Chapter Two;

Watching You.

The character introduced in this chapter is more or less my version of my favorite character in the Halo book series, Zuka 'Zamamee (He was in Halo: The Flood). Riek 'Lasamee (Pronounced Rye-Eck Lah-ssah-mee) will be in multiple chapters. I'd like to let you know that this story takes place between H2 and H3; it's more in H3, but Tarturus hasn't died yet. Alas, the POV of this story will, most likely, switch between Lex and Riek periodically. I'll probably throw John's Point of view into the mix eventually.

And, no, I don't own the I Love Bees website idea. Look it up on Wikipedia. It's actually kinda cool.

-Riek 'Lasamee-

As a former member of the Sangheili honor guards, I know very well the shame of heresy. Never have I been termed heretic, but I have been around long enough to watch as my brothers slowly got picked off due to their actions. Even for me that was shameful, and I had absolutely nothing to do with their downfall.

I had watched day in and day out as numerous heretics met their fate; often, I was assigned to come up with an ending for them. It was my dream, my destiny, that if ever I was pronounced heretic, I'd become the Arbiter that all of the other Sangheili looked up to and that the Unggoy were completely loyal to.

Therefore, I was crestfallen when news of the new Arbiter and his mission to destroy the heretics passed through every part of High Charity. I followed him loyally for years, waiting for his downfall. Yet it never came. While others worshipped him and wished he'd live forever, I longed for the moment when he'd fall under the alien wrath. These thoughts were, in themselves, betrayal, and I was banished from High Charity as punishment. I had thought I'd be dead by now, but the mark of shame burned into my skin seemed to make all of the other species of the Covenant weary; they often stayed as far as they could.

Fleetless, with a spent plasma rifle and armor burned and dented from years of fighting, I was a bird in the crosshairs. The only thing I had to keep me somewhat protected was a small fighter ship, though it was still rendered useless; the Jiralhanae had been ordered to remove all weaponry, making my ship, Exile's Atrophy, worthless if ever I was presented with a threat. Which seemed often.

Somehow, though, I had been accepted into a fleet of Jiralhanae, ones who had yet to be accepted into the Covenant themselves. They didn't necessarily welcome me with open arms, but they did help me reconfigure all of the technology within my ship, as well as restoring all of my weapons. Those came for a price; every time they did something to help me, I had to whisper in the chieftain's, Latius, ear a secret of the prophets. This definitely sped up my apostasy; yet I often questioned what the point was in following a religion I had been excluded from.

Eventually, I discovered Latius's, the chieftain at the time, intentions. He planned on infiltrating High Charity, making himself a member of the Honor guard. I was the first Sangheili to be caught up in what was later to be deemed the Jirlhanae Sangheili Honor War. And I sided with the Jirlhanae.

Upon becoming the honor guard he had strived to be, Latius swore to protect me from the wrath of the other Sangheili, who considered my betrayals to be far beyond heresy. As a token of his appreciation for my shared knowledge of the way around High Charity, he made me his second in command. I gladly stood by his side. He was the Arbiter of the Jirlhanae, and I was acknowledged with power because I was nearly parallel to his rank. We made a great team; until Tarturus came into the picture. Latius fled, and his promise was broken; I was, once more, brought before the council of the Hierarchs

A young brute chieftain was assigned by The Prophet of Regret to come up with a fate suitable for me. His plan was simple; I was to be executed with all of the remaining Covenant eyes glued to me. Yet, somehow, Tarturus changed that. Instead of death, which I believed was well deserved, I'd die honorably; I was sent in search of an alien, the demon, and I was to bring him back to High Charity. If I succeeded, I'd return and the Hierarchs would re-discuss my fate. If I did not succeed, however, I wouldn't return at all. I'd be forced to kill myself due to chagrin.

