Author's Note: Sorry this chapter came so late! It's way longer than the others, so it took a while to write. Enjoy!

Chapter 12

Camilla loved shopping. Everyone who knew her knew that. She spent almost all her time wandering through stores and gaping at beautiful outfits in shop windows. However, all the shopping forced her to walk around town a lot. As she walked down the concrete street, she would often find herself observing the odd people that strolled through town on a daily basis. There were people with creepy tattoos, people with wild hairstyles, and sometimes just people with odd body shapes. She could have sworn that some of them were grunts in disguise.

However, as she wandered the streets that day, looking for a pair of heels to add to the 56 others in her shoe collection, she came across someone she would have never expected to see casually walking through town. It was a spartan, taller than most of the people on the street and wearing a complete set of black armor with a blue tint.

He seemed unaware of the fact that he stood out like a sore thumb, and as Camilla looked closer, she realized his mouth was moving. He appeared to be mumbling quietly to himself, and she became interested in learning more about him. Everyone that she knew thought the Spartans were evil, and should all be executed. Well, except Camilla. She refused to dislike them until she learned more about them.

So now, in a white pencil skirt and high heels, Camilla weaved through the crowd after the spartan, trying her best not to seem suspicious. She apologized to a few pedestrians as she brushed past them, and began to get frantic as the spartan got further ahead of her. Boy, the streets were cramped today.

As people jostled her around and pushed her farther backward, Camilla gave a small jump in attempts to glimpse the spartan. As she jumped, she thought she could vaguely see the air near his right shoulder ripple. But just like that, the spartan had disappeared in the crowd, and Camilla gave a frown as she dipped into a nearby coffee shop.

"Did you see her? She was staring at us! This was a horrible plan! 'Don't worry about it! We just need to blend in!' Well, how's that working out? Huh?" the air near Peters hissed quietly.

"Taylors, you're invisible! It's literally impossible for people to notice you!" Peters retorted. A few people stared at the odd spartan who appeared to be arguing with himself.

"I'm not talking about me! When you spend your life listening to a crummy mayor who thinks spartans are horrible and then suddenly see one walking down the street like it's normal, you might get a little suspicious!" the air snapped again.

"What else were we supposed to do, run across skyscrapers!?" Peters questioned, lowering his voice a bit.

"Would you two shut up and walk faster? Someone's going to get even more suspicious! You're as loud as brutes using megaphones!" Zeta's voice commanded, silencing both cadets. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the mayor's office, which was the biggest building in the whole town. It literally seemed to touch the sky, and it reminded Axel of some creepy evil fortress for a villain. It was straight black, with hundreds of windows covering every side.

Just before the pair walked through the automatic double doors, Axel quickly ducked into a small alleyway and turned off her invisibility, and then they walked in. The inside of the building was just as fancy as the outside, with gorgeous marble flooring and golden walls with flowing flower designs that had been carefully carved into every inch. The seats seemed to be made out of fine black velvet, if that was even a thing. A young man in a tuxedo sat in one of the chair, and it seemed so squishy that he appeared to almost sink to the floor.

Axel couldn't help but feel that she was not worthy to be in the presence of such a magnificent place as she and Peters walked up to the front desk. (Which was made of gold so shiny that you could see your full reflection in it) The receptionist, an old woman who looked like she would make a great librarian, looked at the two cadets with surprise in her eyes, which were wrinkled at the edges. Her nametag read Judy, and her black dress looked to be worth at least a hundred units.

"H...how may I help y...you?" she asked, a hint of fear in her voice as she took in the irregularly tall spartans that stood before her. As she asked this, Axel realized she had no idea what to say. Luckily, Zeta, who had remained hidden, spoke for her.

"We are cadet Daniel Peters and Cadet Axel Taylors, here for a meeting with Mayor Douglas," Zeta explained. With the AI's voice coming from Axel's helmet, it appeared to the receptionist that Axel had been the one speaking. Now Axel just had to try hard not to say anything to the receptionist-Judy- and let Zeta do the talking.

Judy pointed a shaky finger toward an elevator, where two guards stood at either side. They weren't spartans or ODST's' just simple marines in bullet-proof vests. They had guns, though, and Axel decided to stay as far as she could on their good side.

"I...It's the 30th f...floor, third door to the right," Judy stuttered. She waved the pair off, apparently eager to get rid of them.

