AN: A couple of people have told me that some chapters can get a bit confusing when they contain the POV's of multiple main characters. With that in mind, I'm trying something new here. Well, relatively speaking. Apart from the first scene, the majority of this chapter will take place on Feros with the Master Chief.
Please let me know in a review or PM if this works out!
~0~
Exodus Cluster / Asgard System / Terra Nova
The last couple of days were calm and honestly a bit relaxing. There was something oddly refreshing about watching the three major Citadel species help out in their own ways. Groups of turians were helping Liminals and humans alike with old-fashioned heavy labour. Be it carrying building materials to the fabrication sites, helping refugees with their luggage or simple logistics, they did so with focus and purpose.
Salarian organizations helped out with the more subtle, but equally important bits, such as the electricity, running water and the adaptors that made the extranet and the internet compatible.
The asari…well…it was their services that Kurusu wanted to stay away from as far as long as realistically possible. They assisted with the humanitarian issues. The mental issues. Psychologists, mental healthcare, social workers and all kinds of therapy.
That was where the Marine drew the line. He'd happily haul bricks with a turian or install wires with a salarian, but letting an alien into his mind was too much.
So when the third second email imploring him to come meet his new psychiatrist arrived in his mailbox, Kurusu decided that now was the time to head out and do some groceries.
Atlach looked around with large, curious eyes. She seemed to ignore the various humans and Liminals in favour of the Citadel species who walked around the city.
When Kurusu glanced at her, pleasantly surprised by the open display of curiosity, she quickly assumed the stoic, impassive expression she always seemed to carry.
"You know, we could really go for some eggs," he said. "And I think we're all out of tea, too. Should have added that to the list…"
"Who is Thaggus?" Atlach suddenly asked.
Kurusu looked at her, surprised. "Who?"
"Don't act coy. Caller identification showed that name at least twice the past evenings. And since you always disappear around the evening…"
Ah, that Thaggus. "You mean my running buddy?" He asked.
"Running buddy…how lovely…"
Her thinly-veiled malice in her voice was a sign she thought it was anything but lovely.
"The gym hasn't opened yet. Need to find some way to stay fit, right?" He explained.
"Sure," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Is Thaggus pretty?"
"…I suppose so," Kurusu warily replied. He was starting to see what this was about.
"…great."
"It's just running, Atlach. It doesn't mean anything."
She didn't respond.
"Do…you want to run with me?"
She made a rather indignant noise.
Okay, Kurusu had no idea what this was about.
The supermarket was about fifteen minutes from their home. They had to cross a couple of busy streets and an industrial zone that didn't look like it was up to standards, but it was doable. Problem was, this was the only supermarket in the neighbourhood. Which meant that everybody came here, all the time.
Kurusu felt his pulse quicken the moment he saw the large group of people wandering around the mall. New shops were added every week, but that did nothing to stem the tide of customers.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He felt his palms sweating, his heart pounding in his throat. He wasn't going to do this. There was still time to go home. Drink some coffee.
At first, Atlach didn't notice he stopped. After a couple of meters however, she suddenly stopped and cast him an odd glance.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Just remembered I don't like masses that much," he muttered back.
She cocked an eyebrow. "How bad?"
Kurusu held out his arms as wide as he could. The empty sleeve of his left arm dangled uselessly. "This bad?"
"But…alright, I see. Isn't this something you need to do?"
"Yes," he weakly replied. "It is. So I'll see you back home."
"I don't think so," she replied. She walked over to his position and gave him a nudge. "We'll both look like fools if you avoid every public meeting."
It was no use resisting. Her arms weren't much thicker than his, but her muscles might as well have been made out of metal. She carefully steered him into the mall.
This city still did its things the old-fashioned way. Self-service where the food, drinks and household products were organized into sections and shelves. Thing was, they reorganized the interior lately. Kurusu had no idea where to find the groceries he needed. That he never paid much attention to the internal layout before didn't help much, either. Before soon, he was lost.
And Atlach was nowhere to be found.
"Okay," he muttered, turning around in a circle to try and get his bearings. "Nobody panic. The UNSC Marine Corps got this…"
He tried to ignore how close the civilians were getting to him and instead recalled his grocery list. Arachnes were carnivorous, so they'd have to stock up on meat. She didn't like coffee or chocolate, but she did write "tea" at the top of their list, so he'd have to find that eventually. He'd make sure that it was the right tea though; some Liminal species couldn't handle specific human products.
Kurusu didn't realize it at first, but there was a commotion at the front of the store. People rushed past the cashiers to get a closer look. The walls started trembling, the shelves shaking dangerously. A low rumble echoed through the mall.
Kurusu looked up, just in time to see that the large shelve in front of him was about to collapse, right on top of him.
He could have rolled out of the way. Combat rolls were among the first maneuvers they taught new recruits during martial arts sessions. Right leg, right shoulder. Left leg, left shoulder. Every fall could be managed that way, and good muscle tension could propel you several meters away.
But it was no use. A quick glance told him that he stood in the worst of places. An older woman stood to his left. She would surely perish in the chaos. A mother Kitsune stood to his right, holding the cutest and fluffiest little thing against her chest. There was nowhere to go.
The shelves collapsed on top of him, burying him alive underneath a wave of household items. He never stood a chance.
His cries were muffled by rolls of plastic bags. The other customers yelled out in shock and surprise, but nobody seemed to notice his arm sticking out of the heap, desperate for air.
That was when someone grabbed a hold of his arm. It was a large, warm claw, much larger than any human's. Whoever it was, they were strong enough to haul him out with impunity. Within a second or two, Kurusu found himself back on his feet, confused by the whole ordeal.
"Hey kiddo, you alright?"
Before him stood a tall, intimidating woman. Her skin and fur alike were onyx-coloured, as dark as the night. Her fiery red eyes seemed to gaze into his very soul, but she did not appear malicious. She grinned widely at him, her long, fluffy tail softly swaying from side to side.
A hellhound.
"I think so," replied Kurusu. "What happened?"
"Spaceship came flying by, in very low orbit," she explained. "People are spooked so easily, these days…I don't think I've seen you around. What's your name?"
"Oh, I'm Kurusu. I've…not been here very long," he hesitantly replied. "Thanks for helping me, by the way."
"Oh, no prob," she replied, still grinning. "You looked so frail and helpless, no predator worth their salt would ignore you."
That…wasn't very reassuring. "The gym hasn't opened yet," he replied with a small voice. "I'm not that helpless…"
"Are you kidding me? You're so short!" Kurusu didn't think her eyes were malicious by any means, but they seemed to ensnare and entrance him, keeping his eyes locked with hers. "Don't you have someone to help you?"
"He has someone to help him," a cold voice replied. It seemed Atlach finally spotted him. The Hellhound broke her gaze and looked at the approaching Arachne.
Man, Kurusu hoped the didn't see what just happened to him…
"Fat lot of good you did!" The Hellhound bit at her, her grin disappearing like snow before the sun. "I had to drag him out of that mess!"
Atlach's gaze settled on the hound and Kurusu could have her blood red eyes glowed slightly for a moment. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Blanca. I kept my eyes on the boy while you were away," replied the Hellhound, her own eyes burning as with an internal fire.
The air grew thick and hostile when the two Liminals locked eyes. Kurusu felt his unease return with twice the oomph.
"How pleasant," Atlach replied through clenched teeth. "That means you can scurry off again."
"Uhh…ladies?" Kurusu said, his voice sounding a hell of a lot weaker than he wanted it to. "That spaceship that just flew overhead…what was it?"
"A UNSC one, probably bringing more supplies," Atlach replied without taking her eyes off the hellhound.
But…the Citadel ships always brought supplies, not the UNSC ones. This wasn't how things should go.
