DISCLAIMER: I don't possess legal rights to either Halo or RWBY.
CHAPTER IV: Alliances and flames
"To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved."
-George MacDonald
-12 WEEKS LATER-
Tuesday November 27th, 2526 [MILITARY STANDARD TIME/ 11.27]
John kept a steady grip of the warthogs inflexible steering wheel as he guided himself down the empty roads of Vale's supposed populated districts. As he made a turn to the left he let his gaze capture the sights of the noir streets. The engines sped loudly and the lights gleamed over the windshield as he passed under them in the cold roads.
Many words could describe the time period happening over the past 84 days, but what could have clearly illustrated the last couple of weeks were...Eventful in a way.
John was promoted to Petty Officer 2nd class for his heroism. Shown when saving the platoon of marines and he had gained 2 metals.
Of course, John didn't just do absolutely nothing these last few months but had been taking on various new combat training engagements. After that near loss on the train cars, John wanted to try and advance his combat training to using deadlier methods for quick disabling and grappling. Overall though, his main focus was delivering faster strikes when he didn't have a weapon since that girl was practically untouchable.
He would make sure that the next time he threw a punch at her, it would be a kill strike.
Returning back to what occurred earlier, the military lead by Ironwood was skeptical at first of the UNSC barracks about 3 miles away from one of their home bases, but after heated discussions with ONI that lasted for several hours, trust was beginning to form between them slowly but surely... Or so everyone thought...
When the UNSC had made it's presence known on the planet (or announced on the news) simply named REMNANT it had caused a near cataclysmic uproar in the news for days upon days like there was no tomorrow. At first this was thought to be some sort of joke by social media, and to aggravate the claims there were even multiple people posing as exaggerated versions of "extraterrestrials".
Lets just clarify once the UNSC's warships began to appear more and more over Vale like a swarm, people weren't laughing anymore and soon realized everything was undoubtedly real.
After General Ironwood witnessed the amount of firepower Preston Cole was handling, he automatically knew he was outgunned. Although while Preston was apprehensive at a meeting at first, he remembered and couldn't forget that Margaret from whom he contacted earlier about the discovery was ordered to automatically begin negotiations with the planet's leaders.
The 4 kingdoms were highly skeptical at first when learning of the newest revelation of life beyond the stars, but the Intelligent life of course was anything but ordinary. Newspaper frolicked off the printers with titles ranging from ALIENS FROM SPACE, to THERE REALLY IS SUCH THINGS AS "ALIENS". But this was a rather bad idea since a majority of the public who read the newspapers rather "vivid story" became slightly convinced at the colorful reports that widespread hysteria seemed to appear. The news stations were no better either.
In fact, when the UNSC ships began to appear in the cloudy skies above Vale, some skilled animators tried creating movies off of it and selling it to the public depicting catastrophic scenes of world domination and other franchise ideas to make them based upon true future events.
These statements were however proven to be false when the correct abbreviation was released to the public by general James Ironwood, head of both Remnants military and one of Atlas' most reputable academies of military cadets that he had run for over 20 years. When he had come forward with the actual story of human beings the stories quickly changed to MEN FROM THE STARS and seized the attention of the 4 kingdoms representatives as fast as lightning. At first talks of meeting face to face were held off when Preston began discussing of the covenant. Now he had no intention of spreading panic or breaching protocol, but he had a feeling Vale had to know
At first talks of meeting face to face were held off when Preston began discussing of the covenant. Now he had no intention of spreading panic or breaching protocol, but he had a feeling Vale had to know what they were trying to fight and win against. He didn't exactly say who specifically they were fighting but told them they were in a long battle over one of their own planets.
The 4 groups of representatives wanted more info on who they were speaking of, but Preston knew that some asshole inside the room with them would hear something, spread it like a wildfire, and make a mockery of the UNSC. So for the welfare of everyone trying to coexist, he claimed he didn't have the proper authority to acknowledge their statement.
They respected that but would not let the subject go until they were given a larger brief in the future, and Cole hoped that he wasn't the one to give out the news.
For 2 days after the "GHASTLY DECIMATION" that took place in one of Vital's thickest forests, vice admiral Preston Cole spoke to the planets governing councils through linking the ships main communication relays and began to run a full explanation of who he was, who he worked for and what his intentions were. While most of the conversations took part onboard the ships, there were discussions of a face to face and meeting the leaders of Remnant.
After about 4 days of speaking, another supporting fleet of UNSC warships came into Remnant's atmosphere and would take over Preston's watch from there, and this was the green light for the original fleet to set a course back toward harvest.
Speaking of the forests, it had also occurred that the red-haired man who John had abandoned was in fact located in the planets crime databases (which didn't surprise John that much) and his name was Adam Taurus.
When John had filed a report on what he saw with his eyes, and what his helmet recorded, he was called in to identify the pictures, and after he did he was notified the man was a very deadly assassin.
The man was a convicted criminal with a track record as long as the eye could see from murder, arson, theft, grand theft auto, assault, larceny, fraud, and many more that John was surprised he could live for this long. It seemed the older he got the more severe his crimes became because after he committed his first murder at the age of 14, it went up into the dozens. Nearly touching a hundred even...
John's exact confirmed kill count of human beings was around 23.
Confirmed that is. Although it could be more than doubled but he never kept track from it. He deemed it being unnecessary to keep track since he would spend his life defending, and that involved killing. This was the price from fighting the Insurrectionists when capturing Colonel Robert Watts at his apartment, to the three ODST's he murdered on the UNSC Atlas when they challenged him to a boxing match hoping to kill him. When he had entered the ring that day he expected nothing more than a rough brawl between him and the ODST's. But John's mind didn't anticipate all four of them ganging up on him and to employ the use of weapons, such as an iron bar.
John didn't know he killed three of the Helljumpers that day and castrated one of them, but had a feeling afterwards that he wouldn't be seeing them ever again on the front lines. The thoughts and looks he got the following days after the incident played over and over again in his mind, making him feel quite guilty for long periods of time while making him feet detest at the ODST's who tried to kill him over one measly mistake in the gym concerning a pin connected to the workout equipment that fell.
John did try to apologize earnestly, but the ODST's who were famous for their violence wanted to solve the problem the only way they knew how, and that was with even more violence of course. It seemed that whenever a distraction or a single difficulty got into the mix with "Helljumpers", physical violence could have that problem solved in no time.
Did he enjoy killing people? Never.
Did it have to be done? Yes. Considering some of his men's lives were on the line during specific missions and he was left no choice but to pull the trigger.
But that was the past though, and this was now.
If John remembered the exact feeling he had when receiving new orders to bodyguard Admiral Michael Stanforth, head of ONI's section III division which dealt with top notch secrets, he would say that he didn't want to but was rather forced to.
The bodyguard duty was mainly John escorting Michael from the ship down to a few of Remnant's main offices and back. There were no incidents and anyone who had ventured too close were usually rather intimidated by the Spartan-II.
After the a few days of waiting for his armor to be repaired which took time due to it being punctured in several places, John was called by the ship's captain to speak with the chairmen head of ONI and four star admiral Ysionris Jeromi.
They had decided to leave one of earth's bases on New Mombassa and decided to visit the world. When they arrived at the orbital station sent to Remnant, the UNSC KRONOS, he was called upon by Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, and he was immediately asked about the two unknown people who attacked him...
