Halo: Of Wolves and Wagtails
Episode 4: Dance with death
A/N: Man this chapter was hard to write. I hope you guys like it, but I admit I'm not exactly satisfied with this one though, though it was the best I could do.
Originally posted on 6/25/2019
[Nemesis Astraea: He could've, but he has a good reason for his restraint.]
[ThatDrocker59: Thanks, I'm doing my best to make this entertaining.]
[Slim A Lou Prime: This is just round 1. :) ]
[Guest: Yeah, 'm certainly leaning that way.]
[Bloodclan: Have you reviewed one of my stories before?]
[Singpu: Thank you for noticing that, I have made a correction to that error.]
-MBI FACILITY-
6 felt time slow to a crawl as he took a deep breath, activating his spartan time ability. He barely managed to dodge a lightning fast sword strike from the grey-haired woman. The woman's sword grazed his energy shield, causing it to flare brightly from the powerful attack. In that brief span of time 6 brought up his fist and slammed it directly into her back. Due to her inhuman speed being coupled with her new forward momentum, the grey-haired woman was violently thrown forward. Recovering from the shock of her opponent's attack, she somersaulted in the air to gracefully land on her feet.
With calm air of confidence, 6 took a battle stance and unholstered his shotgun. The spartan narrowed his eyes and settled into a CQC stance, drawing his combat knife and holstered the guns. He flipped his hand over and gestured for her to attack him. In a swift flash of movement, the two of them clashed blades with each other, aloud clang echoing from their crossed weapons. 6 changed up his tactics and headbutted his opponent, knocking her back with a loud grunt of pain from the woman. Using his free hand, the spartan made a move to hit his attacker in the abdomen. A loud huff of air and spit left the assassin's mouth as she bent forward in shock. The spartan followed up with a devasting blow from his elbow to the back of her skull that knocked her to the floor.
Time slowed for Karasuba as she fell to the ground. She, the infamous Black Sekirei, was getting a beating from this lower creature, a human from another time. Her thoughts were a mix of both shock and excitement, a human capable of fighting her one on one had aroused her sense of bloodlust more than ever before. She barely recovered from the shock and managed to get a hand under herself to break the fall. She rolled out of the way as the behemoth's boot stomped the ground and cracked the facility's concrete floor.
The black sekirei got to her feet and skillfully twirled her nodachi sword in her hands. She then dashed at the spartan again, slashing rapidly at where he stood. Quick dodges and sidesteps were blurred from the sheer speed of the movements both combatants displayed. Karasuba's blade strikes kept hitting air or grazing the armored man's energy shield, which served to frustrate her quite a bit.
6, now on the back foot, continued to dodge slash after slash from his opponent. He braced himself as the blade grazed his armor, the energy flaring again before dissipating and entering recharge mode. Sparks briefly flashed as the sword's razor-sharp blade skirted across the left ODST shoulder plate.
"Don't tell me this is all you can do!" Karasuba shouted at the spartan as she hacked away at the nimble warfighter from the future.
Meanwhile the AI was busy gathering and compiling data on the extremely powerful killer her partner was facing. If she failed to come up with a solution, it would mean the end for them both. "6, I think I've got a pattern nailed down! DODGE LEFT NOW AND COUNTER!" Misako shouted at her partner. The spartan heeded his partner's advice ducked left and under Karasuba's blade. He followed through with a devastating counter punch to the sword fighter's jaw. The powerful blow sent her reeling backwards in pain, a bit of blood dripping from her lip.
She stared at the small giant with a vicious look in her eyes and a snarl on her face. Shifting her jaw around slightly, she felt a tooth jostling loose in her mouth and just spit it out nonchalantly. "You made me bleed..." Karasuba hissed with a mad grin gracing her lips, licking the blood drops from her lower lip. "Now that's actually going to cost you." The black sekirei leveled her sword at the spartan in a ready position for battle. 6 rolled his shoulders and prepared himself for what was to come. He twirled his knife in his hands, he went into his CQB stance again to stand his ground.
