Chapter 36: What Left Is There?

June 12th, 3239, 0340

New York City, Earth

Here he was.

Or was he there?

Where was 'here' exactly?

Did space even mean anything anymore?

There was dark, and there was light

Dancing and twisted, like a whirlpool of epilepsy.

He was in tatters. His mind's latch was torn open and now the demons roamed the halls, sacking and looting and burning as they went.

Memories flared and flamed.

He found it hard to remember his favorite smells as a child.

He had trouble recalling what tune his father whistled in the morning.

He forgot her name for a second... but then caught it.

Sally.

That was her name. He was sure of it.

But that... thing. That imposter. No, that couldn't have been her, could it?

He fought for consciousness. He fought for the Lifeshaper. He screamed for her guidance and her love, but neither came. There was only he in the abyss. He resolved himself to tumble eternally in the quagmire of his mind...

Then something struck him.

Chris' eyes jerked open and he moved his head. He found it hard to do so since he was still fairly well restrained. The second smack came without warning clean across the mouth. Chris recoiled and groaned. He was happy the smack came, but was annoyed by it as well.

"Jesus... Bing, was that your fake hand? Motherfucker I think you chipped a tooth." He said this as if his vocal chord were made of concrete, as if he was awakened from a century-long nap. It may as well have been a century. Everything felt slightly alien to him, as if the world was now slightly crooked in some way; wrong at a fundamental level. "I'm up." he said looking at the walking alarm clock. He was about to say something else before he realized that it wasn't Bing standing in front of him. It was a stocky, yet built man wearing what looked like a boonie cap and unless he was mistaken, Marine fatigues. He looked like he had marched across the city himself. A rifle with a large scope was slung across his back, and his face had a full beard strapped across his chin. Chris didn't recognize the man. Not at first.

"Who are you?"

The man stayed silent. Chris stopped and looked at him. There was something about him. Then he made eye contact. He saw the eyes of a hawk: Large, unmoving, and razor-sharp, as if he could see ten miles further than anybody in the world. As Chris connected the dots, the man was impassive. Silent.

"Jeff?" Chris said quietly after some pause. "Jeff Winston? Silent, is that you?"

The man smiled and clapped a hand on Chris' forearm. "Captain. Glad to see you remember."

"You're alive."

"Sure am." his sniper said. "Glad I found you as well." Winston spoke in a gravelly voice – far deeper than Chris remember. One glance at The Silent's throat and he saw why. A large scar stretched from one side of his jaw to another. It was wicked looking; almost as if it were caused by plasma. "Let me help you down. I'd like to talk, but frankly we don't have time."

Winston pulled a knife from a sheath on his left thigh. He slid the blade between the gaps in the rope and began sawing. "This is tough rope." he said. This will take some time."

They stood there for a few minutes. Winston worked silently, but the ropes slid apart eventually and Chris dropped to the floor feeling rather sore. He landed and felt glad to simply not be pinned to the support beam. Chris looked up to see his savior and a second man had now accompanied him. This man was tall, had broad shoulders, and a trim military haircut. Chris didn't recognize the man at first, but it was clear that the man recognized the Captain.

"Come on, get up." The man said. He had definitely seen this person before.

"Who are you?"

"It's Bowman!" The man smirked. "Jesus, it hasn't been that long."

Bowman. The colonel back on Talahan. Chris did indeed remember giving this man the option to escape, and here he was extending a hand to him. Chris had a feeling that Bowman was just another conjuration of his mind and that the real man was far away from here. There was the hand. Chris took it and immediately felt resistance. He felt the colonel's flesh and could make out the wrinkles on it. He could even feel bumps – evidence of shrapnel wounds perhaps.

"Are you real?" he blurted out.

"The hell sort of question is that? How long were you up there for?"

"I don't know." he answered truthfully.

Bowman sighed and shook his head. He pinched Chris' arm, and rather forcefully too. The Captain felt the pain in his skin and pulled his arm back.

"Happy?" Bowman asked. "I'm as real as you are."

Chris didn't even know how to respond to that. The phrase meant nothing to him at this point. True his pain receptors lit up at Bowman pinching his skin, but that could have been a very clever trick by his mind.

"Look, I didn't drag my ass off of that swamp and get here damn near undetected just for you to go nuts on me."

Too late for that.

"Why are you doing this?" the young man asked his rescuer.