"I dunno," replied Blanca. "You kinda left the little man unattended. If he was really yours, you wouldn't have done that."
Dear god, could Hellhounds smell fear? If so, Kurusu doubted he made a good first impression. Was that why she kept an eye on him, as she herself phrased it?
Atlach's armoured hand seized his and she pulled him back towards her. "I don't need someone else telling me how to take care of a human, thank you very much."
"Groceries!" exclaimed the Marine, desperate to diffuse the situation. "We need more groceries! Tea, bacon, sugar, that kind of stuff. We should find out where they keep that stuff. How about I catch you later, Blanca?"
She laughed and grinned a devilish smile. "Sure. Be seeing you, little man."
Kurusu silently waved at the Hellhound as she left, wondering what just happened. Until a seething Arachne grabbed a hold of his wrist and pulled him away, of course.
The trip home was silent, but not the "I'm so upset with you" kind of silent. To Kurusu, it seemed that his Arachne friend was pretty much lost in her thoughts. What she was thinking about, he had no idea. Truth be told, he was just glad she wasn't angry with him anymore. He never could take it when people thought he wasn't telling the truth. He truly had no clue what occurred at the mall.
When they came back home, Atlach helped him put the groceries where they belonged. Kurusu tried to ignore the stinging sense of humiliation that reared its ugly head again when he watched her work. A painful chill ran through his non-existing arm.
She's taller than you, he told himself. She's stronger than you. It's only natural she does more.
He pulled his gaze from her well-toned body and put some water on. He could use some coffee and he knew that she could use some tea.
He barely put the kettle on when the doorbell rang. In a feverish reflex, Kurusu reached for the knife strapped to his boot, but quickly jerked his hand back when he saw Atlach glance at him.
God, he didn't want to her to think ill of him…
"Expecting someone?" She dryly asked, carefully setting a pack of sugar down on the counter.
"Not really," he replied. "Unless they finally authorized my request for a car."
"Should I…?"
He quickly stood. "No. No, I'll take this one. Be right back."
Kurusu walked over to the door, took stock of the Magnum he stashed in the nearby drawer for emergencies and placed his hand on the doorknob. He waited two heartbeats before pulling the door open.
He took one look at the person on the doorstep and immediately shoved the door close again.
He frowned. This couldn't be right…
"Atlach?" Kurusu called to the living room. "Are we expecting Miss Smith today?"
"…no?" She responded a couple of seconds later, sounding a bit puzzled.
Kurusu sighed, ran his hand through his hair to smoothen it out a bit and pulled the door open again. "Uhm…hi?"
Smith smiled coyly. "Hello again, mister Kimihito. I trust you are acclimatizing well?"
He blinked a couple of times in confusion. "Me? Yeah, sure. One step at a time, you know. I don't think you're here to bring me a car, are you?"
"Your intuition is spot-on," she replied, her grin widening. "Did they teach you that in the Marine Corps?"
Her response meant trouble. "Sort of. What's going on?"
Miss Smith took off her glasses and stuffed them into her pocket. "Well, you see…the offices are somewhat overwhelmed by all the refugees coming to Terra Nova. We don't want to repeat some of the unfortunate incidents in the rest of the Attican Traverse, so union and coexistence is our number one priority right now."
"That makes sense," Kurusu replied, nodding. If people couldn't get along with each other, you'd end up with nutjobs like the Black Fang and the Templar Order, who used religion or racial supremacy as excuses to do whatever they wanted.
"I'm glad you agree. Unfortunately, some of our would-be-refugees need...how should I put this…a specific and stable environment to come to terms with their new lives."
Something told Kurusu that he wasn't going to like this. "Okay?"
"With that in mind, the Office of Naval Intelligence reviewed some of the papers that the citizens here signed…and found a perfect opportunity in the shape of a disciplined, meek WIA Marine who recently came to live in this city!"
Disciplined…,meek…WIA…that sounded awfully familiar.
"Wait a second…I think you're talking about me!" He replied, feeling horror clutch at his heart.
Smith cocked an eyebrow at that. "Again, your intuition is…commendable. Don't worry about a thing; I think you two have already met! Come, I'll introduce you to your new friend!"
Smith offered him her hand, which he hesitantly took. She had a grip that belied her tall, but slender frame.
Together, the two of them took a couple of steps towards the driveway when Smith suddenly turned around. "I told you it would work out, didn't I?" She called out to someone standing behind Kurusu.
The Marine whirled around as well. Leaning against the side of his house stood a tall, beautiful woman. Her fur was as dark as coal, which made her burning, red eyes stand out even more. When she locked eyes with him, she flashed him a smile, showing a couple of wicked-looking canines.
"Hello again kiddo!" She happily said.
"Hey! Blanca, wasn't it?" Kurusu replied, feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Even though he hardly knew her, it was good to see a familiar face.
She pushed off the wall and rapidly approached him, crossing her wrists behind her back and leaning down so that her eyes were on the same height as his. She was so tall!
"I think someone's a bit nervous," she said, grinning devilishly. "Don't worry, Kurusu. I don't bite. Hard."
With fangs like hers, Kurusu seriously doubted that.
"Blanca has been having some trouble finding a permanent home," Smith said, typing in something on her datapad as she spoke. "But I have a feeling you three are going to get on perfectly."
With a roommate like his, Kurusu seriously doubted that. "We'll make it work. Do you…ehm…have any luggage, B-Blanca?"
"Out back, in Smith's car," she replied. Research done by the UNSC claimed that even humans could eventually sense whenever magic was at work, especially when it started clouding their senses. The human instinct was hard to fool, after all. But looking into Blanca's burning eyes, Kurusu honestly didn't know if they were truly haunting him, or if he was just being sentimental. "Be a good boy and help me with them, would you?"
Kurusu glanced down at her hands. His were large, but her black paws were easily twice their size. And those nails looked like they could double as combat knives.
The Hellhound certainly looked intimidating, but Kurusu felt strangely calm in her presence. Maybe Smith was right. Maybe he really was the right person for these girls.
He picked up one of the larger bags and was pleasantly surprised to feel that it wasn't all that heavy. He guessed it weighed maybe five or six kilos. Maybe she didn't have a lot of possessions?
"Come in, we'll show you around," he told her as he walked back into his house. Unsurprisingly, Smith wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Blanca followed him inside. She glanced at the drawer near the front door and she frowned, like she knew exactly what it contained.
Since Atlach moved in, Kurusu had taken painstaking efforts to clean up the house. Of course, Atlach was much more efficient at keeping the place tidy. Multiple limbs and all that. All in all, he felt like the household felt much more hospitable these days.
"What is she doing here?" An icy voice rang out when Kurusu entered the living room.
Of course, hospitality was a broad concept…
"So, Smith just dropped by," Kurusu started to explain, but he didn't get very far before all hell broke loose.
"She has a name," Blanca growled back, brushing past the young Marine to confront her new roommate. "And I'm going to be your new roomie, sweetheart."
"Don't sweetheart me, mutt," the Arachne bit back. "This household is filled to capacity. There is no room or need for you."
"Uhm…girls?"
"Funny. Seems to me that there's a lot of…empty space to fill here. A lot of wasted potential," retorted Blanca.
"Hilarious. And you presume you are going to be filling that empty space?"
"It's empty for a reason isn't it?"
"Girls, enough!" Kurusu loudly said, hoping to intervene before things got ugly. "We're all here for a reason, okay? The Covenant, the batarians, doesn't matter." He took a deep breath. "We've all lost things, but this place has given us a second chance. So we should be helping each other."
The two Liminals stared at him for a couple of seconds, hopefully mulling over his words. Kurusu wondered whether how much of a factor his own apparent helplessness was for them. He saw the way they tried their hardest to not look at his empty sleeve.
