RECOMPOSE
by Ladywolvesbayne
Today we have a little more of character development with surprises, so enjoy! :)
ALSO: I started translating this same story to my native language, which is Spanish ^^ don't be scared, I'm not uploading anything new for now, just a translation.
15. STRANGE MAGIC
AUGUST 14TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY
S-DECK MEDICAL BAY
1:37 PM standard time
John groaned beneath his breath when he heard someone laughing. A child, to be more precise, but that was impossible because the last time he heard children laugh he was a kid himself. Way back, far away amongst the fog of memories.
"Honey, be careful. You'll wake him up."
"John!" said an infant's voice, overflowing with joy.
"Yes, this is John. He needs to rest."
The light blinded him but he didn't close his eyes. On the contrary, John bravely looked around until everything became clear and he found himself lying in bed, out of his armor and...
There was a little girl kneeling on a chair beside the bed, drawing on a pad placed over the covers and very close to his left hand. John clenched his fist and immediately backed away, causing the little girl to startle and look up. When her big blue eyes found his, she smiled with all of her heart.
"John!" she said again, her voice sweet as honey.
She had very tiny teeth in her mouth, yet her smile was bigger than anything he'd ever seen. Her little right hand shot towards her forehead, waving her small fingers as a salute that actually looked like she was trying to cover her eyes from sunlight. He felt a strange urge to correct that salute but successfully restrained himself. Dr. Quinn, who was checking data on her own pad, turned around to face them.
The SPARTAN's slightly horrified look was really amusing.
"Good afternoon, Chief. How are you feeling?" the Doctor asked.
He didn't answer.
They were staring at each other, the little girl in awe and John waiting for her to leave or at least back away from the bed. Subject Twelve, as Eleven called her once. She was like him, and like Cortana. John guessed she was what Cortana would look like if she'd been born human instead of an AI, and that certainty made him feel a little less worried -or troubled-. Still, he couldn't manage to let go of his doubts; he'd never been in the presence of children that young before.
"Ease up, Chief. It's only a kid." Dr. Quinn said, softly. "The other children are older than her and she feels a little lonely. She just wants to play."
Still, John didn't say a word or looked away from the girl.
The Doctor frowned, now really worried.
"Master Chief, can you hear me?" she waved her hand before John's face.
"Where's Cortana?" he said, sharply, turning to her.
Dr. Quinn smiled, now relieved, and crossed her arms hugging her pad.
"Would you look at that? He's handsome and he talks." she said, amused. The informal tone made him glare at her, but the woman kept going: "She's recovering, doing pretty fine actually. You should focus on resting, it's good to have you back."
John narrowed his eyes. "What's our current status?"
"We're a little rattled, to be honest. Half of my staff was left behind at Sanghelios to give the Arbiter a hand, but most of us made it back to the ship and now we're in slip-space. Admiral Osman ordered to set course to New Carthage. Things are kind of hot at the bridge right now, since Captain Lasky and Commander Palmer are unavailable..." the Doctor trailed off. Her face became grim for a moment. "I feel bad for the Sangheili, they were cooperative and now... their dead outnumber ours by several figures."
John eased up a bit, trying to think. It was so confusing. The little girl's stare was making him very nervous. Well, not exactly nervous; he was curious and had no idea about how to channel that curiosity without giving the wrong impression. When he eyed at the little Cortana for the millionth time, she was drawing on the pad again with that big smile on her lips.
"How long was I out?"
"Around twelve hours. Don't get up so fast, Chief, you'll get dizzy."
He rarely struggled for anything, but getting out of that bed was hard. His limbs felt heavy despite he wasn't wearing any armor. Somebody sedated his ass so bad that he could barely stand up, now he only wanted to know who had the balls to take down a SPARTAN-II armed only with a dart gun.
And when did it happen, because he couldn't remember a single thing since he hopped inside the Pelican with Cortana and Eleven.
Cortana. He felt another urge: to see her.
"I feel fine." John growled, trying to get up.
