I'm just going to leave this here.
Disclaimer: Totally forgot the Disclaimer last chapter. My sincerest apologies, seeing that no, it does not belong to me, Master Chief's ass. A haiku, sorta.
Chapter 33 – Devious Carousel
The Chief was reclusive today. More so than usual, and his team noticed. Yet they didn't speak up, because the waves rolling off of him were so potent that they knew to leave him be to stew for a while. He would approach them when he felt ready.
The tournament was officially over, and his own personal deadline was staring him in the face – it was time to confront 013 about what agent Vicks had told him. Had shown him.
It was only hours before they would leave the supercarrier to get the second key.
Like everything sweet, everything good – there was the downside. One couldn't be without the other, or there would be no good or bad equivalence.
The little bubble they all had lived in for the past week had to break sometime, and today was that day.
He's mulled over the fact that Cortana was still alive long enough, has stewed on it long enough - carried it with him long enough without doing anything about it. Enough was enough.
So he set out in search of 013, bringing with him the ominous dark clouds that seemed to have their own atmosphere with how they surrounded his form, contorting around it.
Unbeknownst to himhowever, 013 had her own dark, stormy clouds surrounding her. Her thoughts had swivelled off to acknowledging the feelings that she was feeling – for him. Acknowledging that they were true and real. That yes, she not only had the hots for the saviour of Humanity, no, she had had her heart stolen by him. Or rather, she freely gave it. She gave it to the man from day one.
While 013 was desperately trying to build a tall and sturdy enough wall to handle facing him, the Chief had another deadline in mind.
And his deadline left no time for building walls.
He found the woman in the gym that was located on their floor. One glance at the clock told the Chief that it was late in the evening, the hour hand approaching midnight fast.
The Spartan wasn't particularly surprised at finding 013 there. More often than not he would spot her hanging in this particular gym than any other. As his eyes landed on her, he paused. Eyes raked over her, silently observing, taking her in.
Something wasn't right, he noted, his eyes narrowing lightly. The woman was punching away combo after combo onto a boxing bag, sweat having brokered out on her skin, giving her a sheen that he could see even from the entrance in which he still stood. Yet she didn't seem to punch the bag for the benefit of training, rather, she was seemingly battling an internal battle that only she was privy to.
He clenched his jaw, fingers curling into fists. He was torn. One part of him wanted to approach the woman, ask what is weighing so on her mind.
The other part of him told him he'd waited far too long, and that he needed answers now.
Seconds ticked by as his mind warred, trying to decide on what he should do, what course of action would be next.
In the end, it was his rationale that won out.
Her questionable well-being won't stop him from what he's about to do. He had to know.
He has to know that she hasn't betrayed him, keeping Cortana's existence for herself.
Cortana was a part of him, and to have that knowledge kept from him… It caused a pit in his stomach to open wide.
013 quickly took notice of the Chief's slow yet steady approach, and immediately alarms went off in her head.
'Mayday, mayday, danger approaching! Mayday, mayday! Evacuate to the nearest exit!'
013 paused any and all movement, legitimately shocked, alarmed and panicked in one go. Her heart sputtered like an engine starting before revving up to what could only be described as the speed of 100 miles per minute, thundering away beneath her chest.
Her brow creased so deep it was as if she'd dug trenches into her face. Eyes considerably widened and her mouth fell open – she was the picturesque view of a deer caught in the headlights of a truck.
And mixing in with the cacophony of emotions she was already currently feeling, confusion started to seep through. While life was certainly serving up a ginormous amount of lemons and horseshit to her at this moment, it warranted the question of 'why'?
Why is he here, in the entrance of the gym, at almost midnight?
The odds of him showing up just as she'd had an emotional moment of realization with the Doc were so miniscule it shouldn't even have been possible.
Yet it was, because here he is, staring her down from across the room.
Pulling a long breath through her teeth, 013 got her jaw back up, mouth closing shut. She busied herself in wiping her brow and the sides of her face before reaching behind and dragging the towel across her neck and shoulders – just to do something rather than put on display of how she was internally crumbling; falling apart and unravelling at the seams at the same time.
How was she even supposed to handle this?
She'd been thrown a fucking curveball out of shit knows where.
She let her eyes fully glide over to the Chief, seeing that doom already was embedding itself in her brain, she might as well jump into the deep end. Not like it mattered anyway, right?
As her grey orbs took in the Spartan, 013 quickly took notice of something unexpected, peculiar.
The Chief was currently piercing her with an expression she had never seen on him before.
And so that's how nervousness joined the happy little slew of emotions already present within her.
It also meant that she now had even less ground to stand on when the inevitable contact was made.
And with her wall being as thin as it was, barely classifying as paper-thin, 013 had all reason wanting to hightail it out of there. Yet she felt she couldn't, her feet seemingly glued to the floor.
Or perhaps the Spartan's deep set eyes staring her down, playing the role of a gravity well perfectly, was what was keeping her there. Stuck, frozen, set in place.
It would take only one flick and her wall would crumble.
And all he would have to do was say 'hi'.
013 pulled another deep breath before sucking in her bottom lip and gnawing on it, rolling the flesh between her teeth in clear show of nervousness. As the approaching Spartan came nearer and nearer, 013 decided to speak.
If she was potentially falling to her figurative grave here, she'd want the tactical advantage first in an attempt to avoid such. Perhaps it would even give her the upper hand; give her the advantage in trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
And besides, from previous experience 013 knew the Chief rarely ever started conversations.
"Are… Are you alright, Chief?" 013 asked softly, but with a tentative tone of voice. She let her eyes rake over him, before landing on his face. She studied the Spartan's present expression; it consisted of scrunched up eyebrows, his eyes gleaming of… something, and his mouth was drawn into a stern line, lips pressed together harshly. It was the most expressive she had ever seen him.
