Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Tomb Raider. Halo belongs to Bungie or 343 Industries now, Tomb Raider belongs to Crystal Dynamics
Chapter 4: Sleep Well?
*In the cryo room aboard the Forward Unto Dawn*
It was cold, his senses were numb. Drawing in a deep breath, he filled his chest with icy cold air.
"Chief, can you hear me?" a familiar voice asked.
Cortana?
Blinking rapidly, his vision began to clear as memories began to return. The Ark, Johnson, the firing of Halo and the escape on the Forward Unto Dawn.
Did we make it?
"Chief, your vitals are okay. I need you to focus. Someone's here to see us."
How long was I in?
He squeezed his eyes shut, reveling in the dull relief that it offered. Opening his eyes again, his vision began to clear as he took in the whole view before him. Someone was in front of his tube. She was in her twenties, had brown hair tied into a pony tail and curious but weary eyes staring at him. Her clothing of boots, tank top and shorts left little to the imagination, revealing her slender and athletically frame.
Her gloved hands hovered closely to the pistols in her thigh holsters, indicating years of experience. But her body language was not hostile. He doubted she was an Insurrectionist, but then again, that was how terror cells worked, they did things that were unexpected.
"Popping the tube in five seconds, Chief," Cortana said. "Trust me on this."
A slow hiss rippled from the bottom of the tube as the hatch slid open. Stepping out onto the metal desk, a fine mist of condense air flowed out onto the metal grating. The woman in front of him took a step back, allowing him room to bring himself to his full height.
John could see something in her. But it wasn't fear. Surprise maybe, but fear wasn't something he'd describe her reaction.
He watched as she ran her eyes up and down his towering armored frame, eyeing him with caution.
"Cortana, who is this?" his deep voice emitted through the speakers in his armor.
The A.I's light blue, holographic lips, but the stranger stepped forward.
"My name is Lara Croft. Your 'friend' contacted me, saying you needed help."
The super soldier looked to A.I. and she nodded her head in agreement.
"I didn't have control and the power was running very low. I needed her to activate the tube so you can stay alive." Cortana lied. She could have activated the cryo-tube anytime, but she needed Lara to complete her plan.
He glanced at the woman.
"Thanks," he muttered
She waved off the gratitude and eyed from helmet to boots.
"That armor, where'd you get it?"
"It's an extra-atmospheric suit designed to be worn in orbital environments deemed extremely hazardous due to excessive radiation bombardment and debris," the AI answered with a white lie.
The Master Chief glanced at Cortana. He caught the fib, but he wondered why lie? Was she an Innie? Insurrectionists would have heard of him. Or was she one of the colonists from worlds that had hid themselves while the war waged all around them.
"Long story short, Chief," Cortana's voice rang over the private channels. "We're on a twenty-first century Earth. Take that as you will."
"Where's you're SOS?" The tomb raider questioned, so that she would know that the person could get home safely and she herself can get on with her own mission.
The Spartan raised his helmet to look back at the woman before him.
"No." Chief replied in his usual monotone and gravelly voice.
"Then how do you plan on getting back?" Lara's brow furrowed in slight annoyance.
"Actually, I was hoping to discuss that with you." Cortana interjected.
...
Lara Croft turned her attention to the female A.I. with her hands on her hips. She didn't say anything, but Cortana knew that she was listening.
"Well like what the big guy said, we can't contact our anyone, so we have no way of getting back to our organization." Cortana informed.
The globetrotter got slightly angry, though she did not show it physically. She knew where the conversation was heading, she knew what the computer was going to ask. But Lara was too disciplined to act on her anger, so she let Cortana finish.
"I was thinking that by some chance, you could let my friend go with you." The A.I. stated.
"Look I don't want to offend you and your friend, but I don't think he could keep up with me. I'm not exactly your typical archeologist on a fun hitch hike. I go on dangerous excavations in ancient ruins and temples built by extinct civilizations that are always life threatening. Your friend will only get killed and slow me down."
Cortana silently chuckled.
If you only knew what John could do. She mused herself in thought.