"I'm sure you do, mister SPARTAN, but your doctor says you rest. Unless you want me to use my rank on you and make it an order. I can do that too."
The woman pushed him backwards and John crashed against the thin mattress, the whole bed shook under his weight. The little Cortana laughed when her pad trembled and her fingers drew a curious green shape by mistake.
"For how long?" he demanded, mildly irritated.
"I'd say three days, but given your latest success I could dispense you for an entire week. Now, you have an ugly bruise in your spine, you are under treatment and the drug needs at least thirty six hours to work its magic... so, promise me you won't jump into the mouth of Hades for that long, and I will let you walk out of here in about an hour. Is that long enough?"
He was about to say that a week of rest was ridiculous, but he was taught to hold his tongue in front of a superior officer. Well, most of the time.
"Thank you, Doctor."
"I'll take that as a yes." the Doctor mumbled, she made a note on her pad and then smiled at him, proudly. "Regarding your question, Cortana is recovering in sub-deck C. You can go and say hi once I dismiss you, but in the meantime... do you mind keeping an eye on this little munchkin while I check on some patients? I mean, it's not as heroic as saving Humanity or anything, but..."
He hesitated for a full second and then nodded; he wasn't so sure about it, but he nodded anyway. He changed his mind when Dr. Quinn left the room, when it was too late to say anything. John sighed and looked at the white ceiling, somewhat frustrated. He didn't say a word, his head was still a little foggy. The child kept drawing, she was using her fingers to digitally paint something.
When she considered it was finished, the little Cortana climbed up the bed.
She knelt beside his large arm, carrying the pad. "John, John!"
"What is it?" he asked, trying to sound calm.
He wasn't trained for that. It was never meant for the civilian population to know about the S-II program (or any of the programs anyway), so he wasn't required to learn any kind of protocol to deal with civilians, even less children. Then things changed and now he was actually babysitting. How the hell did that happen?
The girl pointed at her drawing, very excited.
"John!" she said again.
On the pad's screen there was a loose green shape that maybe resembled a starfish, if starfishes were military-green. The thing had an orange spot above, around the tip that could be considered the 'head'. Then it hit him. She was calling his name while pointing at the drawing, she was trying to tell him something more obvious than just exhibiting her abstract art.
"You mean this is me?" he concluded.
"John!" the girl said, laughing again, with that big smile free of worries.
John didn't know exactly why, but a similar gesture tugged from the corners of his mouth. He complied a little, his expression eased up and now he didn't look so serious or intimidating. The Chief evaluated the drawing again and everything became clearer. She wasn't a threat. He spotted the small Forerunner glyph on her left wrist and the tiny clothes she was wearing, clearly sewn by someone from the crew or perhaps borrowed from the survivors. The stitches were sloppy but strong.
It was just a child, as Dr. Quinn said. He felt immediately more comfortable.
"Good job." John said, amused.
The little girl handed him the pad. John hesitated but decided to save the drawing in the device's memory disk, and clear the screen so she could paint another.
After half an hour, the little Cortana started to yawn and her drawings became less spirited, as did her monosyllabic chatter. She left the pad aside and with a last big yawn, she crept up the bed to rest against the Chief's arm. He tried to avoid it -not sure why-, but she moved closer and finally cuddled by his side.
He didn't want to touch her.
Maybe, because he was afraid he could hurt her.
Bruise her. Or kill her without thinking. He wasn't sure about how much force he should apply to the task of removing the child from his proximity. He could forget she was there and crush her under his weight.
'How could I forget she's here?' he thought.
John tried to stay still until the little Cortana fell asleep. Her small hand ended up resting on his biceps, while her quiet face was half hidden against the blue bed sheets. She was so small and fragile, almost like a rag doll. Minutes flew by, one after another and almost lazily, until John came around the idea of having the child beside him.
Dr. Quinn entered the room and stood still when she saw that unusual picture.
She grinned, half amazed and half amused.
"I don't understand children." John whispered. "One minute she's drawing and the next, she's sleeping. Is something wrong with her?"
