Justice League of Amazons: Halo

Chapter 10

The Watchtower.

The sound of a wrench ratcheting back and forth filled the sound of the hangar bay as the Master Chief worked on something. What he was currently working on was a new aerial vehicle called the AV-49 Wasp. Cortana had downloaded some of the schematics and diagrams for the vehicle. The design of the vehicle was very much similar to the AV-14 Hornet and its intent was to be a gunship escort for troop transport ships or an on-call close air support for special forces teams.

Cortana had brought the design to John after his debriefing with the Justice League and he had then showed it to the League. After taking a 'loan' from Batgirl to purchase some materials for a prototype which John said he would repay her for the loan as he did not feel at ease borrowing money from someone else.

After a couple of days, John and Cortana with the aid of the M3DP (Mobile 3D Printer) has built the first prototype of the Wasp. Given that it was a prototype, it was not fully fitted out with some of the intended designs. One of those was energy shielding. John had asked Cortana why they did not include the option of energy shielding to which Cortana had said that would only paint an even bigger target on the vehicle to certain factions who would love to uncover the secrets of energy shielding. Some government, scientific and military groups were already eyeballing the MJOLNIR Armour and while John had staunchly refused to relinquish his armour to any faction for fear they would only abuse it, he knew it was only a matter of time before someone would get their grubby paws on the secrets of energy shielding.

John was hopeful that he could keep the secrets of the MJOLNIR armour out of reach for as long as possible, but it was just a matter of time.

John was currently wearing a sleeveless black cotton shirt with grey military work pants and boots. His hands had some stains from oil and hydraulic fluids as he tightened some bolts with a ratchet. After tightening some bolts into place, John set the tool down and wiped his hands on a clean rag. Taking a moment to step back and look at his work, John picked over the small details of the vehicle. The overall length of the Wasp was 25 feet from nose to tail. It's width measured at 21 feet and its overall height was 7.3 feet tall. Approximately, it weighed a little over 3,000 lbs.

The Wasp's armaments included twin 7.62mm heavy machine guns and twin 50mm missile launchers. It was lightly armoured, but its speed and manoeuvrability would compensate for that. It's top speed was said to be 500 kilometres per hour and it could only accommodate one pilot, but that was a given that it wasn't intended for transporting troops.

Cortana's avatar appeared on the nearby holotank. "Looking good there, Chief?" she asked the Spartan who nodded in reply and said.

"It'll do for now. Still would've liked to add energy shielding to it."

"You know why we can't do that, right?" Cortana cocked an eyebrow at him. "Your armour is already a prime target," she reminded him. "And if we added energy shielding to this thing, people will be gunning for it as it'll be easier to take down then you," she said.

"I know," John grunted in response. "But, least we can do is take it out for a test run to scratch the paint," he said.

"Well, try not to scratch it up too much, will you?" Cortana asked. "It is just a prototype. No need to smash it to smithereens to see how it holds up in a firefight," she added.

John didn't respond to that and his hearing caught the sound of footsteps and he looked over his shoulder to see Diana walking toward him, her gaze fixed on the Wasp.

"Diana. What brings you here?" John asked as he turned around to fully look at the Amazon Princess.

"I came to check on your progress," Wonder Woman replied. "It's a very… functional looking vehicle," she remarked as she looked at the Wasp. "What is it called?" she asked.

"The AV-49 Wasp," John replied. "Cortana had downloaded a schematic for it back home and we decided to add to the League's aeordynes," he said.

"We have the Javelins," Diana pointed out.

"We do, but they're not fully intended for close support duties," John said. "At best, they're more akin to troop transports than actual combat worthy aerodynes," he added.

"I suppose they are," Diana admitted. "But the Javelins are space capable," she then said.

"The Wasp isn't truly intended for space travel. We have other designs for that," John conceded. "This is just a prototype to begin with anyway," he said matter-of-factly.

"What are the specs of the Wasp?" Diana asked as she walked forward to inspect the vehicle.

John gave the Amazon a brief overview of the specs of the Wasp and she took it all in and asked some questions if she needed clarification.

"So, the design can include energy shielding? Similar to your armour?" Diana asked and John nodded in response. "Why not include it on this prototype?" she then asked.

