Refusal
A/N: This is my first and probably will be my only attempt at a Halo Reach (or Halo anything for that matter) fanfiction. While I have considered the idea of writing a Halo Reach multi-chaptered piece, I couldn't come up with anything viable or much longer aside from what encompasses this brief one shot. This idea has been floating around my mind for quite some time now and I couldn't bring myself to completely forget about it. As such, I have taken a few liberties here and there, doing some minor tweaking of the in game cutscenes. I'm pretty sure I mixed up a few details in my story as well, despite referring to Halo Wikia. Oh well. So here you have it, a brief glimpse into the life of Noble Six, my Noble Six.
The one shot is unbetaed. All errors are mine. XD
For those of you who've left unsigned reviews after this fanfic's completion, see my replies below:
Guest - Thanks for the comment. ^^ Yep, this was my first Halo fanfic. Thanks! If you're interested, I do have a sequel to this called "Detached Attachment". Enjoy!
Six out - Thanks for the comment! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)
Guest - Thanks for the comment. ^^ I was a bit worried the flashing back and forth between the action and flashbacks would ruin the story, but in the end, it turned out great. :)
Warning: There is some graphic scenes ahead. If you don't like that, now would be the time to close your browser or go to another page. You have been warned!
Disclaimer: The characters and the worlds I write in do not belong to me. The stories that I write are intended for entertainment purposes. I do not make any money from them.
Summary: "When Reach falls, and it will fall..." Noble Six didn't want to believe Dr. Halsey's words. Yet here she was, alone on Reach, fighting a losing battle, and even then she refused to fall.
For a long time, all Six knew was refusal.
"Good guns, Spartan! All stations brace for cast off."
Refusal to give up ground. Refusal to let the Covenant win. Refusal to let humanity's hope die. But then there was the refusal of her heart. The refusal to get close to other people. And the refusal for other people to get close to her.
"This is the Pillar of Autumn. We are away. And the package is with us."
Somehow that all changed during the time in between meeting Noble Team and now. Noble Six didn't know what had happened or why, but despite all the horrors buried in her past which inevitably led her to this point, this was the one time she refused to let that truth get buried as well.
She stared at the helmet in her hands, her reflection seen as clear as day in the visor. Her eyes narrowed, before she flipped the helmet over and pulled it on her head. The seals automatically hissed and locked with a click, her heads up display quickly flashing into place across her field of vision. Her suit's shield automatically came to life on its own. The Warthog bounced a few times on the uneven ground, the driver – a young looking ODST - guiding the mechanical marvel down the beaten path between stoney hills of rock on the mountain side. Two Falcons flew past them on the way to their destination. It was time for her to meet her new team.
The Covenant cruiser above the Aszod shipbreaking yards went down in a blaze of fire and smoke. Noble Six slowly climbed down the ladder to the Mass Driver otherwise known as the Mark 2488 Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, her eyes skywards looking at the Pillar of Autumn as it disengaged from the ship port and ascended. The support thrusters quickly spent themselves, falling from the Halcyon-class cruiser just before the Autumn's main thrusters came online and took it space side. Noble Six stared at the blue glow of the engines until they faded from sight, enveloped by the fushia tinted clouds. Pulling her beloved M392 DMR from her back, Noble Six lowered her gaze to remains of Reach. It was only her now. Here at the shipyard at least.
Two Covenant Banshees flew overhead, one of many pairs scouring the remains of Reach before the final glassing. Nobel Six let her gaze wander across the sky, the Spartan still standing on the very loading dock where she handed over the female AI to Captain Keyes. It was strange, Six noted, the peaceful feeling of calm. Just moments before, her heart pounded in her chest like a ragged drum during a ritualistic dance as Six waited for the Covenant cruiser to come into range of the Onager. But now, now there was nothing but quiet. She had not felt this at ease since... since before she ever knew there was such a thing as the Covenant...
"The office of Naval intelligence believes deployment of a Spartan team is a gross misallocation of resources...I disagree."
A cybernetic arm shot out in front of her, barring further entry into the temporary base camp. Noble Six eyed the female Spartan blocking her path.
