Chapter 36: If I had a super weapon
Interlude
His body ached.
A lot.
But the pain was not a problem. He could survive that.
He couldn't tell where he was, and the whitewashed ceiling certainly wasn't helping him identify his location. He could rule out the league, at least. The medical facilities there had blue ceilings.
He tried to turn his head, but the muscles in his neck weren't responding properly, so he was forced to continue staring at the ceiling.
No, wait, that was not right. He could feel his neck, and it didn't seem injured. So it couldn't be muscle injury.
A little belatedly he realized he still had his armour on. He hadn't realized it because his visor was devoid of the usual icons plastered across the screen, but it was still a rookie mistake. He hoped he wasn't getting rusty again.
He tried to turn his head again, but found that he still couldn't.
Armour lock down. That could be the only reason.
He didn't remember initiating it, though. Or had he? It was more than a little hard to recall what had happened earlier.
He did distinctly remember the white-hot pain of electricity and the feel of super-heated metal against his skin, though.
And the neural chip he had pulled from the Collective.
He couldn't see the chip in question in his immediate field of view, but that only made sense since the last place he would put a valuable piece of technology was on the ceiling. Still, he knew that item was important, and so resolved it would be the first thing he would recover.
But first he needed to get up.
He tried to speak, tried to say the words needed to end the armour lock down, but all that came out was a garbled 'nhhhg'.
He coughed to clear his throat, and then tried again. "Armour lockdown, deactivate."
He felt the change at once. The servos, neural links and muscle bundles all came online at the same time, making a gentle purr as they did so. His shields activated again with a crackle, filling up the bar at the top of his HUD. He rotated his fists first, to test if the lockdown had truly ended, and was satisfied when he felt them move.
He was fairly surprised, though, that the archaic voice command system still operated.
Hooray for small miracles, he thought sarcastically. Although, technically, the voice command system in his armour wasn't so archaic, since it was brand new.
"Whoa there," a feminine voice said, "take it easy."
The Master Chief turned his head away from the white ceiling and looked at the nurse who he assumed had just walked into the room.
"Wh-" Chief started, but was cut short by a cough. The nurse jumped at the noise, and moved towards the Spartan with a glass of water in hand.
The Chief brushed the water aside and tried again. "Where am I?"
"You're in Demacian field hospital number two, Kalamanda's crystal scar district," the nurse said. She tried to pass the glass of water over again, but the Chief brushed it off again as he tried to rise from the bed.
"Whoa there!" the nurse exclaimed. "Don't go so fast, you've been out for a while. The last thing we need is for you to strain yourself and faint again."
The Chief gave her a confused look before remembering he had his helmet on. "What do you mean, 'out for a while?'"
The nurse blinked. "You've been out for eight days," she said. "It is assumed to have been caused by a massive magical discharge, but we aren't so su-"
The Chief rose up from the bed – well, it was more of a metal slab, really – and tried to stand, but started wobbling. He was fairly surprised by his body's reaction, but jumbled nerves due to electricity would certainly make sense. He would just need to be more attentive.
The nurse moved as if to steady him, before realizing she would have no chance to stabilize the heavily armoured man. "You really should stay lying down," she said somewhat nervously. "So you can heal better."
The Chief ignored her, looking around the room for his weapons – and the chip.
"Lord Master Chief, sir, your… ah, teammate left your weapons on the counter over there," she pointed to another metal slab on the far side of the room, "and I'm to inform you your other possessions are at the lab."
The Chief started at the word 'lab', and the nurse noticed.
"P-p-professor Heimerdinger s-said it was just to help you out…"
The Chief nodded briefly before going to collect his weapons. He knew the professor – sort of. He was too eccentric to be of any real harm to the chip and whatever it may contain. Or rather, whoever it may contain.
Still, he should be out of here sooner rather than later in order to ensure the safety of his 'possession'.
"I… ah…" the nurse seemed at a loss for words. "I'll get your discharge papers immediately," she finally got out. Apparently she was not willing to argue with the super-soldier any longer. "Um… just so you know, your white haired friend was the one who moved your weapons. She also stayed here for quite some time during your…stay."
The Chief nodded, holstering his weapons. He was running low on ammunition again, but if the professor was here there was a chance he had ammo with him, too.
"Right…well…I'll go get those papers at once," the nurse stammered.
"Don't call me lord," the Chief said a little belatedly as the nurse left.
The last time the Chief had seen Kalamanda – a whole eight days ago – was during the middle of an all-out war between medieval soldiers and advanced automatons. Surprisingly, as the Chief walked through the Demacian camp, he saw little of that hectic battle. Human bodies and mechanical scrap had been fully cleared from the battlefield, and tents had been erected around the little hut districts. The only thing left over from the battle was the tell-tale scorch marks of plasma and blast craters. The same thing he had seen on a hundred score battlefields before this one.
