Alright here we are with another chapter.
Now I know what you guys are thinking, 'why haven't I updated my story in a long time?' Well the truth is, that I have been updating this story, and quite frequently might I add. For a long time now, I have been EXTREMELY busy rewriting this ENTIRE story. I looked back at my old chapters and thought, 'Wow these chapters are terrible!'
So I went back and rewrote every single chapter that I ever posted in this story, along with some chapters from my Halo/Tomb Raider crossover, but that's a different issue. I improved all of the grammar, character dialogue, action, description, basically everything.
I also added entirely new things to each and every chapter to spice things up and encourage you to re-read them. Here are some, but not all of the new things added to each chapter: a Halo 4 weapon has been added to Chief's arsenal, there is a conversation between the Illusive Man and the Master Chief, and so much more!
All in all I really hope you go back and re-read the chapters, for I worked VERY hard with each and every one of them, except maybe chapter 1 since it is a retelling of Halo 3's ending and we all know how that goes. I promise that you will like the chapters way better than their predecessors.
Okay now on the voting polls for who gets to be paired up with Commander Shepard in this story! In first we have Tali vas Normandy! Congrats Tali-mancers for picking her to be in the lead! And in a close second, we have the future Shadow Broker, Liara T'Soni! This is already getting ideas in my head how the romance will go with Shepard in the story. Thanks everyone for voting, I will keep the voting poll open in my profile for a bit longer, so be sure to vote while you can! Shepard's love life depends on it!
I would also like to give a huge shout out to Freedom Guard and afraidtochange for greatly helping me out with this chapter and the rewriting process. I wouldn't have gotten this far without you guys. Be sure to check out their work whenever you can, they are amazing writers.
Now on with the story! This picks up right where we left off last time, where Commander Shepard, Master Chief, and Kasumi are escaping Hock's mansion from Kasumi's loyalty mission after they got the greybox.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Mass Effect. Halo belongs to 343 Industries now, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.
Chapter eight: Can't leave without saying goodbye
Donovan Hock's landing platform
Outside in the fresh air was a large landing platform with crates, boxes, trucks and cranes lying around. Kasumi walked out on the platform looking at her surroundings. Both Shepard and Master Chief had their guns up and aimed, while they surveyed the area for any surprise attacks. The third YMIR mech that didn't go with the other two mechs to guard the entrance, walked behind Shepard, Chief and Kasumi like any normal heavy mech would.
Their footsteps fell like hushed murmurs across the concrete as they stepped out onto the landing.
Standing still, Kasumi felt the gentle brush of the warm twilight breeze against her skin, as it stirred the edges of her hood against her cheeks. It carried on the salty, heady scents of the ocean.
"So this is what they mean when they talk about the calming sea breeze."
Her eyes turned to the horizon, where the setting sun colored the skyline an exotic spiderweb of orange and gold. Something strange struggled in her chest. This world... staring at the beautiful sky made it hard to believe that just a few steps behind her was the scene of a massacre, tainted with the stench of blood and the screams of gunfire.
Her heart panged painfully as, in her mind, she saw Keiji's face. What would it have been like, living with him somewhere where there had been no bloodshed? A place where they would have been allowed to grow old? A world without secrets like those he'd sealed away in his greybox that could potentially rip away the very fabric of society itself?
It was something she would wonder for a lifetime. That beautiful, peaceful place... was somewhere she would never reach. People like her, or Keiji or even Shepard, could never belong there, not after the things they had seen, the things they had done. Their souls had been twisted by the harsh realities of survival, they had chosen to face the darkest parts of existence and would never again belong in such places of light.
Beautiful things like that were not made for people like her. She knew that now. So, as she stood there in the growing darkness, all she could think was it's quiet, too quiet.
Around her, she felt the very slight changing of the wind, the disturbance of air currents and her blood ran cold.
Before she could open her lips to warn the others, the dim glow of the sun was blocked by a massive, hulking shadow rising up from the platform below.
Suddenly, an A-61 Mantis Gunship flew up in the air from below the landing platform and into their line of sight. The gunship was different from the usual as it was encased in a bright blue kinetic shield, flying low and swerving side to side in an aggressive flight pattern. The mass accelerator cannons rotated and pointed in their direction, emitting a familiar hum signifying that it was about to release a hail of mass accelerator rounds.
"Incoming!" Master Chief shouted as he quickly readied his weapons.
"Move!" Shepard yelled.
All three Normandy commandos scattered for any available cover, while the cannons revved up and started shooting.
Bright orange bullets razed the ground where they had been standing only moments before. The only one to not dive for cover was the YMIR heavy mech. The corrupted heavy was far too slow to dive for cover and it was too weak from the firefight in the hangar to survive long. The mass accelerator rounds traveled along the ground and made contact with the heavy mech. The damaged shields went quickly, and then the mass accelerator rounds tore into the mech. After a few brief seconds of absorbing the rounds, the corrupted YMIR fell to its knees and self-destructed like all mechs do when they were defeated.
Kasumi, Shepard, and Master Chief poked their heads out of cover to look at the shielded Mantis gunship.
"You could have done this the easy way, Goto! Allow me to show you the hard way!" Hock shouted through the Mantis gunship's speakers as he charged the cannons.
A long stream of mass accelerator rounds slammed into the cover that Kasumi hid behind.
Kasumi only just managed to raise a hand to shield her eyes as another stream of rounds slammed into her cover exploding the aluminium crate. Drawing her pistol, she dragged herself frantically out of the firing line and threw herself behind the closest nearby container. This one was a lot tougher than her previous hiding place, but she knew staying there for too long under fire was a bad idea.
"We need to take that thing out!" Shepard shouted.
"I am open to any ideas here!" Kasumi yelled back over the gun fire with her ducking her hooded head a few times to avoid getting shot.
Shepard knew he had to draw Hock's attention away from Kasumi. Gritting his teeth, he drew his Locust and streaked out from behind his cover, firing a few controlled shots at the gunship's vulnerable windscreen.
