Another story that takes place in my "Under the Surface" universe. Part 2 will look familiar; the original version of it was posted under "The Little Details". If you haven't read "Under the Surface", you're gonna be confused. Just know that it is a major AU. Everything takes place on Earth (though in the same timeframe). No aliens or space battles here. And Cortana is decidedly not a hologram.A huge thanks goes to manniness for her stellar beta job!
As always, I'd love to know what you think!
I. (Takes place after Stomping Grounds)
1900 Hours, May 19, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
North America, Reach UNSC Military Complex
His attacker's fist was hurtling towards him; John had only a split second to react.
A second which, despite his uncanny luck, was disrupted by a voice cutting across his comm channel.
"Chief, repairs to your armor are nearly complete. I need you to report to Doctor Halsey's lab immediately. And bring me a cup of coffee. Thanks."
Cortana.
Her unexpected interruption caused John to be briefly distracted; he barely had time to deflect Kelly's sparring move. Though he managed to block most of the attack, his awkward positioning threw him off-balance. He would have fallen to the floor had Kelly not reached for his arm and pulled him upright.
John nodded his thanks as he straightened.
"New orders?" she asked curiously.
"Maybe. That was Cortana," he replied, grateful. He had been without his suit for too long and missed too many missions because of the damage it had taken.
Kelly looked at him hopefully, "Good to hear. Maybe you'll be able to come back to Blue Team. It's just strange not working with you after so many years."
It was odd for John as well, but he had more than a suspicion that reassignment to the Blue Team was not going to happen.
Working with Cortana, however, was.
News of the successful test had made its way through High Command and the halls of the ONI building. John wasn't sure what his and Cortana's objectives were to be, but Doctor Halsey had already told him that Lord Hood was going to issue his next orders directly.
Which meant, in all likelihood, that he would never work with his Spartan brothers and sisters again.
He noticed Kelly's inquisitive look and shook the thoughts away. He was a soldier and would follow any order given to him until his last breath. Kelly, Fred and the others would do fine without him.
"It's nothing," he assured her before leaving the sparring room.
After showering and changing into his standard issue uniform, John made his way to the ONI building. The guard at the entrance waved him in as his arrival was expected. He took the elevator to the fourth floor.
Seconds later, the doors slid apart and John stepped out, thinking about Cortana's request for coffee. It was certainly the first time anyone had ever asked him to do such a thing; normally his objectives dealt with completing impossible missions, not fetching someone a drink.
Perhaps she and Doctor Halsey were in a sensitive part of the repair process so she couldn't leave the lab to get a coffee, he reasoned. He stopped in front of the drink dispenser and pushed the button marked "coffee".
It wasn't as if bringing her a drink was going to become routine, he reasoned.
After the machine finished dispensing the steaming liquid, John grabbed the cup and made his way to Halsey's lab. When the doors slid apart, he saw the two women standing next to his armor. The suit looked as new as the day he'd first put it on put it on.
Cortana barely looked away from the readout display on the tablet. "Good. You brought the coffee."
Halsey offered a small smile to him. "Cortana's been eager to finish the repairs. She even gave up her usual coffee break in her efforts to get everything done."
"And it worked too." She set down the tablet and stalked over to him. Without waiting for him to offer it, she plucked the cup from his hand. After taking a small sip, she frowned. "It's black. Who taught you to drink it like that?"
"Cortana..." Halsey warned.
John bristled. Though he'd had a few encounters with Cortana since their initial test, he still wasn't accustomed to her informal way of addressing him. Those in the UNSC either feared or respected him. Cortana treated him as if he were a longtime friend rather than a fellow soldier.
Cortana flashed him an apologetic smile as she set down the paper cup. "Sorry, Chief. I'm not exactly pleasant when I haven't had my coffee."
Halsey nodded slightly, but said nothing to verbalize her agreement. "You were called down here because we're ready to test the suit's interface with your neural link to Cortana," Halsey explained.
John looked around the lab for any other people. His armor was bulky and burdensome-it took at least one other person to help him put it on. He knew the doctor would be uncomfortable in assisting him. Whenever she'd been present while he'd gotten suited up in the past, he'd noticed that she'd always averted her gaze.
Which left Cortana.
Cortana raised an eyebrow, picking up on his awkwardness. She turned to Halsey. "I never read anything in his file about him being shy."
Shy wasn't the word John was thinking. Uncomfortable was more appropriate. AI or not, there was no question that if Cortana helped him put on his armor, it would create a situation that would be awkward for the both of them.