"I can see where you're coming from. I can assure you that he is not your average soldier either. He was taught by the greatest professionals that the world could offer. He was trained in ways that I cannot even disclose with you. His kind is the best at what they do, and he is the best of his kind."
Lara placed her hands on the terminal that was occupied by the Smart A.I. She leaned down to eye level and sent a glare to Cortana, to show that she stood her ground.
"I don't need a soldier."
"Oh, but I think you do Miss Croft."
Lara bit the inside of her cheek, the A.I. was starting to get on her nerves. However the young adventuress didn't show any sign of curiosity as it would have been a weakness to exploit on her end. But she let Cortana continue.
"There are several mercenaries located on this mountain, each armed with a lethal weapon, and ready to kill. Whatever you are looking for, they are looking for the same thing and they are fully capable killing to get what they want."
"I can very well handle myself. I had fought against odds far worse." she declared. She had killed men before and didn't need a bodyguard; not now or ever.
"Then let him help you, he can handle himself quite well too. And it might be the safest option for him to go with you as climbing down a mountain without any gear is not exactly safe. Besides this would be a great opportunity for him to repay you for helping him." Cortana argued.
Lara sighed with frustration, and pinched her fingers between her brow. She couldn't help, but to agree to the super computer's logic.
"You're not going to make this any easier are you?" Lara questioned.
"Nope." Cortana said, hands folded behind her back, resisting the urge to flash a mischievous smile.
Lara let go of the terminal and let out a tired sigh.
"Fine, your friend can come with me. But he better bloody well not slow me down."
"Thank you, Miss Croft. I promise, you won't regret it."
"If you don't mind I have a few things to do on my own, so can we hurry this up?" Lara said impatiently.
"I need to grab a few things." Chief said, ingoring the nod form the tomb raider, as he walked to the terminal that Cortana was on.
John pulled out a small chip from the back of his helmet and brought it close to the holographic avatar. Cortana shrank and then disappeared from the pedestal. The chip in Chief's hand glowed a brighter blue color, and he inserted it into the back of his helmet. A familiar cooling sensation washed over his body.
"Ah... its good to be back in here, Chief." Cortana said within the Spartan armor.
The Spartan then walked to the tube and picked up the MA5C Assault Rifle that he put on the rack, before he went to sleep in cryo. Finally the Master Chief proceeded to the armory to grab a few more weapons.
*Armory of the Forward Unto Dawn*
The Spartan picked up a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and slung it over his shoulder, attaching the UNSC weapon to the magnetic plates on his back.
"Can we really trust her?" John asked Cortana.
"She seems trustworthy. I browsed through her files, before she came into the Dawn. From what I read, she really is quite unique. Here I will transfer them to your armor."
Chief scanned over her files on his HUD, just like Cortana did. It didn't take long for the super soldier to search through the information sent to him.
"She seems… alright." Chief said as he picked up two frag grenades, two plasma grenades, two spike grenades, and two incendiary grenades.
Though he won't say it out loud, he was pretty impressed when he looked at Lara's files. The tomb raider had shown exceptional talent and skill throughout her entire life, and survived through difficult if not impossible situations for a normal human being.
"You've got to admit, if she was in our reality she would be a good candidate for the Spartan program." she said honestly.
He didn't respond to the comment that brushed closely to home, but merely move to a new topic.
"What was the lie you told her?" he asked as he picked up a Bubble Shield.
"I told her that we and the crew on this ship were a part of a secret government project to attempt long distance space travel for the United States on this experimental ship the Forward Unto Dawn. Our ship malfunctioned and crash landed here. Most of the crew is dead, except you and me."
"Not bad." he complemented as he picked up a M6G Magnum sidearm and attached it to his side.
"Don't bring half the ship with us, Chief. We will come back later. I'll a copy of me to fly us a Pelican to pick us up, when we're finished." The A.I. said.
"Can we leave the ship unprotected like this?"
"I have a solution. Ten deactivated Sentinels are on the ship, with Spark gone, I can rewrite their code so that they shoot anything on sight. They must have been left behind from the Ark. I think they were deactivated, when the Halo Installation fell apart back o the Ark. Once we leave, my copy will lockdown all areas of the frigate so nobody can break in. They'll keep the place nice and tidy until we get back." Cortana reassured the Master Chief.
