Chapter 8: Annoyance


"Chief!" Cortana said the moment John walked inside his assigned quarters after his quick shower. "How many times do I have to tell you to clean. Your. Armor. Is it really that hard?" She pointed towards the corner where John chucked his armor in a small pile.

"It will get dirty afterwards." John said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"No! That's not the point!" Cortana insisted, placing both holographic hands on her holographic hips.

"Then what is the point of cleaning something that will ultimately get dirty, Cortana?" John crossed his arms and leaned against the closed-door, raising an eyebrow at the holographic figure of Cortana.

"The point is," Cortana sighed, using a condescending tone, as if talking to a child, "It helps with your reputation. You don't want other soldiers—especially the ODST's to think that the great Master Chief is such a slob, do you?"

"I could care less about what they think." John said, gaze not wavering from her form.

"John! Just do as I say! I know these things, you don't!" Cortana screamed in frustration at how childish the Master Chief was getting. If she knew she would be working with this kind of attitude, she would have chosen another Spartan! 'No, not really. I'd still choose him any time.' But still!

"No Cortana. And it's final." John turned and opened the door and went to leave the room.

"JOHN!" Cortana screamed at the loudest volume possible. He did not just back off from their conversation. He did not.

Cortana grumbled inside her 'head', planning on what she can do. Suddenly, she grinned and nodded her head. Yes, that is the best plan ever.

She planned to start the next day.


John has been having bad luck the entire day; he had been running into trouble on every corner. And for the Master Chief, that is a very, very bad thing. He is always lucky. Perhaps today was just not his day?

First, the lights and water in the shower room turned off in the middle of his shower. Which left him alone, in the dark—but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he was soapy and slippery.

As he went to his towel to dry off, the towel has 'mysteriously' vanished, and a pod that wasn't there a moment ago magically appeared out of nowhere, causing him to hit his toe on it and almost fall on the very wet and slippery floor.

When he went to get a drink in the energy drink dispenser, it wouldn't stop pouring the energy drink; he had to use his shirt as a stopper so the thing won't flood the floor, which resulted to a very wet and sticky shirt for John, which resulted to him taking another shower. It had taken five expert technicians to stop the mechanical problem.

When he decided to go to the training room to have target practice, every single gun he laid his hands on seemed to get jammed. One gun had recoiled so hard, it hit his eye when he placed it on the scope, causing a very large, dark and painful looking bruise. Another gun wouldn't stop firing no matter what he did, he tried taking the magazine with bullets off, but it just went insane and slapped him on the face. He looked around him to see if the others had the same problem as him, but they were all firing noisily and happily. When he asked to borrow the gun, it would stop working.

John finally had enough, he knew who was behind all these; no one else would dare cross the path of the Master Chief. No one else, but Cortana.

Just then, he felt himself tripping over a wire that was slightly raised, there was never a single wire in the ship. Not until now that is. He was too focused on his anger that he only realized a second too late that he was falling. To the blue-haired ODST that he hated, Hated, HATED so much. The Master Chief fell on him, almost crushing the poor guy. A few bewildered looks were sent to the both of them, and they stood—ehem, sat that way for a few seconds before the blue-haired idiot spoke.

"I didn't know you swing that way, big guy." The blue-haired moron chuckled and smirked at him.

John growled before jumping off him, marching towards his quarters, where the object of his sentiments resided.


"CORTANA!" John bellowed the moment he entered his assigned quarters. He knew Cortana would be there.

"Yes, John?" Cortana asked all too innocently, too innocent for someone who just did all those… all those… pranks to him.

"Stop this stupidity!" John angrily shouted at the woman, marching in front of her pod and glared at her.

"You had this coming John, when you decided to disobey me, not once but plenty, plenty of times! You should have known!" Cortana narrowed her eyes and held the Chief's gaze. "If you finally clean your armor," Cortana gestured to the pile of metal that was chucked on the other side of the room, "I'll stop."

"Fine!" John shouted at her.

"Fine." She crossed her arms and smirked when John dejectedly picked up each part of his armor and carefully cleaned and polished it.

That's when John learned, you do not mess with an AI.


This was the longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoyed! :DDD

Reviews are ALWAYS appreciated.