There were plenty of soldiers milling about, some going through combat drills, others simply enjoying the scenery of Kalamanda. There were more troops than the Chief had expected to see, but that was only natural. The Demacians had eight whole days to reinforce and regroup.
Of course, that didn't exactly explain all the new standards he saw waving above the former battlefield, but he was sure he would learn it in due time.
He looked around for a lab, or something remotely resembling one. It wasn't all that hard to locate, really. Professor Heimerdinger – assuming Heimerdinger was the person in charge – seemed to have requisitioned an entire hut village area, ringed it with small metal walls, and placed a bunch of funny-looking steam pipes and crystal generators around it.
He began walking towards it, trying to pace his strides so he didn't fall over. While he had definitely lived through worse wounds, it seemed his electrical synapses had been… disoriented, making it slightly difficult to coordinate properly.
Soldiers he passed by stood a tiny bit straighter, and some even saluted him. He ignored them, mainly because he was certain they were mistaking him for someone else, and partly because it may indeed be their intention to honour him.
Despite his ignorance of them, every pair of eyes that he passed followed him. Or maybe it was because of his ignorance that they did so.
He reached the gate that gave entrance to the makeshift lab, and entered it. There were not any soldiers on guard duty, but perhaps that was because the area was already cleared – or because there was no one suicidal enough to enter Heimerdinger's lab.
There were banging noises coming for several areas around the facility, most likely the sound of something being constructed.
He tried to find something that would be considered a 'main laboratory,' but he wasn't so sure which of the buildings would fit that description.
The banging noises got a bit louder, and the Chief found himself looking around again for the source of the noise.
The banging increased once more, and the Chief looked to the left as his motion sensor finally lit up with contacts.
With one final bang the wall of the hut exploded outwards and a man in burnished metal armour flew out, tumbling across the ground before eventually coming to a stop.
"That didn't go so well", the man groaned, his voice corrupted by the face mask he wore, but still faintly familiar to the Chief.
The men in white lab coats – presumably scientists – ran out of the man-shaped hole in the wall and approached the armoured man.
"Sorry, sorry, this whole suit isn't really calibrated for… well, anyone," the first scientist said as he removed a blocky object from his coat pocket, and ran it over the armoured man.
"I still don't understand," the man in the suit began as he tried to rise up, "why you guys would make armour without an intended user – or any user, for that matter."
The second scientist restrained the man, saying, "at least the armour system synced with you, so that's something to be proud about. Now, just remember to take it slowly – the armour will augment your natural abilities, but if you keep using your wind abilities like you do you'll just keep crashing."
Wind abilities?
"Yasuo, get up," the Chief ordered. Yasuo immediately popped up, looking around in confusion. When he finally turned around and saw the Chief, his entire posture changed.
"Chief!? Holy shit, you're alive?" he exclaimed, sounding more than a little surprised.
"…Where did you get that?" then Chief asked, gesturing to the high-tech battle armour Yasuo was wearing.
"Oh, this?" Yasuo looked down at himself. "Professor Heimerdinger was doing a bunch of tests for the new armours, and I synced with this one really well, so I get to use it!"
The Chief stayed silent, fully taking in the armour and the implications of what it meant. The armour itself was fairly advanced; featuring angular, solid metal plates covering major sections of the body, and more flexible plates covering joints. Glowing orange lines were cut into the armour in some sort of pattern the Chief didn't recognized; probably some magical symbol or hextech arrangement. The helmet was an avian-looking thing of solid metal an a glowing T-shaped visor set into it, and a top knot of white hair spilling out. Several pieces of cloth and scarves were draped around the armour in various places; although the Chief was sure they were there for decorative purposes.
In terms of weapons, Yasuo had a battle rifle presumably mag-locked to his back and an extremely high-tech looking sword sheathed at his waist.
The two scientists exchanged looks with each other, although the Chief could not identify the expressions on their face with any certainty. Worry, perhaps?
"So, Lord Master Chief," one of them began hesitantly.
"Why would you give an advanced piece of battle armour to him?" the Chief asked, genuinely perplexed. Yasuo had trouble using a battle rifle correctly, and the Chief was not eager at all to see him with this. "And where did you even obtain this armour?"
The first scientist responded. "Each armour system was constructed with data obtained from the wreckage of your ship, and data observed from you. Yasuo obtained this armour when he successfully synced with its rune system." The scientist shrugged a little timidly. "The professor didn't exactly… ah, plan who was going to wear the armour. He just made them, and waited for us to find someone who could actually use it."
