'Sup (not the lane). Decided to upload a second chapter and see how that goes, because apparently this fic isn't a bust (yet). Ah, first thing, if the Chief ever comes across as overly OOC, please let me know. I'm finding it a little bit hard writing the dialogue for the Chief when he's talking to civilians because the novels give me no framework to work off of. Also, the first chapter was, again, just a prologue chapter, so I skipped out o a lot of the Master Chief's... abilities, if you know what I mean. That stuffs in this chapter.
So... forwards?
Chapter 2 - The Horse You Rode In On
Caitlyn didn't understand what just happened. She saw Vi throw the punch, and was sure that would be the end of the armoured being – the Spartan - but instead Vi was thrown across the room. It all happened in the time it took Caitlyn to blink.
She saw the Spartan turn, scanning the room, and then turning back to her. It was then that she noticed the familiar weight of her rifle in her hands.
Should she shoot? She was nothing if not practical, and never surrendered, but she wasn't entirely sure if the bullet would even do anything to the Spartan. It had taken out Vi, after all. And even if it did, she would only have time for one shoot, since they were so close.
Caitlyn saw the Spartan tense, and she made a decision.
She lowered her gun to the floor, and raised her palms to it… him?
She only hoped it wouldn't rip her head off.
The Master Chief didn't know what to do.
He had woken up after his cryotube went through emergency de-frosting procedures. He had heard voices, possibly female, outside of the tube, but none of them sounded like Cortana. He had emerged from the cryotube slowly, aware of his reduced muscle mass. Nearly 40%. Must have been out for a while.
The other occupants of the room were not what he expected at all.
One was small, maybe a dwarf human of some sort, with wild hair.
The other two were both female, one wearing a purple outfit with a top hat, and the other had pink hair and work patchwork armour.
He was unsure of what to say, so he just opted with the standered procedure of name, rank, and number. "I'm Spartan 117 Master Chief of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Are you a UNSC recovery team?"
The response was also something the Chief did not expect.
A punch to the face.
Chief had easily sidestepped the blow, hastily aimed as it was. He had then used his palm to push his assailant across the room, but he had miscalculated his reduced strength, and the blow had launched her to the other end instead of killing her outright.
The Chief had then scanned the room, taking note of exits. He also noticed that his radar had picked up two yellow, neutral signals outside the door, but he knew that that could mean anything from civilians to enemies without an IFF, so he decided to categorize them as hostiles.
He had turned his attention back to the woman in purple. Obviously an accomplice of insurrectionist that had just punched him. She held an odd, old-fashion rifle and radiated an aura of authority. Knowing he wouldn't have the time to reach for his weapons, he had tensed himself for a fight, and then the weirdest thing happened. She had put the gun down.
"I'm Caitlyn, Sheriff of Piltover, and we mean you no harm," the woman, now identified as Caitlyn, had said.
That's when Chief became confused.
Insurrectionists had never surrendered before, let alone said they meant him – a Spartan – no harm. He was their number one enemy - aside from the government, of course. Chief grimaced under his helmet. He liked it when everything was clear cut. Being political wasn't his strong suit.
he could kill them all, he reasoned this was like a monitor situation. Use them for what he needed, kill them if they became a problem.
He decided to treat these people as potential friendlies instead of hostiles – for the moment, anyways.
He glanced to his left, and noted that the pink haired woman was just getting up.
The Sheriff followed his gaze and misunderstood it. "I apologize for my partner's behavior, she gets… excited when she meets new people."
The Chief looked back at her. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. "Is there a UNSC base on planet? I need to contact my superiors immediately."
The Sheriff furrowed her brows at the Chief's sudden change in demeanor. "I'm not sure what a… UNSC is," she said. "And what do you mean by planet?"
Chief was actually surprised at that, and it took a lot to surprise him. No idea what the UNSC was? No concept of planets? Where was he, exactly?
really, the only possibility was an insurrectionist base, but that didn't fit with their over all demeanor.
He prepared to ask her, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the floor beneath his feet shift.
The other three people in the room stumbled forwards a bit, but the Chief remained upright, a testament to his Spartan abilities. And his magnetically locked boots.
"What the fuck was that?" The pink-haired woman asked.