"Well, as I recall correctly, you saved my life back in that prison, Captain. You gave me the chance to walk away from that deathtrap and I would have been stupid not to take it. So, here I am now and I'm returning the favor. Had to use every resource I had left to make it back to Earth, and it wasn't fun convincing them I was still alive. Recalling decade old codes and divulging private information and the like. Come on, Bing's waiting upstairs."

"I'm going to scout ahead." Winston reported, nodding curtly. "I'll be in touch over the radio. It's good to see you again sir." he walked out of the room and up the stairs.

Bowman snapped his fingers. "Come on, get focused. I need you on the ball." He leaned in close to check on the young man. "How many fingers am I holding up?" the colonel held up two slender digits.

"Two."

"Then you're fit to move, Marine!"

Chris stumbled to his feet and stretched his back. His underarms were slick with sweat, and he reeked of body odor. This didn't seem to bother Bowman who was likely used to this and much worse after being in a Talahase prison for five years. "Alright, ready to move out, sir."

Chris followed Bowman up the stairs out of the expansive basement and back into the assembly area behind the counter. Bing saw him come up and pushed off the wall to stand a little straighter. "Well, looks like you're feeling better."

"You didn't hear the screaming?" Chris asked Bing.

"Didn't hear a single thing."

A lump formed in Chris' throat. He wasn't sure what was making it out of his head and what was sticking inside his skull.

"You wouldn't believe the shock I felt when I saw this son of a bitch walk through my door!" Bing grinned like an idiot and clamped his real hand on Bowman's shoulder. "It was like a high school reunion!"

"You know him?" the Captain asked, suddenly confused.

"Damn right I know him!" Bing beamed. "How could I forget? Know how I got the arm in Barymeter Bay? I was running gunner duty on a Kit Fox going through the foothills and we get pegged by Covenant mortars. APC flips and I get caught under the wreckage. Arm's shot to hell, and I think I'm checking out. Then this godsend pulls me out and drags me all the way back to the field hospital!" He punched Bowman softly in the shoulder. "Saved my ass that day!"

"You're shitting me."

"Swear to God! Small world!"

Bowman was even smirking. "That was a long time back. A favor for a favor I think we can call this."

"This?" Bing gave a short laugh. "Shit, this doesn't even count. Hit me up when you've got a doozy. His buddies took some of his gear, so I'm going to throw a couple of these your way."

Bing reached into a surplus container and pulled out a pair of MKV-7s. The pistols had long barrels, and a compensator screwed on the end. Their grips were angled slightly and had a double finger trigger guard. The sights were clear and painted with tritium to light up when gazing down them. Chris wasn't familiar with the MKVs. A quick glance on the slide showed that they were made by some out of the way company called Doran Industries.

"The hell did you get these?" Bowman asked. "They're nice."

"Special contractor. The boss doesn't tell me everything you know. Cops buy them sometimes. Hell, you may be able to pass for a plainclothes officer."

"For a moment or two anyway." Bowman said. He pointed at Chris, "Saw your pretty mug on every street corner. Get some sunglasses and keep quiet. I'll do the talking from now on."

Bing suddenly remembered and stepped forward. "Ah, Corey, I forgot to tell you... but this guy, he has a tendency to slip in and out from time to time if you know what I mean..."

Bowman took a second to look Chris over. "He seems solid."

"Just... be careful with him. His girlfriend's a yeller."

"I'll deal with her." Bowman reassured his friend.

"I'm just saying, she's... different." Bing looked at the men. "You two look like you want to tear Marshall a new one."

"I want to tear him two." Chris growled with a deep anger in his throat.

Bing pointed at the Captain with his fake hand. "Just watch yourself, son. You've been through enough lately and I'm kicking myself for not getting involved. So here it is. You keep your head. You listen to your superior, and you act like a professional in there, you hear me, soldier?"

"Yes sir." the Captain nodded. "I'll do my best."

"No, you do better than your best. You will be on your goddamned pinnacle of behavior. You slip up and we lose you, you risk yourself and the life of Colonel Bowman. I shouldn't be letting you go, but I have no right keeping you from what you deserve: justice and retribution."

Chris sucked in some air, puffing his chest out. Those were the words he wanted to hear.

Before he knew it, he was outside in a car that he presumed Bowman drove to get here. It was beaten up but still somewhat functional. Chris wouldn't have thought it unlikely is Bowman had stolen the vehicle. The colonel scoffed as they approached the vehicle. On the windshield was a small slip of paper.

It was a parking ticket.

Bowman ripped it off and looked at it. "Illegal parking zone between the hours of 11 PM and 6 AM." He crumpled it. "I don't have time for this rinky-dink bullshit. Get in."