"Commander," the woman said, turning to whom Six assumed to be her commanding officer. Noble Six did not miss the look over the female Spartan gave her.
Noble Six's gaze moved from the teal armored Spartan to fall upon the Spartan seated directly in front of her. The man was sharpening his kukri knife on his shoulder pad. It was an unusually large knife in Six's opinion, the former lone wolf wondering just how many times the knife wielder had actually used it in live combat. Six's eyes narrowed under her helmet, as the Spartan with the skull decorated helmet paused for a split second to give her a calculating look before continuing on with his task.
"So that's our new number Six."
Noble Six turned her head to the right, eyes darting between the Spartans at the far end of the room near the communications console. She took a step past the female Spartan, pulling back her shoulders and straightening her stance as she sized them up.
"Kat, you read her file?" It was the Spartan with the knife. Noble Six didn't look at him.
"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink," Kat replied somewhere behind her.
The Spartan in blue, the one Six guessed to be the leader of the group, turned back to the communications console to continue his briefing with Colonel Holland. Noble Six stood in her spot, waiting patiently to be acknowledge by her new commanding officer. Something about the man, even from this distance bothered her. Familiarity, she realized a moment later. Six battled with herself to squash the ghosts of her past. All the while, she could feel the eyes of the others on her, even the first one she had passed in the Falcon on her way over here. This is why she hated working in a team. Too much attention directed her way.
Movement to the left caught her attention. Six turned her head to see an incoming Phantom closing in on her position. Flexing the fingers in her right hand, Noble Six raised her rifle to peer through the scope. A good deal of uglies to fight. Good. She was getting bored anyhow. Six proceeded forward towards the enemy, taking refuge in a half destroyed building close to the drop zone. Checking her weapon for ammunition, Six couldn't but chuckle as the memories of her first meeting with Noble Team came to mind.
"Lieutenant."
"Commander, Sir." Noble Six closed the distance between herself and the now turned Spartan in dark blue. She saluted him.
"I'm Carter, Noble Team's leader."
The other Spartans took this as their cue to suit up and head out of the make shift base. Noble Six bristled inwardly. It was like after they had a good look at her, they couldn't be bothered with her any more. The excitement over the new guy, or in this case, girl, quickly wore off and she was dropped in favour of something else more exciting. That, or perhaps she was just smelly and that was her subtle clue to take a shower. Why did the higher ups want her teamed up with these people?
"That's Kat, Noble Two." Carter's words drew Six back from her thoughts, Noble Team's leader nodding in the direction of the others as he put names to faces. "Emile and Jorge, Four and Five."
Noble Six looked over her shoulder, eyes watching as the rest of her new team exited in silence.
"You're riding with me, NobleSix."
Six's head snapped back to look at Carter as he passed her by, putting on his own helmet. Her eyes narrowed a fraction, Noble Six quietly following behind her commanding officer, bitter. He never asked her for her name.
That was the beginning, wasn't it?
A Grunt's methane tank exploded upwards, the smallest of the aliens garbling nonsense as it expired under a hail of bullets.
That was the beginning of it all. The beginning of her walls cracking and crumbling down. The beginning of feelings returning to her. The beginning of Six's true face starting to show again. How absurd. After all of the years she spent perfecting her mask of disconnect, after all of the years denying that she had the thing called feelings, all it took for everything to start breaking apart was one man. One man who did not ask for her name.
Plasma rained from the sky.
Six ducked behind the flimsy wall of cover she had to reload her weapon. As she did so, she could hear the barking grunts of Elites as the enemy forces converged on her position. Six snorted. Her name. It all started because of her name. The thing she had long since dropped, as if it never existed in the first place. It couldn't have remained if she truly wanted to be a Spartan. Her name, it belonged with her old life. A life she no longer had. All ties had to be cut, not that there was much to cut after she watched her city burn to the ground and her parents and family taken with it. She had been a child at the time, too young to understand the reasoning behind the glassing but old enough to understand the horror of it.
Stooping down next to the body of a fallen UNSC trooper, Noble Six relieved the corpse of its compliment of grenades, pulling the pins on two of them. Without even looking, she tossed them in the direction of the advancing alien force and waited.
