THE FOLLOWING IS A FAN BASED PARODY.

I OWN NOTHING ABOUT EITHER OF THESE PROPERTIES.

THEY ARE BOTH OWNED BY THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE


-Unknown location-

He had awoken with a start, surprised so much by the fact that he was still alive that the fact he was currently behind a set of nasty looking metal bars with what felt like more broken then nonbroken bones in his body didn't dawn on him until he tried to lift himself off the cold ground. A cold ground that did not look like the underground facility he thought he lost his life in.

That can't be good.

He sensed movement from the darkness, panic shooting through him as he braced for the worst. But instead of seeing the golden visor of a giant freak ready to finish what he had started or, What might have been even worse, the stern and judging look of his father, the same stern look he wore whenever Rig had not met his expectations his father had placed on him, he was greeted by the stoic face of his father's former lab guinea pig, Ein.

"hmm small world," He remembered thinking as he eyed the sword attached to the ninjas back before coming to terms that his life was about to end. But it seemed Ein, or more likely whoever Ein was working with, had other plans for him.

Or was his name Hayate now? Honestly, Rig couldn't find it in himself to care all that much about whatever name the man went by these days, all he cared about was the fact that his life was effectively in the hands of people who hated both him and his father. Not the best situation to find yourself in after almost getting beat to death at the hands of an angry giant.

The days of captivity seemed to pass without issue, some lab rat would walk into his cell without saying a word to him and change his bandages, dope him up with enough pills for him to deal with the severe levels of pain he was in, check his vitals and make sure he wasn't bleeding internally and leave him what could be called a meal if he was being overly generous. This would continue every eight hours or so until the days seemed to blend into one another, as he slowly began to lose his mind from boredom.

Because for all intents and purposes, the world around him had shrunken down to the size of a small, darkroom.

And Rig fucking hated it.

He always hated whenever he was forced to stay in one place for too long, whether it was the figurative gilded cages of private boarding schools and high-class social circles from his childhood or the actual literal cages of the prisons and jailhouses he found himself later in life because of one of the many "Unfortunate life decisions," as his father so kindly referred to them as.

But his current situation? He thought he could somehow learn to hate it that much more. It was a surprise even to himself when he came to that particular realization.

But it turns out being strapped to a chair, with both his arms secured, tightly, to either side of the table, and left alone in a dark room during all waking hours of the day was not how he would choose to willingly spend his evenings. It reminded him too much of one of the many times he found himself on the wrong end of the law during his younger days of juvenile crime. But while that normally involved a pair of handcuffs and a metal bracket attached to the table, with some overweight detective blowing smoke in his face trying to get him to "confess" to whatever petty theft or assault he had perpetrated, this felt different.

It felt like his hands were bolted to the table. No, give at all, Not some mom and pop operation like most police departments he had the "pleasure" of experiencing. The fact that the people who held him seemed to be experts made this that much harder for him. And second off, despite being awake in this dark room since he regained conciseness, he had yet to begin whatever interrogation his captors had planned for him.

They must think they can soften me up.

Normally in a situation like this, an interrogation started before the first question was asked. A wobbly and uneven chair, a flickering light bulb, the heat in the room turned up just enough to be noticeable and work up a sweat, but not enough to have the target be put on the defensive. All designed to make the target feel uncomfortable and uneasy, and unlikely able to formulate a lie convincing enough to hold up to basic questioning.

But this wasn't like normal situations.

Normal interrogations don't involve ninjas obducting people from underground bunkers in the middle of the night and it certainly didn't involve whatever his host had in that pretty empty little head of hers.

But then again, despite the ninja who wanted him dead being so close to him, and more than likely watching his every move, Rig couldn't but love where he was. Because of the fact that no matter what horrible and dangerous scenario he may have found himself in the middle of, the fact that the giant in armor was nowhere to be found made Rig view this as a win. The fact that Hayate wasn't an armored giant looming over him, was enough to make Rig want to kiss the man in front of him if his broken body would have allowed it.

A rush of light blinded him when the door to his room finally opened, a dark figure silhouetted against the light. Rig grimaced slightly, already knowing full well who the woman before him was despite his eyes blurring from exposure to the white light.