The Sheriff looked at the small man.
The small man shrugged. "The structure is probably beginning to slide down. I did say time was of the essence."
"Did he?" the pink haired woman muttered under her breath.
"All right then," the Sherriff began, turning to pink-hair. "Vi, radio the officers and tell them to evacuate immediately."
"But what about all the technology on board!" The small man shouted.
"Our lives are more important than technology," She replied. She turned to the Chief. "I'm sure you have questions for us, and we definitely have questions for you, but this block is currently sliding down a cliff and will soon be at the bottom of the bay. It would be best if you came with us, and we can continue this conversation later."
The Chief nodded. He had to admit, she made sense. He turned around and grabbed his Assault Rifle and Magnum from where he had stashed them before going into Cryo. He also grabbed as much ammo as he could carry.
He checked the ammo counter on his AR – full. He moved his free hand to the back of his helmet, making sure Cortanas chip was secu –
He didn't have her chip.
He called out her name, and got no response.
He looked around the room, ignoring the looks the others gave him. His gaze alighted on a large, cylindrical object on the floor.
The projector he had plugged Cortana into.
He moved towards it, turning it over. The entire front half of the projector was dented in. He tried to remove the chip, with no success. He ran his finger down the seam in the front, going about two – thirds of the way down. He punched the metal lightly, making a small gap in the seam. While the gap was too small for his fingers, it was just big enough for his combat knife. He jammed it in and turned, opening up the projector.
His heart fell.
The insides were burned. The inner plating was scorched and warped. The entire thing must have gone through an electrical fire.
He carefully extracted Cortana's memory chip. It was bent at a thirty degree angle and lacked the blue glow that usually danced along its surface.
The Chief realized he had a choice to make. He could leave the ship with the other three, or take his chances and stay, and try to comb through the ships' systems before it sank.
He looked at the deactivated computer screen mounted on the wall.
"Let's go"
They had all made it back to the Sheriff's office without incident. No one had said a word. They all just stared at the Chief as he, in turn, stared at the Dawn, which slowly sank beneath the waves.
"What should we call you?" asked the Sheriff. She had told the Chief to call her Caitlyn, though he didn't really like the informality.
"Chief," was his curt response. He stood four paces in front of the desk, as he had been taught to do while addressing superior officers. Not that the Sheriff – Caitlyn – was superior.
"Why don't you take a seat," the Sheriff offered.
The Chief looked at the chair for a moment. "It won't hold my weight."
She blinked, surprised. "...How much do you weigh?"
He considered not answering, but his weight wasn't deemed forbidden knowledge by ONI."1000 pounds."
"Holy shit, Tin man, are you even alive under there?" Vi asked. "Or are you, like, one of Jayce's shitty automatons?"
Caitlyn gave Vi a sharp glance.
"I'm human," said Chief. He was finding this experience disturbing. Nothing he had seen so far indicated that this city – or its people - had contact with the galactic community. It was all rather… steampunk.
"Yes, yes," said Heimerdinger. "Some sort of enhanced human, yes?"
Chief looked squarely at the little one and gave a small nod. Clearly, this one was much smarter than he had initially believed. He would need to watch it more closely.
"I must also ask, what does your suit run on? There is no hextech of any kind on it."
"That's classified," Chief responded, and then paused. Heimerdinger had mentioned something called hextech. Chief didn't like the sound of it. It gave him the same feeling the Halo rings did. "Hextech… what is that?"
Vi laughed. "Are you serious, Tin Man? You would have to be living under a rock to not know what Hextech is!"
Heimerdinger smiled, as if he was privy to an inside joke. "Hextech is the combination of technology and magic."
"No such thing as magic," said the Master Chief. At this point, he was ready to leave the room. But he needed more information, unreal as it may sound.
Vi and Caitlyn looked at the Chief through narrowed eyes. Heimerdinger smiled wider.
"Then my theory is correct," he said. "Magic is everywhere in this world. It is quite common. The only way you wouldn't know about it is if you were living under a really big rock – although Skarner may take offense to that – or you're not from this world."
Chief looked at Heimerdinger. Well, that confirmed his suspicion that they had no contact with the galactic community. He gave a small nod.