However, not a single round made it any further than the Mantis' immolating kinetic barrier.
"Damn it!"
Shepard threw himself into cover again as Hock began to swerve the gunship from side to side in a wider range to avoid any attempts at targeting.
"There's no way that thing is coming down unless we take out that damn shield!" The ex-Spectre thought.
He heard the hum of the cannons powering up and knew that fire was coming his way. Jumping to his feet, the former Spectre kept low as he rushed across the platform, feeling the ground tremor under the force of the impacting rounds that were snapping at his heels. Shepard flung himself behind a wall and felt the concrete behind his back, shudder as it was peppered with bullets.
With gritted teeth, the former Spectre popped out from his cover, and shot a few controlled, concentrated bursts from his Locust.
Hock's shielded Mantis took little damage from Shepard. An evil grin grew on the rich man's face, as he knew that the kinetic barrier would be fully recharged in a mere few seconds. He directed the gunship's belly mounted M350 mass accelerator machine guns at the one who impersonated Solomon Gunn.
Donovan Hock shot at Shepard with the gunship's weapons, but Shepard was quick to duck back into cover.
"What did you tell your friends, Miss. Goto? That you're doing this for love?"
Kasumi moved up from her cover and behind some new crates. The thief activated her omni-tool and threw an overload at the Mantis, but the attack wasn't strong enough to disable the kinetic barriers on the ship.
"Don't fight me, Kasumi. You know what happened when HE fought back." Hock taunted.
"You don't talk about Keiji like that! Murderer!" Kasumi shouted back in anger.
Suddenly, two platforms descended into the floor, and quickly brought back up four Eclipse guards each. All of them were either human or Salarian, no biotic Asari in the bunch.
"More hostiles ahead." The Spartan warned the others.
With the needle rifle held tight in his hands, John-117 rose up from his cover and fired off three needle rounds at a mercenary. All three pink needles were embedded in the chest and waist of a merc. A few seconds afterwards, the Eclipse soldier was consumed in a haze of pink mist.
Fortunatley another mercenary was close enough to the pink explosion, where the corrosive powder started to eat away at yellow armor and skin. The man screamed in agonizing pain from the intense heat that ate at his body. The Master Chief was quick enough to end the Eclipse's suffering, shotting the merc in the helmet with a pink needle.
The rest of the Eclipse mercenaries scattered for cover behind metallic crates and boxes, though one did not get far as it was shot down by Shepard's kassa locust. All of the mercs began to shoot their own guns at the Normandy squad members. The Eclipse troops were only able to hit at the shields of the team a few times, but there was no real harm done.
As the gunfire flew overhead, Shepard switched from the rapid firing Locust to something with extra punch, he quickly stood up and shot his M-6 carnifex pistol at the head of a mercenary. The Eclipse troop went down, and the former Spectre turned his attention to another merc. Two rounds from the heavy pistol slammed into the Eclipse's armor, but it only wounded him.
The mercenaries turned their focus on Shepard, and fired at him. He instantly took cover behind some metallic crates.
"Four left!" The hero of the Blitz shouted shouted over the endless, booming rhapsody of gunfire.
Shepard aimed his heavy pistol at the nearest battling merc, but it was then that he felt the impact of a shell on his shoulder guard and realised that his shields had been taken out.
Dropping back behind the metal tank to slam his last thermal clip into his gun, he called out,
"We need to finish this quickly!"
"Lay down your weapons! There is no where you can run." Hock announced over the loud speakers on the gunship.
"I'd rather die!" Kasumi rebutted to the man she hated the most throught out the galaxy.
"So be it."
A dark smile grew over his cruel face, Hock slammed down on the missile controls and sent a pair of projectiles streaming toward Kasumi.
Cursing, Kasumi dove to the ground, and executed a lightning fast roll away from her cover. The missiles smashed into the crate with an ear shattering crash that sent shockwaves across the landing.
The mercs rose up from their cover and shot at the thief, but much to their disappointment, she was gone. Hock however was not going to let that stand up for too long as he moved to track her down.
"Even if you escape, I'll scour the galaxy for you Miss Goto!"
Swerving his gunship in a low, aggressive flight pattern, Hock manoeuvred the Mantis closer to the landing than he'd dared before. His eyes frantically searching the platform for his illusive prey as he repeated to shoot the Mantis' machine guns at both her companions to keep them pinned down.
Suddenly, the air began to stir and a black clad body materialised as if she'd been given form by the darkness. Kasumi gazed hatefully through the windscreen of the Mantis as she executed a precise shadowstrike on the mercenary just in front of her. She heard his choking scream as he collapsed and startled gunfire flew her way from the other mercenaries. Reactivating her cloak, Kasumi disappeared and leapt behind a pile of cargo boxes, wondering how she was supposed to get to that gunship. Or, more importantly, the evil man inside.
"We need to find a way to take him out and fast!" Kasumi shouted as she released a heated clip, before slapping in a new one.
Cortana was way ahead of them for that, having taken the time to study the Mantis.
"Chief, the shields on that gunship are similar to the kinetic barriers on some of the people. The Covenant plasma weapons should do a pretty good number on it." Cortana informed the Spartan from within his armor.
"If we flank him, we can draw his fire and confuse him. That should give us a clear shot at hitting him from behind. Ready to stretch your legs, Spartan?" Shepard called out over the gunfire exchanged between the Normandy team and Hock's goons, but never hearing Chief's A.I.
"Affirmative." John-117 replied as he placed the needle rifle on the magnetic plates on his back and exchanged it for the plasma rifle. The rapid fire would prove to be invaluable in the run.
"Kasumi prime a flashbang grenade. It will stun the mercenaries long enough for Chief to get to the other side of the platform." The former Spectre ordered.
"On it, Shep."
"I will bring the mercs out in the open. On my mark. Ready..." Shepard said as biotic energy started to flow through him.
Gunfire still flew overhead as Hock and his men for hire continued their assault.
Kasumi pulled out a flashbang and prepped herself, ready to throw on a moments notice.
