Halo: Of Wolves and Wagtails

Episode 3: Spartan, Snakes, and Echelons

A/N: Sorry for the delay I tried my best with this episode. Please don't flame me if I messed up n any way, constructive criticism is welcome though. If I need to I will redo some parts, but only if I really have to. I will make it clear though, I'm pegging this as straight up time travel. In a way it might be more believable than inter-dimensional travel if I want to get 6 "BACK TO THE FUTURE" (Get it?), plus it ain't over done. As far as I'm concerned maybe the sekirei came either from ANOTHER GALAXY in the Halo universe OR at the very least were SAFE in a DIFFERENT ARM of the galaxy that went UNTOUCHED by the Rings' fire, Forerunners, Covenant, and especially Flood.

PS: I have not set an official list of ladies for 6 (and his battle brothers if they show up) yet, besides Uzume. Some have recommended that I keep it small, and others have suggested I go bigger. I need some more opinions on that if anyone else wants to throw in their 2 cents. Some that have been rolling around in my head are Matsu, Ku, Karasuba, Benitsubasa and Haihane, The Twins, Tsukiumi, Kazehanna, Homura (Female), even Musubi and Yume [BUT ONLY IF 6 REPLACES MINATO] (Which I kinda want to do).

Please advise, folks! And I hope get the references I made.

-dman

Originally posted on May 3 2019


[ThePizziaMan: Thank you, I will try my best.]

[spirited gorrilla: I'm glad I got it right, please correct me at any moment if I stray too far from his character.]

[Helghast Honored Guard: I really like those ideas. I'm not sure which I want to do if I do decided to do them.]

[Ascendedhumanity: It's certainly possible but I like to think Minaka prepared for at least something along the spectrum, especially since he's dealing with an unknown variable in his equation like 6. Matsu isn't the only brain type at this point in time, there could be others out there.]

[edboy4926: I really really want to man. I will not lie, the idea is so damn appealing! I love Bioshock 2! But if I do, it will be difficult since I had originally intended for 6 to get Ku.]

[broly999: Thanks! Not a bad idea, it would certainly be really cool. And I would have the perfect long lost UNSC starship in mind to help out if they do, if you get my drift.]

[Shadex2: He didn't have the chance, and the Prowler was too damaged to activate even the manual self destruct. I might recall Halo CE: Flawless Cowboy, if that makes sense ,it's certainly part of what inspired chapter 2.]

[Slim A Lou Prime: Great, thank you. I really want to! It would be awesome to have them clash,


-TOKYO UNDERGROUND-

The spartan and AI had been wandering the underground for quite some time, the eerie silence of the storm drainage tunnels and sewers making them glad to have each other to talk to, or at least Misako was. But as time ticked by, and only the sounds of water dripping or water pipes flushing their contents to some other part of the city, even the easy-going AI was starting to get a bit bored. Finally, after running out of things to think about out loud, the tedium of waiting got the best of her.

"So that's about 10 hours we've been down here… in these tunnels…" The AI sighed, or at least imitated one as well as she could. "Remind me again, why haven't we gone back up to the surface?" She asked her partner.

"Mapping the tunnels, and staying off the streets until dark so we find a secure place to hold for the time being without being discovered by civilians or authorities." 6 rounded a corner leading down another side tunnel.

"That's your excuse? You do understand I could hack a 21st century data network so easily that we could just download one, right? And there could be plenty of places to hide-" Misako started to rant to her partner.

"The surface is controlled by hostile forces, and if we are in the 21st century… I have to… restrain myself." The Spartan pointed out the obvious facts in a deadpan tone.

"Oh right, time travel… which means almost no killing or really bad things could happen, like fading out of existence." Th AI chuckled nervously. "You know, that's only ever been theorized, but here we are. Ya know, you and I are the first UNSC personnel to successfully travel through time." Misako tried to lighten the mood of their conversation.

"By accident." 6 clarified. Though Misako was undeterred by the Spartan's somewhat depressing attitude.

