RECOMPOSE
by Ladywolvesbayne
I decided to add some sub-notes about specific locations because of reasons...
So, there's 85 of us here and this story is gathering around 300 visitors per week, huh? Great numbers :) Thanks for following and being around!
12. SMALL BITES
AUGUST 13TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY DOCKED IN SANGHELIOS
MAIN CARGO BAY
3:48 PM standard time
Cortana stretched her arms and felt the breeze caress her face. Sanghelios smelled a lot like salt and iron, it was a very strong and powerful scent. She wasn't sure if Earth smelled the same, but given that both planets' soil composition and atmosphere were similar, she'd bet it did. She closed her eyes for a long, peaceful moment, just hearing at the wind and the engines whining in the distance. Then, Cortana dropped her head to rest her chin atop her arms, crossing them over the guardrail.
Through the gigantic open jaw of one of the cargo bays of the Infinity, a wide red landscape coated in sunlight saluted them. Two levels below, at the main deck, a swarm of soldiers, mechanics and technicians moved quickly hundreds of boxes and crates full of supplies. The Elites assigned to help with the tasks were doing nicely too.
It was a bit reassuring to see two different races (that were once enemies sworn to destroy each other without mercy) working together like that.
"I can't believe they didn't get you a plus one pass." Cortana said, sighing.
The Master Chief turned around to look at her, holding his rifle -aiming down- in a very professional fashion.
"A what?" he asked, oblivious.
"Are you asking me for real?" she blinked, confused. He nodded. "It's... well, it's an invitation that says you can bring someone else with you."
He shrugged. "I don't get out much."
"No kidding. You could pull some strings with the Arbiter."
"For what?"
Cortana slowly rolled her eyes, a bit frustrated, and finally straightened her pose. She loved to spend time alone with John, but sometimes he was a little too... instead of complaining or congratulate him with a sarcastic retort, she chose to dazzle him with a radiant smile and leaned back on her elbows against the guardrail.
"Come on, Chief. Take a girl out." her voice was sweet, almost seductive.
"You want to go with me to the diplomatic gathering?"
Her smirk grew wider. "I thought you'd never ask!"
"It's a covert operation, Cortana, not a party."
Cortana flicked her tongue. She was aware that it was all on purpose, the Arbiter wanted to use the assembly both as a diplomatic meeting and an ambush. It was risky and it could be extremely dangerous, but it was already set and John was in, one way or another. It had been partially his idea.
"You wouldn't complain if I were still stuck in your skull." she groaned, upset. "Besides, do you speak sangheili? No, you don't. You'll need a translator, you can bring me as a consultant or something."
"Sigrid has a translation function."
"Yeah, well... but is she half as charming as I am?"
"It's not about charm either."
The woman chewed on her lower lip, dissatisfied. She'd swear to God -if such entity existed- that she had no idea of how she managed to dream about such a different man the other day. Speaking of odd dreams, she felt a warm shiver run down her back and hugged herself, her heart throbbing.
He probably didn't notice.
They both fell silent for a long moment, just staring down at the busy cargo bay.
John was damn right, she shouldn't be thinking about going to alien parties when they were expecting a rain of fire. But it would be a first for her, so what the hell. With all the SPARTANS assigned, saying that the Arbiter's party would be the safest place in Sanghelios was a huge understatement.
"On a second thought..." he started. John shifted his weight from one leg to the other, he was thinking it over. "It could be useful to have you there, I'll see what I can do."
Her face lit up with hope. "Would you now, Chief?"
He nodded once, and Cortana knew it wasn't a long shot. He'd make it happen. She felt incredibly happy for no apparent reason and found that she couldn't control her smile. Excited, she realized she had absolutely nothing to wear besides her two sets of UNSC fatigue uniforms and boots, or the white lab coat. Cortana never thought that one day she'd find herself thinking about fancy clothes. The entire matter could be a huge let-down, most of the invited officers would certainly attend to the gathering wearing their dress uniforms. She looked at John, sideways, remembering that picture of him in dress uniform that Dr. Halsey had in her office, back in Reach.