Atlach sighed and closed her eyes. Crossing her arms, she said, "Fine. I suppose I can tolerate another woman in this house. As long as you pull your own weight, of course."
Blanca grinned, though her grin did not seem to reach her eyes. "Sure. Of course. You've fought for peace and security yourself. The least we could do is honour that, right?"
She reached out and placed a paw on his head in an affectionate gesture. Her large hand easily enveloped the top of his head, positively radiating with heat. Her black, lethal nails softly brushed his
Kurusu felt his cheeks flush with heat. "L-Let me get your stuff to your room. Atlach? Could you help me out?"
"Certainly," the Arachne responded, her voice perfectly steady. "Allow me to give you a tour of the house…"
As the two women went on ahead, Kurusu thought back to the UNSC ship that touched down a while back. Normally the Citadel ships took care of the logistics, mostly because their designated ships were just faster than the UNSC counterparts. The actual warships usually kept their distance, only to appear in-system in the case of emergencies.
So that begged the question: what was the emergency?
Kurusu felt a stab of uncertainty when he realized that, but then simply shrugged. Maybe he was just overthinking things.
~0~
18:39 Hours, January 29th, (Military Calendar) /
Feros
The Master Chief halted, raising his fist to signal his squad to stop. He caught movement in his peripheral vision, like something was tracking him from within the forest.
To his left. A dozen meters away from his position. Something was circling around him.
"Uhh…Chief?" Said Cortana. "Motion tracker shows all clear. What's going on?"
"Something is stalking us," he told her over a private channel. Whatever was out there kept itself hidden, moving through the foliage. They were making noise, however, which made it strange that none of his team noticed the activity.
"What do you see?" Kyuri softly asked him.
"Unknown contact, circling around to our left flank," he replied over the team's comm.
"I don't see anything," Rachnera said, squinting her two main eyes. "And my eyesight is actually good."
"Motion sensor shows all clear," Cortana told him.
Dracosa's tail softly moved waved back and forth, betraying the tension that rippled underneath her muscles. Her nostrils flared as she sniffed, taking in the scents surrounding them.
She looked at him, her yellow eyes searching for his underneath his visor. Wordlessly, she shook her head.
That was four negatives to his positive.
He remained on alert for several moments, before easing up when he realized that there really was nothing there.
"We should keep moving," he said. Either something with excellent senses and instinct was hunting them, or he was jumpy.
Spartans didn't get jumpy. He'd keep his eye out.
After a while, Sergeant Derek reported in. "Master Chief? I found what we're looking for."
"Sitrep," the Chief simply ordered.
"The geth have a large base at the anomalous zone. Fortified structures and a couple hundred units guarding it. Drones, tanks, infantry. Also, there was a girl."
"You can keep your personal life to yourself, Sergeant."
"Noted, sir. But ehm…about this girl…"
The Spartan rolled with his eyes. Marines…
"I think she's what has been killing those scouts, sir. She's with the geth. Young-looking thing, definitely hostile. Definitely magic involved."
Magic. There existed two words that could rattle a Spartan on a mission. Magic was one of them. When it came to magic, best-case scenarios often turned to worst-case scenarios. Electronics couldn't be trusted anymore, the human senses couldn't be trusted anymore and everything had to be done with gut feelings and instinct.
Knowing what they were dealing with now was very valuable. "Did she spot you?"
"I don't think so, sir. I've been relocating for the past twenty minutes."
"Where are you now?"
There was a pause. "About two dozen meters from where I started, sir."
The Chief sighed. "Do you have eyes on the geth position?"
"Yes sir."
"Stay there. We're coming your way."
No sooner had the Chief uttered that sentence than the trees around him began to shift. He heard their bark creaking and groaning. His motion sensor exploded with activity and he noticed that the ground began shaking.
A rain of leaves and small branches swept down on the small fireteam.
"Oh, Chief, a thing," Rachnera remarked, running a hand through her silver hair to brush off a couple of leaves, "Something's coming this way. Something big."
"You think?" The Chief replied, scanning his surroundings with his assault rifle. He couldn't see the enemy's approach, the forest was too dense.
"Uhh…is that a geth? What's going on?" Kyuri said, nervously fidgeting with her pistol.
The shaking got worse and worse, to the point that the entire forest seemed to come alive. In hindsight, that really should have been a wakeup sign.
John caught motion in his peripherals and spun around, just in time to spot an enormous thing lumbering towards them. It was absolutely enormous, easily twice as tall as a Covenant Scarab, yet seemed to be made entirely from wood and leaves. Roughly shaped like a lopsided human, the abomination reached for them with an enormous, wooden claw.
"Dryad!" Shouted the Spartan, before throwing himself to the side. The plant monster planted an enormous foot in the middle of their formation, narrowly missing Rachnera and Dracosa, who hurried to avoid it.
"What is that?" Kyuri yelled in alarm. "Oh my god, what is that!"
"Less screaming more shooting!" Cried Dracosa.
The Chief ducked low as the massive claw slammed into the earth, sending the Dragon Girl tumbling head-over-tail. He spotted Kyuri attempting to gain some distance, frantically pumping her leathery wings to get away.
A dozen twisting roots erupted from the wooden claw, snaking out in search for prey. Kyuri yelped as a couple of them wrapped themselves around her ankles, dragging her higher up in the air. More of the thick vines bound her wings to her torso, keeping her from wiggling free.
The Chief was on her in an instant, pulling his combat knife from its holster and grabbing a hold of those vines. But they were tough, as sturdy as metal cables, and he couldn't carve through them in one motion.
"Chief!" Kyuri cried as the wooden monster pulled her up in the air. "I don't think this is a geeeeth!"
"Kyuri!" The Chief called. He tried to get in a position to open fire, but he didn't have a shot. He couldn't risk hitting her.
They weren't faring well. Dracosa was grounded and didn't have the space to dodge the vines when they came for her next. They wrapped around her limbs and her slender waist, then jerked her off her feet as well.
"Get off me!" She growled as the roots tightened themselves around her chest. "Chief!"
This wasn't the best tactical situation. The Chief was pretty sure that they stumbled upon the hostile elements that Saadia Dan mentioned, but he couldn't respond with lethal force. He wouldn't.
A dozen gnarly roots attached themselves to his arms. They weren't that thick, but their grip on him was like iron. He wrestled his left arm free and started prying the vines off his right arm, but the damned plants took that opening to wrap around his waist as well, trapping him in their vice grip.
This brought back bad memories.
The wooden giant effortlessly pulled the Spartan, Vampire and Dragon up in the air. Up there, dozens of meters above the ground, it pulled them towards its massive trunk that creaked as it moved to face them. The trunk split in half vertically, parting to confirm what the Master Chief already suspected.
While Kyuri and Dracosa struggled against their binds, the Chief merely waited, saving his strength as he stared into the deep, emerald eyes of the angriest Dryad he ever saw.
"Human," she spat. Her hair seemed to be made of green leaves. Roots, vines and leaves covered her body and preserved her modesty. Right now, they were squirming around in agitation. "Did you come to clean up your mess? Kill the ones you can't buy off?"
One look at her emerald, hate-filled eyes had the Chief's instinct yelling at him to keep his mouth firmly shut.
Of course, when it came to women, John never followed his instinct. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. We're UNSC special forces, we're here to help – "
The vines constricting his body tightened, and hard. His energy shields flared in protest as the iron-like appendages writhed across his armour.
"I don't need to hear more lies," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Your people have hurt us enough. I won't let you humans hurt us more!"
"Wait!" Yelled Kyuri. She struggled mightily against the vines holding and somehow managed to slip free. She flapped her bat-like wings and struggled to approach the enraged Dryad. "We just got here! We're here to help you, really!"
"I have no reason to believe you," the Dryad angrily replied. "Begone."