"Well if it isn't the head bitch in charge. Now, what do I owe the pleasure of meeting with you Ms. President?

Helena stepped further into the room, ignoring Rigs question until she was less than a yard away from him. The lights turned on fully encasing the small room with light for the first time that day, showing Rig that he and Helena were not alone. Three figures, two of Rig recognized instantly stood beside Helena as she silently stared him down.

Hayate and Ryu Hayabushi stood shoulder to shoulder, attached to the hip of the other like some old married couple worried that the one would cheat on the other the first chance they had. They looked unarmed, but Rig knew from experience they were strapped with weapons he just couldn't see. The fourth person, an admittedly hot piece of meat, didn't seem to have that problem if the massive war hammer on her back was any indication.

He had no idea who the woman was, and more importantly, he didn't know why she was dressed as some sort of dominatrix at a high-end brothel, but he could tell she had killed before and didn't seem to shy away from violence. A fact that didn't put him at ease in the slightest.

"Rig" Helana said, her accent thick and a light smile on her lips as the sight of his predicament." You look like you've been through hell."

Rig glared at the French woman, unconsciously working his stiff jaw, grimacing slightly at the feel of swollen flesh and the dull throbbing pain in his throat. His chest was tight and his breathing controlled, meaning the broken ribs were still nowhere close to being healed, despite his heavily bandaged torso. All in all, if he looked anywhere as bad as he felt, then being through hell was an apt description of what happened to him.

"You're the one who paid the docs to patch me up. What did you think your money was going? hookers and blow?" Rig said with a chuckle before it was turned into a cry of pain. It seemed Rig would have to hold off on the sardonic that his father loved so much until after his shattered cheekbones were fully healed.

Rig could have sworn he saw the smile on the French woman grow slightly as the sight of his discomfort, which just made him resent her and his situation that much more.

"Where am I? and what the hell do you want from me?" Rig said, his voice had a threatening tone despite the circumstances, more for his wounded pride than anything else." If you're gonna shoot me or crack my head open with that chick's hammer get it over with already, I don't have time to sit here and listen to you bloviate all day."

Hayate glared down at him, and for a moment Rig was sure the ninja clan leader was going to reach over and slit his throat with one of the hidden blades he kept on him at all times. Thankfully for him, his super ninja boy toy had a cooler head.

"You're only alive because it benefits our goal," Ryu said calmly, like how a normal person orders a beer at a bar. "The moment you realize the position you are in, the better it will be for everyone."

"Piss off, you pajama-wearing fruit cake." Rig wanted to say before he decided to keep quiet. The shinobis words shot a fresh burst of anger into Rigs' body, but he knew that's what it was intended to do. He welcomed the feeling like a warm blanket on a cold night, almost making him forget about the indescribable pain his body was in as he stared at Hyubushi and smiled.

He was spiteful like that.

"What he says is true," Helena said as she took a seat across from Rig, placing a plain manila folder in the middle of the table. "While I myself would love nothing more to give you the punishment you rightfully deserve, you are far more important to me in one piece than in many."

She opened the folder and tossed one of the many pictures that filled it towards him. The image was of poor quality, that much was certain. The mess of black and grey smudges looked less like a still photograph and more along the lines of a poorly made abstract painting his father would spend far too much money on. While to most people it would be impossible to know for sure what wasn't rays of light and shadow in the photograph, Rig Knew. He knew exactly what, or who the image was of.

The solid shape cut through the captured smoke and shadow, like the outline of a volcano peeking through the smoke and ash of an eruption. He felt numb, almost as if his entire body had been sapped of whatever remaining strength it may have had left. He choked slightly, the feeling of the inhuman grip that held his body flooding his senses before he tried to recoil away from the photograph. His reaction was not lost on his captors.

"It looks like I struck a nerve," Helana said before tossing yet another picture of the same ruined compound in South America Rig had investigated less than a week prior to his father's orders. A massive figure casting a shadow onto a wall in the vague shape of a man overseeing the fire filled the corridor.

It was...Him.

Was this thing responsible for South America like it was for Tairon?

Was this thing hunting his father?

Was this thing somehow involved with Helana?

