All I received was the sight of Halsey pushing back her silver hair and a small smile.
"For all of your sakes, Rosie, I hope that you are right. Be careful, dear." I was taken aback by her use of the term 'dear'. Halsey, always such a stoic and somber individual, had never used a term of endearment in my presence, much less to me.
I turned to the entrance of the lab and began to walk out, my heavy MJOLNIR boots thumping along, echoing with each step that I took. At the last possible moment, I stopped dead and turned around to face Halsey once more, garnering her attention again.
"Doctor, if we ever meet again," I began, briefly looking down at the ground. "I want you to tell me about Linda."
"Rosie, I was under the impression that you had all of her credentials on ha—."
"No. Not the soldier. The person she was—is. Promise me, Dr. Halsey."
"You have my word, Rosie."
With this promise in my heart, a new reason to stay alive, I ventured out of the lab, taking care to stay out of sight of the Spartan, Jun. I looked around the icy cavern that served as a threshold to the lab, silently coming to terms with the fact that I would never see it again. I took a deep breath and shouldered my rifle, replacing it with my M6 Magnum, a much more suitable weapon for close combat. I did not make it far when I found a sight that was enough to make a grown marine cry: a dark green, four-wheeled ATV, commonly called a Mongoose by servicemen in the UNSC. Elated, I hurriedly jumped onto the leather seating of the vehicle and powered it on.
This is gonna make keeping up much easier.
I sped through the underground roadways that I knew led up to the now-decimated military installation above, dubbed Sword Base by UNSC brass. I kept the headlights on the Mongoose off to make certain that I would not give the enemy any other indication of my location aside from the echoing noises of my vehicle throughout the tunnel. I could bank on any Covenant hearing me, but not seeing me. This being the case, I would have the advantage of creating a sense of unrest in any Covenant hearts with me in the tunnel.
When you're scared, you make stupid mistakes. All rationality goes out the window. Your mind sees and hears things that aren't there. If there are any others in the area, I'll prey on these things. They won't know that I'm not one of the illusions until it's too late to act.
Thankfully, there was no such entities in the cave. I sped through to the exit without exit, and skidded to a halt at the opening, kicking up a large cloud of red dust under me that billowed around. As soon as the dust cleared, I raised my rifle and looked through the scope, skimming the horizon and the red, rocky landscape for any indication of my escorts. Finally, such a sight made itself apparent to me.
A large, bulky, grey Pelican transport made itself clear sailed into the horizon and smoking from damage, being trailed by a pair of sleek, purple Banshee fighters. There was a barrage of light blue plasma rounds being ejected from the Banshees in Noble Teams' Pelican's direction. The Spartan that I knew only as Noble 6 and his counterpart, Emile, stood at the back of the Pelican with its bay door open. Emile had equipped his shotgun and began firing futilely at the distant Bansees. Noble 6 had done the same with his black Designated Marksman Rifle, having better luck at landing shots on the smooth purple hull of the ships. However, much like Emile, he failed to put them down.
I sighed, and revved the engine of the Mongoose. I looked around to ensure that I had not garnered any unwanted attention. Satisfied that there was none to speak of, I sped in the same direction of the doomed Pelican. Little did I know that this was to be the start of the most definitive moment of my young life. Any innocence that I had on the dawn of that day would die by its end, and I would truly know the meaning of being weighed down by the past, and what it cost to be truly human.