Apologies that it's been some time and this isn't as long as the other, I got a little stuck when writing about Dot.
Thank you for all the favs, follows and reviews!
Akshka: Yep, it's a lot for Six to deal with, but hopefully she'll get better.
Sparta49: Aha, it actually wasn't intentional :P And yeah, it'll be a while before Ratchet does anything for her, but Optimus will probably bring him around.
General Slime: Not everyone trusts Roh, Evans is probably the closest and is actually rather open minded but lacks compassion for Six as well as the fact he blames her for the death of Carter. The rest just find it difficult to know what to do with Six because she's so different to what they might've expected. Although, things will get better as this chapter may show.
dracologistmaster: Indeed, Forerunner things rarely end all that well :L
RedRat8: Oh, they definitely do. It's one of the hurdles NEST, as well as Six, will have to overcome during this story. I would say more, but some of this is explored in this chapter and I don't want to ruin it. Enjoy :)
helkil: Yeah, I know what you mean. Although, this chapter does give Lennox some more insight about her.
RamenKnight: haha, glad you enjoyed it. Having the two AI's is going to be rather interesting for both Six and Dot.
Ryan: Thank you and they sure will, if they find out about them that is ;)
B312: Thank you! I'm glad you think so, I was rather unsure about it, buy it appears to have gone well :)
AI HeraldOfTruth: Definitely, I'm hoping to run this all the way through to Dark of the Moon, so there's a lot ahead.
Unholy Prophet0060: Thank you! And to answer you question, yes. Six will eventually meet Sam and others, but for the moment she's mostly going to be seeing the immediate people on Diego Garcia.
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Thoughts, words stressed upon or AI speaking.
Obstacles
~/~
Noble Six
It wasn't a large room that Six had been confined to, but brigs rarely were. Six had never been in one herself, but she knew what they were like. Worse was that she didn't have her armour. She wasn't able to see how Dot was doing and if they were trying to do anything to her, she wouldn't know. Irate at the thought she increases her pacing and collects herself; being irritable wasn't going to help her. She needed to keep her head above the water for both her and Dot's sake. The Major had assured her that no harm would come to Dot and he would respect her wishes to not ask anything sensitive, but made it a point that he would have to ask the AI something. She hadn't liked that and that only made it more frustrating because for the time being the Major was her commanding officer; she had to listen to him.
The smooth noise of the door opening stopped her pacing as she turned to see who it was. Two sets of footsteps walked into the room and she half expected one to belong to the Major, but that was not the case. Instead it was the brown haired pair of the medic Catherine and Master Sergeant White. Neither of them looked too happy as they entered the room, with Catherine holding a small medical bag. Catherine attempted a smile as they approached.
"Hey, Six," she greets in a light tone. "How're you feeling?"
White sighs, "I doubt she's feeling well, stuck in here."
Catherine shrugs and looks at Six, expecting a response. Initially, Six didn't say anything, but after a moment of silence she waves them off.
"I'm fine."
White snorted while Catherine sent her a dubious look.
"I don't believe that for a second. Captain Hughes said you were suffering from PTSD and seeing as we've talked to you the most, she sent us here. You can talk to us, Six," Catherine insisted gently, her large blue eyes beseeching.
White added in an assuring tone, "We don't want to know anything sensitive, just something so we can help."
"I thought I was back on a planet that got attacked, that's all," Six said simply. There was nothing else she could say because the whole event was sensitive.
Her words earned a brief frown from White while Catherine looked unnerved by the tone she'd used when mentioning such an event. She was about to say something when White abruptly cut in as honest as ever.
"Y'know, I find that hard to believe. I was with Foxtrot when it happened and you looked shocked afterwards."
"Ash…" Catherine started carefully. "It's no surprised she was shocked; I don't think she expected it to happen."