Master Chief checked the battery power for the plasma rifle with his helmet's HUD. He was satisfied to know that the Covenant weapon still had plenty of plasma energy to go around.
"Go!"
At the sound of the war cry, Kasumi Goto threw the flashbang grenade over the crates that they were hiding behind. In a few seconds the grenade went off and let out a concussive roar and a blinding flash of light that disoriented the Eclipse and Hock.
Hock covered his eyes from the bright light, but still maintained control over his gunship. The mercenaries however stumbled around, moaning from the pain in their eyes.
As soon as the grenade detonated, Chief quickly leaped over the crates and made a dash across the platform.
The air around him warped as Shepard let out a burst of biotic energy aimed at the three remaining Eclipse mercs. Catching them unaware and lifting their bodies from the floor with brutal intensity, before tossing them violently into a nearby wall. When their bodies crumpled to the ground, they did not rise again.
The Spartan sprinted across the platform with his objective dead set in his mind.
Once Hock's eyes healed, he brought his attention back on the battlefield. He saw that all of his hired gunmen were dead, but the rich man knew that they were easily replaceable. Hock then spotted the green armored goliath running on the platform. He turned the gunship's mounted gun turret on the soldier and fired its payload.
"You've overstayed your welcome!" Hock called out.
Master Chief ran at a high speed, narrowly avoiding getting shot by the Mantis' turret.
"Chief, watch out!" Cortana warned inside of the Spartan's helmet when she picked up on a new incoming threat.
John-117 looked up during his run and caught a glimpse of a pair missiles heading in his way. The supersoldier dove to the ground, barley able to dodge the missiles and watch them destroy a feeble crate in a furious blaze. Master Chief hurriedly picked himself back up and fired his Covenant plasma rifle. A long stream of plasma bolts flew in a stagger line and then slammed into the Mantis gunship. Soon the plasma rifle overheated in Chief's hand, where the heat vents opened to allow the excess to dissipate.
Laughing, Hock watched the armored goliath and wondered if he was really desperate enough to believe that a few heated rounds would be enough to stand against a gunship. The corrupt bussiness man retargeted the cannons, and began to calibrate the new missile trajectory. That was to end this one once and for all, shame really, the armor and weapons would make a fine prize.
But then the monitors flashed red and pilot seat's display died.
"What the?" Hock asked in shock and confusion.
Suddenly, the Mantis juddered and he reached out to grab the controls as it swerved dangerously under the fire. Alarmed, he brought up the backup display and stared at the rapidly decreasing numbers that indicated that his kinetic shield... was failing. The corrupt businessman peered out of the cockpit and was shocked that there were black burnt marks on the armored hull. Some of the armor plate was…melted, actually melted! Hock grinded his teeth together and slammed his hands on the controls in anger.
"There was no way a normal rifle could inflict such damage!"
"I don't know what kind of weapons your friend is using Goto, but I will find out soon enough once he is dead like your old boy toy. It will make me a fortune on the black market!" Hock declared.
Hock flew the Mantis back and hovered close to the ground. The underbelly of the gunship opened up where it dropped off four deactivated LOKI mechs. As soon as the mechs touched the floor they activated and drew their sidearms. Donovan Hock then moved the Mantis under the platform to let the shields recharge.
Shepard holstered his weapon and pulled out the kassa locust.
"What?! These guys again? I thought we killed them all in the garage?"
"I guess Hock kept a few with him. Oh well, they shouldn't be too tough." Kasumi added, though truthfully she was beginning to wonder how much longer this could possibly go on.
Shepard charged up his biotics and threw out a biotic pull. The blue orb flew and hit a mech. Fortunately all the LOKI mechs were close enough for the biotic move to affect all of them. All four mechs helplessly floated in the air.
"Take them down!" Shepard ordered.
The landing erupted in the deafening melody of synchronised gunfire as all three Normandy crewmates took aim and shredded the LOKIs, until nothing was left bar a few singed spare parts caught in the raging biotic vortex.
The Mantis gunship suddenly rose up from under the platform and brushed the floating spare parts aside.
"Remember me!" Hock shouted through the intercom.
Hock fired the mass accelerator cannons all across the platform, causing everyone to run for cover.
"Gunship's back, and with full shields! If I can get to the ship, I can take down the shields! But I will need a clear path to that gunship." It was then that Kasumi was struck with inspiration when she recalled how effective Master Chief's weapons were.
"Oh Chief, I don't suppose you are any good at making a clearing?" Kasumi asked with a playful and flirty tone.
"On occasion. I will see what I can do and radio you back."
"Please and thank you."
John-117 holstered the plasma rifle to his hip and reached for the beam rifle on his back. The super soldier stood up and aimed the Covenant sniper rifle at the gunship. Hock must had caught onto the act because at the same time the cannons on the gunship were directed at him.
"Lets not keep them waiting. Make it a good shot, Chief." Cortana said to her long time friend.
Chief zoomed in on the gunship with the scope through the rifle. He had Hock right in his line of sight, unfortunately Hock had his eyes on the Spartan as well.
Before the Spartan could pull the trigger, Hock already pressed his. A long stream of rounds rushed toward him and in a moment of horror, John-117 realised that there was no way would be able to avoid them. Bracing his body for the impact he knew was coming, his finger twitched on the trigger and all he felt was the very tiny amount of recoil as his beam rifle went off, before he was assaulted by the brutal force of mass accelerator rounds pounding against his body.
The force knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling. Crashing to the ground, the Spartan heard a dull whine as his MJLONIR armour lost it's shields.
"Chief!"
He heard Shepard's scream and a moment later, he rolled violently sideways across the tarmac and out of range of the gunship. He was alive, but hurting like hell as the medical systems of the MJOLNIR went to work on him.
Raising her head from cover, Kasumi felt her stomach lurch as her eyes fell on the Master Chief's body on the ground. The guy had done what he could, but was shot doing it, and it made her sick thinking that she might have gotten him killed.
"Damn it!"