So tall and proud, serious, dressed in black and covered in medals...
Another shiver ran up her arms, this one much more pleasant.
Distracted, she looked at the gigantic holographic clock hanging across the cargo bay (it showed standard Earth time) and realized her break was almost over. The woman sighed once more and separated from the guardrail.
"Time for me to go, I still have four more hours of lab work." she said, but before leaving, Cortana turned around to face John and plucked a finger on his breastplate. "Do me a favor and wear something nice, it's important; we have to show the Sangheili that the Demon is a civilized man. Sort of." she added, with a wry smile.
John looked down at his armor, checking the dents and nicks on the breastplate, the dark colored splats of mud and dry alien blood. Some tiny places were hard to clean up, all right. That wasn't his fault.
"Is it because of the dents?" he said, on purpose.
"Chief..." she started, serious.
He chuckled. "I'll check my locker."
"Promise me."
"I promise." John tilted his head, there was amusement in the sole gesture.
Cortana looked for a short moment at her own reflection on the orange faceplate and shook her head. She couldn't fight the smile, anyway, and said goodbye by placing a hand against John's right gauntlet, giving him a little tug.
AUGUST 13TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY DOCKED IN SANGHELIOS
ENGINEERING DECK
4:12 PM standard time
It looked like a shiny pile of ashes. Lifeless. Uninteresting.
Dr. Henry Glassman had been observing at the pristine pile from what he thought was a secure distance for over twenty long minutes. It did nothing, as ever. His assistant technicians emptied the contents of the sealed crate over the table once more and there it was, still and quiet. The Doctor was certain that the crate contained the alien melting armor confiscated from Subject Eleven's possession, but now it looked... boring. Dead. Whatever that thing was, it was made of minuscule, almost infinitesimal pieces of black alloy that didn't match any known amalgam ever created by men. How was it activated? What did it need; electricity, sunlight? Food? Blood?
He'd been observing at the thing for several days now. Nothing ever happened.
Cortana entered the labs holding a pad and a cup of coffee.
"What are you doing, exactly?" she asked, confused.
"I'm trying to figure out what it does." Glassman answered, confused as well.
"How come?"
"It seems the armor dissolved in millions of tiny pieces and they're not responding in any way. No energy fields, no electro-magnetic activity, no radiation or radio signals, nothing. I've tried irradiating it with different kinds of energy but I get no responses. It's completely inert, like a pile of sand."
"Dr. Halsey said it was neural-reactive nanotechnology."
Glassman snorted, reluctant. "It could take us ages to reverse-engineer its built-in tech and adapt it to our systems. If we ever find out how to activate it and make it work again, that is."
"Have you tried touching it?" Cortana asked, amused.
"Last time I touched an unknown alien device, I was teleported out of the ship and beaten up by other aliens who forced me to do some work for them. Excuse me if I keep my hands to myself this time."
"Point taken." she said, clearing her throat.
Cortana left her pad in a rack and circled the main lab table slowly, studying at the gleaming black pile from different angles. She warily sipped coffee in the meantime (it was really hot, lately she realized she hated that kind of hot things), her eyes fixed in the minuscule pieces of the armor. Yep, it seemed pretty much dead. She reached the table and sniffed over.
"No scent. Neural-reactive." she mumbled, savoring the words against the flavor of the coffee. "It shape-shifts quickly, but it doesn't have any visible power sources. It must have some sort of digital interface with the user's brain, like the MJOLNIR armor connects with the neural implants of the SPARTANS." she leaned in, taking a closer peek at the small beads of onyx. "What if it 'feeds' on bioelectricity? It would have to be in permanent touch with the user's skin to activate..."
She carelessly waved her fingers less than an inch over the surface of the pile and felt a rush of electricity tickling her skin. She drew her hand back right away, surprised. Cortana thought she saw with the corner of her eye how the little particles trembled and followed her movements.
"Did you see that?" Glassman said, adjusting his glasses. "Do it again!"
