Forevermore

by EventuallyConcedes

The new Noble Six, Scarlett, has just joined Noble Team. However, she is fighting her own personal battles, with the recent suicidal sacrifice of her previous lover, Jack. However, she cannot ignore how she begins to feel around her new teammate, Noble Five, or Jorge. Soon enough, she finds that their love is Forevermore. NOTE: Some characters may be out of character at points.

4. ℓιттℓє тαℓкѕ

A/N:
If you have been reading my other story, A Noble Vacation, I have an update for it.
I am planning to continue with it once I have finished Forevermore, seeming as this is my main fanfic.
And again, thanks for all the reviews/favs/follows! I really appreciate it. ^_^

¢нαρтєя 4 - ℓιттℓє тαℓкѕ

It was time for Scarlett to take some downtime.

She had just arrived back at Noble's Base after the mission with Jun, and to put it frankly, she was exhausted.
She snuck into the bunker her and Kat were sharing, and wasn't surprised to see Kat wide awake, reading a book.
"Oh, you're back," Kat said, looking up from her book. "How'd it go?"
Scarlett shrugged and sat down on the lower bunk, removing some of her armor to get comfortable. "Okay, I guess...it's just quite depressing to see how serious the Covenant are about Reach. I mean, we're facing a full scale invasion. Just another planet in the long list of planets conquered and glassed."
Kat smiled at Scarlett sympathetically. "I understand. It brings back the memories, right? But we can do something...We can fight the Covenant. Reach is a military planet. We aren't going to let them just take it."
Scarlett nodded. "How is Jorge handling it?"
Kat shrugged, turning back to her book. "I don't know. You should ask Emile, seeming as they were on the same mission."
Scarlett yawned. "I'm real tired. I think I might just speak to him tomorrow instead."
Kat looked at a clock in their room. "Yeah, you'll need as much rest as you can get. We're heading out really early tomorrow to kick Covenant ass. Seriously, Command's saying it's going to be the start of a long and ruthless campaign."
Scarlett nodded gravely. "Alright." She leaned back onto the bed and closed her eyes, falling asleep straight away.

"Scarlett!" Kat yelled, prodding her. "Come on, we've got to get on our mission!"
Scarlett rubbed her eyes wearily, turning over to face Kat. "Wha-?" She asked, still half-asleep.
Kat rolled her eyes. "We don't have time for this!" She grabbed Scarlett's arm and dragged her out of bed. Scarlett landed with a loud thunk on the floor. "Ouch..." Scarlett complained. "This is the second time this week!"
"Well, you're awake now," Kat replied smugly, helping Scarlett on her feet. "Now come on, Carter's getting cranky."
"Alright, alright," Scarlett muttered as she re-fit her armor. They rushed down the hallway, and finally made it to the mess-hall, where Carter was pacing nervously, clearly stressed. When he caught sight of Scarlett and Kat, he exhaled loudly, relieved. "Where have you been?!" He demanded. "Debriefing was scheduled for half an hour ago!"
Scarlett shifted nervously on her feet, whilst Kat stayed calm. It appeared that she had dealt with this kind of situation before.
"Sorry, Commander, Scarlett was sleeping in. The reconnaissance mission with Jun really tired her out last night."
Carter narrowed his eyes, about to make another point, but refrained from doing so; They were running late already, and he didn't want to be later. Besides, it was the only time Scarlett had been late since she joined the Team, so he was confident she wouldn't do it again.
"Alright. Let's just start debriefing." He replied. "As you all know, the Covenant are now launching a full-scale invasion," He explained. "It's time to get tactical, people. Scarlett, Kat, you'll be in charge on neutralising an AA gun that is giving us hell, as well as whatever ground forces are around. Jorge, you get some information on the spires. Get as close as you can without stepping into the territory. Emile, Jun, give him some cover. Make sure he makes it out in one piece. I'll be your Command. The Falcons are outside. Jorge, Emile in one together. Jun, with me. Kat, Scarlett, you'll be in an warthog. You'll be going in with the invasion, ladies."
Scarlett looked at Kat and raised her eyebrows. Going in with the army? How classy.
"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Carter snapped. "Move, people!"
Jorge and Emile filled out to their Falcon in stony silence, not looking or speaking to each other. Scarlett wasn't sure what had happened to make them act like this, but she suspected that had argued again. Jun sat in his Falcon, clutching his sniper rifle as ever.
There was a warthog parked outside the base, so Scarlett and Kat headed for it. A trooper, already in the gunners seat, greeted them.
"Hey, Spartans!" He called out. Kat grunted something in return, whilst Scarlett nodded at him.
"I'll drive." Kat said, quickly hopping into the drivers sear. Scarlett got into the passengers seat, and there were off.

