"How does a person cope with losing everything? A life stolen, a home destroyed, horrors no one likes to think about.

They struggle but that is what makes them stronger as they learn to adapt and survive in the best way they can.

This war has seen much bloodshed, hurt a lot of people and shattered families.

One can only hope for its end to come soon."

- Dr. Christopher Gold, O.N.I. Psychologist

Chapter 2 - Dark Places

The armored soldier that protected her moved to the door and kept watch. Sofia looked at the other two and saw one of the ODSTs moving a little.
Without a word she made her way to the man sitting against the wall. One of the soldiers helped take off his helmet as the other stood and walked past sofia to the door.

Getting closer she saw blood running from O'Brian's nose and a decent trickle coming from his mouth.
She then looked down noticing the blood that was on his armor and the jagged holes where the blood was coming from. The robot man was using some sort of can to inject a foam like substance in the holes.

The wounded ODST saw the child as he looked up. A soft, pain filled smile graced his lips as he reached a hand out to her. She took a few steps closer to him cautiously while glancing at what the Soldier was doing. O'Brian put a bloody hand on the soldier's armor and shook his head. Understanding what he meant by the gesture, the robot stood and gave the two some room to talk.

As Sofia was close enough to him, He reached his hand and gently put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, kiddo... Go with the Spartans..." He managed to say in a quiet voice. It was clear what was happening but she didn't want to accept it. "Wha.. What about you?"

He clenched his jaw for a moment before he could respond, "Sweety... I'm not coming..."
"Why?" "I..." He searched for the words to say "I'm going to see... My little girl..."

The confusion vanished as everything clicked, causing tears to well up in her eyes.
"No... You can't... You... You..." Her lip quivered as she was about to lose yet another person in her life.

He brushed her hair out of her face weakly before she grabbed and held his hand tightly.

"Please... Don't leave me..." Even though she hadn't known him for very long he was all she had. He protected her from the covenant while trying to keep her calm.

Armored hands suddenly wrapped around her waist and gently pulled her away from the ODST.
"No... Don't..." Words were suddenly harder to try to form as her mind raced.

The Spartan set her down on the table and looked her in the eyes, or so she thought, "We have to go. There's nothing more that we can do for him."
The voice seemed so human coming from the Robot like Soldier.

Biting her quivering lip softly she gave a solemn nod. The Spartan picked her up once more and once she was securely in his arms he drew his magnum. As he carried her towards the door she peered over the shoulder at O'brian until they rounded the corner.

One Spartan led while the other brought up the rear. They moved from room to room clearing before they moved on. Things had become deathly quiet as they entered a larger room with display cases of strange items. All she could hear was the soft noises that came off the soldier's armor.

Sofia glanced around when something strange caught her eye. The air seemed to glimmer and move in a distinct shape.
Frowning a moment she pointed it out, "What's that?"

Upon turning to where Sofia pointed the Spartan saw the glimmer and opened fire. An Elite became visible, dropping to the ground as its camo and shields failed it. The spartan looked around briefly with the rifle to check for anything else moving.

"I think I'll have to call you Hawkeye from now on." The slightly taller one commented before they continued on. It took a decent amount of time until they finally made it back up to the surface where a pelican waited for them. Upon climbing aboard they all took seats before signaling to the pilot that they were on board.

The pelican flew away from the planet quickly as they headed toward the ship that was waiting to pick them up.
They began slowing down as they entered the docking bay of a ship and set down gently. The Spartans remained quiet as the shorter one unbuckled the safety harness from Sofia.

Slowly sliding out of the seat she looked towards the Spartans then to the hatch as it began opening. Grabbing their gear the Spartans began to exit the days events were catching up with the child as she realized they weren't going to stay with her.

Sofia ran after and grabbed hold of the hand of the Spartan that unbuckled her. Pausing a moment the Spartan looked down at the child as a man took hold of her shoulders. Gently pulling his hand away the spartan continued walking.

When the Spartan began walking away again Sofia started to panic. It was much like a child being left by her mother at the daycare, "No! Don't go!" She cried as she tried to reach out for the soldier. The crew member that had grabbed her shoulders picked her up in his arms.

"Ssshhhh. Everything's okay." He said trying to calm her down "I just need to take you to the med bay." While squirming in his arms the girl elbowed the crewman square in the nose. A second crewman came over to aid by helping calm her down so they could get her looked at by the ship's doctor. With the spartans out of sight the child broke into hysterics, Tears streamed down her face as she screamed for them to return.

The first crewman wiped his bloody nose on his jacket before throwing her over his shoulder and heading towards the medical bay.