Cortana didn't hesitate: she presented her hand, palm down, this time maybe half a foot up in the air. The infinitesimal black pieces vibrated. Then, they quickly started to pile one on top of the other building something like a pillar, to reach for her skin. There was a soft sound, like sand sliding; Cortana smiled wide as she observed the marvelous phenomenon. She withdrew her hand before the material could touch her and the pillar collapsed, the tiny beads dropped dead like they were slowly shutting down.
Dr. Glassman approached and hovered his own hand over the pile.
He hesitantly poked at the beads with one finger, his eyes vigilant.
Nothing happened. They both frowned.
"Maybe it doesn't like men." Cortana snorted, still amazed.
"Don't be ridiculous..."
The engineer pushed Cortana towards the table, nervously. The inert material reacted once more and that time it moved way faster, gripping like tiny hands the tips of her fingers. She didn't scream, but she felt the minuscule cold bead-like pieces sticking to her skin, tingling and vibrating; a comfortable rush of warm electricity shivered up her arm. The thing was exploring her, you could see its motions were slow, cautious. It was a reconnaissance.
However, after a brief study, the dark material released Cortana's skin -it seemed disgusted, somehow- and it vibrated in a different way. Suddenly, it bulked up and rose over the table in the solid shape of an almost human-weighted gleaming dark tarantula; it tilted up its disgusting forelegs, presenting enormous flaming-red fangs. The sudden appearance shocked both Cortana and Dr. Glassman. That time the woman did scream, she recoiled until her heels hit something and her back brushed the racks loaded with tools and instruments. The coffee cup fell from her hand, shedding its content through the floor grating.
On the table, the gigantic artificial arthropod hissed, yet barely five seconds later it collapsed under its own weight; it dropped down like a sand castle hit by the ocean's waves. Cortana was stunned.
"What the hell?" she mumbled, trying to understand.
"I'm done. This thing is dangerous and it belongs in the quarantine chamber." Dr. Glassman said, distressed. "I don't care what the Admiral wants me to do, I don't want to be near anything of the likes again."
"Wait, wait." Cortana strode forward, carefully. "It was Subject Eleven's armor, he sure knows how it works. Why don't we bring him in?"
"You think I didn't say that to Osman's goons a thousand times already?" the Doctor pushed his glasses up again, annoyed. "She forbid it. There's no use." a moment later his blue eyes fell somewhere behind Cortana's feet. Glassman dropped his hands and paled. "It's open. Oh, Jesus, it's open."
"What do you mean?" she frowned, perplexed.
She looked over her shoulder, just to see what she had tripped in.
It was a black crate, shaped like a backpack. It had an open gap in the side.
Cortana moaned, now worried. "Uh-oh…"
"What did you do?"
"I just tripped with it when I moved backwards."
"I don't think you understand it: that thing was sealed shut. We couldn't open it because it had no openings whatsoever. How…? Cortana, look out!"
She barely made it to turn around, but saw with the corner of her eye a gleaming dark leash rushing out of the open backpack, lightning fast; the thing snaked around her right leg and her body, reaching up for her back. Something cold latched to the nape of her neck and crawled up through her hair and down her back, underneath her clothes. Cortana tried to slap the sticky thing off her body but it was useless, she couldn't grab it because the sand-like material filtered through her fingers and regrouped.
She tried many times, it was useless, she couldn't fight it.
Hopeless, Cortana screamed again.
Glassman ran off the laboratory, waving his arms in desperation. She thought she saw him collide with the two regular SPARTAN guards. It was confusing, because she was seeing it but she couldn't hear anything, white noise filled her ears. There was no more cold, a warm tingling sensation was expanding from the back of her head through the rest of her body, her legs felt weak. She couldn't move her arms anymore. Strange images flooded her sight and the labs vanished...
Then the lights went out in her head and Cortana fell down.