With a quick blur of speed, Karasuba dashed towards him, intent on carving the spartan in half. 6 was barely able to dodge the lethal sword strike in time, the blade grazed the tip of his visor. In an effort to retaliate, 6 raised a leg and kicked his opponent to the side. Having achieved a leg up on his adversary, 6 began trading attacks hit for hit with his opponent.
To an outside observer, the battle would seem almost like a mating dance of death as both fighters attempted to strike each other down with a graceful style to back and forth beatdown. But neither side had made significant progress in scoring a decisive victory each other. For every punch the spartan landed, the nimble assassin landed another slash across the MK. V Mjolnir ODST armor. Strike after strike, sparks constantly flashed from the combatant's blades as the two pieces repeatedly met. 6 was putting significant into fighting Karasuba, just short of lethal attacks, determined to claim victory so he could perform a tactical retreat. The black sekirei had other plans in mind, she was actually enjoying being pushed to her limits by this one human. It had been so long since someone had managed to entertain her with a fight this prolonged, and she embraced the conflict.
The chaos of the fight soon engulfed the entirety of the room, with 6 using containers and machines as cover, only for Karasuba to hack them to bits. In their struggle of wills, both fighters had proven to be determined in conquering the other, and yet the fight seemed to reach a deadlock. Both of them continued to match each other in sheer power, despite the Spartan's use of a simple tactical knife. 6 could feel it though, his blade was never meant for this kind of strain. The combat knife slowly began to bend and crack from the constant beating it suffered as Karasuba hammered her sword down on smaller blade.
"As long as I keep that fancy barrier of yours from coming back up, I can cut you to pieces!" Karasuba shouted viciously at her opponent as both of the locked horns with each other.
"Good luck with that." 6 retorted as he attempted to force the sekirei back.
"Who said anything about luck?" The black sekirei said confidently she and 6 broke off blade contact and jumped backwards. Within the span of seconds, both of them sped towards each other for another round of highspeed clashes. In a bid to mix things up, 6 drew his pistol and fired a round at the black sekirei. But it only proved to be a waste of ammunition as she dodged the magnum round with ease thanks to her sheer amount of speed.
6 had to admit, his adversary's capabilities were proving to be quite the challenge. Guns had become unreliable against the grey-haired assassin, unless used for quick diversionary and counter strikes. The tactical knife was beginning to really wear down, and his arsenal of tactics was thinning by the moment. Fleeing was not an option given the fact that she seemed fiercely intent to engage and destroy him. He had at least one emergency flashbang, but its use would probably be vain as she would most likely track him down even if he were to temporarily escape. Misako though, continued to try pitching him tactical options and feedback on how to keep up with her at least.
Karasuba on the other hand, hadn't felt so alive in years. Whatever the reasoning behind it seemed to be for the moment, she was enjoying the battle for all it was worth. Fighting a worthy opponent like the spartan was not an opportunity she wanted to waste in the slightest. Deep down though, somewhere within her twisted psyche, a small pulse began to beat, and her body steadily began to heat up as the fight dragged out.
Neither side of the of the fight was ready to back down though, and their resolve to win remained strong.
The black sekirei smirked as the both of them finished with their latest clash of blades. "I have to admit; you're actually making this interesting." She said as her cheeks began to heat up to a rosy red and sweat beads ran down her forehead. "But you look like you're feeling tired." Karasuba remarked to spartan.
"I can do this do this all night." 6 replied stoically. His body language spoke otherwise though, from his tensed stance and deep breaths.
"Let's put that to the test then!" Karasuba shouted as she practically flew towards her opponent. 6 brought up the knife to counter her strike once again, but the knife finally gave out and the blade violently shattered in half. Time slowed to a crawl as the spartan leaned backwards to avoid having his head sliced in half by Karasuba's sword. Seeing an opportunity to catch her target off guard, the swordswoman followed up her slash with a low kick that swept 6's legs out from under him. He hit the ground with a loud clank as his armor smacked against the concrete. The black sekirei stabbed downwards to try impaling the spartan, but 6 managed to recover and whipped himself around to knock her down. Seeing her own tactic about to be used against her, Karasuba made a quick hop over the kick. Back on his feet again, the spartan took a defensive stance and signaled for the swordswoman to come after him.