He didn't respond, instead he grabbed various ammo and spare clips for the guns he was bringing.
"Look, I know we could be doing some other things like finding our way back home, but this Lara Croft needs our help. Some mercenaries are here and they will shoot on sight. Besides we are in the 21st century, and I would like to check out the ruins here. Can't you show a girl a good time?" she teased.
He shifted his gaze to the floor. He knew that he was alone on the strange world in a different universe, he didn't have his Spartan brothers and sisters like Kelly or Fred. No commanding officers of the UNSC like Lord Terrence Hood or any Marines. Not even the Arbiter who was on the front half of the Forward Unto Dawn when it split. The only one that John had was Cortana, his closest friend of all, who might be on her last moments of life before she thinks herself to death. And then he would have nobody, he would be all alone.
He finished gathering the ammo and stood there with thought on the situation. He was in the 21st century with more than likely no way home through this era's technology. He also didn't want to get an innocent woman killed, and he knew he could prevent it. He could help the tomb raider out, he had plenty of time to kill.
The super soldier went over to another rack and saw a Type-1 Energy Sword.
Must've been left behind by an Elite. he thought to himself.
He picked up the Sangheili weapon and examined it. Knowing from personal expeirence how deadly it was, he knew it would come in handy. He attached to it to his side like the handgun.
"Okay, we'll help her, and then maybe we can get into contact with the military." Chief said as he began walking back to the globetrotter's position.
"Thanks Chief. And who knows... maybe she can help us out in some way."
...
The A.I. and the Spartan walked through the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn to meet up with the female explorer. They first checked the cryo-room, where Lara Croft was last seen. But when the metallic doors swished opened, both only saw an empty room.
"She's gone." Sierra-117 stated in a monotone voice.
"Have a little more faith in her, Chief. She more than likely got cold in the cryo-room, and then moved to another room to warm up." Cortana reassured.
He couldn't help, but to agree to her logic for she has never steered him wrong. If it were any other person, Cortana wouldn't have let anyone aboard the, Forward Unto Dawn, from the likelihood of someone stealing their technology and information. But she seemed to put a lot of trust in this tomb raider and the A.I. had great talent for choosing people; it was how he and Cortana first met and became the unbreakable pair they were today. So, if Cortana trusted Lara, then maybe he should too.
The Spartan's boot clanked through the cryo-room with every step. When John reached the door on the other side, the mechanical door slid open, and there he saw, Lara. She stood in the room, with her hands running up and down her slender arms to conserve some heat. Cortana was right once again.
The young female adventurer turned and dropped her arms to her sides when she saw the seven foot, green armored goliath enter the room.
"Took your sweet time, didn't you." Lara joked with a smirk, but then saw that the guy was armed to the teeth and she asked, "Any reason why an exploration group is carrying strange weapons?"
Chief walked up to her with his UNSC MA5C Assault Rifle in his hands.
"You never know what you are going to find out there." he replied.
That statement rung true, but it was still disturbing. What kind of deep space expedition required the crew to be armed with military grade weapons?
Does he mean aliens? Lara thought as it was the one thing that she has never met on her excavations. She then shrugged off the preposterous thought as it seemed too out of the ordinary.
"Are you ready to go?" she asked. She looked deep into the man's visor to see a facial expression... or really even a face. But all she could she was a golden reflection of herself in the visor.
There was a brief moment of silence, but he nodded his head.
"Yeah."
"Alright, let's go." Lara stated. She couldn't help but to smile since she was finally leaving the strange wrecked ship that kind of gave her the creeps.
They walked through the back half of the UNSC ship the Forward Unto Dawn, with Master Chief not far behind the globetrotter. With each room that the pair left, the lights slowly died down to reserve whatever remaining power was left.
They had nearly left the crashed warship, but stopped when something caught the Spartan's eye on the floor. On the ground was the M363 Remote Projectile Detonator, otherwise known as the Sticky Detonator or Rocket Pistol.
