Chapter XXVII

Master Chief had interrogated Church and discovered part of O'Malley's evil plan: he was attempting to create a body that held an organic transmitter radio in place of a brain. Of course, the Chief had only chipped the tip of a rather large iceberg, and he would soon uncover the rest as Red Squad set out for their next destination . . .

Master Chief sat on the edge of one of the platforms inside the burned down warehouse. It was old and looked as though it would crumble away beneath him, but he didn't care. His mind was focused on the information he had received from Church's disc. O'Malley either already had or was close to having his very own body, which would mean that he would kill Sarge without a second thought. There was much to do and very little time to do it in.

The Chief looked around the warehouse. His squad was preparing for their trip to the Colossus Fortress. The Tex clone that was with them had told the Chief that the fortress hovered above hundreds of active volcanoes, feeding off of the energy to stay powered. Any breaches in the airlocks and the facility could heat up from thirty degrees to four hundred and fifty degrees in a matter of seconds. And that was in Celsius. Needless to say that such a rapid increase in temperature would be harmful to anyone inside. The original Tex was also held in this facility. Leaving the Fortress alone was not an option, however, and the Chief decided that it was too dangerous to allow it to remain intact, which was why he was bringing some BAMF explosive devices with them. He had only told Andy and Tex of this, and Tex agreed. Andy, however, was not as pleased. That is, until he was told that he wouldn't be coming back if he destroyed the facility.

Master Chief slid off of the platform and walked over to the teleporter that would take Red Squad to the cloning facility. The rest of the squad was already milling around the swirling green vortex while making final checks on all their gear. Master Chief stepped in front of the teleporter with his battle rifle in hand. He turned to make sure everyone was ready and stepped through the teleporter.

O'Malley stepped walked down the central ramp that led to the containment cells in the basement level of the Lockout Fortress. There were now over a dozen guards protecting the area due to recent security breaches which had been immediately dealt with. O'Malley was relatively unconcerned about the escapees, however. His new body was completed and had been moved to a secure location aboard his space station for final tests. With the meddlesome Red Squad running about O'Malley was concerned for the safety of his new body.

The red armored figure reached the landing and saw his newest test subject floating in a containment cell specifically built for someone of his size.

"So, this is the Rhinoceros fella you've been yammerin about," Sarge said. "Impressive."

"Indeed. He shall serve our needs quite satisfactorily," O'Malley replied.

Sarge approached the containment field. Unlike the ones in the green room, this one kept the occupant fully conscious. They were also suspended in the air by a magnetic field which also encased them inside the set area.

"So, we finally meet. I have heard much about your exploits, Rhinoceros. And I'm sure you've heard plenty of mine."

"Uh, who are you?"

"What? You mean you've never heard of me? I'm-" the AI's rant was cut short by Sarge's intervention.

"Whadda ya doin? He doesn't know who we are! If we can trick 'em inta thinkin he's on our sidewe won't hafta put up with him resistin and whatnot He might even join us willingly."

"Hmm. That is a very good plan. You are much more intelligent than anyone gives you credit for, Sarge. Had you not been fooled into fighting in that ridiculous war, you would have made a superb evil villain."

"Thanks."

O'Malley turned his attention to the Rhinoceros.

"I am William DeMarco. I head all of the top secret research operations in the Red Army."

"How come I never heard of you?"

" . . . because it's top secret."

"Oh, right. How did I get here?"

"You see, you were attacked by a creature controlled by the Blue Army. You defeated it, but were attacked by Blue soldiers who wanted to brainwash you and turn you against us!"

"No!"

"Yes! They incapacitated you, but you were saved by the timely arrival of a cargo ship and its armed escorts. After they mopped up the Blue forces, they brought you here; the safest place on the whole planet."

"And where is here?"

"Here is the Lockout Research and Containment Facility. I won't bore you with the history. You'll be safe here, but we need to run some tests on you to scan for radioactivity. Then you'll be moved to a test center where you shall begin your rehabilitation. You'll be out and about in no time."

"Ok, whatever you say, Bill."

O'Malley was about to use the Sarge's mouth to smile sinisterly, but found that the man was already displaying the expression. Sarge was turning out to be an exceptional ally.

"I was expecting something a little bigger," Grif said. "I'm disappointed. This place is called Colossus. Shouldn't it be colossal?"

"Grif, we didn't name these places," the Chief stated. "Some idiotic Blue person did. Take up your complaints with him."

Master Chief peeked out from their hiding spot. The teleporter had been set up underneath a platform which stuck out over a corner of the facility. It faced a large window that gave a very nice view of the smoke and flames that surrounded the facility.

As far as the Chief could tell, the place consisted of at least twenty medical staff. There were no guards in sight. Two large holding tanks sat atop the highest level, but reaching it could prove to be problematic. Security cameras were attached to almost every conceivable surface from the floors to the ceiling. The Chief, Grif and Tex had taken out some with their silenced rifles, but there were plenty more.