Soon enough, they caught up with and joined the UNSC fleet. Carter's Falcon hovered directly above Scarlett and Kat, keeping an eye out on them.
Jorge and Emile were a little further back. Scarlett wondered what Jorge might think of the overall invasion; Jorge was often open with his opinions, which often lead Scarlett to become curious to what else he thought.
"That landing zone has been tagged by UNSC Command as a priority one target." Carter explained, snapping Scarlett out of her thoughts.
The landing zone was shipping in more Covenant troops, which was why it was important.
"Det-charge link is loud and clear!" Jun said somewhat happily over COMMS.
"Copy that, acquiring signal on the pylon," Kat responded, her hand hovering above a button to denote it. "Denoting in 3...2..." She pushed the button, causing a large explosion from the pylon to be seen from Carter's Falcon.
As almost a response from this, banshees began flying over the battlefield, firing banshee bombs. Scarlett looked up, tracking the banshees, whilst the marine tried desperately to shoot them down. Wraiths then began covering the banshees, successfully blowing up several warthogs in the process. Carter held his breath as he watched Kat trying to dodge the wraith's shots. Some warthogs were escaping over the bridge, so Kat did the same.
However, at the last minute, a wraith fired.
"Incoming!" Scarlett shouted. Carter and Jorge tried to desperately to see what was happening. The wraith had blown the bridge in half, making it almost inaccessible.
"Might want to hold onto something!" Kat called out in reply. The made the jump, but the warthog was at the wrong angle. The warthog leered downwards; the front of it crashed into the ground, causing both Kat and Scarlett to cover themselves to protect themselves. The impact was huge, causing Scarlett to be thrown out and knocked unconscious for a few seconds. Kat was thrown out close to the warthog, but wasn't injured. The marine on the turret was nowhere to be seen, supposedly dead.
Scarlett awoke to white blinding light. "Ugh...oh, man..." She groaned, her head hurting. She was jerked out of this almost dream-like state by the sight of another warthog, full of troopers attempt to make the jump. They almost made it, expect their warthog hit the ledge where the bridge had broken, and they fell to their deaths, their screams echoing. The pure sight of this made Scarlett realise how lucky she was. That could've been her.
Kat turned around at the screams of the troopers, and saw Scarlett awake. "Scarlett! Scarlett, can you hear me? Are you alright?" She asked, panicked.
Scarlett weakly nodded.
"I could use some help over here!"
Scarlett quickly got to her feet and collected her weapons; A grenade launcher and DMR. "I'm own my way." She replied.
Kat took cover from some banshees behind the warthog wreak; the banshees fired banshee bombs at it, causing it to explode and Kat to use armor lock to protect herself. Scarlett ran up the hill and found some sufficient cover from the Covenant, blowing up jackals and grunts with her grenade launcher.
"Kat, Scarlett, what's your status?" Carter asked over COMMS.
"Pylons are down, we're pushing up the hill!" Kat shouted in reply.
Scarlett scanned the area and found mostly grunts and jackals, one ultra Elite wielding a concussion rifle, plus two turrets. Scarlett was able to quickly get rid of the grunts and jackals with her grenade launcher. She suspected the only trouble would be the Elite, but Kat assisted in lowering its shields, whilst Scarlett finished it off with a head-shot. The turrets were operated by grunts, so they were easily taken care of with head-shots.
Once all the histories were dead, a Pelican flew in with a rocket warthog attached to it. Scarlett assumed that Carter had sent it, but she couldn't be sure.
"Kat. Be advised: ONI have identified two AA guns ahead of your location." Carter informed Kat over COMMS as the Pelican dropped the warthog in front of Scarlett and Kat.