Hock's voice raged toward her, and suddenly the gunship lurched, swerving in mid air so precariously that it's underside scraped along the landing before veering upward again just as unexpectedly.
Narrowing her eyes, Kasumi stared at the Mantis' windscreen.
"Unbelievable..."
In the cockpit, Hock grunted in pain as he surged out and wrestled with the controls desperately, his eyes moving to the small, bullet shaped hole in his windscreen. Somehow that armored being fired a weapon that ignored…IGNORED the Kinetic Barriers he had on the Mantis and melted through the windshield, like if it was tissue paper. When he tried to move, however, a spasm of white hot pain shot through every muscle and tendon of his left arm and the Mantis bucked uncontrollably.
"I've... been hit?" Hock said in absolute disbelief and surprise.
Dumbfounded, his burning gaze moved to the amored giant on the landing below him, who was struggling to stagger back to his feet. There was just no way...
And yet, the debilitating numbness coming over his left arm seemed to indicate otherwise.
There was no way he could handle the controls with only one arm!
Growling furiously, Hock felt a violently lashing wave of anger consume his body and then he was moving. Reaching for the controls with his good hand, he jerked the Mantis forward. If he was going down, he wasn't going down alone.
Kasumi quickly scanned the info on her omni-tool, looking for a weakness on the shield that would allow her to take it out. The Chief's shot through the windscreen of the Mantis had obviously damaged something essential; Hock looked like he could barely keep it under control any more. If there was ever a time for her to disable that kinetic defense, it was now. Before Hock could get his bearings back.
She heard the whining of the engines, but the whoosh of cool air rushing toward her wasn't something she'd expected. Her eyes snapped up, she realised with impending horror that the gunship was vigorously swerving toward her.
"Say hello to Keiji for me!" Hock yelled in a blinding fury.
All noise rushed at her at once, but all she could see was the growing dark armor of the gunship barrelling toward her. There wasn't even time for thought as a moment later, she was close enough to see the dark gleam in Hock's eye and then the impact.
It hit her like a bullet train, so violent that her body was flung into the air and spiralled until she smacked into the ground again several feet away. The collision knocked her breathless, and sent her head spinning, so sickeningly that she wasn't even sure she could move if her life depended on it.
But... she could still move... even though she should be dead...
"CHIEF!"
Across the landing, Shepard froze as the massive, hulking stern of the gunship slammed into the staggering figure of John-117. His eyes had been so fixated on Kasumi, on realising that there was nothing he could do to save her, that he hadn't even seen the green goliath streaking across the platform until his hands had shoved her out of the way.
Before his eyes, the gunship slammed violently into the ground - and his friend. Time seemed to stand still as the Mantis careened across the floor and the Spartan was lost under the hulking mass. The gunship slid across the platform, sparks flaring from inertia. Eventually it came to a stop, when it smashed into the walls that the Normandy team came in from.
In a heartbeat, Kasumi picked herself off the ground where she and Shepard jolted to the crashed gunship. The two desperately searched around the wreckage for their Spartan ally, but there was no sign of him.
Suddenly, strange sounds came from the downed gunship. The sounds grew even more and soon an explosion of sorts happened at the ruins of the Mantis, before Shepard and Kasumi. They moved back from the Mantis and several charred metal plates from the wreckage moved down with a loud crash. Out came none other than the Master Chief.
He moved forward through the smoke, fire, and ruined metal with slow and somewhat unsteady footsteps. The Spartan's armor was blackened in some areas with some parts of the armor's edges chipped off as well. The blackened areas was due to the fire and the chipped areas was from the serious damage. There were also some scratches on parts of the armor, due to the possibility that the crash had dragged the Spartan on the floor.
Heavy dents were evident on the plating from getting rammed by the gunship, but apparently the Spartan was still alive as his armor was virtually intact. This was a testament to the way the UNSC built the MJOLNIR armor, only very potent massed firepower could truly destroy the armor due to the specially made Titanium Alloys and other materials used in the construction, along with the other features. But that did not mean John-117 was not the least bit injured.
Master Chief managed to make it to a nearby stack of crates and tried to steady himself. With his tired and wounded body, he nearly fell down but he was able to catch himself in time before he smacked his head on the nearby crates on one knee. He had activated the armor's Lock Down feature mere seconds before the gunship smashed into him, that was the reason he was not too badly injured. But his body was deep in a tremendous amount of pain. His vision swam in circles around him, causing him to be very dizzy.
He began to get up, but his muscles were severely bruised and he had no doubt that there would be serious over-extension, possibly torn muscle tendons, and internal haemorrhaging. He felt trauma in some areas of his ribs and had some difficulty breathing as well.
Chief felt what was undeniably symptoms of suffering a concussion, and also felt a god deal of ache running through his legs, left arm and right shoulder. He then recalled there was a lot of fluid built up inside his helmet. From the taste, the liquid in question was his blood. He took in some breaths, ignoring the pain that ignited from his ribs.
"Damn...he just survived being hit by a crashing Mantis! I knew he was a super soldier, but THIS is really pushing it!" The former Spectre thought to himself.
Shepard stared in disbelief as the Master Chief managed to get to his feet. He had yet to meet anyone to have survived such an impact. Sure he saw the insane things Chief had done, but to see him walk from what would have been certain death was new. One thing was for sure, once the records of the mission came back there was going to be a LOT of questions, and reactions.
"By the Kami...he survived..."
Kasumi couldn't help but stare in awe, relief, and happiness as she saw that he was alive. When she realized that the Spartan had willingly rushed in to push her out of the way of Hock's gunship, she was filled with shock, guilt, and despair. The guy had willingly risked his life to help her, and took a hit that would have easily been death to her or anyone else. A lot of questions were on her mind on how he survived and who he was, as well as the desire to thank him for what he had done.
The two soon made it to him as John got up. She moved to his side to help him stabilize. Shepard did the same and was on John's other side, though Chief had to do most of the lifting since his armor weighed more than a ton.
"Easy there. You all right Chief?" The Commander said, trying his best to help his friend.
John-117 gave a slow breath and then replied.