"Oh, I got it," Caboose said. "How about we sneak up the middle, really, really quiet-like and hop on the blue circle. They'd never look for us there!"

"Caboose, we're red," Simmons said. "They wouldn't have to look for us; we'd stick out like a sore thumb."

"You have a sore thumb? I heard ice helps with that sorta thing. Too bad we left the cold places already. There was a lot of ice there!"

Lock-jaw blarged.

"That's a good idea," Andy said. "He says he should sneak around and take out the cameras one by one."

The Chief slowly turned to the alien and the bomb. "We've been sitting here for almost two hours, and now you decide to tell me about your brilliant plan?"

"Hey, give him a break," Andy said. "He's like, what, two months old?"

"Fine, whatever. Lock-jaw, get on it. And while you're at it, take out those scientists as well. We can't have them running all over the place when they see us."

The alien uttered his reply and dashed out from under the platform, turning invisible in less than a second.

"Gee, I wish I could still do that," Tex said. "Too bad somebody broke my stealth field generator."

"I already apologized for that, Tex," the Chief said. "Maybe, instead of half-assedly trying to steal our flag data and then pulling a Benedict Arnold on O'Malley, you could've just skipped to the Benedict Arnold part and you would still be able to turn invisible."

"Excuse me? You think I did that half-assedly? Instead of thanking me for all the Intel I've given you, you call my work half-assed?"

"You didn't even attempt to subdue me!" the Chief argued. "You walked directly in front of me. If I had been carrying a weapon, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now if that doesn't scream 'half-assed' I don't know what does."

"So I'm not supposed to utilize the stealth field that I was given for that particular mission?"

"I saw you, Tex, which means that your stealth gear is half-assed, as was your attempt at stealing the data from Doc."

Grif listened to the debate for several more minutes, getting amusement from what was tossed between the two. He decided that, if they got any louder, someone would find them and they would have to escape. That meant running, and Grif would have none of that.

"Ok you two, let's stay focused. Chief, she had the gear and used it. Tex, your stealth gear sucked. If you had checked it, you would have discovered that it sucked on your own and would have tried to find another way to take the flag data. Therefore, your attempt was half-assed. While we're talking about asses, let's get everything out in the open. Me? I'm a lazy-ass. Simmons is a kiss-ass, Donut . . . well, you know. Caboose is a dumb-ass, Lopez is a wise-ass and Andy is an asshole. Doc is too scared to get up off his ass and shoot people, Lock-jaw bites people in the ass occasionally and it hurts like a bitch, Tex has a nice ass, and Chief does, indeed, kick ass."

Nobody said anything for several minutes until the Chief spoke.

"Yeah, that about sums it up. Good job, Grif."

Tex was about to scold the Chief for encouraging such language when Lock-jaw appeared.

"We did it," Andy announced proudly. "There must've been fifty cameras all over the place, but we got em. The moron scientists too. Got em all."

"Good work, you two. Let's go see what's in those tanks on the third floor."

The squad moved out in the open and walked, unopposed, towards the nearest ramp. After walking up several more ramps, the squad reached the top of the facility.

"Ok, everyone fan out. I want this place secure immediately. Tex, go see what's inside the tanks."

Tex nodded and moved towards the two large tanks in the center of the level. Inside the first one floated some horrible monster. It was nearly ten meters long, which was much too large to be held in a containment tank that was barely half its size. Spikes jutted out from its black hide which also sported a multitude of scars. Two large legs were crammed inside the enclosure and were broken in several places in order to fit inside. The arms of the creature were pressed up against the inside of the ten inch thick glass and appeared to be intact. The arms ended in clawed hands that sported three fingers on each. At the base of each hand, a part of the arm split away and formed a wing. Like the legs, the wings appeared to bend at unnatural angles; they too were broken. Finally, the head of the monster pressed against the front of the tank. It was a meter long and spikes protruded from seemingly random locations along the snout. Two larger spikes formed above the nostrils and above the eyes. The jaw and teeth of the beast were not visible; suffice to say that they were all intact. What captivated Tex were the eyes. Although dead, the eyes of the creature gave it a radiance that made it appear as though it still lived. The fiery red orbs stared off into space, focused on nothing.

Tex felt sorrow for the poor creature, but cast the feeling aside and moved on to the tank next to the beast. She knew that Tex floated inside and wasn't surprised by her horribly disfigured body or the machines that were violently shoved into her spine and brain. She was surprised by the fact that she was still alive. Had she been more focused, however, she might have paid closer attention to the beast in the adjacent tank. Even though it was dead, a finger on the great creature twitched. A nostril on its elongated snout flared. Both of the pupils contracted into tiny, almost invisible slits and took in its surroundings. Had Tex paid more attention to the tank next to that of the woman she was cloned from, she would have seen the monster as it slowly began to move inside its prison. She would have seen it before it erupted from the glass, and might have been better prepared as it opened its massive jaw and belched fire straight at her. Tex wasn't prepared, but she should have been. Dragons make easy prey of those who are unprepared.

To Be Continued