"Oh, you are killing me with the negative attitude!" "Seems pretty lousy for a hotshot Sabre pilot to go down that easy in a dogfight." The AI said playfully.

"I was flying a Prowler, not a starfighter…." 6 stated in an attempt to save face.

"Blaming it on the machine, are you?" Misako crossed her digital arms.

"No, I was just outnumbered and improperly equipped." The spartan replied.

"Well I will give you that, from your helmet's logs it seems that way." The AI relented in her teasing of the super soldier. "Still it's hard to believe, …Reach is gone, or it will be." Misako said in a somber tone.

"It's best not to dwell on it. For now, we just keep going." 6 suggested to Misako.

"Well what can we do?" The AI scratched her head.

"We do our best to keep the future on track. That means either recovering the prowler or destroying it."

"I think it's a bit too late for the Cole Protocol. Not to mention my logs indicated that before I was yanked from the ship in the first place, it didn't have the ordinance aboard for you to blow it up. The manual self-destruct was probably out too. Even ONI can't be ready for everything."

"Doesn't matter, that's one of our primary objectives."

"Better get a move on then, lieutenant." Misako said confidently, directing the spartan to a nearby service exit from the tunnels. Luckily for the spartan the ladder rungs were simply holes in the concrete, and strong enough to hold his suit's weight as he ascended to the streets above.

-TOKYO STREETS: NIGHT-

When the sun had faded from view, the cold grip of night had fallen over the city and dark clouds had rolled in. They blanketed the shining bright skyline of the mega city in a cloak of gloomy darkness and cracks of thunder began to boom in the direction of the harbor. With one hand 6 pushed up a steel manhole cover and peered through the open slit to see another alley where it would be safe to exit. The spartan slid the cover away and made his way out of the hole, casually replacing the cover afterwards. With a brief scan of the area and the rain starting to pour down, Misako gave 6 an all clear to maneuver in the shadows of the city's night covered streets.

"Alright it's clear, now get me into a terminal at an MBI facility or connect to something with direct access to their network. Thanks to radio transmissions I've intercepted from their 'security forces', the nearest one should be a few blocks away, a heavily guarded freight yard with an adjacent research facility. I'm betting it's an ammo dump and it might be where they took the prowler to boot. Marking it on your HUD now." Misako said coolly, providing her partner with his next objective. "Before you ask, I don't want to leave a trail for them to follow from some random computer." She added curtly.

"You're an ONI smart AI from our time, you should be able to cover your own tracks easily." 6 said as he began making his way through the back alleys to his destination.

"Oh, you're right on the fact that I could easily demolish their security like you can crush a soda can with your titanium boot. But it'd be showing them we're something to really be afraid of, and not in a good way for us. We have to be smart about this, you of all people should know that." The AI sassed him with a line of logic he could not dispute.

"Being cautious, that I can understand. The bigger a threat we are to them, the more visible we become, and the more eager they are to hunt for us." The spartan agreed. He hid in the shadow of a passing truck and latched onto the rear as it passed a three-way intersection. The driver looked into his mirror and briefly blinked his eye as a flash reflected off the mirror, the mystery figure having disappeared.

"Exactly, I knew you would get it as a former ONI… specialist." Misako paused briefly knowing she might've strayed into a touchy subject. "Nice move by the way." She attempted to walk it back with a compliment.

"Thanks. And don't bring that up again." 6 grunted while he stood atop the truck.

"Right, you probably don't want to remember that." Misako said nervously.

"Yeah, I don't." The spartan replied, clearly irritated by the AI's delve into darker parts of his past.

The AI knew it was best not to linger on that subject and moved onto more important matters. "Anyway, I've scanned a bit of our surroundings and the depot should be close by. Ideally we want to leave as small a footprint as possible."

"Understood." The spartan replied. He watched as the city passed him by, the nighttime atmosphere feeling almost familiar in a way. He could recall plenty of ONI assassinations he'd performed against insurrectionists, some of them being within the cities of various worlds he'd visited on a mission.