Lara sensed that the green armored figure was not behind her, so she looked over her shoulder to check on the man. She saw that the person had indeed stopped and was looking at the same gun with the strange muzzle that she picked up earlier. Her curiosity and adventuress side was dying to know what the strange gun actually was, and no doubt he would know what it was. But she had to think rationally, since she was in a hurry to find the stone dias. She did not have time to ask many questions.
"Is everything alright?" Lara questioned with great patience.
"Yes." he simply replied.
The super soldier bent down on one knee and picked up the Rocket Pistol.
"Do we need to wait a while longer?" The adventuress asked, when she turned to face the armored person as he examined the pistol.
"No. You can go on ahead, I will only be a minute." the Master Chief said when he looked at Lara, but then directed his attention back to the Sticky Detonator.
"Okay, but don't take too long. I don't have a lot of time on my hands. I'll be right outside."
Lara informed and then turned and walked away to leave the ship.
"We can't keep her waiting. She said she was on a tight schedule."
"I know." The Spartan said in his usual gravelly voice.
"Are you thinking about bringing the Rocket Pistol?"
"Maybe."
"Well we can go back to th..." Cortana did not finish her sentence. "Chief! We got five contacts outside of the torn section of the Dawn!"
"Miss Croft is out there."
"We got to get out there! Hurry!" The A.I. exclaimed.
In an instant John turned and sprinted off in the direction Lara Croft went, with Cortana shouting one more command that echoed through the halls of the UNSC warship.
"Move, Spartan!"
*Somewhere close by the Forward Unto Dawn a few minutes earlier*
Two mercenaries for hire were on patrol. One of them was named Butch and the other Gary. They were your average, white American mercenaries, hired by a Senator's son named James Rutland. Both of them had dark hair, wore dark sunglasses, and with brown jackets and brown pants. A lot of the mercenaries had to dress alike, since it was one of Rutland's weird requests. It might have been to make Rutland seem more organized and authoritative, but no one knew for sure. The patrol was pretty boring and dull until that boredom made one of them speak.
"Hey," Butch started.
"Yeah?" Gary replied.
"You've ever wondered why we're here." Butch asked.
Gary turned to his comrade, "It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it. Why are we here? I mean are we the product of some cosmic coincidence? Is there really a God, watching over everything, you know with a plan for us and some stuff? I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night."
Butch's expression soured and sighed as he just shook his head, until he broke the silence.
"What? I mean why are we in here, patrolling mountains? "
"Oh…uh…yeah." Gary said.
"What was all that stuff about God?" Butch asked.
"Oh…uh… nothing."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No." Gary simply said.
"You sure?" Butch tried to get him to talk.
"Yeah." Gary shook his head up and down.
"Seriously why are we here? Far as I can tell we're looking for nothing. "Butch stated.
"Hmm-hmm." Gary agreed.
"Who would climb all the way up here and fight through guys like us, to just explore ruins that is probably filled with booby-traps guarding dust and dead bodies. Butch explained.
'What's up with that anyway? Wouldn't it be better if we were all in one place? Someone could kill us and nobody would even know. " Gary commented.
The walkie talkies in the pockets of the mercs went off. The two mercenaries quickly reached for their pockets and pulled out their communication devices and pressed them close to their ears. The mercenaries' boss, James Rutland, voice came through their radio with some slight static.
"Hey boys, can you go take care of a couple of tourists? They are close by, hiding in an old building up here in the mountain from an older exploration group. Now we don't need them poking around here. So, take care of them."
Butch brought the radio right up to his mouth,
"Right away Mr. Rutland." He then turned to Gary. "Hey let's get Dwayne, Rick, and Bob, I bet they'll want a piece of the action too."
"Heh, good call." Gary commented with a chuckle.
It only took a few moments for Gary to run and return with three other men dressed just like them.
"Hey, what's this about, Butch?" Rick, a blond merc asked.
"Rutland wants us to go and 'take care' of a few people on the mountain near the ruins." Butch informed with emphases on, take care.
"Oh hell yeah! Finally something to do on this god forsaken mountain!" Dwayne, a skinny, black male, basically bouncing with joy.