Chris popped open the door and looked to get in. Jeff wasn't inside. He probably had his own form of transportation and had moved on ahead. At the end of that thought, his own radio buzzed. "I'm a few blocks ahead of you already. Your route looks clear so far; no police as far as I can see. I'll be your eyes for now."

"OK." Chris acknowledged stepping into the car and pulling the door closed behind him. As Bowman gunned the engine and pulled into traffic, Chris asked, "So, how did you get here anyway?"

"I'll compress for you: after you opened that cell, I seriously considered staying in there. I was safe, and as long as I stayed in line I wouldn't be shot. I could already handle myself in the pen. Rose up a bit in the prison hierarchy, but I saw a shot at freedom and I took it. You stirred up quite a racket and I managed to slip out while you and your friends got beat up by the guards and taken to Blaine."

"Blaine was an ONI agent: His name was BRUTUS."

"I know who he was. He was an asset while we were on planet. Real deep-cover operative. Blaine was actually his real name, but he went by BRUTUS while in the field with us. That's how I knew who he was. I connected the dots right away and knew he was still filing reports back to ONI. Why else would he keep me locked up? So, after those monstrosities showed up, I managed to jack a ride aboard one of the rescue shuttles by claiming I was a support crewman from one that you guys downed, and they believed it. They're horrifying bastards you know, but they treated me well enough. They took me as far as Reach because I said I needed to be debriefed there. Idiots, they believed it. From there, I got public transit to Earth. Hell of a story, right?

"Sounds a bit less eventful than mine." Chris remarked.

"Yeah, but here I am now. After you told me about Cleary getting murdered, I made my own little investigation into the matter. This is rotten to the core."

"You know Marshall's dirty too?"

"Son, a lot of people are starting to come around, but Marshall's a slippery one. Some people may know he has questionable motives, but killing Cleary is still an unknown, and nothing but a confession can really put him in his place."

Bowman pulled the car onto the superhighway and settled into the far left lane to let the rest of the city's traffic head further up Manhattan Island. Chris looked out the window at the skyscrapers that punched through the clouds. The city was so bright not a single star was visible. The sky for miles was polluted with the early morning glow of Human civilization. It was beautiful and saddening at the same time. Chris knew what those stars looked like. He had taught himself many different constellations, and even learned a few more on Talahan V and Mobius. He knew that there were kids in the city that lived their whole lives without ever knowing what natural starlight looked like. It tore his heart a little bit as it was a beautiful sight that gave insight into the universe. The most humbling moment in his life was on a clear night on Talahan, he would look up into the dark sky and with a little bit of doing, he was able to find the star that the little blue dot he called home orbited.

"Hey Bowman."

"Yeah?" the colonel asked. "What's up?"

"You ever think there's hope for us?"

The colonel looked a bit confused. "What?"

"Do you think there's hope for Humanity?"

"I don't get paid to think, Marine. Can we please focus?"

"Look, I'm falling apart mentally. Can you please just humor me?"

Bowman sighed roughly. It sounded like a grizzled dog growling.

"Do I think that Humanity has hope? Nope. I think we're fucked in the long run."

"What do you mean 'fucked'?"

"I mean doomed to repeat our failures over and over and over again. The definition of insanity if repetition of the same task expecting different results. I mean, Humans fight. If someone wants something you either share it, bargain for it, or the more likely: fight over it. Ever since we left this damned planet we've been fighting over what? Scraps of dirt, rock, and gods. That's over 30,000 years of hardwired personality into our heads. You think being a spacefaring species magically makes us enlightened? No, we're doomed to fight because that's what soldiers do best. All Humans are soldiers whether they admit it or not."

Chris didn't answer the colonel. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach that perhaps he actually agreed with the man. There was the collective dream of all soldiers everywhere of a day when men and women like them were no longer needed, but there came the stark, crushing reality that with light years of distance between every Human world and the means to wage war to go along with them, that dream was nothing more than a fancy.

"Remember Captain, what we do with what we're given is our choice." it was Winston's voice in his ear. "We may be soldiers, but we're still people."

"I think you may be right."

"Good." Bowman said. "Now can we please focus?"

Roan was utterly amazed that the stolen uniform had gotten him this far. It was a bit baggy around the waist, but a few clicks of the belt allowed it to become much more fastened. When he placed the cap on his head, he could have passed for a metro cop, badge and all. He walked towards the police checkpoint with Jackson and Borne at his sides. The cop up ahead nodded at Roan. "Hey, what's going on?" she asked. The officer was slender and had her dirty blonde hair tucked under a ball cap. "14 Precinct? You're a bit out of your way today."