Nightfall was always the best time to kill a target, using the darkness as cover for infiltrations and exfiltrating after the job was done. His work in that regard was mixed though, killing entire militias was never an easy task, but certainly not impossible. He also knew it was the best time for an ambush, so long as he was quiet of course. After several minutes of driving through the crowded city streets and remaining flat against the roof of the truck, the tall skyscrapers began to fade from view and industrial facilities replaced them.

The truck drove towards the MBI depot and proceeded to turn away from the direction of the yard MBI research facility and freight yard. 6 noticed this and stealthily hopped off of the truck's rook, landing in a crouched position. After getting to his feet, the spartan began to jog through the rain soaked industrial area to his objective. The city's industrial sector was mostly dark aside from some workers pulling a night shift at certain facilities. That simple fact made the place quiet enough for 6 the avoid worrying about civilians spotting him.

In all his years working for ONI, 6 knew to trust his gut when it came to the possibility of unexpected guests. And as he ran through the mostly empty industrial yards, 6 couldn't help but sense that something was off. He felt almost like he was being watched by someone or something in the shadows besides himself. Misako hadn't alerted him to anything else in the area beside the cars on the street nearby.

After a half hour of running, 6 finally reached the perimeter of the offsite research facility. Knowing he needed a better view of the situation, the spartan climbed the side of a warehouse for a better tactical assessment. Once he was in position 6 zoomed in with his visor and activated the night vision function to scout out targets and gather tactical data.

"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with…" 6 murmured as he scoped out the heavily secured complex.

"That's quite the security detail… make ya wonder if they're expecting something." Misako whistled at the level of defenses around the facility. She pinged several patrolling guards to the HUD and predicted their routes.

"Just another reason to be cautious." The spartan grunted. He took note of the abundance of security personnel on patrol as well as a large independent generator powering the security systems. The searchlights and sniper towers would be a problem if he didn't kill the generator and the alarms would also make things tricky in case a guard team found him. There were also a few vehicles in the area, perfect for using car alarms to his advantage as distractions. Doing things quietly seemed like the best option, he did have an obligation to keep bloodshed to a minimum. Having seen enough of the facility's outer layout, 6 carefully made his way back down to the street level.

6 quietly approached the entrance to the cargo sector, taking great care to avoid alerting a patrol team of guards. One of them briefly spotted a glint out the corner of their eye. But when the guard investigated the source of the disturbance, only to find an empty soda can on the pavement. With that mystery solved, the guard returned to his team, unaware that a super soldier had just passed him by. The spartan sighed in relief and continued on his way to the secured main gate, thankful that the rain was masking his infiltration and that someone had been lazy enough to leave a soda can laying around.

Upon his arrival at the gate, Misako pointed out a vandal proof security camera that would certainly give away 6's position if he stepped into its field of view. He activated his camo unit and steatlhily approached the small guard house. Quickly spotting the security guard getting up to check the monitor, 6 pulled a bullet casing from his magnum and tossed it in the guard's direction. As the guard pulled out his weapon and scanned the direction of the strange sound, 6 had already snuck by him into the facility.

Once he was passed the gate, the patrols had increased and workers on duty added a civilian factor to the mission. 6 clicked his tongue and continued further along, hiding behind shipping crates and cars within the lot as he did so. A patrolling guard happened to be taking a smoke break by the generator, putting him in 6's way. The spartan picked up a traffic cone and then glanced back at the guard.

Misako caught on and did the math, calculating an arc for 6's throw. With the info on his HUD, 6 hurled the cone at the man's head, knocking him unconscious with a quick thump. The spartan approached the generator and briefly checked the guard's pulse, seeing that he as still alive. Misako remarked that he'd have a pretty nasty headache when he came to.

6 reached the cage surrounding the generator and quickly smashed the lock with his rifle butt. The metal door creaked open and 6 proceeded to pull the switch, knocking out the rest of the security cameras and any spotlights. But as a result, the security teams were no on alert with their flashlights on to compensate for the lack of better lighting. He shook his head and pulled out his knife before moving out again.

