Yo, just a quick heads up: there's a little bit of swearing and other harsh language from here on out. Added to that is a lot of gore, so reader discretion is advised. Just making sure, in case you ignored the M rating.

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Chapter 2

Alice

I can't move. Why can't I move? Where am I? Thoughts filled my mind as I awoke. My armour is gone. I'm strapped down. Was I captured? A soothing voice calmed me as it said, "don't worry, you're in good hands."

My eyes cracked open and adjusted to the piercingly bright laboratory light. I saw doctor Halsey standing over me smiling like a proud mother. I recoiled in fear, straining against the bonds, I felt the material cut into my wrists. She looked saddened and said, "You're safe now, the simulation is over."

I relaxed slightly and said, "You scare me more than any alien."

She laughed and put a hand on my arm, "That's no way to treat someone who has done so much for you."

"You are destroying me!" My voice rang in my ears, very loud. "I was fine with physical modifications, but what you're doing here is killing us. I don't remember the names of any of those Spartans, not even the ones I've fought with."

She frowned deeply at me, "I'm not changing you at all, dear. I'm just making you feel better."

"Don't toy with me, witch!" I spat. "I used to be the kind of susceptible mind you could fool like that. But I've had too much time to think about what you've done."

Her expression went blank and she sighed, "Well that makes things a little easier, then." I felt the prick of a needle in my arm before everything went black.

I woke up to intense searing heat running through my body. It felt like my blood had turned to lava. I tried to scream, but I couldn't hear if any sound came out. All I could do was arch my back and struggle against the restraints on my wrists and ankles.

There was a distant voice, like a ghost, I could hear it saying, "Overload successful, it appears to be having extreme negative effects on the subject. Also, she has woken up."

"I know, I know. I was aware this would happen. Perhaps we can use this to force any subjects awake."

Two voices. One sounded like Halsey. My rational thoughts were returning and the pain subsided. I lay back down on the bed, my breaths coming in ragged scratchy gasps.

"Now that you're awake, I can get this over with." Halsey was shining a flashlight in my eyes, making sure I was still functioning normally, no doubt. "First, though, I'll have to make sure your brain is still running at full capacity. Say something to me."

I took a break between horribly painful breaths to spit out, "Fuck... You."

She smiled coldly and gave my cheek a light slap, then she disappeared out of my vision for a few minutes.

If there was anything I hated more than the thought of losing Earth to the Covenant, it was that woman being able to modify my body and my mind while I'm asleep. She seemed to know it, too. I think she must hate me for some reason. Probably because I hate her.

She returned to my vision, along with a holographic blue ball and said, "I'd like you to meet your new personal Artificial Intelligence. He is going to accompany you from now on and keep track of you."

I tried to focus my eyes on the little ball of light, which seemed to be bouncing up and down, for no reason.

"Why do I need an AI?" I asked, the words caught in my throat and slurred on their way out.

"Because you are now a part of an ONI secret project, even more secret than the Spartan II project." The odd mechanical voice seemed to come from inside my own head. "And by yourself, well... I doubt the secrecy of this project would remain intact."

As the initial pain of my awakening subsided more, I began to feel pain in different areas of my body. The largest source of pain coming from the back of my head, where it felt like a hole had been cut into my skull and something was stuck inside it.

"What did you do to me?" My voice was raspy now, it felt like I was scratching my throat with needles when I talked.

Halsey answered like she was distracted by something else, "I made a neural interface for the AI in the back of your head, it was quite complicated, but it allows him to access your brain directly."

I had never really liked AI, they just talked about what you did wrong or what they were doing right. And now hearing that one was inside my head and would be monitoring me made me feel sick.

Halsey saw my reaction, even if I didn't say anything, and I felt that little prick in my arm again, "N-" was all I could say before that blackness returned.

AI

Incredible. She was incredibly resilient. I doubt any other human could come close to living through this. When this process first began I had her odds of survival at less than five percent. Now I would put them closer to fifty percent. Not the best odds, but incredible, nonetheless.

It seemed so horribly painful every time Halsey woke her up, yet she barely showed signs of stress after the initial effects wore off. She practically shrugged off everything the doctor had thrown at her so far.

Unfortunately what's coming next will be far more difficult. If she is going to survive this, she'll be needing more than a few miracles.

AI

Unbelievable. She is still alive. By this point Halsey is just changing whatever she feels like just to see what happens. I don't think she'll be very happy to see how she looks when she wakes up.

It's been a month already, her hair hasn't been trimmed, she hasn't showered. I don't know how the doctor can cope with that horrible human stench. By interfacing with some of the base's sensors I can essentially smell it. It's absolutely repulsive.

She looks extremely distressed now. She is acting like she failed somehow. Yet the fact that her subject is alive, even though her odds were so minuscule, should be cause for celebration.

Clearly Halsey was trying to make this subject into a failure. Yet somehow, even while unconscious, Spartan 130, Alice, yes I shall call her that, Alice retains strength and stubbornness, as though she is defying Halsey simply because she exists.

Maybe if I were human I would understand how the doctor feels. Then again, it isn't a nice looking feeling, by the way she is acting. Being an Artificial Intelligence certainly has its upsides.