The Chief looked down at Yasuo, who stood proudly with his hand on his sheathed weapon.
"…I see," the Chief said.
"Oh, oh! You should come inside and see the rest of the gadgets!" Yasuo said excitedly. He turned and walked back through the hole he had created, not waiting for anyone to follow him. The Chief followed a minute later after making sure Yasuo wasn't about to come flying back out.
"It wasn't the best sync," the second scientist remarked to the first. The latter nodded as he jotted down some notes on a clipboard.
The hut was far larger on the inside than it had appeared on the outside. There were piles of materiel scattered about, and large crates bearing crystals and tubing were lying around haphazardly. There were several figures in the room, but only three were of note to the Chief. Mainly because each one was wearing the same sort of advanced armour like Yasuo.
The first was less recognizable than he had been before, but the Chief could tell who he was from his shouts of "Submit to the glorious evolution!" Viktor wore an up-armoured version of his normal attire… or body, since he was fully augmented. He sported a metal skull mask, and instead of his usual third hand he had a strange lazor type weapon on his shoulder. He was busy tinkering with the second man's suit, which sent out periodic sparks of blue lightning.
The second man in question was none other than Garen Crownguard, the Might of Demacia. His armour was very bulky, unlike Yasuo's. The armour was thick and solid, making it look like it was hard to move in. several pipes ran out of the armour in seemingly random areas, and heavy bundles of cables could be seen under the heavy plates. Clutched in one hand was a large, angular blade. The blade was actually more of a collection of metal pieces rather than an actual blade, since it had no solid core. Blue electricity sparked off of it in cracks and pops.
The third person was someone the Chief had not seen for a while; the small Demacian spy girl, Luxanna Crownguard. She also wore the advanced armour system. Hers was still heavier than that of Yasuo, but lighter than her brother's. it was more curved than angular and featured decorative struts on the shoulder plates. The front of the armour had a glowing core set into it, but whether that was for a show or the actual power generator for the armour, the Chief did not know. In her hands she twirled a metal baton, much like her usual one except bladed.
They all noticed him as soon as he stepped into the room. Viktor turned away immediately, more captivated with his work than the newly re-awakened super-soldier. Garen simply gave the Chief a nod and stood stock still, allowing Viktor to finish his ministrations. Lux was the only one to move, running right up the Chief with lighter footsteps than her armour should have allowed.
"Oh! You're up!" she giggled, holding her baton behind her back with both hands and leaning forwards towards the Chief. "It's great to see you again? Do you remember me? How do you like my armour, huh? It doesn't have shields like yours does, unfortunately, and the power source seems weaker, but it's just as cool, right? And – "
The Chief put his hand on the girl's shoulder, stopping her incessant bouncing and speech at the same time. "It is… pleasant to see you again, Luxanna. I would appreciate if you stopped fishing me for information now. Please."
Lux blinked. "Awww, but I didn't even get to start asking you yet…"
"Lux." Garen's stern voice reverberated from the other side of the room. "Give the man some room."
Lux reluctantly complied, returning to her spot.
There was a crashing noise as someone burst through a pile of scrap metal that was piled high in front of a door, on the other side of the room. "Is that the Master – ow, how did that get there- Chief?"
Professor Heimerdinger emerged from the pile, tinkering with some sort of prongs in his hands. He moved, or rather skipped, towards the Spartan without waiting for an answer.
"Professor," the Chief said respectfully. "I was not aware that you had planned to use my technology to create… these."
"Hmmm?" Heimerdinger looked up, shoving the prong-thing into a lab coat pocket. "This was the most effective way to contribute to the war effort, is it not?"
The Chief didn't answer.
"These armour systems allow these men to fight on par with the enemy, who are as advanced as you are! As my friend says, 'evolve to advance, or fail and die."
"I don't say that," Viktor said while affixing some tubing to Garen's armour, "And I'm not your friend."
"I think this is my greatest project to date!" Heimerdinger cried out, oblivious to Viktor's remark. "I call it, Project: Steel Legion!"
"Yes, despite there being no actual steel in any of these armour systems," Viktor noted.
"Professor –" the Chief began, but was unable to finish his sentence because the professor began to hop around.
"Look," he said, indicating Garen's suit, "This one utilizes a quad-health crystal system, making it extremely resilient and able to stay powered in most circumstances. It's centralized rune is static based, allowing it to create fields of electricity around itself."
"Heimerdinger – " The Chief tried to say, but was cut off again as the person in question stopped in front of Lux.