One by one she placed each and every photograph in front of him, images of death and destruction filling his vision. Some from the South America testing grounds while others clearly were of what remained for Tairon from several days prior, before stopping at the first clear image of the giant standing tall over the destroyed and gutted remains of a M.I.S.T issued armored vehicle.

"Would you please enlighten us by explaining who this man is."


-Golden Empress Hotel, Hong Kong-

The lobby of any hotel in a large tourist city like Hong Kong always seemed to be a chaotic mess of bodies and movement during the check-in hours, especially during the beginning of summer. But even so, the Golden Empress of Hong Kong seemed to be in a league all her own. Filled nearly to the brim with well-off families ready to start their summer vacation, young professional men and women on business trips already on their third or fourth glass as they wait for their rooms to be ready, and more guests then a person could possibly imagine who believed themselves to important or influential to be forced to wait around like the others around them. Even the odd social media influencer, who were simply content with being seen in such an exclusive resort by their online followers. With such a huge assortment of people, it would make movement difficult for anyone trying to get anywhere within the massive lobby.

Anyone who didn't stand 6 feet 10 inches tall and weighed over 300 pounds of solid muscle that is.

John walked briskly, trying to not trample anyone under his huge feet accidentally, all the while ignoring the stares of passerby's as he did.

"This is a bad idea," Cortona said as she watched her spartan weave around a stationary guest too preoccupied with their phone to notice his advance. Had no one in the 21st century heard of multi-tasking?

"This is the only choice we have," John said in a whisper, trying desperately to keep his normally booming voice under control so as not to attract any attention to his movements. Like there were chances of that ever happening.

All eyes were on him the second he stepped through the threshold of the massive hotel. Guests and tourists alike, those who had simply never seen a man his size before, looked at him with the fear and awe of someone who had stepped into a freak show for the very first time. The staff, those of whom had seen him before and had seen the bottomless checking account Cortona had set up for him, snapped to attention, some of them dropping whatever client they may have been processing in order to bend over backward to meet whatever demands John would need.

And the women... oh god, the women. Don't get Cortona started on how the women were looking at him.

"like a bunch of Vultures, I tell you."

"I just don't understand why you had to leave the girl," Cortona asked, trying desperately to hold onto her sanity as yet another female stared long and hard at her Spartans form as he moved. "The same girl might I remind with no real-world experience, who is all by herself in a highly populated city."

Granted, Cortona had every camera and microphone within a ten-mile radius of the city at her fingertips to monitor the teenager, but that was something John didn't need to know at the moment.

"You could have taken her with you." She said simply as if explaining how a normal person would react to a situation was causing her physical pain. Who would leave a girl like that unattended? What was the Neanderthal thinking? The spartan paused for a moment, which surprised his AI companion. While normally stoic and quiet to a fault, he was never the type to be at a loss for words. But when the words finally left his lips, Cortana couldn't help but feel pride.

"She looked like she was enjoying herself too much"

Cortona had to admit, the image certainly warmed her artificial heart. Seeing the young women's eyes literal widen to double their size as the first of the many plates of five-star rated food was brought before her. You'd assume she'd never eaten before the way she stuffed her little face with pan-fried shrimp and ginger glazed mahi-mahi. The girl nearly fainted when the snow crab legs and kimchi buttered oysters were brought out.

No, he was right. She deserved some pampering more.

"Besides," the simple response was enough to pause Cortanas' thoughts. "We don't know how she would react in a situation like this." It was true, and while Cortana would love to argue how they would need to trust the girl it was hard to see fault in her Spartans thinking. They simply didn't know how the girl would react when face to face with the woman who she was cloned from. Who could even imagine something like that? That's not something a person experiences every day, and it's certainly would do more harm than good in terms of the girls' development

Despite herself, Cortona had to agree with her Spartans train of thought, but that still didn't mean she was going to let his off the hook that easily.

I get it. You got me." The AI said into his ear. She said as Johns' huge form stepped into the elevator, his presence enough to cause the elevators only other occupant, a young man with dark features and a rather haughty expression on his face, to immediately shrink back into the corner to avoid any unwanted contact with the huge super-soldier. "But maybe we could just learn to trust her?"

