Skies Above Spain

"In shocking news, a crater a quarter the size of Rhode Island has appeared in Mongolia with government agents through leaning towards some type of unregistered superweapon-" The radio droned in the background as Adrian sat on the edge of the Orca, with a hastily drawn bandage across his face and his legs dangling off the edge; watching as deep blue ocean passed under him.

Quarantine procedures were still in place though it was assumed among the crew aboard that if Adrian had been infected, he would've shown signs of turning. Still better safe than sorry and Adrian couldn't blame them, hell once the adrenaline wore off he was afraid of his own body, what it would feel like to have something grow inside you. So he was fine with whatever containment protocols they wanted to use; he just wanted to put this nightmare behind him. Staring off into the ocean currents his mind drifted to Vras', he was conflicted to say the least, not about his feelings towards the Sangheili and the Covenant neither Adrian nor Vras' made any attempt to hide their disdain, but with regards to its request. The elites entire culture was based around honor, though on a more personal level Adrian could connect with the fear of being forgotten, dying alone, it's what haunted him about Chloe since he learned of his sister's fate. Lightly slapping himself he pushed the thoughts from his mind, if they still tugged on his mind later, he would just let Angela pick his brain later. Having a kinder soul like hers put in her two cents would be a welcomed change.

The sound of crumpling hazmat material drew his attention to someone sitting next to him, he couldn't see the face behind the heavy gear but the voice revealed it as Vickers, "Sorry to leave you to the wolves but I've been on the horn with Winston trying to explain what happened."

"Nah, I should be the one apologizing…I…I failed to keep them safe." Adrian said with uncertainty as he pulled out the dog tags from a secured pouch on his body, passing them off to Vickers.

"Ah… Well people always like to say, 'They knew what they were getting into' right?" Vickers tried to grin but couldn't bring anything close to it.

"No one knew what they were getting into down there, but I should've done better."

"Don't blame yourself mate, you said it yourself, no one had any clue what would happen. Can't blame yourself for a shit hand."

"Easier than said than done, though I'm sure you understand. Ah though I almost forgot, managed to get this off Hackett. Figured you'd know the right people to give it to." Adrian remarked as he pulled the folded picture from a sperate pocket. Vickers gave a slight nod as they both stared out into the infinite blue. Adrian was content to just sit here, all things considered he thought he got off lucky but he also just felt so…tired. So drained. He'd tried to rest but whenever he shut his eyes all he could see was the blood, the monstrosities tearing through flesh, hear the wailing screams pierce his mind. So he'd stayed awake, as the others slept in shifts over the course of the long flight Adrian stayed awake, staring out of the ship like an eternal vigil damned to his duties. Below them the sea turned to cliffs then to man-mind brick and mortar as the Orca passed over the Gibraltar base before turning around to make it's landing. When it landed, he was surprised to see a few more hazmat clad soldiers waiting for him, including Angela and her assistants in equally protective gear. Pushing himself off the back of the Orca his legs screamed in protest as they hit solid ground, despite feeling like jelly he trudged on shooting Ziegler a strained grin.

"I apologize for the protocols, but well we can't risk anything." She said with a slight smile.

"I understand Doc, do what ya' gotta do." Adrian spoke as he waved her concerns away.

"Luckily it won't be long, you have shown any external symptoms, but we need to know if there's anything hiding within you. This small device here, allows me to run a deep-tissue scan." Angela held up a hand-held object that had a large metal front with a digital screen on the back. "Should there exist anything out of the ordinary we'll see it here, though it's doubtful there will be anything based on the information I've heard."

Adrian absentmindedly nodded, the strain on his body as he stood here seemed to grow worse with every passing second, he just wanted to find a quiet place to pass out and get past this whole ordeal. He stood as Angela moved the scanner over every limb, slowly moving it up and around his body, methodically jotting down in her notes every minute. He couldn't tell when she finished only that he was drawn back into focus when he felt her shaking his shoulder.