Sofia sat with a few other kids as personnel came around getting their names and taking blood samples. A part of her waited for her mom to walk in the doors and say sorry for being late. The only thing is that no matter what she did she couldn't stop the images of the elite stabbing her. She stared at the floor until someone touched her shoulder and she jumped in surprise. Looking up she saw the lady with labcoat and clipboard in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. What's your name?"

"Sof..." She paused a moment remembering what the Spartan had called her. "Hawkeye, my name is Hawkeye."

After all the paperwork, DNA tests, blood tests and retina scan she was sent to refugee camp, where she was placed in a small rundown room by herself.
It was void of color really and the only things it held was a dresser, bed and a small desk. Having no belongings to call her own she didn't care about the dresser. The room had a rank smell as if this room had been occupied by someone who was sick.
Walking to the corner she curled up on the floor and cried herself to sleep.

MWMWM

Hawkeye laid underneath the bed hiding from whoever was in the building. Angry yelling could be heard in the hall followed by the sounds of things being thrown across a room. They started arguing 30 mins prior and have gotten louder since. They were mad about something relating to a child not being theirs. Things went quiet for a few moments, giving the child a false sense of security.

She was about to crawl from under the bed when loud gunshots rang out. Several gunshots went off followed by someone storming past the door and out of the building. Giving it a moment she cautiously made her way out of the room. Getting to the source of the noise she found a man laying in a large pool of blood. Next to him lay a little girl who he must have been trying to protect. Her friend lay there with two bullets holes in her chest. The man had a few holes in his chest along with one in his forehead.

Staring at the horrifying sight of 2 bodies, she stood unsure of what to do. The dead girl had been her only friend for the first few days until she was paired with a refugee family. It was at that moment she realized that the foster families weren't safe. She had to protect herself now, not rely on anyone for anything.

It didn't take too long to see that the refugee camp was a living nightmare. There were so many refugees and
so few guards that often things ran unchecked. Within a few months, Hawk learned how to stay out of sight and keep herself fed.
For safety at nights she would shove the desk in front of the door before curling up in the corner of the room.

Many of the other children were paired with refugee families as the facility didn't have the staff to take care of them. Hawk however
eluded them every time they came to get her. She saw the abuse many of the children received and decided she could take care of herself.
A result of this was her being really thin from the small amounts of food she was able to get.

One morning there came a loud knock on the door, startling the child awake. With a sleepy panic she scrambled off of the bed
and underneath its frame. After another loud knock the person tried the door to find it not locked but something in the way.
Shoving on the door moved the lightweight desk enough to get into the room. Two pairs of combat booted feet entered the room
and looked around for something.

A third person walked in wearing clean Black combat boots with clean black pants, "Sofia, We just want to talk to you." She heard no response from anyone
when the man spoke again "Is she not in here?"

It struck her as odd that someone would call her by her old name as no one here knew it. She reached up to the
frame of the bed and grabbed the small Kitchen knife she hid between the springs. Living in this place she learned
quickly about the need to defend oneself.

The people stopped moving before one walked to the bed and looked underneath. She scooted as close as she could to the wall as he
reached under to grab her. With a quick swipe of the knife the man cursed before he grabbed the knife from her.

After throwing it behind him he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out from under the bed. She started struggling against him and screaming for him to let her go until he put his hand over her mouth to quiet her down. "Calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Looking at the men she saw they weren't the regular camp guards, they were UNSC soldiers.
The other Soldier took Sofia while the first began taking care of his bloody hand.

One wore nice black fatigues and stood with a clipboard in his arms, "My name is Mark Patrick. We're here to offer you a new life."

The man in black led Hawk down the hall to a room with a desk. Another man was inside that looked up at them when the door was opened. He smiled in greeting to her, "Hello Sofia". She walked into the room cautiously, not sure of what was going on. Mark gave he a gentle push on her back to guide her to the chair.

After getting into the chair she looked at the man quietly as he leaned forward a little.
"I heard about what happened to you. I'm terribly sorry about that, Sofia". With a shake of her head she finally spoke "My name isn't Sofia." The man exchanged glances with Mark before he continued "What is your name?"

"I'm Hawkeye."

He asked her questions about her parents work and how things have been going since being alone. They spoke about Soldiers and upon getting on the topic of Spartans Hawk told him how much she wished to be like them one day. "I'm going to stop the aliens from hurting anymore people..." At this the LT couldn't help but to smile "That's good to hear, because they're recruiting and you're a perfect match. What I need to know is, Are you up for fighting back?"

"Count me in." Hawk said with a big smile on her face. The man stood and gathered his papers "good, I'll put things in order."

For the next few months she was tested and kept in an ONI holding facility until the time came to ship out to her new home, to her new life.

Next Time on 'Unfit For Duty'

"Teamwork is the most important thing you need to learn."

"You two stay here and we will flank left."

"You're an amazing soldier, but pull a stunt like that again and you're done"