"No," White shook her head and Six raised a brow at the action. Why was she so sure? "I know I probably don't know you as much as I think, but you don't seem the type of person for that to happen to. The woman I saw take down two 'Cons wouldn't be put off balance by something so easily, you're better than that."
"Ash!" Catherine hissed, her lips pulling into a thin line, "You can't say things like that!"
White tore her conviction filled eyes away from Six and onto Catherine, "But it's true! You didn't see her! It-"
"I know what I saw," Six cut in, her hands in fists as she remembered and tried to make sense of what she'd seen. "I was back home."
White's brown eyes flicked back to Six and were instantly filled with confusion. Catherine's brow was furrowed as she silently looked between the two with her own soft brown eyes.
"No," White muttered, her brow creasing in defeat. "You-"
She stopped herself and taking a breath she nodded as her features relaxed.
"I'm sorry," she said, surprising Six. "After all the time I've been in the forces I should know that it can affect even the best of us. I just thought it would be different with you because you're better. But, I guess you're just as Human as the rest of us and you're a lot younger than most of us."
White managed a strained smile at the end while Six was wondering where that had all come from. Had she really made such an impression on the soldiers here? Or was it just White? She glanced at Catherine who had a look on her face that suggested she agreed with White.
"I forget that you're younger too," Catherine admits sheepishly. "Only sometimes though. When I see your face…that's when I remember."
Six glanced between the two of them silently, not sure what to say. She wasn't used to others commenting about how young she was, but then again it was rare that she would be seen out of armour. Here that was different. It made her feel uncomfortable not being able to feel the familiar weight of the armour she all but lived in. Even wearing her new armour was different…
"What injuries can I expect from yesterday?" Catherine's voice roused her from her thoughts as the older woman tightened the bun her hair had been pulled into.
"Barely a bruise," Six informs her only to receive a raised brow in response.
"I'll be the judge of that." Catherine gestures to her figure, "Now, show me."
Frowning, Six did as asked. She pulled her top of and dropped it on the floor, revealing her scarred and bruised chest. Catherine's eyes analysed the sight before her and briefly linger on what Ratchet had done. She bit her at whatever she saw and it made Six wonder if something was wrong, but before she could ask Catherine had already shifted her attention to the bruises.
White's face winces while Catherine speaks softly and apologetically, "There's not much I can do for the bruising, but I would like to check for any broken bones. No matter how indestructible you're supposed to be," she added, seeing that Six had been about to say something.
She knelt down and pulled a small metal rectangle contraption out of her bag. Before she did anything with it she explained what it was to Six, "because I don't want you jumping me, this is a small scanner Ratchet made for us. It's accurate enough to tell me if there's any breakages, is that okay with you?"
Six's form didn't ease, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Good, now just stay still…" Catherine murmured as she directed the scanners pointed end in her direction. There was a brief pause and a curse from the medic before a green light scanned her in an instant. Knowing that she didn't have any breakages, Six merely waited patiently for Catherine to announce so.
"Given how Ironhide…." She trailed off and shook her head before continuing. "Well, you're one lucky lady. There's no breakages for you and it appears that the crack you had in your leg has healed nice and smoothly, despite how little rest you gave it."
Six refrained from chuckling at Catherin's chiding tone, finding it amusing how firm she was with her despite how intimating Six knew she could be. Although, White also appeared to find it entertaining and didn't hold back her laughter. Her giggling erupted into the room while she brought a hand over to suppress it, not that it helped. Catherine raised a brow in White's direction and the woman's light laughter soon trailed off into a grin.
"Sorry, but she's almost two feet taller than you," White chuckled, gesturing wildly between them.
Six smirks while Catherine merely sighs in exasperation, muttering, "I'm not that short."
"Yes you are, don't deny it." White then admits, "even I feel short next to her and I'm six foot."
"How tall are you?" Catherine asks before gesturing to her top, "you can put that back on. I'll give you something for the pain and I can't stress enough that you need to rest. I will be checking on you."