"Did you really have to say you could do this all night? Not to say I doubt you, but the numbers aren't in our favor ya know. We can't keep this up forever." Misako said out of concern for their safety, even going as to far to bring up a small graph on the side of the Spartan's HUD.
"We can't run either." 6 replied, his resolve unshaken by the odds stacked against him and his partner.
"So, our only choice is hold her off until we run out of tricks?! You have a grenade, now would be a good time to use it!" Misako snapped at the spartan.
"It's our only flashbang, the rest are back onboard the Brimstone." 6 retorted coolly to her outburst.
"Doesn't mean you have to be so stingy with it! We blind her and then we get out of here, couldn't be simpler for a getaway plan!" Misako told him frantically.
"If we try to run, we won't get very far at all. Besides, if it's one thing I've learned from my experience… patience can be my greatest asset." The spartan would not budge an inch on the issue.
"You just can't stop playing it cool, can you?" Misako relented and sighed in defeat with a smile on her avatar's face.
As they talked, an impatient Karasuba tapped her custom leather boot against the floor and looked at her wrist, pretending as if she had a watch. After another moment of irritating silence, the black sekirei had decided to break the ice. "What's with the silent treatment, too scared to come at me?" She said with a slight purr in her voice.
6 calmly shook his head as if to silently say 'No'.
"Ah well, it looks like this little dance of ours is almost over anyway since you won't last much longer without your little knife, and that's just too bad. I was actually enjoying this." Karasuba shook her head in disappointment and then began to smile triumphantly. "Heh, I admit you almost fought me pretty evenly, but the difference between us is that you're a pathetic worm like all the rest of your kind. Just another foolish-" She said in a condescending tone but was then interrupted by the spartan.
"You're wrong. You believe you're a weapon, a bringer of destruction, I know I am. The difference between you and me... is that I was built for this." The spartan replied in a determined tone as he tossed his flashbang.
"Gaagh my eyes!" Karasuba screeched in pain and shielded her eyes from the bright flash. She moved her hand away from her face just in time to see the spartan rushing towards her with fist aimed directly at her face. The Spartan's heavy metal fist collided with her face, and the grey-haired psycho raised her blade up to his visor, causing the handle to smack against the reinforced glass. Her blade created a deep gash in the titanium chest plate as she flew backwards, even carving a long scratch along the side of visor while 6 turned his head away to avoid getting his throat cut. Karasuba tumbled across the floor for a brief moment and managed a recovery just in time to skid to halt with her feet under her. An idea then crossed her mind and she grinned sadistically in response. With a loud cry of anger, she charged the spartan once more and threw her sword at his helmet. On instinct 6 caught the blade with his hands right before Karasuba delivered a punishing axe kick to his neck.
6 slid to the side with an ear-piercing screech from his armor grinding against the floor. He careened into the side of a steel cargo container, having formed a large dent upon impact. The shield delay timer still beeped its alarm tone from the amount of time 6 needed to wait before recharge. After taking a deep breath to steady himself, the spartan flexed his muscles and tried to get to his feet once more.
"6! Your shoulder-!" Misako shouted as she brought up a small diagram the Spartan's biocom data.
"It's dislocated, I know." He groaned in pain as he stood back up. 6 coolly rolled his good shoulder and unholstered the M6 pistol from his hip.
Karasuba, having picked up her sword, slowly approached the wounded super soldier with a twisted yet oddly calm smile on her face. Her now battered appearance seemed to give off the aura of a hungry predator that was closing in on its prey for the kill. She stooped a few feet in front of the armored warrior and looked him dead in the eye, or at least where she guessed his eyes were. 6 pointed the gun at her, his trigger finger ready to squeeze the instant his opponent attempted another hostile move.
-SHIN TOWER-
"This is absolutely marvelous!" Minaka munched on a bag of popcorn, his eyes glued to the screen by the display of combat prowess displayed by the spartan as he faced off Karasuba, one of the most lethal of all the Sekirei.