What was it about her name that got her so worked up? Carter had done exactly what she wanted. He didn't ask for a name. He didn't need to. They were there to get a job done, not sit around all day chatting each other up. For years, that's all she wanted. She didn't want to hear the mention of her name, not even an utterance. The moment that sound, those three syllables came out, memories of her old life flashed to the forefront of her mind, reminding her of how pathetic she was as a child. That she was weak. Which is why she needed to get stronger. Because how else were the fallen supposed to get their vengeance? How would those who fell before get their justice? Easy. Six.
Panic filled cries sounded, Elites, Grunts and Jackals scrambling for cover as the grenades exploded with a boom. As they did, Six stepped out of cover and opened fire.
"Not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled. "Carter looked back over his shoulder at Six, for three seconds longer than he needed to, in Six's opinion.
"Me, I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength."
Noble Six remained silent, simply clenching and unclenching her fist out of sight. She knew not to expect a warm welcome from her new team, especially after hearing the rumors of her predecessor's demise. But even so, Noble Six couldn't but feel disappointed, upset even. Noble Six shook her head. Sentimentality was for the weak. She was not that any more. She refused to let her past resurface again. No matter how much Carter reminded her of someone else.
Noble Six cursed, pink needles hailing the area just above her head as she ducked for cover again. Those blasted things annoyed her to no end. Alarms beeped at her, the indicator on her helmet showing that her shield was down to half capacity. Six really needed to get her head into the game. She didn't know how the bugger with the Needlers got so close to her. One moment, she was in the process of taking down a blue armored Elite with a Plasma Rifle. And in the next moment, pink needles were bouncing off her shield like fireworks.
Six's DMR spat twice, the gurgled choke of a grunt on his own blood music to Six's ears. Ducking behind cover again, she crept around the other side of the rumble to avoid being boxed in. Six couldn't but smile at the confused blurps coming from the Covenant on the other side of the wall from her. Six was back in her element. The lone wolf. It was like learning to ride a bike. Once you figured out how to do it the first time, every time after that came naturally. The smile from Six's face faded.
Something was off. As natural as it was to fall back into instilled habits, there was an empty feeling, a deep hollowness which ate at her from the inside. She had never noticed it before. That is, until now.
Carter continued forward, leading her towards one of the waiting Falcons. In the nearest one, the final member of her squad sat, already waiting with his sniper rifle in hand. Six glanced at the Spartan.
"Just one thing..."
Noble Six turned her attention back to Carter, just as he hoisted himself up into the Falcon and sat down.
"I've seen your file."
Six climbed in after him, seating herself directly opposite Carter, with Jun on her left.
"Even the parts the ONI censors didn't want me to. I'm glad to have your skill-set."
Noble Six raised her gaze to meet Carter's. She couldn't tell if he was actually happy about that or just saying it for the sake of saying it. It was hard to read a person when they were covered head to foot in armor, especially Carter. He was half a head taller than her with his armor on, and it didn't help that Six liked to slouch a bit when she sat. The fingers of her right hand curled slightly, resting on her thigh.
"But we're a team," Carter continued his lecture.
Six glanced in Jun's direction momentarily. Her lips curled into a sneer. She knew this was coming. It always came at one point or another. Word got around fast, especially about her, no matter the size of the military. Something about her being hyper lethal, that fact making her more special than the others. She would have huffed in indignation if it wasn't for the others nearby. Instead, Noble Six turned back to her commanding officer as he waved to the pilot to lift off.
"That lone-wolf stuff stays behind. Clear?" Carter lowered his helmet just a fraction as he looked at her. Had it not been for his reflective visor blocking her view, Six would have sworn he was staring her down.
If it was one thing Six hated the most, it was being stared at."Got it,Sir," she replied through clenched teeth.
Noticing the staring contest between the Rookie and the Commander wasn't going to end just yet, Jun chose that time to speak. "Welcome to Reach."
