The ODST recruits were ready to drop as they looked up at their drill instructor. He was barely sweating from their ten mile run. But then again they had to remember that Drill Instruction Spartan was just that a Spartan. John looked over the squad and shook his head. At this rate they'll never make it as an ODST.
"Would you look at that?" John looked over to the obstacle course and shook his head as watched his daughter follow Kelly through the course. "Isn't she a civilian?" he heard one of the recruits ask.
"She's still a Spartan. You know they can go to any base at any time they want."
"Yeah right like they would just let people into the base without proper clearance."
"They're Spartans and there's only a handful left so the UNSC wants to make sure the ones that have gone into civilian careers are still willing to help. Anyway like there's anyone who could stop them if they wanted too." John just smiled watching the woman he considered one of his sisters' blaze past the others running the course the only one keeping up was a four and a half year old girl.
"Yeah I get who she is but who's the kid following her and I wonder if the UNSC has contacted her family yet?"
"Dunno who the kid is but I'm guessing the family already has connections to the UNSC."
"They do boys and girls." The squad looked back to John who just shook his head. "Let's go and I'll introduce you to them."
"Sir you know them?" He looked down at the kid next to him Jennings was the kid's name.
"Yeah that's Kelly. We were both part of the Spartan II program ended up on the same squad." He said shaking his head as Kelly sprinted the last part of the course.
"But what about the kid with her sir?" Parker asked coming up on John's other side.
"That would be my daughter Tanis." He said watching the dark haired little girl blaze past seasoned soldiers in game of follow the leader. Several of the squad members nearly stopped dead in their tracks at the admission. They looked at the little girl who couldn't have been older than five run through the course smiling as she kept up with the Spartan woman running just ahead of her. The little girl had bright unearthly blue eyes and dark brown hair that fell down to her waist in French braid. In a moment the little girl turned and saw them and bright smile split her face before she came running full bore towards them. John just smiled and knelt down to catch his daughter. She skidded to a stop as she wrapped her arms around his neck while picked her up and settled her on his hip. She kissed his cheek and smiled.
"HI daddy."
"How's my little demon?" She just smiled.
"I was playing with Aunt Kelly. We played follow the leader." She said with a big grin. John smiled slightly before kissing her cheek as he got an idea.
"Hey Kelly tell Johnson I've got an idea for the new final." Kelly smirked before taking off to go find Johnson. The recruits groaned knowing that whatever Chief was planning was going to be hell.
Riley smiled as he followed the little girl who was still quite a way ahead of him through the dense underbrush and the trees. She stopped and smiled as she looked back at him before she bolted off again. He nearly laughed but managed to contain it as this was an exercise in tracking, stealth and speed. Riley didn't want to fail this final. He continued as quickly as he could given that he didn't have a Spartan parent. He smiled as he once again caught sight of Tanis as she jumped over a log crossing her path. Riley chanced a look behind to see no one there. He shook his head and kept going stopping dead in his tracks as he heard Tanis scream. He ignored the rest of the test and broke radio silence.
"We have unidentified hostiles on the course need back up immediately!" He yelled as he came around the corner to see Tanis being held by a brute. Riley swore under his breath as the last prophet of the covenant came up to her.
"You shall make our vengeance perfection." He said running his three fingered hand down her cheek. Riley smiled as the little girl didn't cry or scream. He quickly readied his rifle and took out the brute.
"Tan Run!." He yelled as the brute fell dropping her. Tanis landed and ran through the trees trying to get away. Riley gave her cover fire praying she could get away all the while knowing her wouldn't. He swore as he took a plasma round to his left arm. Riley knew he had failed as heard Tanis scream.
John swore as Kelly ran ahead of him trying get to his daughter. He stopped as they got to the clearing where he found Riley Vincent laying against a tree fighting for breath.
"MEDIC!" John checked for a pulse and thank whatever gods were listening. "Riley come on talk to me tell me what happened."
"Prophet Wrath came..took Tanis…too many…three brutes…several jackals," He said as he grimaced. "I tried…to…help but…ran…out…of ammo." He said as the pain once again became apparent on his features.
"You did well soldier." John said standing to his full height his eyes blazing with a barely contained fury. Johnson came up next to him. "Get Fred and Linda here now. We find them and we go I don't give a damn what the USNC says they have my daughter. They thought I was a demon once I'll give them a reason to call me that once again. Get him help. He tried to save my daughter I owe him that much." He said looking down at Riley before he walked away with Kelly not far behind him. Johnson began to pray hoping that the covenant remnants would let Tanis go and if not that he could get a piece of the action.
"Sergeant shouldn't we do something?" He heard one of the other drill instructors ask. Johnson just laughed.
"Do you want to try to stop them? I'd rather face the entire covenant fleet on my own unarmed." He said biting down on his cigar. "Trust me there are quicker and less painful ways to die soldier. No all I'm gonna do is let USNC know what happened so that they stay out of John's way."
"But sir…" Johnson turned to face the young officer and pulled the cigar out of his mouth.
"Boy you better get one thing straight right now that is one of the only surviving SPARTAN II's and I have never seen him this pissed off. John is on a war path and the other Spartan's that are left are right behind him because that little girl is a Spartan. According to the woman who created them it was a statistical impossibility." He said as he put his cigar back in his mouth. "Now I gotta radio Halsey and pray I can catch up with him." He said grumbling around his cigar.
"Sir?"
"You think I'm lettin' that boy go without me. I've got a score to settle with those sons a bitches." He said turned to follow John.