"You alright Adrian? I said your test came back clean." She tilted her head, shooting him a curious glance.

"Huh? Oh thanks Doc, that's a relief. Much obliged." He went to move but a hand on his chest stopped him in his tracks.

"Are you sure you're okay? You've been through quite the ordeal."

He looked her dead in the yes, his voice taking on an unusual earnestness, "Really Angela, I'm fine. I just need some rest."

Her eyes narrowed in doubt before she relented letting Adrian pass, he shambled past with a forced smile and a nod of his head. As he walked away from the disembarking Orca he could feel her eyes tracking him until he passed between a group of Overwatch personal. He paid her no mind, the only thing racing through his thoughts was the comforting embrace of sleep. Thankfully he encountered no one else on his path, when he entered his room he tossed took tossed his weapons onto rarely used bed in his room. He tried to get used to having something soft under his body, but despite his efforts it still felt unnatural to him after so many sights spent in UNSC cots or curled up in a muddy trench. He'd used it a few times only to find himself still feeling sleep deprived come morning and the sheets splayed across the bed like a tornado came through. So he stuck to the corner of the room, rough but familiar and right now as he eyed the bed, he realized that perhaps what he wanted more than rest was something familiar. He didn't even strip himself of his gear before plopping himself in the corner of the room, laying his head back against the cool wall. Closing his eyes the horrors came back once more, the bodies around him bursting open, the bloated corpses shambling throughout the facility, the images didn't stop but he couldn't keep his eyes awake forever. Through sheer desperation he pushed on through the waking nightmares until his exhaustion was simply too much to resist, his mind succumbing to the appealing draw of sleep.

….

…

Adrian groaned as he woke, his eyes cracking slightly as a torrent of light entered his vision. He'd felt different, more rested than he had in years; in fact he almost didn't want to get up, the idea of just laying here in bed seemed more enticing than anything else.

Wait.

His eyes shooting open he sat up in bed, ruffled sheets falling off his body rocketed up. Looking around in confusion his first thought was that maybe someone had moved him to the bed, but there was no one else in the room, in fact, this wasn't his room on the base at all…this was his room on Kholo. He was back home, the posters he'd hung up throughout his teenage years were exactly as he'd left them, the desk in the corner of his room still covered with miscellaneous junk. Jumping out of bed he went over to the window in his room and tore the curtains aside, stepping back in disbelief as he saw the home planet sprawling out before him. Towering skyscrapers of glass peppered the distance as a vast field of grass laid out before his view before sloping down into a bubbling creek. Other residential house laid around them as he took in the familiarity, an unknowable feeling tugging at his heart as his mind raced to the possibilities.

"If I'm here, then that means that…that…"

Footsteps stopped outside his door as his body twisted to the sound, a knock on the wooden panel as a soft voice spoke up.

"Jeez Adriana are you awake yet? Mom had breakfast ready five minutes ago!"

"N-n-no. This…" He muttered to himself, tears welling at the corner of his eyes. His mind told him to stop, but his heart urged him on, "Chloe? Is that you?"

A silent few seconds before the doorknob began to turn as the door was pushed open, entering through the door was a young girl with straight dark hair and deep brown eyes.

"Uh duh? Who else would he be?" She joked, a warm smile gracing her face.

He opened his mouth to speak though he knew words would fail to capture his feelings, nothing came out on than barely choked back sobs. He ran over embracing her in a tight hug, the familiar warmth washing over him like a soothing wave. Holding her tight he tried to speak once more, but still nothing came out. When he felt her arms wrap around him in a returned embrace, he felt his emotions breaking down, he truly thought he'd lost her to time. That he'd never be able to ask for her forgiveness, fix his mistakes. As he stood there, his senses slowly came back to him as she realized that he no longer felt a warm arm wrapped around his back but instead felt something slithering, coiling itself around his back. Pushing away from Chloe he found that her arms had been replaced with the parasitic tendrils of the flood, screaming he tried to move away but the tentacles only tightened their grasp around his body.