"This one utilizes an Aegis-type rune as its power source, inverted to provide internal benefits rather than localized ones. It's centralized rune is the custom Rabadon type, allowing for enhanced magical abilities in its vicinity and allowing for a temporary boost in power when needed."
The Chief didn't even try to speak, knowing he would be cut off again as the professor bounced over to Yasuo.
"This one might be my favourite. It uses a single Trinity rune as both a power source and an augmenter. It has no actual power of its own except the ability to augment the user's natural powers. It's really cool."
Yasuo gave the Chief a thumbs up.
"Even if the pilot can't properly use it," Heimerdinger finished.
Yasuo sagged over.
The Chief shook his head. "I still protest, professor. This is quite aga –"
He was interrupted for the third time by a new voice.
"Chief, don't you t-think you should cut him some slack? I mean, they do look cool and all that."
Chief shook his head, as if to clear it. It was almost as if he had just had a dream, and was still in the process of waking up. After a moment of hesitation, he said timidly, "Cortana?"
Heimerdinger removed a small unit from the inside of his lab coat. It looked like a small speaker, and blue light seemed to float above it.
"'Sup," Cortana said.
The Chief was silent for a few moments. The atmosphere became tense, and a little bit oppressive. The other people in the room exchanged brief glances. "Cortana, I expect you to remain professional at all times, especially in our current situation."
"You have not seen me in how long, and that's the first thing you say to me?" she complained. "I was just trying to lighten the mood."
"…So it really is you," he said with an air of finality. Her single sentence was enough to cast away the Chief's doubts as to the identity of the voice. Not that they were large doubts; he was fairly certain he had a good grasp on how his enemy liked to play things now, and this fit perfectly with that.
Not that that was a particularly reassuring thought.
"Of course. Mostly."
"…What does 'mostly' mean?" the Chief inquired, a note of worry in his voice.
"It's probably better for us to explain this part," Viktor said, finishing up with his work. "You see, as best as we could understand from you perfect friend here, she's in more than one place right now. As in, this is one piece of the entire whole."
"You know," Yasuo remarked, "you make less sense than the lightbulb when you explain it that way."
Viktor continued on, ignoring the Ronin. "If we were to venture a guess, she has been split up into multiple pieces of herself in order to control other… 'Collectives,' was it?"
"Yes," Cortana affirmed.
The Chief stared at the little speaker. "But you are… you, right? The same Cortana that was with me on the rings?"
"Yes," Cortana affirmed again. "Really, you make it sound like there are others of me."
"Technically there are," Viktor added in.
"There are simply other forms of me, like how a rampant AI has different parts of themselves. I can't remember for certain, but I think I was split off in the same way."
"Most of her memory is vacant," Heimerdinger said. "Most things done to her must have been stored in the Collective's central core." Heimerdinger gestured to a particularly large pile of scrap near the wall. "Unfortunately, the core is no longer functioning, so we can't find out what she really knows. Oh, and much of her processing capacity has been reduced. And she isn't able to… what was the word? 'network'. And she can't - "
"I cannot do much of what I was once able to," Cortana finished, sounding almost mournful. "I can still give tactical data with the proper uploads and a database, but –"
"But you're still Cortana," the Chief stated. "That's enough. We can find the rest of you later and put you together."
"I don't… actually, that might work," Heimerdinger said, picking up a crystal circuit from the floor and playing around with it. "Assuming the collective work in the manner we assume, there should be no more than two of them. And if the pieces are simply split copies of one central, then it should be no problem at all to rejoin them."
Viktor tried to shrug, an oddly human gesture for the cyborg man. "So long as we get an intact core next time, I'm fine with that."
"Chief…" Cortana said softly.
"I'll put you back together again," Chief said. "You have my word."
"'Ain't this touching," someone chuckled from behind the Chief. "Normally I would say 'just hug the gurl already,' but I don't think two machines would do that."
The Chief turned around. "Graves," he greeted neutrally.
"I had come to tell you guys that the council wants to see the new suits in action, so you should get ready," Graves smirked. "But since the Chief's up, I might as wells say that there's a council session going on. Riven's been fillin' in for ya, but they tend not to listen to her cuz, well, she's Noxian."
Yasuo made a noise.
"If yer feelin' up to it, you should probably head over there. Maybe you'll get 'em to stop wastin' time around here," Graves finished.
"I don't know If I would exactly recommend that," Heimerdinger said thoughtfully, "since you are still healing and all that. However, I would dearly like the authorization to use my creations in combat, so go for it."
The Chief hesitated. It wasn't like he was tired or anything, he felt fine enough to continue his current activities. It was more like a reluctance to engage in more political talk; yes, that was it. He was suited for that kind of stuff alone.
