"Jiina... No way..." Amelia could only stand still in shock as the disfigured form of her friend climbed out of the hole in the wall.
"A...me...lia..." with difficulty, Jiina, or the creature that was Jiina began to speak. "M...mark... IV w-was... "
*BOOM
The figure was interrupted by a beam of light, separating the two.
"Amelia Evans, step aside! This is a job for high ranking pandoras only!" shouted the shooter- Elizabeth Mably
"What are you going to do to Jiina?!" asked the former
"Due to her Novalization, We pandoras have been ordered to eliminate subject M2 as soon as possible." replied the latter
"NO! Don't eliminate her! Jiina's still conscious! she was trying to tell me something!" much to the shock of Elizabeth.
Jiina's body, though, had other plans. She used the moment of distraction to attack; jumping over Amelia and facing her executioner. With little time to spare, Elizabeth put up her barrier just as Jiina's blade sped towards her face, blocking her attack. However, it shattered almost immediately, cutting Elizabeth's face and forcing her to backstep. Jiina followed through immediately; sweeping in and cutting one of Elizabeth's satelites.
'Shit, both power that exceeds my defense and coupled by that speed...' thought Elizabeth. 'As I thought, I can't afford to go easy on her' as she faced her opponent once more.
Thomas sprinted down the hall, intent on reaching the target before it was eliminated. Halfway through though, his right arm contracted from the searing pain that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Looking at his arm, the red bracelet, long since inactive after joining MALVIONE, had once again breathed it's feeble signs of life. Thomas felt it stir the last time he faced down the Nova but it had subsided since, therefore he decided to pass it off as a flutter. Now though, it had reactivated- the beast within was searching for it's partner; with it, it can once again serve it's original purpose: to devour...
*Smack! Thomas hit his fist against the wall, the primordial urge had stopped- as well as the pain. The bracelet however continued to remain activated. Nevertheless, Thomas wasted enough time. As he started to run once more, a blast erupted from the side, sending someone crashing towards him.
"Ugh... Shit..." said the woman who turned out to be Elizabeth Mably. "hey.. are you alright?" she added, finally taking note of Thomas "cushioning her fall despite his armor being tougher than the wall that she just exploded from.
"Yeah.. i'm good, how bout you?..." replied Thomas, however, a sound coming from the hole cut his sentence short as the pair turned their attention to the noise.
"What is that?!" Thomas uttered
"Subject M2, we know her as the E-Pandora Jiina Purpleton." replied Elizabeth "She underwent Novalization and we have been ordered to eliminate her."
As if Jiina had heard the word eliminate, she immediately charged at the duo. The pair split ways just in the nick of time as the e-pandora collided at the area they were at a few moments ago.
"Urgh!" Thomas grunted as he exerted his body to dodge. He drew his pistol and thumped off the safety in one motion and immediately let loose a three round burst at Jiina- to no efffect. The stun bullets merely bounced off her metallic body, the shock was not getting through her skin. Taking notice, Jiina turned and threw herself at Thomas, blade at the ready.
*Clash!
"Stay out of this, you can't fight her!" shouted Elizabeth, jumping in and blocking her attack at the last second. With her one of her satellites, she fired a beam at Jiina, sending her flying, but almost immediately, she stood back up and resumed her 'banzai' charge, catching Elizabeth unaware.
'SHIT!'
*Bang! bang!
This time though, 2 shots rang out and deflected Jiina's volt weapon inches off from scoring a hit on Elizabeth.
"Don't worry about me. I've can handle myself too." Replied Thomas. He released the magazine and plugged in a new one; immediatly dodging and strafing Jiina with stun rounds. As her attention was focused on Thomas, Elizabeth peppered her with beams before rushing in to deliver the final blow...
"NO! Don't kill her!" shouted a frantic Amelia from the hole in the wall. Elizabeth hesitated and Jiina capitalized, getting behind her and slashing a huge cut across her back.
