Chapter 3: A New Life

For supper that night Johnson had anticipated John's arrival so he went to the city and got some burgers and hot dogs for the group to enjoy. They all sat in their shared backyard as Johnson grilled the food everyone began to catch up with each other. "So Chief" Miranda began "I hear you and Cortana took down the Didact single handily." In his deep voice John replied "I was only doing what I do best and I have done for years." Johnson kicked in from the background "You're too damn modest! You have saved humanity what? Three times now?" Cortana commented "Not on his own you know!"
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"Oh of course Cortana I know you helped just as much!" Johnson replied quickly not wanting to offend her. They small talked for a little while then the food was ready and they all sat down to eat when Cortana said "Man I can't wait till I can enjoy food like this in a week." "Cortana what do you mean you're an AI" Miranda stated. "She is probably getting that new body transfer business, when they can move a AI into a human" Johnson replied. "Yes that's correct Johnson and I can't wait to be able to physically hug all of you for everything you have done to help me."

"Wow! That's amazing! Cortana we are going to have so much to do together!" Miranda said in an excited voice. "I'm very much looking forward to that Miranda" Said Cortana smiling. Johnson grunted "Girls". Chief laughed as he took a drink from his beer. He then commented to Johnson "Haven't those cigars damaged your insides yet Johnson?" "Well" Johnson began as he pulled out another cigar from his unlimited stash "When I got back from the war I went to med bay to get checked out and they told me both my lungs were given out." "So" He said as he pulled out a lighter "They used some of that fancy medical stuff they have now and gave me two new lungs!"

"Two new lungs to ruin" said Miranda. Cortana then said "When I get my new body you won't be smoking around me! I will treat my body like it's made of pure gold." "Speaking of your new body where do you plan on living when you get it Cortana?" Miranda said. "Oh I haven't actually thought of that." Cortana said with a frown. "Well we have three mansions big enough to fit the entire covenant race into so I'm sure you can find a home." Johnson said with a grunt. "Chiefs is the biggest why don't you use one of his many bedrooms?" Miranda offered.

"John is that OK?" Cortana asked. "Of course Cortana" John answered kindly. Over the next week they spent time together almost every day. John often thought back to sharing a home with Cortana but he just thought of it like her being inside his armor like she was the last 7 years. Nothing different. Johnson managed to keep them entertained every night with poker games swimming in their shared pool or going for rides on the mongooses. John couldn't remember the last time he rode on a warthog or mongoose without being shot at. But on the fourth day of his new life John sat down in his massive theater room to watch some TV. He found it very relaxing to be able to just sit and watch for a few hours.

Cortana's hologram also watched with him. Everyday seemed to go by so slow for Cortana because she was going to become human in 2 days! Doctor Halsey called John on his new phone a few hours earlier and John took it out of his pocket and tried to figure out how to answer it. Eventually Cortana just went into his phone and answered for him "Hello?" John said into his phone, on the other end Halsey replied "John? I have good news the clone body for Cortana is coming along very well and will be ready in 2 more days. Now I have to finish making the area for us to enter her chip so it may transfer to the human brain." "Great Doctor thanks for the update we will see you in 2 days" and he ended the call. Cortana had the biggest smile he thought he had ever seen he have when he got off the phone.

The next few days flew by as Cortana's boredom slowly left since she was anticipating getting her new body. Finally the day had come the night before John, Miranda and Johnson had kept to themselves to take a break and Cortana hardly left John alone long enough for him to get four hours of sleep.

At 7:30 AM Cortana was waking John he moaned and turned back over while saying "Cortana shh i'm trying to sleep." Cortana repeated the process over and over and started to get irritated that Chief didn't care enough to get out of bed.