013 was definitely having a difficult time trying to decipher what the Chief was currently feeling at this point. Was he feeling frustrated, irritated? Was he perhaps confused? An absurd thought, but how was she to know? She'd never seen the Spartan confused before.
The Chief doesn't say anything, the silence dragging on for a long while. He simply moved closer until he placed himself right in front of her, eyes boring down into hers, forcing her to crane her neck to keep up with his silent staring. 013 felt a wave of dread slowly build within the longer the Spartan stayed silent, and she started to fidget, shifting weight from foot to foot. Something should be done; to break the silence - but she didn't know what else to say, what else to ask, in order to break the building tension that was become all the more palpable.
He would probably meet her words with the same silence that he was currently giving.
So, she opted for remaining silent until the Spartan decided he wanted to indulge her with an answer.
There was suddenly a heavy exhalation, the chest cavity of the towering Spartan rising and falling.
Then;
"How long have you known?" The quiet murmur of the Chief had 013's brow scrunching further, her confusion setting deeper at the question.
'What?' She thought, befuddled. It wasn't at all what she had been expecting.
Not that she had expecting anything in particular, he was undecipherable from the start.
013'sgrey eyes flickered between his.
What did he mean with how long she's known? Known what?
The Spartan continued;
"When were you planning on telling me that you knew Cortana was alive?"
As soon as his sentence was spoken, the words reaching her ears, 013's stomach dropped, down into the deep, dark abyss. Chills ran down her spine and the hairs on her arms quickly rose up, just as fear came lurking.
He'd finally given clarity, but she wasn't expecting it to sting like a hundred dagger tips.
As the question slowly sunk in, digging into her brain, 013 realized four things. One, his voice sounded accusatory. Two, how did he know? Three, who told him? And finally, fourth; How long has he known?
This wasn't a confrontation she wanted to have right now, far from it. Not only because she didn't feel anywhere near ready, but also because she didn't fully know yet how to justify why she's kept it secret from him to start with. Kept Cortana secret.
To tell him that she knew he would most likely have left them to find her despite facing a genocidal threat didn't exactly sound very convincing. Even if it was the truth.
Lasky and her had taken the mutual decision to keep it secret, especially when Cortana's life didn't seem to be in any danger. However, at this very moment, with the Chief's gaze boring down onto her equivalent to the weight of a thousand sandbags, did she question if it was the right thing to do.
Did she ever have that right to begin with, keeping Cortana's existence from him? But what else could she do? Serve Humanity up for genocide, or tell the Chief that his… That Cortana was still alive, and so loose one of their strongest advantages to stop said genocide? The moral ground was awfully grey in this particular matter, and impossible to navigate. She'd get lost at the first nautical mile.
Perhaps she should have told him; and trusted that he wouldn't leave them. But… it wasn't like she knew him all too well back then. Hell, their relationship had been a rocky one from the start, the figurative bridge swaying and fraying, and splattered with scorch marks.
Staring into the Spartan's heavy, deep blue eyes, did 013 fully understand what emotion was playing within them, as his words gave the necessary nudge towards the answer. Another wave of dread overcame her, washing over her soul like the coldest of waters and causing her throat to tighten considerably.
It was betrayal that she was seeing.
Not knowing how else to respond, and feeling like a black hole had opened up beneath her, 013 could only breathe out a choked "… what?".
The Chief wasted no time in giving an explanation, not even a breath's amount.
"Agent Vicks played a message of evidence that Cortana could still be alive. She informed me you had given her that message. Is this true?"
013 only continued to spiral down into further confusion, the figurative black hole under the sole of her feet gaping wider. 'Agent Vicks?' 013 thought, genuinely shocked at hearing her name.
'The ONI-agent knows? How? '
And on top of all that… The real twist to it all; what message is he talking about?
013 was at a loss for words, swallowing thickly as her mind desperately tried to piece together the puzzle presented before her - even though all the pieces seemed to come from different puzzles.
How does one go on from here?
'What do I say, where do I start… ?'
As her thoughts spun around a thousand miles per minute, 013 decided that she would tell him the honest truth. It was the only thing her mind could conjure up that didn't sound like she was serving up a load of crap. Besides, lying to him felt very, very wrong. Impossible, even.
A traitorous voice whispered in her head that she had already been lying to him by keeping Cortana's existence quiet.
013 exhaled slowly, fingers curling and uncurling as she mentally prepared. The Chief's gaze quickly darted down to her clenching fists before resuming his previous heavy staring.
"I… I don't know what it is that you're talking about, Chief. I haven't intercepted any kind of message of her being alive from anyone… " 013 paused for a moment, eyes slinking down to the floor as she searched for the right words which to form her next sentence with, all the while silently hoping they would present themselves on the floor - to appear out of thin air. A hopeless notion to wish for, yet she still did. Desperate times; desperate measures.
013 knew she would have to tread lightly, it was a heavily loaded subject that she was addressing. She swallowed, trying to loosen up her throat that felt awfully restricted, as if she was being held in an invisible chokehold.
"But… Cortana did come and see me, personally." She breathed out lastly. 013 let her eyes travel upwards, gliding across the attire of the Chief before settling on his face, all the while trying to garter whether he would reply or not.
He stayed quiet, unmoving.
So she continued. She let it all out; from how it happened, to what was said. Ripping the proverbial band aid off, with her fingers crossed that he would understand.
"She… I don't know how she did it but, she came to me through your dogtag. I was only touching it like I always do, and the next second all this blue light surrounded me. I was brought to some sort of hard-light cubical room, and she told me that she was still alive. She's stuck on Genesis, where she was transported after your fight on the Mantle's Approach. She said she's okay, Chief. She's just waiting for us to get there, to get to her."
