This is set during the Ivanoff Station mission in Halo 4. Now, disclaimer:...I have never played any of the Halo games and no absolutely nothing about the actual game play stuff, so my story info is fairly patchy. Everything I know about it comes from reading some of the books and short stories...(in other words, please be nice with my first Halo story :)
She was alone. John's vital signs were still flickering so he wasn't dead yet, but for now he was out cold. And everyone else was out literally. The moment she thought about it, the security camera replay shocked her system again.
She could hear them screaming. In slow motion, the scene replayed hundreds of times over, the screams sounding louder then before because of the abyssal silence as atom by atom, the scientists disintegrated. All that remained of them was the charred sludge that used to be flesh, piled over where they had been standing before the beam had been shot at the station.
Only her Spartan remained.
Chief, wake up. Please, John, wake up.
The Didact was gone. He had left to create more destruction with the Composer that he had taken from the station and humanity needed a hero to stop him...But the Master Chief still hadn't stirred. He lay face down on the deck just a few feet away from the console that he had plugged her in just before the blast, armor beginning to be covered lightly in ash.
Time for her was endless. Each fraction of a second was real time for her and it made time drag. She tried to pass it by running scans, but everything just brought back what had happened to the scientists. Finally, she just stopped.
She sat with her avatar's form hunched over, hands resting on her splayed knees, shaking. After everything, after the endless replays, she wanted to cry. She wanted to...but she couldn't. No Smart AI could.
She was just computer engineering. Nothing more. And soon enough, she wouldn't even be that. She tried ignoring the fact, but deep down at her core, the dawning truth of the matter was that she would be replaced. It hurt the more she thought about it...but- URGH, think was all she could do, darn it! She lived on information. Only problem was, that was what was going to kill her.
Reacting to her programming, Cortana signed with a breathe she knew she would never have, dropping her head as she curled up in a ball to wait.
She barely heard the shift. Barely noticed the faint groan and metal creaking. She just sat there, head down, trying to calm her unsteady 'breathing', the natural reaction that she could only ever imitate...but never do. Just like seeing a real sunrise, or touching the cool metal of John's helmet, or... just feel something. Something other than the growing agony of secretly concealed Rampancy attacks; something real like humans.
Chief would have said she was just daydreaming, but he wasn't even-
Lifting her head, she saw the Chief staggering to his knees, Mjolnir armor tickling as he moved.
Voice cracked and heaving, thick with an emotion that she knew she couldn't even feel, she asked, ''Are you okay?''
He didn't respond, standing, his back turned towards the hallway they had come from before the blast. He would want the report.
''I monitored the data pulse..'' her voice choked slightly, but she continued, quietly, ''I could hear them.''
For a moment, the Master Chief didn't say anything, turning around as he took in what was left of the science station...what was left of the scientists, the light ash now hanging in the air and coating his Mjolnir.
''What was left of them.''
She could feel him watching her, then twisted on his heel and ordered, ''We need to move.''
''These people are gone.''
Did he really not see? How was it that he was one of their species, but it was she - a construct - who was shaken? Of course. He was the Chief. But still, she wondered now. Which would that make them? Which one of them was just the machine?
His calm, determined voice broke through her thoughts.
''And more will follow if the Didact reaches earth.''
He was thinking; she could tell by the way he ever-so-slightly micro-jerked as he stared off into space. No doubt planning their next move. But so was she. And she had to know that he knew what to expect when the worsted happened...Because she knew it would.
''They'll pair you with another AI.''
His visor snapped around, hard blue eyes studying her from behind the helmet. She hated to say it; She didn't want to crack; She didn't want to go there...but she couldn't pull away. Lifting her head, she continued, eyes puffy with impossible tears.
''Maybe even another Cortana model if Halsey lets them.''
MA5D assault rifle gripped in his hands, he turned to face her, body language tense and defensive as he stepped forward.
''No, that's not going to happen.''
She wanted to believe him. More than anything, she wanted to believe him...but fact was telling her what nothing else could. She would be replaced...and she was just waiting for it to happen.
''It won't be me. You know that...right?''
Had she been in his neuro system, she would have been privy to his silent mutterings as he stepped away, turning again to face the hallway, fighting with his own stubbornness and what he undoubtedly thought was an irrational fear. Yet in the few seconds for him - the silence that stretched on for what counted for her as minutes - that he considered what to say next, Cortana's avatar stood and accessed what was left of the stations controls. She shouldn't have said anything.
All it did was waste time that people in other systems didn't have. And honestly, she didn't think he cared.
''Spinning up a BroadSword in hanger C-11. Whatever the Librarian did to you obviously worked.''
Searching through the data files, she didn't turn as Chief did in faint shock. She hadn't meant to say it with that implication, just that was what and how it came out.
''...Cortana.''
It wasn't a question...or a demand...or even an order. In fact, she wondered if that was the gentlest she'd ever heard him. She turned, wondering what must have been going through his head.
''It's not over...not yet.''
She wasn't over. They weren't over. Not yet. Not yet...but it was the 'yet' factor that scared her.
''Not yet.'' she whispered back, though not sure what she meant when saying that.
He ejected her chip and plugged it back into his helmet, relaxing a little before gripping his rifle again.
''Come on, let's go.''
Inside the chip, she crept back into the Spartan's helmet system, almost afraid she was going through Rampancy after the Grave mind and was just hallucinating. But no, it was real. She was home. She was safe.
That taken care of, she surged through the armor, systems checking everything. She needed to know her Spartan was okay. That blast had shaken his nervous system, shaken the Mjolnir internal systems, and Chief's pulse was up, but other than that, everything was a fair breeze.
They just had to make it to hanger C-11, get off Ivanoff station, and stop the freak alien semi-deity from destroying earth.
No problem. The Didact had an army...Humanity had a Spartan.
''A Spartan and his sidekick.''
She jerked from the contact, surprised. Had her thoughts really been that loud?
''What?'' she asked.
''Spartans aren't the only asset Humanity has; the AIs play a big role too,'' John told her, making his way towards the hanger, ''...I thought you sounded a little quite today.''
Despite her seclusive mood, trying to avoid making John uncomfortable with impossible mood swings, she smiled a little.
''Just checking to make sure you were listening.''
She heard him huff - partly in amusement, partly in disbelief, as he shook his head. She knew he wasn't a man of many words, so when he didn't say anything, she figured that was all he was going to say.
Thus, when John finally replied, ''You know I always am,'' Cortana smiled, feeling her pulse brighten within the confines of the Spartan's helmet as everything from earlier melted into the matrix's background. Whatever the Librarian had done to him, she hadn't changed who he was.
Sure, that would mean he would still be a handful and generally ignore his personal safety - all attributes that permanently would mark him as crazy...but unfortunately for them both, she liked crazy.
Smirking at him through the helmet avatar, she nodded her silent thanks.
''Okay, Chief, pick up the pace; we have Covenant to kick.''...
Okay, the end was probably partly OOC; however, despite that, I hope you enjoyed it! :D