"I'm also assuming, then, that the thing that brought you here is some sort of war vessel?"
Chief nodded again. "A UNSC Charon class light frigate."
"So… what? A flying ship?" Vi asked, a smirk on her face.
"A space ship," Caitlyn responded. She seemed to understand what was going on.
Vi looked astounded.
"Am I also correct to assume that the UNSC would be your government?" Heimerdinger asked. Clearly he wanted as much information as possible. Just like Cortana, Chief thought.
Heimerdinger didn't wait for an answer, though. He kept asking questions. "And a Spartan is a soldier of some kind, yes?"
The Master Chief hesitated, not sure how much he should say. "A Super Soldier," He decided to say. It was the easiest thing to say, and it seemed to satisfy Heimerdinger.
The other two occupants of the room went dead silent.
"Would you... mind stepping out for a bit?" asked Caitlyn. She looked disturbed.
Chief nodded, and stepped outside. It didn't really matter, though. He was more than capable of hearing them through the door.
"We can't keep him here." That was Caitlyn's voice.
"But the scientific possibilities-" Heimerdinger responded.
"No. If Noxus or Demacia found out we were keeping an space-faring super soldier in the city, they would be furious. And would think we're gearing up for war."
"So what? Let them come. We'll crush 'em," Vi said.
"Bad, bad idea. Bandle City would also be suspected and attacked. Also, if Noxus, or divines forbid, Zaun, got their hands on the Master Chief…." Heimerding trailed off, as if the implications were clear.
For the other two, they were. Silence descended.
"We could hide it," said Vi.
He heard a snort, presumably from Caitlyn. "There are spies everywhere. Do you really think there's anywhere we can hide him?"
"So what? Do we kill him?" Vi asked. She sounded eager. Chief had to give her credit – she was tough. And foolhardy.
"The Institute of War would be most interested in him. The Institute is neutral ground, so he would be safe there. And I'm sure the summoners would enjoy having a super-soldier around," Caitlyn said. "It would be like Kayle and Morgana. They don't belong to any city-state, and they live year-round in the Institute itself."
"Having him join the league would be the best option, I guess. Although science would certainly suffer for it," Heimerdinger said ruefully, before adding, "and we should not forget that the Summoners are his only hope to get back home, since we have no space flight capable craft."
"The summoners could do that portal shit, yeah," said Vi, sounding sad that she couldn't pummel anyone.
"Okay then. It would be best if we handled this immediately, so I don't have to report it to the Governor. He would be less than anxious to part with a super – solider," Caitlyn said.
There was the sound of footsteps – armoured boots, Chief noted – as someone made their way to the door.
The Chief opened it first, revealing a somewhat surprised looking Vi.
"Slow down there, Tinny," she said.
Caitlyn opened her mouth, ready to explain, but The Chief stopped her.
"I heard everything, and I agree. I need to report in immediately."
Caitlyn closed her mouth. "These walls are sound-proof," she said.
The Chief shrugged, which was no mean feat for someone wearing powered assault armour.
Cailtyn rubbed her eyes. "Vi, would you be so kind as to show the Master Chief to the barracks? It would be best for him to wait things out there."
"Come along, Tinny." Vi walked through the door without even looking at the Chief. He followed without a word.
Caitlyn gave out a great sigh, and Heimerdinger gave her a knowing glance. She reached over and grabbed the phone lying on her desk.
It glowed a faint pink light as she grabbed it. She whispered a name into the pad near the center, and it glowed brighter.
Heimerdinger left the room, most likely to go study whatever his scientists were able to bring back.
"Hello, High Councillor Kolminye? I have the most interesting proposition for you…"
Don't kill me plox.
So... The Chief isn't with Cortana. Originally I had written this and planned the story with the two together, but then it was brought to y attention that the Chief cant be OP compared to League champs, and that duo is the definition of OP. They kick ass and take names, and by kick ass I mean destroy superweapons capable of galactic genocide, rek covenant fleets and obliterate ground armies. And not to mention the fact that there would be no character development or interactions with other people at all if they were together. I felt this would make it easier for me to write.
Ehhhh... so, as always, review if there's something i can improve on. Or rather, for the second time.