Six nodded as she put her navy top back on and then answered their question, "I'm around seven foot, in armour…."
She stopped herself, remembering that her armour was different now. The others appeared to notice when White spoke first.
"It's different isn't it?" She asked softly. "You come here in a big hulking armour that looked like it'd had gone a round with the sun. Now you've got that other stuff, it's crazy."
"I guess it is," Six suggested noncommittedly.
White frowns and shakes her head, "I meant that, well I don't know about you, but Catherine here said that your old armour had been really worn. So, I suppose it might've meant a lot."
Six didn't have anything to say because armour was armour and she didn't want to admit that she had a small attachment to her previous armour. It had always been there and in its own twisted way had been a gift for being one of the few remaining Beta's at the time; now she guessed that she was the only Beta. If Jun had survived, then he was the only Alpha…There was so few of them left. All killed by the Covenant in the name of Humanity and now she was laying back on Earth, so useless that she couldn't even kill the hinge-head that was still around.
Noticing the silence, Catherine attempted to fill it, "this feels strange to ask, but you've never really seen Earth have you?"
Six sent her a wary look and shook her head.
"Don't look at me like that," Catherine said with a light chuckle. "Maybe once you're out of here and we've got some free time Lennox will let us take you off base."
White sucked in a breath and by the grin on her face she appeared excited by the idea. Six on the other hand, wasn't particularly bothered about spending time in a city filled with civilians. She had more pressing matters to attend to; such as getting home.
"We could so you around some monuments! Maybe a few museums, or if you want something quiet we could go hiking," White chattered energetically, beaming all the way. "God knows Kyle owes me one and he has a cabin around Wisconsin."
When Six didn't say anything she pinned her with an encouraging look, "C'mon Six, I think getting outta here will do you good. You always go on about how you protect Humanity, but by the sounds of it you've never truly seen where we come from. So, you should experience some of Earth."
Out of the corner of her eye, Six saw Catherine nodding in agreement while she rifled through her bag. A deep-set frown made its way onto Six's face for a few moments as she mulled over what they were proposing. While she knew she should, she didn't feel like she could relax in such a way. She'd never been hiking in the casual sense and doing so in such a leisurely manner would be strange.
"I think it could be good," Catherine prompted, pausing in what she was doing. "No one will think any less of you. In fact, it'll make you seem less scary."
Six snorted at that, but perhaps they were right? If it did happen then she could always take her armour with her encase something happened. Finding comfort in that, Six relented.
"I will consider it."
Both Catherine and White chuckled at that.
"That'll be a yes, then," Catherine affirmed, drawing a packet of pills out of her bag.
White grinned, "Of course it is!"
Six refrained from shaking her head at their optimism and instead eyed the packet in Catherine's hand.
Noticing her stare, Catherine flashed the packet at Six so she could read it, "It's just painkillers and some anti-inflammatories. Nothing to worry about."
Six nodded as Catherine popped from of the pills from their packet before pulling a bottle of water from her bag. Wordlessly she handed both to Six and gestured for her to take them. Frowning, but seeing no reason for them to lie Six swallows the medication. As she did both White and Catherine nodded in satisfaction.
"They'll kick in soon and will help ease the bruising," Catherine says gently before placing her thing back in her bag. "I'll be back in about five or so hours to give you another round, which should tide you over to get to sleep; god knows you need it."
A sigh from White got her attention as she reluctantly spoke, "I suppose this is when we leave you. We're weren't allowed to stay long as your still in trouble and as long as you're okay…I'll see you when you get out, yeah?"
"Affirmative."
White turned away as she chuckled, making her expression unreadable, but Six could still hear the layer of hurt in her short laugh as it disappeared out the door. Catherine also made her way to the door, but stopped just shy of opening it to leave as she fixed Six with a stern expression.
"There's no harm in letting people in," she said. "Ash may have reached her thirties and she may be a soldier, but she can be rather naïve when it comes to personal relationships. Please, treat her with more care."
