"One!" bang "down goes the Jackal. Two!" bang "down goes the Unggoy. Three!" bang "down goes the bird again! And for the last count, Four!"
The brute ran desperately for dear life, searching any kind of better cover to protect him from the thundering bolts that killed his Captain and his pack mates. Worst they couldn't find the sniper in time until it was the only one left and started sprinting out from cover out of fear, what he didn't know that his fate has already been sealed the moment he came out of his hiding spot.
On a crevice of a cliff, Merrick carefully tracked the blue armored mass as it ran through a series of boulders, trying to throw off his aim. 'Smart thinking, but not enough to save you'. Bang! The shot cleaved through the air and pierce through the Minor's right eye, killing it instantly, rag-dolling a bit before plunging into the ground.
"Down goes the smelly ass bruuuttte….!" He ended the song with a voice crack "Ah shit" he cursed, hopefully she didn't noticed-
Apparently she did, a round of applause soundtrack buzzed in his helmet "Nice song" someone said in a slightly distorted, mechanized voice. "Nice voice crack too" Merrick swore she was laughing behind her words. That didn't make Merrick happy though.
"Oh, shut up" he growled.
"Want me the send a recording of your mission along with your audio logs?"
Merrick sighed exasperatingly as he stood up from his prone position "Could you not be condescending for at least once, Raye?" he said, sliding down the cliff carefully until he reached the canyon floor.
"Where's the fun in that?" she retorted
That picked a nerve "Oh I'm so gonna delete you once we get-"
"Sending logs now" she said abruptly.
"No, no, no, no! I'm just-"
"Mission log sent successfully"
Merrick froze in place, dumbfounded "You're kidding"
"Nope" she giggled to Merrick's embarrassment
Merrick let out another sigh "Raye"
"Yes?"
"I hate you" he said with a frown in his voice.
"The feeling is mutual" she retorted followed by another giggle. His translight comlink pinged "Receiving transmission from Command" the sly grin in her voice was unmistakable, confirming her previous action.
Merrick groaned his displeasure of the annoyance planted in his helmet, the AI's been really annoying since it was assigned to him. Every moments has an obligatory comment and diss to everything, things like 'Oh, that's a low blow, fight like a real man' or 'that's a stupid move, just kill yourself, save them the trouble'. Either those or embarrassing him to death like she had done now. He's been doing fine without an AI before, so why now? 'She'll be an asset, she could very well assist you in anyway possible from hacking or improving your reflexes in a combat situation' those were the words given to him that reasoned why he needed one. 'Yeah, I would rather kill myself than a digital sociopath take over my brain'.
"Pick up call" he ordered blatantly
"the magic word?" Raye asked rather playfully, but a hint of threat can be heard.
Merrick rolled his eyes "Pick. Up. Call. Please". The moment his comlink established connection, Merrick felt like ripping off his helmet. On the other side were a billion hyenas laughing their socks off, and one particularly failed attempt of keeping his trap shut from laughing. It took them seconds to finally calm down and Jonathan, his Aussie friend, now asshole, finally was able to talk. "E-ey mate," snicker "h-how's work going". Merrick could hear someone in the background trying too hard not to laugh until he eventually gave in, then there was another mass hysteria of laughter that followed, much louder than before. 'This going to get old' Merrick figured, much to his efforts of preserving his menacing image.
"We've received your mission report and processing them now" Jonathan said after the wave of hysterical laughter passed. "Ahhh…I hadn't laugh that much since you-"
Merrick felt cold sweat "Okayhahathosetimeswereembarrassingjustgetthegodfatherinthelinealreadydammit!" He said so quickly to stop Jonathan, knowing where he's going with this, if Merrick hadn't interrupted him, he would become the laughingstock of the year which is worst than a brute having intimate relations with a grunt. He took a big breath of relief afterwards when he heard nothing more from Jonathan and was promptly transferred to the Godfather. Contrary from what he experienced earlier, the environment was quiet, deathly quiet, not a hint of whisper.
The Godfather was the commander-in-chief of the military arm Merrick was affiliated with: The Demon's Advocate, an anti-government group who opposes the questionable deeds and law amendments that serve only as a mask to hide the true intent of the UEG and it's space arm: UNSC.
In contrast to its present form. The Advocate was originally established secretly as a government arm in the early 1800's as the answer to the malignancy of corruption, unfairness and abuse of power that undermines the democracy. People who serve for its invocation are usually monikered as "Surgeons" or "Doctor" as they are essentially the removers of the root of disease to the society, or more appropriately, the executioners of disease. These "Surgeons" ,like Merrick himself, where trained to "cure" diseases wherever it was present. Be it an icy, jagged mountain or the scorching hot desert, and execute it with utmost efficiency; clean and quiet. Then in the 20th century they'd just went silent just to resurface again three hundred years after. It is a great unknown as too why they took so long, even some of the high-ranking officials were in the dark to the matter which adds to the mystery. The largely accepted theory was that, as the era was the birth of the Shaw-Fujikawa Slipstream Drive, the tech that rendered humanity capable of traveling great distances and colonize the stars, their predecessors took the early prototypes, studied it, improving it until such time that they somehow made it work. And the rest was history.
A window popped up on his HUD, indicating that Merrick was receiving a video feed instead of the usual audio-only. It showed an image of a satin black chair facing away from the camera that was capturing the scene. Wisps of smoke can be seen coming from the seat, the man occupying it then huffed forming little clouds of smoke in the air. Everything was silent, until the man behind the chair finally turned around, revealing a figure with a blue-grey complexion slumped on his chair, donning an armor of burnished silver hue that of Ultras. Without an helmet, Merrick could see his face clearly despite the almost pitch-black darkness that surrounds him. His four mandibles folding as he took another huff of his cigarette and as he blew out some fumes, they revealed an impressive series of razor-sharp teeth in each one. His wolvish amber orbs held a steel-hard gaze, void of any emotion, instilling fear to those unworthy. Merrick likewise did so, gazing the Godfather like he isn't to be feared with. This took on for only a moment before the Sangheili decided to break the silence.
The Godfather's voice was course, but it held a certain authority to it molded by years of ordering his troops in, cold and unforgiving. "Surgeon Merrick" he regarded, twisting his mandibles in a smile.
"Godfather" Merrick returned.
"Well done, my friend. But you have a much to do to get this over with". The Sangheili took a last draw from his cigarette before putting it away in the built-in ash-tray on one of he's chair's arm support
"That pretty much is a given, Godfather. I need intel to plan my next move".
The Godfather clicked his mandibles "Very well" he moved to stand from his throne, the moment he did, a green pillar of light surrounded him, separating him from the darkness that filled the room. Inside the cylinder of light, various windows were being displayed, containing vast amounts of data, like a holographic archive where the Godfather navigates through with a wave of a hand.'So this is what they call the Ender's sight' Merrick thought while in awe of what he was witnessing.
It wasn't long before Merrick was given another mission, but something was amiss. "That should be impossible" the Godfather grumbled in his mandibles, his brow raised questioning the data he got.
That caught Merrick's curiosity "What should be impossible, sir?"
"The Arbiter is alive"
Merrick was caught by surprise, and he wasn't the only one."But that's illogical! The Brutes were chanting his death over the Covenant Battle net" Raye suddenly interjected, astonished by the sudden turn of events as well as how the smoking Sangheili was able to make such a false statement.
But the Sangheili ignored the AI' and looked directly to him "Merrick, you are to make contact with the Arbiter. From there on out you are to become his subordinate, you will take commands from him until we contact you again, that's all for now." With that the connection cuts and Merrick was left with a mission.
Time to track down the Arbiter