They asked simple questions to "what were they doing", "did they seem visibly threatened at first", or "Can you specify their weapons." After explaining as much as he could remember the two were put on the UNSC's blacklist for being under suspicion. Adam was automatically listed but nothing could be found on the raven haired girl alongside him. Lastly, he was then questioned about the animals that attacked him and had eaten a few marines...
The Grimm as they were called. Beings of darkness. Monsters of despair. Creatures of Destruction. These were the following names given to the bloodthirsty beasts on Remnant and John knew firsthand at what they were capable of. He learned that these things were composed of negative energy or negative emotions in general. Anxiety, hate, depression, fear. This explained why they struck the marines the hardest, because when one became scared they all did at the same time. It's strange but he somehow he knew there would be some odd life on this worlds, he just never expected it to be so aggressive. While John had learned what they were from a few of the soldiers he had spoken to this world, ONI had become interested and wanted to know about them from him. John knew that the cities were safe with the military guarding them... But felt as if he were at war now with another race.
John answered all of their questions with as much memory and experience from the whole thing, the clawing, biting, stomping, roaring, strenght, anything.
He made sure that he would return the amount of pain they caused the marines they killed right back.
After the UNSC made their existence official they quickly began learning of the planet's history, landscape, creatures. Most specifically the humans and other race known simply as Faunus. When a few scientist heard of hybrid human/animals that werent apeshit crazy like the last alien race they came in contact to, this drove them into an uproar, wanting to learn more about them.
In retrospect though John too became interested in learning of the other race that actually seemed to be pretty harmless. From what he heard and obtained, they were almost exactly spot on identical to humans both physically and mentally. Minus the animal traits ranging from a second pair of ears sprouting from their heads or in some case tails extending from the lower bases of their spines.
Other than that, the similarities between human and Faunus were near indistinguishable.
That was all John had learned of the race and didn't need to know anymore since it was unnecessary at the moment but wanted to know the exact status of his team... But to be informed it was simply impossible they claimed.
Classified.
Being told that was like a slap in the face.
Him. The team leader. Told that it was classified to him specifically, was very both insulting and infuriating to him since that was his team they were discussing with...
But orders were sadly that. Orders.
John slightly applied pressure to the gas of the warthog when he saw he was getting closer to his destination that was beginning to grow smaller for each yard he drove.
Earlier in the week when John was performing simple training routines he was informed of a solo mission involving him. After he collected his things he was told of an important mission which involved retrieving stolen UNSC software, specifically Michael Stanforth's personal data pads containing classified information concerning the plans of the mobilization of ONI.
That's what he was lead to believe.
The data pads had a locked encryption code and a tracer to locate it, but had to be within 544.4 meters of it to activate the tracer. John was ordered by admiral Ysionris Jeromi to patrol certain parts of Vale to locate them, and then return the data by any means necessary. Anyone who was caught cavorting the pilfered items was to be taken into custody on the spot. No questions asked.
John stopped at the traffic signal when it turned to red and he watched as a few cars went by and saw that the drivers looked at him with looks that defined attention to it's fullest. He stayed at a full stop for a few minutes listening to nothing but the low rumbling of the engine before making a left turn. He kept his eye on the tracker and turned his head to the left looking at a large building in the distance. It seemed the stolen software was close now.
John looked ahead and spotted an alley ahead and to the right, and just ahead was his target. Driving the warthog inside the alley but making sure he stayed in the center within, he put the warthog in park and deactivated all the technology on the inner dashboard before hopping out and turning off the engine and walking toward the back.
Quietly imputing a 4 digit access code in the magnetized lock box, he opened the lower back compartment and was met with a wide selection of firearms that were lined horizontally.
He took out a standard MA2B assault rifle and observed it for few moments, looking for any problems in the weapon but didn't see anything out of place. He reached into a smaller case beside it and took a few of the weapons ammunition clips and loaded a fresh one inside and pulled back the hammer, loading the bullets in the barrel.
When he was about to clip it on his back something jumped from the trash can making him the tin lid fall onto the brick ground and causing him to aim his weapon at anything on instinct.
When his vision adjusted to the black form beside him it quickly revealed itself to be a cat. The cat was a mixed color of gray and white with a few black spots on it's legs that went down to it's paws with a pair of green eyes that seemed to glow past the dark. The dark slits stared weirdly at him and the cat's ears were raised high, not at all threatened at the gigantic man in armor before it. John's back muscled eased up when he saw the cat stare at him oddly for a few seconds...
Before it began to lightly rub it's head against the barrel of his gun emitting a low rumbling from it's throat. John felt very odd at the obvious cat's affection but shrugged as he pulled the rifle away and looked at the cat once more. The cat's eyes were glued onto him for a moment longer before it jumped off the trash can lid and lovingly rubbed its skinny frame against John's leg, making him stare down at it oddly. This cat was weird to him.
The cat ran out of the alley and down the street.
'Well that was weird.'
He then clipped his weapon on his back, catching the magnetic strip before picking up another weapon to add, and that was the newly produced BR55 battle rifle that had just recently been added to the UNSC's arsenal. Misriah Armory had been given an order fro new weapons with a lightweight weapon giving its holder a marksmans tool. The BR55 battle rifle didn't fail to please the UNSC and soon 3 million orders were made to obtain the new weapon.
After loading a brand new clip and pulling back the chamber, eliciting the sound of a bullet entering the chamber the dark blue number lit up on the black ammo screen and linked to his HUD. He turned the safety on with a flick before looking at a SILENCED M6C/SOCOM Magnum. He knew he wouldn't be needing any firepower, but he didn't want to be outgunned just in case. Taking that as well while sliding a new clip and pulling back the chamber he stuck it onto his thigh. He touched the top of the lid then shut the weapons compartment and set the warthog on lockdown before exiting the alley and towards the open street.
Turning to his right, John scaled down the foggy road not hearing much activity, breathlessly watching the building in front of him with lights flashing through the windows above. Moving past a few bright windows and hearing some talking on the indie while picking up a few life signatures, he at least knew the city was populated. Just not out tonight though. He crossed the road and could hear while also making out cars headlights in the distance driving over an over-passing freeway headed towards places unknown to him.
John raised his left arm in the air and displayed a fist for a minute, before he showed a few fingers moving forward. After doing that he received a few green signals on his HUD from the building over.
When getting to the front of the building he passed by an orange motorcycle. He noticed that it's engine was still warm and the tracks in the road around the tires looked fresh. Like someone had just gotten here.
John saw the door just a few feet in front of him up a few steps that were both filthy and disgusting. The door looked soundproof and heavy since John read up that this building was a nightclub run by a man named "Junior Xiong", a local meathead with a sizable attitude who ran a few backstreet gangs dealing with illegal weapon trades. His choice of hangout was some prestigious nightclub...
John heard something come from the alley next to the building and carefully walked over to investigate the noise. Looking by the corner without revealing too much of himself he saw 3 men dressed in black suits with red ties, sporting red aviator sunglasses and a few were wearing black fedoras. They all stood by a dumpster chatting back and forth while staying awfully close to a door that lead to inside. John looked up to see a lone lamp above they alley giving off a small yet dim light over the trio.
Pointing a silenced pistol steadily upward, he pulled the trigger making the bulb connected to the lamp explode, showering the alley in sparks. The 3 men jumped in fright, cursing loudly before they began disarming their own weapons.
John knew now that he had to take them out now otherwise the entire building would be on top of him. Exiting the cover he softly ran down the alley quickly yet quietly enough that his feet made just light enough taps.
