Hey
I'm back.
Read on my fellow fans…
(I don't own HALO and I never will)
On with the fic…
Brigid crouched low in the brush, her squad behind her. This squad was very different then the one she had fled Ku-Lita with two years ago. Behind her crouched four elites with rifles at the ready. Brigid smiled, she had hand-picked the team for just this operation. Jo was on the other side of the clearing with her squad and the snipers. Brigid raised her head a little and repositioned the beam rifle on her back. She poked her head over the bush and peered at the ship a fifty meters away. She smiled, the Covenant weren't even trying to hide their presence. She held up two fingers and signaled the squad foreword twenty meters, just on the edge of the forest.
"Jo can take out those Brutes with her sniper rifle," Killjoy said in Brigid's helmet. Brigid smiled.
"Yeah," Brigid said, "But there are also quite a few Sanghelli, and we really don't want to take those out."
"They're Covenant," Killjoy replied matter-of-factly.
"They were Sanghelli before they were Covenant," Brigid said, "We'll lure the Brutes away and kill them quietly, then take the Sanghelli and grunts hostage." Brigis slid down the small hill and faced her squad.
"Næla," she said, "Joƒe, lure the Brutes out here and kill them quietly. Lidço, get Jo's squad up on the radio and tell them to get the stun nets ready for the ones we keep alive. Move." Næla and Joƒe activated their camo packs and disappeared, a slight shimmer was the only sign that they were moving. Brigid unslung her rifle and used the scope to see her team. One of them took a plasma grenade right of one of the Brutes belt and it began rolling across the ground. The Brute stood and began lumbering after it. She saw a bush move and the Brute was swallowed into the forest. Then she saw the Brute stand up and summon the rest of the Brutes over with it's paw. The next moment the other five Brutes disappeared and she did not see them come out. Næla and Joƒe returned with orange blood on their green armor.
"Complete," Næla reported, "The starboard side of their ship is vulnerable." Brigid slung her rifle and grabbed the stun net. It was a heavy metal net with a charge running through it that could semd shocks against their enemies and temporarily paralyze them.
"OK," Brigid said, "Lets go." Brigid and her squad climbed over the rise and activated the camo packs. Sanghelli were harder to fool, and any one that got loose could free his comrades while they struggled with the nets. "Keep quiet and get them all." Across the way Brigid could see Jo's squad activate their packs and disappear. Brigid crept close to them and powered up her energy net, moving even slower as they got closer. Brigid crouched and waited until Jo was in position, three seconds later she threw the energy next around the group nearest to her and quickly kicked another Sanghelli under the falling metal. She showed herself soon after to create confusion while her squad quickly stunned the rest of them. Oren piloted out a hover transport with Brian and Kyle on it.
"Well done," Oren said, "Næla, lets go." Næla and Oren took the ship and began warming it up, Kyle ran inside to help them while Brian helped lock the Sanghelli and grunts into the transport in cuffs.
"Let's get out of here," Brigid said, raising her wrist radio to her mouth, "Everyone back to the transport, we're leaving for the Revenge."
"What about these?" A Sanghelli asked, kicking a Jackal.
"Destory the Jackels," Brigid said, "We don't have enough room for them, the others will remain alive." The Jackels screamed as each was shot once in the head and their weapons removed. Brigid threw the last Sanghelli into the transport.
"Heretic," the gold-clad Sanghelli screamed, "I will eat your innards as my breakfast."
"Ooh," Brian said, "We got a talker." Brigid removed her helmet and set her foot up on the transport, looking the Zealot in the eye.
"Look," Brigid said, "I could let you rave and talk to my superiors about your execution or you can make it easy on yourself and keep quiet." The zealot looked at the human in front of him and growled.
"I will destroy you," the Covenant said, "And all of your pitiful kind." The squad looked at Brigid, expecting death to come on all levels to the zealot before her.
