Master Chief: *reads silver-teddy-1342's review and promptly goes silent*
Cortana: "Chief? Your eyes look like they're about to fall out your head."
Master Chief: *snarls at the computer*
Drajha-Lee: *stalks by, pauses to read* "What is the significance of… a cherry? And why does silver-teddy want yours to be… popped?"
Master Chief: *makes strangled sounds, gets up, and abruptly leaves the room*
Drajha-Lee: "…" *looks at Cortana's holo form* "Has the whole ship gone mad? I was in the hallway and was almost ambushed by two of my best, the Arbiter and Ghlariknee. And I swear I smelled a Brute."
*the Spartan's surprised shout echoes down the corridor, followed by gunfire*
Drajha-Lee: "…"
-o-o-o-
"Don't… do that… again." John snarled, his icy eyes spitting fury and outrage. But his body trembled ever so slightly, weakened from the unwanted pleasures. He could control a plasma sword as it sliced through foes, a rocket launcher locking onto a speeding ghost, a tank against a covenant drop ship. But he couldn't control his reaction to what the Brute was doing to him.
And though he would never admit it, it made him afraid.
Which only made him more angry at the loss of control.
"What? This?" Raido questioned innocently, stroking the imprisoned member once more.
The Brute's eyes narrowed as the Demon clenched his jaw, whatever sounds he would have made stifled behind an unmoving mouth. So the Demon wanted to play this game, did he? Well Raido was never one to refrain from cheating.
"You think you are so clever," Raido smirked, "but try silencing yourself when I do this."
The Brute's hand formed a tight tunnel, sliding torturously up and down the Spartan's rod at a quickened pace. The Chief only held out a few seconds before his body betrayed him once more. The movement sent sparks of pleasure jolting through him, his hips beginning to move and buck on their own. He could feel his body getting taut, his back arching off the ground.
His breath was ragged, gasping and moaning uncontrollably. His bound wrists struggled in the hold above his head, fists clenching.
"R-Raido -gah- STOP this!" Chief managed past the onslaught, voice shaky but determined.
"Hmm, no Demon. I have you right where I want you. You have been a plague, an unnecessary nuisance to our beloved Covenant for a long time now. It is so... satisfying to have you under my mercy. No Demon. I will not stop. In fact, I can do this all day. And all night as soon as I have you in my ship." The Brute said smugly.
The thought horrified the Chief to no end. He bit his lip, but only succeeded in muffling his cries of pleasure, rather than muting them altogether. He felt his end nearing, the Brute's triumph approaching, when the wonderfully unexpected happened.
The zing of a plasma blast pounding the turf next to them was followed by a seriously enraged Elite roaring, "RAIDO!"
Raido covered up his startled jump and slight fear with a disgruntled huff at being bothered. The Brute stopped his forced ministrations, looking up in irritation at the newcomers, "What?"
John didn't think he could be happier at seeing that furious scowl on Arbiter's face, only a yard or two away. His cobalt armor gleaming dangerously under the spotted shade of the trees. Ghlariknee had an equal amount of anger twisting his own crimson armored facial features, glancing worriedly at the him on the ground. It overrode any embarrassment at his predicament, just clutching at anything that could get him away from this beast.
"You threaten this truce with your unwelcome actions. Release the Demon and step away from him!" Arbiter demanded, Plasma Rifle aimed directly at the hairy Brute.
"Hmm. Weren't you doing just the same, disgraced one? Making unwelcome advances on our Demon, here?" Raido commented gruffly.
Arbiter bristled visibly.
But the Spartan jumped in with a hasty, "It wasn't unwelcome from *them*, Brute."
Three surprised pair of eyes turned to Demon.
"*THEM*?" Raido spat incredulously, raising his massive arm to wave towards the two Elites, releasing the Spartan's bound wrists in the process.
Big mistake.
Balling his bound hands into one huge fist, John sideswiped the Brute's temple, the result was as though someone had slammed a sledgehammer against the Covenant's face, the furry beast staggering dazedly to his feet. Master Chief flipped to his heels, following through with a round house kick to Raido's jaw. The crack resonated in the silent forest. The behemoth took another three steps back, eyes blinking rapidly to shake his sudden bout of dizziness.
But Chief stepped it up, going inside the kill box to slam his fists upwards against the Brute's jugular. As Raido gasped, one hand to his throat and wondering why it was so difficult to breath, the Spartan looped his bound hands around one massive arm, launching himself up and over, using his momentum from the swing to bring the behemoth down, his enhanced Spartan genetics and augmentations adding ten times more force than that of a normal human. The ground shuddered at the forced shifting of weight.
When Raido was fallen forward to one knee, Chief shoved a heel against the back of the shaggy shoulder, shoving the Brute's face to the ground as he prepped the big arm for one final move. With a tightened grip and a large twist, he still detected the slight pop above Raido's agonized roar of pain.