"You do realize that if he actually survives, what's to stop him from simply coming after us?! Especially if he can actually take on the disciplinary squad, including Karasuba?! That alone screams the fact that he's capable of killing everything that moves if he can actually fight her evenly!" Takami shouted in surreal horror at the thought of someone, besides number 1, who was capable of plowing through MBI's forces to get whatever they want without breaking a sweat, including revenge.
"My dear Takami-chan! You forget that we have leverage because of his ship! Oh, I simply have to see what made a human so capable of fighting a sekirei like number 4 so evenly! Is it the armor, or something much more?!" He shouted to the no one in particular as he watched the fight rage on until the fighting had finally halted.
The mad genius though began to grow bored though, since both of them had yet to make a move since the battle had stopped. He tapped a finger to his chin in thought about what to do in order to finally break the stalemate. A devilish smile crossed his lips when the idea struck his mind, and he reached for a remote on the table as well as his phone.
He brought a phone to his ear and began to speak. "Commander, I have new orders for you…."
-BACK WITH THE SPARTAN AND SEKIREI-
"Make a move… handsome." Karasuba chuckled as she eyed the spartan with a predatory gaze.
"You first." 6 said with stone cold resolve.
At that moment a still functional screen activated and Minaka's face flickered into view. "If I may have your attention!" He said excitedly.
"Can't you see we're busy?" Karasuba hissed at the wily scientist.
"Ara, how rude of you, number 4. No matter, I must certainly congratulate the spartan on his wonderful exhibition! It has certainly been spectacular to watch! But I do grow bored, so I have decided to add some more fuel to the fire, think of it as another checkbox for this interview!" Minaka said as he leaned forward in anticipation and pressed a button on the remote in his hands.
"6, he's going to bomb the building! GET MOVING NOW!" Misako shouted at her partner.
Suddenly a series of intense explosions engulfed the surrounding area in a ball of hellfire. Another loud bang signaled the firing of a tank's gun, an explosive round from its gun flew into the room shortly after. The blast sent both fighters soaring away from each other, into the flames and thick black smoke surrounding them.
6 blinked a few times while Misako's voice rang in his ears. "Get up!" Can you hear me?! Get up! We have to evac now!" She shouted at him desperately.
The dazed spartan slowly stood back up, a loud ringing in his ears drowned out the AI's voice. He slowly looked over at the two unconscious girls that he'd beaten a short time ago. Running on auto pilot, 6 dashed over to them through the flames and hoisted the girls over his shoulders.
"What are you doing?!" Misako exclaimed in confusion at the Spartan's actions.
"I'm not leaving them to die like this, and we need information."6 replied coolly.
"Fine, I've mapped out a route to the exit! Just follow the waypoint, I'll keep updating your HUD as we go!" Misako groaned and set a waypoint for 6 to follow through the crumbling warehouse.
A steel beam fell from the roof behind them, crashing onto the floor with more flaming debris. 6, with the added weight of the two women he was carrying, ran along Misako's path as fast his legs would carry him. Flames raged through the halls, alarms blaring loudly in response to the blazing hot hellfire. The spartan ran for several minutes until he reached a T-junction that was blocked by more burning debris. He glanced around the area and spotted a crumbling wall a few feet away and sprinted towards it. 6 then kicked in the wall and jumped through the fire, careful to avoid harming either of the two girls on his shoulders.
The spartan charged past piles of flaming wreckage and weaved through the burning halls, desperate to escape a grisly fate. He skidded around a corner, only to run into a pile of burning wood and metal blocking the hall. Misako then alerted her partner to an emergency fire axe on the wall. 6 smashed his fist against the glass and ripped the axe from its case. With his new tool in hand, the spartan began hacking through the debris with relative ease thanks to his augmented strength. With the debris cleared away, he sprinted into the halls once again, determined to reach a nearby emergency exit that Misako had marked.