Brigid just laughed and kicked the binding as if to say that he was the one in handcuffs. "Whatever." The squad laughed as Brigid climbed up on the transport with her squad. "Let's get moving." Brigid closed the gate and they took off, they would rendezvous with Crimson Revenge in high orbit. Each person was locked into the transport, they would have to keep relying on the hover transports until they could finish the Crimson Revenge, but this mission had been critical and could not have been delayed.
"Seal your suits," The pilot said. Brigid sealed her suit and then sealed the containment pods so that their prisoners would survive undamaged. The ride was a little bumpy but as they cleared the atmosphere, but then the open-cover transport was a still and beautiful ride. It had been tricky to get the harnesses on the ship, but the transports could now clear the atmosphere in low altitude and made them a valuable asset since almost a platoon of grunts could stand with plasma cannons on the transport and take out a scorpion just by sheer numbers. "Docking in twenty…"
"Hang on to your ass," Brigid said as Jo grabbed the rail, the last mission her harness had malfunctioned and they'd nearly lost her.
"Got it," Jo replied. Out of nowhere the Crimson Revenge appeared above them in all her glory. The Crimson Revenge was not the great, state-of-the-art ship it had been; it was better, much better. The Crimson Revenge, known mostly as just "Revenge," was now a hybrid between a Covenant Cruiser and a UNSC Battleship.
Revenge now had a rounded nose and was composed of white alloy that the Covenant used. The old steel part encased the MAC guns, which could fire three rounds at a time. A few Arc Missile pods had been replaced with particle beam transmitters and shield generators. The only thing left to do was outfit it with a grav.
lift so they didn't need vulnerable transports. The pilot docked the ship and they got off; Kadale, Brigid's superior officer, was already waiting for them.
"Colonel," Brigid said, "Mission complete."
"Well Done Lieutenant Colonel," he said, "The ship is yours. Let's go home." Brigidd smiled and walked quickly through new passageways to the bridge. Firefly was there and keeping the crew in line, not that they needed it. This crew had been picked from the Belegerea ranks by Covesash. There was a crew of fifty now dedicated to the up-gradeing and up-keeping of the Crimson Revenge. Brigid smiled as everyone in the room snapped to attention.
"At ease," Brigid said, everyone sat down and went back to work. Brigid sat in the captain's chair and set her helmet down. "Take her out, enter slipsteam and come out near home. Let's go."
"Engines online," the navigator said, "Breaking atmosphere." The ship sqiveled around, Brigid felt the slight tug of G-force and relaxed.
"Hey," Jo said, grabbing onto a railing. Her helmet was off and her hair had grown out below her shoulders. "We going home?" Brigid nodded. Jo flexed her hand. "You know, even after a year-and-a-half I'm still not used to this." Brigid smiled. The Belegerea had done some very nice work on the MJLONIR Armor and created somewhere between theirs and the UNSC design so now everyone could wear them. The armor was green and had the Covenant chest plate, fore-arm guards, and leg guards, everything else on the armor was UNSC. All except the helmet, the helmet had two prongs off the back like a Covenant helmet as well as a single line coming down the face. The only difference was that two black shields covered their eyes and, for humans, their faces. Brigid's mouth twitched when she remembered Sarge's first reaction to the new armor, he had said: 'Cool.'
"Coming around," the pilot said, "Heading 0-2-9, going home."
"All ahead full," Brigid said. "Clearance approved, we are go for slipstream." Jo took the second seat in and closed the arms over her lap to keep from flying across the room. Brigid clutched her chair arms and clanked them down to keep her in the seat.
"Acknowledged," the pilot said, "Entering slipstream on my mark. Everyone lock down and prepare for slipspace entry." The voice sounded throughout the ship and a red light flash three times. "Mark." The ship accelerated and the stars around them lengthened, Brigid felt herself being push back into her armor and her head tilted against the seat. She smiled and relaxed, they were on their way.
"Crew can stand down," Brigid said, "Jo, lets get the hell out of this armor." Brigid and Jo went to the officer's quarters and began stripping off the plate armor.
"I'm glad they redesigned this," Jo said, "It was hell getting out of the old stuff."
