Reborn:
A/N: Hey sorry for the really late updates but my life has been a madhouse lately. I won't update for a little while again cause i'm going on a mission trip to Guatemala so wish me luck! I hope you enjoy this and please review!
Chapter 7: Business of Killing
Chief walked along, the short scrub brush scraping at his leg armor giving off an angry hissing noise. The two new SPARTANs that he and Liam had met were leading them on a long and arduous journey through the small grassy plain before coming to the desert and Hydra Canyon. They were obviously leading them around in circles, to shake off anyone trying to follow them, or at least confuse them, before actually taking them to their headquarters.
For the entire span of the journey the two new SPARTANs had said almost nothing to John and Liam. Except for the sparing warning when an obstacle was coming up. Chief couldn't blame them though they were obviously hunted by the UMPC and accepting two totally new strangers. They continued walking for another few minutes when slowly and almost inconspicuously a high pitched buzz started up it seemed to high for most normal humans to hear but the irritating noise was making John want to clap his hands over his sensitive ears. The other SPARTANs heard it too and stopped their brisk march forward and quickly scanned the sky above them with sharp eyes. Surprisingly though, Liam squinted upward and covered his ears in open annoyance at the increasing volume of the buzz. Slowly ever so slowly six shapes appeared in the hazy looking west. They seemed to hover above the ground and were approaching rapidly like they were propelled by engines.
"We need to find cover NOW!" Jen said gruffly and immediately grabbed Liam's wrist and knelt down into the gritty soil next to a sprinkling of dead brush.
Before Chief could even ask what was going on the two of them vanished behind the SPARTAN's active camouflage rendering them both undetectable. Clyde nodded to Chief and then grabbed his own wrist and then vanished; 'How can he make me invisible as well?' Chief thought staring at where his feet used to be, 'and how can last longer than a few seconds?'
Within seconds the plain looked empty once more. After another minute the shapes took a more solid form as they came closer. It seemed that the humanoid figures were riding some sort of single person craft that looked reminiscent of a motor bike that glided over the earth a good foot or so. Another minute went by and the crafts got closer revealing five human males and one female were controlling the hover bikes. Another few moments and the group were nearly on top of the invisible SPARTANs in front of them but they passed by almost undetected...almost.
"Hey wait a minute, the scanner picked up something right around here," one of the men said slowing his vehicle to a halt.
The other five followed his lead and they all parked only about two-hundred feet away. They turned off their bikes and the high pitched buzz stopped replaced by the crunch of sand underneath the feet of the scouts.
"The scanner is picking up four heat signatures less than half a click away," the same man said walking a few steps closer.
All six of them continued to amble towards the hidden others muttering among themselves and slowly unhitching their small hand guns from their hips. Chief felt his heartbeat increase as adrenaline started coursing through his veins and several strategies came to mind to handle the situation.
The first was to wait for the six scouts to get close enough and then capture them. Second was to stay hidden and pray that they didn't detect them. That didn't seem so great to John, but the third wasn't so great either. He could reveal himself and lead them away from his comrades then kill them off himself, but what about the others? Did they have a plan?
The soldiers came even closer but neither Jen nor Clyde moved from their position. Now the soldiers were within feet of them; so close that John could see the large scar that stretched over one of the men's forehead.
"The scanner must be faulty, there's nothing here," the woman said in a half exasperated tone turning back to her hover bike.
The other men looked at each other and then nodded before they too turned and headed back to their vehicles. Chief could feel his heart beat slow down slightly and the anxiety of being caught lessened the tension that had curled in his chest. To his right, he could hear one of the other two whether it be Jen or Liam he wasn't sure, shift around sending small puffs of the dusty ground swirling about.
Someone sniffed loudly and then dread filled John once more at the sharp intake of breath. "AACHOO!" the loud sneeze seemed to hang in the air for a moment.
"What the Hell was that?" the soldier with the scar on his face said whipping around and holding his weapon up and panning around the area directly in front of the hidden group.
"Damn it all!" Clyde growled and let go of John's wrist.
Both of the SPARTANs appeared suddenly, startling the enemy soldiers. After a second, Jen joined them leaving a guilty looking Liam standing in back of them.
"They're SPARTANs!" the woman yelled and immediately opened fire on them.
Chief leapt to the side dragging the blonde boy down with him, with a very enraged look in his eyes. "Stay down until this is over!" he ordered and then stood back up before leaping into the fray.