A flaming blue blur flew across her line of vision and landed in front of her. Six's eyes went wide. "Holy sh-"
A split second later, Noble Six went diving out of cover just as the Plasma Grenade detonated. She wasn't quite far enough away to evade the blast completely, but thankful the remainder of her shields absorbed the fallout. Noble Six's head shot up at the sound of engines. Three more Phantoms were inbound, ready to drop soldiers nearby. She smirked. It seemed she had gotten their attention.
Noble Six zipped past the current cluster of Covenant filling the air around her with plasma. This is exactly what she needed. She was bored after all, always having been the type to keep moving and kill stuff. That, and this was a lot better than thinking about the void in the pit of her stomach, which had seemingly gotten bigger the more she thought about it. While she didn't know what the cause of it was, in some sense she did know. She just didn't want to admit it. No, she refused to admit it, to herself. For the moment at least. Her natural habit of refusal was kicking in again. The refusal to admit the truth. The refusal to die at the hands of these scumbags.
Noble Six dove behind the closest cover she could find, another crumbled structure, this one closer to a still half standing chain-link fence with barbed wire at the top of it. Peering out of cover, Six watched as the numbers of her enemies doubled.
The relay station was far too quiet for Six's liking, especially with the type of resistance they had met earlier. Something didn't feel right, and Six knew everyone else felt the same way too. But orders were orders, and right now, her orders were to search the corpse in front of her for anything useful.
Noble Six swallowed, pausing a moment to say a silent prayer for the dead elderly man before she set about searching his cold, stiff body. Six was not really a religious person, but while she wasn't sure just what she believed in when it came to deities and the divine, that wouldn't stop her from hoping and praying that this guy had a quick and painless end. If only she could be so fortunate when the time came.
"Found something..." Noble Six said, holding up the chip card to examine it. It had fallen out of the man's breast pocket when she turned him over onto his side.
"I'll take that, Six. Not your domain." Kat instantly snatched the card from her hand.
Six gritted her teeth, glaring at Noble Two as the other Spartan looked at the chip card intently. Not that Kat could see it, with her attention elsewhere at the moment. Noble Six huffed silently, rising to her feet. She had to quietly remind herself that they were all part of the same team, despite Kat's every intention of making her feel like the outsider.
Noble Six limped over to her fallen rifle, whimpering as she stooped down to pick it up. How long had she been fighting now? At least an hour judging by the amount of light still left in the sky. Maybe even two. Or more. Six wasn't sure what ripped through the right calf of her armor. All she knew was that it hurt like hell. That and she was pretty sure the slick feeling running down her right forearm wasn't water. The Covenant bastards almost got lucky. Had it not been for her Armor Lock, when that Plasma Grenade stuck to her right elbow, she would have been done for.
The hum of engines (again) made Six look skywards, the Spartan grinning as she watched Covenant Cruisers, small ones, drop more forces nearby. And not just one of them, but three more of them. All of them dropped Elites from what she could see. Were these ones the Zealot class types Dr. Halsey had spoken about before? She certainly hoped so. The other Elites had been nothing more that bumbling idiots. Maybe it was those two wraiths she blew up. That had gotten their attention. If so, she should have blown them up sooner. Perhaps if she had done a lot of things sooner, the others would have still been alive.
Noble Six stood atop Sword Base watching as a Covenant Cruiser flew away on an escape trajectory. Before it got too far, a pulse of energy shot down from the sky, blasting a large hole cleanly through its hull. She followed the burning ship with her eyes as it fell.
"Beautiful, ain't it?"
Noble Six looked back over her shoulder to see Jorge walk up next to her.
"Someone should take a picture."
Six turned back to the crippled Covenant ship as it crashed into the mountain side. She flinched when she felt something land on her shoulder. Jerking her head to the side, she quickly realized it was Jorge's armored hand.
"Nice work, by the way," he told her.
Six's eyes widened in shock. While the battle to take back Sword Base was anything but a cake walk, she didn't expect to get any praise for it. Far from it. She was a Spartan. That's what a Spartan did. Six turned back to the crash site, saying the first thing that came to mind. "I aim to please."
Jorge looked over at her, the way he tilted his helmet at her making Six smile. She could just picture his incredulous look, a look that said 'Are you kidding me?' It was nice to know not all of them looked at her like an outsider.