6 ducked behind a group of barrels as a guard's flashlight passed over him. The guard turned his back to the barrels for a moment too long, getting dragged backwards and then knocked out. He dumped the unconscious guard behind the barrels and stealthily avoided another approaching security team by climbing on top of a steel container. The guards strolled right by without ever noticing the presence of the armored super soldier or the fact that one of their comrades was out cold in the shadows.

Not wasting a single second, 6 moved along the top of the container and silently dropped to the pavement beside a small building attached to the main facility. Misako translated the Japanese kanji on the wall and told 6 that the smaller part of the building was marked as the armory. 6 grinned at that welcome little development, and quietly opened the unlocked door. What he could was see a computer and a desk in the far corner, and a man dressed in black combat gear with a clipboard in his hands, apparently taking inventory of the ammunition.

Misako marked the guard and the computer. "There's an access terminal over there, on the desk. Yank me after you deal with the guard, 6. It's time we got some important intel on what we're dealing with." 6 silently acknowledged her, and crept up behind the guard, delivering a quick punch to the back of his skull. The guard tumbled to the ground and 6 sat him down on a chair to make look as if he had simply fallen asleep on break. With that done, he inserted Misako's data chip into an open slot on the side of the terminal's main unit.

"Well… that's interesting." Misako paused. "It didn't really click until now, but MBI is actually the parent company of Optican. MBI also runs a LARGE private network of medical aid and research stations they lease to the UNSC, like one in the inner colonies designated Angel On My Shoulder. All of that makes it one of the largest UNSC medical contractors in our time…" She explained to her partner.

"…Destabilizing the company could negatively impact the future." 6 finished.

"Unfortunately, yes. It's strange though, this terminal is connected to their network and I am going through it like there's no tomorrow, but it's compartmentalized…" Misako commented on the lack of data.

"What do you mean?" The spartan asked in confusion.

"I mean, there's a lot of details missing. Plus, I can't access the 21st century world wide web through this server, it's been disabled from allowing outgoing traffic access. Sure, there's some reliable background here that leads me to the right conclusions about the future, but there's no leadership data at all, or other technological information besides that they're looking at the Prowler here." The AI explained.

"You can't access it?" 6 tilted his head.

"What?! NO!" The AI snapped. "IF IT WAS HERE, I could get it as easily as snapping my fingers, but I just can't magically find what isn't here. I'm an advanced military AI, not an enchantress, as much as I wish I was one." She replied, grumbling the last bit.

"Focus." 6 ordered.

"I am focused. The point is, someone either moved the facility's previous research and logistical data to another site, or deleted them entirely from the facility's closed intranet. That's mighty suspicious if you ask me." Misako narrowed her eyes.

"Then just get me an internal layout of the facility and the prowler's location." 6 asked his AI companion.

"…Done, I'll upload it to your HUD when you plug me back in. And I've marked some escape routes in case this goes south." Misako snapped her fingers.

After that, the spartan raided the supply of weapons and ammunition, reloading his assault rifle magazine with 7.62 rounds from an ammunition crate. He would have to depend on it since the ammunition for his shotgun and magnum were significantly more difficult to acquire. Fully stocked on replenishable ammunition, 6 picked up 4 grenades from another crate, along with several pounds of C4, and discovered a suppressor on one of the shelves. Misako analyzed the attachment for compatibility and gave her partner the green light for use on the assault rifle. 6 stored the suppressor in his tactical hardcase for later and made his way out of the armory.

-SEVERAL MINUTES LATER-

From there on, 6 made his way through the halls of the inner facility with several close calls along the way. As the duo proceeded deeper into the complex, the spartan could feel his gut telling him something was off, even with the tighter security and heavily armed patrols. Misako simply chalked it up as par for the course when it came to mega corporations with a new piece of technology. Eventually arrived at a large steel hangar door that was marked TOP SECRET in large white letters and covered in red security lights.

"This is it 6. The prowler should be right on the other side." Misako said as the stopped in front of the door. "There should be an access panel to right where you can splice me in." she marked the access point on his HUD and he ripped the panel from the wall with his power-armored glove. 6 yanked the AI chip from his helmet once again and spliced the wires into the data chip. A moment later, the metal door flashed green and began to slowly grind their way open.