Roan kept his cool. They'd rehearsed this moments earlier. "These two with me get past. This is Mister Williams." pointing to Borne. "He's Naval Intelligence, just jumped over from the Tokyo base. This is Miss Jackson. She's with Vanguard Private Security."

The cop looked at Jackson first and took her in mentally. She was indeed wearing a Vanguard jacket, thankfully this was given to her when she was locked up. She looked at Roan when he mentioned her real name, but the officer simply looked at the patch on her arm and the cast on her still-healing foot. "PMC huh?"

"You think I'm impersonating one?" Jackson asked, her temper starting to flare. "You think I'm a phony?"

The cop started to stammer. "I-I'm just saying that..."

"Well obviously I'm too cute and cuddly to be a merc, is that right? You know what, you're interfering with an operation cleared by the government. I can have your badge for that, you know that right? What's your name officer... Palton?"

Threat of termination did it every time. The officer broke. "No, no I'm not trying to hold you up, I'm just on guard duty here. I got the short end of the stick this shift. Go on in. She didn't even question Borne, who was quite disappointed. He was ready to recite authentication codes.

When they were out of earshot of the now relieved-feeling officer, Borne said, "I love watching you work."

"That was harsh." Borne remarked.

"I was taking it easy." Sam replied. "She won't remember us. She's too scared to.

From that point on they were inside the main premises of the government building. Things would get very difficult very quickly. Camera presence spiked, and patrols were common. Stealth was now the viable option. Thankfully, all three of them made a living off of not being seen.

Not far from their position, John, Sonic, and Alex had been let off the bus in the government sector of the city. The trio retreated into an alley where Konstantinos tossed the Spartan his helmet. John looked the helmet over in hands and slipped it on his head. The displays lit up at once and the HUD started streaming information over every aspect of the environment. John felt at home now. Being without the MJOLNIR which helped him so much in combat, he felt incomplete and stripped. At the same time, he became a terrifying giant in battle armor. Whatever Humanity he expressed had vanished when that helmet slipped on. He was faceless and merciless. Konstantinos took one step back.

"Wow. I wonder if that's what the Innies felt when you went to work."

"I have that effect on people." the Spartan said. Sonic was grinning though. "What?"

"I dunno man, it just looks like you're going to kick some serious butt with that thing on."

John just looked at the man, taking him in and his rather fluid personality which changed whenever one looked at him. "We'll get to work." John looked at the area ahead of him. "Cortana, what's the shortest distance into the tower?"

"Honestly? A straight line." the AI said with a stifled laugh.

They looked ahead of them. There was a solid instacrete wall that was part of a single story structure. Indeed, right behind it, the government building rose into the heavens. There was no door on the wall.

"Are you joking?" Konstantinos asked.

"Not in the slightest. Get over that building, and you'll be right inside the main perimeter. This is a blind spot in their defense grid."

"Jesus, the center of Human government and there's a blind spot."

"If you'd like to walk around, be my guest, Mr. Konstantinos." Cortana said levelly. "That'll put you at about forty minutes of walking time. Otherwise, you can sidestep this right now."

Sonic shrugged. "I'm game. So, how do we get over?"

"Spartan?" Cortana chimed. "Give them a boost, will you?"

John nodded and silently placed himself against the instacrete wall. He judged the distance to the top of the wall and positioned himself accordingly. Sonic volunteered to go first. He planned to use his speed in combination with the Spartan's strength to get him over.

"So what, maybe fifty percent strength?" Konstantinos suggested.

"Yeah, fifty's enough. He gives one hundred and I'm going flying."

"Let's go." John said, urging the men to accomplish this simple task.

"Yeah alright, alright." Sonic said nodding, giving a few breaths to get the blood flowing. "Here we go!" he said before running. Before Konstantinos could even blink, Sonic had run halfway across the distance. The speed caught John off-guard at first before he could calculate the timing that was needed. Spartans thought quicker than most people; the world passed in slow motion. He hooked his hands underneath Sonic's foot and just as the hedgehog was taking another step the Lieutenant lifted him in the air at fifty percent strength, just as they suggested. Sonic flew into the air and gave a yelp as he flew clear over the instacrete wall flipping nearly twice and landing on his back at the top. Neither John nor Alex could see what was on top before the stunned hedgehog appeared and while groaning he gave the thumbs-up.