Noble Six was on her knees, plasma and energy bolts hailing down all around her as she scrambled to get her fractured helmet off. She had just narrowly missed having her head taken off by an advancing Covenant with a beam rifle. While her quick reflexes saved her from death, it did little to stop the Beam Rifle from puncturing the right side of her visor and scorching right cheek. Six's visor half shattered on the right side, the rest of visor cracking spider web style. Finally getting the blasted thing off and whipping it at the closest advancing Covenant, Six scrambled to pick up her rifle as bolts of plasma hit her square in the chest from an advancing white armored Elite with a plasma rifle. Refusal boiled in her veins once again. Despite exhaustion and fatigue starting to set in, Six peppered the alien spawn with bullets, her face twisted in a fierce scowl. Like hell she was going to let this slow her down. Not when there was one last thing left she had to do. She wouldn't let the others down.
Darkness was upon them. With a standard issue sniperrifle in hand, Six carefully and quietly shimmied along the narrow pathway winding around the cliff side. Just in front of her was Noble Three, Jun, also equipped with a sniper rifle and armed to the teeth.
"Recon Team Bravo reporting in: Three and Six in position. It's starting to get crowded up here Kat."
"Then we're closing in." Noble Two's voice came over the Comm a bit crackled with static, but mostly clear. "Report any Covenant structures or devices. Direct action may be necessary."
"Copy that."
Noble Six climbed over a waist high boulder in her path, stepping around it with the agility of a cat. She looked up from her feet in time to catch her squadmate looking at her with his head tilted to the side slightly. Jun's chuckle came across the Comm clearly, Noble Six wondering if he was smiling. He seemed to be the quietest of the group, after Six that is. Noble Six wasn't sure what the man thought of her. He certainly didn't give off the negative vibes like some of the others gave her, but that didn't mean much.
"When Kat runs an op, direct action is always necessary."
Noble Six blinked, looking at Jun as if for the first time realizing he was standing there in front of her. Six silently berated herself for letting her thoughts wander. Raising his rifle skyward, Jun reached into one of his ammunition pockets and pulled out two clips. He held them up for her to take. Noble Six stared at themc uriously.
"Here," Jun said."You may need these. High-velocity armor-piercing."
Six blinked again in surprise, taking the clips from her squadmate when it was clear he wouldn't take them back. He was giving these to her? Noble Six tucked them into her breast pocket.
"They'll take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards." Jun turned his gaze from the horizon to her. He gave her a nod before proceeding forward once again, scanning ahead. "And they ain't cheap."
Six found herself looking down at her pocket again, a small smile creeping onto her face. She wasn't sure if Jun liked her, or accepted her for that matter. But he certainly didn't hate her.
Skin seared to armor, Six biting back a cry as she unloaded a wave of bullets on her assaulter. The white armored Elite - was that the tenth one in the span of minutes? She had lost track - dropped like a bag of potatoes when one lucky bullet ripped through its weakened shields and straight through its face. Six immediately spun around, using her rifle like a battering ram to smack a growling yellow armored Elite wielding an Energy Sword across the face. She heard it long before it got to her, Six's only saving grace from being skewered through the back like Emile being the Covenant's noisy stomping feet. The Elite's shield dropped, two bullets to the head from her pistol putting it out of its misery. Blue shots of plasma ripped through the air going wide. Six immediately swivelled left, towards the Elite aiming at her, with her rifle raised and pistol back on her hip. Just behind this one was the one she was looking for. The one in red. She knew it would come if she waited long enough.
Noble Six braced herself as Kat steered the Warthog towards the left sharply. An exploding Warthog narrowly missed crashing into them on the right. Enemy Banshees zoomed past them in the sky, peppering the ground around them with green streaks of plasma. Warthog turrets sprayed the air with bullets, Falcon gunners and the Scorpions doing the same. They were currently charging towards the once hidden Covenant landing zone recently discovered by Noble Six and Noble Three the night before. Blue streaks of plasma fired from wraiths in the distance seared the sky. Warthogs, Scorpion tanks and Mongooses alike weaved left and right to avoid the meteorite-like masses of energy, continuing their charge forward towards their designated target.
"Incoming!"