"Nothing is wrong with her, Master Chief, she's all fine and normal for a regular two-year-old. Seems like you managed it quite well here, we always have a hard time to get her to sleep." the Doctor whispered, her smile as dazzling as the sun. She leaned in and lifted the little girl in her arms, without waking her up. "You can get dressed and go if you want, you're dismissed."
John nodded again and got out of bed, as fast as he could.
There was that urge again, the compelling need to check on Cortana. However, he had to put the plan on hold; before leaving the med-bay, he was called to the S-Deck to take care of his armor, there were some reports to fill regarding the repairs needed and cleanup to do.
For some reason, that task he usually liked annoyed him to no end.
AUGUST 14TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY
S-DECK MEDICAL BAY
2:28 PM standard time
"Where did you get this?" Sarah asked, astonished.
She looked at the small cellophane wrapping printed in bright, inviting colors. The word 'Snickers' was its most interesting feature only after the scent. That glorious, sweet scent her enhanced senses could smell even although the package was still sealed. It obviously brought back memories of better times, when she was way younger and life was way easier. She never thought she'd smell -or taste- something of the likes again, and Tom of all people smuggled a bar into the med-bay for her.
For her. Sarah tried not to think that much about that little fact.
"From my personal stash. Don't tell anyone, these are pretty hard to come by."
"Tom, are you saying this is real chocolate? I thought it didn't exist anymore."
"There are cocoa plantations on Mars, you know."
His smirk was worth a million bucks.
The Captain's head was wrapped in a tight bandage, he had bruises on his face and used a single crutch to walk (it had something to do with his ankle), but otherwise he was doing fine. She, on the other hand, was confined to a bed for at least five days and scheduled for two reconstructive surgeries. She had third and fourth degree burns on her right leg and arm, second degree burns scattered all over her upper midsection, front and back sides. Sarah figured she didn't look pretty with half of her face bandaged (her hair loose and dirty, too) but she was very happy to be alive and see Tom awake.
Her MJOLNIR GEN2 was probably scrap metal now. Sarah sighed and sniffed at the little package again, looking for some comfort.
"Smells awesome." she said, her mouth watered.
"I bet it tastes even better."
The Commander tried to chuckle -it hurt- and let her head roll back over the tiny pillow. Finally, a lucky break. She sighed once more and closed her only visible eye, it felt good to know that they were safe.
"Commander. " Lasky called, now serious.
She peeked with the corner of her eye, carefully.
"What you did was reckless." he dragged the chair extremely close to the bed, his voice became a whisper: "I'm deeply grateful because you saved my life, but if you have died back there..."
She stopped him, raising her bandaged arm. "Don't. It's my duty."
"No. I need you alive, Sarah." he concluded, and got on his feet to leave.
AUGUST 14TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY
SCIENTIFIC STAFF QUARTERS DECK
3:39 PM standard time
She was dismissed from medical care a few hours after she woke up.
Holding a bag with extra bandages and healing ointment, Cortana made her way to her quarters, she needed a shower. Her hair and skin smelled of smoke and blood, she felt her skin prickly.
Also, she wanted to examine the extension of her plasma burns. Cortana stripped and peeled off the sterile patches covering her abdomen, chest and upper thighs. She looked at her reflection on the mirror, noticing that the red and pulsing injuries were barely dots like freckles on her skin, splashing across her body like a path of stars. It felt hot and still hurt. Her breasts hurt the most, she couldn't even stand the touch of cloth. Thinking about the excruciating pain she felt half a day before made her shiver, so she got inside the shower and let the hot water run.
She also noticed that, in the past few months, her hair had grown longer. The tips of her black bangs curled a bit, framing her face in a -somewhat- more innocent fashion. She wasn't sure if she liked it. Cortana washed her skin carefully, trying not to think about anything else but being careful with her wounds.
Later, when she was clean and dried, she proceeded to reapply the ointment and clean gauze patches. She allowed herself to lay in bed for a few minutes, while thinking about the night before. Cortana wondered what happened with her HARPY armor. She could remember the commotion when the Pelicans landed, dropping dead and wounded SPARTANS and officers, but not much after she was taken to the medical bay. She had no idea where Eleven was, if he was okay or what was the current status. She knew they were in slip-space and heading to New Carthage, but not much more.