Suddenly, a sealed door to a large storage room flung open from the intense heat surrounding it and a huge burst of flames began to chase after the fleeing spartan. 6 looked back on instinct as the flames surged towards him like a ravenous demon. With another huff of effort, he poured on the speed to reach the safety of the research building's exterior. After at least a minute of sprinting for dear life, 6 spotted the exit door that lead out into freight yard. He threw the axe at the door and the exit swung open with a loud crash. The spartan slid out from the burning hall and into the open-air jut as the doorway collapsed and the blast of fire erupted behind him into a large pillar of black smoke.
6 exhaled as he laid on his back with the two girls on top of him, both of them still unconscious from the fight.
"Any more excitement and I might blow a fuse." Misako said in a tired tone.
"I've had worse." 6 nonchalantly spoke as he stood back up. "Any secure locations nearby?"
"Already on it, and we might want to do something about the tracking chips in their necks. I have a little trick if you're interested, and you might want to do it quick, MBI security teams and first responders will be on us pretty soon. And if you're wondering about our little friend, miss slice n dice, security footage that I picked up from working cameras shows her getting out on the other side of the facility." Misako said as she brought up a few images on 6's HUD.
"In other words, we don't have long… I'm all ears." The spartan coolly replied.
Misako displayed a diagram for 6 to follow. "Place your hands on the back of their necks, I'm going to use your shield generator to create a small EMP, kind of like when you lock your armor. They'll get an unpleasant little zap, but it should keep them down if you were thinking otherwise."
The spartan did as she said and felt the two of them shiver as his palms touched their necks, right on top of some strange yin and yang tattoos. "Command, execute." 6 said firmly. A small jolt then coursed through the two girls' bodies. They twitched slightly from the shock but remained unconscious, although their breathing became heavier and their faces blushed as if they had a fever.
"Done. Now let's book it!" Misako chirped.
The spartan hefted the girls on his shoulders and took a running stance. "Already gone." 6 grunted as he sprinted off into the night.
-SEVERAL MINUTES EARLIER-
Karasuba felt the heat of the fires burning around her, as if she had gone to hell. With a slight cough she hauled herself to her feet and braced her face against the intense heat. She grabbed at the handle of her sword with her free hand and cut a path through the flames by slashing through a solid steel beam. The pillar collapsed to the ground and allowed her to sprint across to the wall where the shot had come from. The hole in wall proved to be more than large enough for her to casually walk out of the burning building.
Minaka would pay for that, after all that time spent doing her work for MBI she had finally found another worthy challenge, and perhaps… a worthy choice out of all the worthless apes on the insufferable planet, and the nutty professor had interrupted it. Not only that, but he intentionally set the building on fire while she was inside it. Deactivation be damned, that maniac had almost killed her with that stunt and perhaps deprived her of the only possible ashikabi she'd ever desired. She swore to herself she'd gut him alive if he even suggested that empty weakling Natsuo to be her leash holder now.
If she had not come across the soldier, then perhaps she would have accepted attaching herself to that lowly worm, since he would care nothing for her and it would give her more power to use as she saw fit. But that was an issue for later, now was the time for hunting. From how hot and bothered she was feeling, the spartan had to still be alive and if so, it would be so delicious to bring him to his knees and force him to submit at her feet.
Her thoughts were then interrupted by a call from her employer.
Karasuba retrieved the phone from her pocket and answered. "I assume you have an explanation for what happened." Killing intent laced the words of her unamused voice.
"It was as I said number 4, I wanted to add more fuel to the fire. Besides, I knew you would survive." Minaka replied.
"He was mine; I was so close... I should eviscerate you." She hissed.
"Now, now, there's no need to be so hasty, number 4. You'll have a chance to find him, considering the fact that he escaped with Benitusbasa and Haihane, and destroyed their tracking chips. We simply can't have them revealing what they know to someone who is not 'officially' a part of the sekirei plan yet." The mad genius baited the angry vulture.
"Is that so?" Karasuba said in a deceptively calm tone.