Her brain didn't acknowledge at all that she'd let it slip that she used his dogtag as a safety trinket.
There was a heavy exhalation echoing in the room – but it wasn't from her.
Another moment of silence washed over the two, the tension thick and suffocating. Then it came;
"You're lying." The Chief said, his voice low, yet danger clung to it – a warning.
At first, 013 remained neutral, confused even, before those feelings shifted to feeling like she had just been jammed with a knife into her gut, her nerves lighting up with white hot pain and causing pins and needles-tingling in various parts of her body.
All that inner turmoil within her twisted and turned, writhing, swirling chaotically like a thousand winds fighting, until it settled into one, singular emotion; anger.
His blatant conclusion had her thunderous. His very false conclusion.
"I'm not lying." 013 whispered hoarsely, not being able to speak louder – not that the Chief's Spartan hearing would have any difficulty picking up her words.
"Why would I lie about anything like that, Chief? Especially to you? I… I promise, I didn't see any footage, agent Vicks is the one telling lies. Cortana… she did come to see me. She was this life-sized figure, black bob-cut, blue all over, patterns moving across her skin. And the fact that I know about the Mantle's Approach. How would I know all this, if I were to be lying?"
The Chief met her words with ruthless coldness, slashing into her.
"You knew she was alive. And you didn't tell me. That wasn't your call to make."
013 reared back as if she had the wind knocked out of her. Through all the chaos within, through the thick veil of emotions, did he strike right into her core.
He was correct, of course; she knew Cortana was alive, and she didn't tell him. But it ended in the same question like it always did; did she even have a choice in making the call of telling him or not? With genocide hanging over them all?
Her mind was silently screaming at him. 'Why can't you understand!?'
It was 013's time to heavily exhale, air whooshing out from her lungs – that is, what little air she had left. How is she give him an answer, when she didn't know herself? How is she to make him understand? To see her reasoning - Lasky's reasoning.
… She could try. She had to.
"I know, I did… I knew." She admitted slowly, her grey eyes locking in with the Chief's. His were no longer the calm blue ocean that soothed, but rather the vicious, stormy ocean ready to drag anyone down to its depths. And hers? Hers were swirling with several shades of anger, pain and panic.
"But what could I have done, truly? Do you remember how it was between us at that time?" A hand gestured between herself and the Spartan.
"Would you really have believed me back then if I had told you? We weren't exactly on the best of terms. I couldn't know what you would do. Would you have left us to handle the genocide threat ourselves to find her, or would you actually have stayed? Especially when Cortana herself said she was safe, she isn't in any danger." 013 laid it all out, putting her reasoning out for him to see. Hanging her washing, so to speak. Maybe now he would understand.
Yet…
The Spartan shook his head, his hands clenching, turning into fists, his knuckles becoming white, skin pulled taut.
"You knew, and you didn't tell me. I… I can't forgive that." And with that, he turned, feet pivoting towards the opposite direction, and walking away.
He had stumbled over his words, which spoke heavily of his emotional state - because the only other time that ever happened… Was when he'd lost Cortana.
Or when he thought he lost Cortana, that is.
Turns out he hadn't, after all.
The Chief went on the move, fully intent on leaving her there to watch her own world explode and shatter, the pieces raining around her in a sorrowful parade, the proverbial black hole readily swallowing her whole.
And 013 couldn't believe it.
Couldn't believe that he turned his back, leaving her without even trying to see through her scope.
No.
No.
She wouldn't let him do this to her. Not again.
"You don't get to walk away like this, Chief!" 013 called out harshly after him. She quickly sprinted to catch up to him, placing herself directly in his way, forcing him to an abrupt stop. His gaze slunk down to her and she met it head on, not a single care in the world that his towering stance was supposed to be intimidating.
It was clear as day the betrayal he was feeling, it was written within his blue eyes as if spelt out letter by letter – along with the simmering anger. He was pissed beyond belief.
However, 013 didn't care. She knew she should, but she'd just been thrown a gut-wrenching blow from the man, and she will not let him leave without saying her piece first.
013's eyes were watering up as she stood there, emotions at their full time high, breathing heavily. Her chest constricted harshly with how she was forcing air in and out of her body, and her nails were marking her skin with crescent moons - yet none of that physical pain came close to the psychological pain within her. She barely even registered the sharp sting on her radar.
013 let her hand rise up, grabbing a hold of the dogtag that has the imprint of Cortana's location on it – his dogtag – and yanked it. The chain snapped, sending a sharp pain up her neck where the chain link broke off. Yet she still paid it no mind, the pain once again barely registering with her. As she was staring the Spartan down, his menacing gaze actually caused shivers to run down her spine.
He'd never looked at her with menace before. Or with the look of betrayal. Anger, she had seen, but this? Never.
And - were they actually doing this right now? Were they about to burn their newly rebuilt bridge?
It could be permanent this time.
It felt so surreal, all of what was happening right now. Like she was only having a nightmare, and would wake up at any moment. But life wasn't sunshine and rainbows, it was lemons and daggers.
013 knew better than to throw the dogtag at him, having manners for one. Instead, she simply pressed it to the Chief's chest, forcing out a raspy "take it".
He does, the touch of hands brief, yet it still sparked between them. His touch always caused tingles to run through her, however, this time the tingles were unpleasant and unwanted. As soon as he grasped the dogtag firmly, did 013 pull away and back away from him, stepping to the side.
Before she walked away, 013 spoke one last time.
"Since you're so inclined to believe an agent you barely know over me, then that-" 013 nodded towards the dogtag. Sorrow took a dig at her as she did, prominently reminding her that her trinket of comfort now was officially out of her reach. It felt like it was taunting her from within the grasp of the Chief. She pulled her eyes away from it, redirecting them up towards the heavy set eyes of the Spartan.
