A/N: Okay, here's chapter three. Yay. And whatever. 8D
Ezekiel Veron groaned slightly. "This is the sixth—hear me, the sixth—damn time we were attacked! In the last five minutes!"
"Ah, quit bitching," Victoria said, grinning as she pulled her armor's blades through another Splicer neck.
He scowled, pushing the energy sword easily through a Splicer.
He glanced back at the marines. His prospect on the 'normal' soldiers hadn't changed much: Keep them as far from the Spartans as possible.
A slight crackling. A voice by Sarah said, presumably from her radio, "Hold on. I am sending help." The girl had a heavy German accent.
Zeke shoved the spike, which was glowing hot with plasma, through a Splicer's spinal cord. "Good. These things are fucking swarming."
And then there was a loud rumbling. The Splicer's paid it no heed, but the Spartans noticed, and the marines did too, once the ground started shaking.
And then, four… things ran into the fray.
They were basically oversized diver suits with giant drills, and they killed off most of the Splicers. The others fled.
"What the hell…?" Zach stared in amazement. Catherine nodded slightly.
"Seriously. What the hell."
Ai giggled slightly.
Sarah squealed. "Mr. Bubbles!" She ran up to one, hugging it. It let out a low groan, and wrapped the non-drill arm around her, and glanced back at us.
"No, no, Mr. Bubbles, they're our friends. All of them. But not the mean ones, that want to hurt me. But you scared them all away!"
"Mental conditioning is hereditary," Victoria breathed.
Sarah blinked and coughed. "Yeah. It is."
Zach nodded. "Uh-huh. Can we just get moving?"
"That would be advisable," Maria said. "There are more Splicers coming."
They moved quickly, Zeke taking point.
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They walked for two hours, before Maria said, "You can stop now. It is safe with the Big Daddies there. Do not go anywhere without one of them, or one of your super soldiers accompanying you."
"They're called Spartans," Sarah said, "but thank you for inflating Zeke's ego even more."
A faint laugh.
Zach simply collapsed. "Jesus. I know we have, like, this kick-ass stamina and shit, but there's so much we can take!"
Cath giggled and laid next to her brother, hugging him. "Ah, quit complaining, Zach."
He silenced immediately, hugging her body closer and taking in a deep breath.
Cath nestled her face in his shoulder, and his breathing slowed until he was asleep, his breath soft on her skin.
"He sure likes you," Ai muttered.
"In a weird way," Zeke added.
She shrugged. "You try living on the streets seventeen years and not getting close to your brother. Besides, it's not like we're making out or anything."
"Although it would be kinda cool to see," Sarah muttered to herself.
"Ew! Freaking weirdo! You're saying you want me to make out with my brother?" Cath glared in a way that made Sarah shiver.
"Uh, no…?" Sarah blinked and blushed. "Okay, fine, I do. I think it's hot."
Cath scowled and hugged her brother tighter. "You're just lucky I'm comfortable… Ai, can you smack her, please?"
Ai obligingly smacked Sarah on the back of the head.
"Oww… okay, so I have a weird quirk—"
"Fetish," Victoria corrected.
Sarah ignored her. "I like incest. So what?"
"So," Cath said, "you're sick in the head."
Sarah clicked her tongue. "Hm. Would you kindly kiss your brother?"
Cath felt her self-control leave, and she kissed her brother softly on the lips.
"What…" She shuddered at the pleasant, but horrible feeling. "…what just happened?"
"Mental conditioning is hereditary," Sarah murmured. "Even if it's removed." Sarah flashed a smile at them. "Get some sleep. Ponder about your little kiss when you wake up. And, would you kindly kiss him again when you're both up?"
Sarah flashed a cheeky smile at Cath shortly before she fell asleep.
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"What the hell did Sarah do?" Zeke asked Victoria quietly. They were sitting alone, with a Big Daddy guarding them.
Victoria shrugged. "Some of that mental shit, I guess."
Zeke sighed and gave her a quick hug. "'Night, Vic."
Victoria smiled, slightly awkwardly, behind her helmet. "Goodnight," she replied, hugging him back.
Their relationship had improved into something resembling a sibling relationship. It was still somewhat awkward, though—they were still rivals, proved by the occasional shove into a wall, which usually broke the wall.
Sarah sat next to the two. "Cute," she remarked.
"Just a brother and sister," Zeke reminded her softly. "You know everything about Zulu company and we know just about nothing about you. And after the shit you just pulled, I want an explanation."
"In the morning," Sarah said, breezily. "Everyone's gonna explain their pasts in the morning."
Zeke sighed, but fell silent. He drifted off slowly…
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Zach opened his eyes and stretched, feeling his sister laying close to his side.
He smiled slightly and shook her shoulder. "Wake up, sis."
She blinked sleepily, then drew him into a hug and kissed him gently on the lips. Cath closed her eyes again, hand sliding into his hair and holding him close.
Blinking in surprise, he attempted to pull away, but she just hugged him closer. "Love you," she mumbled half-consciously.
He relaxed slightly. She wasn't fully awake. He shook her again. "Wake up, sis," he murmured.
She yawned and stretched, opening her eyes fully. "Morning," she mumbled.
He hugged her. "Morning," he replied.
Zach looked at the Spartans. "Good morning."
Zeke grunted, not answering.
"Don't be an ass," Zach muttered, pulling out a sword handle, a Greek kind. "Nobody really likes it."
