A/N: Thanks to all of you who voted on my poll, for you have decided my course of action!
DISCLAIMER: Once again, I do not own Bungee, or anything related to Halo. If I did, I would have WAY better things to do than writing fanfiction. (Not to offend anyone)
Chapter 2: Imprisonment
K'tal stalked through the Indomitable Retribution, dragging the semiconscious human behind him. She did not even try to struggle, no doubt weak from fighting, as she was led to the bridge, merely glared at him. He had already taken the liberty of removing all objects from her that could be used harmfully, so she could not try to kill him.
As K'tal entered the command centre, he shoved the female in front of the Shipmaster. She collapsed at his feet, in a position that would have resembled groveling, but for the burning hatred in her eyes. He quickly bowed his head at the Shipmaster in respect, and brought one hand across to his opposite shoulder in a salute to complete the gesture.
"Ah, the demon." the Shipmaster said smugly, as if it was him that had caught the human. "The Hierarchs will reward us greatly for this." His voice subsided, K'tal suppressed a small growl as he looked up at him as he surveyed the captive with a predatory expression, and struggled not to draw his sword and kill him right then and there. The Shipmaster was scum, only concerned with his own advancement and personal glory. Harnessing in on his fury, he walked to the human, catching her firmly, but not overly roughly, by the elbow.
The Shipmaster paused in his musings and looked quizzically at him. "What are you doing?" he queried.
"Merely taking the demon to the prison area, your Excellency." K'tal responded with false deference, seeking a way to get the human away, for reasons he could not rationalize. "It would be wise to begin questioning he-it immediately." he finished, quickly covering up his slip-up of almost calling the human a "her". That would not do.
The Shipmaster nodded, head on hand. "Very well then." he said, gesturing at the door with his free hand. "Wring this demon for everything it knows."
K'tal nodded, despising the Shipmaster, saluted once more, then, pulling the human to her feet, led her from the room. She stumbled through the halls, barely able to keep pace with him, and he slowed to accommodate her more, a rare gesture for him. He slowed even further as he reached the prison area, reluctant to leave the human there, in the hands of the savage Jiralhanae.
However, as much as he hated the Shipmaster, K'tal had no choice but to follow orders. He brought the female to the prison block entrance. A particularly hideous Jiralhanae stepped from the door.
"Ah," purred the beast, leering at the human. "Fresh meat." K'tal unconsciously tightened his grip slightly on the human's arm. The Jiralhanae saluted him sarcastically, then led them into the prison block "entryway". There, another Jiralhanae roughly grabbed the human held her as yet another proceeded to strip her violently of her armor. She did not resist as pieces of her armor were torn away forcibly, shredding parts of the black bodysuit beneath more often than not, but her mouth opened a small amount, crying out silently in pain. After the last of the armor was pulled away, the Jiralhanae reached to the human's throat, grasping something that glinted in the dim purple light, and wrenching it away, before the human was dragged away, most likely into an interrogation chamber.
"You, bring me that." I commanded the Jiralhanae, as it made to throw the object away. Grunting, it brought the object-or objects, as it were, over, tipping them into K'tal's hand. He regarded the small, rectangular metal tags, with their short, broken lengths of chain. He could not read the human writing etched into the tags, but, sensing that they held some special significance, slid them into a waist compartment.
K'tal winced at the sharp, piercing scream that issued from the doorway the human had been taken into.
...
Several hours later, Six was hurled into a cell. She groaned, tentatively feeling the sensitive spots and various wounds from her torture as she slowly sat up, and curled into a fetal position, cradling herself as she rocked back and forth in pain. The Brutes had tortured her viciously, under the supervision of a single Elite, who questioned her periodically. She spat, figuratively speaking, in his face. Frustrated by her refusal to talk, one of the Brutes had even tried to go so far as to attempt to assault her. Six had quickly dissuaded him of that, using all her remaining energy to kick him in the groin with all the force she had been able to muster. After recovering, the Brute had been intent on killing her, but had been stopped by the attending Elite. After that, the Elite had her thrown into the cell.
Six heard the sound of something entering the room. "What the hell do you want?" she snapped, not raising her head to look at the intruder. "Don't you think it's a little early to start torturing me again?"
"I have something of yours, human." the voice was familiar. Six's head snapped up instantly to look at the speaker. It was the same Elite that had caught her; his armor even still had the plasma scorching on it. He looked down at her; with disdain, pity, how the hell was she supposed to know what it was he thought of her? The alien reached into a small pouch on his waist and took out a small handful of metallic looking objects. He tossed them in her direction, and they clattered on the floor in front of her. She picked them up, and was amazed to see her dog tags, along with Kat's, Jorge's, and Emile's. She felt tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, and looked up at the Elite.
"I would hide those in a safe place if I were you, human." the Elite advised. "The Jiralhanae will destroy them if they find them." He regarded her blank expression at the name. "Your kind call them Brutes." he clarified.
Six wanted to thank the Elite, but he probably hadn't done it for her benefit; no doubt he had some secret agenda or something, and her voice seemed to have deserted her for the time being anyway.
"Thank you." she told him, having found her voice again, eyes shining.
...
K'tal looked down at the human. He felt a strange fluttering feeling in his chest at her words, followed by a flash of rage as he surveyed the burns, bruises, and bleeding cuts inflicted on her by the brutal torture. Her bodysuit was shredded even more than it had been, barely even covering her properly anymore, and he shuddered to think about what the barbaric Jiralhanae had done to her.
Slightly unnerved by the look in her eyes, a look devoid of hate, fear, or any emotion any regular human would feel in the presence of a Sangheili, K'tal nodded at her, then left. Heading for his room, he thought about what he had just done. Whatever the rest might think, the human did not deserve this. The Covenant were the reason for this, and K'tal was guiltily aware of the fact that he was Covenant. But, he thought, there might be a way to redeem himself.
At the door to his room, he swiftly entered and went to the hidden weapons locker in the wall. Popping it open, he removed everything inside, setting the items on his bunk. He clamped two sword handles on opposite thigh plates, followed by a pair of plasma rifles, and four plasma grenades went on his belt. A plasma repeater went on his back armor, and he snapped an energy knife projector into each gauntlet, and an Active Camouflage generator on his lower back. Lastly, he gently removed a well-used curveblade from the back of the locker and attached it to the back of his belt, then a needle rifle, and, holding it in one hand, pulled the metal blades the female had been carrying from his belt compartment with the other, strode back toward the prison area.
Quickly stepping into the cell once again, he tossed the blades to the human. "I will be back. Be ready." he growled. He left before she could formulate a response, but he saw her shocked expression from the corner of his eye as she looked at the blades, and then at his startling appearance, decked out in full combat gear as he was. He strode purposefully to the bridge. It was time to have a talk with the Shipmaster.
A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. K'tal's gonna lay the hurt down on someone, and it's probably gonna be the Shipmaster! And yes, it does seem like he likes Six! *wink wink nudge nudge* Also, to those of you who want to know what was meant by 'torture', use your own damn imagination. Or, better yet, don't. I am too lazy to write any detailed torture descriptions here, and besides, that is a really creepy and weird thing to do; it doesn't say good things about the mental state of the person writing. But, enough of that train of thought! Review, else I'll have to sic K'tal on you! *K'tal materializes menacingly, armed to the teeth*
NOTE: I'm also sorry for the lack of any epic fight scenes in this chapter, but I can promise some next time! So, see y'all around!