"I asked Cortana that question too," John said. "And she explained to me that people are already looking to uncover the secrets of my armour, especially energy shielding," he explained. "The less of a target the Wasp is, the better," he added.

"Yes, some government, scientific and military groups that remain are looking to add anything that will give them an advantage in today's age," Diana said nodding her head. "Energy shielding would be quite an enticing armament to have."

"It's only a matter of time before someone unlocks the secrets of energy shielding," John said. "The longer I can keep such technology out of the hands of those who would abuse it, the better," he added.

"But you can't do it forever, can you?"

John nodded reluctantly at this. Diana smiled softly before saying, "Well, regardless, this new vehicle should help you in your endeavours on Earth."

"I hope so," John said in response. "Was there anything else?" he asked the Amazon who shook head.

"Nothing else for now."

"And how are you doing?" John then asked looking at Diana.

"I'm fine," Diana said a little too quickly.

"Are you sure?" John asked and Diana nodded her head.

"Yes. I'm completely fine, Chief."

John shook his head and said, "No. You're not. You're stressed."

Diana blinked and asked, "How would you know that?"

"I was trained to read body language in my training years," John said easily. "Plus the fact there are still elements out there who blame you and the Amazon nation for Aresia's Virus is enough to tell me that you're stressed about it," he added.

Diana hung her head, betraying the exhaustion she felt. "I… admit it has been… difficult to face the judgement of those who blame me for not doing enough to stop Aresia," she admitted shamefully. "And it's frustrating me that some people still staunchly oppose me and my sisters even though it was revealed that Aresia acted of her own accord," she said.

"You need a way to vent that frustration," John said to her.

"I've tried to use Amazon meditation techniques," Diana said.

"I was thinking of something more… physical," John said.

"What do you mean 'physical?'" Diana asked.

"I'm actually rather curious about Amazon martial arts and combat techniques," John said. "I'd like to see how they compare to more modern combat styles and you need a way to vent your frustration," he added.

Diana smiled and said, "I think that can be arranged."

"Good. Meet me in the training room in ten minutes," John said to her.

Diana went to the training ten minutes later where she found the Master Chief waiting for her. He was now dressed only in a pair of form fitting pants with a pair of grappling gloves on his hands. Currently, the Spartan was sitting cross-legged, his hands resting on each other and his eyes closed. His breathing was shallow but as Diana came closer, his eyes opened and he looked up at Diana calmly.

"Good. You made it," he said to her as he stood to his feet.

"I could hardly refuse your offer," Diana replied.

"I would not expect you to," John said calmly as he began to limber up. "Are you ready?" he asked the Amazon who quickly did some stretches before nodding.

"Good. Let us begin," the Spartan said as he moved to the opposite side of the training ring and stood, his feet spread apart, knees bent slightly facing Diana in a sidelong position.

Diana nodded before she adopted a traditional Amazon fighting stance and waited for the Master Chief to make the first move.

A long silence filled the room as they both stared each other down. Diana could feel the anticipation inside her build and grow larger as each second passed. Studying the Master Chief's facial expression, she was a little surprised to see no recognisable facial expression on the Spartan's face. If anything it was calm and stoic like a statue. Usually Diana was used to seeing faces seething with fury in battle, so this was different to say the least.

Diana stared at the Spartan who stared back. Her impatience getting the best of her, Diana launched herself at the Spartan hoping to catch him by surprise. Swinging her clenched fist at the Spartan, Diana hoped to get the first strike in. But in a display of near superhuman speed, John wove under Diana's fist and hooked his arm around her elbow and spun her around before throwing her. Diana grunted as she went skidding across the mat. Looking back up at the Spartan, Diana saw that he simply reassumed his first stance.

Quickly getting back on her feet, Diana now circled the man. Her first tactic of charging in first told her that John could simply counter it, now she would have to change tactics. Circling around to the Spartan's side, Diana sprung at the man who made to avoid the tackle only for Diana to feint and move around to the Spartan's back and grab him in a bear hug. Squeezing tightly, but not too tightly to avoid crushing the man to death, Diana hoped to win this first round. But the Spartan seemed prepared for that as he flexed his hips forward, bending over and flipping Diana over his shoulder. Diana gave a grunt of surprise and mild pain as her back hit the padded floor.