Screaming, shouting, cursing it seemed his words had no effect as he was forced to stare on in horror as blood started to pour from her mouth as a palpitating blob stretched under the skin of her throat, slowly inching its way up her neck as the blood continued to pour. Adrian tried to turn away, already knowing what would happen but no matter how much he tried he couldn't, forced to watch as the tumor-like head of the flood tore from her neck showering Adrian in blood. He screamed, closing his eyes to shield himself from the horror until he felt the tendrils disappear from his bodies as his body felt weightless. Opening he found that he was no longer in his home on Kholo but in a vast, ethereal void of darkness. Voices echoed around him, those of Hackett, Guin, Pak, all screaming in agony as the flood changed them into abominations, mutated muscle tearing through their skin. The squad he took into those labs, that he was placed in charge of protecting were now wiped from existence, they wouldn't even get their remains buried as their being was evaporated into nothingness.

The horror of himself being infected returned, the feeling of a parasite living deep within him slowly crawling its way out of his body. The agony as the flood spore tore through his eternal organs, no care for the pain it was inflicting, it's only focus being on consuming it's host. Adrian tried to scream, to yell out in pain, to howl out for forgiveness but he couldn't as his throat tightened with the parasite. Tendrils slowly slithered up the inside of his throat, inching their way out of his body until they burst forth from his mouth wrapping themselves around his head as the flood spore continued its climb up his esophagus.

As soon as he felt the abomination was about to burst forth from his mouth, he opened his eyes for the third time, now screaming into another empty room. Looking around tentatively he saw that this was his room at Gibraltar, though he still wasn't sure what was real as his heart raced in his chest. Sweat ran down his face as he stood up, wiping his face with his gloved hand he gave himself a firm slap to make sure he was awake. He winced at the stinging pain; a deep red handprint now emblazoned across his face. Sighing to himself he sat on the edge of the bed, nightmares were nothing new to him or any member of the UNSC really though most who made it past their first year of service usually learned to live with the constant dreams of dread and horror. He found himself having less since he came here, maybe because he knew he would wake up the next day but it seems the flood not only brought the existential dread from the war but added their own layer of hellish nightmares. His hopes of a comforting rest squashed he was left with nothing but terrors within his mind, placing his head in his hands he ran his fingers through his messy hair with resigned sigh.

"Mr. Kasporov, I must advise against self-inflicted pain, if there is an something bothering you there are plenty of personnel on the base who would be more than willing to listen. "

Adrian jumped a bit at the sudden sound of Athena's voice, his already racing heart now seeming like it was going to burst out of his chest.

He took a deep breath before speaking, "This is going to sound like an odd question Athena, but am I awake?"

"My scanner's indicate that you are very much awake though your body is unnaturally tense, is everything alright?"

The amount of fucking times he'd heard that question, he wanted to shoot the next person who asked that, "Yeah I'm fine, thanks Athena."

"If you say so, though you should be aware that Winston has requested a report on the event in Mongolia. He requests that you send it as soon as you are able but stresses that you should take as much time as you require."

"Fucking ape, yeah he'll get his report soon." He snarked before going over to the window in his room and sliding it open, taking a deep breath of the crisp ocean air before pulling out his pack of cigarettes. He stood there on the windows edge watching the smoke from his cigarette swirl in the wind and drift away, after a time he looked down to see a small pile of cigarettes piling up on the floor. Mentally chiding himself for losing track of time he flicked his current cigarette out the window before turning to looking at the holographic console aboard his desk. He despised reports, written usually it was left up to the gunny or god forbid ONI need their services, their handler, but exceptions exist for just about everything. Pushing himself off the wall he went over to the metal desk, plopping himself down in the cushioned seat before turning to the translucent display with one thought running through his mind, 'How the fuck do I write this?'

