling and bumping with the side of the hangar opening it crashed back into the hangar.

"Not going to lie, thought he was getting away." Nikka said, letting out a large breath when she finished her sentence.

"You thought I would've let him leave?" The Spartan climbed out of the Wraith, and pulling out his Assault Rifle began to shoot at several panicking Grunts that were running around in circles. Once he approached the Phantom, he saw that there was slight movement on his motion sensor. He assumed they were just Grunts. "Think the hinge-head's dead?"

"Chances are he is. But you did just knock out it's engines, the Phantom itself looks intact." The Spartan climbed into the Wraith once more when Nikka said this, and fired several rounds of the mortar before the Phantom exploded into a purple cloud. "Making sure huh?"

"Nope, just getting their crap blown up. Time to head for the Supercarrier's generator. Then I'll know for sure." The Spartan headed back into the elevator in the hangar. "Once I set a grenade in and overload it, teleport us back to the facility. Then we'll see what ONI does with me."

"Better get a move on then, Covenant are approaching the hangar," Nikka said.

The Spartan hid behind cover while the ship's crew went to investigate the hangar and the crash, and made his way again once he made sure no one was left in the corridors. When he finally started getting close to the generator, someone had been awaiting him. The Spartan realized his motion sensor had caught him sneaking out of the crashed Phantom but he had assumed it was a pack of Grunts.

"You were unwise human, to step into this ship. Now, I shall forcefully take your life and perhaps let you live if you accept this fate and surrender, or I kill you with my blade and make waste of your body." Vrul A'Oma was standing in the room that lead down to the generator, holding an Energy Sword.

The Spartan began to fire his Assault Rifle at the Sangheili commander. The Elite, whose energy shields began to flare blue around his body indicating they were taking damage, lunged at the Spartan. The Spartan hopped back, but Vrul's sword had managed to penetrate through his VENATOR armor on his torso and a thick cut formed in his chest. The Spartan made a quick yell of pain and grasped his chest while kneeling down from the impact.

"You...hinge-head...freak," the Spartan looked at his chest and back at Vrul. He then took out the Energy Sword he had taken from the Zealot he had encountered earlier.

"I'm sending us back to the base, this is out of hand." Nikka began to teleport the Spartan, but before the process was complete he shut off the teleporter. Nikka, realizing what he was planning tried to stop him.

"Nikka, I'll get us out of here, but I'm not leaving without a fight." He posed, getting ready to swing. He clenched his grip on the hilt. The Spartan ran towards Vrul, rage swelling inside