It wasn't much to ask for after all. If they were going to continue keeping the young girl in their lives, and if Cortana got her way, that was certainly going to be the case, they needed to learn to trust that the girl was smart enough to not get into unwanted trouble.

They had her Spartan for that after all.

"The first time we met her, she tried to kill me," John said, a little more heat in his voice then he intended if the frightened look on the face of the small man next to him was any indication.

"That was literal days ago. I thought we were past this" she said as the man inched his way to the elevator doors, trying his best to keep the giant next to him from paying him any mind.

"I told you already I'm over it, "John said, not paying attention to the other elevator occupant desperately pressing the button to his floor multiple times in a vain attempt to escape. "I'm just confused about why keeping a low profile is so difficult."

"John, you're a 7-foot tall super-soldier from an alternate dimension currently talking to a highly advanced artificial intelligence in a 21st-century elevator, about the best way to deal with the teenaged clone of a woman having a fistfight just outside your hotel room," she paused as she watched the retreating form of a now frightened and disturbed man as the elevator door closed." A low profile isn't an option for situations like this."

Now free from the unwanted audience, john leaned against the wall with a sigh. A look crossing on his mountain-like face that Cortona knew quite well. John was never the type of person who shared much about his inner thoughts on most subjects, not verbally anyway. He was honest to a vault and despite his stoic nature wore was as easy to read as a book if someone was willing to put effort into learning.

Someone like her.

"So, what's the plan looking like." she asked with a sigh, already marking down escape routes in case this whole situation blows up in their face. "we can't just step in-between whatever grudge match this woman started and expect things to go smoothly."

"Could be worse," John said simply, "At least We don't have to worry about noncombatants getting in our way."

"Thank goodness for small miracles," Cortana thought to herself, as she brought up the blueprints of the hotel. Thankfully for them, both for their privacy as well as their current objective, the top twenty floors of the 75-floor hotel was completely cut off from the general population. Used exclusively for the hotel's most lucrative VIP's and clientele, those few with the recourses who could afford the very best the hotel could offer. So, it was unlikely to find random guests milling about the halls in the middle of the day as they searched for their target.

The fact that Cortana rented out all the VIP suites on their floor in order to avoid any unintended eavesdropping made that a near certainty. But for all the pro's such a situation had granted them, it had unforeseen consequences that she wasn't completely comfortable with.

It seemed that those "elite few" who could afford such luxuries demanded the level of privacy not afforded to the masses. With only a handful of electronic devices between the dozen or so floors that held the residential areas, her ability to survey what was ahead of them was limited. This meant that despite them not having to worry about any unwanted visitors she was, for the most part, blind to the exact location and movements of the woman in question.

"If this is what civilian life is all about then you can count me out. War was simple."

"And dealing with people is difficult." Cortona said as she watched from the camera at her fingertips, wanting nothing more than to place her hand oh her Spartans shoulder." This isn't what I 'm used to either."

"At least we got each other," John said, his tone of voice matter of fact and held no room for disagreement. A tone that Cortana that made Cortana feel at ease despite its curtness.

"Never thought I'd miss the days of the covenant," she said, knowing well that the mention of the "mission" would help drive away whatever dark mood was brewing in his mind.

"This world is filled with crazy; it hasn't been a full week since we landed here yet," John said, Cortona thinking his voice sounding like the closest thing to a whine she had ever heard leave his mouth.

He's so adorable

"Please don't jinx us," she said, chiding him as a teacher would to her favorite student. "It's the exact moment someone says it can't get any worse when things do in fact get worse."

"When did you start being so superstitious?" John said pushing himself back straight up, the force of his movement enough to shack the elevator ever so slightly.

"The moment we adopted a teenage girl with superpowers," Cortona said without a second thought, not realizing the magnitude of the words until they left her mouth.

Adopted. They adopted a teenage girl together. This was a huge deal. A huge deal whose magnitude she hoped was lost on the big guy for the time being. His return to silence enough to silence the bubbling emotions from growing uncontrollably.

The elevator dinged again and the door slides open, saving Cortana from the awkward conversation she had almost started. John stepped out and found a sight he had been expecting to see. A half dozen or so unconscious men littering the hallway leading towards their targets last known location

"First real vacation you've ever had and you find yourselves surrounded by dead men in suits. I'd expect this from Johnson but from you?" the AI said into his ear as she saw the carnage from one of the few security cameras on the floor.