"That is true," Brigid said, "Plus, this stuff is a hell of a lot more comfortable."
"Fuck yeah," Jo said. She walked over to a communication pad a waved her left hand over a scanner. That was another new addition to the Crimson Revenge, the Belegerea had developed a scanner that was implanted into the hand and would not let anyone access all of the systems without a clearance chip. A screen popped out of the wall and Jo entered her code, patching through to Næla on the Covenant cruiser. "Yo, Næla, you guys out there?"
"Yeah," Næla answered, "We had some house cleaning chores, but we're on the way."
"Are you in slipstream?" Brigid asked.
"Just entered," Oren answered, "We're about a minute behind you."
"What kind of cleaning?"
"Just a few brutes," Næla answered, "And we captured two Sanghelli."
"Are you sure that's all the troops?" Jo asked.
"Yup," Oren answered, "We'll see you back at base mother hen." Jo closed off the communication chanel and the pad disappeared back into the wall. Brigi sighed and fell back against her bunk, closing her eyes and resting.
"Wake me up when we're home," Brigid said. She let go and fell into the world of dreams. Brigid walked slowly through her mind and it was as if her past was layed out before her. Brigid put a hand to her head, cursing silently. The compound in the water of the base also had another side effect, it opened the mind and increased brain power. Jo had run tests on the team ever since, they were now using almost twenty-five percent of their brains, more than normal humans. Covesash had told her of the dreams that they often had where they would see things in their past. They called it a Weh Osæle, or a Past Vision.
Brigid cursed loudly as her mind carried her through the painful past. She dreamed of her childhood when her perfect sister Rebecca got everything while the young, tom-boy Brigid was only given dolls in an attempt to tame her. She remembered her grandfather teaching her how to shoot; first a bow and arrow and then later rifles and shotguns. Brigid remembered meeting her sister's heart throb in a fight and becoming his best friend. She remembered pushing foreword in school and skipping both the ninth and tenth grade, Brigid had been a junior at fifteen. She remembered her 16th birthday party when her best friend Michel, who happened to be Rebecca's crush, kissed her and asked her to the senior prom. Brigid smiled in her dream; that was one thing she could always hold over her perfect, blonde, dense, ditsy, graceful, damsel-in-distress, future trophy-wife sister… she had gotten Prom Queen and the hottest boy in the school. Brigid's mind stepped foreword again to basic training, just four years later and after Michael had dumped her for someone who could be in the same galaxy, and she began to shiver. The memory still haunted her, she prayed that someone would wake it up, but no one did. She saw herself as one of the best volunteers, the only other girl in her platoon, and the best squad. She remembered getting her orders that transferred her to Ku-Lita and her training, then everything became darker. Brigid suddenly felt someone shaking her awake.
"Brigid," Jo said, "Brigid, wake up! You're clutching your arm again." Brigid was curled up on her side, her right arm curled around the mangled remains of her left. Brigid sighed and sat up. "Dreams again?" Brigid nodded. "Weh Osæla?" Brigid nodded again.
"I need to talk to Covesash about a way to avoid those," Brigid said. "How far out are we?"
"We're just going through landing procedures," Jo said, "Covesash wants a report, and he has a new mission."
"OK," Brigid said, standing, "Lets go make sure our prisoners get off." Brigid slipped her armor back on and snapped her helmet into place. She walked down to the brig and saw the Sanghelli moping in a corner, the zealot was talking in a hushed voice.
"Translating and magnifying sound waves," Killjoy said automatically. Brigid listened to the plot and chuckled to herself.
"Can you translate me?" Brigid asked.
"Sure," Killjoy said.
"Air ducts won't work," Brigid said in the Sanghelli language, "I have them rigged to pressure sensitivity." The Sanghelli turned and growled. "Don't look at me like that, we both know the Prophets are pathetic bitches who are far to weak to support themselves, that's why they need us. We'll need you to remove your helmets when we get off." Brigid turned without a word and clanked away over the metal grates. She walked quickly through the docking platform and gave extra instructions to make sure that the Sanghelli were guarded. Then Jo quickly led the way back through he camp to Covesash's office.