"You're absolutely positive that there was nothing else you could've done or any options available? I don't want to question your methods, especially after showing some snippets of your encounter but…blowing up a part of Mongolia is…well…" Winston trailed off as looked down at the report once more, Adrian sparing no detail in what occurred in that accursed Talon laboratory. He didn't fault the man for his actions, it was a miracle they managed to curb the parasite before it spread, but having spent the last few months with the man in front him, he knew that Adrian's technique could be extreme to say the least. Though he couldn't exactly chastise the man, his world was one that seemed a far off dystopian when compared to the comparatively idyllic Earth he had the fortune of living on. Nonetheless he felt it was his duty as the commander of Overwatch to instill some form of accountability, which is where Adrian's less than amicable policies proved to be at odds with Overwatch's general disposition, especially regarding enemy combatants.

Focusing back on the matters at hand, he looked up from the report to that very man standing across from him in his lab. The ODST still mostly decked out in his armor, his arms crossed as he leaned back against the far wall a scowl across his lips.

"Well in between watching my squad get cut down like flies and trying to survive a living fucking nightmare, I never really took the time to think if I could find the perfect little solution." Adrian snapped, "Hell if anything I say we got pretty damn lucky, cause I'm not seeing any bunker busters or thermo-nuclear warheads laying about that could guarantee complete eradication of the flood."

Winston winced at the man's harsh rebuttal though he couldn't deny it wasn't deserved, the loss of so many Overwatch personnel had put a damper on base moral. He knew it had hit Fareeha hard, many of those men having served with her prior and like a complete buffoon he hadn't accounted for Adrian's own toll with having the men placed under his command.

"Ah- yes of course, well uh – I commend you for your work Mr. Kasporov." He stammered, "But! If we can – uhmm – turn to other matters, I believe I have some good news!"

Adrian sighed, raising his eyebrow, "You gonna spit it out?"

"Yes yes, if you remember prior to your deployment to Korea, there was another prospective candidate that I had been eyeing."

Adrian snorted as the memory as Winston's smile fumbled at Adrian's less than enthusiastic response, "Hard to forget a damn kid."

"A bit young yes, but her work is exemplary! An absolute prodigy in every sense of the word, better yet she's also been an active member of her community in Numbani! Striving for the betterment of her fellow man shows a strong initiative for good, it is why I believe she could be an invaluable asset for Overwatch. Not serving in any official capacity of course, she's still a child and were not monsters after all, but she's agreed to help us where she can!"

"And how that?"

"Well Lucio was brought on for his brilliantly unusual mind, bringing a creative eye to the theoretical sciences have already started to bore fruit. Efi though is a mechanical engineer at heart! She's already built some brilliant robotic creations and if we hope to bring the science into a usable device, she's vital to our efforts." Winston could help but grin just thinking about the possibilities, to say he was ecstatic would be an understatement. Efi was an incredibly gifted child, he has not intentions to bring her into their war with Talon, but Overwatch has a number of peaceful operations as well which her work could be an invaluable asset to. Not to make light of Adrian's situation but his needs very much overlapped with his own, acquiring the best and brightest minds from across the globe to help make the world a better place while also needing those same brilliant people to do the impossible.

Adrian huffed, "Well it's not like I've got much say in the matter, my chances of returning home are entirely dependent on you and those you choose to work with. All I know is that those flood came from universe, not yours, not some random zombie universe but mine, and for all we know despite the time-fuckery of slip space that I can't be sent back at the same time I left. So maybe by the time I get back the whole Earth is already infested, and I'll have the joys of blasting my brains out as the last human on the planet."

Winston didn't have anything to respond with as everything Adrian said could be true, they'd already long established that slipspace tore through space-time and there was no consistency to when something could enter or leave that slipspace dimension. There was also no guarantee that they could work out to send Adrian back right as he left, he was working off theories he'd never even heard off until the ODST arrived. Despite that he wouldn't let himself get discouraged, working up his voice he spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, "Though that may be, you have my guarantee I'll get you back to your home as you left it."