A thicker, darker vine erupted from a spot next to the woman's head and it struck Kyuri, hard. The Vampire uttered a cry of pain as she was swatted out of the sky by the Dryad.
She didn't have the superhuman toughness like most Liminals did. A fall from this height could be lethal!
Concerned, the Master Chief began struggling against his bindings again, ready to tear himself free and risk the drop himself if it meant getting to his teammate. Then, Cortana interfered.
"Don't worry about her, Rachnera's been busy down there. If you can keep madam misanthrope over there distracted, I think Rachnera can get us out of here."
John seriously doubted an extremist like Rachnera could bring anything useful to the team, but he was open to suggestions here. He didn't have much choice.
"Feros hasn't seen much humans in the past decade. What happened that makes you hate us so much?" he asked.
He glanced aside, spotting Dracosa. She was thrashing like crazy in her bindings, biting and clawing in an attempt to get the vines off her. It kept the majority of the vines and roots preoccupied.
"One visit of your lowly species was enough!" She bit at him. "You know damn well what happened after they unearthed that monstrous thing all those weeks ago!"
"Hold on, what thing?" The Chief calmly said. Reasoning with emotional Liminal women had never been his strong suit. That honour usually went to Fred and Will. "What did these humans find?"
"Enough of this prattle! You're playing dumb, you're lying!" She shouted, renewing her efforts in an attempt to crush him. In a cold, low voice, she added, "All of you, liars and monsters. You will feel nature's wrath."
That was the end of negotiations, apparently, as she vines holding him suddenly lifted him higher up in the air, before violently throwing him back to the ground again.
The Master Chief experienced the sickening lurch of gravity pulling at his centre. There was nothing to hold on to, nothing to grab as he plummeted towards the ground. He barely managed to pump his hydrostatic gel to maximum pressure. Then, he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the inevitable landing.
Sudden deceleration came much slower than he expected. Instead of slamming spine-first into the rough forest ground, he felt something soft and stretchy arrest his momentum over the course of several long seconds.
"Okay, now that's awesome!" Said Cortana.
The Master Chief opened his eyes. He lay in a spread eagle position in a giant spiderweb. He saw the Dryad's monster loom overhead, still preoccupied with Draco.
Then, Rachnera crawled into view. Or rather, she bowed over his webbed body, smirking. She tapped against his visor with a black, chitin-covered finger, only to found herself repulsed by his shields.
John had grown increasingly uncomfortable with touch, intimacy and signs of affection over the course of the past years. When he realized just how close Rachnera was to him, resting with her breasts on his chest and smirking in his face, he felt something akin to panic.
He fought to suppress that feeling. She just saved him a lot of internal bleeding. "Nice catch."
"Honey, I'm just getting warmed up," she said. She raised her right hand – a bundle of razor-thin wires were barely visible between her fingers – and pulled on them.
At the same time, the collection of vines and roots that moved to intercept the Chief suddenly halted in mid-air. Now that he had the time to look, the Chief saw that his surroundings were filled with bound and ensnared vines.
She saw that he spotted her work and smiled broadly. Or sadistically. "Time for the main show. How athletic are you?"
"…depends on your plan."
Not even half a minute later, Kyuri was back in the air, taking potshots at the wooden monster from a safe distance. It had to feel every impact, as it sluggishly turned around to face her, rapidly regenerating whatever vines and roots it lost.
But tissue that got disconnected from the main body dried up, withered and died. That was the weakness they had to exploit. The Chief knew he could end this fight whenever he wanted to; it was just a matter of loading a magazine with armour-piercing rounds. Sustained, accurate fire aimed at the tree's centre would punch through its hardened exterior and fatally injure the Dryad inside.
But he would be killing an emotionally vulnerable civilian in cold blood. John never would.
That meant doing this the hard way.
"Any! Time!. Now!" Draco yelled in the comm, audibly panting between every word. Strange; the Chief thought her stamina was better than that.
Unfortunately, he wasn't in position yet. As Kyuri attempted to keep the massive wood-monster occupied, Rachnera attached one end of a thick bundle of cables to the thickest tree she could find. The other end was attached through a utility carabiner to the Chief's belt.
"She keeps getting it snared on the branches, are you in position yet?" Rachnera demanded over the comm.
"Not yet," the Chief replied, climbing up along the right leg of the monster. The bark was tough and the trunk had plenty of places to hold on to, but his weight was working against him. His grips kept breaking free.
"I…don't…think…I…can…keep up…" panted Kyuri. The Chief saw her rapidly descend to avoid another batch of serpentine plants, but her motions were getting slower and weaker. He had to hurry.
Dryad's didn't normally grow this big. What the hell had she been eating?
It took him a couple of minutes, but he finally reached the behemoth's upper body. From there, he half-ran half-climbed towards its head. A shrill cry told him that the vines finally caught up with Kyuri. Rachnera better be ready down there.
The Dryad gasped when he suddenly emerged in front of her. She quickly recovered from her shock however and the wood surrounding her began to close up to protect her away from any harm.
"I'm not going to hurt you," the Chief said. He pushed himself past the closing trunks and gently but firmly pulled the Dryad from her rooted position.
She thrashed and fought in his grasp as hard as she could. "Let go! Release me at once!"
Very few things that struggled against a Spartan ever got what they wanted. The Liminal was no exception. John effortlessly carried her to the edge of the wood monster and retrieved his carabiner. He swiftly wrapped it around one of the many protrusions, hoping that it would hold their collective weight. He increased his shielding's output at his hands. Traction was the last thing he needed right now.
Then, he jumped.
The Dryad's curses turned into screams as the tree-like growth disappeared behind them. The Chief grabbed a hold of the spider silk that now ran from the top of the behemoth's head all the way to the ground and hoped that the Arachne was as good as she thought she was.
The silk wires didn't pull taut immediately. Spartan and Dryad dropped half a dozen meters before the webbing finally did what it was meant to. Just as he hoped, his shields interacted with the webbing in such a way that it didn't stick to his hands, allowing him to pick up speed.
Behind them, the giant's motions became more jerky and stiff, until it ceased entirely. By the time the Master Chief and the Dryad made it to the ground, tumbling to a rough halt straight into more webs, it stood completely still.
The Dryad stared at the sky with large eyes, visibly shaken by the sudden trip. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling and she seemed to struggle to catch her breath.
"Huh…that didn't go as smooth as I thought it would…" Rachnera said, rubbing her chin as she analysed her work.
The Master Chief shook his head. "Find Draco and Kyuri. Get them back to their feet."
She snorted. "No 'thank you'? That's twice I've kept you from burying yourself in a crater, you know?"
In all honesty, the Chief was impressed by her work. He wasn't going to tell her that, of course. She had enough of an attitude problem as it was. Quite frankly, he still didn't know if he could fully trust her. "I gave you an order. Need a reminder of how orders work?"
She sighed and rolled with her two main eyes. "Yeah yeah, I'm on it…I want to see how cute they look with those plants wrapped around then, anyway…"
John watched her leave, briefly wondering what she meant by that. Should be…be concerned about that?
…on the other hand, he wouldn't understand anyway. So, he turned his attention to the Dryad again. She still appeared dazed. "Are you alright?"
Wordlessly, she nodded.
"I told you I wasn't going to hurt you. I meant that. Your home is being invaded. We're here to help you stop them."
She blinked a couple of times, as if trying to regain her bearing. Not too far away, her creation started falling apart piece by piece. Abandoned by whatever powers that had kept it together, it started to break off into pieces the size of Warthogs.
"Ask her what the other humans did," Cortana advised him. "Vilify them a bit, relate to her troubles. Girls like it when you relate to them."
Well, he guessed Cortana would know…"You said the other humans unearthed something. They caused you trouble. What did they do?"