Six's eyes widened as the bridge they were about to cross blew up in an eruption of fire and debris. Kat still drove forward regardless, pedal to the metal. The warthog in front of them, carrying a full load of soldiers, disappeared into the flaming stone mess ahead. Kate turned to look at Six.
"Might want to hold onto something!"
The next thing Six knew, they were airborne, the hood of the warthog on a collision course with the burnt remnants of the other side of the bridge. The impact was a jarring one, even with the protective layer of her MJOLNIR Mark V armor. Six went flipping head over heels in the air, in complete disorientation, losing track of Kat, the warthog gunner and the warthog itself. And then she was flat on the ground.
"Ngh..."
Six let out a pained breath, her head spinning and muscles protesting in pain. She found herself staring at the broken bridge, the kamikaze stunt Kat just pulled somehow not killing her. Catching a flash of teal in her peripherals, Six knew Kat was fine too. Six didn't know what happened to the gunner though. Nor did she want to know. Closing her eyes trying to catch her breath, screams echoed in her ringing ears. Opening her eyes, Six immediately wished she hadn't. To her horror, she watched as a Warthog full of soldiers burst through the flaming end of the bridge only for the airborne vehicle to fall short. The trio of soldiers disappeared into the fissure below. Noble Six held her breath, her mind reeling at how that could have been her. Even with her advanced armor and super human upgrades, she couldn't survive a fall like that.
"Six!" screamed a voice close by. It echoed in her head like a spiked ping pong ball bouncing around inside her skull. "Can you hear me?"
Something or someone was shaking her. Or maybe she was shaking without realizing it.
"Six, you alright?!"
Six groaned, her body shuddering in pain as she slowly pushed herself to her hands and knees. An armored hand latched onto her arm and dragged her to her feet.
"I could use your help!"
A grenade launcher was roughly shoved into her hands, Six blinking away the cobwebs in her mind before looking up. Kat darted off ahead, Noble Six's feet automatically trudging behind the Lieutenant Commander. "I'm on my way," Six said, immediately narrowing her eyes at her first Covenant victim.
Later Six would realize that that was the first time Kat had acknowledged her.
Six went staggering backwards as pink needles and blue plasmabolts tore through the armor plating of her leftshoulder and thigh, drawing blood. With her rifle cradled against her right hip and her pistol held in her left hand, Six unleashed a torrent of bullets at the multitude of Elites approaching from her front and left, every single one of them with Energy Swords as their primary weapons. Her eyes still glared at the now closer Zealot armored in red. She would recognize that ugly mug anywhere.
Six stared out the back of the Pelican as it flew over the remains of New Alexandria. The city was up in flames, pillars of black smoke lining the sky like towers of onyx. This wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Noble Six squeezed Jorge's dog tags in her hand. She had just successfully helped in the evacuation of the remaining citizens at the Starport exit. Before that, she and Noble Five took out the Covenant supercarrier in geo-synchronous orbit. The victory rang a bit hollow with only her making it back. Six could only imagine just how many others had fallen already.
"Your report will have to wait, Lieutenant." Carter greeted her with a pat on the back the moment she stepped off the Pelican, much to Six's surprise. "The Covenant are jamming all Comms to Command. Kat needs your help running a counter-op."
Six nodded her head in acknowledgement, following Carter across the roof top of the building the rest of the team resided in. A Falcon was just taking off as they reached the door which led into the stairwell, leading inside the building.
"It's good to have you back."
Noble Six would have stumbled in her steps had she not been paying attention. Turning to look back at her Commander, she couldn't bring herself to smile at his comment, but she did nod at him. "Sorry I came alone." Six truly meant that.
Carter bowed his head. "Make him proud."
Noble Six went downstairs first, where the others rested and contemplated. Jun sat on a table near the large ceiling to floor windows overlooking the city.
"Look at this place," he said, peering through binoculars. Jun's helmet was next to him on the table. "Used to be the crown jewel... Not anymore."
Six remained standing, leaning back against the wall to Kat's left.
"Hey. You made it."