–" is yours. Cortana entrusted her location to me, which really was meant for you. Yet she still chose to trust me. Maybe you can learn from that."
The words were choked out, forced through her enclosed throat as the tears were just barely held at bay. She was fighting so desperately to keep them from running down in rivets down her cheeks. She refused to let him see her tears. While her heart was jackhammering inside her chest, it felt as if it should be called a scientific miracle,because to her it was the opposite - like her heart had been crushed and stepped on.
Her heart shouldn't even be functioning.
And her chest cavity? Someone might as well have tied a corset much too tight around it, pulling at the strings like their mission was to break all of her ribs and inflate her lungs.
It simply felt like the pressure of gravity was slowly enveloping her; squeezing her, harder and harder. Wanting her to implode on herself.
As 013 glanced towards the entrance of the gym, her choice of exit, did she look back at the Spartan one more time, leaving him with her final parting words;
"Go there and see for yourself. She'll be there waiting."
Then she left.
That was the last time any of the Spartans saw her before departing on their mission. Blue Team was shortly after sent to retrieve the second key, bringing Jeff, Casey and Tucker with them along with a an army of soldiers in case the Scientist's own forces stood ready to apprehend them. Said army had assistance of Pelicans, ready on standby should they need it, and there were tanks on-call to be dropped within minutes.
013 didn't know whether or not any of the other Spartans knew of what had transpired between her and the Chief, and neither could she find it in herself to care.
No, in fact, there was nothing left within her at all. She was a walking shell of what she once was, of who she once was. There were no inhibitions within, there was no shine to her eyes, no twitching of her lips wanting to curl upwards – what was reflected back the popularity would only be an empty gaze, void of everything; dead. The abyss would quite literally be staring back. Haunting words from her past echoed within her mind; she became the soldier the experiment wanted her to be. Project: HYBRID was a success after all.
It only took a life-sized traumatic event to trigger it.
It was like she'd been turned inside out; all the joy and exuberance being locked into the cage where she had kept the Hyde to her Jekyll tucked away. Now however, the tables were reversed. And Hyde was exuberant in finally being free.
Hyde would come to show them all what they have missed.
So when 013 was physically attacked by the ODST-gang in the gym, them wanting to seek revenge for how she had utterly crushed them a few days prior – she didn't hold back.
She'd expected they would come back and fuss about it sooner or later. They had perfect timing. Especially when she caught the glint of knives.
'So it's gonna be that way, is it?' 013 smiled snidely at them, lip curling upwards.
She didn't pull her punches as she met their knives with only her fists.
Their mistake was to underestimate her. Jekyll was gone, locked away.
They had never met Hyde.
And Hyde personified ruthlessness.
The sound of bones cracking and limbs being torn out of their sockets fell on deaf ears; it was simply dead noise to 013. The whole showdown was equal to nothing but swatting away annoying flies.
When one of their knives managed to catch her in the face, the sharp edge drawing blood and creating a deep rift from above her brow and reaching all the way down to her cheekbone, did 013 finally tire of their game. The fight ended quite swiftly after that, with 013 sending all three of them to the Infirmary with varying degrees of damage. The onlookers that had seen the whole spectacle go down were astounded at how 013 had seemingly wiped the floor with three fully fledged ODST:s, armed with Swiss Army knives.
She had made it seem like it was easy, nothing but a playground fight.
Chad had actually for once shown traces of actual fear when he met the twisted snarl of 013 – he had never seen her carrying such an animalistic expression before. There's always been a sort of gentleness accompanied by aloofness whenever they banged heads, yet this time around it was as if a switch had been flipped; her snarky comments, trademark sarcasm and quips had all but vanished. What remained was the empty husk of something… something robotic.
It was like she'd had her humanity ripped out of her and what was left was a deadly, ruthless machine.
Team Airhead and Co. were hospitalized for weeks.
Chad, who'd received the brunt force of her lethality, had been told he might not get all his movement back in his shoulder after she had torn it from its socket with a brutality he'd never expected from the woman. The news would have angered him, triggered him to act, yet, all he wanted was to leave her alone after their altercation. He's built some sort of begrudging respect for her, despite the fact that he hated her guts.
There was nothing left between them but mutual understanding that they would no longer aggravate the other party. The verbal agreement was established when 013 sat across from them with Doc away getting her equipment ready to patch up the deep laceration that went across her right eye. She met his gaze, empty and lacklustre, expression bordering on bored, and he'd slowly nodded.
013 said nothing, did nothing, for some time, before she breathed deeply and sent him a slow nod back.
An uneasy truce, borne from their last fight.
013 was told that the knife wound would leave a hefty scar, and the only response she gave to the concerned Doc was a shrug. The older woman had tried to ask 013 what was wrong, for clearly something was, her tone apprehensive as she questioned the soldier.
She received nothing but a "I'm fine." In response.
It was an obvious sign that things were not fine, however before Doc could prod any further, 013 had risen up and shuffled off of the bed, asking if they were done. Doc could only nod and solemnly watch the woman leave, eyes tracing her figure.
There was no life in 013's walk.
Doc couldn't do much to help; the battle was of the mind and while Doc could prescribe medicine or a therapist, she knew 013 well enough that none of that would work on her.
013 needed something else – someone else.
But they were all planetside, ultimately leaving 013 to deal with her own bearings, with no help in sight.
She's been left with nothing but her own demons, and they were eating her alive.
Doc shook her head, disappointed.
'They should have known better.' She silently admonished.
It was three days later that Blue Team and the rest of the company came back, trudging onto the Bridge with newly acquired information and the second key in tow. 013 had yet to be seen on the Bridge herself, and Lasky hadn't had the time to ponder over that peculiar fact as he had been busy directing a firefight with the ground team.