The Dryad likely realized that he was telling the truth. After all, she was now completely at his mercy and he still hadn't hurt a hair…leaf…on her head. "They came here a month or two ago…a plant-being, but also not a pant-being. We…my people tried to set it free, since they imprisoned it, but…" She closed her eyes. "It wanted more. It wanted us."
"How does a plant…want?" The Chief asked.
"This thing was different, sentient like you and I. Through its spores, it wanted to control us…it took us days to counter and reverse its spores."
"Where is it now?" Urged the Chief. Sentient monsters that controlled its victims with spores were not alright in his book. He needed to find and neutralize this thing.
"You don't know?" She asked, surprised. "The…the aliens and their robots, they set up a large base in the forest. That's where the humans left all their things before they left. If that…that thing is still alive, it will be there."
One more reason to blow that base sky-high. "So how do we – "
"Chief, we're stepping away from the "humans destroy everything" mentality that these people have," Cortana chastised him. "You were about to ask 'so how do we kill that thing', weren't you?"
The teeth worked his jaw. Kill wasn't the word he was going for. Destroy, eliminate, neutralize…but he got the point. "Can we reason with this thing?"
The Dryad cast him a cold glare. "I know all of the matters in nature around me. My people have tried to reason. In turn, it tried to make us its slaves. If it can reason, its evil. If it can, it's a monster."
"Huh. Did not see that coming."
The Chief suppressed the urge to smirk. "We're heading towards the base either way. If you let us pass…"
She held his gaze for a long time. Then, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine. It's not like you can make our problems worse. I'll spread the word to the other Dryad's so they won't try turn you into fertilizer."
"I would…appreciate that…"
Afterwards, he made sure to check up on Kyuri and Draco. He was pretty sure that this engagement would have ended up very differently without their assistance.
"Corporal? Kyuri?" He asked. He saw Rachnera standing on an opening, looking like she was stifling a laugh, but he didn't see the two young women. "What did you do to them?" He asked.
"Ah…me? I didn't need to do anything," the Arachne replied with a chuckle. "They're catching their breath, right over there. Heh."
The Chief marched towards her position. What was she laughing about-?
Kyuri and Draco lay with their backs against a large tree, looking exhausted. They were blushing and panting, as if they just ran a marathon. He expected such a thing from Kyuri, but to see Draco so vulnerable? That was strange.
John looked at Rachnera. "What are you laughing at?"
"Hmm…oh, you're serious?" She chuckled again. "Maybe I was wrong. Mayne this'll be more fun than I thought…"
"Well, what do you know? Finally SOMEONE sees it!"
Whatever it is these two saw, he didn't. "Take five. After that, we're moving on. Kyuri, Draco, you too."
The two women merely moaned something in response.
John was starting to wish he had Saren with him.
~0~
10 kilometres to the east
Saren was starting to wish he had the Spartan with him. The Lamia was one thing, slithering across the sand and constantly making sure that the rest of the group still followed. Her, Saren could tolerate. But those two human idiots were a whole different story.
In the heat of the sun, crossing the blistering, merciless sand, the humans sang.
In a language his translator couldn't even comprehend..
"Ik heb een potje met vet! Onder de taaaaafel gezet! Ik heb een potje, potje, potje, potje vet! Onder de tafel gezet!" They cried in unison, chasing away prey and predator alike.
And since they had not seen any foliage for half a mile, Saren was certain that "Stacker" and "Dubbo" had chased the plants away as well.
"Could you idiots be silent!" Exclaimed Saren. "We are in the center of hostile territory, there could be geth around us at this very moment!"
"Don't worry Spectre-boy!" Yelled back Dubbo. "We're UNSC Marines. We've got this, no problem. No geth around."
"Are you sure?" Replied Miia. "Heat dispersal is all weird in here. It doesn't make a lot of sense, maybe we should be careful."
"That's okay Lieutenant! We'll just sing a bit softer!" Said Stacker. "Saren, gimme a fat beat! Ik heb een pooootje met vet! Al op de – "
Suddenly, the sand all around them exploded as at least a full squad' worth of contacts emerged from their camouflaged positions. Saren cursed himself for not seeing these traps and immediately pulled out his assault rifle.
"Shut up!" The closest contact cried out, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. "Shut up, shut uuuup!"
There were eight of them, Liminal women covered in red-tinted scales and clad in strange desert combat uniforms.
"That's far enough!" A woman armed with a shotgun bit at them. A melee weapon with a very broad blade hung at her belt. Saren only needed one glance to learn that these warriors were on their home turf. This netted them an enormous advantage. "We don't need any humans stumbling around our land!"
"Agreed," said Saren. "You can shoot these two and leave them for dead, but we have a mission to accomplish here."
"What my turian ally means to say, is that we're with the UNSC!" Miia hurried to say. "We've talked to Saadia Dan from the Echidna tribe and she agreed to show us the way to your village!"
"UNSC?" The shotgun-wielding woman repeated, as if puzzled by the word. Saren presumed she was the leader. "What are you people doing here?"
"We're here to clear your pesky robot infestation, ma'am!" Said Stacker. "There's geth buzzing all around the place!"
"Hmm. Here for the geth, then?" She said, lowering her shotgun. "Know what? If you can fix our radio, we can call Saadia in and verify this. If everything checks out, we'll gladly help you."
Dubbo raised his hand.
The Salamander glanced at him.
"Uhm…just out of curiosity, what happens if things don't check out?"
She tilted her head quizzingly. "If things don't check out? We'll just roast you lot and eat you."
The two humans exchanged some very alarmed looks, while Miia merely sighed.
"Oh, by the way? Which one of you is the most tech-savvy?" Inquired one of the younger-looking Salamanders. "Dinner or not, we really need that radio fixed."
"Not it!"
"Not it!"
Miia stared at the two Marines in abject horror. Saren, meanwhile, thought this was an apt moment for a certain human gesture that applied the palm of one's hand directly to their forehead.
~0~
10 kilometres back to the west
The Master Chief knelt down at the edge of the forest. The geth complex was large, massive even. It seemed Sergeant Derek's intel was solid.
"Chief?" Rachnera's voice came over the radio. "I found the trail of the Arachnes. Well, when I say trail, I really mean a couple of disembodied geth parts."
"Are you sure?"
"They put their heads on freaking spikes, Chief. What species does that if not the Large Breeds?"
Jackals, Brutes, some overzealous Elites… "Just stay safe. You're only scouting their location. Making contact remains a secondary priority."
"Ah, so you do care? How sweet…"
Somehow, the Chief didn't think she was being entirely sincere. "You have your orders. Good luck."
"I'm not the one diving into a hole in reality. Rachnera, out."
The Master Chief chose to ignore that comment. He felt like he was doing that a lot, these days.
He eyed his team. With Rachnera searching for the Arachne village, he just had Kyuri and Dracosa with him. He'd need to hold the former's hand if he wanted to get in unseen, while the latter had neither the experience nor the aptitude for a stealthy approach.
"Sergeant Derek, are you in position?" The Master Chief said, scanning the treelines for any sign of the sniper.
"Yes Master Chief," whispered the sniper. "To your eleven."
The Master Chief zoomed into the North, then slowly panned left. He couldn't see anything. When he switched to thermal, however, he caught the faint outline of a person lying prone. Switching back to his normal view, he finally spotted his man.
Makeshift ghillie suit, keeping him hidden from the geth for several hours? Impressive. Although, now that he knew where to look, it seemed fairly basic. Linda could have done better.
"You will provide overwatch. Engage only if I'm compromised."
"Got it sir."
Now, the Chief had to solve another problem. He wasn't too confident in Cortana's ability to function in the middle of the geth network. Neither of them had talked about it recently, but Cortana had endured the AI version of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Gravemind. Days of it. Perhaps weeks of it.