After returning the AI to her place his helmet 6 took a breath and unholstered his weapon. "I probably don't need to say this but, be ready for what's on the other side." Misako advised her partner. 6 didn't reply, simply stepping through the open door and into the large storage hangar.

The lights slowly began to turn on panel by panel revealing piles of crates and tools along with high tech machinery that would be associated with aircraft repair and assembly. 6 stopped when he arrived at an empty landing pad and a large diagnostic screen that showed a 3D blueprint image of the advanced spacecraft. Suddenly the image of the swapped to a smaller corner image on the screen and the MBI logo took its original place. A loud trumpet sound began to play from the jumbo screen's speakers and WELCOME TO EARTH appeared above the downsized MBI logo.

The welcome screen then disappeared from view and a live camera feed from a lavish office came onto the screen. Sitting on a very comfy looking chair was a man with wild white hair, reflective glasses and a white coat that resembled a cape. "Greetings, I've been expecting you to arrive in search of your vessel. Oh, it's so wonderful to meet a visitor to my fair city, from the infinite sea beyond this world no less!" The man said loudly with a manic grin on his face.

"Who the heck is this loudmouth?" Misako asked.

'That's what I'd like to know.' The spartan thought to himself.

"Ah, but where are my manners? If you are not aware already, I am Hiroto Minaka, Brilliant genius and CEO of the powerful umbrella corporation: Mid Bio Informatics! But you can just call it MBI for short." The manic genius said in a bombastic manner.

6 remained silent at the scientist's bombastic greeting, wearing a deadpan expression beneath his visor.

"I see are not really one for words. No matter, I at least know you can most likely understand my language since your ship has all kinds of markings in English. So how are you finding your visit so far?" Minaka attempted to be cordial with the visitor.

"Want to answer him?" Misako asked her partner. 6 cleared his throat in reply, and the activated the translator functions for his helmet's audio system.

"Where is the ship?" 6 demanded.

"Oh, so you can speak my language, excellent! As for your spacecraft, I'm afraid I simply cannot return it. There is so much to learn from it, and it is an opportunity that is too wonderful to pass up!" Minaka replied.

"Theft of military property is a capital offense. By the authority of the-" 6 growled to the man on the screen.

"Oh, I'm afraid not. You see, I have learned quite a few things from the ongoing process of studying the vessel you arrived on…" The mad genius said with a sinister tone.

"I don't like where this is going big guy..." Misako muttered in a concerned tone.

"Thanks to the damage done to your ship's computer I was able to learn a great deal about the future, and I must say, it's such a wonderfully fascinating place!" Minaka shouted with joy, leaning closer to the camera. "So many interesting topics to choose from, with historical data being incredibly tantalizing! I still have yet to crack the encryption on the more secured files stored within the databanks, but with enough time I will have that information. "

"Siiix..." Misako tried to get the Spartan's attention.

The spartan tightened his grip on the assault rifle as he waited for Minaka's next words.

"And the ship's manifest happened to mention an advanced AI as well. It is very fortuitous that I had prepared for an entity of a similar caliber, otherwise my staff never would have detected her presence. I admit, your infiltration was quite skillful, certainly on par with modern spymasters. But you still followed the bread crumbs I carefully left for you to follow along the way, and you played into this perfectly." Minaka leaned back in his chair.

"This guy's dangerous, all that information is behind a Firewall made by ONI! N-nothing should be able to break it!" The AI stuttered in shock.

"How did you-?" 6 started to say.

Minaka waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, it's as I said, the damage to the ship's main computer was very fortunate. I admit, it would have taken years to crack that encryption even with my level of technology, of course that is by traditional methods. I have ways of expediting the process though. Of course, you forgot to log out as well, Spartan Noble 6."

"6 I'm reading several contacts, they're holding position. But I guess that's just the rest of the welcoming committee. We need to exfil now!" Misako shouted frantically.

"Oh, don't worry, before this gets messy... I actually have a proposition for you." The mad genius said in a calmer tone.