"Brigid," Covesash said, "Mission successful?"
"As usual," Brigid replied
"I have another assignment for you and a special squad," Covesash said. "You must infiltrate this base and crash their files of the Belegra so that they are in darkness. This will also effect their security systems, their greatest asset."
"When do we depart?" Brigid asked.
"You, Næla, Orean, and Kidska will take Spear to these coordinates in three hours," Covesash said, "You have two hours to eat and relax before your berifing."
"Thank you," Brigid said, bowing. She left and went to the detention center, Næla was already there.
"Hello," Næla said, "You want to work on the Sanghelli and telling them the truth?"
"Might as well," Brigid said, "Is that zealot in solitary?" Næla nodded. "I'll take him." Brigid waved her hand in front of the new electronic eye and the door opened. The Zealot sat there in a cell with his head low.
"Careful," the guard said, "He's a handful."
"I'll watch him," Brigid said, leaning against the wall outside the cell. "Still sore about being caught?" The zealot said nothing. "We both know what the Prophets have done to our people, what they did to the Sanghelli. How long do you think it will be before they replace the Sanghelli as they have every race before us? Three years, five? Ten, at the most? We both know that it isn't permanent, and soon the Sanghelli will be nothing but the loyal pupped of a race that enslaved us for their own purposes."
"You do not understand," the zealot said, he sounded much different than the raving warrior they had brought in, "I have shamed my famiy beyond recognition. I can never return home."
"Are you so sure of that?" Brigid asked, "I can never return either." She removed her helmet, her scarred face revealed to the zealot. "My family nearly disowned me when I joined the military, they have believed me dead for two years; but above all they valued beauty, which I no longer possess." A silence hung in the air. "Why do you believe so strongly in the Covenant, it has given you nothing?"
"My father was a Zealot General," the Sanghelli said, "He wanted me to follow in his footsteps. It is all I have ever known, now I can never see them again."
"Come with me," Brigid said. She waved her hand in front of the cell and it opened. The zealot looked up in surprise.
"This may seem an odd question," he said, "But, are you really opening my cell?"
"Come on," Brigid said, it wasn't a request. The zealot stood up.
"You must be either very powerful," he sid cautiously, "Or very stupid."
"What?" Brigid asked.
"You just let a leader out of his cell," the zealot said.
"Killjoy will keep an eye on you," Brigid replied. Killjoy appeared next to the Covenant, cleaning her fake weapons. She smiled and gave a very evil glare, the zealot shrinked away. "She won't alert me unless you do anything stupid, I'd advise against that." Brigid smiled and led the Zealot int the archive, the guard gave her a look, but then saw her rank and quickly stood aside, bowing apologetically.
"You never told me your name," the Sanghelli said.
"As you have neither requested or given your own," Brigid replied quickly, "Do not mistake information for compassion. What I am about to show you will chage you life forever, it is up to you wether the change is a good one." Brigid did not ask the Sanghelli his name, she just placed her hand on a station and Killjoy transferred tp the pedestel from her normal, walking, form.
"Let me guess," Killjoy said, "Historical archives?" Brigid nodded.
"Accressing records 1-287," Killjoy said, "Identity confirmed, viewing now." Killjoy wabed a hand to lower the viewing screen and start the hologram. Brigid watched the Sanghelli as their history was laid out, the victory and lies of the Prophets, the truth behind the grunt rebellion, everything. The Sanghelli placed his hand over his eyes and begged for the images to stop. Beigid let them go on for a few more seconds until there was no doubt that the Sanghelli understood what had truly happened to his people.