He rushed to the first man who had his back facing him and quickly bashed the stock of his weapon forward, hitting the man in the back of the skull making him fall forward in the dirty grungy water. The two other men spun around after hearing the loud noises and saw the outline of a man. A very BIG man that nearly soared above their heads
They both reached into their coats before brandishing red and black firearms and pointing them at him while one of them said threateningly. "Don't move or you-
John didn't let the man finish his threat when he speedily grabbed the barrel of the man's gun and ripped it out before pistol whipping the gangster on the side of his face, which launched him right into his friend both of them crashed in the side of the dumpster, making it rock into the wall with a crash.
Both men never saw it coming, but both were out cold in a heap of arms and legs lying in the filthy alley water. Dead. John also became aware of how the men lacked any potent aura...
Aura... The reason why that one girl was able to withstand the bullets from his assault rifle which truly boggled his mind from the beginning like a woodpecker on bark. Aura, in plain terms a type of magic that could be used to create shields and help the hunters and huntress was survive against Grimm. It was one of the foremost reasons why humans had been able to pull through the centuries of fighting against them.
Unlocking it was rather easy and needed to be done by an experienced hunter or huntress. At this being said, the head of ONI wanted to know more about the capability of the power.
John of course heard enough of the "sorcery" and wanted to know on ways to penetrate it when needed, which of course was not answered since he never asked. All he knew was is that the aura protected the user substantially, and could hold off against nearly 50,000 PSI. This proved to be a problem since the hardest John had ever punched was about 8,350 PSI.
Of course John had learned a very small yet fundamental fact.
If they didn't focus their aura to create a barrier, then this would leave them completely defenseless. John remembered that when he snuck up on Adam in the train and kicked him in the face, this worked remarkably better than trying to fight him in a straight fight. He also made it a note that sneaking next time would benefit him substantially against another Aura user, giving him the upper hand in that.
In simple format, attack them when they aren't looking or expecting anything.
John shook his arm a bit from small ache of an injury he had sustained weeks prior on the train, then set his mind back to the objective. As he turned over toward the heavy green door he pushed it slowly open, noticing it was left unlocked as the lock clicked. The inside kitchen looked like any standard cooking facility with overhead fans above the long lining stainless steel stoves that looked absolutely disgusting from grease pooling around the bunsen burners.
As he cautiously walked on the red tiles inside that reeked of bleach with his rifle securely faced forward and his fingers wrapped around the trigger guard and grip, he looked to see another set of twin swinging doors with a sign saying "KITCHEN CLOSED". At that moment of just listening, he could highly perceive the beguiling music that was booming through the walls and was so loud that some very light things in the kitchen such as the dish filled sink began to shake.
He knew that Junior would be in there somewhere since this was one of the busiest clubs, along with an assortment of civilians that he didn't want to get mixed into a firefight, that wouldn't fly at all with him. Slowly putting the assault rifle on his back clip after turning the safety on and walking toward the door, John could slightly make out the tune and bass.
He opened the door and was greeted by bright flashing lights from above and the ground around him was black carpets. The floor below a trio of stairs was absolutely illuminated with a pure white color and divided into squares. He could also noticed a low population on the inside with their only being men in,the same black suits and red ties.
Why was it so easy to see gangsters?
John slowly stood beside the wall noting this part of the club was noticeably more darker than the rest. He kept scanning the area vivid area around with an analyzing eye, trying to see anyone out of the ordinary and that matched the description of his prime suspect.
Getting an actual photo of Junior wasn't easy, but there were a few detailed descriptions of him being very tall and built with black hair and a beard, and from the last name he sounded of Asian descent. John didn't see any sturdy men in there that night but could make out someone at the bar wearing a black vest a pair of slacks and a white dress shirt. Seeing no one else in there with any relevance, John decided to question the man.
He slowly made his way over to the bar without moving too fast or two slow, with everything on around on the dance floor John had a feeling no one would take their time and see him, not to mention the upper part was scarce of the patrons who were mostly having the nights of their lives swinging to the blaring music and immense lights flashing above.
John walked forward and turned his head to the left where a few stair that lead down to the dance floor, and more specifically lead him right to the bar were the man was sitting,looking opposite of him. John walked down the few steps and trying his best to tune out the obnoxious blaring music that was making him want to rub his ears. John was now only a few feet behind the man and saw his back scrunch up and saw him bend over to where a blond woman was standing.
When John readjusted his vision he saw that it wasn't a woman, but quite younger than he had expected her to be. Maybe 18 or 17 while wearing some revealing clothing.
She wore a rather tight tan vest with gold linings around the edges of it and golden buttoning. Her shoulder sleeves were a bit puffy with tight black leather sleeves on each end of it were two small golden buttons holding them in place. On her hands were a pair of black finger-less gloves that looked like they were made of a thin cloth, and around her wrists were two golden and black braces. Under her vest was a rather tight yellow shirt with a black flower on the right breast, not to mention the shirt looked rather uncomfortable on how it squeezed her large breasts.
Maybe she was older, then again with this planet anything was possible.
Around her neck was an orange scarf, and around her waist was a brown belt with a few golden pins and a golden buckle, and on the right part of her waist were a few punches with a medium sized cloth like banner. On the banner was the design of...
A golden flower...
She was also sporting a pair of tight black short shorts with the banner, but extending in the back under her belt was a white pleated skirt that only covered the back. She was sporting knee high brown boots with size zippers that were also golden, and under her boots were a pair of orange socks but the left one being higher and having a dark bandanna being tied just below her knee.
The girls hair was probably the shiniest hair John had ever seen that seemed to gleam underneath the lights and she had a pair of the weirdest colored, and quite possibly the largest eyes John had yet to see. A lightish purple color. His mind summed up and be scanned the girls youthful face that was a healthy round and a goofy looking grin showing the girls nearly pure white teeth.
He didn't like this girl.
The way she presented herself... Didn't agree with him, or rub him in the right way.
John couldn't hear much on what the two were saying with the music being so rammed loud but decided to buy in by stepping forward and saying.
"Hello?" John said loud enough for the two to hear as the blond girl looked up with her grin vanishing and replaced by a look of momentary shock "Whoa." she said while backing up a bit with a phone in her right hand and her other arm letting go of something that crunched a bit. The man leaned down to catch his breath making John raise an eyebrow at what was going on and said. "I'm looking for Junior," John said to the blond girl who then looked up in John's visor and said.
"Wait your turn then you can have him."
With that being said, he automatically deduced that "him", the man sitting at the bar, totally oblivious that today could very well be his last day of living, was Junior. Junior stood up fully and looked behind him, to come face to face with an even taller man in nothing but green armor and a orange visor.
Junior raised a bushy eyebrow at the armored man, but ignored him. He looked at the lilac eyed girl and said with men in suits coming beside him. "You'll pay for that!" Junior said rather loudly as he took a pair of red sunglasses out and slipped them on over his now watering eyes. John was about to step in toward the man for questioning when the blond stepped in front of him and cut off his path to Junior.
"Oh Junior, I was just playing with you! Don't be so sensitive! Come on, lets kiss and make up, okay?" She said eater loudly and her voice was radiation with confidence. Junior who had heard it turned around and said something that John couldn't hear with that awful music blaring at full volume. He saw the blond girl lean in as Junior leaned in as well. John stepped forward and said even louder now with an irritated tone. "Xiong!"
This loud comment caught the attention of Junior and the blond girl as they both looked at him quickly. John took a few steps forward and moved the blond girl away with an arm saying. "Stand back." With a tone as sharp as steel. He looked right into Junior's burly face, giving him 100% of his attention before asking intently. "Where?"