"Dr. Jacobs and his assistant should be here momentarily," Halsey replied. Moments later, the lab doors slid apart and the two men walked in. Halsey gave them a curt nod as she turned away and began talking to Cortana.
John and the other men moved to the side of the lab, near his suit. He forced himself not to wonder if Cortana would respect his privacy as Halsey always had. He focused on getting suited up as quickly as possible.
As the Doctor Jacobs and his assistant continued placing the pieces of his armor on him, John picked up the hushed conversation between Cortana and Doctor Halsey from behind him.
"The probability of the redundant loop intensifying is still dangerously high," the doctor muttered.
"I understand that, Doctor," Cortana replied stubbornly.
"We don't know if your subroutines will be able to compensate for the increased data. The human brain can only process so much data as once," argued Halsey.
"I've run the analysis, Doctor, and I'm willing to take that risk. But, if Lord Hood isn't convinced that the Master Chief can effectively complete his mission, then they will pull the plug on this. You know that."
"All right, Master Chief, you're all set," Doctor Jacobs said, pulling John's attention away from the women.
John turned around to face Halsey and Cortana. Neither of them showed any outwards signs of concern. The older woman studied John for a moment before straightening her shoulders. "Let's proceed with the test," she said.
For a second, Cortana looked as if she was going to say something, but she simply nodded.
"Cortana and I have been working on the neural link buffer, John, so that you don't experience any of the dizziness that you did before. We're hopeful that we have resolved that particular issue," Halsey explained, picking up a tablet. John noticed she avoided looking at Cortana.
The AI grabbed his helmet off of one of the desks and held it out for him to take. "Go ahead and put this on."
John did as Cortana had instructed, but he was unable to see anything on his HUD. He flipped up his visor and looked at the two women. "Nothing."
A hint of a smile passed over Cortana's lips. "It wasn't powered on yet, Chief."
Halsey tapped several commands on the tablet. "Now try."
With a flick of his wrist, he moved the visor back into position. All readouts were normal. John nodded. "Everything is green."
Cortana concurred. "All systems seem to check out just fine."
Halsey nodded. "Excellent. I'm going to boost the neural link to simulate your suit running at normal operating levels." She looked at him closely. "If you feel any of the symptoms that you felt during the test, tell me immediately."
"Understood."
Suddenly, John felt the familiar sensation of liquid ice pouring into his skull. The hum he had begun to associate with Cortana intensified, but their were no other side effects.
"How are you feeling, John?" Halsey asked, looking at him closely.
"Fine."
"Good." Halsey turned towards Cortana. "Boosting signal to ninety-five percent. Are you ready?"
Curiously, Cortana seemed to brace herself momentarily. "Do it."
John didn't notice any difference with their link, but Cortana apparently did. He saw her squeeze her eyes shut tightly. She staggered forward.
Impulsively, John reached out to keep her from falling, but she recovered in time.
"I've terminated the link," Halsey announced, studying Cortana. A line of worry appeared on her forehead. "It seems that we have more work to do."
Cortana arched an eyebrow. "Apparently."
The doctor turned to John. "You may remove your helmet, John." She looked at the readout of the tablet briefly. "Lord Hood is waiting for the results of this test." She raised her gaze back to Cortana. "He'll want solutions."
"We all do."
Halsey nodded before leading Doctor Jacobs and his assistant out of her lab.
After he removed his helmet, John kept an eye on Cortana. She seemed to be back to normal. She opened a desk drawer and rummaged through it before pulling out several packets – of sugar, he noted – and then looked up at him.
"There's a redundancy echo on my side of the neural link," she explained without preamble. "If it gets pushed past the default levels, then the echo intensifies causing me to have an extremely painful migraine. Catherine and I were hoping that the changes to the buffers would alleviate that problem. But apparently, we were wrong."
John set down his helmet on the desk, careful not to knock over the cup of coffee he had brought for Cortana. "Maybe there is someone else who is more suitable for the neural link."
She shook her head. "There is no one is more compatible. I promise you that."
"Is that why we were assigned to work together?" he asked.
She gave him a mischievous smile. "Didn't Doctor Halsey tell you? I chose you myself, John."
He inwardly flinched at the use of his first name. "Why me?"
She reached over and picked up the cup of coffee. "It certainly wasn't for your coffee-making skills," she retorted wryly. She ripped open the packets of sugar and dumped the contents in the cup and grabbed a stylus off the table, using it as a stir stick
"Then what was it?"
"Luck." She smirked. "I wasn't wrong, was I?"