"Silver," Rho says urgently. My eyes snap open and fix on her. "There's an alert," she continues, not waiting for me to respond. "Thermals show someone in an area of the base that's supposed to be locked down."

"Is everyone accounted for?" I ask sleepily, sitting up.

Rho nods. "I've checked thermals, as well as all the base's cameras. Everyone's in their rooms. I tried checking cameras for the intruders, but security feeds have been disrupted for that entire section of the base."

"Have you alerted anyone else?" I ask. I stand and retrieve the pistol from the table beside my bed, as well as a handful of throwing knives.

"No," Rho says, shifting her avatar to lead me out of the room. "Considering recent events, I didn't want to scare them."

"Good," I say, following Rho's lead toward the intruder. I debate grabbing my armor first, but I don't want to take the time. I can't afford to let someone run around unchecked in my base, not with my family around. "Lock down the area," I order.

"Already done," Rho says proudly. "I've managed to seal them into a room, and from the looks of a temperature spike on thermals, they're not happy about it."

"'They'?" I question, sprinting silently through the halls. There's one good thing to be said for going armorless; it's much quieter. "I thought you said there was one intruder."

"Thermal scans show only one person," Rho confirms. "But I heard two voices, a man's and a woman's, before audio feeds were cut off. I'm not sure what to make of it."

I hum thoughtfully for a moment, pausing. I don't want to run into this blind and unprepared. I need some sort of plan in place. "The room they're trapped in; is it equipped with lockdown protocols?"

"No," Rho answers regretfully. "Besides, that would only work if the intruders were wearing power armor."

I laugh slightly. "Knowing our luck, it's probably the freaking Master Chief."

"Really?" Rho asks, sounding slightly worried.

"Probably not," I admit. "Still, I don't trust our luck enough to rule out anything."

"You know he has an AI, right?" Rho continues. "An extremely powerful, scary, mean-lady AI. I don't want to have to go up against that."

"Let's just hope this is some petty scavenger who's gotten in over his head," I say, words sounding far less hopeful than I want them to.

I round a corner and Rho hovers near one of the doors. "Over here," she whispers, voice coming from a speaker near me instead of where she's placed her avatar.

I sneak up to the door and try to listen through it. I hear voices, but they're too muffled to tell what they're saying. I jump back from the door when something hits the thick metal with enough force to cause a shake it. I lean back down and this time the voices are louder.

"I don't think that's gonna work," a man's voice says. "Not before you dislocate your shoulder."

"What else do you expect me to do?" a woman's voice snaps. "You were supposed to deactivate their security, and now we're trapped in here."

"I did shut off the automated security," the man says defensively. "This was done manually."

"Well, undo it," the woman answers. "I don't like the thought of staying here while our captors have time to prepare."

I take this moment to wave a hand at Rho. The door slides open and I look at the intruder, a woman in teal power armor. There's a small blue figure floating by her shoulder.

I immediately point my pistol at her. "Don't move," I say, hoping my voice is commanding enough to make up for how small I feel next to the armored woman.

Twin plasma rifles are pointed at my face. I keep my face steady, inwardly wishing I had taken the time to get my armor. "Who are you?" the woman asks.

"I recognize her," the AI speaks up. "She's that terrorist the Covenant have been looking for."

I watch the woman's body language change at the words, shifting from wariness to anger. "You're trying to start a war," she accuses. "The last one nearly wiped out humanity, and you want to start another."

"No, we don't," Rho says, appearing by my side.

The woman's head turns to the side briefly. "Where'd you get an AI?" she asks, tone still accusatory.

"That's none of your business," I say before Rho has a chance to answer. "I'm giving you a chance to leave. I suggest you take it."

The teal helmet faces me again. "We're not going anywhere," she says, glaring down the sites of her guns. "I'm turning you and anyone else here in to the UNSC."

My eyes narrow at the perceived threat to my family. "No," I say, finger tightening around my pistol's trigger. "I won't let you do that."

The woman darts forward, faster than I can see, and knocks me off my feet on her way to the door. Before she can leave, though, the door slams shut. Rho hovers in front of it with her arms crossed. I jump back to my feet and face the woman.

I know I'm at a disadvantage. I can match her strength, even without my armor, but it's clear she's using a speed unit. I suspect she has other upgrades as well, if the way her armor is blending in with the walls is any indication. To top it all off, she has an AI powerful enough to run them all. I don't even have Rho in my head to help with strategy. I need to even things out if I want to win this fight.