He didn't want to jeopardize the mission by subjecting her to hostile AI's. He didn't want to jeopardize her mental health by subjecting her to more stress. Still, he needed her assistance when it came to cyberwarfare. The edge she granted him was too important to give up on.
The Master Chief reached into one of the duffel bags attached to his belt and retrieved a small armoured matrix.
"I see what you are doing. Seriously?"
"A temporary measure," he said, reassuring her. "I can't risk you falling into geth hands, but I will need your assistance."
She sighed explosively. "I guess I could still use the ship's sensors to monitor you all from a secure location. You do know that I won't be able to be as effective from this thing, right?"
"But you will be safe." He activated his helmet's speakers and told his teammates, "I am going to infiltrate the geth stronghold, see what their objective is. You two will remain in the vicinity. Do not under any circumstance attempt to engage the geth."
"What if you need our help?" Asked Kyuri.
"That won't happen. If I go silent, or get compromised, you will fall back to secondary extraction zones. Lay low. Is this clear?"
The two young women hesitated. They glanced at each other, then slowly nodded. Clearly they weren't happy with this.
Wordlessly, the Master Chief handed the armoured matrix to Dracosa. "Keep her safe."
She reached for the matrix. The moment she wrapped her fingers around its outer frame, the master chief placed his gauntlets over her hands.
This seemed to jolt her, as she looked up at him, confusion in her gaze.
The Master Chief leant in closer. "Keep her safe," he told her again, more urgent this time.
"I will," she softly replied. With great care, she took the matrix from his hands.
Satisfied that he took care of most issues, the Chief returned his focus to the stronghold again. Getting in there stronghold would be almost impossible. Scanners and patrolling drones bombarded the geth network with nonstop information from their outer perimeter. Nothing could get inside that base without the network lighting up in alarm.
That was where Cortana came in. The Master Chief wasn't entirely certain how she did it – something about diagnostics and lines of code – but she could breach the geth network and generate "dead zones" within their systems, effectively allowing him to move about unnoticed as long as he picked up the pace.
As he pushed deeper and deeper into hostile territory, he could almost feel her gaze upon him from the Reach.
"Scanning for wireless signals. I've got a lock on two…make that three cameras. They're connected to the command and control system – also wireless – and I think I can breach them without setting off an alert. You'll have to move fast, though."
The Master Chief snaked a fiber-optic probe around the corner of the large, metal structure that marked the border between the outer perimeter and the actual base. He spotted a narrow hallway overlooked by one obvious camera. Several structures with promising energy readings topped off the right side, but the energy readings that the centre-most structure gave off had the priority. According to the Reach's scanners, the geth were somehow breaking the rules of physics from in there.
Definitely concerning.
"Wait one," the Chief replied. He saw a squad of geth soldiers march by. What kind of material they were transporting, not even Cortana knew. At any rate it couldn't be good.
"Placing a waypoint for the next blank spot in their surveillance. You will have four point six seconds to make it. Better strap on those running boots."
The Chief retrieved the probe and stashed it away again. He glanced at his motion tracker, then switched to heat-vision to scan his surroundings for any temperature spikes, just in case. One common problem with the societies that depended on Element Zero to run was heat build-up. Be it warships or firearms, their hardware required manual cooling. From what he understood, geth bodies were the same. They stood out as a collection of hot and cold spots compared to their environment.
As it was, he saw nothing.
"On my mark."
"Set?"
"Mark!"
The instant he uttered that command, the Master Chief burst into motion. He crossed the distance between his current position and the target building in seconds, before carefully coming to a halt.
His priority was to access the innermost structure and gather intelligence on the geth activity. Once he was certain that he had learned all he could, the assault could start in earnest.
Dealing with synthetic hostiles made infiltrating this compound much harder. Thermal vision, night vision, infrared optics – everything was a possibility with the geth. Even worse, the moment he disabled one of them, the entire base would become aware of his presence. He had to trust Cortana to see him through once more.
"Master Chief, patrol coming your way. Relocate. Sir."
The Spartan heard Derek's comment and decided to switch positions. He checked his motion sensor, then listened for footsteps.
The Sergeant was right. A patrol came his way, forcing him to take a detour. He barely managed to round the wall of the nearest when Cortana suddenly exclaimed, "Sniper, get back!"
The Chief took two large steps back and pressed his back against the dark wall, hoping that the synthetic hadn't seen him. "Are we compromised?"
"Not yet. It appears that the geth rely on the visual spectrum; the sniper was looking your way, but didn't notice you. It's almost as if they want to imitate organic flaws…"
"Find me a flaw I can exploit," he growled.
"On it. I think I can isolate that unit's software from the main network, render it invisible. If you can eliminate it, nobody would notice."
That sounded like it could work. "Isolate the patrol first. I need to pass by them."
"Got it. Gimme a moment…"
A couple of seconds went by, during which the patrolling units got closer and closer to the Chief's position. Soon, he'd have no choice but to reveal himself. It wasn't ideal.
"Got it!" Cortana said, her voice strained. "Get them while the network is blind."
The Master Chief visualized the geth in his mind. Four units, all armed, moving in a tight formation. Three seconds before they rounded the corner.
When he was ready, he whirled around the corner and stepped into the midst of the geth formation. He grabbed the first platform by its wrist and twisted it, disarming it. He then brought his knee up and kicked the geth against its comrade, smashing its chest in the process. Whipping out a knife, he stabbed the second in its optics. The third geth raised its rifle to shoot at him, but the Chief simply kicked the weapon from its hands and then disabled it by means of several lightning-fast jabs to its head.
The fourth geth attempted to manoeuvre past its fallen comrades, but the Chief took him down by executing a throw that smashed the synthetic against the rocky floor. The impact ruptured its internal structure and shattered its chassis, but the Chief pulverized its head underneath his boot just in case.
He held his position for a second longer, waiting to see of reinforcements showed up.
None did.
"Good work," he told Cortana.
From there, he managed to make his way to the central structure that dominated the anomalous zone. He had to avoid several other groups of patrols, including drones, on his way there. Interestingly enough, hiding in the shadows proved to be effective as well. On two occasions, he melted away in the shadows and simply held his position, waiting for the floating geth drones to pass him by.
It was strange. Why would the geth hinder themselves by emulating flawed, organic designs? It didn't make any sense.
It was getting crowded now. Activity all around him. It wouldn't take the geth long to notice their missing. When they found the casualties, all hell would break loose. He had to act fast.
The closer he got to the centre structure – shaped like a monolith with protruding wings – the stranger his suit's readings became. Several fluctuating radiation spikes, anomalous energy readings and on several occasions, a complete mess of neutral contacts on his motion tracker. The extreme amount of motion his sensors picked up, actually caused a delay in the MJOLNIR's software.
Which was odd, since his motion sensor hadn't lagged as much as half a second back on High Charity, where the Flood outnumbered him a million to one.
Maybe there was magic at work here. That was one explanation. Magic was the only thing that trumped both technology as organic senses. A large concentration of magic might even be strong enough to spoof the MJOLNIR's senses.
Since the Chief honestly doubted that the geth managed to learn how to use magic, that suggested Liminal activity. Here, in the heart of the geth base.
…maybe it wasn't such a good explanation after all.
"Chief? I've managed to infiltrate the geth consensus. I've sent the patrols whose routes would intersect yours on a wild goose chase. They might have noticed though. I suggest you hurry."
"Acknowledged," he said, retrieving his thermite paste. He could see the central structure from his current position. He didn't think he could avoid the remaining geth patrols if he made his way over there, but he was sure that he could fight his way out and lose his pursuers in the surrounding forest.
"Analyzing geth patrol routes…comparing routes to issued orders…you have a five-second window of opportunity to reach the outer wall, coming up in three seconds. Placing Waypoint on the thinnest portion of the wall now."