Clyde and Jen rushed at the soldiers causing them to shrink back in horror. The female SPARTAN jumped at the first male scout and violently elbowed him in the face causing blood to spurt onto the ground from his now shattered nose. Then she kneed him in the stomach making him double over in pain then finished him off with a single overhead slam to the back of his head that caused a very bloody second was more hesitant and fired three shaky shots at Jen which all missed as she ran side-to-side to dodge the rounds. As he scrambled to reload his weapon, the SPARTAN rushed ahead and jammed her combat knife into his torso. He gave a hitched gasp and a dribble of blood passed from his lips. The woman grunted and twisted the blade out of the dying soldier before finishing him off with a single spin to ensure his end—leaving him with a wound in his stomach and another one across his neck.
Meanwhile Clyde had taken on two other men who were skittishly circling around their larger opponent. Clyde jumped forward scaring one of the soldiers into firing a shot that pinged harmlessly against his shields. Then he roughly punched him in the gut before twisting the man's head so that a wet snap was very audible and the man fell to the ground like a pile of bricks and didn't move. The second gave a whimpered cry and started to turn to run back to his bike two hundred yards away. Clyde waited a full five seconds and then took out his own handgun, aimed right at the man's head and fired. The cowardly soldier was lucky that his death was quick before he fell down and kicked up a cloud of dust upon impact.
John was left to engage the last male soldier and the female soldier. The male had a viscous snarl on his face and had his own minigun trained on his uncovered face.
"Ready to surrender?" he muttered winding up the motors of the large gun.
"Funny, I was going to asked you the same question!" The large man simply opened fire as John started running to the left knowing how heavy the minigun would have been in relation to his opponent and that body shots were likely to be useless judging by how heavily-armored that man was. His next move was to run up to the heavy weapons specialist from behind, slide under the sweeping motion of his minigun, pull out his knife from its holster on his cuirass upon getting back up, and stabbing him under the chin with his enhanced strength before he could swing his minigun back.
"You SPARTANs can all go to Hell!" the scream came from behind Chief.
He whipped around and saw that the last female soldier was standing poised ready to fire a killing shot right into John's head. In an instant he ducked, and threw the male soldier in front of him. John was right about the armor…it was very heavy, and due to that fact it was able to hold up against what would be three lethal body shots and a headshot. The woman looked down in horror as John dropped her fallen comrade and then at her shaking, gloved hands.
"You Bastard!" she screamed in rage and hoisted her gun up again, a crazy light in her eyes that spoke of revenge and hatred.
There was a high pitched whistle and a brown blur hit the soldier's hands making her drop the weapon in surprise. Then she looked up to see Liam standing there with another fist sized rock clenched in his hand.
"Kid, do you realize that you're going against your own species?" her voice was flat and sounded defeated.
"You're not part of my species if you try and kill them. They're not the monsters...you are; you and the rest of the UPMC!" Liam hissed through gritted teeth fury sparking in his blue eyes.
He then hoisted his arm back and heaved the rock he was holding so fast John nearly missed it as it hit the woman straight in the chest. The soldier gave a high-pitched gasp and stood for a moment with a shocked look on her face and then collapsed to the ground. She seemed to struggle for breath and then finally fell silent. For several minutes nothing moved.
Liam looked in shock at the obviously dead body in front of him with a look of revulsion and fear. John stood and put a hand on the youth's shoulder. Liam turned to look at him and then promptly turned back, walked several yards off and retched onto the ground.
Clyde went over and examined the body of the woman and the two others, "Apparently it hit her just in between heartbeats, it caused her heart to stop," he explained and stood back up dusting off his hands.
Jen watched with a look of quiet observation as the boy came back spitting and wiping his mouth, "It's tough..." she said softly.
Liam's eyes flashed over to her, "...what?"
"It's tough, the business of killing ain't it?"
The eighteen year old nodded.
Clyde came back over and looked from face to face, "Come on we need to get moving, the UPMC are going to be looking for six missing soldiers now and we don't want them finding us instead. But since we're here, we may as well take their weapons…especially you Chief; I know your augmentations are better than mine and Jen's being a SPARTAN-II and all, but your MA5C and M6G are both outdated weapons. Take the weapons and ammo these soldiers have and get going."