"Funny."

"I try."

He conveyed the scene before with an analytical eye. Five men, both in relatively good shape and age, were left scattered across the deserted hallway. Their suits were black and of identical make, showing they were in close association with one another, probably bodyguards or security for one of the guests considering the lack of any of the identifying features belonging to members of the hotel staff. Why they here, however, was another question entirely.

"They're not dead," John said, finding a faint pulse as he knelt towards the closest man. "Just unconscious."

"Well that certainly is a relief," Cortona said as she checked through the security cameras to track the movements of their target." They certainly don't look too well. You think the woman we're looking for let these men live?"

"If the girl's really a clone and got her combat skills from her original, then yes," John said as he pocketed on one the downed man's handgun. The familiar weight of a weapon a welcome feeling as he stepped over the downed men. "She would be skilled enough to kill these men if she wanted them dead."

"Can you not just call her "the girl"?"

"What should I call her then?"

"mmm you got me, I'll see what she thinks and I'll get back to you on that."

"Who the hell are you supposed to be." a voice cut through the silence of the hallway, taking both the chief and Cortana out of their conversation as a man neither of them had ever met before turned the corner.

The man paused, pushing his spiked hair back into place as he did so, looking at the chief like a trophy hunter does his next great challenge.

"He looks like someone who just found their white whale," Cortona said into John's ear, already not liking the young man's attitude despite only knowing him for less than a minute.

"Doesn't Ahab die at the end of the book?"

"Oh, you know the ending of a 700-year-old book but you don't know a thing about women?" Cortana said incredulously, also wanting to have a physical body just so she could pinch the bridge of her nose to show just how she felt. "What is wrong with you?"

"Can we talk about this later," he said as the man came closer, not even bothering to step around the defeated men as he did.

"Listen to me you big gorilla," the man said, arrogance dripping off every word as he did." Now normally I'd jump at the chance to chop you down to size, but I got things to do. So, unless you're looking for a beatdown, step aside."

"You know what chief." Cortana spoke, her good humor clear to him despite the situation he found himself in." I'm starting to think the universe is trying to tell you something."


-Meanwhile-

She was going to kill Hitomi for talking her into this.

Were all men like this and she just never noticed? Or did this type of event just attract this sort of men like flies to an open jar of honey? It felt so unnatural, like talking to a wall. Walls who wore stupidly overpriced silk shirts, wore too much gel in their over spiked hair and sprayed enough cologne on themselves to choke out a horse...She hated walls like that.

This was just not fair.

Instead of relaxing the afternoon away in a spa-like she had originally planned, or even joining her friends lounging at the beach and getting a tan, she was here lamenting her existence and silently pleading to whatever god existed to put her out of her misery.

She hated speed dating. The very idea of parading herself like she was a piece of meat rubbed her the wrong way, and with only the barest and most superficial introductions the small-time period allowed, it meant even the basics of one on one interactions were cut off before they even started.

If the men who sat in front of her would look up from her chest long enough for a halfway decent greeting counted as a "one on one interaction". She hated Hitomi for talking her into this.

"Oh, come on" The German karate fighter pressed." I booked you a seat and everything, it would be rude to just ignore it."

Was this her master plan? As revenge for her responses to Hitomi's lackluster love life? Was this just an elaborate joke to her?

It wasn't her fault Hitomi couldn't look at Hayate without getting weak and wobbly in the legs. And it certainly wasn't her fault her dear old friend had yet to gain the courage to ask the ninja out despite holding a candle for him these past few years.

...Not like she was any better she supposed.

But she had an excuse! Jann Lee was a moron who couldn't tell a woman was interested in him even if she hit him over the head with a sign with "Date me" painted in big bold letters and tattooed their phone number onto his chest. What was she supposed to do? Beg him for the time of day? She had far too much dignity to do something like that.

She wasn't that desperate.

Besides, her mother always said that a man unwilling to put in the work to start a relationship wasn't worth being in one with. Despite how much she may have really wanted to at the very least try and start a relationship with her childhood crush, he just wasn't mentally or emotionally matured enough for a serious relationship.