Konstantinos looked at John all of a sudden. "OK, maybe we can try twenty-five percent."

Alex only flew marginally over the wall, landing on his stomach without flipping at all. The air was knocked from his lungs but he sat up without difficulty wiping dust from his clothes.

Last came John who climbed up the wall himself. The Spartan wasn't burdened with any weight and could simply hop up, grab the edge, and swing himself over. He did this with machine precision and didn't let a grunt escape from his armor. The sight of him standing up on the roof without so much as an utterance mystified them. They knew that there was a man underneath that helmet and armor, but with that golden visor separating those very Human eyes from theirs, John looked very much like the machines that the news reports claimed he was. No sound escaped his suit, and no sign of the man came through any chinks in the armor.

Konstantinos rose to his feet and looked over the rooftop into the area beyond. It was a sunken courtyard of sorts that was complete with small parks, benches, and fountains. It didn't even look like it was nighttime here. Some contraption known as a Rayleigh Projector gave the impression of blue skies in combination with a sun lamp that appeared every now and again. It was jarring to see the sharp difference between night and dark and it was only separated by a small wall.

One glance over the wall showed that even though it appeared to be a one story wall on one side, the building they were on dropped at a least an additional two stories onto hard cobblestone.

"Oh wow." Konstantinos said suddenly faced with a bout of vertigo. "That is a long way down."

Sonic groaned as well. "Cobblestone... never nice to land on."

"You've done that before?"

"Yeah. I regretted it too in a hospital bed." he smiled.

"We can solve this easily." Cortana quipped. "The Lieutenant will drop down and will be set to catch you."

"What?" Sonic blurted, "Catch us?"

"That's what I said." The AI reiterated. "Just a trust fall."

John moved at once, vaulting over a small wall and fell down with legs bent and arms spread to balance himself. The Spartan hit the ground and simultaneously bent his legs to absorb the impact. He didn't make any more sound than a leaf on the wind. Sonic and Alex wondered if John was so far down the sound didn't carry. However, they reminded themselves that it wasn't the distance. He was just that good.

"Alright, any volunteers?" Cortana asked.

"I'll go." Sonic announced. "Little adrenaline never killed anybody."

"Do a flip." Alex said.

Sonic ran with a burst of speed, but he controlled it with great discipline. To Sonic the Hedgehog, speed was his science and he understood it in ways few did. Just a fraction of a kilometer faster or slower, and the hedgehog would tumble and likely hurt, or at worst kill himself. Landings were what made the difference.

He leapt. Sonic felt his feet leave the solid ground and began to have the sensation of his stomach rising. He hung in the air before starting to arc towards the lower area. Time seemed to speed up as it usually did to him in these moments. He breathed viscerally, loosened his muscles to absorb impact, and focused so intently he could feel his heart pumping in his chest. Every second felt twice as fast, but the details of the world around him were precise, which was exactly the way he liked it. This in a nutshell was what it was like to be Sonic, and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He pulled his legs inward, initiating a somersault and when he made one complete rotation, he felt as if he had been picked up by the wind. The air didn't even leave his lungs, but when he looked up, he saw the enormous orange visor of Spartan-117. He didn't even feel landing in the man's arms.

John had caught Sonic under the shoulder blade and at the bend in the legs, slowly moving Sonic laterally, down, and then up to gently help him land. From the height of a couple stories, landing without injury thanks to John's reflexes and cunning was nothing short of impressive. Even the hedgehog was in awe.

"You have very delicate hands." he said to the visor. "Are you free for backrubs?"

John put Sonic on the ground. "Don't move yet." he said curtly. He then waited for Alex to make a move. "Today, Konstantinos." he called over the COM.

Alex stared down at the distance. It wasn't that he doubted John's ability to catch him... well, perhaps it was.

"Now." John said with icy death laced on his voice. "Or I'm coming there to throw you off myself."

He most certainly didn't doubt that. Alex bit his tongue, closed his eyes and jumped off the precipce with... considerably less grace than Sonic. Soon he was facing downwards and was about to cry out with shock when he felt a tug of G-forces. John had indeed caught the man but not easily this time. Konstantinos was so close to the ground he could count the chips in a single brick on the road. He felt pain in his mouth and realized he had bitten so hard on his tongue that he drew blood. He hoped he didn't piss himself. Thankfully he realized he did not.