"Been better. How is Miss Goto?"
Kasumi was amazed that he cared more for her than himself, that touched her a great deal as she spoke after a moment or so of silence.
"I am fine... thanks to you big guy."
"Good to know, ugh!"
He winced a bit and that convinced the others to hurry and call in for support; thankfully Joker replied that the shuttle was on its way. It was then that the Normandy commandos heard more noise from the gunship, except this came from the cockpit. They turned to see the cockpit's side move and a body crawled through the broken shards of glass. Out came Donovan Hock, bloody, burned, and in a state of sheer pain... but obviously alive.
Kasumi's eyes under her hood steeled up and spoke to the two.
"Go on ahead, I'll be right back."
Shepard watched her walk off. He knew what she was about to do; a very drastic thing.
"Kasumi," the Commander called out.
The thief suddenly stopped in her tracks, but did not look at him. He knew that she was still listening.
"Don't lose yourself."
She stood their for a mere second, and then kept on with the objective in mind.
Hock crawled across the platform, leaving a trail of blood behind him and ruining his good suit. He swore under his ragged breath; his body was a complete wreck, just like his prized gunship. He was only able to use one arm, as the other was utterly useless from getting shot by the strange weapon. He wasn't able to contact anyone as his omni-tool was on his bad arm, plus the fact that most of his personel were dead.
But he knew that if he could just make it to his mansion, he could get some medical treatment. Then he could hunt down and get revenge on that conniving, thiefy little bitc...
"Hello Hock."
"Kasumi," The man hissed through gritted bloody teeth.
Hock then felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.
"Have you come to finish the job, Miss Goto?"
The master thief then pressed the barrel of her gun harder against his head, earning a grunt from Hock.
"Not feeling so talkative, are we?"
"How did you find Keiji?" Kasumi demanded.
"Ah, closure. I didn't expect this from you, Miss Goto."
"Answer the question, before I kill you with your own gun." The thief threatened.
Hock silently growled, at how she stole his favorite weapon that killed two presidents, the Kassa Locust. He had worked his ass off to get that gun for his collection, and now it was going to be used to end his life. But his mood changed, when he realized that he had the upperhand. He held information that she needed to know, much like Keiji's graybox. He had a gut feeling that he was going to die, but if he was why not have some fun and torture his enemy. Besides, he still had one more change to strike at Kasumi and the best way to use it was to make her lower her guard.
"You two were good, almost the best. But no one can hide from the Shadow Broker. It took me a tidy sum to buy the data to find him, but it was well worth it." The man gloated with an evil chuckle.
"Once I tracked him down on Cyone, I threw nearly every resource I had to get him. I cornered your boy toy after a hell of a chase. I made him pay for costing me so much money. He pleaded and begged that I leave you alone, but I blasted him with that same gun your holding now. Oh the irony!" Hock laughed manically to make sure that he was twisting the proverbial knife into Kasumi's chest.
As he taunted her, he secretly reached under his suit with his good hand, for his concealed pistol. This did not go unnoticed by his target, however, as he had forgotten to take into account that Kasumi did not become the thief that she was if she did not have an eye for detail.
"But don't worry Miss Goto, because you will see him so..."
BANG!
Donovan Hock didn't get to finish, as Kasumi Goto was the first to pull the trigger.
Kasumi looked at the dead man and thought about Keiji and hoped that at least he would rest easy knowing his killer was now dead. She eyed the weapon and did find it ironic that she held the gun that ended Keiji's life, but believed that Donovan's blood had purified the kassa locust of her former love's blood. She resisted the urge to shoot the body of Donovan Hock again in anger; it would be waste of rounds and clips to be sure, but it was hard not to.
But Keiji would not want her to do that, be like an animal driven by hatred and she decided to leave Hock to die in his ruined mansion as the fires began to spread. This entire place was going to burn and for now, it was more than enough for her.
The thief spun on her heel and walked back to Shepard and Master Chief in an eerie silence. Only the sounds of birds and the fires of the gunship could be heard. The two quietly stared at her, but this silence would not last forever.
"Are you all right?" Shepard asked, while the shuttle finally came to land on the nearby pad.
"I don't…I don't know, but it's over, that's what counts right now."
"At least you finally put your ghosts to rest, and removing Hock is going to make things a lot easier for everyone."
"Thank you, both of you. This means a lot to me," the thief appreaciated, glancing at both of the men in front of her with seriousness.
Both the Spartan and the ex-Spectre nodded their heads.
"Now come on, we have to go and get the Chief to medical," Shepard informed.
The trio stepped into the shuttle, with John-117 slumping down in the seats in pain. The Kodiak lifted off, leaving the mansion for good.
Back on the Normandy in the Medical Bay
The super soldier's well trained blue eyes watched how Dr. Chakwas paced in the room, while she messed with her datapad. The Master Chief was laying on the medical bed in the room, receiving a check up on his injuries. He didn't wear a hospital gown, but instead he was nearly nude if it not for the blanket covering below his waist. Purple bruises developed on his form along with some swelling.
John had no doubt that once this was over, Cortana was going to give him an earful back in the Cargo Bay. He expected that from his long time friend and partner, but he knew that she was only doing because she cared. At the moment, the A.I. was stowed away in his armor that was lying on the floor in the very room he was in now, just like the time he got his checkup when he first met the good doctor.
Without looking away from her datapad, the medical officer addressed her patient,
"If I was not holding the data in my hands right now, I'd say you were playing a practical joke on me. Several torn muscle tendons on BOTH arms, a compound fracture in the thigh bone of your right leg from being tossed around. Multiple overexerted muscles in the upper body region, severe internal bleeding, a torn hamstring in your left leg, a dislocated right shoulder, and I also found a crack in BOTH your shoulder blades. These are the kinds of injuries that no one expects to see on a LIVING person who was in what amounted as a car crash. It's a mystery that you're not torn apart or turned into a mess in your armor!"