It was a sound plan, one I easily believed I'd be able to accomplish. I was sent with numerous Unggoy and Kig'Yar to the most recently located ring, where the Demon had been seen last. Yet I came back empty handed, with purple liquid oozing from the multiple bullet holes scarring my body. The council was everything but pleased. The council then decided I needed larger troops to back me up, and they gave me back all of my rights as Shipmaster.

Hence why I am where I am right this second. Flying Exile's Atrophy through slipspace, surrounded by Covenant Phantoms, preparing to infiltrate the ring once more. Yet, this time, we have a new mission. We are to kidnap anyone who gets in our way of the demon and torture as much information out of them as possible. Being the only Sangheili remaining in the Covenant, I am to somehow blend with all of the other Sangheili, now termed Elites, who are fighting side-by-side with the humans. My secondary mission is to kill the Arbiter in seclusion and steal his armor; I am to become who I have always longed to be, which will allow me get close to this demon, this Master Chief.

Upon entering Halo's atmosphere, static filled the bridge of Exile's Atrophy; "Be prepared, Riek. Recite your Sangheili mantra if you feel doing so will give you strength. This is your last chance." Tarturus sounded too cheery for my liking, but I did as he said.

I turned to the Unggoy lined in the bridge, all chattering about. Even though they never had recited the words along with me, I recited them aloud. As soon as I started speaking, all of the Unggoy's eyes were on me, "When we joined the Covenant, we took an oath. According to our station! All without exception! On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons, we swore to uphold the Covenant. Even to our dying breath! Those who would break this oath are heretics. Worthy of neither pity nor mercy. We shall grind them into dust! Wipe them as excrement from our boots! And continue our march to glorious salvation!"

Some of the Unggoy knew the words, and they would reply to my previous statement at the correct time. As soon as the words were past my mandibles, and my voice died within my throat, the Unggoy cheered, lifting my hopes that we would succeed. Still, the words brought me down. Was I a heretic? Was I not worthy of pity and mercy? Instead of thinking that way, I thought about all of the Unggoy standing before me. I had never been one of the members of our alliance who saw the Unggoy as canon fodder. They were small, yet they made a great team when paired together. Just like Latius and I once had.

I sighed, turning back to the controls, preparing to land as close to the Forerunner artifact built upon the sacred ring. Silently, I punched the COMM button, rewarded with static, and replied to Tarturus's previous statement, "I was born prepared."

His chuckle filled the bridge; "We'll see about that."

-Lex-

Walking beside John is like walking past a skyscraper; though now none of those exist, and the few that do are crumbled inward. Even then, you still get an odd, ominous feeling as pass by them. John seemed to emit that same feeling.

We were walking in silence, towards the building my mother worked within. John was walking beside me, yet I could tell that he'd rather be far ahead, battling some alien bastards. I could tell that he didn't want to be stuck with me, and when I stated this, he shrugged, still expressionless. "Orders are orders. I'll do whatever it is that I'm assigned."

I frowned at that, "Don't you ever, you know, feel like doing something fun? Something different then following the rules?"

His eyes rested on me, blank as the ones of a statue, and I got my answer within his gaze; No.

We walked on in silence.

As we entered the rundown hotel, an ODST stated he'd lead the way, and we followed him, up the winding stairs leading to the top floor. While the ODST, whose name I discovered was Jason, and I spoke, John remained silent, occasionally nodding or shaking his head if a question was sent his way. For some reason, he was making me furious. Why didn't he just join in on the conversation? Offer his knowledge or thoughts? If I was to be stuck working with him, he was going to have to learn to talk like a normal human person, even if that involved him shouting at me to snap out of it as he was doing now. My head whipped up, meeting his eyes. He nodded his head in the direction of the door we were standing outside of, and we entered.

Inside, there were multiple tables, all lined with numerous weapons, some that I had never seen before. The first gun that caught my attention, though, was a large green one. It was about the size of a Covenant fuel rod canon, which I had once red about. My hands reached out, yet it was too heavy for me to pick up off the table. My eyes shot to Jason, who smirked, "That's a Spartan Laser. The name comes from the fact that no one but the Spartans seem to be able to carry it."