Blue Team had met heavy resistance, not even having put their feet on the planet before they were being shot at.
Flashback –
"We're being met with fire, Captain!" Came the alarmed voice of the Pilot steering the Pelican with Blue Team on-board.
"They have heavy artillery, I repeat, heavy artillery!"
"Requesting drop-off, Captain".
"Affirmative." Mere seconds later, Blue Team took the jump out of a Pelican, landing a good several meters down below, creating craters at impact.
"On-ground, Captain." The Chief reported, before sending his team forward to scout the battlefield that was up ahead. Above them, Pelicans were moving further back in order to safely drop off the rest of the forces.
Jeff, Casey and Tucker communicated that they were on the opposite side of Blue Team, covering the left flank.
"Weren't expecting the welcoming committee, Spartans?" A loud voice boomed, coming from speakers that had been installed at the edge of the ruins where the key was located. The planet itself had a fluctuating topography – there were hills, cliffs, ridges and mountains any direction you would look. And strewn between them were ruins of a past civilization, most likely belonging to the Forerunners.
"I thought you would be exhilarated, was I wrong?" There was an awful laugh echoing after the Scientist had spoken, his voice sounding as if his voice cords had been through a grinder and spat back out.
"Well then, let's give you the red carpet, shall we? All fancy events need red carpets. Unfortunately, we ran out of fabric, but that's only a minor misfortune. A more… creative method was chosen instead. Why not create our red carpet from you? Let your blood flow from your desecrated corpses and you shall have your RED CARPET!" Maniacal laughter followed his monologue like clockwork – it added to the gut-twisting words that had been spoken.
The com belonging to the Infinity's forces crackled to life.
"I don't like the sound of that, guys."
A pause. Then another crackle sounded:
"Yeah no shit, Tucker! He wants us to donate our bodies to make a damn red carpet, how about fucking no thank you!? Where's the consent!?" Jeff screeched.
"Calm down, soldier. We won't need a carpet to gain access to his event. We'll retrieve our invites from him personally." Frederic responded, to which he received a snort in reply.
"Amen, Fred, amen. Oh well. Godspeed to all of you." Jeff saluted from across the field before officially ending the chatter.
Their forces had now fully assembled, not that it gave any pause to the battle - gunshots were already ringing out from both sides before they all had landed, accompanied by grenades blowing up craters in the rocky terrain. Not even five minutes planetside and battle had already broken out. Everything you heard was either the firing of a gun, the explosion of grenades or shouting from soldiers of both sides. Pelicans were hovering in the air equipped with snipers and machine-guns, and there were ODST:s already looking for ways to infiltrate their back-line.
Blue Team had scaled a ridge which would give the Spartan-058 the opportune moment of propping up her sniper to survey the battleground ahead of them.
"They got the advantage, the ruins are covering potential forces and providing shelter. Doesn't seem they have snipers-"
A shot whizzed by her, nicking her shield.
"Scratch that, they had one." Linda reloaded her sniper, signaling that true to her words; they had had a sniper – not so much anymore.
"Could be more lingering." She continued, scanning the high vantage points beyond the enemy line, searching for any more snipers.
"How do you want to approach, Chief?"
The stoic Chief wasn't particularly chipper today. Even less so than usual. His teammates took notice, but once again they didn't press the issue. They were mid-combat, and knew that if what was on their teamleader's mind needed to be talked about, they would do so later. Currently, they needed to find a way to push the Scientist's forces back. Their only mission was to retrieve the key, whether it was prying it from someone's dead hands or getting it from its place of originality – it didn't matter.
They weren't leaving until they had the second key – unless leaving meant to chase after said key.
"We go forward." The Chief ordered, and with that he jumped down from the ridge and went into the fray.
The rest of his teammates shared a glance between each other.
"He needs the distraction, it seems." Frederic commented, his eyes following the green-armoured Chief, the Spartan's gun already pointing and shooting, gunning down whatever unfortunate soul that came into his sights. The fact that he was shooting at humans apparently didn't sway him. A mission was a mission.
The green Spartan continued forward, grabbing a couple grenades from soldiers he bypassed before launching them across the enemy line.
"So it seems." Kelly agreed, readying her shotgun. Her eyes swivelled to Frederic.
"Shall we?" She nodded in the direction of their leader before jumping off the ridge herself and following in the steps of their leader. Frederic quickly followed.
Linda remained on the ridge, assisting in taking out the gunneries of the heavy artillery stations, officially keeping them from being used effectively - all the while sniping off anyone who dared pop their head up, equipped with a sniper of their own.
The Scientist had been raving about this and that as the battle continued, adding commentary whenever he felt necessary. It was ludicrous, yet team Jeff, Casey and Tucker couldn't help but make fun of his speeches.
"Can you believe it? He actually believes we won't bulldoze him over and grab the key from right under his nose." Tucker said, his rifle squeezed between the miniscule space of two huge rocks.
"Think the best part was when he said he'd spare our lives if we just up and left, like we'd just popped by for a visit and now our time is up. As if. We ain't serving up no key to this madman." Jeff chuckled, reloaded his gun, sent off a shot, and popped back down under cover.
"Haven't had this fun in forever. Can't we schedule more playdates like this? He's fun." Jeff glanced over their cover, scouting for another target.
Tucker shrugged.
"Reckon we can ask him?"
"If I get my hands on his speakers, then hell yeah, I'll shout it from the rooftops."
The speakers crackled to life as if called upon, the booming voice of the Scientist once again sounding over the raging battlefield.
One would think he thought himself invincible; high and mighty, hiding behind cover and letting the dirty work be carried out by his hired goons.