"Don't you guys think it's kind of weird that Rutland only called you two? Shouldn't he told all of us about some intruders? And how exactly would Rutland know that there are other people on the mountain? He's in the ruins with his weird goth girlfriend." Bob, a white male with a shaved head asked, while he scratched his bald head with curiosity.
The other four mercenaries turned and looked at Bob in silence, until Gary voiced what they all thought.
"Uhh... who the fuck cares?"
"Yeah, Bob. I'd rather shoot somebody than sit on my ass all day." Dwayne rudely commented which made Bob slump his shoulders sadly, which caused the others to laugh at him.
"Alright guys." Gary shouted while he pulled out his M-16. "Let's go get us some target practice." he ended with a vicious grin as he placed a new clip in his weapon.
"Yeah!"
"Whoo!"
"Let's do this!"
The mercenaries all cheered and pulled out their own M-16s. They then took off, running with excitement, to where the intruders were located.
Eventually they found a strange looking ship of some sorts that none of the men had any clue about or what it even was. The ship looked as if it was missing a huge chunk of it. But what really caught the mercenaries attention was the attractive lady standing at the torn section of the ship. She stood there with her folded arms across her chest, and her foot tapping on the ground a couple of times. It almost looked as if the woman was waiting on something, when a giant, dark-green armored goliath walked up behind her.
The mercenaries hid behind a few large rocks and trees to keep out of the woman's sight.
"Look at that hot piece of ass!" Gary said when he got a first look of the brunette lady in tight short clothes.
"If you shut up, we can jump her!" Butch pointed out.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just shoot her from here? Why should we risk gettig caught by walking up to her?" Bob questioned the other mercs' motives once more.
"Dammit, Bob! Just let us do it how we want, and then you can do whatever the hell you want!" Butch barked through tightly clenched teeth.
They raised their assault rifles at the brunette woman and slowly shuffled their feet out of their hiding spots.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here boys." Rick said out loud with a toothy grin on his smug face.
Within the blink of an eye, the woman pulled out her two pistols from their respective holsters and aimed them at the mercenaries.
"Woah." Bob muttered from seeing the woman move so fast, but he kept his weapon pointed at her anyway.
"Alright boys, we can do this the easy way..." the familiar sounds of the safety clicked off on the dual pistols, "...or the hard way."
All of them were surprised by how fast the woman moved, but they knew that four guns were better than two.
"Our boss doesn't want anyone around to disturb him on his little 'digging project'. So, I guess that means we'll do it the hard way." Butch said with an evil, cocky smirk and a menacing chuckle.
Suddenly, a hulking armored figure slammed into the ground between the mercenaries and the tomb raider. A tiny crater was created when the armored figured landed, with dust everywhere.
"Shoot them!" Dwayne shouted between splutters, as the dust got caught in his through and lungs.
...
Chief landed on the ground with a loud thud. The earth slightly crumbled at his feet, dust flown all around. The mercenaries jumped back, startled from the sudden appearance of the Spartan.
John looked at the mercenaries, analysizing them. There were five, all male, each one was armed with primitive M-16 assault rifles from the twenty-first century. It looked as if all of the mercs were wearing mountain coats, but no body armor to protect them against any ballistic firing. Three mercs on the left were easily four foot apart from each other while the other two on the right were fairly close to each other.
"Shoot them! Shoot them!" The African American mercenary cried out in between a series of coughs.
In the blibk of an eye, Master Chief raised his right arm that held the Rocket Pistol, towards the black male mercenary and pulled the trigger. The rocket/grenade shot out and hit the merc square in the chest with enough force that it knocked the breath out of hired gunman and made him hit the ground hard. The blond headed merc next to the African American mercenary turned his head to check on his fallen friend, and saw that the projectile was stuck to the merc's chest.
A small red trigger popped up at the back of the pistol, that served as a detonator. The Spartan-II pressed the detonator with his thumb, and then the merc he it with the sticky rocket/grenade exploded. Fortunately the other merc next to the African American was close enough to be in the blast radius, so both burnt bodies were sent flying in various directions.
The strange attack surprised the mercs so much that they briefly paused in horror from what they saw that happened to their former friends.