AUGUST 13TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY DOCKED IN SANGHELIOS
NCO QUARTERS DECK
4:23 PM standard time
He was always watchful, yet he wasn't expecting someone to sneak upon him out of nowhere in the middle of the hallway, even less with that many crewmen and officers moving around. SPARTAN Hoya tackled him down with his super-human strength and they both fell with a loud thump. Eleven hit his head in the black steel grate and moaned in pain, crushed under half a ton of man and armor; thankfully, his ribs didn't crack but he felt his lungs on fire. Some crewmen stopped to watch the humorous yet painful scene, half of them smirking.
Now, that was a completely unnecessary use of force.
"Hey, Hoya? I know you're still sore for losing that game, but this is just unfair an idiotic!" Eleven groaned, angrily.
"Shut up! You're coming with us!" Hoya shouted, serious.
"Keep it moving, people. There's nothing to see here." that was Madsen's voice, somewhere behind them.
Thorne's heavy armored boots entered Eleven's line of sight. He looked up, trying to find the SPARTAN's face, and found only ominous dark eyes. Hoya seized him by twisting both of Eleven's arms behind his back, clasped handcuffs on his wrists and pulled him up on his feet. Immediately, the four of them started running their way back through the hallway, there was a warthog at the far end of the wide corridor.
"Seems like your little fancy suit hurt someone." said Madsen, his voice unaltered despite the racing. "You have things to explain."
"That's impossible." Eleven stated, absolutely confident.
"Is it?"
"Yeah, since my armor turns inert unless I'm wearing it or within a six foot range of proximity, so I seriously doubt it could activate by itself while I'm at the other side of the ship."
"Sorry, I'm on a very strict diet; I don't take any bullshit." chuckled Madsen.
"He's talking like the thing is magic or something." growled Hoya.
"You're lucky it's us who came to get you and not the Master Chief. He'd chew on your bones and spit the leftovers. Man, you sure don't want me to go there." continued Madsen.
Eleven was totally lost, he couldn't get a single thing straight from all that stupid chatter. The one who didn't seem amused at all with the situation was Thorne. Eleven clenched his teeth and decided to focus his efforts in that particular SPARTAN.
"Gabriel, what the hell is going on? Who's hurt?"
"Cortana. She collapsed with that thing of yours wrapped around her neck."
Eleven gasped. Now he knew what they were talking about.
"Where is she now?" the young man demanded.
"Med-bay."
"I need to see her, if someone plugs the latch off..."
Madsen grabbed Eleven by the nape of his neck and squeezed until he felt solid bone beneath his armored fingers. The man in his grasp shrugged in pain while trying to keep up with their racing pace.
"Oh, so you do know what's going on after all." he snarled.
"I have a faint idea, but we need to hurry."
"We? That sounds like too many people. We should hand you over to the Master Chief, sit back and enjoy the show." insisted the sniper, annoyed.
"Where are you taking me, then?"
"You're technically still a prisoner, so you're going where all prisoners are." said Thorne. "Do the math."
"No! You don't understand!"
Eleven wrestled against Madsen and Hoya's strength; in a sudden move the man got rid of the SPARTANS' hands and fell on his back, dodging their further attempts to recapture him. It was raw instinct, the need to escape and reach Cortana before anyone did something stupid to her was stronger than anything. Eleven rolled backwards and quickly jumped on his feet again, avoiding Madsen's infuriated counteroffensive with a another of his smooth maneuvers... only to find Thorne's Magnum right before his nose. Eleven froze, halfway crouching on the floor. His piercing blue eyes were fixed on the dark hole of the gun's barrel.
Hoya seized him once more, Madsen smacked him on the back of the head.
"You're lucky the Admiral considers you an asset." he growled.
Thorne lowered his gun and said: "If we take you there, can you help Cortana?"
"If this is what I think it is, then there's nothing anyone can do; only wait and see. But I can tell your engineers everything I know about it, because otherwise she might be in danger."
"If you're trying to take any advantage..." started Hoya.
"I'm not. We're wasting time!"
The three young SPARTANS stared at each other warily for a moment. They had orders to comply. Very specific orders, that came directly from Commander Palmer... who happened to be in the med-bay at the time. After a short silent deliberation, they all nodded to one another and Thorne put his gun back in his holster. He grabbed Eleven by the arm, taking him towards the warthog.