"Where what?" Junior asked with a cocky tone to his voice with the other men looking weirdly between the two.
"The Data pads you stole. Hand them over." John ordered making Junior have a slight look of fear when his eyebrows mushed together and his mouth became thin as a line. John noticed this almost instantly, but Junior looked like he had been found out and was about to pay the price.
He also took notice that the other men in black suits were beginning to crowd around him with looks that weren't too friendly. Junior suddenly said. "I don't know what you're wanting, but I don't know what your talking about. What's a data pad anyway?" Junior asked trying to avert the subject but this wasn't working well for him.
"The one that you stole-
"Hey big guy, why don't you get us a table." The blond girl said who stepped up to John blinking her eyes rapidly at him while barely reaching his shoulder.
"Stay out of this." John told the girl roughly without even looking at her once, making her looked stunned for a moment but her lilac eyes narrowed. "Who are you supposed to be?" The blond asked toward him wondering why this guy was wearing so much armor, but John ignored her question and turned his attention back to Junior whose hands were starting to clench in fear.
"You either return what you stole and I'll make sure it gets returned to their owners." John began threatningly. "Or I take you in and search the club." John wasn't dumb enough to come alone on this operation or be even dumber to come in guns' a blazing. He was going to trick Junior into thinking he was home free in returning them, and when he did (Which John had a low feeling about) he would call for a backup RECON team of 12 who were awaiting on standby and would take him down.
If he did try to release his gang members though that seemed to be crawling all over the club they wouldn't be getting far since just a few building over there was a 4 man sniper team across the road and were given authorization to use deadly force if they had to.
"First off I don't have anything! I didn't steal anything, and second this ain't my club!" Junior yelled in panic and anger while looking at his men. The men in suits looked unsire at the moment, debating whether or not it was safe to take on a guy this stocked and loaded.
Junior pointed at John's chest. "Take these two outside and show them-
He was unable to finish his order when John's gloved hand lunged toward his throat and yanked him forward and into his visor. Junior tried to escape the soliders grasp but found himself unable to. Pulling a prying weren't working. It was almost like trying to pull himself out of cement.
John pulled Junior closer. "Where. Are. They?" John whispered that his voice resembled the burning intensity of the sun ferocious rays.
Junior licked his lips while looking side by side, trying to come up with something resonable to negotiate. "I- I uh-
"Oh boys!~" A voice called beside John and Junior rather loudly.
Both John and Junior turned their heads to the blonde girl who was beginning to walk towards them with a swing in her hips that made Juniors blood run warm at the display, and she had a bit of a smile on her face making John feel rather uneasy. She looked into John's orange visor and chattered. "Listen, I don't think you want to know this but it's been bugging me so I'll just spit it out... Your flies down." She gestured to John's crotch with a sultry smile.
John didn't know what on earth a "fly" besides the insect was, but by hearing the word down, he in instinctively looked down at his feet to see what she was saying to him. "Wh-
POW
A second later, a yellow blur smashed in the front of John's helmet.
With everything going on around him, the music, the men, his hostage, he didn't have enough time to move his head or turn it in time. He felt the muscles in his hand go limp and Junior fly from his grasp toward the side. His neck nearly bent all the way back to the point John saw stars. But it turned out to be the lights speeding past him.
What was scary was that he flew backwards through the air like he had been hit full force with a charging Pelican. He slammed into a the wall that cracked heavily. His head pounded as dust began to pool out from the fragmentation's and past over him. Thankfully his armor took must of the impact since John didn't feel anything out of place.
John tried to assert his thinking on what happened during that moment and tried to think of where he was and what he was doing.
The hit came so fast when he was talking and trying to think at the same time, that he was left totally unprotected. John pulled himself from the wall and slid down from the crater he made. He fell to the floor on his feet and supported himself with his hand on the to keep himself up.
John still stared at the ground trying to reclaim his sense when he heard the music ring him back into reality when a new track that started to play. He felt some movement in front of him and looked at his scanner to see multiple targets around him. Shaking his head while looking up, his eyes caught sight of the blond with an outstretched fist and a smirk gracing her lips. Johns senses welled up with anger and a bit of punishment coming to mind.
When she opened her eyes and saw the armored man she had just sucker punched staring at her, she teased cockily. "See something you like?"
John didn't answer, but stood up and unhooked his assault rifle. The action made her smile even wider when he leveled it with her. "Why did you do that?" He asked with an authoritative tone that didn't affect the girl much as she looked at him directly.
She then said. "Me and Junior were having a little talk, until you decided to butt in rudely. That's why."
This girl was going down.
"And your first impression was to attack me?" John questioned angrily past the music.
"Yep!~" She replied balling her fists challengingly.
"Stay out of my way or else or I'm taking you in." John warned to the blond since he really didn't have time to be dancing all night and didn't want anyone to get hurt or worse. The mission was priority, he had to find those data pads.
"You'll have to try harder than that. It's usually me asking-" She stopped before saying more in tune. "or forcing the boys to go out with me.~" The blond said making John notice the gangsters begin to brandish small axes out of their coats. Who in their right mind would bring an axe out into a gunfight?
John turned the safety off his gun before barking. "Drop your weapons! NOW!" Some of the men didn't get fazed at all at the threat, not even the showy girl. If these men took another step he would open fire.
The blonde smirked wider. Maybe this night would be fun after all?
All of a sudden her wrists began to transform into rather large yellow gauntlets, shifting and gears switching past her forearms. All the men ran towards her with the intent to kill, and possibly do more given the chance. They ignored John for some odd reason.
At this moment, John was going to try and stop the situation by shooting one of them but didn't want to hit anyone on accident. He took aim and caught one on the shoulder, making him drop his weapon and clutch his now bleeding wound.
The blond girl jumped into the air and looked as if she flew upwards like a rising sun of fire and gold. This action caused John's eyes to follow her until she spun in a full air flip in mid flight. Rearing a fist back while looking down with a wide grin, she began to fly back to the ground almost looking like she was going to punch it-
BOOOOM
Which she proceeded to do!
John felt the massive shock-wave that rocked the club to its core. The walls shook, the lights flickered, and everyone lost their footing. John nearly lost the grip of his weapon as he tried to sustain his balance.
When looking back, John saw the men getting back up from the force and noticed that the girl was... On fire?
This made John's eyes grow wide when the girl was really, truthfully engulfed in flames and appeared not to be in any type of discomfort whatsoever. She speedily flipped again through the air and knocked one of the henchmen out with a single high kick and a few rapid punches to his face, knocking him and everyone around her out in a fast yet powerful succession.
John asserted his thoughts immediately to the civilians and ran towards where some of them were trying to exit out of the building as fast as they could carry themselves. John saw that they weren't getting out quick enough through the single double doors.
He quickly clipped his rifle on his back before walking over to one of the doors that seemed to have bent inward, making it harder to pass, and pried both double doors off the hinges to release more of the terrified partiers. As they ran, none of them paid a mind to the spartan who threw the door to the side.
After more than 4 seconds of people rushing out as quickly as possible, there was an explosion behind making John want to turn around, and then a few rapid booming sounds resonating above the tunes making his blood run cold.
It was the ominous blare of a shotgun going off.
The racket of the buckshot with the same identical noise of it being pumped just like a shotgun. This action caught his hearing almost instantly. John could hear the sound of the shell exciting and hitting the floor though with the music playing faster and louder, but couldn't believe a girl would bring a loaded weapon inside a club full of people! What was she thinking?!