"Fellow guests of mine, are you enjoying the show? I'm quite particular in my tastes for warmongering. I'm sure you must have noticed by now how little you have moved, remaining in such a sorrowful standstill. Alas, as for my show; it is almost as if you all could DROP DEAD from this lavish enjoyment. Your efforts are futile, dear guests. Soon enough I will have this key!" The trademark lunatic laughing echoing across the battling forces.
Jeff and Tucker were quiet for a full five seconds before breaking out into laughter themselves.
"Did he just-" Tucker began, however, didn't get much further in his sentence.
"-wish us to drop dead? Yeah, he did. " Jeff snorted, his chest jumping in staccato from his effort of trying to pipe down on his laughter.
"How kind of him to refer to us as guests." Casey chimed in, her careful eyes scanning the field through her scope. An unfortunate head popped up, and just as quickly it went back down – permanently.
"Only you would try find sincerity in anyone's words." Jeff hummed playfully.
"Yeah? How about this then; his vocabulary beats yours by a hundred. The only advanced word you know is probably the word 'troglodyte', and that's only because it's a useful insult. Am I close in my assessment, soldier?" Casey mused, eyebrow hitched as she glanced over at her friend.
"… Just because I don't swallow dictionaries… " Jeff grumbled, his eyes once again observing the battlefield.
"I'm assuming that's also a pun?"
"That the Scientist gobbles dick? Naturally." He replied, to which Tucker, who was next to him, let out a chortle, almost choking on air.
"That's one way to put it, Jeff."
"I know where the Scientist can put it."
"Oh?" A curious arch of an eyebrow.
"Up a grinder." Jeff smiled devilishly.
Tucker fully on laughed, and Casey simply only shook her head at their mischief.
"Guess he has to hang out on Grindr then." Tucker hummed, trigger finger pressing down on his gun before releasing it and repeating.
It was later said that Jeff full on laughed for five minutes straight, and that his laughter still echoes across the fields of the planet.
As for the sieging battle, there ended up being a stalemate that lasted almost a full day. It wasn't until the sun was nearly setting that their side instigated an impressive manoeuvre in an attempt to bring the majority of the enemy's attention to them - which would give Blue Team the biggest chance of success in infiltrating the ruins through the left-hand side where Team Jeff, Casey and Tucker were their back-up.
It turned out that the Scientist had rigged the whole place with explosives, which not only would take out the enemy, but his own forces as well.
It spoke of how little of mind he paid to lives in general, and just how far he would go to retrieve what he wanted.
Even if it meant sacrificing his own men.
Despicable. The word and all its connections ran through the heads of Blue Team.
As they went, they disarmed the charges they came upon, although no one was naïve enough in believing that it would be all of them. It was full on likely that the other half of the ruin contained just as many explosives, if not more.
The Scientist certainly hadn't been sparse in his shopping spree.
Signalling backwards, the Chief gestured for those behind him to bring up the flank in order to cover more ground. Time was of the essence after all, and the ruins were not only difficult to navigate in its sorry state. There were blockades that forced them to find another way, and the winding hallways could easily have you believe you'd ended up in a Funhouse, what with the way the stone reflected your reflection back at you.
Besides the sheer amount of explosives, there wasn't anything else stashed behind enemy lines that might come to surprise them, which made their mission slightly easier. It also made sense; if you already were planning on letting the place light up like Hiroshima, it would have been pointless stashing expensive equipment nearby.
It took quite some time before Blue Team finally came across the dig-site of the key.
And to their disappointment, the Scientist wasn't there. It hinted quite clearly at the fact that he hadn't been there at all. Instead he's been hiding away, out of any danger or compromise. The speakers had been wired to his channel that he only had to press a button in order to use them.
It was a smart move of him - because if he had been present at the dig-site, he would've been in captivity by now, if not already in interrogation.
Blue Team had quickly managed to subdue all the scientists that were at the dig-site along with frying the controls to the explosives planted across the ruins. Each and every one of them got taken into custody and placed in queue for interrogation. As for the Scientist's remaining army, they tried to retaliate at first - however, when they noticed that they were surrounded on both sides, blocked by a cliffside on a third, they had no choice but to flee. Several aircrafts took flight, and left were the victor and the key.
Loyalty certainly wasn't the enemy's strong suit. No one really blamed them, one the news of the explosions came out.
The key itself was locked within a spherical device, to which they had to call down one of the ancient A.I..s to assist in unlocking it. It didn't take long, as the technology matched that of their own from ancient times ago, and soon enough Blue Team and the rest were on their way home.
The mission took a total of three days. There were a lot of happy soldiers who longed for their beds on-board the Infinity. However, some were less than thrilled to return.
But it stood clear; the Chief hadn't left – yet. And perhaps the reason why was because someone had believed he would. A twisting of his gut told the Chief that that particular person hadn't been entirely wrong.
Flashback End –
There was a ping that alerted her to Blue Team's arrival back on the Infinity, along with Jeff, Casey and Tucker. They were all up on the Bridge already, debriefing Lasky on their successful retrieval of the second key.
Once upon a time 013 would've rushed up immediately wanting to hear all about it; wanting to know everything down to the most nitty, gritty detail. She wanted to pretty much interrogate them, fire of question after question in order to try relive some of it through her mind's eye, seeing that she was still stuck on the bench, taped to it with glaringly yellow tape.
013 ignored the alert, her empty, dead eyes shifting away from the red beeping, instead focusing on packing the bag in front of her. She checked her gun, rechecked it, and loaded a magazine clip into it before strapping it into place within the bag before her. Various knives were both packed and equipped on her person – just in case.
Hours later, 013 pinged the A.I.:s on the Bridge – she had figured out a way to reach them without having to physically go up there - how else would've she plotted pranks to play on Lasky if he had a chance to overhear? That wouldn't do, so they worked out another way, tailoring their own communications channel to suit their needs.
Such were the benefits of having ancient A.I.:s as friends.