"It is, now go ahead and do what you must to recover them, alive. I realize that may be difficult given your skillset, but I do know you'll enjoy the challenge of the hunt. Consider if you will, the powerful trophy you stand to gain if you are completely successful in your mission." The mad genius buttered her up a bit more.
"Fine." Karasuba replied.
"One last thing I should add, he was heading north before the connection was cut. So, it would be best that you locate and intercept him quickly, before he enters the forbidden zone. Good luck!" Minaka provided his deadliest agent with some useful information before he ended the call.
'He's lucky I already decided to find him myself.' The black sekirei thought to herself as she put the phone away and smiled devilishly at the night sky. "I'll find you Spartan, and you will be mine. Nothing is going to stop me, not even number one if she gets in my way." She chuckled darkly.
-LATER: CITY UNDERGOUND-
Benitsubasa blinked her eyes wearily, a massive headache made itself known as she stirred from her sleep. She slowly became more aware of her situation, and the steel pipes and heavy metal chains that had been bent and looped into makeshift restraints around her arms and legs. She turned her head to the side and saw Haihane restrained in a similar manner, but still fast asleep from her being knocked out earlier. The pinkette attempted to shout to her partner, but her screams never left her mouth since it had been gagged with duct tape. Burning with anger, Benitsubasa thrashed around violently in an effort to free herself and destroy whoever had done this to her. She still had yet to notice the figure standing quietly in the shadows of a nearby corner of the dimly lit maintenance area. For several minutes the pink haired fist fighter struggled to break the meticulously assembled, yet still very crude, restraints that kept her tied down.
Once she ran out of steam, Benitsubasa huffed grumpily in defeat and resigned herself to lay on the floor. It wasn't ideal, but there wasn't much she could do to break free even with her inhuman strength. Though it didn't stop her from letting out a slew of inaudible cuss words that were muffled by the duct tape covering her mouth. A certain advanced cyber being couldn't help giggling at the display from within the confines of her partner's helmet.
Of course, this made 6 roll his eyes.
"Look at her squirming around!" Misako giggled cheekily.
"You and I have a very different taste in humor right now." The spartan grumbled dryly.
Misako snorted at that response. "Typical spartan, always a stick in the mud. Still you're better at being funny than the last one."
6 decided not to dignify that with a response.
"Although I do guess it is time that we got to work." Misako relented in her dark humor.
"Agreed." 6 said as he began to emerge from the shadows.
Benitsubasa froze in place when she heard the heavy foot falls from the future soldier's armor getting louder as the man approached. She rolled onto her back and glared him in eye, or rather where his eyes would be if she could see them. The imposing stature of the 7-foot-tall giant seemed to only have a marginal psychological effect on writhing pink haired girl. He slowly reached down and without any warning, ripped the tape from the girl's mouth.
"Gah, what the fuck?!" Benitsubasa cursed. "Mmph!"
"Quiet." 6 clamped his index finger and thumb over the girl's lips, pinching them shut. "I have questions, and you're going to answer." He ordered to the foul mouthed pinkette. Benitsubassa only narrowed her eyes at her captor, if looks could kill, 6 would be a mashed tin can.
"Mmmph, MMMMPHH MMMPH!" Benitsubasa simply made more inaudible swears.
The spartan returned her anger with indifference, he'd done similar things to this in the past and she wasn't the first uncooperative individual he'd interrogated. But that did not mean he required cruel methods, like those used by ONI's more specialized interrogators, to achieve his desired goal for this discussion. If he got her to stop cursing, eventually she'd run out of steam and 6 could rile her up even more again and again until she would give him answers unintentionally. The spartan was patient enough and he had all night to wait until the fiery girl fist fighter stopped her cursing. Failing that, starvation was another less cruel alternative in his arsenal for getting the girl to play ball and she had a partner who seemed like the more reasonable one.
6 calmly waited until she stopped to take a deep breath. "Finished?" He asked after removing his fingers from her lips.
"Fuck you, when I get out of this-!" She responded rudely. 6 quickly slapped the tape back onto her mouth again.
It was going to be a long night with very little solace for both parties.
-END CHAPTER-