It could wait. Cortana was hungry and desperately needed to talk with a friend. So she got dressed and made it out to the S-Deck.
AUGUST 14TH 2558
LOCATION: UNSC INFINITY
S-DECK QUARTERS
4:10 PM standard time
She knocked. It was polite to knock on the door before entering anywhere, even if it was to John's quarters.
"Chief? It's me." she said.
"Come in." he allowed, from inside.
Cortana pressed the command on the door's pad and it opened, revealing a narrow and gray room -pretty much like hers- with a single bed, a wall rack, a small desk (too small for a SPARTAN, so it was cast aside) with several bottles of water and scrambled papers on top, the entrance of the private shower and a half-naked, very tall man. She gasped but didn't turn around. John was at least wearing his pants and she caught him with a shirt on his hands, water still dripping from his short hair.
Her amazed eyes went straight to the dog-tags, to the chip hanging from the same chain; then to the scars, traces of old and new plasma burns, slashes, shots and bruises. Anywhere, as much as she could ignore the rest of him. She couldn't anyway.
She felt heat inside her belly again, rising up like flames.
"Sorry, I can come back later if..."
"No need." the Chief eased her, softly. "I'm done. How are you doing?"
"It doesn't hurt now. Not that bad, anyway." she said, and tugged up the end of her shirt to show him the bandages on her abdomen. "What about you?
"I'm fine."
He raised the shirt over his head, when he turned to get dressed she had a glimpse of his lower back and the ugly bruise that emerged from the waistband of his pants. Her heart nearly stopped.
"Chief, what the hell is that? What happened to you?"
"I fell." he answered, pulling down the shirt.
"That doesn't look like you just 'fell'. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Cortana. Have a seat."
She chose to sit on the bed, pulling her knees against her chest. John sat beside her. There was some space left, so before he could say anything, she quickly moved and leaned back to back with him, still hugging her knees. The reassuring feeling of having the Chief supporting her like that was worth more than anything. Then, she realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea:
"Oh, I'm not hurting you, am I?" she asked, alarmed.
"Like you could. Stay there." he growled.
"Okay, then, go on. Tell me."
As briefly as he could, John told her about what happened in Sanghelios after they split at the ceremonial hall. He told her about the unknown SPARTAN, about following it to find out it was actually the Rampant Spike, about the conversation they had on the roof of the hall. She told him what the first explosion was, he told her about the second, a tight network of plasma grenades carefully placed. He explained a little about his 'fall' and Cortana explained how did she get to the terrace, while looking for him or someone familiar. Then, the Spike found her and shit hit the fan.
"She was acting strange." John commented. "She said she had changed her mind about killing me, but her actions weren't consequent at all. It was like her rampancy was finally making her glitch hard."
She noticed that the Chief preferred to use words like 'rampancy' and 'glitch' as if he wasn't willing to think about the Rampant Spike as a being made of flesh and bone. That, somehow, made her feel more comfortable. She rest the back of her head against the nape of his neck. It was a surprising -and exciting- that he was okay with that much physical contact.
"Did she use Jul 'Mdama's fleet to cover her tracks?"
"I don't know."
And the most important question: "You think she's working with Dr. Halsey?"
None of them wanted to think about it, but John said it. "It's a possibility."
"Chief, what I saw when her body decomposed..."
"She'll come back." John nodded, slowly. "This is not over."
"As much as I hate to admit it, we have to tell Osman." Cortana sighed. "If this is what I think it is, then physically killing the Spike is useless. We have to erase her from the source. We have to find the Fortress."
"But your 'sister' Catherine said you were all mortal."
"Yes, we are. Erasing it is how you kill stored data. Maybe she already erased me from the Domain, but since I'm still alive, I exist. I bet that's why she wants to kill me so bad, because..." Cortana trailed off, frightened.