But he wasn't alone, not anymore. He had Cortana, and she had seen him through plenty of things like this before.
Chief turned to the professor and held out his hand. The professor cocked his head, saying, "it may not exactly be… safe to use your companion right now. There may be hidden issues that could compromise your health again – or you armour."
The Chief kept his hand out.
Heimerdinger passed Chief the black device, and the Chief pulled the chip out. He stared at it for a few seconds, watching the light play across it's surface, before plugging it in to the back of his helmet. He felt the familiar spike of coldness as the chip was accepted by his implants.
Numerous sigils appeared on his visor, indicating sync status and upload rate. It took longer than usual, but that was only to be expected – Cortana was no longer encased in UNSC technology.
After a few seconds, an icon appeared that indicated his mike was being used by a third party.
"Still plenty of room in here, I see," Cortana said sarcastically.
"Where am I going?" the Chief asked Graves, ignoring his newfound companion.
The pair – or rather, the single person and his AI – walked across the dusty ground. The council chambers had been set up at the center of the Crystal Scar, nearest to the convergence point of the two nexus' magic. It was all rather abstract to the Chief, to put it lightly, so he did not give it much thought. He had plenty of other things to occupy him, though.
"Did they do anything harmful to you?" the Chief asked his partner on the internal mic. If anyone had been looking at the Spartan right now, and there were a great many people doing that, they would see him walking silently and purposefully.
"I'm f-fine, Chief," Cortana replied.
"…Are you sure?"
"Yes. Anything out of place with me is not their doing."
The Chief's mood darkened at that. He knew just who's fault it was, but lacked the knowledge to find said person.
"Chief, stop worrying. It's unbecoming."
"I'm just making sure you're operational," Chief said stiffly.
Neither of them said a word for a full minute. The Chief knew that because he kept one eye on the timer in the corner of his visor.
"Your friends are n-nice," Cortana said at last.
"That stutter is worrisome," the Chief noted. Cortana snorted, or as close to a snort as an AI could manage.
"I'm fine," she said. "And don't change the conversation."
"…They're not my friends," Chief answered.
"Well, they fooled me pretty well," she said pensively. "And I'm a smart AI, we don't get fooled."
"You are a split-up artificial intelligence with a stutter."
"That's not nice. Especially after your friends went to such lengths to make you feel better." Cortana opened several files in the Chief's databanks and began downloaded everything he had learned since coming to Runeterra onto her chips internal storage. "You should have seen; the Yasuo kept yelling at people to get you blankets because you might be cold, Riven wouldn't let anyone into your room, Thresh and Graves kept making sure your care went smoothly."
Silence again.
"Oh, and you are c-calling them 'blue team'", she added.
"…I concede the point that these people may indeed be my friends," the Chief said.
Another chuckle.
The Chief knew Cortana extremely well, and he could tell from their limited conversation – although it was longer than any they had ever really had at any one time – that this was, indeed, his companion for many years. She did seem to be a bit quirkier, a bit easier to amuse, but he chalked that up to the fact that she had just been split. After all, she said she had been separated in the same manner as rampant AI's do, and rampant AI's are just the emotional parts of the AI's inner core. This could simply be the more… outgoing form of Cortana.
Regardless of the reason, he was simply glad he had her back, and was not going to allow a single quirk to stop her from helping him again.
He briefly considered asking her to send him a diagnostic of herself, just so he could check it over and make sure she really was fine, but decided against it. She may be at a fraction of her processing power, maybe she couldn't remember things, and maybe she was more emotional than usual, but if she said she is fine, then she is fine.
The Chief stopped outside a large white tent. It was easily five times the length of any other one he had seen so far, and it could probably fit fifty people. Five flags swung above it. The first two he recognized quickly, for he had sent them numerous times before, most recently on the battlefield of Kalamanda. Beside those two flags of Demacia and the Institute of War was a white flag composed of two superimposed triangles. He did not recognize that one at all. The last two were both blue. The Chief was pretty sure the lighter of the two belonged to the avarosian tribe in the Freljord, and if that was true, the other probably came from there as well.
"Are we going in?" Cortana asked.
The Chief moved forwards towards the entrance. Two members of the Dauntless Vanguard stood on guard outside, but as the Chief neared them they saluted, fists over their hearts, and made way for him.
He entered the tent, and was assailed by the harsh purple glow of magical fire. Why they would use lighting in the middle of the day, the Chief did not know, but that wasn't all that important right now.
There was a circular table in the middle of the room with a map of Runeterra on it, around which people were standing. The Chief recognized most of the people: there was Jarvan, the two generals from before, Riven, Ashe, Tryndamere, High Councilor Kolminye, as well as several others.