When they entered the chat 013 briefly asked them how the meeting went, to which they replayed that her presence had been requested. They proceeded in asking her why she hadn't shown up, and 013 conjured up a measly excuse to give them, typing and sending the words "something else came up".
013 continued, as she had a purpose to their whole conversation; she asked them whether they managed to retrieve the key, and the A.I.:s responded that it was safely tucked away where the other one was.
"Great. Do you know when Lasky gets off his shift?" Seconds later, a reply was relayed back to her;
"In 03:00 hours. Is this of significance?" 013 exhaled, fingers typing once again, before pausing. Should she tell them? Can she tell them?
Mulling it over for a few more moments, 013 finally typed back:
"Just curious. Lasky tends to overwork himself." And then she tucked the pad away – she got what she wanted, now she needed to prepare.
The next stage wasn't as easy as packing bags and gathering intel.
013 sat huddled within her dorm for the duration of the three hours, silently counting the hours, minutes and seconds down. She went over and checked every clasp of clothing, the undersuit already having been checked at least six times before that. However, according to her, you could never be too safe.
When the chime of her alarm rang through the space of her room, half an hour later than the three hours to give Lasky some margin of time in case he overstayed, 013 methodically clicked it off.
She picked up her duffelbag, slinging it over her shoulder. Glancing around the room, 013 let her eyes slowly sweep the space. The bed was made, not a wrinkle to be seen. The lights were switched off besides the main ceiling one, and there was no dust on any surface. As 013 opened the door, she clicked it shut behind her without looking back.
013 walked in a set pace, one foot in front of the other in a purely clinical manner. Her eyes were alert, sharp, yet they never strayed from their scope of pointedly looking forward.
Soon enough she found herself inside the ever familiar elevator that would bring her up to the Bridge, where Lasky hopefully had turned in for the day. It was late into the standard day on-board the Infinity, which meant lower activity. It also meant that 013 had less hindrance in her way.
The elevator chimed when it reached 013's desired location and she stepped off, eyes immediately sweeping over the vicinity before her – she'd been right; there wasn't much activity to be seen, and everyone seemed occupied with their own chores.
013, in the same clinical pace as before, headed towards the corridor that she led to their safety storage. Once inside the room 013 called upon the A.I..s. Without beating around the bush, 013 asked them if they would come with her. They wondered why; where was she going?
And so she explained. Told them of how humans can be complicated beings, that sometimes cooperation can no longer be achieved between them, and so you would have to find another way. She told them of her plan of ending the mission by herself. Not for the grandeur, but because she'd promised Cortana that she would come. And a small voice within her mind, whispered from behind bars, weakly whispered that she was doing it for her friends – they would remain safe if she did it alone.
Even if her way of doing so was warped.
The A.I:s accepted her proposal without further investigation.
She'd been the first to treat them as more than just objects, and had even put trust in them first without know whether or not they could be trustworthy. So they simply returned the favour and put their trust in her despite knowing that what they were doing would bring about undesired consequences. They would still finish the mission, but they wouldn't do it as a whole team. But to them, the odds were still great. Achieving success through different means that originally planned wasn't anything new, it was an age-old tactic, one they've known for a long time.
And in some way, they understood that she wished her friends to be safe, even if it hadn't been said. It was simply there, nestled deep beneath the surface.
013 paid the undesired consequences little mind as they haphazardly popped up inside her head. She's had enough time to think it over that she knew there would be no turning back. She also knew that as soon as she walked out of the room, the alarm would trigger. She would approximately have T-minus 10 minutes to get to her next location before she stumbled into too many complications. She had her route planned already; and it diverted from her typical route. She couldn't let them stop her – first places they would look would be her usual ways around the ship.
Little did they know, though…
013 had had quite a lot of time to map out the Infinity's infinite ways of making your way through the ship. She knew enough pathways and hidden compartments that would help her in her endeavour, giving her the edge she needed against those who will stand in her way.
For they would try to stop her.
It would be foolish of them not to – not when she was about to walk away with the two keys they had acquired.
013 picked up the keys that were within the locked compartment within the room. The A.I.:s had helped her crack the case open. It had been all too easy, it was almost shameful.
Her eyes critically studied the nooks and crannies that made up the two keys as she held them at her line of sight. She observed how they would click into place – the third key being the last missing component to compose the Master Key that could open the Dominion on Genesis.
013 suddenly clenched her fist, tightening her grip on the keys. A deeply set frown marred her facial futures, lips pressed into a stern line as she stared hard at the keys. These were the two objects that had given her so much trouble - had given them all so much damn trouble.
She knew they would've been capable of doing this together, but 013… 013 could no longer be part of that. Not anymore. She has to break herself away. She told Cortana so many weeks ago that she would come for her. She would bring her the Master Key – only, it would be on her lonesome, the only company she would bring with her being the two A.I.:s.
At least they knew where to find the third key; the ancient A.I.:s had given Roland the exact location. It was ironically on the moon orbiting Genesis. Her stomach twisted upon realizing that she might just confront the whole team at the dig-site of the third key – if she wasn't quick enough.
As predicted, the alarm sounded as soon as she took not even one step out of the room; however, she was already hightailing it out of there. Running down the corridors, taking the stairs instead of elevators, crawling through vents, 013 was making clear headway towards the Hangar.
She'd readied a ship equipped with a slipstream device, lest she would never get far.
This was now a race, one she instigated.
013 huffed, shimmying down a particularly narrow space.
"Didn't imagine that this would be as tedious as it is." 013 grumbled, annoyance threaded throughout her voice.
The A.I.:s, which were contained in her dogtag and had the capability of telepathy if the source was nearby, relied back to her that they were at least not found yet.
"Very optimistic view, thank you." 013 answered gruffly, pushing forward her bag as she climbed forward. Soon enough she was out, and could sling her duffelbag over her shoulder once more before making a run for it until her next trip through the vents.