I pull a knife with my left hand while firing my pistol at her. The woman dodges to the side and I use the distraction to hit her with the knife. I know it won't make it through the armor, but if I've aimed right then it might even the playing field. There's a curse from the woman, and I smile.

"My HUD's dead," she growls angrily to her AI.

"That's fine," the blue figure responds. "I'll talk you through our strategy."

I smile. You go right ahead with that, I think, reloading my pistol. It won't help against my next trick.

"Rho," I say, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. The less my opponents know about my plan, the better.

"Yeah?" she asks, showing up by my shoulder.

I dodge forward to avoid a spray of plasma fire. This puts me within kicking distance of the taller woman, who takes advantage of the fact. I roll to the side to avoid the attack and sprint behind her.

"Remember that thing I told you not to do anymore?" I continue, trying and failing to land a punch while the teal woman's back is turned.

"The one that's saved your life at least twice?" Rho asks smugly. She's catching onto what I'm planning.

"Yeah," I say, dodging another round of plasma blasts. One skims my arm and I suck in a hissing breath as the burn sets in. There's a small stack of boxes in a corner of the room, and I run over and duck behind it. "It should be safe while you're connected to the base's computers," I explain, grimacing as I inspect the wound on my shoulder. "I need you to do it now."

There's a slight pause as Rho's avatar flickers, a sign of concentration. Then, holograms fill the room. I squint at them, wondering if that's really how I look right now; hair unkempt, grey clothes looking extremely civilian, and small enough to be a child compared to the woman in armor. The burn on my arm just adds to the image of weakness. I smile. Images can be deceiving.

"You think that's going to fool us?" the blue AI asks, almost like he's laughing. "We know you're behind those boxes. You can't trick us into battling copies."

I see a glimmer in the air as a holo-copy forms next to me, mimicking my pose exactly. The hologram rises to its feet just as Carolina steps around the boxes. She hesitates for an instant, not knowing which is real. It's just long enough for me to kick her off her feet and run for the door.

As I run, every hologram in the room lines up behind me. They each mimic my movement as I run before deviating, turning to face the woman chasing me. The first few fool her and she wastes precious seconds punching or shooting at phantoms. Eventually there's an angry yell and I glance back to see her barreling through the copies without stopping. I try to speed up.

The door slides open as I reach it. I freeze and nearly lose my footing when I see Wash blocking my way.

"What's going on?" he asks, sounding confused. His eyes are squinted in the light and his hair is messed up, giving him the appearance of having just stumbled out of bed.

"Move," I order, pushing him as I try to get through the door. Neither of us can fight here without armor. I need to seal the door so this woman can't get out.

Wash's eyes go wide when he looks over my shoulder. I stop trying to get past him when I realize that it isn't fear, but recognition causing him to look so shocked. He whispers something that I miss, the sound drowned out by armored boots skidding to a halt behind me.

"Wash?" the woman asks, confusion and disbelief evident in her voice.

"What are you doing here?" the blue AI questions, floating past me to hover in front of the stunned agent.

"Well," Rho says slowly as she appears by my side again, "this sounds like it'll be interesting."

"Wash," I say sharply, drawing his attention back to me. "How do you know these people?"

Another voice mixes with mine, drowning out my question in her own. "What are you doing here?" the teal woman asks.

Wash continues to stare between us for a moment before speaking. "I must be dreaming," he says. "That's the only explanation."

"You're not dreaming," the woman says, this time sounding annoyed. "Now answer my question."

"They haven't, like, brainwashed you or something, have they?" the AI asks.

"No," Wash answers. His eyes focus as he finally awakens fully. "And they're not terrorists, not like you've heard. It's kind of complicated."

"Then you'd better start explaining," the woman says. I watch out of the corner of my eyes as she puts her guns away, but her posture is still defensive. She doesn't trust that this won't turn bad.

"Please," I say, cutting Wash off before he can start to answer her. "Can you start by telling me who the hell they are?"

"Carolina," Wash says, breathing the word like he still doesn't believe it. "And Epsilon."

Now it's my turn for my eyes to widen. I look back at the woman and her AI, studying them in a new light; the last remnant of Doctor Leonard Church, and one of the best Freelancers to ever exist. "No wonder I couldn't beat you," I finally say.

There we go, setting up more plot stuff, moving the story along. It's kind of a short chapter, but this should help the story get where it needs to go, so it's all good. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to let me know what you think.