John moved back and stood there watching Diana. Breathing hard, Diana then rolled onto her front before getting back to standing position. She looked at the Spartan's face to see it hadn't changed in the slightest. If Diana didn't know any better, she'd swear to the Gods that she was facing the Golem of myth.

Changing tactics again, Diana flew towards the Spartan, going slightly faster than normal. She got within arms distance of the Spartan who reached out with both hands to stop. Diana then ducked at the last second and swung her leg at the Spartan's legs. This had the desired effect as the Spartan's balance toppled and he fell backwards. Knowing she wouldn't have a better chance than this, Diana leapt onto John going for a submission by pinning. Although she took care to not use her full strength, Diana kept the pressure on the Master Chief. But John suddenly slammed his forehead into Diana's face causing her to wince as she felt the iron hard blow from the Spartan's near unbreakable skull. But fortunately, Diana simply tightened her grip on John.

Frowning ever so slightly, John jabbed his index finger hard into Diana's side. Diana gave a gasp as she felt sharp pain lance through her side, causing her to loosen her hold on John which he took advantage of. With a flex of his arms, John freed himself of Diana's grip before rolling her over onto her front. Grabbing her right arm, John twisted the limb behind her back in an armlock and with his left hand, he pressed it firmly against the back of Diana's neck. Diana flailed about trying to get free before she finally gave in and tapped the floor with her left in defeat.

John nodded in satisfaction before slowly releasing his hold on Diana and stood back allowing the Amazon to recover.

Diana rolled onto her back and panted hard. She felt some mild pain, but it was nothing in comparison to the feeling of this defeat. She knew it was simply sparring, but as an Amazon, the feeling of defeat wounded her pride.

"Are you alright?" John asked her.

"I'm fine," Diana replied as she sat up and looked at the Spartan. "I suppose that'll teach me for attacking you head-on, won't it?" she asked.

"From what I've learned, Amazon tactics mostly use a brute-force approach, leaving very little room for subtlety, and favour direct attacks," John remarked.

"It usually works," Diana said sheepishly.

"Yes. Usually," John said in apparent agreement. "But, what happens when you face an opponent you cannot directly attack or face in a straight-up fight?" he asked her.

Diana blushed as she realised that the Master Chief had asked her a valid question. One she didn't have an answer to. She suddenly realised that in hindsight she mostly used direct frontal assaults on her foes. To be fair, those conflicts often needed a direct approach, but there had been moments where a foe had taken advantage of stealth and subtlety against her.

John continued talking. "When you're facing an opponent direct frontal assaults will not work on, you must change tactics and use stealth and subtlety," he said. "And you also need precision to utilises such tactics effectively," he added.

"Precision?" Diana echoed.

John nodded and replied, "Yes. Because, having power is nothing without precision to back it up."

"Could you perhaps teach me?" Diana asked feeling a little embarrassed that she was asking a man to teach her how to fight more strategically. She could just picture Artemis screaming bloody murder at this.

"I will, but for now, we need to help you vent your frustrations," John said. "On your feet," he ordered her.

Although some prideful part of her loathed the thought of a man ordering her about, Diana rose to her feet anyway. John then switched his stance for a boxer's stance, his left fist leading and his right close to his chest.

"Begin," John said to Diana who launched herself at the Spartan who met her charge.

An hour passed as the two of them went back and forth, trading strikes and blows against each other. Diana felt the exhilaration of combat course through her body like a forest fire and she felt the frustrations she been feeling slowly leave her as she threw punches and kicks at John who blocked or parried them while launching more than a few of his own.

Soon after, when they were both sweating and panting, John and Diana agreed to call it to a halt. They sat beside each other on a bench, guzzling bottles of ice-cold water. "Are you feeling better?" John asked the Amazon who took a long pull of her water before giving a reply.

"Much better, thank you," Diana said with a smile. "I really needed this," she added.

"I'm glad to hear it," John said as he took a sip from his water bottle. "If you ever wish to spar again, I'm more than happy to," he offered.