Six looked up at Jun, this being the second time she'd seen him with his helmet off. The first time was when they faced Dr. Halsey in Sword Base. No wait, this was the third time. He was helmetless when she first met with Noble Team. A small smile stretched across Six's face, Jun's smile and genuine concern for her rather heartwarming. Six could have sworn she saw relief in Kat's eyes too when the Lieutenant Commander glanced at her briefly. In the short time that she was with Noble Team, they had gotten comfortable with her, after their initial hesitation. And Six, as much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, she had gotten comfortable with all of them too. War tended to do that to people it seemed. Thinking about it further, Six wanted to laugh. She certain found herself attached to an odd bunch, herself included.
"It's a regular family reunion."
Then Emile talked and Six started to doubt herself.
Noble Six looked to her left, catching sight of Emile sitting on the floor, fully armored and toying with his kukri knife. That seemed to be a nervous habit of his, or perhaps just his way of passing the time. Maybe it was a means of intimidating people, for right now, Noble Six felt intimidated. Out of all of Noble Team, she had yet to warm up to Emile, and he to her. She could hear the disappointment in his voice, the bitterness. There was the silent accusation there, about why she survived and Jorge didn't. Closing her eyes momentarily, Six reached in to one of her ammunition pouches and pulled out Noble Five's dog tags. It would be of little solace to Emile she was sure, but maybe, just maybe it would help. Out of everyone, Emile seemed to have argued with Jorge the most. Almost like a married couple. And out of all of them, he probably deserved to hold onto it the most. Six held up Jorge's dog tags to Emile.
"Keep 'em..."
Noble Six's head raised an inch higher in surprise.
"He gave 'em to you..." Noble Four looked up at her, the tone of his voice no longer as cold and harsh as it was moments before. Noble Six really wished she could see his face right now and not the grinning skull decal painted over top. It was so hard to read people if you couldn't see their eyes.
After a silent pause, Emile nodded to her and Six could almost imagine his softened expression. "I'll honor him my own way." He raised his kukri knife to emphasize his point. Noble Six smiled under her helmet. Emile didn't know how much it meant to her, him letting her keep Jorge's dog tags. That was a symbol of acceptance. From Jorge. From Emile. And it meant more to her than Emile would ever know. If only Noble Two did haven't to die so soon afterwards...
Six would never forget the moment her heart stopped, watching as Kat's limp body lurched towards the ground. Instinct took over horror, Six immediately catching her fallen teammate before jerking her head in the direction of the one who shot the fatal shot. The red Zealot. The very same smug looking bastard who was closing in on her now with the rest of its tainted kind brandishing Energy Swords at her as if that was supposed to scare her. Despite not being able to do much before the Covenant ship retreated out of range, Six was able to ding the Covenant's armor with the final bullet from Kat's pistol after the rest of Noble Team whittled down its shields. There would be two more times she would catch a glimpse of the Zealot before now, each time Six unable to pursue. But here, here the thing was, practically walking right up to her. And Six couldn't wait.
An Elite in white armor dropped to the ground on her left first, followed shortly by the Zealot in red armor. Six had never felt better, watching as the bastard finally drew its last breath, eyes bulging in surprise. Mess with one of her team and you messed with her. Not a good idea. There was a reason she was labelled hyperlethal. The worst thing you could do was piss her off.
A blur of movement in front walloped her, Noble Six suddenly finding herself dazed and on her back on the ground. She looked to the left, just as another Sangheili in white jumped at her with its Energy Sword raised to strike. Six kicked out her left foot, the limb catching the enemy in the chest before she shoved the Convenant backwards, stumbling away from her. The pulsing blade scored a path along the front of her shin in the motion, Noble Six biting her tongue to keep from screaming. She kicked her right foot out just in time to knock back another red Zealot before it skewered her with its sword. Her booted foot caught it in its face, sending the Covenant spinning around on its feet away from her like a top, dropping its weapon.