The Spartan had successfully twisted limb from stubborn socket, dislocating the other's shoulder. Their anatomy was similar, but with the denser bone mass and strength of the Brute's form, Master Chief had somehow believed it should've been harder.
Feeling his job was done, Master Chief released the useless arm, straightening to cast his gaze back and sideways to the two impressed Sanghelli warriors. The Spartan grinned, not knowing just how dazzling it was to the Elites. Not only had they never truly had the chance to really observe his face, but they could never have pictured such a self satisfied smirk to cross the Demon's features.
The Chief turned and started walking to them when barked laughter came unexpectedly from behind him. He paused, startled. He had just given the Brute a pounding, and Raido was laughing?
He almost wished he hadn't turned, that milky white eye and darkened black casting a gaze that yearned to enslave the Chief. That gruff voice flowed as smooth as grated flakes off boulders, "If that's what you're like with foreplay, I wonder what it would be like to sample the main course."
The Spartan watched, incredulous, as the Brute staggered to his feet. One massive arm dangled useless, but the other was still just as dangerous.
"Keep wondering." Chief said in clipped tones, eyeing the other suspiciously before turning to resume walking towards the two.
The Arbiter was still glaring at the Brute, but his weapon was cast lazily on his shoulder, realizing what he knew all along. The Demon could take care of himself. Ghlariknee looked more worried, of the three, but hid it well. However, even before their faces flashed with alarm, he could tell something was happening behind him as he heard a rustling of movement.
With strength born of resolve and determination, the Spartan flexed his chest and arms enough to snap the rope binding his wrists, pivoting to deliver a final, devastating fist to Raido's jaw in a brutal uppercut. The sound of bone to bone resounded within the shady forest, the Brute flying soundlessly in the air before crumpling into an unconscious heap on the ground.
Without a second glance back, the Spartan grabbed his gear from the tree top and the ones offered by the mute Elites, calling over his shoulder when they didn't budge, "Well, are you guys comin' or not? We have a ship to fix."
The two warriors exchanged amused and astonished glances, before following the human. Did nothing ever phase the Demon?
-o-o-o-
-::That was quite the afternoon for you, Chief::- Cortana commented, a smile in her voice.
"Hm." John grunted in assent, absently taking apart his assault rifle and cleaning it. Pointless really, as he had run out of clips for it ages ago. But it was mindless work, and exactly what he needed, muscle memory going through the motions automatically, "Don't know what you're so amused about."
-::Well, I knew you were a super soldier. Didn't realize you were a super stud too::- Cortana joked, barely keeping from cracking up.
"Funny." John said dryly, but couldn't help cracking a grin.
The AI knew him too well.
-::Too bad we didn't stick around. What a girl wouldn't give to see a Brute get the living daylights beat right outta 'im. Hmm, how do you think the reunion will go?::- Cortana mused out loud.
"One thing at a time." John said, with the all-consuming patience that he had built for Cortana.
-::You know, how is it you're not more upset? With all you've been through-::-
"Cortana."
-::-The fall. The allegiance switching. The interest from the Elites-::-
"*Cortana*."
-::-well, let's face it. MORE than interest. From the Arbiter AND Ghlariknee. And then that short mess with RAIDO-::-
"Okay. Thank you. For accounting all the good and bad things -er, mostly bad things, but I would just like to sit here and do *nothing* for a moment, if you could-"
-::Stop mentioning it?::- Cortana chuckled.
"Yes."
-::Got it Chief. Although... *technically* you ARE doing somethi-::-
"Cortana?"
-::Shutting up now::-
"Thank you."
-o-o-o-
Chief was wandering the corridor of the ship, when he noticed a large room near the end of it. When he paused at the doorway, hand itching for his sidearm as it normally would in unfamiliar terrain, he heard a large shuffling inside.
He nearly started when he saw the Hunter's lumbering approach, before reminding himself, once again, that they were allies now.
The massive beast looked at him mutely, gauging him, almost. In the large room the former Covenant still managed to make it look quite small in comparison, the tip of his deadly spikes mere feet away from the ceiling.
"Lum, was it?" Chief started unsurely, he waved towards the large standing glass tube that held his bond brother, "What happened to your friend there?"
The Hunter's wail was hull shaking, the big guy obviously distressed. The Spartan had taken a step back in reflex, half expecting an attack.
"The Flood abominations." An Elite voice answered from behind John.
Master Chief turned, not realizing the Arbiter had been there. Was the other following him?
Instead of attacking that issue, Master Chief turned to look between both Hunter and Elite, "Mind if I..." He gestured towards the unconscious warrior in the tube.
Arbiter glanced at Lum, who merely huffed.
In turn, Arbiter shrugged, "We have no issues with such a request. Lum here is Ghlariknee's old friend. He is grateful you kept that Mist Creature from taking him."
"I should be thanking him, for saving our hides." Chief said with a nod in Lum's direction.
