Six rubbed her cold arms as she followed her team down the grey hallway. Carter allowed Kat to take the lead. She was now giving Six the full tour of the base.
" Here is the Rec Room. It has some couches, a pool table, and anything else you want to waster your time with." She said in her stern accent.
Six nodded to show that she understood. "I appreciate you showing me around, ma'am, but I was wondering when I could get some more clothes on?"
Kat eyed the other woman's tank top and shorts, raising a sarcastic eye brow. "Fine. Lets take you to your room, Im sure you will find proper attire in there. "
"Ummm, her room?" Carter broke in.
"Yes, sir. Thom's old room. Remember?"
Carter looked suddenly nervous. "Oh, THAT room...um...I didn't think we needed to use that room. "
"Commander?" Kat looked at him questioningly, as did the rest of Noble Team.
Carter quickly recovered, straightening up he resumed his commanding form. Brushing past Noble 2 he lead the way down a couple of hallways, until they stopped in front of a door. It was as grey as the walls, and looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time.
" Here it is!" Carter's cheerfulness sounded forced as he tried the handle. "Oops, its locked! And I don't have the key, oh well. I guess you can sleep in the storage closet!"
"Sir?" Jorge spoke up, looking horrified. " You can't do that!"
" Well, it seems we have no choice. Oh well." He gave a nervous chuckle and turned to leave, but Jun held up his hand.
"Hold on, I got Thom's old room key!" Jun announced, holding up a battered key.
"How did you get that?" Emile asked, pointing at the key.
Jun went quiet and looked down. 'I liked him...is all..." He sulked as Kat grabbed the key out of his hand and began to walk over to the door.
Carter began to sweat, his eye twitched as he hurriedly slid in the way of Noble 2. " Do you really need to do that, Kat?"
" What are you trying to say, Commander? "
"It seems he doesn't want to open the door." Six mused, crossing her arms and watching the scene with an amused interest along with Jorge, Jun, and Emile. What type of team has she joined?
Carter tried to push Kat back as she approached the door, but she just smiled and kicked him in the crotch.
"Insubordination!" He wheezed as he fell to the floor, clutching his privates. The female spartan sniffed haughtily and shoved the key into the door, causing the security system to click and whiirrr.
"I don't know what has gotten into you, this is not how a commanding officer acts. Especially to his men!" She ranted as the door opened with a hiss. " What is in this room that could make you act so-OH GAWD!" Her jaw dropped, eyes widening in horror as the lights turned on and she looked inside.
" Don't look...that's an order!" Carter cried out desperately, but it was too late. Curious, the whole team crowded at the doorway, looking inside with wide eyes.
"Oh..." Six gawked.
"Is this even legal?" Jorge blushed and covered his eyes.
"I don't get it." Jun shrugged.
Emile didn't answer, his paper bag becoming stained as he got a nose bleed.
Covering every square inch of the room was plastered in photos of Kat. Pictures of her in battle, out of battle, close ups, pictures of her butt. Pictures of her in the shower. And other more naughty things.
Kat was silent, but Six could see her shoulders hunching, her fist shaking, as she slowly turned around to face Carter. One look at her face and Six knew she should leave.
'Now seems a good time to leave Commander Stalker to Kat." Emile said.
"Agreed." Six quickly turned around and walked away with Emile, Jun and Jorge.
"Um...It was Jun!" Carter backed away like a crab, looking kinda scared as Kat approached him, her face cold and expressionless.
"Kat, its not what you think..." Carter tried to chuckle but choked on his words as Kat unscrewed her robotic arm and raise it high above her head before bringing it down on Carter.
"NO! NOT THE FACE!"
SMACK!
Later...
Dinner was a rather morbid affair. Noble Team sat at the table, their trays before them laden with steaming standard issue rations. No one had taken a bite yet. Carter sat at the head of the table, covered in bandages and trying to avoid eye contact with Kat, who was looking quite dangerous with her butter knife in hand. Silence reigned as Six played with her food, head down.
Jorge fidgeted in his chair, he couldn't stand the depressing mood any longer. 'So... you said we're out for Christmas, sir?"
Noble 1 looked up briefly, his usual cheery expression replaced by a droopy frown. "Yeah, what about it?"
" Well, sir. Considering it IS going to be Christmas in about a week,,,and considering its still tradition..."
"Out with it, spartan."
" I was thinking we could get a Christmas tree, sir." The big man said hopefully.
" NO. We are on an army budget. We can't afford it. "
"But there's a forest out bac-"
" I said NO." Carter huffed.