Dr Chakwas then observed the injuried, but stabled super soldier,
"In the short time I have known you, I can tell you are going to be quite reckless. I'm starting to wonder how often I will see you in here, Spartan?" the Normandy's medic said.
The Master Chief couldn't help, but feel some measure of guilt with forcing the Doctor to tend to him like this.
Usually there was a team of hand picked doctors and nurses on deck with Dr. Halsey to oversee them when she could be present for medical treatment. The same thing happened in the case of the MJOLNIR, as there had been a group of highly trained engineers, techs, and scientists, led by Halsey who maintained, repaired, and upgraded their armor whenever they had the time to do so.
There was none of that here, and he doubted that Karin Chakwas was used to treating someone like him. Even Dr. Halsey, who despite being their surrogate mother for three decades and had seen them all in action, was always amazed at how much punishment he and the others could take. And she was just as doubly amazed at how much of her funding, medical supplies, and equipment was used to treat them. The sheer amount would have been enough to treat at least two platoons worth of Marines!
It would not take much to guess how their armor went as they did when it came to being brought back to fighting shape considering the extreme risk ops that he and his Spartan brothers and sisters took part in and led.
If he was not careful, he might end up depleting the funds of this mission's budget, and he might also end up consuming too much medical supplies which the others might need after an op. That in itself was asking for trouble. With that in mind, he made sure not to let himself get this badly injured in the future; he would become more of a liability than an asset if he got like this after every mission.
Not only that, his armor was still in need of repairs since it was still on a backup system so he had to avoid being like this. If he did not, then the MJOLNIR would become less effective, and while he was taught not to rely on it, he knew better than to let it become useless. This began to make him think that perhaps he and Cortana should go back to the Dawn and salvage anything that could help with the repairs of his armor. The MJOLNIR needed special parts, tools, and equipment and he doubted anyone here in this reality dealt with something like the MJOLNIR Series.
"Sorry, ma'am."
Surprisingly, Karin Chakwas stopped her stride and sat at the edge of Chief's bed near his feet. She set the datapad on her lap and looked at the man in her care with a stern gaze.
"But in all of the years I have served as a doctor in the Alliance, I've come to learn that some of the most daring soldiers can have the biggest hearts. I know what you did for Miss Goto on the mission. It was very brave of you take such a blow for her, even if she was not exactly well known to you. I have no doubt that she appreciates what you did for her as well, such courage is rare in this day and age."
A small smile crept up on John-117's pale face.
"Thank you, ma'am."
The medical officer replicated the amusing facial gesture, though hers was a bit brighter. She then took a deep breath, glanced back at her datapad, and got off the bed.
"Now then, despite the intense hit you took, you're recovering seemingly well. I still don't entirely understand your augmentations, but your healing factor is working wonders. All you need is some rest, food, and you'll be fine. I will need you to stick close by the medical bay, so I can keep an eye on you. I wouldn't want you collapsing and have Grunt to carry you back here."
"Acknowledged," Chief said with a quick nod.
When the door hissed opened, both flashed their eyes at the entry.
Kasumi walked into the Med Bay and began to look for the Spartan. She saw that he was on one of the beds there and she finally got a good picture of the man under the armor. One of the first things she noticed was how pale he was. That struck the Japanese born thief a bit as she gazed at him and she began to guess that it had something to do with him being in his armor constantly. He had military cut hair, blue eyes, and a plain but rugged face with a few scars on it, incredibly tall and very muscular. She decided to get a lot closer and soon was greeted by the doctor with a smile of her own like a mother or a grandmother.
She had met the elderly woman before when she first arrived on the third floor. Dr. Chakwas was a very kind person at heart and could be serious but funny at the same time if it came to it. Her type of attitude and the motherly way she acted, made her all right in the Asian thief's book.
"Ah Miss Goto, I was not told you were coming. Are you injured as well?"
"Not really, I'm fine and still alive, thanks to your big friend over there. I actually came to thank him. How is he?"
Chakwas sighed a bit and replied.
"He's recovering quite well actually. With some rest and proper care, he should be up in no time. He's a lot easier to take care of than some of the other bone headed soldiers from back in the day. Anyway, I need to pick up something quick to eat. Do you mind watching him for a bit?
The thief glanced at the Spartan behind the doctor and then back at Chakwas, with a small smile.
"Sure, it would give me chance for me to talk to him."
A tiny giggle escaped from the elderly woman.
"Good luck with that one, he's very much the stoic type. Either way, thank you, I will be back shortly."
"Okay Doc, see you later."
Chakwas placed her datapad on the counter and left the two alone.
Kasumi went forward to sit down at the nearby chair as Chief gave her a nod in greeting. He had a very interesting body, he was very pale just like his face, he had scars on his body that look like they came from a different variety of weapons. He was definitely fit and hard looking. He was perfectly proportioned and coupled with his appearance... well was very unique in her mind.
"How are you Miss Goto?"
"I'm fine, which is more than I can say for you. You were pretty banged up when it happened, how you managed to remain alive, much less whole is amazing. You got rammed by a gunship after all."
"I've had worse."
"Had worse than being rammed by a gunship? Hmm, now there's a story there."
As she sat down next to him, she could not help but admire the now naked Spartan. Her eyes were drawn to the firm, dominatingly etched ridges and curvatures of his muscle below skin, revealed in all their glory thanks to the blanket that was only concealing half of him. But even if she was eager to see him fully revealed, what she was already seeing was well worth it. This very much confirmed the rumors all over the ship she heard about him being very attractive when out of the armor.
"Mmmm... 6'10 and perfectly proportioned to boot. Muscle tone... nice. And I've always had a weakness for scars. He's no model, but damn... there's something about him that makes me want to keep looking. I don't blame Miss Lawson for being rather intense when it concerns him. I wonder if he likes Japanese girls with a penchant for kleptomania...''" Kasumi thought in lust mixed with a whole train of ideas.
"Well, I thought I'd come by and thank you for what you did. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. You really gave me a hell of a scare when you jumped in front of the gunship."
"You're welcome Miss Goto. You're part of the team and I had to help you."