"Stop," Brigid commanded. Killjoy cut the feed. "We are not the heretics you think we are, we are those who are trying to save the universe from destruction should the Prophets ever find HALO. That is why they needed you to hate humans, an enemey is a good way to unite a nation. War is an even better way to work toward patriotism, sometimes this is a good thing and the war is just. Other times it is to hide an agenda that plots the destruction of millions of worlds. The prophets know of the power of HALO, and they seak it out so that all races may be purged of the universe. They plan to leave behind Prophet DNA, unalive it will survive the blast and later be awoken by robotic sequences. So, you have two choices: you can die in the cell as a disgraced warrior, or you can take your place with us and fight to being the truth to light, but you must prove youself over several years. Something to remember, we kill traitors and all of their family." Brigid knew her words were harsh, she also knew that they were true and necessary mesasures to protet the Belegara. She turned and mentioned for the guard to escort the Sanghelli back to his cell. As the two guards grabbed his arms and began walking him back he pasued and turned.
"My name is Kulase," he said.
"I'm Brigid," she replied. The two locked eyes for a moment and Brigid continued on to the briefing room. She entered to find the rest of her squad ready to go.
"News," Oren said, "Our missions been pushed up, our window just closed." Brigid switched to "soldier" mode and became a flurry of movement as she picked up weapons and information.
"What do we know?" Brigid asked, picking up one of the last shotguns and a beam rifle. She spun two plasma pistols and clicked them to her belt. Næla powered up a hologram.
"This is our way in," Næla said, mentioning to a back passageway. We'll be connected through radios and we shouldn't need to split up. We can have a map displayed on your hub so that we won't backtrack. It's pretty straight foreword.
"Why am I going on this?" Brigid asked, "I don't even look like a Covenant."
"You'll be equipped with active camoflouge," Næla said, "You won't be seen. Covesash wan't you along for support, and if they have any prisoners we want them to."
"Ah," Brigid said. "Wait, the Covenant don't take Prisoners…"
"They've started taking them," Oren said, "Covenant Prophets want to study your race and he doesn't think that they'll believe us if we try to rescue them."
"Point," Brigid said, "Lets go."
"Shall we?" Kidska asked. He led them all ooutside and powered up the Speak fighter. Kidska was one of the best pilots and could easily pass for a covenant-trained elite. "Hey," he said, "This new armor's nice. Fits much better than the old stuff." Brigid smiled, they stripped every Sanghelli they captured of their armor and gave it to their own troops for spies and special missions.
"How did I know you'd beg for the zealot armor?" Næla asked, annoyed with her own black armor, Næla only got away with being a warrior because of her abnormally large size and a simple voice-modifyer, females were never allowed in the Covenant ranks.
"Hm," Oren said, "Let me think, could it be because he wants all the access a zealot gets?"
"Maybe," Kidska said, "It's fun to get to go everywhere." They entered slipstream and just hung out the entire time. Næla powered up a hologame that Brigid was just learning, it was like three-dimentional chess combined with checkers and stratego. The game, Ukola, was very, very hard to elarn but still a large amount of fun when mastered. Brigid got whipped every time and it ended up in a close match between either of the siblings.
"Ah geeze," Brigid said after her third elimination, "I'm never going to beat you guys at this."
"You lasted longer this time," Oren said, turning his attention to his sister's board as Brigid's pieces disappeared. "You're getting better, Ukola takes a while to master."
"That's what you said last time," Brigid said, cleaning her beam rifle. "Kidska, what's out ETA?"
"Exiting slipstram," Kidska said, "You guys better wrap that up and cme up here, we're docking in fifteen." Brigid stood and slung her rifle before climbing up the ramp.
"Woah," Brigid said, staring at a huge city floating in space surrounded by banshee's, phantoms, scarabs, and other Covenant fleets. "We must be somewhere big."
"High Chairty," Kidska said, "It's the heart of the Covenant religion."
"Covesash is crazy," Brigid replied as the city loomed overhead.
"You better get that pack activated," Oren said, "We can't be seen with a human." Brigid turned the dial on her wrist and moved back into the shadows. Næla stood back with her arms crossed to look taller and wider than she was, Oren shrunk a little and slouched low on his knees to hide his stature of his sister.