The Chief mentally counted down from three to zero then burst from his cover, sprinting towards the designated portion of the central base. He wasted no time once he got there, immediately setting up the thermite paste wide enough that he could fit through the resulting hole.
He looked away and activated it. The thermite sputtered as bright as a bolt of plasma, casting harsh shadows on the ground. When it finished there was a jagged, glowing hole in the wall. He lashed out with his boot and kicked the white-hot plate out.
The Master Chief was met with immediate enemy fire as the guards on the other end of the hole wizened up to what he was doing.
"You thought they wouldn't notice the giant, burning hole!?" Cortana exclaimed as the Chief returned fire.
"I thought there wouldn't be any guards inside," he calmly replied, taking cover beside the opening. He pocketed a grenade, pulled the pin and hurled it inside. He tracked it through the opening and, when it landed in-between a couple of closely-positioned geth, shot the explosive. It went off with a loud "thump", shredding the nearest geth units and throwing the others to the ground.
The Spartan moved through the opening in the wall. A geth Juggernaut instantly rushed him, so he transferred his weight to his left leg and kicked at the Juggernaut with his right, sending it stumbling sideways. He shot it from point blank range in the legs, crippling it, before turning his attention to the other guards.
"Chief, watch yourself. This room is bathing in anomalous energies. I can't believe Desolas would go this far…a place like this was never meant to be!"
The cavernous room had a lot of robot freaks guarding it. The Chief spotted an enormous gaping hole in the centre of the room, surrounded by a literal wall of alien equipment. Up to a dozen geth units had taken their position behind those consoles, computers and scanning devices, with more rushing in through doors to deploy stationary kinetic barriers to use as cover.
Time wasn't on his side, so the Chief was forced to slot the lot of them in close quarters, moving back and forth in close proximity to the enormous hole in the ground. His shields flared under the constant suppressive fire that the geth poured on. Cortana spoke to him, but he couldn't make out what she said.
As he fought for control over the room, strange things started happening. He didn't hear Cortana, but he could hear someone else whispering to him over the radio. The colours in the room grew vague and blurry and his sense of balance slowly became tilted.
The Master Chief put a long sustained burst into the last of the geth units, then paused to reload. He noticed how his breathing became laboured. His heartrate was spiking, what was going on?
Cortana cried out for him, but it was too late. He lost balance, took a step backwards and backed into nothingness.
~0~
"Chief?" Dracosa's voice sounded through the comm, like it had every once in a while for the last twenty minutes. "Master Chief? Can you hear us?"
The sun was slowly setting now. The geth stronghold cast large, jagged shadows on the land and the Chief still hadn't called in.
Kyuri fought the urge panic. What was she supposed to do? It had been too long, they were meant to get out now, but…she didn't want to leave him behind. He risked his life to save hers, so how could she do less?
She fumbled with the radio for a moment. When she saw that it was active, she carefully selected the TEAMCOM. "Ehm…it's been some time without contact. What should we do?"
"We do as we've been ordered," replied Miia. "Time's up. You three will fall back to secondary extraction zones. The Master Chief will be fine. I'll make my way to you, Draco."
Would he? He was tough, and he fought for the UEG for a very long time, but this was an entire army of well-armed robots. The Master Chief was a soldier, but was also human. Humans could get hurt.
But Kyuri knew that orders were orders. And even if she knew next to nothing about the military, even she knew that orders had to be followed even when you didn't agree with them. So with a heavy heart, she turned her back on the Chief and walked away.
Manoeuvring through the thick forest wasn't easy. Half an hour went by and she didn't think she made any progress. It was also steadily getting darker now. The last rays if sunlight were glimmering through the top layers of the forest, casting a reddish hue on the foliage. She always hated sunsets, ironic as that might be. She just didn't like shadows. And the way those stretched and lengthened during some particular sunsets…it just gave her the creeps.
Suddenly, her radio went off, startling her.
"Uhm…Miia here. I think…I think I'm being stalked. Be advised, they're not geth. A-And they're not Liminals. I don't trust this. I think. I'm moving to a defendable position. Recommend everyone else does the same."
The Master Chief ordered them all to lay low during the night. Now, Miia said the same thing. But that was before the Chief disappeared into that anomalous zone. Did military orders stop if the one who gave them wasn't around? No, that didn't make any sense…laying low was the best idea for now. Again, Miia said the same, and she was a special forces…person. She'd be fine, stalked by strange people or not.
Kyuri just hoped that those…things her teammate talked about wouldn't be following her here.
"Uhm…Cortana?" Kyuri quietly asked, hoping that there was nobody around to hear her. "Is there somewhere nearby where I can take shelter?"
The computer woman had an answer for her within a heartbeat. "Scans show that there is a structure about one klick to your twelve."
"A…a klick?"
"A kilometre, sweetheart. Keep heading north, you should find it eventually. I'll give you a heads-up if you get terribly lost."
"Ah, yes…thank you."
The forest was too dense for her to fly through, which meant that her progress was slow and painful. She made a lot of noise, constantly getting snared on thorny plants and sturdy bushes. Sometimes, she thought that there was a bit too much noise for her movements alone. It was as if the forest around her was more active than it should be, which didn't make sense. That thought alone sent chills down her spine.
As the sun set behind, darkness encroached upon the massive forest. As a Vampire, Kyuri knew that the night should have brought her comfort, but it didn't. She did not understand how to move like her father did, or fight like her father could. She only knew that there was something near her, possibly, and that she was all alone now.
She could function well enough in the dark. Better than most people, in fact. Her echolocation was one of the few things she was proud of. Still, she didn't sense anyone. Well...it wasn't like that had to mean anything...
The strange noises didn't stop as she moved closer and closer to the structure that Cortana talked about. Branches would snap in the distance, followed by a period of suspicious silence. Birds would cry out and audibly fly away, first to her left, then somewhere to her far right.
"Uhm…Kyuri here…" she hesitantly spoke into the radio. "I think…I think I'm being followed. Or…or stalked. Cortana, iss there anyone nearby?" She tried to keep her voice from breaking, but merely uttering those words made her feel like breaking down. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "Can someone drop by?"
"That's a negative, Kyuri," replied Cortana. "Draco and Miia are an hour-and-a-half and two hours away, respectively. Rachnera can't just leave, and nobody's heard from the Chief yet. You'll have to sit this one out. Remember; you're armed."
"Actually, I think I can make it," the sniper suddenly chimed in. "How far away from Kyuri am I, precisely?"
"You are separated by eight kilometers of plains and jungle, Sergeant Derek," Cortana patiently said. "With hostile Liminals and geth being the only threats to have been actually confirmed. I would advise you to remain a bushman."
"Hmm…I think I can make that in half an hour if I become a hasty bushman."
If he made haste? But, running through this forest meant attracting the attention of literally everything! "I don't want people to get into trouble themselves," Kyuri quietly spoke into the radio. "I haven't actually seen anything, but…"
"Nah, that's fine! Cortana, if you could guide me, I'll go reinforce Kyuri."
Cortana seemed to consider that for a moment. "Alright. Kyuri, keep moving towards the structure. Scope it out, clear it out and await friendly reinforcements."
There were a hundred different ways Kyuri wanted to thank the sniper-soldier, who had looked so intimidating and so gruff when she first saw him. But she knew that this was still a military mission, and she didn't want to be too emotional around these people. "T-Thank you. I'll move towards the structure, now."
As she progressed, it seemed like the forest seemed to grow quieter and quieter. Those weird "tells" that something was snooping around became increasingly rare, but the utter lack of other ambient noises meant that those times that there was a noise, it was all the easier to hear.
It struck her as odd, how there wasn't any bird noises around her anymore.