"You're threatening me because I'm impolite?" Zeke laughed coldly. "Really. That's just retard—" He stopped as he felt the heat of plasma close to his neck. He let out a breath. "You have an energy sword?"
"Not like you're used to," Zach said. "But yes. I haven't gotten any respect my entire life, and I want some now, even if you think you're faster than me and can beat me easily."
Zeke snorted. "Think?"
Zach shifted Victoria off him easily, and his veins turned blue. Electricity crackled at his fingertips. "I bet you think you're better than us all." Zach concentrated it into a ball, and closed his hand into a fist. "But, in the end, you're only human." He punched Zeke, right in his armored chest, watching in satisfaction as the currents ran across the metal.
"Jeez," Ai mumbled sleepily. "Anger management."
Zach rolled his eyes. "I don't have an anger problem. Well… I kinda do. But, really, when you live on the streets for seventeen years and the only way people'll respect you is if you can beat the shit out of 'em—and they're still liable to slit your throat in your sleep—then you want a little normal respect."
Zeke glared angrily, raising his arm—
And Magnus stopped him, shaking his head.
Retracting his arm, Zeke growled lowly. "You're gonna pay for that," he promised Zach.
The nineteen year old smirked. "Mhm. Try it."
Sarah sat up slowly. "Both of you, shut the fuck up. Try anything and I'll shoot you both in the head… or I'll get Price to do it."
"What?" It was the first time any but the three marines had spoken; the rest had kept silent out of pure habit. Captain Price looked at Sarah incredulously.
Sarah just smirked at him. "I can."
Vic shook her head. "Get the others up. Let's get moving… and, Zeke, if you touch that marine, I'll shove a plasma blade through your neck."
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Ai hung close to Zach's side. She had one arm hesitantly halfway wrapped around his waist, and he wasn't paying it any mind. Her free hand was holding her Magnum carefully.
Cath whispered in Ai's ear, "Arm around him or off him."
She blinked, blushed, and nodded, sliding her arm all the way around him. "How much longer?" She called softly ahead to Sarah.
"A few seconds," Sarah replied. "There's a bathysphere up here."
She paused. "Marines first, then the Spartans. There was hardly enough room in there for us all coming down, and this is hardly bigger."
She lead the marines into the bathysphere and pulled the lever. The door swung shut and they descended.
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Zeke watched the bathysphere go down. He sighed. "Those things take fucking forever, I'm guessing."
The other three nodded.
"Well, fuck." He sat down. "Relax, guys, if something living moves an inch, the sensors'll pick it up."
Victoria obligingly stretched out next to him. "Well, we'll be here for…" She glanced at Zeke.
"Eight minutes and thirty-two seconds," he mumbled half-consciously. "If it's the same speed as the one we came in and my distance is correct. These maps suck…"
Jason smiled behind his helmet. Zeke hadn't changed much, really.
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"We know nothing about each other," Sarah said, "so we're all going to tell what we know about our pasts." Her eyes had flickered to Zach and Cath on 'know'.
"We lived on the streets since we were two," Zach said, resting his hand lightly on his sister's. "We were raised to be fighters. We joined the military because it suits our style."
Ai sighed. "My dad killed himself and my mom died birthing me. The foster home I was in when I was fifteen…" She shuddered. "The two foster parents, they were nice, really nice. Said… we were all a family." She let out a dry laugh. "The other kids must've loved incest, then. I was the only virgin there. They'd have sex right in front of me, try to make me join with them… truthfully, I joined the army at sixteen just to get away from it."
Zach slid his hand over to Ai's and squeezed it gently. She flashed a grateful smile at him.
"Mine's nothin' special," Price said. "Joined the army to fight for Earth."
Gaz smirked slightly, and spoke, in the same English accent as Price. "Me 'n' Soap, we were friends since we were little kids. Made a habit of stealing whatever we could get our hands on. Got so bad, they gave us a choice: military or prison. Take a guess which one we picked."
Kamarov stayed silent.
"What about you?" Sarah asked, her eyes glinting mischievously.
"…my father… he was strict. If I got out of line, he would hit me." He sighed. "My mother moved from Russia to America. I don't blame her. I…" He shuddered. "…I killed my father. They ordered me to join the army or die."
Sarah smiled slightly. "I understand why you would kill him, Kamarov. I have someone inside the UNSC technicians run background checks on people I'm going on missions, and you were the only one I was worried about, because they didn't include your reason."
Kamarov smiled slightly. "Nice to know you trust so easily."
Sarah turned to Zach. "You say you assassinated someone with a shoelace. Is it true?"
He grinned slightly. "Yup. I was on a mission to kill John Black—you know him?" They all nodded. The person that tried to rise to the top through less than acceptable means. "I killed him. I wasted all my ammo on his guys, took my shoelace out of my boot, and snuck up on him. I'm sure you know what happens."
"A slow death," Sarah noted.
Zach shrugged. "Asshole deserved it."
There was a sudden lurch as the bathysphere stopped. Zach glanced out the window.
The door opened, and they walked out. Cath slipped her hand inside Zach's.
And then a girl was racing down the stairs. She had slightly dark skin, mostly pale skin, black hair, and, as she came closer, strange, yellow-goldish eyes. She squealed when she saw Zach and Cath. "Cousins!" She said it in the same German accent and voice as the one talking to them over the radio. She hugged the two.
"You're Maria Tenenbaum?" Kamarov asked softly, doubting it. How could this girl, who could be no more than thirteen… have guided them?
Sarah smirked. "Yeah, that's her."
A/N: Pewpewlazar. REVIEW!