Like the stupid and immature boy, he was.

She was tempted to just walk out. Just stand up and go find Hitomi and strangle her for getting her into this situation. But that would be too easy. No, she wasn't going to let Hitomi get the last laugh. She wasn't going to let her win. She was going to sit here and enjoy herself out of sheer spite for her friend, and of this joke at the expense of her singleness.

It couldn't be as bad as she imagined it would be, right?

It wasn't.

It was worse.

The first man was an average looking businessman in his late twenties. He seemed respectable enough going by appearance alone but it quickly went downhill the second he opened his mouth. Nonstop praises and brags about his accomplishments and hobbies, ranging from the price of his expensive suit or how much knew women loved to be wined and dined with expensive gifts and services, offering her another one of the free drinks the speed dating service offered despite her not even touching her own.

What a charmer.

Not once did he ask her about herself, not even her name for goodness sake. She was impressed with his ability to put his foot in his mouth so well despite his habit of polishing off glass after glass of some vile-smelling liquor that Lei Feng couldn't think about again without gagging. The only words leaving her mouth during the exchange was a rather annoyed and curt "No thanks" cutting him off around the third or fourth time he mentioned the most recent woman who had broken up with him.

Goodness knows why.

A few passive-aggressive statements about how all women being the same and how no decent man had a chance dating in the modern world later and he was well on his way to harass yet another woman on the long list of penitential suiters.

The next man, much to her surprise, was even worse. First of all, he was older than her, quite a bit older in fact. Which normally would not have been much of a deal-breaker for her. In fact, the concept of being with a mature man with life experience appealed to her in a lot of ways, but this was a bit much. The man was older than her father (by quite a few years to boot) and whose opinion on gender equality and women's rights seemed to still fit into the decade of his birth.

Her grandmother would have stabbed him in the eye with a letter opener if she had heard half of the things he said to her.

She managed to stay polite, her father would have been so proud of her. But when the conversation shifted towards her "responsibilities" as the woman in their hypothetical relationship, Lei Feng hit her breaking point and made her opinions known.

He didn't take it well.

Watching as an overweight man in his 60's try and fail (miserably) to stop a security guard half his age from throwing him out of the hotel restaurant might have been amusing to some, but to her, it just came off as sad. Until the moment where the jilted suitor tried using the false teeth straight from his mouth like some sort of improvised throwing weapon, where the whole situation made her want to take a hot shower and have a cold drink to make her forget.

After that everything sort of became a blur of cheesy pickup lines and cringy attempts at flirting from the opposite sex directed at her.

"Do you have a map? Because I'm getting lost in your eyes."

Pass

"So, you come here often? Cause if you stick with me you certainly will."

Pass

"I'm not exactly a one-woman man, you know what I'm saying?"

Pass

"Have you accepted our lord and savior Jesus Christ into your life?

Pass

"Hey baby I know your friends broke my hand, but I'm willing to give you a second chance if you make it worth my while."

Pass

"OH MY GOD ARE YOU LEI FENG?! FROM LAST YEARS DOA TOURNAMENT!?"

Hard Pass

She lowered her head onto the table, banging it slightly against the hardwood in despair as yet another man made his way to her. The swagger in his walk and smell of cigar smoke enough to make her want to throw up at the thought of yet another practiced pickup line.

"I'd rather be doing anything else right now." She thought to herself before she braced herself for yet another forced interaction, and despite herself, she wondered just what Jann Lee was doing at that exact same moment.


-Meanwhile-

"You know what chief." Cortana spoke, her good humor clear to him despite the situation he found himself in." I'm starting to think the universe is trying to tell you something."

John's eye twitched, mentally rolling his eyes at his companions' joke, but making no other physical reaction as he gauged what to do next.

The man before him, the only person besides john himself able to stand on his own two feet, stared at him in a mix of barely contained aggression and annoyance. The look of a man of action who was barely containing himself.

"If you're not with them" He pointed to the downed and unconscious forms of the men around him dismissively, almost like they weren't worthy of him mentioning them "then take a walk."

He was of average height, with a lean muscular frame that promised speed and well as power. With dark brown eyes that shone with an intensity that reminded John of the fresh and raw ODST recruits, he had met during the war. Skilled and deadly to be sure, but with an immaturity that made them just as dangerous to themselves as they were to their enemies.