Adrian held his eyes for a minute of silence before leaning off the wall, "Don't make promises you can't keep, but I'll admit the optimism is a nice change of pace from what I'm used to." With that the interdimensional marine walked out of the lab leaving Winston to stew on his thoughts as he grabbed a ripe banana from nearby, rather pleased with how that conversation went. He didn't dislike the man, though he'd admit that he found it quite baffling that some of the others had taken such a likening to the ODST. In his interaction with Adrian he always thought there was an underlying hostility though it seems it was either all in his imagination or Adrian simply directed it solely at him. Neither thought was very appealing though the latter less though. The ODST could be pleasant enough when he wanted to be, such as towards the end of their meeting but still for the life of him couldn't imagine the hardened vet apparently having a soft spot for the rambunctious Miss Song.

When he'd get together with the old crew whenever he had a moment to spare, conversation would sometimes steer to the latest gossip on base, a fact that he would reluctantly admit was a guilty pleasure of his. Hence where he learned of the brotherly affection the man seemed to have for the young Korean mech fighter, though to his greater surprise he found that Shimada, McCree, and Ziegler had also taken an enjoyment to the outlanders residence on base. McCree was the least surprising considering his background, but the rather reserved cyborg and mostly pacifistic doctor were both an unexpected turn of events. Though the good doctors affection for the man seemed to be growing in between the get-togethers with the old crew; an ape he may be but blind he was not

Turning around to the screens at his back, he turned them on before calling out, "Athena show me the news footage regarding Mongolia." With a silent response the screens flipped towards dozens of various station coverage of the incident, a massive smoking hole smack dab in the middle of Mongolia, "Boy this is going to be hard to explain."

A/N: Hope you all enjoy this latest chapter because I sure as hell don't know how I feel about it though its hard to be objective about your own writing. I rewrote this chapter at least three times, first time was just an incohesive mess that had so much tonal whiplash it would've given a jack-in-the-box a broken neck. Second time was an unbearable angst mess that I could barely recognize as my own work, and the rest of the rewrites was a series of wildly different paths this chapter could've ended on. Anyway thanks for the support and remember to leave your thoughts, comments, and ideas because I very much enjoy reading your thoughts on the story so far. Have a good week everybody!

ThousandSonSorcere: Apologizes for the last reply but thanks for the support, were I a braver writer I would definitely have mad the flood a bigger, "Of fuck moment." Anyway thanks for the review!

: Well I hope I was able to have a moderately believable wrap-up the flood, I'm glad that you would've stayed with the story regardless and I'm glad to hear such high praise. I was honestly unsure of adding the flood for the reasons you stated, but honestly I figured in such a story a little creative lee way can make a story a touch more interesting so I decided to go with it and see how it turned out. Still hope I resolved it in a way that you won't half to tune out to enjoy, regardless thanks for the continued support!

Sm0keyPanda: As Brother Bov mentioned I did not so subtly hint at the borer drive in the chanter to highlight the path I planned to take, still much like I hope I resolved the flood in an acceptable way and can hopefully continue to see your support in the future!

Rook435: Whew, hearing your review makes me far more confident in the horror done over the last couple chapters. I was inspired by another Halo story on here called "From Harvest to the Ark" which is a fantastic read if you have the time. Anyway you nailed why I also wanted to have the flood, we've always seen it from the Chiefs perspective, an invulnerable human wall that plowed through countless numbers of the flood army, but I always thought it'd be more interesting to see the flood from the perspective of the regular soldiers of the Halo universe. Also like you said, I wanted to use those chapters and future chapters to further explore Adrian's psychology because lets face it, most soldiers in the UNSC are having an absolutely miserable experience, and so using the flood as a way to reopen the gates of his psyche by being the sole survivor of a horrendous nightmare seemed an interesting path to take. Always glad to hear your thoughts!