Looks like the numbers had swelled from before.
All of the people in the room immediately noticed the Chief in their midst. Some of them bore confused looks on their faces, while a few - Riven in particular- had expressions of relief.
"This should be good," Tryndamere chuckled.
The Chief walked up to the table and took his spot beside Riven. Everyone continued staring.
"We were not, ah, aware that you had awoken," the red-armoured general said, and almost simultaneously riven said, "Glad you're up."
"Well, we might as well get on with this. The council recognized the Master Chief," Jarvan said, taking a bite out of a plump green apple-looking fruit. "We were just discussing our next course of action."
"Which would be what, exactly?" asked the Chief. Information was what he needed to formulate a plan for proper victory, as well as find the rest of Cortana. He only hoped he could get this to go smoothly, quickly, and efficiently.
Several people at the table exchanged looks and whispered, which Jarvan promptly ended with a raised hand.
"Well, we have not decided if we are going to continue onwards, or stay here and fortify," the red-armoured general said, looking to the advisors behind him.
"And as I have already said, we have fortified more than enough already. The time to act is now, while we have the advantage," Kolminye said, sounding annoyed. She looked disheveled, as if she had not gotten any sleep the night before.
"Talks for peace are still entirely possible," the gold-clad general said pleadingly, his palms held out as if in supplication.
"No!" Ashe and another platinum-haired woman shouted simultaneously. They both glared at each other from their places opposite of the table before turning away.
"There is no chance for peace. They threw that option away when they attacked us for no reason," Ashe finished.
"Have you tried contacting Noxus yet?" the Chief asked.
His only answer was silence.
"They might agree to help us if you issue the formal apology they wanted," the Chief ventured. He wasn't so sure why half the council seemed so hesitant all of a sudden. Was a joint military venture between Demacia and Noxus not the most viable course available?
"Well," the gold-armoured general began hesitantly, "we have yet to agree on whether Noxus has had a hand in this or not."
"Are we seriously still on this point?" Kolminye demanded fiercely. "We have not seen any evidence pointing to their involvement at all! This is simply superstitious stupidity on your end, general Tiangco."
The gold-armoured general, general Tiangco, stiffened at the insult. Jarvan put a restraining hand on his general's shoulder before turning to the Chief. "Do you agree with Kolminye? Do you think Noxus is innocent in all of this?"
"Yes," the Chief said without hesitation. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't sure if Noxus was innocent. He was also smart enough to realize that any sense of doubt in his answer would have been seen as a weakness and would have lessened the validity of his response.
"I second that," Riven said from beside the Chief.
"So what, exactly, do you propose on doing?" the platinum-haired woman asked, leaning forwards on the table. The Chief took note of her heavy, fur lined armour. It was a safe assumption she was also from the Freljord.
"Link up with Noxus and pool our military forces in order to locate and subjugate the enemies' main stronghold," the Chief replied. It wasn't like he had said anything profound, but the looks on some of the faces around the room made it appear to so.
"Nice," the platinum blonde said, before turning to face Ashe. "I like this one."
"Naturally," Ashe said, rolling her eyes.
"That may be risky," the red-armoured general said. "Besides the obvious fact that they may indeed be the enemy, the mechs would almost certainly stop us from reaching there."
"Wow, these people are so indecisive," Cortana said over the internal mic.
The Chief switched to the internal mic system too. "Do you have anything to convince them?"
"Maybe," she said. "But it's better if you tell them. It might get a bit confusing if they hear a women's voice coming from you all of a sudden."
"Understood."
"Alright, tell them, based on the enemies' pattern of assault, their center forces are most likely centered farther south. Their base could not be in Noxian territory and move in the manner they have."
"…How do you know this?" he asked. "I thought you couldn't access information."
"That's all the data you've found out so far and stored in your armour. I'm reduced, not invalid. Please."
The Chief switched back to the external mic and spoke exactly what Cortana had told him.
"That's… certainly plausible," Ashe said thoughtfully.
"Of course it's plausible," Kolminye snapped. "The more time we waste here, the easier it is for the enemy to coordinate and recuperate. They obviously have incredible manufacturing capabilities, so can we just decide already? Before they attack again?"
Jarvan snorted. The two generals by his side and several others in the tent began to protest, stating reasons why they should put off any sort of decision.
"I say that we march for Noxus immediately – peacefully, of course," Tryndamere announced.
"Eh? You can't just begin a vote without the consent of Demacia, you kn-," general Tiangco tried to say, but was interrupted by Jarvan IV, who raised his hand and agreed.