He grunted under his breath. "I get it."
It was almost like a bad joke.
Scratch that, it was worse: it had been a trap inside another trap. The Chief hated to be fooled like that, although he was expecting some kind of counterattack to his plan. It was of no use, he needed to come up with a new plan now. Still, he had to admit that posing a fight against Cortana was a very difficult task; trying to outsmart her was nearly impossible.
No. That wasn't Cortana. CORTANA was there, with him. Safe. Protected.
"Where are we with those coordinates you were studying?" he asked.
"Glassman concluded that we don't have the amount of energy required to attempt a slip-space jump that big, not even in separated stages." she shook her head. "Unless we happen to find a Forerunner generator and plug it to the Infinity's engines somehow, we are not going nowhere near the Fortress."
"Then, I'll find a Forerunner generator."
"You say it like it's something the Forerunners hid under their doormats."
"At least, I'm trying."
"I know; nothing is impossible for you, Chief." Cortana smiled, she turned around so her left side was leaning on John's back, her cheek against the shirt. She snaked an arm half around his waist without even thinking about it. Her other hand softly brushed the small of his back, barely touching the area. "But I'm worried about this bruise."
"Dr. Quinn discharged me for thirty six hours."
"Which I don't suppose you'll spend taking it easy, right?"
"You know me." he shrugged, then commented. "I met Subject Twelve today. The little girl that Eleven brought in."
She held her breath for a few seconds, expecting something else.
"What happened?" she insisted.
"Nothing. She doesn't even talk."
"... I see."
"Dr. Quinn left me alone with her for a moment. I had no idea what to do."
Cortana suppressed a snort, she knew he was smirking too although she couldn't see his face. Her free hand carefully stroked his back, up and down, until John sighed and relaxed a bit more, giving in.
"I bet it was awkward as hell for you."
"Can you picture me and a child?" he said. "Or having one?"
Cortana winced. "I hate to break this to you, Chief, but... you breeding a child it's highly unlikely. The chemical augmentations did great things for you but also damaged whatever wasn't actually important for the purpose of your creation. You're sterile, turns out that more than half of the SPARTAN-II program subjects are."
He turned his head to watch her over his shoulder.
"How do you know that?"
"Well, I have always read your medical exams. There's a lot of things they never tell you because it doesn't mean anything to you, specifically."
Cortana recalled that Randall-037, one of John's teammates, had a daughter. How did a SPARTAN manage to find himself a mate, to truly connect with her and even breed a child? To have a family beyond his squad or company? Cortana knew that the sayings about SPARTANS being robot-like war machines who couldn't feel a thing were just civilian myths, but still...
It was like a fantasy to her, in a twisted sort of way. She knew John wasn't made of stone or ice, but most likely he'd never be able to acknowledge feelings or attitudes above camaraderie, trust, loyalty or friendship. He was capable of holding grudges, she knew that much, but he didn't hate. Chief Mendez didn't taught him to hate, only to act and win, to remain loyal and fight the opposite forces.
And he didn't love either, at least, not in the way she'd like to see him love.
That made her feel sad, somehow.
"But for the record, I think you could be a good father." Cortana whispered, with a faint smile on her lips. "You are already a very protective and smart man, a fast-learner. I bet you could learn how to be a dad and also exceed at it."
He considered her words for a short moment. Suddenly, the Chief stood up and faced Cortana; something was bothering him.
"Remember what the Librarian said, when she kidnapped us at Requiem?" John started, frowning. "She said that I was the culmination of thousands of years of planning and hoping for the best. She also spoke of you, like you were part of it or had some role to play into this besides being my AI."
"Yeah, what about it?" she hugged her knees again.
"Maybe I should request a deeper medical exam. Lately I've been feeling..."
She raised her head, paying more attention than before: "Feeling what?"
"Different. Since I got you back, mostly."
That picked her interest even more. "Different how, exactly?"
His sharp blue eyes nearly pinned her down.