Kyuri felt her pulse quicken when she realized that the entire forest now sounded dead silent. Cold sweat clung to her wings as she picked up the pace. A building came into view. It was old, built out of wood and three stories large. It seemed abandoned, but it was much better than aimlessly wandering around the forest until her next order, so she readied her pistol, mentally reviewed the steps she learned with the Master Chief, and headed towards the entrance.
From what she could tell, there wasn't anyone inside. She still took great care to slowly explore the entire mansion. She prayed a silent "thank you" to the people who tailored her suit to be so sneaky, then moved on to the living room. The walls were made out of dark-brown wood as well, though a small carpet had been draped across the floor here. A couple of paintings hung on the wall, likely painted by someone with a macabre sense of culture. Executions, death, fields of corpses…was this art? It disgusted her.
A small kitchen area drew her attention, as the corner of the mansion where the kitchen had been built was surrounded by windows. It offered her about a hundred degrees view, from left to right. She tried to ignore the dolls that had been nailed to the cupboards. She wouldn't be using anything in this house anyway; lamps and fires would light this place up for everybody to see. Right now, the darkness was her only protection.
Well, that and her pistol…
She'd settle for darkness.
The second floor of the mansion was reserved for a couple of bedrooms. Nothing too luxurious, but she did find a couple of blankets and pillows. If she ignored the dust, those could actually keep her warm throughout the night.
The third floor was an attic. A dark, roomy attic without lights, that required a ladder to enter. The Vampire could have carried twice her body weight in gun and she still wouldn't have gone up there. Instead, she rummaged around the kitchen, found a couple of strings and removed the nails from the dolls. As good and bad as things went, she bound a string in front of the attic door and attached a couple of nails to them. If that thing opened up, she would hear it.
Kyuri returned to the second floor to grab a bundle of blankets, then installed herself into the corner of the living room, right behind a dusty old sofa. If someone tried breaking into the house, she had two ways to escape. The first was the backdoor, which was locked with a large piece of wood. She could pull that out in one move and dart away into the night if necessary.
The second escape was –
Kyuri froze in her tracks, shaken from her thoughts by a noise outside. Panic started building up within her chest when she realized that it couldn't possibly be Sergeant Derek yet; it hadn't been half an hour yet!
For a moment, she was frozen in place. It sounded like someone – or something – was sniffing around the house, dragging their feet through the fallen leaves without bothering to try and stay silent. If she moved now, and that same thing was pressed up against the window, it might spot her.
But if she didn't try to take a look, it might break in somewhere and she would be none the wiser.
Slowly, very carefully, she got back on her claws and headed towards the kitchen. She moved as quietly as she possibly could, taking smalls steps that took her an eternity to get to the windows. Every time she heard the noise again, she flinched.
She crouched down and approached the left kitchen window. Mustering her courage, she feared her heartbeat would give her away, as she could feel it hammering away harder than ever before.
She poked her head out at the bottom of the window, hoping that the night and the shadows would keep her concealed.
A man stood in the clearing between the mansion and the treeline. Maybe eight meters away. At least, Kyuri presumed it was man. He was very tall, perhaps as tall as the Master Chief himself, and lanky. His arms seemed a bit too long for his proportions. He was staring intently at the window in the attic, as if he expected someone to be there.
And he was grinning. He stared up at the attic window with a lazy grin that seemed to reach from ear to ear. And his teeth…did humans even have that many teeth?
Kyuri could feel the panic threatening to take over. She breathed faster and faster, feeling a cold tingle run down her spine. This was wrong, bad and wrong. This thing was after her, she could feel it! And it knew she was here, otherwise…otherwise…
Wait, why wasn't it trying to enter the mansion yet? What was it waiting for?
Kyuri ducked down low again and made sure that her pistol wasn't stuck on the safety mode. When she looked back up again, she felt like her heart stopped.
The man stood on his hands, about a meter closer to the window than before. He stood perfectly still, frozen in a handstand, while staring directly at the kitchen window.
Directly at her!
The Vampire felt like screaming, but she felt her voice die in her throat. She felt like crying, but she was too scared to move a muscle. She sat there, frozen in place, staring at this thing that now knew she was here.
Oh god, oh god please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me!
It just stood there, staring, his face still frozen in that wicked grin. What did it want? Why was it after them? There had to be more of them, Miia had stalkers too! Was she alright?
But...as long as it remained there, Kyuri felt like she could handle this. She could hold its gaze and buy time for help to arrive.
Suddenly, she heard the noise of metal ticking against metal. She broke eye-contact to listen to the source of the noise; it sounded like it came from upstairs. The string she attached to the attic door? Was that it?
She only looked away for a split-second. When she looked back, she screamed and fell backwards, before hastily scrambling to get away from the window.
He stood there! The creep stood there, right in front of the window! He had his face pressed against the glass and he was still grinning! How much distance did he just cross? Three meters? Four?
Gasping for air, Kyuri raised the pistol, fumbling with the trigger. Her lack of opposable thumbs couldn't be fully compensated for by the suit, which meant that she had to be very careful with her grip, otherwise the weapon would fall out of her hands with the first shot she took.
With trembling hands, she aligned the weapon with the man's chest, just like the Chief taught her, but she refrained from shooting. Not just because she was scared for her life, but because she heard footsteps on the floor above, rapidly approaching the stairs.
The creature brought a slender, finger towards the window and pointed it up.
Pointed at the attic.
Scared out of her mind, the trembling Vampire fired a single shot at the creature and bolted. She hurried towards the backdoor, only to stop and gasp when she saw that it was rattling violently against its frame. The thick, wooden rod that kept it in place was already starting to crack and tear.
How many? How many of them-?
She whirled around and heard the noise of rapid footsteps pounding on the stairs, as if someone were sprinting down towards the ground floor like a wild animal.
Kyuri screamed again, and raised her pistol at the other end of the small hall, where she fully expected the monsters to suddenly appear from around the corner. She was vaguely aware that the loud rattle of gunfire she suddenly heard, didn't come from her own weapon, and noticed that the figure in front of the kitchen window was now gone.
The rattling behind her stopped as well, which scared her even more. Even as she turned back to the backdoor and took aim there, just in case this was a ruse, she heard another burst of gunfire. After that, something slammed against the front door, busting it off its hinges. She heard the footsteps rapidly fade away into the distance, but the following silence made her feel almost as uncomfortable as when the lanky man first appeared.
She didn't lower her gun, but she did slowly step away from the backdoor. A hand suddenly appeared around the front door, waving at her. The hand was covered with a gauntlet that had all kinds of leaves and green webbing attached to it.
Kyuri didn't think it was another one of the monsters, but she wouldn't be fooled. "Who is that?" She demanded, trying and failing to sound brave.
"Your bushman," a somewhat muffled voice replied. "Please lower your gun."
The Vampire gasped and darted towards the front door, where a soldier clad in the strangest uniform she ever saw entered the mansion. She didn't care that they were both armed and she barely knew the guy; she flung herself at the sniper and wrapped her arms around his waist. The stress and fear and panic all seemed to crash into her at once, and she sobbed openly, not caring at all that she wasn't supposed to.
"Sorry I took so long," Sergeant Derek replied, sounding very out of breath. He awkwardly patted her head a couple of times. "Come on. I just scared them off. They'll probably be back. Let's bunker down in that attic."
"That's where they came from!" Kyuri desperately replied, just now processing that those things weren't dead and they would be back again. "There w-was one in the attic and at the b-backdoor and – "
"Come on, attic first," he said, cutting her off and giving her a gentle – if urgent – push. "The night is long, and it will be very spooky."
~0~
AN: Poor Kyuri, just can't seem to stay out of trouble...
I had a real blast writing this last scene. I was always told that you need to "feel" your own scenes if you want them to be impactful. Writing suspenseful and/or scary scenes can be very difficult, but I like to think I did alright. As always, let me know what you think in a review or PM. See you all next chapter!