"The plaiting was about to fail. There's viscosity throughout the gel-layer. Optics? Totally fried. And let's not even talk about the power supply. You know how expensive this gear is, son?" a gruff and exasperated technician lazily tossed the useless parts onto the table near a new looking MJOLNIR helmet.
John just picked up the helmet, locked it in place, and said, "Tell that to the Covenant."
"Hmph. Alright, let's get you calibrated. Go stand on that platform there," the man said, walking over to a control consol as John did as was ordered. Calibration only took a few moments compared the full hour he had to go through the first time putting on a MJOLNIR armor suite, and it was enough time for Johnson to come in to collect him.
"You done with my boy here, Master Gunns?" the dark man asked. "I don't see any training wheels..."
"His armor is working just fine, Johnson, so just shut your chili hole! You're free to go son, just remember to take things slow."
"Don't worry, I'll hold his hand!" the older soldier joked, leading the Spartan to the elevator that would take them to the station shuttle waiting for them.
"So Johnson, when are you gonna tell me how you managed to get home in one piece?" Gunns asked.
"Sorry, Gunns. It's classified."
"Hmph, my ass!" the elevator gate closed and slowly began it's ascent. "And you can forget about modification to your A-5 scope!"
"Well, he's in a fine mood. Guess Lord Hood didn't give him an invitation."
John remained silent, even when they got off the elevator and loaded onto the shuttle. He took in the sight of Earth and the many defense platforms, having never seen humanity's home world before in person. Now that he thought of it, Earth was also Ailene's home.
"Bet your girlfriend would love an Earth-side date when this is over," Johnson said in a light hearted tone. The Sargant had earned his trust after their time on the Halo ring and destroying an invading Covenant fleet, so John let him in on this massive secret he was keeping from the rest of the UNSC.
"Yeah, I bet she would," was his response, not even knowing what he'd do for a date in the first place.
"Just let me know if you need any ideas."
"I'll keep that in mind if I want to chase her off." That got a scoff of indignation and a feigned hurt expression.
"And I thought we were friends!"
Everything had started normal for Ailene that morning. Even the weekly meeting started out as business-as-usual until they were about to break for an hour.
"Very well, let's..." Ailene suddenly went silent, and she gazed upward. "What the hell..."
"What is it, my lady?" Lak asked. The pregnant human just hurried over to the nearest window, looking to the east toward the ocean coast.
"Has anyone mentioned a storm brewing?" Her question had most of the elders crowd the windows to see the sudden gathering of dark clouds. Lightning arced across the sky in dazzling show, but the colors were unnatural. "Oh no...No no no no! Heimdal, no!"
Ailene dashed out of the council room, ignoring the shouts of inquiry from everyone she passed, and was careful to not fall in her current state.
"Heimdal, this is NOT the place to be opening the Bifrost on!" she nearly shouted while skidding to a halt in the Keep courtyard. The residents of the Keep had cleared the open area when the clouds had rapidly formed over head, leaving the sandy area open for a portal to open up. "No one draw your weapons!"
"Why would we?" a young guard close by asked her.
The lad got his answer when a pillar of rainbow light crashed into the ground, blinding everyone for a moment before vanishing and leaving behind a Birfrost gate mark and a Stark Industries storage chest the size of a large pick-up truck with a scroll attached to the side.
"Oh thank goodness," she sighed in relief, bending over to catch her breath. "I thought it was going to be Thor or Loki that'd be dropped off!"
"What the blazes just happened?" demanded Lak once he caught up and witnessed the light show.
"Let's get this behemoth inside first, then I'll explain." She stepped toward the chest to the ire of her guards, pressed a yellow button on the side and watched it lift off the ground slightly. "Well, boys? Are you going to make a pregnant lady do the heavy work?"
Five Keep guards sprung forward and began slowly guiding the chest to the largest common hall, letting Ailene remember that the Sangheili didn't have the words boy or girl in their language like English did. They had gender indications, such as effiminant connotations or masculine. Whenever Ailene said "boy", "girl", "man" or "woman" those words came out in English and not Sangheili.
Once the chest was situated in the vast room and only the elders and guards were present did she begin to explain.
"That light show earlier was the opening of something called the Bifrost. I don't know if your Covenant has ever encountered them, but the Bifrost is a transportation gate used by a people called Asgardians. They're a race of people that live for mellinia, look and act human, but are incredibly strong in strength, magic, and technology."
"Magic? Preposterous!" said an elder female.
"I'll be sure to have Loki prove you wrong," Ailene noted and continued. "Asgard is allies with Earth, and their king is one of my closest friends. Come to think of it, I wonder why he hasn't shown up on the battle field. He loves a good fight." She decided it was time to read the small scroll and plucked it off it's resting place. Taking a quick look at the note, she found out that a lot more had occurred during her five hundred year nap. "Oh, that would explain a few things. They're cut off from the rest of the galaxy."
"So, aside from that, how are you supposed to open whatever this is?" asked an elder, walking around the chest. "I see no way to open it."
"It's designed to only open for me," she placed her hands on the face of the chest the scroll had been attached to and sent out a small pulse of energy into it. The seemingly seamless face pulled to the sides and then swung outward to reveal the contents inside.
The inside lit up with harsh, LED lights, showing a set of armor vastly different from Ailene usually wore as a hero. It looked more Nordic in design and mixed with the advanced technology of an Iron Man suite instead of her Irish dancer themed costume of old; Norse runes lined the collar of the chest armor, a wolf head made up most of the metal mask, quartz crystals decorated the arms, legs, and torso of the tunic and greaves, and that was just what was visible at the moment. Thor clearly had a say in the design of this masterpiece. Though it was soon overshadowed by the battle axe displayed next to it.
The axe was magnificent and huge. It reminded her of the Leviathan axe from God of War, but every little bit of it was made of metal and decorated with both Nordic runes and Celtic knots along the handle, the pommel shaped to look like a wolf's head, and the blade had etchings of a tree branches and more runes. Quartz also decorated where the handle and axe head were attached together. A weapon of war. A gift from her Avenger friends and Asgardian shield siblings.
"By the gods," one of the elders whispered, clearly impressed by the weapon as Ailene hefted the axe off of it's hangers.
A massive boom in the distance ruined the moment and a guard ran in.
"We're under attack! Jiralhanae are attacking our lands!"
"Mobilize the troops! Rouse the Keep Guardians to protect the Keep, and arm all able bodied Sangheili!" Ailene quickly gave out orders and everyone scrambled to carry them out. Her personal guards remained behind and they turned their backs as she began to don on her armor. To herself she said, "I am no longer Shamrock the Healer; I am Shamrock the Bane of the Covenant. I can no longer hold back."
A Brute chieftain laughed cruely at the wonton destruction before him. He and his pack took great pleasure in watching the Sangheili run, made sport of those trying to fight back, and tortured their prey to death before devouring their flesh.
Lightning began to light the dark sky again, thunder so powerful that each boom rattled their bones. It wasn't until the fur on their neck began to raise that they felt that something was wrong. A roar caught their attention and the ground five feet away from the chieftain exploded, sending five of his packmates flying into already destroyed walls, and in the dust stood a human.
The Brutes just laughed and strode to the human, and were cut down in one swing of it's axe. The chieftain watched in morbid fascination as the small human cut down his pack with little to no effort. When it came toward him at a calm walk, he stood his ground, hefted his hammer up, and growled in challenge. He swung his hammer and the human cut it in two while taking his left hand with the same stroke.
"Demon," he growled.
The human made no sound as it beheaded the chieftain.