"Copy, Commander," Kat replied. "New target, Scarlett: Go shut down those AA guns."
Scarlett hated the way Kat spoke as if it would just be her doing it alone.
"Commandeer that Warthog, Scarlett." Kat advised.
Scarlett hopped into the drivers seat; the turret had already been taken by a trooper, so Kat got into the passengers seat.
"Scarlett, AA gun is just ahead of your location." Carter informed Scarlett just as the AA gun came into view.
"2 Lima 4 to Noble One," A trooper said over COMMS. "Those guns are pounding us with high-velocity plasma shells!"
"Which would mean a strike by the Frigate Grafton is also out of the question." Dot interjected.
"Scarlett, all our birds are stuck out of range unless you can do something about those guns." Carter informed Scarlett.
As the warthog approached around the gun, a Revenant's mortar hit them, just clipping them.
"That Revenant is now a priority one target!" Kat yelled. "We need to destroy it before it does any proper damage."
"Copy that," the trooper on the gun replied. "I'll get it."
The trooper fired several shots at the Revenant, which eventually destroyed it. Scarlett became immediately more relaxed. Wraiths and Revenants were a huge danger.
Scarlett pulled up beside the AA gun; a large group of jackals and grunts swarmed out with a Zealot Elite. The trooper on the gun immediately fired on the hostiles, killing most of the jackals and grunts. The Elite, distracted by the rockets from the Warthog, was assassinated by Scarlett.
Once all the hostiles were eliminated, Scarlett advanced inside the AA gun and meeled it's inside shield until it went down to recharge. She then threw a grenade into the core of the gun, causing it to over-heat, and in the process, override. The gun started to shake and a large beeping sound could be heard. Scarlett took this as her cue to leave, and sprinted over to the warthog, pulling it away from the AA gun. A few moments later, the gun exploded, now destroyed.
"Control, 2 Lima 4: permission to commence bombing runs, heading 224.6, over." The trooper requested to UNSC Command over COMMS.
"Good work, Scarlett," Carter praised Scarlett over COMMS. "UNSC air support: skies are clear."
"Copy. 2 Lima 4, bombing run, heading 224.6, permission granted - out." UNSC Command responded.
"Scarlett, keep heading towards the spires," Kat informed her. "There's a Pelican inbound with a portable bridge. Once it's in place, keep following the road." Scarlett nodded and followed the dusty road that lead up a steep hill. A wraith and phantom blocked their route, the wraith firing at the Pelican that was putting the portable bridge in place. The wraith was easily taken of with the rockets from the warthog; once the wraith was destroyed, the phantom retreated. A few snipers remained, but Kat was able to finish them off from her position in the passenger seat. After encountering yet more snipers, Scarlett, Kat and the trooper came across a mining facility, which several troopers were struggling to take back from Covenant Forces.
"Scarlett, there's a mining facility ahead of your location," Carter informed Scarlett. "Covenant are using it as a Command outpost, troopers onsite have already engaged."
Scarlett parked up the warthog besides some barriers; the troopers began to advance forwards. Scarlett surveyed the area and saw one shade turret, and a small pack of grunts and jackals. She stressed, however, that there were more Covenant hiding within the mining facility. She knew she'd have to pay extra attention this time.
Once all the hostiles had been eliminated, Dot spoke up. "New intel: Friendly forces by the Covenant outpost have stopped a high-value target. An Elite Zealot, in fact."
"A Zealot?" Kat questioned. "We're on to something big, Commander."
"Eyes on the prize, Noble," Carter responded. "Take out that Zealot if you get the chance, but keep moving towards those spires."