Though oddly stated, Kasumi saw that he was sincere and commented with a smile.
"You sure know how to make a woman feel special."
Chief gave a slight smile and that was a victory in her mind. The familiar hiss of a door opened behind them, signaling that the doctor had returned. A plan came to Kasumi's mind as she saw Chakwas come back.
"Anyway, get better John all right?"
The super soldier nodded and Kasumi gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
Kasumi got up and left, but not before she cloaked herself. She quickly, but quietly ran up to the counter and took the datapad.
"The food that Gardner cooks up may not be cuisine, but it is better than anything they served in the Alliance. Alright lets take... a look... at..." But Dr. Chakwas didn't finish her sentence, since something was missing.
The medic rummaged through her papers and supplies on the counter, but couldn't find the datapad.
"Is something wrong, doctor?" Chief asked, picking up on her minor distress.
"I can't find my datapad. Strange, I could've sworn I left it on the counter." She replied while she inspected inside some cabinets. "Maybe I accidentally left it in the cafeteria? Wait just one second, I'll go check."
When the medical officer left again, the thief realized that was her signal to make her move.
Master Chief began to relax a bit, but already his senses were on high alert. Something had stirred him up and he began to look around. Years of fighting the Covenant also meant that more than once he had to deal with their Spec Ops troopers and assassins and those usually were armed with active stealth generators.
Several times, he had fought them when they all wanted the honor and glory of killing him so he, like all veteran UNSC soldiers and Spartans knew what to look for as the active camo created shimmering effects in the air when the Spec Ops trooper was close. And if one watched carefully, at closing medium distance, anyone could see the shimmering effect plus the camo did not hide the glow of plasma from their weapons. He scanned the area carefully, while running through his head what he knew of active camo in his reality and here.
As far as he knew, the only ones armed with this reality's equivalent, the Tactical Cloak, were the Infiltrators, but none of them were on this ship. The only one would be...
He spotted the shimmering near to the left and then spoke.
"Ka..."
An invisible hand came over his mouth that moment and he had to fight his battle hardened instincts from grabbing Kasumi and harming her. He had no idea just what was it she was planning, but he knew that she was not a dangerous person to him and the crew. So she must have wanted to talk to him without Chakwas noticing. Soon his thoughts were proven true when her voice came to him, only this time she was speaking in a low and rather, interesting tone.
"Shhh...it's all right big guy, just relax."
Master Chief nodded slightly and Kasumi spoke once more in an enticing tone.
"I misplaced the pad a bit so I could have some extra time, though I decided to make this a little more interesting."
The super soldier wondered what she meant, until she made her move as she raised one leg over and sat on top the Spartan, straddling him. Chief couldn't help, but stay still as the invisible thief mounted him. He had no idea of what to make of the sudden situation. He has never experienced something like that before, something so intimate.
He could feel her weight on his own body, which was not much. In that moment her cloak faded away, but without making a sound and soon she was there. He could see her face under her hood and could tell that she was very attractive and showed her Japanese ancestry.
Kasumi couldn't help but admire the feel of the Spartan below her. She felt his warmth through her suit and it was exciting her a great deal. The heat and hardness of his male form was very good and the look on his face was also exciting her a great deal.
She then placed her hands to the side of his face and began to lean towards him. John decided to speak to her at that point.
"What are you..."
But he didn't get to finish, for his lips were covered by another. He had NO idea how to respond to this as Kasumi did not say anything else as she soon kissed him while his mouth was open.
She poured her emotions into the kiss, while she slowly started to make her move.
John-117 was frozen in place, he had absolutely no idea what to do. Kasumi Goto was doing something that no one had done to him before. It was foreign to him, yet strangely pleasant.
She moved her body down a bit more and began to press herself to him, showing her impressive flexibility. She could feel her body move into his own and felt the warmth of his form all over the front of her chest through her clothes. Her actions seemed to make him tense and she decided to use her tongue slowly, licking her lips and that made Chief gasp a bit.
The spontaneous act was going too fast for him. He needed to slow down and analyze the situation, perhaps even talk to her. To calm her down, he touched her hip with his hand. Instead he got a reaction he didn't predict.
"Mmmm!"
It seemed she squealed in joy to it, which confused him only more.
The kiss soon ended and Kasumi moved back, licking her lips slowly and lustfully to let him see it. She then spoke in a sensual tone.
"You know how to make me excited Chief, and if you liked that kiss, there's more where that came from."
Kasumi soon moved off gently and faded away from him, while cloaked, but not before giving him a flirtatious smile.
The Spartan was speechless, still trying to make sense of the entire situation.
It was also here that Miranda Lawson and Commander Shepard came in, unknowingly allowing Kasumi to slip by and leave. Dr Chakwas also came back with the pad, and none of them were aware that the thief had left the area. But John-117 was as he saw her decloak and give him a sway of her hips in a seductively cute pose, before the door closed.
"You got pretty banged up out there, Chief. Just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing. How are you feeling?" Shepard asked.
Master Chief was still stunned after what Kasumi had done to him. But he had to act fast and recollect himself.
"I've had worse injuries sir."
Shepard was impressed by the Master Chief. When they got back to the ship, the Spartan still had the strength to remove his armor when he had Grunt help move him into the Medical Bay. After putting Chief in the doctor's hands, needless to say there was a lot of questions directed at him on how the mission went and what happened to the Spartan. The most obvious one was…Miranda herself, and she was very intense in the questioning once he left the Medical Bay when Chakwas was then working on the man.
"Let's stay away from worse. I wouldn't want you in here all the time, especially when we go up against the Collectors."
Cutting the light attitude in the air like a knife, Miranda spoke up next,
"Doctor, what kind of injuries does he have?"
Karin Chakwas handed her the datapad, to which the Cerberus officer read over quickly. Though she didn't reveal any facial expressions, Miranda was very impressed. The damage John had taken would have easily killed a normal Alliance Marine, but he came out with a few yet somewhat serious wounds. This showed her one of his many fascinating enhancements. She too, healed faster than the average human, but it would seem that Chief heals even faster.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the Commander,
"How long will he be out?"