My eyes rested on John, who was at the far end of the table, holding a green helmet in his hands. Silently, he pulled it over his head, and almost instantly he relaxed. Perhaps seeing through the orange tinted visor made him more comfortable. I glanced at Jason quickly, raising my eyebrows. He came to stand beside me, whispering, "The Master Chief rarely goes anywhere without his armor. The fact that he had it off for you means that Catherine ordered him to do it."

My eyes must have widened, for Jason shot me a curious look, "That's the Master Chief?" I whispered quickly. When Jason nodded, I murmured, "I thought finding out the Spartans were real was a big thing, but now I discover I've been talking to one of the most famous men alive? And I didn't even know."

Jason laughed, and I shot him an angry look, "Oh, come on, Lex. If you would have seen the emotion on your face, you would have laughed, too."

I smirked, and when a loud thump interuptted my thoughts, looked up in John's, The Master Chief's, direction. Instead of seeing the large man towering a few feet away, there was now a gargantuan being, coated in green armor plating with one large orange eye stretching across his entire helmet. It took me a few seconds to pick my jaw up off the floor and to get the flash of fear to clean itself from my features. "No wonder the Covenant are scared of you."

John's voice crackled out of the helmet's speakers, "Indeed."

And now I understand why he barely speaks.

His voice, which I had originally thought to be amplified, practically echoed throughout the entire room. It was, most likely, that coupled with the fact that he was used to spending all of his time hunting down and killing aliens that made him antisocial. I sympathized.

We stood there for a moment, until Jason decided it was time we got ready to go. He quickly helped me into my ODST armor, strapped a sniper rifle to my back and handed me a standard battle rifle, along with a pouch of some extra ammo. "We're gonna kick ass today," he said, the grin evident in his voice.

My visor shot across the helmet, cutting off both Jason AND the Master Chief's view of my face. "Indeed." I murmured, watching to see if John would even acknowledge that the word was directed to him.

He didn't.

Later, with everyone strapped into a Pelican, I finally got to meet my idol. He was sitting in a seat at the end of the Pelican's bridge, eyes on the floor, with the Master Chief sitting across from him.

His armor was silver, with odd yet beautiful etchings dug into it. The flesh you could see between the armor's panels and in the places where it was to show was an odd gray color, in certain lights looking brown. His split mandibles moved in synchronization when he murmured something to the Master Chief, and his golden eyes flickered around the bridge in silent contemplation.

The Arbiter had been, ever since I'd discovered that he existed, my favorite hero.

And now he was sitting merely two feet away from me.

I had followed his story as if he was a god. From his disgrace within the Covenant to his joining sides with the UNSC, he was practically the protagonist in a very well developed story. I loved everything about him; in, of course, a non-romantic way.

Silently, I leaned over, murmuring to Jason, who was sitting beside me, "Catherine never mentioned that we'd be working with the Arbiter."

I could hear Jason laugh, "You know the Arbiter?"

"Know of him. I don't actually know him. I've idolized him for years."

Once more, I could hear the smile in Jason's voice, "Beware. He's a standoffish kinda guy…alien."

"I'm persistent."

"Really? How persistent?"

"I used to follow the ENTIRE I Love Bees website uploads and files. Even when it was considered not cool I tried to figure the story out. I could have given up."

Jason's curiosity rang through his voice this time, "Just how old are you? That site has been down forever."

I shrugged, my eyes leaving Jason's helmet, glancing at the Arbiter. "Old enough to be a Lieutenant."

So, the rest of the ride went by in silence. I couldn't figure it out. Never had I been so close to someone who I had thought to be my only idol in the universe, never in my life had I wanted to make someone who seemed like a recluse talk to me, and never in my life had I gone on a mission where I'd actually have to kill something other then an insect.

I was scared.

------- To Be Continued