"The Winter's Claw has your back, then," the platinum-blonde said, almost mockingly.
Ashe rolled her eyes again before also putting her hand up. Kolminye put her hand up to, as did Riven.
"Hm." Jarvan muttered pensively. "Is this a majority vote, then?"
"Not exactly," the red-armoured general said. "It is currently six-eight, so that means – "
"Great!" Jarvan declared. "Majority vote wins. I'll set up everything we will need for a diplomatic mission to Demacia."
"But my lord, that is not – "
"Anything else?" Jarvan asked the assembled leaders, a little bit louder than necessary. "No? Good. Everyone is dismissed."
The Chief stood there for a few seconds. People began filing out, Kolminye in particular nodding to him as she passed him by. Jarvan was locked deep in conversation with his Freljordian allies, and Riven stood patiently by the Chief's side. Deciding he had had enough time in the political environment (regardless of how brief it may have been), he turned on his heel and left the tent.
"You managed to do in ten minutes what no one could do for over a week," Riven said, a little bit of… something in her voice. "That's pretty awesome."
"Yeah, who knew the Chief was such a talker?" Cortana said teasingly, making Riven jump.
"So you're, uh… in the suit?" Riven said tentatively.
"Yup. Now I get to walk around with this neanderthal all day," Cortana replied.
"I see," was Riven's confused reply.
"Since I know the Chief's confused right now," Cortana said, "I might as well explain. Long story short, Riven and I became acquainted when she tried to… relocate me to Heimerdinger's lab."
"Okay," was the Chief's one word response. Always the best kind of response to give, in his professional opinion.
They walked on for a few more steps before the Chief abruptly stopped, turning around face Riven. "There were several people at the meeting I did not recognize," Chief said. "The woman in heavy armour, who was she?"
Riven turned her head to the side. "She's Sejuani, leader of the warband called the Winter's Claw. Apparently she was also attacked by mechs, and after seeing they were worthy enemies, decided to march down here."
The Chief found that rather odd, but there was no point in mentioning that. Maybe that was some form of social conduct he had yet to learn about. "And the white flag above the tent?"
"The white… uh, I'm not so sure," Riven spoke with a frown.
"That would be the flag of the Special Envoy," Cortana said. "Made because, technically, Zaun and Piltover can't be at a war meeting. This way, they are counted as special advisors."
The Chief paused. "Why can't Piltover be here? Are they not allies with Demacia?"
"Oh, right," Riven said. "You've been out for a while, so you wouldn't know. All of Piltover's forces have been recalled to the city. There's been a massive armed uprising, all under the command of the Triad." She shrugged. "So I guess that's why they can't be here."
"A full-scale revolution? That's too convenient to be a coincidence," the Chief said.
"Without a doubt. But it's not like we can do anything without their asking, and they have not asked," Cortana said.
The Chief turned away, staring out at the fields, thinking. It would make the most sense to march out now, in order to keep the rest of the city-states as safe as possible. It would –
"Chief? Master Chief?" the Chief was broken from his thoughts by a harsh-sounding voice.
He turned around to find the platinum-blonde haired woman wearing the heavy armour walking towards him. Well, it was more of a march rather than a walk. There was an undeniable ferociousness in her gait and in her eyes.
The Chief's body reacted on some unconscious level to the open hostility, making his heart beat a bit faster, his fingers tightening of their own accord, the familiar pump of adrenalin beginning to rush through him.
He forced it all down when she stopped in front of him. It wouldn't be beneficial to kill a political leader because he could not control himself.
Sejuani stood in front of him, her hands on her hips, as she studied the Spartan.
"Something wrong?" Riven asked, a little bit of hostility in her voice. The Chief put it down to the two having some sort of less-than-friendly encounter in the past.
Sejuani gave a snort of laughter as she looked over the Exile. "Nothing that concerns you, clearly."
Riven bristled at the comment.
"If it concerns me, it concerns my team also," the Chief said. "Unless this does not concern me."
Sejuani huffed. "I wanted to see what you were like up close." She leaned in closer, bringing her finger close to the Mjolnir. "I like the armour."
The Chief took a step back, knowing she would harm herself the moment her skin brushed the energy shielding that surrounded him.
"Apparently you're tough," Sejuani said with a shrug. "And you seem like you know what you're doing. I think we can help each other."
"…How so?" the Chief said, genuinely curious. He was not sure why she would not bring up this 'help' during the meeting, where it could have been put to better use.
"The Winter's Claw needs strong people, and we are the strongest warriors you will find around here. I'm sure if yo – "
"I'm not interested in joining anything," the Chief said abruptly. While he was fairly politically inept, he knew he should have seen this coming.