"Holy shit!" The mercenary in the middle swore at what transpired.
John-117 took advantage of the mercenaries pause and sprinted at the middle mercenary. A dark green blur flew in front of the middle merc, to which the merc tried to shoot at, but the Spartan held the merc's gun with the barrel pointed in the air shooting off some rounds. Chief then hit the merc's head with the butt of his pistol, which must have broken his skull when there was a sickening crack. Blood gushed from the mercenary's fatal head wound, but was still in the Spartan's grasp.
The last two mercenaries turned and shot their weapons at Chief, but the bullets never made contact with the Spartan. Instead the bullets just bounced off his yellow kinetic energy shield doing minimum to no damage. The futuristic super soldier then grabbed the dead mercenary with his left hand and threw his body at the nearest merc. The deceased merc's body collided with the closest man and sent them sprawling to the ground. With one mercenary left standing, Chief reached to his left side with one hand and pulled out his M6G Magnum and shot the last merc once, with the bullet hitting the hired man in-between the eyes. The dead mercenary fell flat on the ground, to never get back up again.
John walked over to the mercenary that he had thrown the dead body on earlier. It was just enough time for the mercenary to throw his dead friend off of him to only to find that Chief placed his heavy boot on his chest. Master Chief pointed his Magnum at the fallen merc's head.
"Aw damn." The mercenary swore a final time, before a bullet was shot into his head silencing him forever.
The Spartan holstered his UNSC standard fire arm to the magnetic plates on his side and removed his foot from the now dead merc. Chief turned around to see Lara had both of her pistols pulled out with a surprise look on her face.
"Are you alr..." he was about to ask, before he got interrupted.
"What the bloody hell was that!" Lara shouted.
"A reaction." Chief simply said.
"No I mean the bullets. You got shot! Why are you still standing?" Lara rephrased.
"We will explain that later. The best way I can put it for now is that we have good technology on our side." Cortana spoke through the MJOLNIR armor.
Lara was still surprised,
"Wait, the A.I. is with you?"
"Yes, I can be carried around in his armor through a neural interface. It allows me to travel with Chief anytime, and I can travel from the suit to any computer nearby." Cortana said through the suit's speakers.
Lara nodded, analyzing Cortana's words. When we're done here, I'd like to ask them some more questions about the project they are attached to. I have never seen technology like that before, and he is far too skilled to just be your average government agent. I bet Zip would love to get a good look at Cortana and some of their tech, if he ever got the chance.
She forced her questions to the back of her mind, though, and with a small smirk, Lara started forward.
"Well, if we come across any more mercenaries, I'll be sure to leave them to you. Alright let's go we wasted enough time as it is." Lara said as she began to move with the Master Chief following behind her.
...
Cortana was quite happy on account her plan was going, so far it was exceeding without any problems. She then reviewed the plan inside her head.
Step 1: Find someone who can help John through this reality.
Step 2: Jam their signal with their contact and convince that person to "rescue" them. Which would build up a little trust between the two. The rescue would be a lie, but neither party would ever found out about it.
Step 3: Convince Chief to stick around and help the person.
Step 4: Contact a small group to locate the person and Master Chief and shoot at them. She knew that this was a bit risky, but she also knew Chief was more than enough to handle mere mercs with old fashion guns and bullets. The Spartan would show his abilities and keep the person alive while getting rid of the mercenaries.
Chief exercised the plan perfectly. She thought.
Step 5: Help the person through her mission and complete it. Which would build up more trust between the two and hopefully convince the person to stick around with them. She would help John live in this reality.
Oh yeah, I better reactivate Lara's PDA and her headset. Cortana reminded herself.
It was all going according to plan, her plan. John was filling in his role quite nicely and Lara's part was more than she thought possible, since Chief could help her on her dangerous expedition.
Cortana then thought,
Soon John you will not need an old A.I. like me anymore. I have set a path for you, a mission if you would like to call it that. Your mission is to live a life you got taken away, and I bet this Lara Croft will be able to help quite nicely with that. I hope you won't take my death as a big burden for you have done something for me as well. You have treated me more like a person than a computer and have gone to hell and back for me and for that I am glad to be your partner... your friend. It wasn't just your luck, but your actions and your heart made me realize that I have chosen the right Spartan. I know you will complete this mission, like you always do, but I guess it won't hurt for me to stick around and help you through some things.