Which meant he was going to have to confront the man in front of him in order to get to past him.

"Oh joy." John thought to himself as he analyzed his surroundings

Width of the hallway corridor means limited lateral movement

"I won't say it again" The young man spoke, his voice filled with the confidence of a seasoned fighter who had proved his skill again and again. "Get out of my way or something bad is going happen to you."

Combatant less the 6'0 feet in height, build suggests weight around 170 pounds.

John stood unmoving in front of the man, despite the threats directed at him and the clear ill intentions aimed at his person, or to be more precise because of them, Johns eye never drifted away from the smaller man in front of him. Eyeing him like a hawk does its prey before it takes flight.

Fighting stance, as well as body movements, indicates a level of expertise in kung fu styled martial arts, particularly Jeet Kun Do.

"I don't have time for this." Jann Lee muttered to himself as he crouched low into an attack position." I don't care who you think you are or what you're trying to do but I'm going to have to go through you."

Strength of leg muscles indicate his movement speed of approximately 5.9 meters per second

Jane Lee had barely taken a second step towards him when John's superconducting nerves kicked back the results of his assessment. His cadence never shifting as Jane Lee became airborne, shooting towards him like some sort of bird of prey. John pivoted backward, twisting his body into an attack stance while dodging the Arial kick simultaneously.

Jann lee twisted his hips, and snapped his lead leg like a whip, intending to deliver a roundhouse kick to his much larger opponent midsection, but it was far too late already. John's massive hands gripped his extended leg, his left arm snaking around the entirety of Jann Lee's lower leg. Before Jann lee could retaliate or even attempt to free himself from the steel grip of his opponent, John chambered a kick to the back of the knee of his still standing leg, forcing him to drop down hard to ground with a thud.

His lungs compressed themselves from the impact, causing him to gasp for air as he looked upwards to his attacker, a red haze covering his vision at the sight of the emotionless look on the giant's face. He curled his back and lifted his legs upwards, kicking his body up to a standing position, before lunging forward, throwing a solid left cross at his much larger opponent. The much larger opponent, caught the fist with his bear paw-like hand, yanking it with enough force to take Jann Lee off of his feet and send him crashing into the wall behind him, leaving a person-shaped and sized hole in the once pristine wall.

"A bit overkill don't you think John?" Cortana said as she peeked through the elevator camera as the young man crawled through the hole his body had created.

"If he's still able to fight, then it's not," John replied as he studied the man before him, as he tried to remain as nonchalant as he could as he dusted debris off his body.

"This is why I can't take you to nice places John," Cortona sighed "You always end up breaking things."

"That was a lucky shot," Jann Lee gasped as he hoisted his body up from the floor, his eyes narrowing dangerously at his still stoic prey. He could feel his body break from the impact but still pushed on. Jumping back to his feet the moment he regained his balance, like a bull moving towards a matador after a failed charge." You won't be so lucky this time."

A cross blended into a spinning elbow which was followed up a right hook towards his body. Each attack was dodged as easily as it would have been if his opponent had been telegraphing his attacks, which to John's enhanced senses, the man actually was.

With each dodge and missed attack, Jann Lee seemed to get more and more aggressive. Pushing the pace more and more, almost lost in the moment of the fight. Jann Lee threw a leg kick to the massive tree trunk-like leg of his opponent, connecting to the sweet spot of the man's inner thigh. But instead of feeling the natural give of a man when struck in such a manner, Jann lee felt himself be pushed back from the impact of his own attack and the feel of his own leg go numb from the impact.

Like kicking a brick wall

Jann grunted in pain, the adrenaline doing its best to allow him to deal with the pain but still not enough to block it out completely. Flesh and bone bouncing off, apparently, much harder flesh and much harder bone. He couldn't imagine kicking a moving train would have felt much different. Jann Lee was forced low onto the ground, placing a free hand on his damaged appendage, almost trying to will the surly torn muscles and bruised bone bake to working order. All the while the looming figure stoically stared down at him.