"Hold your breath," Kidska said. A Coveant operator came over the radio and Brigid was lost. She had left Killjoy back on Revenge, she was far to valuble to even risk capture. Brigid listened to the different, but interesting, language and heard dull approval in the other voice. They docked and quickly disembarked. Brigid felt a little worried about brushing up against someone is such bustle, they must have landed in the lower-class sector where security was easier to get by. Brigid traveled very carecully to avoid getting run over by the masses.
"Stay close," Næla said, no sounding a lot older than she was, "We don't want to loose you."
"You won't," Brigid said. Brigid nearly clung to Oren as they passed to avoid getting separated. She thanked the designer that the architecture left the roads in perpetual shadow. "This is the BACK way?"
"Yeah," Kidska replied, "The main roads don't have very many people, but they do have more security cams and guards, this way is much better." Brigid raised her eyebrows from under her helmet and continued on into a secured sector of the city. Kidska got them through different area until they reached the security section, which was nearly deserted.
"Brigid, " Kidska said, "This is wrong, there weren't supposed to be guards."
"I think we have a snitch," Brigid replied, "Distraact them, I'll sabotauge the system." Brigid moved away silently and moved towards the great towers, a charge in her hand. She plced it carefully on the base of the tower and moved around the room. When she finished she moved back to Næla, only to bump a guard she had not seen and loose her balance. Brigid cursed herself as her armor flashed once, she froze. The guard stood up and called his buddy over, the rest of her squad came with them. Oren twitched his mandibles in their code and asked for orders. Brigid opened a chanel ti speak to Oren alone. "Keep cover, I'll be fine."
"What is it?" The guard asked.
"Something bumped me," the first one said. "Or something made me loose my balance."
"It was probably something," the second guard replied. The first guard crouched near the base of the tower, Bigid tapped out a series of clicks, telling her team to eliminate the guards.
"What?" The first guard asked himself, his hand on the charge. Brigid reached over and grabbed the guard, snapping his neck in one quick turn. He cried out and collapsed as Kudska put a sword through the others chest.
"Let's get out of here," Brigid said. They turned to see that their way out was blocked by a wall and there was no door. In order to get out they would have to come ou the way they came, "Something is very wrong."
"Here," Oren said, pulling them into a sidedoor and back out to the street. They walked quickly, but did not rush. "Brigids right, our information was bad."
"We can't waste time for the prisoners," Næla replied, "We have ti keave, now." As they walked the charges went off and the security towers toppled. Around them chos reigned as people fled the toppling towers and security guards began checking veryone in the area.
"We were supposed to be out of here," Kidska said, "It wasn't supposed to take this long."
"They'll lock downthe city," Oren said, "We'll be captured!"
"Run," Brigid said. Thankfully the towers had caught fire and the city's guards were distracted. They got to the lower sections of the city before a guard took notie of them.
"Hey," the guard yelled, "Give me your identification."
"Move," Oren shouted. The guard yelled for his squad to open fire as they ducked through doors and around corners. Plasma scoring scoured the walls around tem as they crouched. The unfailing barrage left only a small area uncovered.
"Roll through," Brigid yelled, shoving Næla through. She yelled as she fell and rolled through the fire, her shield absorbing two shots, but otherwise fine. Kidska and Orenn followed at the next moment, a small amount of plasma got through and he yelled as it reached its leg. Kidska and Næla were already moving forword and didn't hear Oren over the rifles. Brigid rolled through and saw plasma recoil off her shields, a few Sanghelli creeped up and Brigid swung her pistols around, unloading tem in turn to avoid overheating them. The fire drove the Sanghelli back and Brigid droppd the now wasted pistols. She ran over to Oren, who's leg was bleeding pretty badly.
"Go," Oren growled, shover her arm away as she reached for him, "You can't carry me." Fire resumed and stopped as the Sanghelli drew closer.
"Grab onto me dammit!" Brigid yelled, grabbing Oren and helping him over her shoulder. Oren held onto her as Brigid took up a jog after her teammates. Brigid could hear the troops closing behind her and sped up, she could see the fighter. Brigid could also see the doors begin to close.