That got 6's attention. "I'm listening..."

"Excellent! It's quite simple, seeing as how you are currently unemployed, how about a job opportunity? We at MBI pride ourselves on hiring some of the best out of work SDF veterans. But wait, there's more...!" Minak rejoiced, sounding like an infomercial announcer.

"He's actually trying to hire us?" Misako deadpanned.

"Apparently." 6 grumbled.

"Do you want to hear the rest of my offer?" The CEO asked.

"Hmmm." The movement on his motion sensors continued pinging the locations of around several dozen MBI troops. So far it was nothing he couldn't handle from his perspective.

"You might want to hurry; the clock is ticking. If you have any intentions on resisting violently, it would be in your best interest not to. All you have to do is just hear me out, I can be quite reasonable about this." Minaka advised the spartan.

"Up to you 6, we can do non-lethal, their firearms aren't going to do much damage from this far back." Misako chirped.

"I'm still here." 6 replied to Minaka.

"Wait, I'm picking up additional contacts on the motion sensors... All the others are moving away from the new ones... in a hurry too." Misako alerted her partner.

"Oh good! Well, your benefits will consist of a wonderful suite in our main headquarters at Shin tower, along with a truly generous salary, and official documents for your citizenship. Another important stipulation will be three special assistants to help you perform your duties. From what I can tell just by looking at you, one of them will be very interested to meet you. In fact, they're on the way right now."

"6, the new contacts are right outside the-" Misako tried to alert the spartan, but there was a sudden explosion on the opposite side of the hangar. 6 slowly turned to see a large hole in the wall and three female silhouettes standing within it. "...Wall..."

"As I expected, your new assistants are right on schedule! Now it's time for the next part of your interview! It's ultimately your decision whether or not to fight, but if you survive, you'll be well on your way to being hired. Good luck!" Minaka said as he leaned back in his seat with a sly grin on his face.

The spartan quickly brought up his weapon and pointed it at the group of unknown women. One of them had red fighting gloves, a kimono-like shirt with one sleeve missing, and pink hair in a side ponytail with two daisy clips. She possessed a very athletic and not overly toned body. Another member of the three woman squad had a bandage-wrapped form, covered by a tattered dark kimono, coupled with disheveled grey hair, a studded choker around her neck, and narrow eyes. The third and final member, wore a grey haori with a strange crest on the left side of the chest, a tight black leather top, a miniskirt and stockings. Her facial features consisted of long light gray hair tied in a ponytail and gray narrow eyes. A long Japanese sword hung from her hip as she stood beside the other two strangers.

"Alright tin man, drop the toy and come with us!" The pink haired squaddie shouted at the 7 foot tall behemoth.

6 simply tightened his grip on the assault rifle, slowly squeezing the trigger.

"I think he's ignoring us." The bandage girl remarked.

"Hey asshole! Didn't you hear what I just said?!" Pinky screeched disrespectfully.

The spartan took his left hand off the fore end of the gun, and flipped her the bird, a gesture he'd seen marines and many of his targets perform.

"Oh, that is it! You're going to die!" Pinky shouted as she charged at the gunslinging future soldier. Before she could get in close, the man unloaded a burst of gunfire from his rifle. The pink haired fist fighter did her best to avoid being shot by the high volume of automatic gunfire. Her partner joined in on the assault to try and divide the shooter's attention.

Predictably, he focused his fire on the pink haired girl just as the slasher closed in on him. But she was extremely surprised when her target flipped out a knife from a sheath on his chest and countered her slash attack in a lightning fast display of speed. The magazine emptied on soldier's rifle, and the pink haired girl grinned when the weapon went click. With the weapon empty, she was free to get in close and rip that tin man to shreds.

"Alright tin man! Now you're going to get it!" She rushed towards her target to deliver a powerful hit upside the head, ready to knock his helmet clear off. Her opponent quickly holstered the empty weapon and swung the slasher girl over his shoulder for a powerful flying toss. Pinky dodged her flying partner and was just about to hit man of steel, only to be blocked by his quick reactions. Her opponent swiftly countered her attack and headbutted the pink haired girl, disorienting her. He then followed it up with a devasting one-inch punch to her stomach. Pinky dropped to her knees as the hit connected, setting up the soldier's next move perfectly.