He turned around when the last person managed to scramble outside and saw the blonde girl knock the last gangster out with a kick to his jaw, making him spin in the air and fly into the wall next to John before sliding down and on the floor out cold.
He could then heard the rapid blaming sound of a high powered rifle and saw that the DJ had pulled out a Tommy gun and begun to fire at the girl on the dance floor. She began to dodge each of the bullets that crashed into the glass dance floor from the DJ's horrid aiming skills and continued to do this. Until out of nowhere, the window above John exploded in a rain of glass, making him cover himself and wonder what had happened.
He looked over to the DJ and saw his black and red Teddy bear mask fly back with a splotch of blood splattering the wall. John watched as the man fell back on the floor knew he had just been hit with a high caliber bullet from the sniper team outside. John watched as the blond girl stop above on the music board when she noticed the bullets stopped coming. She asked aloud something inaudible.
John signaled back to the sniper team to not shoot anymore without his order, fearing they may hit the girl.
They replied back, agreeing but staying close on standby.
At the moment there were 3 other signatures on his scanner and he looked to the left of the other side of the club and saw the two most ridiculously dressed people he had ever seen in his entire life.
"Melanie, who is this girl?" The first one who wore a gothic strapless black and red dress with black frills on the end deadpanned toward her equal.
"I dunno Miltia but we should teach her a lesson." Melanie replied in an almost equivalent tone but quite the opposite taste in fashion. She wore a white and light blue dress, and taking notice of a man in green armor fast walking over to them.
John knew talking wasn't going to be the answer and also knew he was probably going to be in for quite the fight of the day. When one of the twins looked at John up and down she looked in his visor with the same mundane look. "I don't know who you are, but that is the tackiest body armor on the market. Don't you agree Melanie?"
"I couldn't have said it more clear Militia."
John felt something warm on his left and had to throw his head back when the blond girl threw a left hook at him, followed by a downward kick to his midsection that he caught and used to trip her up.
This seemed to work as she flew backwards but flipped back on her feet and used her gauntlets to shoot from behind and launched herself at John with the same grin on her face. John had to evade a few jabs and another kick from her and kept this up. He turned his head to the left and lifted an elbow to stun her before shoving her back with his boot.
"Come on! Work with me!" The blonde yelled when she shot at John who jumped out of the way and quickly reached behind his back for his assault rifle. He took aim and opened fire at her. The blond girl took cover behind a glass beam before firing a few of her own at him, and he too kept on rushing past them as best as he could by spinning his body around them effectively. He took cover behind a glass post for a second to load a fresh clip in his weapon.
John looked at his scanner and saw someone was right where he was. The lilac eyed girl dropped from above and tried to smash him into the floor with her knees, but only knocked the rifle from his hand. John looped his arm around her shoulder before tossing her to the floor and throwing a punch. The blond haired girl pressed her hand's forward, creating a shield. This gave her enough time to do a leg sweep under John, causing him to fall over.
The blond girl pressed her knees firmly onto his arms, keeping him down and knocking his rifle out of his hands. The gun slid across the glass floor far away from his reach. John didn't know how the hell she did this but saw her place both her hands onto his shoulders to hold him down. Looking up he saw her hair had come down to where the end strands barely brushed against his helmets visor. She looked down at him, smiling the entire time. She slowly sat her butt on his stomach before saying victoriously. "I win."
John began to push himself as hard as he could, and was beginning to push her off, but stopped when she reared a fist back and launched it at his face. The fist came slow to him. That was just what he needed. He moved his head to the side effortlessly, missing her fist by 3 inches. This didn't stop though when her shotgun gauntlet blast neatly caught him by inches when she smashed into the ground, but the absolute volume of the blast right beside his head made his ears ring.
He was able to rip his hands from underneath her arms and clutched his head in agony, trying to sooth the high pitched whine from making his eardrums rip down the center. He felt as if someone jabbed two long needles in his ears and then continued to push them all the way through his head and out the other. He through his right foot up toward the girl sitting on him in her back. She flew off of him as he stood up, trying to hear anything. He walked forward a bit before he accidentally stepped on his rifle.
John bent down to pick it up, but regretted not paying attention and felt a hard burning sensation at his lower back combined with an uncontrolling force sending him lurching forward a few feet and onto the glass floor. Causing a web of cracks to form. Pushing himself onto his hands and knees he stared at the floor before he stood up with the agonizing pain surging on his lower back.
He began to turn his head when heard the blond say. "Hope I didn't rough you up too badly, after all it is just the first song of the night."
He thought of the mission and the lives that could have been lost. He replaced it with vigilance.
"You're making a mistake." John pushed out.
But not good though.
"Then I'll lead!" The blonde yelled out and shot behind her making it from across the room to John in less than a second.
John was able to react quick enough by ducking below a punch intended for the back of his head and spun a heel tripping the girl before pouncing on her and pressing his knee on the girls rather endowed chest and wheezing out. "STAND DOWN!" The blond blew a piece of her golden hair out of her face and looked up at John and said.
"You know what, let's start over. Names Yang. Yours?" The girl named Yang introduced herself making John give a dirty look through his mask. Yang stared at John while he returned it and she then said.
"Not much of a talker. Good, I like the silent type."
John didn't answer but reached behind him for handcuffs he took from the base, knowing he would need them and brought them out from his back armor slot and held them in front of Yang. Who, in return, only smiled with her eyes halfway open. "OHHHH, I didn't know you were into that!"
"Stop talking." John muttered ruggedly. When he was about to slip the cuffs on her wrists there was a screeching noise that sounded as if the walls were split down the middle. Out on pure instinct, he moved his head toward the left caught sight of something that was coming right towards him. He ducked his head down over Yang's, and missed by a single foot from slamming into his head.
John turned his head behind him and saw Junior standing on the small staircase with what looked like a red bazooka.
John made the same mistake by taking his eyes off Yang who reared her fist back, attempting to smash at Johns head. Lifting his left hand he pushed it out of the way but not enough as her fist caught him on the left side of his plating, and fired a single shell of her gauntlet mounted shotgun dead center.
He fell back with the same immense force of being hit with a missile.
Groaning at the amount of displeasure he was enduing, he shakily got on his feet and stood back up. His armor held. He looked toward the left and saw Yang back to her feet with her fists raised and that same annoying smile that made John scowl at her.
"You just don't know when to stay down don't ya?" She asked while John had about enough right here and was about to call for the recon team to enter and take her down when she boasted.
"Don't worry big guy, this won't take long." And with that being promised, she blurred from where she was and began her assault on him again with two low kicks and a right hook. Both kicks missed when he pushed them away but the punch barely scraped against his helmet, making him stumble back protectively.
She punched him but he caught her by the wrist before throwing her over his shoulder into the floor.
Yang spun her boot in a circle but wasn't fast enough as he somersaulted away and quickly gripped his assault rifle stock. Yang got back up on her feet before she shot behind her again, giving her a momentary boost. He ducked under another punch by Yang while she combined it with an uppercut that he pushed back with his elbow.
Yang tried to preform a low kick but ended up getting her foot caught and twisted. She gasped in pain but bent her body in the direction her foot was going in but got thrown back to the ground. She rushed back him, throwing a shotgun blast towards him. But he was too quick for her as he stepped beside it, grabbed her arm pointing it the other way and retaliated with a strong chop on her shoulder.