"I'd like that, thank you," Diana said with a smile. "And I hope you'll be able to teach me how to fight more strategically," she added.

"Of course." John nodded his head in response. "I could even extend the offer to the rest of the League," he then said.

"I think they'd like that," Diana said as she nodded her head in thought. "You obviously have decades more combat and strategic experience than any of us could boast of."

"I've done little more than use the training Chief Mendez taught me," John said modestly. "Thus far, it's helped me survive this long," he added.

"Indeed," Diana said with a light laugh. "Although, I hope you wouldn't the same training methods on us?" she asked as she looked at the Spartan knowingly.

"Only if absolutely necessary, but I would hope some of you wouldn't be like me and my fellow Spartans when we joined the Program," John said as he knew that some of Chief Mendez's training tactics wouldn't be well-received by others. John had to privately admit that the tactic of waking trainees up with shock-batons was inhumane and he wouldn't deny it if anyone asked him, but such training had helped prepare him and his fellow Spartans for the hell that was war.

"In any case, I think I need a shower," Diana said. "I worked up a bit of a sweat," she admitted.

"You have," John confirmed.

"I imagine you would need a shower too," Diana said to him lightly.

"Most likely, yes," John said not even denying it.

"I'll talk to you later then," Diana said as she got up from her seat and left the training room leaving John alone with his thoughts.

As John sat drinking his water in silence, Cortana's avatar appeared. "So, how was sparring against an Amazon Princess?" Cortana asked him with a smile.

"I'm sure you could watch a recording of it," John said dryly.

"True, but I want your thoughts on the fight," Cortana said.

John grunted, pausing as he thought what to say to Cortana. "Diana is an exceptional fighter, but as I pointed out to her earlier, she mostly relies on brute force and direct attacks. My professional opinion is that she needs to make more use of stealth and subtlety over brute force," he said.

"And your personal opinion?" Cortana prompted him.

"My personal opinion is that Diana is seemingly afraid. Not of her foes which isn't entirely a good thing, but rather, she fears of upsetting someone, her gods I would think," John answered.

"And why would you think Diana is afraid of upsetting her gods?" Cortana asked.

"From what I can tell of the Amazon nation, they are centuries behinds, perhaps millennia behind the world that has moved on from the tactics that were first used in early warfare," John said. "Whilst I cannot say that the Amazons are an imperfect fighting force, at least not without seeing them in action firsthand, they place a great emphasis on their Amazon traditions in warfare," he added.

"And what do you think might happen if the Amazon Nation were to go to war?" Cortana enquired.

"I would think that with the right soldiers, the right weapons with the right commanders, the Amazon Nation would be overwhelmed. The Amazons such as Diana seem to prefer open conflict and direct fights, and have not experienced the subtleties of modern warfare, thus leaving them at a disadvantage," John said.

"And you wish to educate Diana in the subtleties of modern warfare?" Cortana's eyes bore into the Spartan who nodded.

"If it can help the Amazon Nation move forward, they can then become a fighting force to be reckoned with," he said.

"Well, that's good to know," Cortana said with a satisfied look on her face.

"Was there anything else you wish to ask me about?" John asked his long-time partner.

"Not right this minute," Cortana said. "You better get back in the shower and wash off," she advised and John nodded before finishing off the last of his water and left the training room.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: There! After making you all wait around 7 to 8 months since the last update, I've finally updated this. I know this chapter seems like a pointless filler chapter and I'll admit it even feels like it to me, but at least I got something out to show you I'm not dead in this.

Anyways, not much more to say about this chapter, but I hope you all liked it as I put in some hard work for this.

In other news, I've recently published a Red Dead Redemption/Chronicles of Narnia crossover where our favourite gunslinging outlaw ends up in Narnia and helps the Pevensie siblings in their battle against the White Witch. It'll follow the movies more than the books since I think everyone is more familiar with the 2000s films than the books which are comparatively different in writing and tone. In any case, since Arthur Morgan is in it, what sort of gift/present/weapon should he receive from Father Christmas? I've set up a poll with some choices, but if anyone here has an idea or suggestion for a weapon Arthur could make use of, feel free to PM it to me and I'll take it into consideration.

And that's about all I have right, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.