"I believe I've made my stance clear."
Catherine snorted, "That won't stop her, even if she gets burnt….and I can't say why she does it."
"Not my problem."
"It certainly is!" She snapped, surprising Six by straightening herself. "She only wants to help you as you're certainly not doing yourself any favours. Just because you come from somewhere else doesn't mean we can't understand, but there's only so much we can do. Goodbye, Six."
With that Catherine left, the door slamming shut behind her as Six rubbed her temples in frustration. Why was this so much more difficult than she thought it would be? It had been easier with the UNSC. She rarely remained in one place for a long time so instances such as this hardly occurred. Not to mention that most marines avoided her because she was a Spartan and her rather black reputation.
Well, she'd always been a lone wolf too.
~/~
Dot, NEST
Even though Six wasn't in the armour, she was still vaguely aware of what was going on thanks to the armour itself. For her it felt like so long had passed since they'd taken Six away and locked her in the room, but she knew it had only been a few hours. It was evening and to her the events from the other day felt so long ago as was the case usually for AI's. She hadn't seen anyone since that day and even then it all felt so fragmented, which only made it more disconcerting. She remembered up until the event there had been something deep in her code. An intrusion? She wasn't so sure about that. It hadn't felt malicious at the time, but then again she could barely comprehend something such as that at the time. Emotions were still relatively new to her, especially in such close proximity and that day had been difficult as she tried to grasp the fact that she'd suddenly found herself different. Whereas before she'd only felt from degree of emotion, it had been restricted, held back like a dam holding back water. Then it had all come undone. She'd been brought out of stasis, shoved into new armour and she'd almost drowned in how much she'd felt. Guardian had well and truly removed the dam, the block, and had also added more. She'd felt so different and been so caught up in processing it all that things had been bound to slip through and then Six had taken the fall.
Describing how she'd felt at that point was…difficult. Inexplicably difficult even. Not to mention it had all been so difficult to process and then there was that voice. It spoke to her at times. Murmured apologies and then just as quickly cursed her and lashed out at her. She'd found it steadily easier to deal with the attacks and the voice quietened. It'd been a day since the last one, which had at least given her some time to acclimatise to the alterations she'd received and how she'd get feelings attached in more force than before; that would take some time in controlling.
She stopped in her musings as the sensors in the armour picked up hasty footsteps ten seconds before there was a heavy click and the door to her room opened. It wasn't particularly her room as it was more like a holding cell for what she could only guess was alien artefacts. In reality the room was small, with just enough room for the table which she and the armour was placed on top of and a few camera's surveying the room. Although, she wasn't sure what use they were as she could easily hack them. Not that it would help as she couldn't move from her current position; not physically anyway.
"Uh, hey?" Dot recognised that voice, it was the man known as Major William Lennox. He had a wife called Sarah and a daughter named Annabelle, who as far as she could tell were not aware of William's true military activities. The man himself had only gotten involved due to an attack on the SOCCENT Forward Operations Base he'd been stationed at in Iraq. The events of which had led to him meeting a civilian by the name of Samuel James Witwicky, which was a story in itself. Although, that was not important right now, she had to know what he wanted.
"I came by a day or so ago, but there was no answer, I kinda need to talk to you about what happened the other day," William said with a small degree of uncertainty as he walked over to the armour. What he'd just said concerned Dot, she couldn't recall him paying her a visit…. perhaps it had been during one of the attacks? Regardless, now was the best to time speak with him. Maybe he could shed some light on how Six was doing because she…worried incessantly about the Spartan; something she was having a hard time wrapping herself around.
"I am here, Major Lennox," she voiced politely, keeping her voice level as she projected it through the armour's external speakers. "I apologise for my earlier absence."
"Alright," the armour picked up him taking a long breath as he stepped a little closer. "What happened that day? I want it in your words."