Scarlett wondered if Carter had remembered Halsey's words, and the way she had argued with him over the matter of letting the Zealot's get away. Even so, he didn't seem bothered by the presence of this Zealot. Whilst moving across the mining facility, Scarlett encountered many more Covenant; grunts, jackals, jackal snipers, Elites.
And then that's when she saw the Zealot.
He, like most Elites of his class was wielding a concussion rifle. Scarlett knew from the events of Visegrad, that it would be simply too dangerous to waltz in and kill the Elite. Instead, she used her DMR to puncher it's shields before finishing it off with a head-shot.
"High value target has been neutralised...Impressive, Scarlett." Kat reported over COMMS. Scarlett smiled smugly at this comment before jumping off the platform she was on, to lower ground. She continued onwards, up a few stairs, to the roof of the building, where a large hole had been blown through, supposedly, by a wraith, although it was hard to tell. Scarlett and Kat jumped through the hole, facing little resistance from the grunts inside.
Once all the grunts had been killed, Kat spoke up. "Mining facility secured, Scarlett. Move on at your discretion."
Scarlett picked up a Plasma Launcher that lay by the door of the mining facility, and upon seeing grunts in ghosts trying to flee, used it on them, causing them to explode, and sub-consequently, die.
A Revenant that wasn't at all damaged was parked outside the facility. Scarlett took the chanced and hopped in the drivers seat, Kat going in the passengers seat. They rode down a hill, and encountered another small pack of Covenant; again, a few grunts and jackals, with one Elite. Scarlett was able to blow the grunts and jackals to oblivion with the Revenant's mortar, and finished the Elite off by mowing it down. They continued downwards, where they came over a broken bridge.
"Update, Scarlett: scans show another Covenant AA gun ahead of your location. I want you to neutralise that gun, by any means necessary." Carter ordered over COMMS.
They jumped the broken bridge using the Revenant's boost, landing reasonably softly. Another small pack of Jackals stood in their path, but Scarlett simply mowed them down. Around the corner stood a large pack of grunts, plus a Wraith. Kat took care of the grunts whilst Scarlett fired at the Wraith, killing first the grunt in the turret, before destroying the wraith with plasma mortars.
Yet another Wraith waited around the corner, but was handled in the same way. After eliminating all hostiles by the gun, Scarlett got out of the Revenant, reading to destroy the AA gun like the last one.
She was stopped in her tracks by the noise of Hunters firing.
Hunters.
The beam sped towards her, giving Scarlett the horrible sense of déjà vu. She evaded the shot, barely, before quickly heading back to the Revenant to fire mortar shots at the Hunters. The Hunters laughed evilly, before firing at the Revenant, which caused it to flip, throwing both Scarlett and Kat out.
"Oh, you wanna play like that, huh?" Scarlett said mockingly, climbing back into the drivers seat. She used the Revenant's boost to ram it into the Hunters, causing them to fly backwards and hit a wall, causing a lot of damage.
The Hunters growled ferociously, before attempting to charge again. Scarlett fired several more plasma mortars, and just in time, managed to kill the hunters before they could do any more damage.
A few moments later, a Phantom pulled up, already firing at Scarlett and Kat. Scarlett used the Revenant's boost again, to get some sufficient cover. A Pelican pulled up just above them, and hovered, dropping off about seven or so troopers. The Phantom dropped off about the same amount in grunts, but they were quickly dealt with by running them over.
"Well done, Scarlett," Carter praised her again over COMMS. "ONI needs more close recon on those Spires. We're gonna fly you the rest of the way."
"Jorge has a Falcon inbound your position, Scarlett," Kat informed her. "Highlighting the LZ on your HUD now."