She didn't even wince when she spun a kick in a full circle into John's stomach, which he caught her foot and bent it backwards. Yang pointed her wrist-gun at John and fired it, but John ducked underneath it and swung Yang across the room like a hammer throw in the Olympics.
Yang flew right into the ceiling but pressed both feet firmly together and shot off like a bullet onto the floor and at John who was able to roll out of the way. She spun around on the floor and yelled.
"What's wrong? Can't hit little ol' me-
Any comment that was going to be made by her never made it out when she felt her insides bucked in from the armored man launching a uppercut into her stomach, followed by a right hook impacting against her cheek, combined with a devastating knee strike in her stomach again that made her almost throw up.
John had about enough right now. This girl was dangerous. She had to be taken in. He also made sure not to go full force.
This girl was endangering many lives, including herself with attacking a pissed off Spartan.
After knocking the wind out of her twice, Yang coughed a few times, almost throwing up and spitting on the floor.
While she was smiling on the inside at the strikes given to her she looked at the armored man who stared at her and said. "G-(cough) good one..." She had to admit, those were some decent blows. Maybe she'd have to give him her phone number so they could spar sometime.
John who didn't stop proceeded to grab Yang's arm when she was momentarily distracted, pinned it behind her before rushing forward and slamming her to the ground roughly facedown. After that he was about to step on her neck to execute her, but looked on his scanner and saw two markers rushing to his position like blurs. He turned his head and saw behind that the twins who were watching the fight decided to join in and lunge at him, with attacking at different angles with a series of deadly precise kicks.
John managed to maneuver past each one and catch the one known as Melanie, and swung her right into her sister, launching both sisters onto the dance floor but instead found themselves looking up into Yang's hungry lilac eyes.
Seeing Junior across the room who was looking at John with a angry look, he viciously swung his bazooka over his shoulder and aimed it in John's direction, before firing two rapid shots at the him that began to break up into smaller projectiles. John, who was able to duck and roll underneath both of them grunted.
John stood up before sprinting across the dancefloor and was able to reach the bar before flying himself over the counter.
Pushing up off the broken bottles, he was able to sit up against the wood that held an assortment of bottles filled with booze before using his left hand gripped a multipurpose grenade from behind his waist and clutched the explosive carefully.
He proceeded to prime it by putting his thumb through the ring, and for a second he listened to the music once more as he tried to hear any sounds of struggle but could feel the vibrations from the three fighting each other. John heard a few rapid explosions on the dance floor, causing glass to go flying in multiple directions and this prompted him to stand up to see Yang getting beaten by the twins who were simultaneously launching kicks at her, making the blonde go down.
This didn't stop Yang though who proceeded get back up and take both down with a flurry of punches and kicks which caused the red dressed girl to go flying in a glass post and exploding in a shower of glass mixed with smoking shells on the floor that shined.
Getting up from behind the counter, John saw that Junior was across the room in the darkest section, holding onto the bazooka and looking like he was about to shoot Yang. Reaching behind for his assault rifle while placing the grenade back on his waist, he cautiously moved forward through the bar section and up the few stairs and was going to sneak up on Junior.
The sound of heavy breathing and cutting air mixed with the soundtrack still blaring covered John's sound movement, making it much easier for him to sneak about.
With Junior just 4 feet away from him, John stood up roughly and raced over to him. Suddenly, the red lining on the walls vanished turning it back to it's original black and white version with the music becoming slightly calmer but not by much. A light shined above John and Junior, who began walking forward with the bazooka over his shoulder, not noticing the Spartan right behind him.
"You're gonna pay for-
WHOMP
John bashed the stock of his weapon forward, making Junior cry out in shock and John proceeded to use his right hand to clutch the back of Juniors,head and smash it right into the floor glass floor. Junior's legs buckled for a few moments and the red bazooka bounced on the floor a few times toward the side. John whipped out the handcuffs and slammed them on Juniors wrists, nearly cutting into them.
"UHHH what the-
"Quiet!" John roared making Junior grunt and growl under the immense pressure of the soldier.
"You again! I told you I don't have any data pads!" Junior said as he struggled against the cuffs, but these were specially enhanced cuffs that were proven to be nearly unbreakable. Even to a Spartan.
"Don't lie. It won't help." John decided to apply his knee right into the back of the man's spine, making him wince.
'Let's see his aura hold off against 2,000 psi right on the most vulnerable point of the body for long...'
"Okay you know what, maybe I did have some data pads, those tablets right. Yeah I got em. But guess what. They arent here!" Junior said aloud making John raise in question. "I got one of my boys to hire a hacker and take out those things you use to trace them."
"Where are they?" John questioned.
"You wanna know. Well if you kiss my-
BAM!
John replied to the insult by slamming his palm in the back of Junior's head, ramming it right back into the broken glass floor, making Junior groan in agony as he felt several shards go into his face and some into his mouth and up his nose. Junior coughed some blood as his lips were sliced as if they were cheese and John pressed in further. "Where?"
"I sold them... to a guy and they're probably...(cough) halfway across Vale by now." Junior slowly said, feeling extremely tired at the moment for some reason, making John growl under his breath and mutter a curse.
Dead end...
John looked up at the blond with her fists raised in a fight and was very angry now. He reached behind and whipped out his assault rifle and aimed before opening fire. He watched as Yang sped around each shot by shooting her gauntlets behind her, boosting her forward while looking as if she was skating across the floor. John got a signal from the snipers outside on his HUD but ignored it.
John was then surprised when Yang was about a foot from him suddenly and launched an uppercut intended for his chin, but at the very last second John dropped his rifle and grabbed Yang in a constricting grip with both arms wrapped around her. He made sure to keep his arms folded over Yang's forearms where her gauntlets were so that she wouldn't be able to punch or shoot him.
Yang's head was right beside John's when she nearly lost her breath when and felt the oxygen quite literally fly out of her lungs again, and felt her boobs nearly buckle into her rib cage making the position between her and the armored man immensely uncomfortable. She looked right into his orange visor seeing her own reflection.
"Jeez what do you eat?!" Yang complained loudly at the man's muscle, making John tighten his arms around her frame and struggle a bit and was trying to piece together a new plan now that he had temporarily disabled her in the meantime.
He squeezed as hard as he could and felt Yang struggle underneath his grip. She growled and began kicking her legs at his shins, trying to make the clutch around her frame disperse, until an idea popped in her head and required her to cease her moving. She stopped moving for a second just so the man in armor could stand still long enough and threw her head back before
BONK!
"AHHH!" Yang screamed feeling her forehead nearly crack after trying to do the only way she could break out of the armored man's grip which seemed to have worked as she felt his arms loosen and himself shake his head.
John most certainly did see that but held his ground against Yang. He somehow had a feeling guns weren't going to be in his favor for the moment since she could keep dodging them all night and a rather big waste of ammunition. John also made it note not to call in for the backup squad since he could very well put their lives in danger against her with those shotgun gauntlets.
The men she fought had small ounces of Aura to defend against strikes but once they were drained it made them pass out from exhaustion.
John was the only one who can fight her, keep up with her...
And win.
Yang bashed both her fists together making everything around her burst into flames. John raised a glove above his face to shield his eyes from the intensity of the flame's illuminating light. After John looked again he could see Yang's hair was on fire when she was rushing him like a bat out of hell.
