[Original Post:

And now for a joke that made me giggle this morning. "There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Master Chief has allowed to live."

Now that I've wasted five seconds of your time, Good morning children! And welcome to chapter 4 of Halo 4: ARiT. Thank you for sending me the character requests, I actually think some of them would make great stories by themselves.

In this chapter, one of those characters makes an appearance. You'll know him when you… um… read him?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter 4!]

[Update 9/10/2014:

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another updated chapter! Not much to say right now, so let's jump right in!]

Jim's engine roared as he sped down the long winding road towards his apartment. His car was a blue 2004 Mustang. He had fixed it up by himself, and it ran like a well-oiled machine. He even put a chip in the motor to make it go faster and sound more badass. He was damn proud of it.

When he finally reached the complex, Jim gracefully pulled his car up into his parking space in front of his apartment. As he climbed out of his mustang he noticed his neighbor, Michael Freed, just getting back from his daily jogging routine. Michael was a 59 year old man with some fat in his core and arms of iron. Jim remembered when his hair used to be jet black, but it has since started to get gray streaks all throughout. Michael was a Major in the military and commanded respect from all who served under him.

Jim got out of his car, grabbed the box on the passenger seat, and locked the door behind him as he closed it. Michael looked in his direction, and Jim gave him a salute. Michael laughed and saluted him back. "Working off that pie Ms. Freed made you yesterday?" Jim asked, jokingly.

"Yeah! I'm starting my seafood diet today!" He replied, a big grin across his face.

Knowing he'd just been set up for a joke, Jim responded with: "Oh yeah? How's it work?"

"Whenever I see food, I eat it!" Michael laughed at his own joke, which in turn made Jim laugh. He was always a jokester, that Michael. Not only that, but a very good friend to Jim. Michael wiped some sweat from his brow and pointed at the box that Jim was carrying. "What's in the box? Porno mags?"

"Why, interested?" Jim joked. "Ten dollars each!"

"If my wife caught me with one of those, I'd be a dead man!" Michael joked. "I'll see you later Jimbo! I've got to get some paperwork done." He waved before walking into his apartment.

Jim had hoped that Michael would say that, since the box actually contained many machine and computer parts that he used for his… profession. Hackers across the planet didn't call him "The Ghost" for nothing. Since Cortana was using up almost all of his networks RAM, he needed to go out and pick up some more. A simple task for him, and he figured that the rest of his systems could use an upgrade while he was at it.

He walked into his apartment and went down into the basement with the box in tow. "Cortana I'm-" he stopped himself, hearing a voice from somewhere ahead. He rounded the corner and on the other end of the room he saw Cortana with her back facing him, looking at holographic videos of a massive man in a suit of green futuristic armor. The video she seemed to be focusing on was the armored man looking directly out of the screen at Cortana.

"Did you sleep well?" The voice of Cortana asked. She sounded a lot happier than Jim had ever heard her sound, which was odd because it was only a casual conversation.

"No thanks to your driving, yes." The armored man responded, looking directly at the screen.

"So you did miss me." Cortana's voice again. A picture popped up of a very large man in a Navel uniform sitting in a chair next to a small hologram of Cortana. Cortana seemed to be laughing while the large man had a small grin on his face. Jim made a mental note not to mess with him as the guy seemed to be gigantic.

In his daydreaming state, Jim almost dropped the box he was holding, causing all of the parts within to make a loud "CLANK" sound. All of the holograms turned off and Cortana quickly spun around to face Jim.

"I didn't know that… how long have you been standing there?" Cortana questioned, slightly embarrassed. How had she not detected his presence? Cortana noticed that a mischievous look had made its way onto Jim's face, a look that almost seemed evil. She didn't know what the look was for, but she didn't like it. "What? Got something to say?"

"Cortana, do you have a boyfriend?" Jim asked, attempting to poke fun at her. Cortana's body suddenly shifted to a pinkish red color and data streamed all along the length of it. She almost let out an audible gasp at this, which earned a raised eyebrow from Jim.

"W-what?! I don't… why would you..?!" Cortana stumbled over her words, struggling to find the right phrase. Jim's smug face suddenly got serious, a response Cortana was not expecting. Jim walked closer to her and set the box down on the ground in front of a nearby computer.

"But you do like him, right?" Jim asked, somewhat concerned. Cortana's body slowly faded back to its light blue, and she nodded. "Do you… you know?" Jim asked.

"Do I what?" Cortana questioned, her curiosity flaring. What could he possibly mean?

"Do you love him?" Jim asked the little AI, leaning against the table that her holotank stood on.

All of Cortana's processes slowed down to a halt at this question. Did she love John? Was she even capable of such a complex human emotion? She processed this question for ten full cycles, a time limit unheard of for a smart AI.

"I am an Artificial Intelligence." She finally said with a sigh. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it was true. How could she feel real love when she herself wasn't real? "I can't feel what a human can. I can't-"

"Don't feed me that bullshit." Jim interrupted, surprising Cortana. "An artificial heart still beats, doesn't it? It can still feel pain, just like a normal heart." Jim explained, his words freezing her. "What really makes humans human? It's not our thumbs, or our skin. It's our intelligence. You're too focused on the artificial part to realize that you're also intelligent like a human. You just have a unique body."

Cortana had never thought of things that way before. Could she really be… human?

"Jim…" Cortana started, trying to find words.

"I have no idea how you got in this time, or how to get you back for that matter. But I promise you that I will not rest until you're reunited with… that big armored guy." Jim said, regretting that he forgot the guy's name.

Cortana let a small smile show on her face as she looked up at the hacker. "Don't make a girl a promise… if you know you can't keep it."

"You insult me. I always keep my promises!" Jim stated with a cocky expression. He knew that, without his help, this AI didn't have a chance. Cortana didn't know why at the time, but Jim reminded her of John in some way. She couldn't quite put her finger on it…

"So… what do we do first?" Jim asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Data streamed quickly across Cortana's body as she formulated a plan. "I've got a plan, but it could be somewhat… difficult and… expensive to carry out."

Jim went over to a computer, opened one of his programs, and started typing. He hacked into multiple bank accounts and transferred one dollar from each account into his. The next step was to cover his tracks; He created a ghost account that trailed to London in the name of Bradley Loserby. That will really mess up a tracking program. He thought to himself.

"Well, it seems as if every person in America has just given me a generous donation of one dollar each. Which comes to a whopping $314,895,717." Jim gave Cortana a look that made her smirk. "I don't think money is going to be a problem. So where are we headed?"

"Africa." Cortana said with new confidence in her eyes. "We're going to Mombasa."

[Original Post:

Damn, things are starting to get real!

Anywhore, I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 4, and are looking forward to chapter 5!

Good Night Children!]

[Update 9/10/14:

Like I said before, some chapters will be updated more than others. This one didn't really require much tweaking since the content I would add is already present in other chapters.]