"Echo Base got a Christmas tree, " Jun put in, "they sent us a Christmas card of it. All big and with lights on it! Why can't we-"
The Commander stood up so suddenly he sent his tray clattering to the floor. " Attention!" He yelled in a Drill Sgt. voice, causing the rest of Noble Team to stand straight up, heads held high.
"Listen up, men. I have had it up to here with the lot of you. I don't even know why I'm still talking to you childish namby pambies. You are dismissed to your rooms for the rest of the night. Once in said rooms you will not leave them for the rest of the night. That is an order, am I clear?" He yelled.
" Sir yes Sir!" They cried out at the same time and marched out of the room, all except for a certain person.
"What are you still doing here, Six?" Carter said dangerously.
" I might remind you that I do not have a room, considering an unfortunate incident that happened today, sir." Six said slyly.
His eyes narrowed. "Everyone is giving my back talk today.." He grumbled, his eyes flashing. " I like your lip." He said sarcastically. "And because of it, I'll give you the pleasant reward of rooming with Emile.
"BWAH?" Six's mouth dropped open.
"I knew you'd like it. Im sure you and Emile will get along just fine." He said grumpily as he pushed her out the door.
Later Later...
Six climbed onto the top bunk, quietly slipping underneath the covers. The room was pitch black. For some reason Six had made it to the room before Emile had, and she had a glimmer of a hope that if she kept quiet, Emile wouldn't notice the fact that there was a person sleeping above him.
Suddenly she heard footsteps in the hall, the door slid open, letting in a beam of light. The female spartan could hear the person enter the room and close the door behind them. Darkness resumed.
Six kept as still as possible, trying hard not to breathe. Hoping that Emile was drunk or really tired so he did not notice her. She could hear him shuffling around and muttering.
"Commander's gone crazy, hiding my helmet!" he grumbled. ' Good thing he didn't know about the spare one I keep in my top bunk!" He snickered evilly, his footsteps coming closer to Six.
Six's mind was racing, it went something along the lines of: "Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!" as she felt a hand pat around right next to her face. She froze, breaking out into a cold sweat as the hand touched her arm, then tensed.
Immediately the hand gripped her and pulled. She was sent flying out of the bunk, where she rolled onto the ground. Before she could get up she was tackled into the wall, a hand wrapped around her neck.
The light turned on showing a familiar paper-bagged face. "The hell?" He hissed, still not letting go of her.
"Stand down, Emile. Its just me." Six said dangerously. She didn't want to get into a fight with Emile, but if she had too...
"What are you doing in MY room?"
"Orders. You have a problem with that? "
'Yes." He spat and let go of her. He began to stomp around. " Commander has gone as crazy as Jun! And why did he yell at us over a tree? I don't get all this Christmas crap!"
" Christmas is NOT crap!" Six shot back. " The Commander is just mad that he got caught, so he has to take it out on us." She said, trying to calm him down. "Besides, it's a season of warmth and love, or so I heard. Carter and Kat should be back to normal by Christmas. Then we can all gather around the tree-"
" What tree?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot."
Six sighed. "Well, without a tree, I guess no one is going to be happy." She crossed her arms. " I guess this little "vacation" is going to suck. Oh well." She walked over to her bunk. "I'm guess we're stuck with each other..." she pulled back the covers. "Oh, and I think this is yours. Goodnight! " She tossed down a spare helmet to Emile, just like his old one except without the skull. She then clapped her hands, and the lights went out.
Emile slipped into his own bunk, his mind bubbling with anger and agitation at the Commander and this intruder into his room. There must be a way to solve this, but sadly he didn't have his knife...
He thought about it late into the night, when everyone else was sleep and he could hear Six's soft breathing coming from the bunk above him. Something Six said nagged at his mind...something...important...
LIGHTBULB MOMENT! Emile jumped out of bed, reaching up he grabbed the sleeping woman and pull her down.
"BWAH?" Six woke up, confused, and instinctively punched Emile in the face. It didn't do much damage since he had his helmet on.
"I know how to solve this!" Emile hissed excitedly.
"Whut? How?" Six asked blearily, still half asleep.
"You said that having a Christmas tree will make everyone happier, right?"
"Yeah, something like that..."
" There's a forest out back. How 'bout we get one?"
Six was wide awake now, she blinked in surprise. " Get one? But we're under orders not to leave..."
"Who cares. You said it yourself. If we get a Christmas tree, Carter will pull that stick out of his ass and say sorry to Kat, then clean up Thom's room and then I can have my room back!"
"I didn't say anything like that!" Six argued, but Emile didn't listen. He had already tossed Six a coat, snow pants, and some army boots and was heading out the door. They were going to get a Christmas tree!