"With his augmentations, it's hard to tell. Still, if I had to make an estimated a guess, it would be around a week." the medical officer pointed out.
Shepard had to stop himself from blowing an amusing whistle at the amazing rate the super soldier would recover, but instead he stayed professional and confident.
"That doesn't sound too bad. Well, I just wanted to say thanks for saving Kasumi, that took a lot of guts. Take it easy, all right? I need you up and reporting for duty ASAP, you hear me Spartan?"
Master Chief responded with a quick nod,
"Understood."
Smirking a victorious smile, Commander Shepard turned and left the medical bay. He needed to head to the galaxy map in the next floor above, to plot their next destination. He hadn't received the next set of dossiers from the Illusive Man yet, but he was sure there was another assignment he could do. With a bustling and active galaxy filled with several different alien species, one could never be bored.
Dr Chakwas, herself stayed around to tend to her patient. She merely stepped to the other side of the room, to make a schedule for certain treatments for the Spartan. With most advanced and best medical equipment that Cerberus could afford, the super soldier would be up relatively soon, which she had to work to make it happen.
This left Miranda Lawson watching over John. The two only stared at each other in a ghostly silence. The only haunting sounds that could be heard was Dr Chakwas typing away on her datapad.
Now John knew he wasn't the best at reading people or anything that dealt with social skills, but as he gazed into the Cerberus officer's blue eyes, he could see a mixture of emotions. He wondered what sort of emotions were they or why was she being so quiet with him? This was not the usual attitude that he expected from her.
After an entire minute of an absence of sound, Miranda finally spoke up,
"You were being brash and irresponsible," she said in a monotone voice.
Right away, Chief figured out that anger was one of things that Miss Lawson was feeling. Instead of replying with words, he just raised a questioning eyebrow, signaling for her to continue.
"Risking your life like that was bloody foolish. Why did you jeopardized yourself for some petty errand?"
"I had to save Miss Goto. She's significant to the mission as well," the Spartan rebutted.
The Cerberus officer knew he was right, for the thief had astounding stealth and infiltration skills that would be a benefiting factor to the Collector mission. But she still had a lot on her mind to say to the man.
"And you don't think you aren't? With your abilities, you could replace most of the people we are recruiting against the Collectors. I've seen you how you fight, and you live up to what a super soldier can do. Cerberus can't afford to lose you."
"I'm not here for Cerberus," the Master Chief declared in a cold tone.
The response caused the Austrailian woman to narrow her eyes, and clenched her fist tight.
"You're doing this for humanity, you fought a nearly thirty year war for the survival of man kind, and Cerberus' ultimate goal is to help the human race. Like it or not, we're on the same side, John," Miranda replied with an even icier voice.
Chief held his tongue as he couldn't think of a way to dignify a reply. What she pointed out was indeed correct. Both Cerberus and the UNSC had the same ambitions of advancing their species. True, that Cerberus had some extreme methods to completing their objectives, but they were very similar to the Office of Naval Intelligence from his universe.
Surprisingly, Miranda took a deep breath to relax herself to a degree. She loosened her hands, and set them to lean on the table, nearly touching the nude Spartan-II without her knowing.
"Next time, try thinking before leaping."
The phrase him like a ton of bricks as Chief Mendez once taught him that during his Spartan training. Though, he did admit that he was infact thinking when he fought Donovan Hock: save Kasumi.
"Next time," he parroted in his usual deep tone to agree with her.
With that said, she let go of the bed, and started to make her way out of the medical bay, except she stopped when the automatic door slid open. Pausing with her hand on the door, Miranda tilted her chin just enough to look back over her shoulder at the wounded super soldier. Her fingers curled around the doorframe tightened just a little and she turned her gaze away quickly.
"I expect you to be on your feet soon and reporting for duty, John," she said softly before she walked away from him.
Dr. Chakwas had ignored the conversation namely since she had her duties, but still she kept her ears open and she couldn't help but be amused to some degree about the situation. A second ago, before her were two people who by all rights and origins were the finest examples of humanity in many ways and they were not getting that well along. However like any woman, she was quick to sense that despite the icy tone Miranda had, there was some measure of worry and warmth she had for the Spartan. And after seeing how similar the two were compared to each other, she was quick to see the why. Nonetheless, she had to agree that he should be more careful and as such, she soon finished the schedule for his recovery.
"Here, this is the time table I made for your treatments, Master Chief."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"You know, it would be much easier if you had an omni-tool to alert you about the treatments, instead of having to memorize them. Maybe whenever you see Shepard again, you could put in a request for one," the doctor advised.
"Maybe," the super soldier replied, as he did see some perks to having such a device.
"We will need to apply another batch of medi-gel in a few minutes, along with some stimpacks."
John took a look at the schedule and began to follow the routine being given to him into his head. However, he started to wonder just how would he approach the subject of heading back to the Dawn to get what he needed to fix the MJOLNIR back up to full specs.
...
And end chapter! Well I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. A lot of action in the beginning, and some emotional character drama at the end.
Will Master Chief get a chance to go back to the UNSC frigate, 'Forward Unto Dawn?' Will Chief ever get his armor fixed?
Has Kasumi taken an interest in our Spartan-II? Will there be a love triangle between MirandaxJohn-117xKasumi if so?
Will Chief get an omni-tool?
Could there be anything surprising on the 'Forward Unto Dawn' if they go back to it?
Whose Shepard going to recruit next?
A ton of questions that might get answered in the next chapter! Be sure to leave a review as I love reviews on just about anything!
Now some of you might be wondering that if Master Chief could actually survive getting hit by a gunship. Well that is a tough question that I'm also confused about. Part of me thinks he can, while a smaller part of me thinks he probably couldn't. I dunno.
Next on the update list: either the rewritten version of chapter four and a new chapter for my Halo/Tomb Raider crossover, or start a new Halo/Mortal Kombat crossover that I have been thinking about recently. Either way both stories will receive updates!