"That was fast," Sejuani said with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not interested in joining anything," the Chief repeated firmly.
Sejuani chuckled. "Understandable. Personally, I hate joining things too. Political gains, economic gains… it's all just a way for the weak to weed off the strong. So much better when that stuff is all swept away."
"Wow, this lady is seriously messed up," Cortana said over the suits internal mic. The Chief was inclined to agree with her.
Sejuani gave a mock bow, saying, "See you around, Lord Chief. It'll be a pleasure watching you work this all out." With that, she turned and marched away.
"That was… odd," Riven said, blinking.
"I get this feeling like we were being tested, but I can't figure out what," Cortana said out loud. "Probably because I'm using all my processing power trying to sort through the Chief's mess of a database."
"I don't know what you just said, but I agree," Riven said.
The Chief tilted his head, wondering how it was Cortana and Riven were getting along so well. It was a little bit odd.
Then another thought occurred to him.
"Why is everyone calling me lord?" he asked.
"Oh, right," Riven said. "Should have mentioned that. You see, in recognition of your efforts, Jarvan and the High Councilor decided to grant you a piece of land and a title. Or something."
"…What?" the Master Chief asked, perplexed.
"Well, considering the Chief's habit of crashing every single vessel he's ever been in, I don't have much faith in the longevity of that land," Cortana said thoughtfully.
Elsewhere
The alarm was repeating, and it annoyed the hell out of professor Stanwick. But the annoyance was a secondary concern – after all, the blaring object signified that someone had broken into the prototype sanctum, and that was a problem.
One which he would be sure to rectify immediately.
He walked towards the iron door with a squad of zealot-pattern mechs at his back. He made sure to bring overwhelming force, since he could not risk the destruction or theft of his prototypes.
The door opened with a heavy clunk. What was inside made him pause. After a few moments he waved the zealots down, and they backed off, leaving Stanwick to enter the room alone.
"Why ?" was all Sanwick asked. He knew his short querry would be enough to get him a sufficient answer, to which he could then formulate a proper response. Possibly one that required lethal force.
The man in front of him rolled the massive shoulders of the armour, and Stanwick noticed the fact that the suit had fully synced with the man. Interesting.
The man turned around, the joints of the black armour making grinding noises as they moved. The man clenched and unclenched his fist, seemingly relishing the power the armour gave him.
He looked up, the green-tinted T-visor glaring at Stanwick. "I need something more powerful in order to kill the Master Chief."
Well, no point in killing the man yet. But more information could never hurt. "I thought you preferred speed to strength," Stanwick said. He did, in fact, know his contracted warrior was partial to agility. That was how he had optimized his armour and gear in the past.
"The Master Chief is faster than me even with your augmentations, and much stronger," the man said. "This way, I get the resilience I need to survive his hits, and strike back with force equal to his own."
Stanwick cocked his head. "You realize maintaining a proper sync rate with this armour causes great strain upon the user, yes? It will be difficult, and incredibly painful."
"I'll read the manual later," the man said sarcastically, raising a long, lightning –wreathed falchion in one hand. He gave it a few test swings, chopping through the air successfully. He gave a satisfied grunt and sheathed it.
"May I inquire as to how you survived?" Stanwick asked, curious.
"I had my Guardian Angel rune," Marin said, shifting his stance with a mechanical growl.
"The last one in our possession," Stanwick stated. "Was it worth the use?"
Marin cocked his head, possibly wondering what Stanwick was asking. He then turned around, picked up a sleek black case, and tossed it to his employer.
Stanwick caught it smoothly and opened it. Inside was a single rune; a soulstealer greater rune. It was partially frosted over, but completely intact.
Stanwick gave a particularly cold chuckle. "Successful as always," he said. "I suppose I can give you that armour."
"And the weapons," Marin added, hefting a large, blocky pistol-like weapon.
"And the weapons," Stanwick amended.
The two stood there in relative silence, the only real noise being from the suit of armour Marin wore.
"I suggest you prepare yourself," Stanwick said as he briefly glanced around the room. Good. All the other prototypes were intact. Unfinished, but intact.
Marin looked back to his employer.
"Another attack is in the works, in order to secure the second element to the master plan."
"Am I allowed to know what this plan is?" Marin asked in a neutral tone.
"That Is only for me to know," Stanwick said, turning away. "And if you do your job properly, there will never be a need for you to know."
Marin glared at professor Stanwick as he calmly left the room.
This chapter was done a long time ago, but this site was down for me, some gateway error. so sorry 'bout that. At least it's longer than usual, right?
Probably not. Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviews, it does help me write. So, ah...
C ya.