"I cannot tell you much more than Six already has, one moment she was fine, the next…" Dot trailed off finding it all so strange. Her withholding of the truth made her feel guilty and it was crushing. She wasn't sure why, but it was probably because she'd never lied before and now, for the first time, she was lying to a man who desperately just wanted to help. She could hear it in his warm voice and see it through the cameras in the room that just about showed her both the stress and hopelessness on his face. It was horrible and she didn't want it to make her feel it was making her feel; she hated it.
"I know, it all when down from there," William sighed more in frustration than anything else. "Did you try talking to her when it happened? To snap her out of it?"
"I-" Dot barely had time to feel outrage as she realised that she hadn't done anything. There had been nothing she could do. She'd been locked away, caged, and forced to watch as her Spartan was puppeteered into doing something that hardly needed encouragement. She'd failed her.
"I could do nothing, I failed her," she admitted. "But, I know it's difficult for her to move past what she's seen."
She wasn't sure why she said that. Since becoming what she was it was difficult getting used to how unrestricted was. It appeared that things just came pouring out, like her new found emotions it would ap-
You mean that we failed her.
The words were almost an overlap to her trail of thought, distracting her from completely finished it as it flaunted itself before her. She felt a deep consuming darkness rise up at that voice that both came from her and didn't. It set her on edge. It made her feel scared.
"Don't say that, there's only so much you can do. As for Six…." William trails off into another hopeless sigh, distracting her from the spiralling thought. She'd never see him so concerned before, or at least so visible about it. "I don't know what to do with her; the others don't either. You've been with her for a long time, care to give me some pointers?"
"I've only been in contact with Six for…" she fumbled. With the new code she had it was difficult determining how much time had passed; she didn't even know how long she'd been in stasis. The length of the campaign on Reach had been thirty-seven days, but they'd been in this place for at least… a week, beyond that she wasn't sure and the gaps were maddening. She to know. Reaching out into the network she quickly delved through everything on her and Six, prioritising what she needed over anything else; that would have to wait.
Eventually, she had her answer and the rising agitation subsided as she all but blurted out the answer to William with more enthusiasm than was appropriate.
"Fifty-one days, sixteen-hours, thirty minutes and forty-nine seconds!"
There was momentarily surprised on his face, lightening his features even as he chuckled wearily. She watched with wonder through the cameras, savouring the seconds of his happiness that was so different compared to other few she'd seen. He didn't laugh for long and it quickly trailed off as he resumed his previous look of concern.
"At least you're more clued in than the rest of us," he muttered, briefly looking at the floor with a frown before looking back at the armour. "I need to know how to handle her, anything would be helpful."
Dot wasn't sure what to say. She didn't really know about 'handling' Six, but what she did know was that as a Spartan she would always respect command. Although, even as she thought about it, Dot knew that it wasn't what the Major was looking for. He wanted to know how he could help her ease into this new place and as Dot desperately tried to grasp at the answers, she only found that she didn't have any. It was distressing to have such a gap because of the uniqueness of their situation. It was like a massive black hole in her mind and while she knew she would eventually produce an answer, to not have one was disconcerting.
"I...am uncertain," she admitted, registering the few moments where the Major looked taken aback. "Noble Six is dedicated to protecting Humanity and as a soldier will always follow orders. I cannot say for certain if she will regret the incident as she was not very open during her time with Noble Team. As a Spartan, her behaviour may seem unpredictable, but she's only using the culmination of her experiences to do what she believes is right. Spartans have more reason than most to dislike aliens and while that it is not logical for it to extend to the Autobots, it is all she knows. You need to show her that the Autobots are different by forcing her to talk with one. I can guarantee that she will not like it, but it is the only advice I can offer and may be worth it in the end."