His other two teammates knew exactly what to do.
AUGUST 13TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY DOCKED IN SANGHELIOS
A-2 MEDICAL BAY
4:38 PM standard time
Eleven tripped inside the secured aisle where Cortana was being kept, only to find the Master Chief's cold stare up front. The SPARTAN's overall posture was tense and expectant, he was guarding the entrance to a smaller room made of translucent panels like a formidable hound from Hell. Eleven stood very still in front of John. Bad luck his wrists were handcuffed, he was sure that if he said the wrong words he might need his arms free. Just out of caution, he scanned the entire area, quietly.
So much for a tight room crowded with five SPARTANS.
The three members of fireteam Majestic faced Commander Palmer, saluting.
"Ma'am, the prisoner claims that he has vital information regarding this case." said Thorne, before she could ask what were they doing there. "He says Cortana might be in danger."
John suddenly clenched his fists, drawing Eleven's attention again.
"I said your engineers could use the information I have, so they won't kill Cortana trying to get the HARPY off her." Eleven explained, wincing.
Sarah Palmer frowned and confronted him, upset: "You, explain. Now."
"It's nothing dangerous, I promise you that... well, as long as nobody touches it."
"I see your lips moving, but I don't hear you explaining." Sarah protested. "What is a HARPY?"
Eleven clenched his teeth. He wasn't sure about how much he should say, mostly because he didn't knew that much about it. Catherine (Subject One, his older sister) only gave him the basics about the highly advanced nanotechnology embedded within the suit, but...
"Formal designation H-22 HARPY-class stealth SpecOps Gear." he started, and saw how the Commander cocked an eyebrow. "My older sister is all about fancy names, I know. This thing is not even half as robust as a good old MJOLNIR assault armor but the HARPY is untraceable under proper circumstances, it's made of a hyper-light alloy invisible for movement and heat sensors. It's built for high-risk infiltration ops, not specifically for direct combat. Specs aren't my strong suit, but I know that thing is intelligent and it's not going to hurt Cortana if you leave it alone for a while. I promise you, she will wake up very soon."
"I've never seen anything like that." said Sarah, still deadly serious.
"What is it doing to her?" John growled.
Eleven didn't withdraw from the man towering over his left side. He was aware that he'd never be able to defend himself if the Chief decided to strike, mostly because he'd never hurt John. His primary directives were still there although he had a human body and his own free will.
"It's synchronizing with a new host. I entered this ship with my HARPY armor and carrying a pre-programmed template in a suitcase, I thought of giving it to Cortana if she needed it." Eleven said, locking eyes with John again. "Chief, I wasn't planning for any of this to happen, you have to believe me."
"Speak to me, I'm the officer in charge here." said Palmer, annoyed.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. Force of habit." he looked over the Commander's shoulder, to see beyond the blurry crystal doors. There was people working inside the chamber, most likely technicians or engineers. "Please, just... get those men away from Cortana before they do something stupid."
Sarah considered the circumstances for a short moment.
Everyone was standing very still waiting for her to decide, clearly. She sighed and turned around; the glass doors slid open and she called out the engineering crew. At the other side of the room, Dr. Quinn was staring at the holographic screens flooded with test results, vital signs and long lines of unreadable code.
"Dr. Glassman, you should listen to this." the Commander said.
Eleven did his best to carefully explain everything again (these people had a thing for replays), paying special attention to Dr. Glassman's questions. He couldn't answer a lot of them and that fact seemed to irritate the man, but it wasn't Eleven's fault. He was built for combat, not for science.
The look in the chief engineer's face was priceless.
"So, the power source is bioelectricity?" Glassman asked, curious.
"I'm not sure of that part." Eleven shrugged. "But I do know that after a few days of wearing it uninterruptedly, I crave for anything with a lot of for sugar. Sometimes I think it feeds on me."
"It's a symbiotic organism?" the Doctor garbled, awestruck. "No, it's an artificial symbiotic organism. Outstanding."