Finally half an hour later John was up and dressed and ready to leave. He had gotten dressed in a navy blue t-shirt and khaki shorts. As John put Cortana's chip into his dashboard they started up a conversation

"By the end of the day i will be sitting next to you in the car." "Yes Cortana I am very happy for you this will be a big change to how we live." "But for the better" Cortana finished. Roughly an hour later they had arrived to the outskirts of the city and were going over the bridge when a car from the other side of the divider jerked across the road slamming into a public bus filled with people.

Cortana gasped as John barely jerked his sports car out of harms way onto the sidewalk. He immediately left the car and rushed to help the victims. He first saw that the car that caused the collision had five passengers. One was a middle aged male and another was a middle aged woman. But as for the other three there were 2 infants twins he assumed and a teenager. The man in the front seat was seemly unconscious and the woman was trying to get her kids out of the back but was trapped by the malfunctioning seat belt.

He sprinted over to the woman and grabbed the seat belt and ripped it out of the car using his massive strength from being a Spartan. After she was free he ran to the mans side unbuckled him and carried him to safety. He then returned to the woman and helped her get her children out. Finally the family of five was out of harms way he went to inspect the bus.

He sensed no immediate danger as he approached the bus. Then Cortana screamed "JOHN WATCH OU-" cut off by an explosion that rocked the bridge itself. Master Chief watched in horror as the public bus full of people exploded. He was then thrown against a taxi ten or so feet away denting the car with his impact. He was knocked unconscious for a few minutes waking to Cortana's voice yelling "John can you hear me?!JOHN!" "Cortana im here, im here" "Oh my gosh John i thought i lost you. I saw the fuel that leaked from the bus ignite but I was too late to warn you." "All those people..." Cortana trailed off on her last sentence.

The fire ships and trucks arrived moments later. But Chief was already gone. He had returned to his car and gone through the traffic slowly continuing on his journey he had first planned. "John...Those people are gone...Do you realize that?" "Yes Cortana i do. But i tried all i could to rescue them and I couldn't. Nothing could have saved them from that fate and i do mourn their lost lives to an accident like that but i am a Spartan and we realize these things happen." Cortana at first thought Chief wasn't being as sympathetic as he should in this situation but then she realized he was right. He was raised to be a warrior and part of being a warrior was death.

They soon arrived at Halsey's office within the next twenty minutes and walked in. Halsey's assistant greeted them with a smile. "Hello Master Chief and Cortana please have a seat and the Doctor will be with you soon. They sat in the small waiting room when they heard the TV "A massive car accident between a families SUV and a public bus happened just moments ago. Lets go to Frank Torrez who is live at the scene." "Thanks Veronica i am here with the mother of the family and she claims that a mysterious friendly giant saved her and her families life." "Thats right Frank a man of a height of probably more than 7 feet ripped the seat belt right out of the car and saved all my family. He was about to go for the bus to save them as well when the explosion of the bus threw him out of my sight. I ran to where i saw him fall but he wasn't there...I only found a large dent in a taxi cab."

"Wow well you heard it here folks this is Frank Torrez here signing off." Cortana appeared next to him "Wow John what you did back there really was something. No one else lifted a finger to help them." "I only did what i do best Cortana." Halsey then entered the room with a large smile on her face "Hello both of you come with me i have something to show you!" "They walked into the back room and found a table with a cloth covering it. But something was obviously under it...Cortana was under it. "Doctor is this my body?" Cortana asked "Yes Cortana this is it would you like to see it?" Cortana nodded furiously with her eyes glued on the table.

Doctor Halsey then walked over to the table and removed the cloth covering the clone. Cortana's new body was basically an exact replica as her hologram image. She imagined it was a younger Doctor Halsey considering Cortana had been created from Doctor Halseys DNA. The body had flawless skin and a normal sized nose, ears, and mouth. The one thing that really stuck out was the clones hair. It had a black primary color with purple lightning bolts moving through it. It was beautiful as well as intimidating.

Cortana's image appeared "Doctor...This is amazing! I can't believe that's me!" "Thank you Cortana i just used your hologram image as a base then added in human features like the brain and organs." Doctor Halsey's assistant Danny commented "Mmmm...I agree very good work Doctor." All of the people in the room gave him a disapproving glance including John.