The elevator ride was pretty quiet and peaceful, other than the fact that one of the marines that had followed the cadets up kept shooting them dirty glances. However, it did seem to take forever to reach the 30th floor, because it just so happened to be on the highest floor of the building. It was a good thing neither of the spartans were afraid of heights. Or at least, they weren't until they saw the windows. They were even higher up than they had been in the Falcon, and Axel was honestly a bit shocked that she hadn't noticed the giant building before.

The pair walked at a brisk pace as they followed the directions Judy had given them. They past at least 50 doors as they passed. They couldn't figure out which door was the right one until they came across one guarded by two more marines. They asked for the cadets' information, and once again, Zeta did all the talking.

They didn't think the building could get any more grand, and yet, here they were. The room had a far wall made entirely of glass, with red velvet curtains that were pulled to the sides to reveal a marvelous view of the entire town. Axel couldn't tell what the other walls were made out of, but they looks sparkly and expensive, like diamond. The floor appeared to be made out of pure emerald, and the ceiling was encrusted marble.

Around the edges of the room stood marble pedestals, each one holding some sort of rare covenant, UNSC, and even Forerunner tech. Smack in the middle of the room was a desk so fancy it didn't even seem that a king would be worthy to sit at it.

However, the person who did sit at it hardly seemed like he was worthy to sit at a picnic table in a barn. His hair was ruffled and grey, and he appeared to be at least in his mid-80's. And as I tell you this now, I try to explain it in the nicest possible way. He was fat. His stomach spilled out off of the sides of the gold chair he was sitting in, and none of his clothes seemed to be fitting.

As Axel looked closer, she realized the tuxedo he was wearing had lost a few buttons, and the pants were covered in tears. The shoes burst at the soles, which didn't seem possible considering the fact that they looked so hard that it seemed as if a brute couldn't break them with a gravity hammer. And yet, fat pink toes peeked through, and I honestly don't think anybody knew why he wasn't wearing socks. He had no facial hair, and Axel couldn't tell if the wrinkles on his face were from old age or just extra skin.

"Hello, you must be the spartans who were sent here to 'speak with me," the man grunted with an odd, low voice that didn't seem to fit his appearance. Zeta didn't say anything, signaling that Axel would have to do her own talking for once.

"Yes, sir. We've come here to warn you about the oncoming covenant attack on your town and we'd like to help," Axel explained quickly, proud that she had said it so professionally. The man, who she assumed was the mayor, nodded his head slowly, and didn't seemed as intimidated by their presence as Judy had.

"Ok, shoot! Why should I allow a brutal killing machine that would likely kill everyone in my quaint little town for no reason help me?" he words were rude, yet the tone of his voice seemed as if you would ask a simple question to a friend.

"Sir, I don't know where you got that idea from, but-" Peters began, a hint of anger in his voice as Axel broke in.

"Sir, spartans are specified for fighting covenant forces. We would be the best choice in keeping your townspeople alive," she reasoned. She couldn't help but wonder why this man was so against spartans. Then again, it seemed that she wondered about a lot of things lately.

The mayor sat quietly for a moment, staring into space for a moment as if remembering something. Then his expression turned cold and he frowned, staring back up at the spartans.

"Get out! Get out now! Leave and never come back or I will have you executed!" he suddenly shouted, pointing a fat finger toward the door in which they had come in.

"W...what?" Peters gasped as the pair were each gripped on the arm by a marine. Axel lightly but firmly shoved the marine off her, but he quickly clung back on, tugging her toward the door. However, this time she pulled her arm forward hard enough that it sent her captor face-first into the expensive floor. Peters struggled to shake off the marine holding him, but he was strong and muscular, and began fighting back.

The marine on the ground quickly recovered, snatching a gun from the floor which he had been holding earlier. He prepared to aim it, but Axel wasn't having any of it. She did a high backspring, and as her legs came up, she hit the weapon and sent it upward. When she was up on her feet again, she managed to grab it before the marine and the roles became switched quickly.

Suddenly, there came a sound of rumbling, like lightning, but it was still clear and cloudless outside. The mayor took a quick look out the window and struggled to yank his rotund body out of the small chair he had been sitting in. He looked shocked and terrified, and began waddling toward the door. He did so while screaming and waving his short, chubby arms in the air.

"What's going on?" the marine Peters had been fighting questioned. All four people had stopped fighting for a moment to stare at the odd behavior of the overfed mayor.

"The covenant are attacking!" he cried in a child-like voice which echoed down the hallway as he hobbled away, his pants tearing as he went.