John set him down gingerly. The trio scanned around the area. The blue skies were off-putting as they all knew that it was close to four in the morning. Their brains flickered trying to process this information. The conclusion was made that it was daytime and thus their bodies suddenly got a boost of chemicals.

They felt happy. Even John considered himself uplifted.

Perhaps this was a way for politicians to become much more comfortable before negotiations. The courtyard seemed empty, but not once did they think it was harmless.

"Don't make another step unless I tell you to." Cortana said over the radio. "I'm sending an area map to your computers. Lieutenant?"

The spartan raised his arm. The computer on his forearm projected the tower and the area around it. Cortana manipulated the controls to zoom in where they were. "OK, here's the courtyard and here you all are." a waypoint dropped on their position. "You're currently in Courtyard South. There are six courtyards for each compass direction. Each are linked, and each has an entrance to the building itself. Now, here's the difficult part. Cameras everywhere. Lasers everywhere, and as far as I know..."

The ground thudded. Mechanical whirring filled the air, soft at first, but growing slowly louder. A door opened at the side of the courtyard, and a metal mass walked through the portal.

"Is that a mech?!" Konstantinos said, ducking behind shrubbery.

"Oh hell. It is. WK-150 Nachtjäger. Light walker, top speed 125 kilometers per hour. Looks like it's armed with a M940 Twinning thirty millimeter cannon. HE rounds."

"Please stop saying words." Konstantinos said.

"Looks easy to get around." Sonic noted.

"It can call for help." John finalized. "It doesn't have to hit us. If we're spotted, the alarm is raised. Half the tower will be after us."

"I thought that was the plan for us." Sonic scoffed. "We're supposed to be a diversion."

"True." the Spartan added. "But that won't be much good if all Marshall's troops funnel into the courtyard."

"Also true." the hedgehog answered.

The Nachtjäger stopped dead just inside of the courtyard. It was silent except for a small humming that came from its reactor. It wasn't known if the pilot was communicating with dispatch or perhaps he was fixing a problem. Before anybody could say anything, a pair of headlights under the cockpit flashed on, bathing the area in blinding white shine. The Nachtjäger began to move again, slowly pacing around the perimeter.

"He's looking for something." Alex noted. Indeed, it seemed like this was a patrol pattern. They must have tripped a motion sensor when they came over the fence which called a guard to the area. That or they just happened to be in the next patrol phase of the walker's shift. Either way, the hunt was on. The pilot twisted the torso of the walker and glared between hedge rows. The group hoped that the guard thought it was a rat, a pigeon or perhaps a raccoon. Not a Mobian one of course... no, nothing like that.

"Bad news." Cortana chimed.

"Great." Sonic groaned.

"I just tried to get into the walker's systems. They're hardened. The only link is a directly encrypted channel."

"You can't just brute force into it?" Alex asked intently.

"Absolutely not." Cortana said. "That would be too messy and it would set off alarms. Worst yet, the encryption isn't in the system. It must be a physical presence."

"What, they wrote it down?"

"Probably in someone's pocket now."

"So how do we make the walker go away?" Sonic asked.

"Two ways: we wait until it leaves though I can't guarantee it won't come back, or... we deal with it."

Silence, only punctuated by the thumping of the Nachtjäger's feet on the cobblestone.

"Deal with it?" Sonic asked. "How?"

"The pilot communicates through lasers with the tower. If I can get close enough, I may be able to get some refracted light and maybe... just maybe I can get part of the encryption protocol. If I can do that, I can get into the walker's systems and shut it down."

"Sounds like fun." Sonic said.

"But you need us to... get close to it?" Konstantinos gulped. "As in... right next to it?"

"That's the only way." Cortana said gravely. "If you're not up to it, I don't blame you."

"I'll do it." Sonic volunteered at once. "I can get close to it without setting off any alarms."

"Don't risk yourself." John advised, suddenly concerned. "If that thing opens up, it could kill you."

"Nah, don't sweat it." He had confidence in his eyes. "You're the muscle, I'm the legs. Look, there's no guarantee this'll work, but I'll give it my best shot. If this works, we'll get one step closer to Marshall and saving Mobius. If not... well I'm sure we'll think of something."

"Wait." John said. He unclipped his arm computer and handed it to Sonic. "Cortana can connect through this."

"I'm still safe in his skull."

Sonic took the computer and slung it around his wrist. It bristled with displays, ready to do its work.

"I'll let you know when I'm done. Last chance to back out."

"Not a chance." Sonic grinned broadly. "I live for this."

A split second later, he was gone.