The white armored Elite from before came back for round two, stabbing at Six's unarmored head the moment it was close enough. Six jerked her head out of the way just in time, shoot her right fist upwards and catching the ugly beast in the jaw with a vicious crack. The Elite's head jerked backwards, the alien collapsing on the ground just above her head somewhere, before falling still. The second red Zealot recovered quickly, despite having to almost literally dance around the piles of bodies of its dead comrades, snatching up its fallen weapon from the ground. It charged at Six, Energy Sword drawn and raised, as another Elite occupied the Spartan's attention. The moment the distracting Covenant was pushed away from her, all Six saw was an Energy Sword zooming towards her head.
"Noble Leader, seek immediate medical attention."
Six's head twisted around, to look in the direction of the cockpit. Auntie Dot's synthesized voice rang clear over the Comms despite the multitude of Covenant Banshees and the Covenant Cruiser on their tail trying to blow them out of the sky.
"Noble Leader, please respond."
Noble Six made her way to the front of the UNSC Pelican, stumbling into the wall when some Banshee plasma rounds smacked her in the back. Her shield held. The pelican swerved left to evade it, Emile at the rear, making quick work of the nuisance with his grenade launcher. Luck must have been on their side for the explosion from Emile's grenade sent the first banshee slamming into a second one pursuing them, both of them exploding in a boom of light.
"Please respond," the AI repeated. "Sierra Two Five Nine. You are alarming me."
Noble Six staggered the rest of the way to the cockpit as the Pelican swerved to the right this time, still trying to shake Covenant pursuit. Carter's helmet thumped to the floor at Six's feet.
"Not sure how long she's gonna stay together," Carter said, eyes forward. "Skies are jammed up anyway."
Noble Six's eyes widened at the sight of blood splatter across the cockpit windshield, her gaze immediately turning to her Commander. Crimson oozed fromCarter's MJOLNIR armor, blood also pouring from his ears, nose and mouth.
"Gotta get you off of her, Lieutenant."
"Sir, you-" Six didn't know what she wanted to do, whether it be to scream, gape or just plain pull Carter from the pilot's seat and fly the damn Pelican herself. At least that way, Emile could hopeful attend to the Commander's wounds. But Carter would hear none of that.
"Don't wanna hear it," he said before she could finish her sentence. He didn't even look at her. "Get the package to the Autumn."
Six gritted her teeth and made a fist. Dr. Halsey's words floated in her mind, the Spartan still refusing to believe them. Yet, as things were, she couldn't deny the truth they held. Looking to the floor, Six took a deep breath before steeling herself. "Done," she said raising her gaze to her commanding officer.
"Not yet, it's not..." Carter looked back over his shoulder at Noble Four. "Emile, go with her. It's a ground game now."
"It's been an honor, Sir." Emile raised his arm and saluted.
"Likewise," Carter said turning his gaze forward again.
Six crushed the headrest of the pilot's chair, the thing she was holding onto at the time, with her armored hand. She stared at Carter's helmet on the floor.
"I'll do what I can to draw their fire," Noble One said.
Noble Six gathered up her courage and turned her back on Noble One. She took a step towards Emile.
"Six..."
She turned back. And for the first time since getting onto this Pelican, Noble One looked straight back at her.
"That A.I. that chose you..."
Six could feel a lump form in her throat.
"She made the right choice..."
For a long time, all Six knew was refusal. Refusal to give up ground. Refusal to let the Covenant win. Refusal to let humanity's hope die. But then there was the refusal of her heart. The refusal to get close to other people. And the refusal for other people to get close to her.
Somehow that all changed during her time with Noble Team, Noble Six finding something in them she didn't think she'd ever recover after all this time. Maybe it was the sense of familiarity all of them gave her, the longer she spent time with them. Something she had thought lost long ago with the glassing of her birthplace. Yet here they were, all this time, with her. Carter, the protective older brother. Kat, the take-no-nonsense-from-anyone older sister. Emile, the younger, rebellious sibling. Jorge, the wise old uncle. And Jun, the quiet, thoughtful cousin who always watched your back. Six didn't know when it happened or how, but she was glad it happened.
And so, when the Covenant Energy Sword raced towards her head, the Zealot seemingly laughing at her in triumph, Six refused to do anything else but smile. It was already too late. Noble Team, her adopted family, had already passed the torch. And there was nothing the Covenant could do about it.
A/N: In case there was some confusion, the sections of text in italics were flash backs.