Their babbling continued for a moment. However, John left the discussion behind and entered the isolated crystal chamber, he couldn't shake off the concern. He tried to focus on what he already knew and could figure out by himself. The containment room was bright, colorless, with so much light inside that shadows were nearly nonexistent.
Lying on her back over a medical examination table was Cortana. The doctors and engineers had stripped her off her clothes only to find that the dark entity was fixed to her skin. Striated narrow straps were tightly wrapped around her limbs and body, it resembled a polished polymer, black and flexible.
There was no blood or injuries, she wasn't physically hurt. She was just not there. The straps were streaming down her legs, hugging her lower midsection and thighs. At the upper half of her body, the substance tangled precariously around her thorax and breasts, also running down her arms like elegant gloves without fingers. The same at her back and in the back of her head, embracing her pale forehead. The unnatural design reminded the Master Chief vaguely of something he'd seen before. It was engraved like delicate electronic circuitry, with tiny patches like little mechanical hands.
If it was supposed to be some kind of armor, it didn't look like one.
He wanted to rip it off her. To free her, to see Cortana's blue eyes open.
"Dr. Quinn, what's her status?" he asked, after a while.
The woman shook her head, yet not grimly.
"Her vitals are strong and steady, but her brain activity readings are all over the place. Something is definitely happening inside her head, I've only seen this much activity in SPARTAN's neural implants." she looked away from the screen to face the Master Chief, and when the Doctor found the man's wary eyes, she slightly dropped her shoulders. "She's doing fine for now. But honestly, I don't know what else might happen and there's nothing else I can do but wait."
"Thank you, Doctor."
"I wish I could give you a better answer, Master Chief."
"It's not your fault, ma'am. You're just doing your job."
She fidgeted for a moment, playing with the tablet she had in her hands, until he turned his eyes again to Cortana's peaceful face. In the outside she seemed to be asleep, yet in the inside...
Who knew what was going on in the inside.
Unconsciously, John brushed off a few hairs from her forehead.
At that moment, Cortana's eyes shot open.
He didn't step back, but he couldn't stop her from sitting up on the table either. She pushed herself up lightning fast and then shoved her arms onward, clasping her hands in fists. Dr. Quinn screamed in fright when she saw what was going on, calling everyone else's attention. In response to her motions, the material strapped to Cortana's body vibrated and moved, streaming like dark rivers all across her naked skin. It tangled and contorted furiously until the beads rearranged in multiple thick layers of protective 'fabric' and pieces of armor resembling matte metal over her arms, body and legs.
When she stood still again, looking eerily at the clawed and reinforced gauntlets on her hands, John realized his own hand was touching the hilt of his sidearm.
"Cortana?" the Chief whispered.
She blinked a few times, surprised.
"Cortana, do you hear me?" John insisted, uneasy.
Then, Cortana turned to see him, and her eyes lit up with consciousness.
"I remember." she said, her face contorted in a mixture of fear, anger and sadness. "Chief, I remember everything."
TO BE CONTINUED
Guess who's been watching Big Hero 6? xD Yeah, I admit part of the inspiration comes from that movie, if you can spot the reference. Although, the overall HARPY concept itself is mine and mine alone, get your hands off my armor! :P I'll try to upload some sketches of the models I have in mind soon, you can visit my DA page -link in my profile- if you want to check out what I do for a living ^^
I know, you're all wondering what happened with the alien party. Next episode, I promise.
Rory; I think just like you, pal. I hope the new installment brings us a proper arc regarding Cortana and her importance in John's life (or consequences, I'm all about consequences), because if not, it will be plainly disappointing. It's probably THE arc I want to see besides this whole thing with Locke and Blue Team sorted out :)
ALSO: Guys, I've been listening to the HUNTtheTRUTH podcasts and I'm literally dying of sorrow right now. I'm hoping for the best, as always, but I'm scared because what's going on is really frightening, this something I wasn't prepared for. Anyway, fingers crossed 'till the end!
So you know what you have to do, leave your thoughts or fav/follow so you can keep up with the story! Remember, this thing updates every Sunday! Don't leave me hanging! :)