"Well Cortana im going to extract your chip and insert it into the back of the clones head. How this works is there is a slot which AI's chips are inserted and then i begin the transfer process. The chip then bonds with the brain and human body eventually creating a human brain. There are much more complicated terms but that's unnecessary."

"Doctor i am ready as soon as we can begin" Cortana said eagerly. The Doctor made her way to where Cortana's chip rested when John stopped her "Doctor Halsey is there any risk for this transfer?" The doctor paused where she was as she chose her words carefully. "Test Subject 01" Was her only answer. The other assistants in the room looked at her intrigued. Even Danny managed to pry his eyes off soon to be Cortana to hear further into the subject. "Please continue" John prodded.

"About a year or two ago I began to research this subject after i saw many of the AI's i made in the past fall to rampancy." The Doctor paused with a pained look on her face. "Soon i thought i had the procedure down to a 100% success. I even ran simulations on a program i made for this purpose." A cloud of tension built-in the room as they waited for the Doctor to continue on her story.

"So i made a AI named...Tom for this transfer alone. He was my best work besides you Cortana. I spent months slaving over his chip and his clone. The clone was especially hard for me since it was my first attempt ever. About a half-year later i finished Tom. He was immensely intelligent so i had him run test over the transfer i was going to do on him. He also agreed with me that this procedure was full proof." She paused again gathering her thoughts

"The next day i finished the clone and inserted his chip. I had no clue what to expect. From my suspicions i thought he was going to wake up in the clone as if from a afternoon nap...I was wrong. I initiated the transfer and i saw on my moniter screens that the chip had begun to bond with the body and brain to form a full functioning human body. I waited..and waited minutes turned into hours then i fell asleep and awoke to mumbling."

The suspense to what the doctor was about to say cause a cloud of mixed emotion to fill the room. Everyone was on their toes. Even John. "I rushed over to Toms new bodies side and i asked him if he could hear me. Tom kept repeating "The light...The light is so bright...Return to darkness...Darkness makes me stronger..." then a few minutes later all life left the body. Tom was gone along with all the work i had put into those years preparing for that moment..."

Everyone was still in the room. A mask of emotion threating to take over the Doctor crossed her face. John didn't know what to say. So Cortana said something instead "Doctor when does my transfer begin." everyone's mouth in the room dropped. Except the Spartan who kept his usual stoic countenance. "Cortana.." Halsey began "You know the risk yet you are positive you want to continue?" Cortana nodded "Yes what other choice do i have? I will fall to rampancy within the next few months. Doctor...please start my transfer." As she said those last words she glanced over at her teammate and companion...and best friend. He said nothing but gave her an encouraging nod.

No words were said as the Doctor walked slowly over to the chip removing it and walking over to the clone. Cortana then appeared saying to everyone "See you on the other side." Then the doctor entered the chip and tapped a few times on her screen initiating the transfer. Memories of what happened the first time rushed back to the Doctor but she pushed them away.

Cortana felt nothing. No thoughts no emotion nothing. She was in a dark room on a cold floor. Then a pixellated sun began to rise but the light did not spread. It was as if the light was glowing... She walked towards the light oblivious to how long she was doing so. As soon as she took her first step she started to feel weaker and more...human. She was not thinking straight and immediately took a step back...and another...the darkness made her strong.

Well guys that's Chapter 3! I know there's a cliff hanger but don't worry i never kill off characters and if Cortana died it would make for a CortanaXJohn novel eh? But i want to thank my first follower/favorite sierra617. Im very happy also to receive reviews thanks to everyone that reads. I already started chapter 4 and by the way i typed this in notepad because i havent had a chance to get microsoft office yet on my new laptop so bear with me on the typos. Anyway dont forget to leave reviews i will reply to everyone thanks again :) til next time

~Avery/Meracis