A few moments later, and Jorge's Falcon landed. Scarlett could see from her position Jorge sitting on the right of the Falcon, next to a trooper. She assumed she'd be taking the turret, so she got out of the Revenant and got onto the turret's seat.
She couldn't help but admit it: she's felt butterflies in her stomach when she had heard Jorge's name.
And it scared her.
Scared her because that feeling was so much like what she had felt with Jack.
"Spotted some nasty business in the Canyon on the way down." Jorge explained, looking right at her.
"I'll call out targets as we go!" The pilot called out. They first came across a bridge, where Scarlett was able to blow the Covenant advancing across it up.
"Never gets old." Jorge commented with a smile; Scarlett also smiled at his comment.
After killing all hostiles on her side of the Canyon, Scarlett had a good look at the Spire. It almost looked like...A teleport? But to what?
"Nice shooting, Spartan!" The pilot commented.
"Stay sharp, Scarlett. We're not out of the canyon yet." Jorge warned her.
Scarlett nodded, doing another quick sweep of her side of the canyon. Seeing no new hostiles, and her motion tracker literally clear, she focused on the spire again.
"There's the spire!" The pilot called out.
"Solid copy," Carter responded. "Dot?"
"Latest intel suggests these spires may be projecting electromagnetic cloaking shields." Dot replied in her dry tone.
"Priority one pilot: gotta know what's in there." Jorge informed the pilot. "Affirmative, sir...here we go." The pilot responded, before advancing into the spire. There was a slight whirling noise; Smoke began to pour out of the Falcon's engines. It lurched to the side, making Scarlett and Jorge literally hold onto the Falcon to avoid falling out.
Sensing that this would be a hard impact, Jorge quickly spoke out to Scarlett. "Lock your armor, Scarlett!" He advised her.
Scarlett glanced over quickly and nodded. The Falcon hit the ground a few seconds later, and Jorge could do nothing but watch helplessly as Scarlett was thrown out of the Falcon and across the ground.
Jorge, himself, stayed in the Falcon. He grunted and pulled himself up, chucking his machine gun turret out, too. He quickly looked over to Scarlett, who appeared to be alright; she gently got back onto her feet and grabbed her guns, checking out her surroundings.
Jorge walked towards her and gently put his hand on her arm. "Are you alright?" He asked.
Scarlett nodded. "Just a little shaken up. Second crash like this today."
Jorge nodded. "I know," He quietly said. "I'm just glad you're alright."
Scarlett looked up at him and nodded. "Thank you."
Jorge smiled down at her before checking out the surroundings for himself. Two of the troopers, one of them being the pilot, lay on the ground, lifeless, killed from the impact of hitting the ground.
"Crews dead, we shouldn't stay here." He advised Scarlett, picking up his machine gun turret.
"Commander, we've got eyes on the spire," Jorge let Carter know. "Looks like a staging area."
"Copy, we have your visual," Carter replied. "Dot's working on the problem. Standby."
Scarlett and Jorge began to eliminate the hostiles surrounding the area. It was an easy job, just more grunts and jackals. They reached a hill overlooking the Spire, where a Phantom hovered above, dropping more troops off in.
"Noble Five," Dot spoke, completely ignoring Scarlett. "ONI believes those spires to be teleport terminals."
Scarlett smiled smugly. So she was right.
"Teleport?" Jorge asked skeptically. "Leading to what?"
"Frigate Grafton is inbound to destroy those spires, but first, we need to power down its shields." Carter informed both Scarlett and Jorge.
"Understood," Jorge replied. "Scarlett, I'll hold these bastards off. You just find a way to the top of the spire."
"Are you sure?" Scarlett asked, concerned. She didn't like leaving Jorge to take all the fire.
"I'm positive," Jorge responded. "I'll be fine. Command needs that spire's shields gone..." He hesitated for a moment. "Just be careful, okay?"
"You better be, too." Scarlett responded with a smile, before sprinting off to find a way in.
She was able to sneak around the Covenant, who were distracted by Jorge, and found a gravity lift taking her to the top.
The grunts were easily taken care of, but the Elite, who had been operating the command console, was an issue. He growled in complete anger at the sight of Scarlett and pulled out an energy sword, charging towards her. It wasn't long before the Elite caught up, but finally Scarlett killed it with a headshot. "Lieutenant, drop the shield and get outta there!" Carter ordered over COMMS.
Scarlett touched the hologram, and a hissing noise could be heard; the shields lowered, and she panicked, running onto the platform. There was a good distance between Scarlett and the Falcon, but she couldn't worry about that. She just focused on Jorge holding out his hand to her and made the jump.
She made it to the Falcon - barely.
Jorge grunted and pulled her into the Falcon. She sat next to Carter, leaning her head back on the seat in relief. Jorge had saved her.
"Get us outta here!" Carter ordered the pilot. "Control, this is Noble One," He spoke to UNSC control. "Spire one is free and you're clear to engage. Have a nice day."
Scarlett could tell from his last sentence that Carter was very happy with this outcome. It was odd; she'd never seem him like this.
"Copy that, Noble One. Be advised, all ground units: Frigate Three-One-Eight heavy is inbound, and MAC rounds have been authorized." Control replied.
"MAC rounds?!" Jorge questioned, shocked. "In atmosphere?!"
"One way to get their attention," Carter replied calmly. "Hang onto your teeth, people!"
Jorge, Scarlett and Carter all held on to the edge of their seats, watching the Grafton blow the spire to pieces.
But then, it all went wrong.
A cloaked super carrier had been hovering above the Grafton. It fired, ripping a massive hole through the middle of it.
"No...NO!" Jorge shouted. "Someone, tell me this ain't happening!"
Scarlett leaned out of the Falcon, trying to get a decent viewpoint.
"UNSC Frigate Grafton, do you copy?" Control asked.
"Grafton is gone, we need to get outta here now!" Carter shouted over COMMS.