Under the Maroon
Disclaimer: Again. I own nothing.
(**)
Commander Duke,
this is Admiral Harper. According to the data you've retrieved, we stand right before a major breakthrough. If this went public, a majority of humanity would turn against the UNSC. However, the size of this also means that we can't slip up. We need conclusive proof. If you can present irrefutable evidence, you will have our full support. Until then, you will have the Staff of Charon. And I understand that you have already put an operative on the job. I will be looking forward to your report.
(**)
It was a quiet night in the facility. Big headlights were shining on the UNSC logo. Only a few soldiers were on patrol while most others were sleeping.
As two soldiers walked by, Simmons sneaked out of the shadows and quickly dashed forward, jumping into another shadow. When he was certain that nobody could see him, he climbed up the wall and quickly ran inside. He immediately dove for cover when he saw the soldiers in the room. They had their backs turned to him, so they didn't see him. He looked at the door to his right. A bridge was adjacent to it. He then ran over the bridge and hid in the building. He checked his surroundings. There weren't many soldiers. The few that were around weren't exactly focused.
He then saw his target. The main building. A bridge connected it with the building he was currently in.
He decided to walk normally over the bridge. Even if someone did see him, there was practically no light on him and they were probably tired, so they wouldn't care about someone casually strolling across a bridge.
Simmons entered the building and quickly pressed himself against a wall. Security in there was tighter. Lots of soldiers and cameras. He then noticed single soldier coming towards him. He waited, and when the soldier was close enough, he knocked him out and quickly pulled him out onto the bridge and then started exchanging their uniforms.
Now in a UNSC uniform, he could freely walk around the building. After a bit of searching, he found a secluded console, pulled out his hacking tool and went to work on it.
The basic things, like security systems, were easily figured out. The information he wanted had far more protection. Multiple firewalls, viruses and god knows what else. And he only had one shot at this, so he had to get it right.
He took a deep breath and went for it. With every moment that passed, the stress got more intense. His heart kept beating quicker. He started feeling hot. Everything he ever fought for. Everything he'd ever lost. It all came down to this. One mistake, and it was all for nothing. That's when it ended. He was in. All the information stored in this facility was his. Now he just had to download it.
He pulled out a storage device, inserted it into the hacking tool and started downloading.
That's when the alarm went off.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled. "No. No, this can't be. It has to be something else." He then switched on the security screen and switched from camera to camera, desperately looking for some intruder. And he found one. Three, to be exact. Three soldiers in orange, red and brown armor, driving through the facility in a warthog. "You have got to be kidding me." He checked his tool. "Only 2% down. This is gonna take a while. At least those guys are a good distraction."
(**)
"Grif! This is the worst driving I've ever seen!" Sarge yelled into Grif's ear.
"Well, I'm sorry. But it's kinda hard to drive when you are being SHOT at!"
"That excuse is just as lazy as you are. Lopez, get that one!" he said, pointing at a soldier aiming a rocket launcher at them.
"Sí," Lopez responded, turning the turret towards him and shooting him down.
Grif had started driving towards a group of soldiers that were firing at them.
"Stop!" Sarge shouted and Grif hit the brakes. The jeep still ran over the soldiers directly in front of them, but came to a complete stop. A soldier who had jumped aside now looked up to stare right down the barrels of Sarge's shotgun. "Feeling hungry?" Sarge asked. "Have a lead sandwich!" With that, he fired right in the man's face. Then they were suddenly surrounded by soldiers.
"You made me stop for that?" Grif yelled. "Were gonna die now because you wanted a one-liner?"
"Of course, it's all about dedication!"
"Well, I hope your happy. Because of your "dedication", we're gonna die now."
"I just brought up a nice one-liner and now I get to watch you die. This is how I always dreamed I was gonna die."
The soldiers got ready to fire, when suddenly one of their own started knocking them out. While the soldiers were still confused, Lopez opened fire with the turret, Sarge with his shotgun and Grif with his brute shot.
Soon, all soldiers were care of. All but the one that helped them out. That one slowly walked towards them and it wasn't until standard military camouflage turned into greenish blue that they realized who it was.