He quickly had to hold a his right elbow up to block a right hook from her and duck underneath a kick at the same time. John returned the attack with using his ankle to try and trip her up which she saw and replied with a kick to John's head which he caught. Bending her leg up while turning her around and applying pressure to her calf he squeezed and pushed her forward making her fall down but caught herself and spun her leg clockwise and nearly catching John in the face.
John held his arms up in standard defense with his chin tucked down and legs spread apart with his knees bent. Yang took the attack by throwing two rapid punches that discharged toward him, making him have to run past them detonating on the floor. He was close to the first one since he felt the aftershock and ran right up to Yang and threw a shattering uppercut into her ribs, making her fly up and launched a kick that sent her flying across the room and in a glass table causing it to shatter.
John noticed that when Yang got up she didn't have a single scratch on her and her smile seemed to widen. "Hehe..." She laughed softly while her hair moved erratically like the warm alluring flames of flickering fire, burning and dancing over her shoulders.
John breathed through his nose deeply, trying to assess a way to beat Yang was harder than he expected. She didn't seem to be running out of steam and wasn't breaking a sweat after fighting against a crowd of machete axe wielding gangsters, two laughably dressed girls that nearly took his head off, a bouncer with a bazooka, and now him.
John tried to consider about employing the use of possibly sneaking about and maybe disabling her when she was at her most weakest, but how would he do that?
The 12 man team that came along was for frontal offense and a firing team meant to engage in infantry forces. Any type of forces against Yang would need time to think but John didn't have time or any way of calling for backup outside to the UNSC.
The smaller parts of negotiations were still underway, meaning they were going on a jammed link channel.
John had to duck under another fist and caught a kick before launching his own kick at Yang which managed to distract her, then grabbing her shoulders with both hands and shoving her back.
She skidded on the ground before she looked at John with an angry look that turned to shock almost instantly. John stopped for a moment, thinking that maybe there were more henchmen coming or expecting something disastrous to happen. Looking on his scanner he didn't see anything but for some very peculiar reason the area around him become dense and a bit warmer.
A very loud ear splitting scream resonated off the walls, making the music be drowned out and John raised both hands in defense... And saw something golden in his hand. When cropping his fingers around the object his eyes scanned it and one word popped up in his mind.
HAIR.
He had ripped a good few strands of hair from Yang when he grabbed her shoulders and shoved her back to gain some room. He deduced that some of her hair got caught in his gloves wrist unit, and when he shoved her away it ripped out. When John's vision cleared up he looked at Yang who looked increasingly enraged with her eyes becoming crimson and her hair becoming even more wild than before.
She smashed her fists together again, resulting in all the lights and glass posts standing among the dance club to explode in thousand of crystal particles everywhere. John felt his bearings go down when Yang launched herself at John one last time to aim an upper punch right in his face while yelling at the top of her lungs.
Time seemed to move increasingly slow as her fist neared. John closed his breathing as his back bent backwards and let the punch sail right above his jaw before gripping Yang's outstretched arm with his hand and supplementing her into the ground face first. John rolled on top of Yang before sitting on her back and gripping her wrist gauntlet.
CRUNCH!
The sound of metal crunching like a tin can sounded off as John forcibly crushed one of her wrist mounted weapons and threw it off to the side. He attempted to get the other but found himself launched off of Yang and rolling onto the carpeted area face first.
He heard a few pieces of glass hit the floor beside him before standing back up quickly and looking over the railing to see Yang's hair become the inferno from hell.
"You touched my hair..." She said making John snort in his mind. She was pissed off over hair? Then again there was that time when Kelly had to have her own hair shaved before training, and she had to be forcibly held down by 3 instructors (barber included) to shave her head.
"AND YOU BROKE EMBER CELICA!" She screamed louder sending a heated shockwave toward John that nearly caused the building to collapse from the sheer volume of competence in her power.
Where did these people come from?
"I'M GOING TO FREAKING MURDER YOU!" She roared venomously while jumping in the air higher this time. Raising a foot above her head she slammed it down at the guarding John who was able to elude the catastrophic stomp that cracked the ground upward. Cauisng the room to shake a bit with tables falling over and the bottles in the bar to fall from their shelves and smash onto the floor.
John bit back a groan when he raised his forearm in defense and blocked a punch from her then sidestepped an uppercut while throwing an elbow strike with a hand on his balled fist, making it go faster into Yang's face.
She too sidestepped the attack but didn't anticipate John doing a spin kick that caught her in the stomach, catching her by sheer surprise and sent her right through the wooden railing. He hit with a decent amount of power too since she felt the wooden railing press into her back before it gradually split in two under her weight.
She landed on her back into the dance floor, cracking it. As she began pushing herself up she nearly felt her pelvis get crushed when John suddenly landed on top of her, making her gasp in surprise. John thought fast as he then wrapped his massive hands around her throat while instinctively slamming both of his feet on Yang's wrists.
This action would hold her down firmly keep her from shooting him. His fingers kept squeezing increasingly tighter around her neck to the point his hands would leave bruises. He used his right index finger to feel for the correct point in the back of her neck, the atlas. If he pushed it down hard enough this would causer her neck to snap it in half from her vertebra.
She was finished now...
Yang struggled as much as she could. She thrashed about, tried to kick him off but to no avail. She began to see spots in her vision and her brain began to shut down. Everything around her was becoming dim. Her mouth was wide open and she began to emit the same sound of a gasping fish out of water while her eyes were as wide as plates.
For one moment John looked at her struggle and fight for her life, looking absolutely terrified of what was going to come... And he felt a deep throbbing pain in his chest while feeling remorse. Even though she tried to kill him she was still a kid.
Quicker than she could see John let his grip on her neck go limp, letting her take a gust of air in her lungs painfully. Yang felt as if life was returning to her system but she felt woozy and wondered what was going on for a second. Like everything had rebooted.
She blinked her tired watery eyes a few times and saw a dark silhouette on top of her. She instantaneously remembered that there was a 1000 pound man on top of her and he was in the motion of strangling the life out of her.
John took his foot off Yang's other gauntlet before using his hand to rip that one off too, making Yang want to cry at the sight of it being taken from her.
John gazed at the yellow gauntlet that was able to shoot shells like a shotgun and wondered if he could use this, before easily crushing it between his fingers and palms. The metal smooshed inward and a smoking substance came out.
"No killing... Not tonight." John thought since he couldn't bring himself to strangling the blond girl for some reason. It didn't feel right. He had killed before... But why now? He knew he would get in trouble for some reason, but he was willing to take that chance.
She was beaten and that's what mattered.
Yang watched as the armored man sitting on her dropped her once prized weapon, but now a destroyed prize weapon onto the ground before he got up off of her and said menacingly.
"I'm not going to kill you." He began to Yang who looked up at him, exhausted and aching in her lower region from the earlier weight. "Your weapons are gone and you're surrounded... This fight is done and your finished." John ended his conversation on a high note with Yang, who was still on the ground starting at the ceiling as he signaled for for BRAVO team to engage now.
The track suddenly began to pitch and repeat above him on the walkway, and a light fixture finally collapsed from the ceiling.
When Yang started to sit up out of the glass, she reached for the crushed remains of ember celica, but heard numerous muttering from the corner of the room before it was replaced with yelling. Almost out of nowhere, well suited men in all black and dark green armor wearing helmets rushed in armed with high caliber assault rifles.
Some came from ropes attacked to the ceiling while 3 jumped in through the windows. It all happened so fast that she couldn't see what they were at first. But soon she caught an eyeful of them when they formed around her in formation. They aimed their weapons at her while looking down with mixed looks. Some men kept their grip steady while some contemplated whether or not this girl was human. Yang's eyes scanned one of the men who wore a helmet with a white insignia on it and examine it...