"NO!" shouted Andre- Elizabeth's limiter. He activated his freezing ability yet Jiina was able to break out of the confinement...
*crash!
..but not before being tackled by Thomas to the ground, his helmet flying off in the process.
"Dammit! Urgh!" the moment Thomas collided with Jiina did the pain on his right arm begin to act up again. However, the pain died almost instantly...
"Dear, your parents are sorry but, you have to go with these people..." a woman's voice.. faint, pointing at a girl to follow a pair wearing white coats...
"Mom... Dad.. what do you mean?..." asked the girl
"We can't afford to keep you anymore... we no longer have the money to support us three..." One of the "white coats" approached and handed the man a thick envelope. The man in turn led the girl towards the other "white coat"...
"Mom... Dad... No! Don't leave me!" cried out the girl as she was brought into a facility; the doors closing and then sealed shut as if to block out he outside view... The girl felt that she would never see them again yet...
"Urgh!" Thomas was pulled away from the trance, finally separated from Jiina's body. His right arm shook and his face was wracked with sweat...
"Are you alright?" said a woman. Thomas looked at her and, recognizing the distinct headphones, identified the woman as Charles Bonaparte, one of the french Pandoras.
"I'm good, uh shit..." repllied Thomas but Charles was already attending to Elizabeth.
"That looks bad." said the frenchwoman
"She only grazed my back. Don't worry too much..." replied the other
"Sheesh, you wouldn't be in such a sorry state if..." Charles began but the Novalized Jiina had recovered her wits already and charged once more. without completing her sentence, Charles activated her specialty move 'Tempest' and attacked her opponent. Despite the many blows given by Charles alone and the damage sustained from fighting Elizabeth and Thomas earlier, Jiina remained standing.
"Tough one aren't ya?" smirked Charles, dodging a slash from Jiina's blade. Activarting her trademark attack, "Tempest Moonlight Sonata", she created 10 clones and attacked Jiina with more fury than before.
"NOO!" screamed Amelia, to her surprise the word was also uttered by a panting Thomas, Charles on the other hand, stopped short of delivering the final blow.
"Hold, on... hah.. don't kill her... I-I've got an ...idea... hah..." breathed Thomas
"What is it? hurry before she get's back up." replied Charles. already, the Novalized Jiina was beginning to stir despite now obvious wounds dotting her body.
"hold her steady..." he replied, removing his right arm's gauntlet to expose his skin and the red bracelet.
"Shit!" Without warning Jiina broke free from Charles grip and, as if attracted to the bracelet, headed straight for Thomas. In the same manner, Thomas kicked off the ground, propelling himself into Jiina, Right palm exposed and flexed, ready to strike.
"Gyahhhh!" the two collided, Jinna's blade missing Thomas's face by millimeters while the latter's palm grabbed on to her chest. Almost immediately did the pain return- and this time black smoke began to trail from the bracelet into Jiina's exposed chest.
"Grahh... If that's how you want it... then have your fill goddammit!" Thomas was shouting into his head, unknowing if he was actually saying the words aloud. The pain was unbearable, feeding his 'cells' into her, It seemed to work; already the protrusions in her back were receding and the stigma tissue had begun to fade- giving way to her real flesh and blood.
However, the same act was torture to Thomas. Already his right arm had started to bleed bright red blood and his vision had begun to grow hazy.
'Come, just keep it together for a little bit longer...' he thought as Jiina's pupils revealed themselves once more since rolling her eyes back due to the strain of novalization.
"Graghhh!" after on last push, The last vestiges of Jiina's novalization disappeared. Then, Thomas blacked out...
I'm on a roll- 3 chapters in 1 month: hooray :D
anyway.. here's the action so desperately needed after a 3 chapter stagnant state and the plot beginning it's deviation from the original storyline.. sort of.
hope you enjoyed.
P.S. I've laid out some pretty obvious references to in this chapter. any guesses?
Nothing else much to say- just the usual : ENJOY and feel free to comment and write reviews if you want to
CIAO
TL: I don't own freezing or halo