Dot didn't like the long silence that permeated the room. It felt like an age to her. An age where she's very tempted to reach out to the consciousness that'd been causing her such distress. She's scared to do so as she knew it was Forerunner in origin and the little they'd encountered was far beyond her. The gap was far too wide for her to even dream of closing -not that she dreamed- and should something happen to her, what would become of Six? But, what if she didn't? Whatever it was would possibly grow stronger and then pull her apart at a time when Six most needed her. That could not be allowed to happen either.
Dot's tempted to delve when William spoke, his weary voice filled with understanding, "I get that, but what's to stop her from walking away? Optimus has tried talking to her and she just leaves."
"Keep trying."
"That's it?" His tone was short, the weariness quickly replaced by frustration that Dot could see bubbling beneath the surface. There was a struggle within him. A struggle to understand the newest soldier under his command, because it was the fact that she was Human which made it difficult. Dot knew there were few problems with the Sangheili that extended beyond the usual distrust at seeing a new species. Although, there were some who were curious about the war that William had mentioned during their introduction and that only fuelled a fire of rumours.
"Is that all you're going to tell me? Don't you realise how close she is to being moved?" He continued before muttering angrily, "and if that happens, I don't think Guardian's going to take it lying down."
"She will come around eventually," Dot assured him, but when his steely expression didn't change she decided to explain. "You know of the relationship Six had with Noble Five? When she joined Noble team she had worked alone for most, if not all, of her missions. In joining Noble Team, she replaced a member who'd been lost in a previous engagement and thus the welcome between them was...strained. Fi- Jorge was the first she let in. I am unsure how or why, but I know that he persevered through her unwillingness to talk. He was the one who tried the most. At first making idle talk during missions and then lengthier conversations during what little down time they had. His status as a two may have aided him...but I cannot be sure what Six thought of two's; her file is too black."
Dot watched him take it all in. His features relaxed as she spoke and for a moment her looked more hopeful until she mentioned Six's file. Perhaps it had been an error on her part, but she wanted to be as helpful as she could and if it meant letting him know how dark Six's file was, then so be it. This was for Six.
He nodded and then posed the question she had been expected, "What you just said, 'her file is too black', do I want to know?"
"I could not tell you even if you wanted to know as it is classified information. It does not say anything bad about Six as the operations she's been a part of are sensitive in their nature; I'm sure you have similar filters here."
"We do," an amused smile tugged at his tense lips as if he were remembering something. After a moment the smile stops and Dot's temptation to reach out to the other presence is halted as William spoke to her once more.
"Thank you, for your help. I know this is weird, hell I'm still wrapping my head around it, but I'll see what I can do for Six. I don't want her to be isolated and I get that opening up isn't something she does, but…"
"I know, Major," Dot assured him. "Six will take time and while the continued presence of the Sangheili is not idea for either of us, it is something we will come to terms with."
"I-wait, you think I should've let her kill him?"
"Affirmative."
He stopped all movement and stared at the armour for a few seconds with varying degrees of emotion rippling through his face. After a moment he shook his head and straightened his posture.
"Alright." He didn't continue the subject any further and Dot could only wonder what he thought of his decision now... Instead, he bid her farewell and explained that she would remain locked in the room until Six was allowed to resume using her. Dot didn't mind too much and only hoped that Six would be okay during the time without her. Although, she had no doubt the Spartan was capable of handling herself, but as the only person Dot had left, her newly gained view couldn't help but worry.
So, as William left the room, Dot put aside her other thoughts and focused on what was troubling her the most. Initially she reached out with trepidation, but as her confidence began to grow she dug deeper. She searched for the presence, looking through every inch of the armour's systems until she found it. It was broken, merely pieces of its once whole self that had come together in desperation. They 'stared' at one another for a long time and while she felt like she had the upper hand, she did not like it's suffering. As such, she extended a connection of greeting, but remained vigilant as she waited for a response.
She waited.
And waited
Eventually, it responded. Its words were quiet through the weak connection they'd established, but she still heard them and they sent ripples through her code.
How long will you last?
