Lately, I've been unbelievably bored, so I decided that I would write another chapter. At some point in the near future, I'm going to write a full backstory for Hom and put it up as a side story on my profile, but I don't know when I'm going to do it. When I decide, you'll hear from me about it. Anyways... get to reading, you beautiful people!
"Are you asking for our help?" Six asked.
Hom simply nodded. "Neither Humanity nor the Enclave can defeat the Covenant alone. Apart, we will fall. The High Prophet, our leader, has seen it happen."
"Let me get this straight," John said. "You stop us in the middle of our only chance of getting out of deep space, throw us all down a flight of stairs, hit him with a shotgun, and now you're asking us to help you get revenge?"
"Yes." She replied. "That is, what you humans say... the gist of it."
John was torn. She could move faster than he could think, and she manipulated their surroundings into a full stop... but he didn't believe her. But if what she was saying was true, then the Human race really was doomed. No... That wasn't right. He... they could stop it alone. Six and he were enough. But he didn't want to turn down an alliance. It would only be able to be made official through political means, but the politicians could handle the politics. He didn't trust it, but he wanted to.
"We accept." Six said.
John was decently surprised. "Six, are you-"
"All of my life, I've wanted revenge." Six cut in. "Redemption. I've wanted the prophets of Truth, Mercy and Regret to burn in the fieriest pits of hell for what they did to my mother and my community. They shattered my family into a thousand pieces, and I always wanted to shatter their skulls likewise. If she is giving me a chance to get my wish, then I am going to take it. I don't care what it takes."
"I... okay." John said. He looked at Hom. "But remember the rest of the saying. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and-"
"...And the enemy of my friend is my enemy." Hom finished. "After victory is achieved, you will not be alone. You have my word."
Six grinned under his helmet, but not because of the prophet's promise.
"A minute ago, you hit me in the head with a gun. Now you're making promises and acting civil. Why?" Six asked.
Hom flared her nostrils in rage. "Do you accuse me of being soft, Human!? I'll...!" She began, but she closed her eyes, trying to control her anger. It wasn't proper to promise allance to someone and then harm them. Even if they were, by her standards, weak. "...I'll..."
"Never mind." Six said, holding up his hand. His prosthetic whirred, unable to move with his other hand, the motion of which was a knee jerk instinct. Six looked to it and ran his fingers along it. Ever since it had been severed, he had been doing this. It sounded hard to believe, but it always came as a slight shock to him to remember that he didn't have an arm, and he didn't know why.
Hom looked at the mechanical stump. How incredibly inconvenient it must have been to be missing an appendage. In her weeks of observation, she had not payed a thought to the initial disintegration of Noble Six's arm, but seeing, even now, that he hadn't surrendered put much into perspective. She could not imagine such an unfortunate thing to befall her. And she looked at the crumpled ball of the shotgun on the floor.
She held a hand towards Six, and his stump locked in place, anchored in the air by telekinetic force.
"What the hell?" He asked. "What-"
"What are you doing?" John asked.
"Hold still." Hom replied calmly.
She lifted the shotgun, her empty hand in a closed fist, and slowly spread her fingers. The metal bent to her will, and the gun's parts detached like the pieces of a plastic children's toy. Six watched in awe as her fingers danced, forming the metal into what she desired. The pump flattened, a slight curve in it. The barrel and chamber united with the pump, and the gun's body exploded into chunks, forming something new entirely.
She curled a finger of the hand that held Six's stump into place, and a dark grate on the wall tore off, splitting and squeezing into a pair of thick cylindrical shells. A piece parted on the top of the second shell, a slightly cone shaped cylinder, and Hom pushed the chamber of the shotgun through. She pulled more things from around the room - bolts, scrap, and unimportant parts - and forced them into bars and joints. She shaped smaller pieces into firm chunks, connecting them together.
It took Six a few seconds, but he realized that she was creating fingers.
As metal fused to metal and the stock of the shotgun fused to the knuckles, she had before her a sturdy prosthetic.
It shot towards Six with great speed, and it locked together with the stump. The wires shot under the shells and weaved together as the gunmetal welded itself to the remaining steel of his old prosthetic.
The lifeless metal hand opened, and went limp again. Six stared at it, holding it with his other hand. He looked up to Hom, then back down.
The thumb on the hand twitched.
He tried to close the metal hand in a fist. The fingers complied with his command. After opening and closing the hand a few times, he looked back up to Hom.
"How did you do that?" Six asked. "And... why?"
"How is a very good question." Hom replied. "But do not fret about the how. As for why... consider it a token of gratitude."
Six, surprised beyond measure, simply marveled at the arm. John did too, but only half paying attention. Once again, he was conversing with Cortana with the speakers on his helmet shut down.
"Have you found anything?" He asked.
"No. Nothing. Not even in classified or Covenant files." She responded. "Her tracks aren't covered; they're non-existent."
John sighed. No information was never a good thing, and he trusted Hom's alliance about as far as he could throw her. Considering that he would get the crap beaten out of him before he even got close to her, it showed his trust exactly. He would have to give the benefit of the doubt to this self-proclaimed prophet.
For now.
He flicked the speakers of his helmet back on. "Are we done here?"
Hom flicked her eyes to John. "Yes. We are done. I will report your acceptance to the High Prophet. Humanity will be considered a friend to the Enclave."
"And what about our friends?" John asked, motioning to the rest of the crew behind them. Locklear had a grenade in his hand.
Hom chuckled. "Spartan, no one can control time. I've simply frozen everything around us but us." She said. "They, along with my soldiers and the Covenant, are still self aware. They can still see and hear, feel and breath without motion."
"Then... why freeze them in the first place?" Six asked.
"Because," She stated. "I feared that they would interfere. That Haverson fellow is a prime example of my worry, as well as the other. The one with the grenade."
Six looked back to the crew. He could imagine what they were thinking.
"Me and my cruisers shall mask your escape." Hom said. "A fair warning, Covenant soldiers will be approaching fast on this room. My suggestion is that you end their lives quickly and make haste for whatever your location may be."
John nodded and walked past.
"Got it." Six replied. He followed John back up the stairs, using his new arm to balance his weight on the railing.
"Noble Six." Hom called up the stairs.
He turned.
"If you find yourself in close quarters combat, use my gift to end your enemy's pathetic life. The stock will act as a switch on your knuckles, and I did not alter the use of your weapon." She said. Six looked down. The loading chamber sat on the forearm's shell, and above his knuckles sat the barrel.
No way.
"Farewell, Spartans." Hom said. She put her hands together and her form vibrated from side to side, shaking out of view. A moment later, she was gone.
The ship rocked as a plasma blast struck close to the bridge and sound returned. The crew unfroze, the looks on their faces a mix of confusion and uncertainty.
"What the hell?" Clancy said under his breath, standing up fully. He looked at Six's new prosthetic. He had been looking down to the floor, so he only heard the conversation, and didn't know what Hom's "gift" was. When he saw it, though, he was amazed.
"Everyone hunky dory?" Six asked.
"You mind explaining to me what just went down?" Haverson asked.
Six looked to Haverson. "We as a species just gained a powerful ally." He said, and continued up the stairs.
Will you look at that? They've only been allies for a few minutes, and Hom is already lending humanity a hand.
*maniacal laughter*
Have a good day, Wolfgang!
~Husky