While she was clearing her way towards the Hangar, Captain Lasky had managed to rush up to the Bridge to shut off the alarm and ping the team. All personnel aboard the Infinity were anxiously awaiting orders, as they too had heard the alarm – it was quite obvious as to why they had no clue to what was going on.
It wasn't until Roland relayed footage of 013 that Lasky's shoulders sunk, his facial expression twisting into a mix of sorrow, anger and disbelief.
It was with great difficulty that he ordered all personnel on board to be on the look-out for 013, and to apprehend if she were to be seen.
The question of why echoed painfully in his head.
Neither was it easy for him to show the footage to the rest of the team. There wasn't any time to grieve 013's betrayal as they had bigger problems ahead; such as the fact that she had taken the keys.
Without much talk, they were immediately sent out to find and apprehend her as well.
No words were spoken between the team-members as they went in search of one Spartan-ODST, designation: 013 – their friend. Tutes.
Instead, their brains carried the fog of mainly sorrow and disbelief. How could she?
The tense silence was only interrupted by the whispered gossip between staff, them already exploring different conspiracies as to why they were commanded to apprehend the soldier. It spread like wildfire.
As for the woman in question, she had already punched the lights out of one unfortunate soldier who thought he had a chance in standing in her way. Her eyes were blazing intensely; concentration painted across her facial futures.
She was only a mere two minutes away from reaching the Hangar, and she knew the probability of stumbling upon Blue Team there was high.
And it was with that particular fire lighting her ass up that she pushed herself even more to get to the Hangar Bay. There was no way she would be able to outclass four Spartans.
ODST:s? Yes.
But these were mark ll Spartans. The best of the best.
Only a fool would dare dream that big.
013 huffed, irritation clinging to her as she spied down the corridor. Three people were milling about, keeping lookout – for her.
'Lasky sure works fast.'
A few quick calculations later made within her mind, and 013 had her plan. She would simply have to approach them at a sprint, taking them by surprise and use the few seconds of shock to her advantage to neutralize them all.
Double-checking the strap of her bag, tugging at it, 013 poked her head out to spy their placements.
Every one of them had their backs turned.
'Rookie mistake.'
She rounded the corner, her feet pushing away more intensely as she gained velocity, and seconds later she had tackled the closest target. It set off the domino effect of him crashing into his partner who had been standing a tad bit too close.
Not having time to knock either of them out, 013 quickly made her way past them before sucker-punching the third target in the stomach, the woman keeling over in pain.
It was enough to bypass her, and then 013 was off, turning the next corner.
The familiar entrance of the Hangar came within her sights, and 013 let her lip curl upwards.
'Success.'
Seeing the doors, however, 013 was starkly reminded of only a few days ago, when life had been different; it was the same corridor which she had stumbled upon the Spartans at the evening event of the Tournament. When she'd been wearing a dress.
A sudden pain struck her heart, and 013 bit down on her tongue as the memories resurfaced.
She didn't want to be reminded of what she once had, because it had only ended up being forcefully taken away from her, ripped away like it meant nothing.
'No time for that, we got a destination to reach.'
013 clenched her jaw, and once again she was on the move, pushing all the painful memories to the darkest corner of her mind. She kept to the walls, stealing a clipboard in order to impersonate flight staff when someone came too close, before resuming her approach to her chosen ship. It was lucky for her that she wasn't famous; she had a face that was easily forgotten.
It was all too easy to make her way undetected to her aircraft. She wasted no time in getting it flight-ready, throwing her duffelbag into the spare front seat.
She was almost ready for take-off when a familiar voice called out her name causing 013 to immediately pause, fingers hovering above the buttons.
'Jeff… '
Her stomach rolled at the discomfort appearing upon knowing she had to confront her best friend.
She pushed the button for autopilot before climbing out of the pilot seat and head towards the back of the aircraft.
"Jeff." 013 greeted as her eyes landed on him, his form merely meters away. Standing next to him, she found Casey and Tucker.
"If this isn't a happy little reunion." She continued, arms crossing in front of her.
"Why are you doing this?" The sheer amount of pain that echoed in his timbre voice squeezed 013's heart in a wrenching grip. It hurt seeing him like this; it hurt knowing that she was the reason he was looking at her like he was.
That she'd betrayed them.
"I wasn't given a choice, Jeff. I have to do this. Alone." 013 said, trying to sound as resolute as she possibly could. Spying movement, 013's eyes shifted beyond the three – and in the distance she saw four ever-familiar faces.
Blue Team had officially arrived.
Her eyes connected with ocean blue as she swept over them, but she refused to acknowledge anything that she saw within them.
He was the reason she was standing here.
"What choice? To embark on this crazy mission by yourself? We're a team, Tutes! We do this together." Jeff replied, his hands gesturing between them all. His eyes conveyed the desperation that hung heavily in his voice.
013 slid her eyes back to her best friend. She was sure that the same pain she was seeing in his was present in hers.
"Ask the big guy, you'll get your answers from him. I'll see you on Genesis, Jeff. You guys too." 013 nodded at Casey and Tucker, both who'd remained silent, simply staring at her. She found the same pain and disbelief that she had seen in Jeff's as she let her eyes sweep over them.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, before turning and jogging back towards the cockpit, sitting herself down and starting the engines. The hatch quickly closed behind her, enclosing her within - the separation of her from them was a clear message to the rift that had now opened up between the team and her.
013 had officially gone AWOL.
She was gone by the time Lasky came down to the Hangar. However, everyone's eyes weren't on him.
They were on the Chief.
"What are we supposed to ask you, Chief?" Jeff asked, his gaze tense as it settled upon the Spartan.
Y'all at the edge of your seats yet?