...
""Well, if we come across any more mercenaries, I'll be sure to leave them to you. Alright let's go, we wasted enough time as it is." Lara Croft said.
Chief merely nodded his head in agreement and followed her.
"Hello... Lara? Lara! About time I could reach you, are you alright?" Zip's voice finally came through Lara's headset
"Yes, I am fine Zip. There is no need to worry." Lara responded and placed her fingers on the device to make sure she could hear her allies clearly.
"Heh, told you." Alister chuckled.
"What happened? I can't figure out what could have blocked our signal." Zip asked.
Lara looked behind her to the Spartan as they walked.
"I had a little detour. I helped a little stranger. He will be accompanying us on our expedition through the lovely ruins. His friend had to disable our communications so she could contact me."
"Wait, what! So someone disabled our communications! How!" Zip yelled, which made Lara wince from the sudden loud burst of noise.
"Huh, and here we thought that it was a technical issue." Alister said, not sounding upset. "So where is this person you had to save?"
The tomb raider turned her head while walking to look at the soldier in dark green armor with a golden visor.
"Woah! What do you mean 'little stranger?' He's big! Are you sure you can trust him?" Zip said as he saw the Spartan through Lara's headset.
"Yes, Lara I'm not sure I trust him either." Alister spoke up through the headset.
Lara turned her head back to in front of her again after Zip and Alister both got a good look of the person she had helped.
"I have dealt with bigger things, besides you should have seen what he has done to a few mercenaries that were in our way." Lara replied with a smile on her lips.
"Do I really need to ask what he done to the mercenaries?" Zip said without a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"Lets just say it was brutal, but effective."
Alister groaned in a sickly manner over the headset.
"I think that is all I need to know." Zip said somewhat disgusted, but then took a deep breath. "Well alright. But tell his friend that I would like to have a word with her about our comms." Zip said not completely trusting the armored giant.
"Will do, Zip." Lara said as she removed her hand from her headset.
The globetrotter turned her head to speak to the Spartan.
"I'm sure that there is more trouble ahead, so expect to use your weapons more."
"I always do." The Master Chief replied while he reloaded his Assault Rifle.
Lara smiled at him and then thought,
He may have some use after all.
"Do I need to tell you where we are or about this place?"
"No, Cortana has already briefed me about Bolivia. But she does not know much about the ruins ahead."
"Good, I am searching for an artifact there, that is very important to me. After seeing what you have done to those mercs I think you might able to help me. If she was able to inform you about this place then does she know anything about those mercenaries back there?" Lara asked.
Cortana then spoke up through the speakers of the MJLONIR Mark VI armor
"I do actually know a few things about those guys. They were working for James Rutland. He was the son of a Senator from the United States. He's not the guy you want to trust. He has done some smuggling operations and he is not afraid to shoot a few wandering toursit. He also seems to collect artifacts too."
"Really? I think we should pay this James Rutland a visit." Lara said with a small smirk on her lips.
She began walking ahead with a thought brewing in her head,
A portable super-computer and a walking green giant that knows how to use a gun. This is going to be interesting.
But the tomb raider wasn't the only one excited.
"Oh Chief, I think I'm going to like her." Cortana said in an almost giddy voice.
New Author's Notes: And there you go, the rewritten version of chapter three for Halo/Tomb Raider crossover: The Lost Get Found. I would really like to thank Andirthir, WeepingCadver and Izangi God again, they had really help me a lot with this chapter. Rewritting chapter three was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and they helped me so much with the chapter such as writing examples, presenting ideas, beta-reading, and so much more.
I hope all of you liked the improvements made to the chapter.
Now I am having a vote on an important subject, should I kill off Cortana? If she lives she can help with information, enemies, taking control of machines and vehicles, etc. If she dies, Chief will be emotional and lost and Lara can help him through all that. So vote now! and REVIEW!