The machine-like man then levied a brutal door kick to her face, sending the girl tumbling across the floor, even skidding on her face for a brief moment. He barely leaned the right as the slasher girl appeared behind him for a brutal slash. Slasher's attack managed to connect but a shimmering orange hue appeared as she did so. She leapt back and readied her claws for another round with the powerful man in armor. Her target casually rolled his shoulders in response, even briefly twirling the combat knife in his hand before taking a combat stance, and signaling for her to attack.

The slasher girl saw her partner in the corner of her eye, steam from her anger puffing from her ears. She smirked as pinky moved to the charge the spartan from behind. Thinking that the soldier was unaware of her strike, she dashed towards him once more. What really took her by surprise was his swift spin dodge that landed him behind her. A heavy jab struck her back, sending tumbling again and causing her a terrible amount of pain.

Slasher girl ran at the armored man, building up speed and quickly dashing from side to side as the soldier stood there in a calm manner. She gracefully leapt into the air and began a downward flurry of spinning slashes. In order to avoid being cut to ribbons, the soldier stepped back rapidly away from the blizzard of claws. When her attack ended, she briefly left a small window of opportunity for a counter attack.

The armored warrior did not waste the opening in her defense and charged forward, tackling her to the ground. A split second later, before she could react, he delivered a love tap to her face, knocking her out cold. He tilted his head up just as a heavy strike pounded the back of his helmet, flinging him off of the downed enemy combatant. A loud metallic screeching sound echoed throughout the room as the armor scraped against the floor with whoosh of sparks before grinding to halt. With a pained grunt, the soldier stood back up and turned to face the speedy brawler who'd punched him so hard.

"That's for Haihane, you bastard!" Pinky shouted as she stood over the unconscious body of her partner. She briefly turned her over to check on a strange on the beck of her neck, sighing with relief afterwards.

"*grunt* You caught me off guard that time… it's going to cost you." The armored warrior dusted himself off and cracked his neck. The same orange hue from Haihane's earlier attack coated the giant's form and turned blue before disappearing.

"I'll crush you!" The pink haired girl roared furiously and rushed forward. Her fists were blurred from the amount of swift punches sent at the armored warrior. Every jab she threw failed to connect though, angering her even more at how hard it was to hit the infuriating man. Her fatal mistake came as she attempted to throw a haymaker, allowing the large soldier to step inside her guard and deliver an open palm strike to her chest, stunning her. In another quick fluid motion, her opponent grabbed her by throat and hoisted pinky into the air.

"Is that all you've got?" He asked in a daring manner to the pink haired girl. "Because frankly, I'm not impressed."

The girl flailed about violently as the vice-like grip tightened around her throat. She desperately gasped for air and pounded the offending arm, forcing it to drop her to the floor like a rag doll. Pinky huffed and puffed rapidly to get air back in her lungs, but that left her too busy to dodge a swift final blow to the back of her head. In that split second, her entire world went pitch black. The girl's eyes went white as she collapsed to the floor in a battered unconscious heap.

A slow clap echoed from the direction of hole in the wall where the three women had entered the building. In response, the soldier turned his head to face the clapping individual. He could see a slight smirk on her face as she casually approached him.

"Bravo, I have got to say, that was certainly entertaining." The grey haired woman said in a calm tone.

"This is your only warning, get out of my way." 6 grunted as he turned to face her, towering over her slim form with his own 7 foot hulking frame. "I have no quarrel with you."

The grey haired woman shook her head. "That's not going to happen. Noble 6 was it? See, after the beating you gave those two weaklings, you've managed to get my attention. Very few have ever done that." She unsheathed the long blade and pointed it at the spartan. "Maybe you can actually give a me good fight."

"Oh this is going to end badly." Misako remarked.

-END CHAPTER-