John nodded and discarded his now empty guns and started picking up the knife he used to kill the heavy weapons specialist and the assault rifle and pistol from the soldier Liam killed with magazines for both. Clyde hefted the minigun and its backpack-mounted ammunition feed while Jen took all the rifles by their shoulder slings. Liam was forced to carry all the magazines in a bag. The second they were done scavenging, they started forward again but slightly faster towards Hydra Canyon.
"Head Chairman, we've have found the item you've requested." a human soldier came forward holding the muddied looking object that seemed to hold so much value.
"Excellent, where did you find it?" the graying man asked, a grim smile playing at his thin lips.
"It was tracked to the bottom of Lake Costa Sterna, the chip inside is still intact," the man responded with a quick salute.
"Very good, you may leave now I must contact our financer; he will be most interested in this," the Chairman said and without a word the soldier left.
For a moment the Chairman studied the helmet that was over seventy years old now but seemed in perfect condition. Turning it so that the back of it faced towards him, letting his thin, bony fingers slide down the back until it found the small chip in the back compartment. With a click, he removed the chip and then let the now-useless helmet fall to the expensively carpeted rug.
"Chairman, I hope you have found something of the utmost importance or you will be severely punished for interrupting me…" the guttural voice of Gaul came from the speakers and a large projection of a screen flashed up in front of the man.
"Yes, I believe that I have found something...something that may turn the tide of our little...agreement." he fingered the chip in his hands delicately.
Gaul fell into an icy silence observing the Chairman with an air of disgust but allowed the man to continue speaking. "This is what I have found my Lord, and do you perhaps know what it is?"
"Do not play mind games with me human!" the alien roared making the speakers hiss with feedback.
"It is the AI chip that belonged to the escaped SPARTAN," the Chairman said calmly back holding up the chip with the glowing blue center.
"And why would this be of any importance to our plan? Although I will admit that it is a mere convenience that may grant us a move or two ahead of our enemies," Gaul sniffed.
The Chairman gave a knowing smile, "Oh but Lord Gaul, this is important because before her swim in Costa Sterna lake, she had been transmitting information back to my headquarters for two days," then the man gave a mad laugh.
Understanding glazed the squid-faced alien's eyes, "You hacked her? You were able to rewire her to obey you?"
The Chairman nodded and the smile faded, "No, or at least not completely. You see before that super soldier escaped, we were able to put a virus into this AI. That virus in turn sent us information and was able to second handedly influence the AI." he explained.
Gaul frowned but yet again did not speak.
"As we speak the virus is still trying to hack through the AI's internal mechanisms acting as parasite draining information as it tries to subdue her...individuality,".
"But she refuses to submit?" the alien lord asked clasping his hands in his lap.
"Y...yes...she is most stubborn towards the virus but I assure you that with time she will succumb to it," the Chairman looked slightly uneasy but kept his voice from shaking.
There was silence for a moment but then Gaul rumbled, "Show me."
The man nodded and inserted the chip into an AI stand next to his own chair. After a moment the blue figure of Cortana appeared, kneeling and looking straight ahead. Every so often her color would flicker and go from blue, to green, to ruby red and then back.
"She may not be yielding quite yet but she cannot do anything two stressful or something that depends on her full attention or the virus will grab a hold of her," the Head Chairman indicated.
"So are you certain she will break?"
The man hesitated for a split seconds in which the AI said quietly, pain and anger clear in her voice. "You stupid pathetic creatures have no idea who you are dealing with! When the Master Chief gets here, I'm very certain that you imbeciles will die!"
This seemed to amuse Gaul and he gave a short gurgling laugh that hissed and spat pasted his tentacle-covered face, "You humans are very adaptable I will give you that," his black eyes sparkled maliciously, "contact me when you have made some progress with her. This has helped our agreement very much Chairman."
"I'm very glad you can see that milord," the Chairman said.
No sooner than the feed had been cut than the Chairman chuckled darkly. The gears in his head turning…oh this was just perfect… 'Smile while you can Lord Gaul, soon as I have dealt with the last of those freaks, it will be a forewarning to the doom you are about to have placed upon your head as the UPMC will take all its power back! Master Chief? Ha! He is but an old relic! A freak from a faction that no longer exists will die by the might of the UPMC! Let him come I say! What can a weak, pathetic freak like him do? And by the time this mess is cleaned up, I will see to it that anybody mentioning the name of John-117 will be executed for treason and heresy!'