"Agent Carolina?" Grif spoke up.
"What are you doing here?"
"What?"
"She said what the fuck are you guys doing here?" Epsilon said popping up.
"Well, good to see you, too," Grif said sarcastically. "What's your problem?"
"My problem is that this is a top secret facility containing classified information on Project Freelancer and other military operations. It took us months to find it and you guys just happen to stumble across it?"
"We followed Simmons."
"What?"
"Yeah, Simmons just jumped on a motorcycle and drove over here. We just followed him. If you wanna blame someone, blame Simmons."
"Oh, we will," Carolina stated. "Where is he?"
"If we knew, do you think we would be driving and shooting around like maniacs?" Grif asked.
Carolina and Epsilon just looked at him.
Grif sighed. "Yeah, we probably would have."
"Anyway," Carolina started. "Simmons is wearing Freelancer equipment. We can track him through that."
"Right," Epsilon said. "Let's see. According to this, he should be up there," he said, pointing to the bridge through which Simmons had entered the main building.
(**)
The group walked up to the body in maroon armor.
"Is he?" Grif asked.
"Yes," Carolina said after checking his vitals.
"Oh, Simmons," Sarge said, sorrowful. "Why?"
"Wow. Didn't think you'd take it this hard." Epsilon said.
"Wait for it," Grif stated.
"Why, Lord? Why couldn't you have taken Grif?"
"There it is."
"He was right here. I presented you many chances to take him, and yet he's still alive. Is it the armor? Do you want me to exchange Grif's armor with Simmons's?"
"What did you just say?" Carolina asked.
"Does god want me to exchange Grif's and Simmons's armor so that he doesn't have to kill an orange guy. Apparently he likes orange people, and has been leading me astray by making me hate orange people. That divine dirtbag."
Carolina thought about what he'd just said, the exchange thing, not the god thing, and suddenly got an idea. She pulled off the helmet. "Is this Simmons?"
"How the hell would we know?" Grif asked. "We never take our helmets off."
"It's not him," Sarge stated.
"You sure?" Carolina asked.
"Positive. This one is all man. Simmons 2.0 is a fully equipped and windows compatible cyborg."
"Then this isn't Simmons."
"So what? He just managed to sneak to this point and then killed a soldier and exchanged their armor? He's smart, but not that smart." Epsilon said.
"Perhaps there is more to Simmons then we thought."
"Then he's still alive?" Sarge asked.
"Yes."
"I knew it!"
"What? You thought he was dead."
"He doesn't mean that," Grif stated.
"I knew I was right in my orange-hating ways."
"Anyway," Carolina continued. "We gotta find him. I wanna know what he's up to."
(**)
Download complete
"About time," Simmons said, removing the hacking tool and removing the storage unit. He looked at it for a moment, then put it away. He had been watching the happenings outside the building, so he was cautious. After he was sure that they weren't around, he quickly made his way to the exit.
"Hold it right there," he heard a female voice say. One he recognized all too well.
"Agent Carolina," he said without turning around.
"Private Simmons," he heard the voice of his former superior. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Sarge, I'm sorry. I didn't want you to see me like this. You should have just stayed in the canyon."
"I never leave my men for dead. Unless they're Grif."
"Right. You're a good man, sir. So please, just forget about me," he said while making his way to exit again.
"Don't move!" Carolina ordered, aiming her weapon at him. He stopped.
"You really wanna do this?"
"You know something. And I wanna know what it is."
There was a short pause before he jumped backwards into the air, landing right in front of a confused Carolina. Just as she aimed her rifle at him again, he grabbed it and pointed it up, making her shoot the ceiling. He then punched her in the gut and kneed her there, bringing her to her knees. He then knocked her out with a punch to the back of the head.
The other three were completely dumbfounded. "Holy fuck!" Grif exclaimed. "Since when can you do that?"
"I always could," Simmons stated.
"Then why did you never use it to help us?"
"You don't need to know why. You just need to know that it would be better for all of us if you stop following me." With that, he left the building.
"What do we do now?" Grif asked.
"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," Epsilon said. "We're gonna go after him. We're gonna find out what he's doing and if we don't like it, we're gonna stop him."