She couldn't make out the back letters, but something U.N- came up, and what looked like the picture of an eagle holding something.
U.N...
"..."
UNSC!
UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND
Almost like a bolt of lightning she knew she had made a very fatal error with a horrified look gracing her face.
She just picked a fight with a UNSC operative... And now she didn't know what they were going to do next.
The first man who was African American with a goatee and quite built with a flaming cigar looked down at the blond girl who stared at him, before looking over to John, saying out loud for all the room to hear. "Gettin' your ass handed to you by a girl ain't a job well done Petty officer, especially for a SPARTAN-II, wouldn't you agree marines?!" The man barked.
"SIR YES SIR!"
"UH HUH... Now do me a kind enough favor and get Goldilocks here a nice clean pair of stationary UNSC HANDCUFFS ON THE DOUBLE!" The man roared while the marines proceed to keep a well-trained aim on her claim with about a dozen or so braces to constrict her.
The quiet loud marine walked over to where John was standing and said. "Ya know son, training militia on Harvest sounds a lot better than watchin you go toe to toe with a girl and nearly get your jaw busted in."
"I had no direct threat toward her." John replied without looking at the shorter man. Yang proved to be someone not to mess with, but what really raised the question now was why she was here in a bar.
"Yeah, but she had one raging killing bitch machine for you spartan!" The man said aloud before he looked down at the destroyed gauntlet and picked it up.
"Gold isn't as tacky, but, it'll do." The man said before tossing it to a marine who barely caught it. "Take that back to the eggheads up on the Kronos station... And will someone turn off the damn music!" The man yelled louder while watching the blond girl get brought up roughly by the marines and began being escorted outside.
"Damn...What are kids thinking these days playing with guns. Hell, when I was a kid we played outside all day, everyday with toys, sticks or rocks, and didn't have guns attached to our wrists like a pack of some maniacal-grade-A-gung-ho-sons of bitches!" The man roared.
"Sir?" John said aloud.
"Hmmm" The staff sergeant looked at the spartan.
"The data pads. There gone." John said lightly looking over the destroyed room and being thankful no one died beside that hostile DJ.
"Well shit... Guess that means this was all for nothing then? Right?" The man replied as he snapped his fingers.
"I believe so." John said while thinking he had forgotten something important.
"Then the report I have to fill out will be one hell of one when they get it... Wheres that other guy you caught? Junior?" The man asked when John pointed and looked across the destroyed room to see Junior getting pulled along by two marines and was dripping in blood and onto his clothes. In hindsight he looked more dead than alive. "Woah." The man said when he walked up to Junior and said aloud. "You got answers, I and I got questions."
"So what?" Junior mumbled with a few of his teeth being knocked out and blood drying in his nose.
"Start talking, that's what, or I'll be kind enough to shove my foot so far up your ass that your tongue will be my new foot rest... And it will be the least of your worries of what I got planned for you..." The man said. John stepped up from behind and said. "Sir, permission to exit and return to base."
"Permission granted, it looks like you'll be needing a tune up." The staff sergeant gestured to the dark burnt spot on John's chest plate. John looked down and nodded.
"Who are you anyway?" Junior tried to speak but his words didn't sound right at first. The staff sergeant looked at the gangster through his orange sunglasses and said with a smile showing his slightly yellow tinted teeth.
"For you, I'll give you my card." He pulled his hand back and hurled it at Juniors face.
POW
And with that solid hook, Junior took an instant nap.
"It's AVERY UP-YOUR-ASS JOHNSON!" The man identified as Avery Johnson yelled as the marines proceeded to carry the now unconscious Junior out of the club and took a large puff if his cigar, filling the air with it's dense smell and covering the scent of shotguns shells.
"Harvest... Hope you doin well." Avery thought with a downward look and noticed more marines enter through the ceiling on zip lines attached to their waists.
Outside, John began walking back to his warthog and had a bit of a slow pace to his walk. The outside of the club now had several vale police cars and many of them began loading the henchmen into them. Yang was escorted to a heavy UNSC anti aircraft vehicle and was going to be taken in for questioning and probably be sent home to her parents.
If she had any.
John went back to the same alley toward his warthog and placed both rifles in the back trunk. After securely placing them in, he hopped inside and activated the engines before backing out and making a turn paseds the road. When he was deep in thought he didn't see a girl wearing a red hood stop right in front of him and stare at the building.
John did and stopped before he could run her down and honked his horn, which to say in the least frightened the little girl as she jumped up saying "SORRY!" Quickly and loudly. She turned her silver eyes in John's direction and John turned his blue ones shielded by his orange visor into hers.
The two eyes met for a moment... Just for a single fleeting second.
The girl took in the sight of the massive man sitting inside a heavily armored warthog staring at her, and John glanced over the petite black haired girl with a vibrant red hood.
John pressed his foot on the gas and continued to drive forward through the road with the pale girl wearing a red hood to stare quizzically at him as he drove pass slowly but then slowly sped forward. John watched her in his rear view mirror and noted on the weird looking girl and asking himself why she was out alone in the road.
John had a few were dreams that night. Which was weird since he never dreamed that often? When he had woken up this morning and did his standard morning warm-ups and exercises, that today was quite important to him. A day of remembrance, in fact, something that he had a hard time expressing fully with the amount of deaths happening daily now.
But after getting notified of the mission that became top priority, and all of the planning put into it after a few hours, he had forgotten completely about it.
Looking onto the steering wheel for a second he breathed before saying to himself deep within his mind. To him death was the end of everything. He didn't have a high thought of what happened on the other side, but he didn't really put much thought into it.
When he had met Staff sergeant Avery Johnson a day earlier, who was an avid believer in the "great lord" would sometimes hum a tune that he used to hear in church as a little boy. Johnson's first observation of John was one word... "You sure dress to impress huh?"
John didn't know what to make of that, other than to ignore it.
Looking forward through the moist roads John could visualize a man in similar armor in his mind saluting with the white number "034" imprinted on the left breast plate.
"Samuel."
"Good-bye"
Those last words he whispered to Sam in orbit over Chi Ceti, would probably be the most grueling two words he had ever said in his entire life. Watching him go in an explosion of flickering lights in the deep vacuum of space was painful. What was more painful was trying to gain a lighter feeling from it since optimism strengthened them.
Sam's death proved the covenant could be killed, and the war could be won by humans. But when Sam decided to sacrifice himself, this made him a hero in John's thoughts. He saved him and Kelly that day, and John would never forget him... But trying to forget the unknown pain that was in his chest wouldn't leave
John then put an excessive amount of pressure on the gas pedal, trying to push the anniversary of Sam's death out of his raining mind and make it back quickly as possible to the tram station to get back to base to tell Stanforth the mission was a fail.
About 40 or so yards behind Ruby Rose who dressed in her usual dark and gothic outfit stared at the warthog's retreating tail lights and said one word.
"Wow."
She would have to tell Yang about this! Ruby thought excitedly and noticed how many of the UNSC warthogs that seemed to cover the road today. But it looked like she would first have to find her.
Digging into her front blouse pocket, Ruby pulled out a paper and looked a the numbered address of the hotel of where Yang would be staying at and then decided to walk there. Not knowing at all that Yang was in a heavy UNSC truck right across the street from her.
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The burn meets the brawn
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