"That's enough," John said, fully intending to walk away right then and there if the man's ego allowed it. He had far more important things to do than to act as the younger man's heavy bag for yet another round.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" the man said getting back to his feet, carefully placing much of his weight on his uninjured leg as he modified his fighting stance.

"Yeah" John answered simply." I would"

"You're not getting off that easily." Jann Lee smiled to himself, the cocky smirk from before plastered onto his face, and with a look in his eyes that John could swear looked almost identical to a Sangheili sword master preparing to duel to the death. "We haven't even gotten past the warm-up yet."

"Oh, this won't end well" He could hear Cortana in his ear, voicing similar thoughts to what was going through his mind. He had little intention of killing a civilian, even one who choose to physically challenge him in such a manner.

But even so, he needed to finish this quickly.

He stepped forward, cutting through the distance with a single stride He crouched low, avoiding a sweeping cross as he moved ever closer to his still dazed opponent, before raising his left hand and striking at the exposed midsection of the man.

Crick!

The sound of Jann's ribs popping out of place was almost drowned out by Jann's grunts of pain. But even so, the martial artist refused to allow the pain to slow him down or even let his opponent know he was hurt. Frowning to himself, John pulled his fist back again a little bit further, watching at his opponents' eyes blazed in both anger and spite as he did so, and punched just a little bit harder than he did before.

CRACK!

And got the result he wanted.

As his ribs buckled, the last shreds of Jann lee's bravado faltered and whatever adrenaline that was left in his body faded along with it. He didn't scream, which impressed John. Even the most hardened soldiers were not immune to the basic human expression of pain. Even he and his fellow spartan where human enough to express themselves in such a time in those rare instances. But his opponent did not, Either because of pride, which was likely or because the man's mind was so rattled with pain that his normal responses were not functioning properly. Which also was just as likely.

"Yep, I reckon it's time to hit the old dusty trail with this guy chief." The AI said with a sigh as he watched the young man push himself towards them.

John widened and lowered his stance, putting his height mostly level with his much shorter opponent, both allowing him to pivot his body backward while at the same time Jerking forward Jann lee's head.

John's follow-up back-fist was enough to send the disoriented fighter toppling backward onto his unbalanced and already wobbled legs before john's other hand snaked behind him to grab the scruff of his neck, and before Jann knew what had fully happened John had thrown him over his shoulder and slammed him down onto the ground with a dull thud. And knocking whatever breath was still left in the man's lungs out.

"Your warm-up over yet?" The chief deadpanned as he stared down at his beaten adversary, looming over him like a specter of death, silently reminding him of just how few options he truly had.

The younger man pushed himself up only to find the strength of his limbs leave him as he did so. He laid his head back down onto the ground, almost sighing in relief as the pressure from his ribs evaporated as he did so. He wiped the blood from his bleeding and broken nose, staring at the blooded appendage with a look on his face, that John couldn't quite figure out.

Disappointment?

Resignation?

...Exhilaration?

...Euphoria?

"Awe, John looks like you made a new friend," Cortana said in his ear, not quite able to keep the virtual smile off her face as she spoke. Before John was able to process these strange set of contractionary emotions, he felt the unblinking gaze of the downed man upon him.

"Who the hell are you!?" he said, his voice still as bombastic as his voice was before despite the damage dealt towards his body. "And where the hell did you learn to do that?"


Oh cool, you made to the end, you fucking mad lads. Please leave a review, send like, do a follow, and send me a pm about how much of a useless waste of space I am.

Do it.

I honestly like the idea that my writing is causing someone out there in the world to have a full-blown meltdown. To the one or two dudes trying really hard to troll me, here's some advice from a seasoned Vet of the internet.

The more you try and make it sound like you're not mad, the madder and more butthurt you sound to me. Also, who uses gay as an insult nowadays? It's 2019 people, get better at insulting strangers on the internet or so help me, I'm gonna turn this fanfiction around and no one will get any ice cream. It's almost as bad as typing in all Caps, and sprinkling "lols" everywhere in a response to make it sound like you're not crying as you type the weirdly specific gay jokes you make.

Like is there something you want to tell me?

It's okay to be who you are and love who you want to love.

This is a judgment-free zone.

I hope everyone has had or will have a very happy holiday season and if you don't I hope the bloodlines of your enemies wither and die in the coming years.