The Hunter trilled.
Chief gave another nod before traveling the short distance to the tube, the large Renegade suspended eerily in the pink liquid, all sorts of tubes sticking out of his body. You could see the small chunks that the Flood forms had tried to eat and burrow their way in.
"Cortana, you think you can-"
-::Take a quick peek? Would be delighted to::- Cortana responded with a smile, appearing in holo form as he pulled out her chip and hovered it before the tubing.
"We've managed to take out all the hell spawn flood that tried to infect Lum's brother, but he still refuses to recover." Arbiter offered, as he watched with interest as the tiny AI pressed her palms against the glass.
-::Scanning::- Cortana said aloud, eyes briefly closing as she went over the thousands of bits of data streaming in within a matter of seconds.
Chief turned his head slightly when he noticed the big Hunter looming worriedly over his shoulder.
There was a tense moment of silence.
-::Ah, I think I can be of assistance::- Cortana spoke lightheartedly, opening her eyes to spin and face the three pairs of eyes, hands twining pleased behind the small of her back. She smiled first at John before sweeping her gaze to the cobalt-clad Sanghelli, -::I have been working on a prototype, messing around with millions of equations since we first discovered the Flood on Halo. I have eliminated hundreds of billions of possibilities, but have narrowed it down now to a few dozen or so. With the equipment I've scanned on board, there is one formula we may be able to replicate. No, Arbiter, Chief did not know I did that, and no, glaring at him will only make him shrug. Like he just did there::-
"So what are you saying, AI?" The Arbiter trailed slowly, hoping against hope, after exchanging confused glances with the Demon.
-::What the Flood do is attack an organism, take over its basic motor functions, target each cell and atom until it converts the prey's very tissue and flesh into its own ravenous form. You did a very good job at scraping out the bugs. The eggs. Almost everything. But the infection had already set into the Hunter's flesh. He's not healing, because he's converting as we speak::-
Lum gave a distressed roar, shoving the Demon and the AI out of the way to pound at the tube, nearly cracking the surface.
"Cortana, wrap it up." Master Chief warned, after Arbiter rushed forward to catch him, stopping them both from crashing head long into an empty tube.
He tried to ignore the heat of the Elite's touch, as he waited for Cortana to finish.
Cortana held her hands placatingly towards the Hunter, looking deep into his mourning eyes as she said, -::Look, what I'm trying to say is I may have developed a prototype to cure what is mutating his flesh. To target the Flood infection at its most basic form. Down to the grain of a molecule. It is just a prototype. And we'll have to make adjustments to a few things. But what I'm saying, is we may have a chance to save your friend. But it's risky::-
Lum looked with a quizzical gaze at the Arbiter still crouched over the Chief, still holding him from when they had both fallen. The Hunter made a troubled rumble from his throat, quills rattling in agitation. Cortana, still shimmering in the upturned palm of the Spartan's hand, glanced back at the two warriors before turning back to Lum. Attention full on him as his was on her.
-::It'll accelerate the conversion process, but will draw out the infection and kill it... should the formula work. It's a 50-50 shot basically. Either he converts, or we save him. I... didn't want to keep that from you::- She gave the big Hunter a moment to let that sink in, before offering, -::Since this is your brother we're talking about, it is your choice::-
Lum gave a hollow moan, trumping over a step or two to his dormant brother, large hand raking delicately against the glass. With one long look, he finally turned to nod in Cortana's direction.
-::All right::- Cortana cracked her knuckles, -::Let's get started. Chief?::-
The Spartan was glad for the excuse to quickly extract himself from the Sanghelli's hold, not wanting to move for fear of upsetting the mourning brother earlier.
He popped her chip into the port of the tube, the liquid inside immediately churning and bubbling as the AI set things in motion.
They all stood there a moment, watching.
But then Arbiter was there, large hand gently taking the Chief's elbow. At the glance from that gold visor, Thel rumbled, "It is... best if we leave them alone."
"Cortana?" Chief asked hesitantly.
-::Working Chief. You boys go play. Got enough to worry about with big deadly over there watching my every move::-
The Spartan nodded, reluctantly allowing the Arbiter to pull him out of the room. When they were out in the corridor, Chief noticed the grip still on his arm.
"Where we going?" John asked pointedly, not one for beating around the bush.
"We... need to discuss some matters." The Arbiter responded, smirking at the Chief's forwardness.
"Okay, let's talk. Why can't we do this in the hall?" Chief asked, and shrugging his captive elbow, "And why do you need to hold my hand for this?"
"The matters I wish to discuss are of a more private nature. And with your previous regard for flight, it is best I 'hold your hand' so to speak."
Feeling less and less at ease, Master Chief asked slowly, "Uh, what are you-"
Before anything else could happen, the Spartan found himself shoved into a room, the door sliding shut behind the Arbiter.
With a sinking feeling, he saw that they were not alone. Ghlariknee stood there, waiting.