"I want to be nearby you, all the time. To see you, I can't stand not having eyes on you every minute. I want to talk to you, touch you. Mostly touch you. But I also want to see you smile. Isn't it weird?"
Cortana felt a pleasurable shiver running down her back. She nearly gasped.
That was really a lot of talk for John.
She swallowed hard. "It's not weird, Chief. Not at all."
Then, she slipped her feet down and stood up too, taking two little steps until she was in front of her cherished SPARTAN, appreciating his flawlessly engineered height and strength. He was staring at her in the eyes, there was a hint of worry in that look.
After a short moment, he came back to his senses.
"You shouldn't be here." John whispered, shaking his head.
"Then kick me out." she challenged him, with another whisper.
Now he swallowed hard. "... I don't want to."
"Go figure. You actually want things."
John closed his eyes and just breathed in her scent, there was something in that sweet perfume that kept drawing him uncontrollably close to the edges of insanity. The rush of adrenaline made him feel better than ever. He leaned in until his forehead rested against hers, Cortana smiled softly and her small hands crept up to cup his face, almost embracing him.
Her heart was pounding out of control, it was too much to bear in so little time.
The Chief's hands slowly found Cortana's waist and pulled her closer, he'd never felt before such a strong need to hold someone like that. It felt like everything was on fire and keeping her that way was the only way to save her, he didn't want to let her go. His back protested in pain, that half-crouching pose wasn't doing him any good but he actually didn't care.
When she pressed her lips against the corner of his mouth, nothing was important anymore but her. There was no kiss per se, but it was enough. There was only Cortana and her warmth, her scent and her solid weight.
John pushed her back until the closed door stopped them, now she was cornered and at his mercy. Cortana wasn't sure about what to do next (she wanted to kiss him, to feel his arms around her once more, to stay there with John), but she wasn't afraid. She could never be afraid of her Master Chief...
Unless he was armed and willing to shoot.
The image of the Rampant Spike dropping dead with a bolt of plasma through her head hit her memories, shattering her emotions. Cortana felt something cold inside her stomach and she planted her hands against his chest, suddenly. It all stopped there.
They stared at each other, both breathing unevenly.
"The things you said to Seven back in that terrace..." the Chief started.
"You were listening?"
"There was a lot of static, but I picked up something."
"I was just provoking her, so she would attack me instead of Eleven. You wanted me to drag her out in the open, I did it." she said, her voice steady although she wanted to scream in frustration. What happened? Everything was good and now it was ruined! "You said it, her pride is her doom; I knew she'd loose it completely if I implied that we had some sort of compromising rela..."
"I see." John interrupted her, his voice still rough. He took another step back and let go of her. Cortana's hands fell limply from his reach, she felt somewhat abandoned. "I have debriefing with the Admiral. I should get going." he announced, at last.
"Of course." she mouthed, clasping her hands together. "I have things to do, too."
TO BE CONTINUED
Pheeew! That was a LONG talk and I really wanted them to go through it.
Oh, I know what you're thinking. 500 years in the future medical tech would be miraculous but, c'mon... why would the UNSC even care about SPARTANS capable of breeding when they can pick fully grown recruits and just MAKE more of them? Their boy/girl body parts are of no use in the battlefield, are they? Didn't Halsey once said 'We have asked you to give up your family, your childhood, your future'?
Anyway, it's nothing more than a theory that comes in handy for the story, don't forget the Librarian and her mysterious ways. I wasn't thinking about taking this story into M rating but... maybe I will. It depends on what the audience prefers, I'm okay with or without more or less explicit content.
KeithAllen; Uh, I don't know, skull sex? I'd totally play Ride of the Valkyries for Sigrid next time, it would be epic xD as you could see, he heard Cortana talking about THAT, through the radio... now things got awkward. Thanks for being here, pal! Hope you're doing okay :)
Niko; hey! Nice to meet you! Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you're enjoying the story -hugs- stick around and you'll see where this is going. Welcome to this little family ^^
Let's meet again next Sunday, I have yet another surprise for you, since some of you have been asking for it. Leave your comments below but don't ask what's the surprise about! xD