"Hurry!" Næla said. The ship hummed to life, but Brigid knew that they would never make it. The next thing she felt was a pair of hands close around her and rip Oren from her back.
"Go!" Brigid replied over her radio, "Come back for us, go now or you'll never make it." Næla did not respond, but the ramp began to open. "Kidska, take off. NOW!" The ship jumped to life and sped thorugh the door just as it slowed. Oren was fighting the hands around him as best he could. Brigid smiled and unslung her beam rifle, unloading five shots into the closest five Sanghelli. Blood covered her armor as the beam dug through shield, steel, flush and bone to the soft material that kept the Sanghelli alive. She used her beam rifle up in a matter of minutes, keeping Oren close to her. A Sanghelli knocked him out with his plasma rifle; so Brigid reached over and, using her beam rifle as a club, knocked the Sanghelli in the face. Blood sprayed over as his mandibles were cracked off and the other two were dislocated. The Sanghelli fell to the ground faster than Brigid could drop the rifle and unsling her shotgun.
Brigid turned and put her foot on the other side of Oren so that he could not be dragged away or covered with the other bodies. She pumped the stock and opened it up on the nearest Sanghelli. He screeched as the metal tore into his face and blood seeped from the wound. Brigid spun and put the gun in the warrior's mouth, blowing his head off in one blow. She cocked the weapon again and kept unloading on the waves of troops. The gun clicked and Brigid brought it to the throat of a Sanghelli. He yelled as the stock broke bones in his neck and blood welled below the skin. Brigid threw away the weapon to grab up a plasma rifle only to find that the battery was dead, she flipped the gun around and rammed the guard into the belly of a Brute. Orange blood covered her hand as the creatur vomited blood over the bodies of his comdares. Brigid threw his body to the side and dragged Oren to the side and propped him up against a wall. She then turned to see three Brutes coming closer, Brigid curled a bloody fist and prepared to ram it into the Brute in front of her. She did. The Brute took the blow, but did not notice Brigid stick the grenade to the grunt behind him. The Grust squealed and ran back towards the Covenant line, when the grenade exploded blue and orange blood covered the pavement and ran down the gutters.
One of the three Brutes fell with a Sanghelli helmet embedded in his back, blown there from one of the troops. Brigid used the blast to break the Brutes neck and jump onto the next one. Brigid slammed both her feet into the creatures chest and it fell to the ground with her. Brigid jumped on the fallen Brute and reached behind his head, stripping off his helmet. She brought the helmet from left to right on each side of the Brutes head and then slammed it into his throat. The Brute coughed as his throat was crushed and died a slow death. Brigid turned and saw a zealot with a swod at Oren's neck, terror in Oren's eyes. The bloody helmet was still clutched in Brigid's fist, she tensed as more Sanghelli approached.
"Drop it," the zealot said. Brigid looked once at Oren and dropped the helmet to the floor. Two Sanghelli grabbed her arms and one went to remove her helmet.
"Do you want those hands?" Brigid asked. The Sanghelli ignored her and reached for her helmet. Brigid snapped a leg up and hit the Sanghelli in the arm guard and smacking it away. He stared at her and backed slowly.
"Take this one to a cell," the Sanghelli said, mentioning to Oren, "Take that one to the interrorgation room." Brigid grit her teeth as they attached binders to her arms and threw a poll under them. She struggled as they dragged her away, but she could not get loose. She was thrown unceremoniously into a plain room with purple walls and a single light. Brigid took the moment to lock her suit shut and seal it against intrusion. The next moment a large Brute came and brought his hand across the side of her helmet, Brigid felt the blow as her shield absorbed the brunt of the hit. The Brute hit her again and kept on hitting her until a calm voice commanded him to stop. Brigid was nearly unconscience, the suits could protect her from the blows but they were not invincible, clear dents were beginning to show in the metal. Brigid stood as straight as she could, which looked pretty straight in the armor, and faced the shadow in front of her.
"Remove your helmet," the voice commanded.
"No," Brigid replied.
"We will pry it from your head," the Brute growled.
"Easy Tartarus," the voice said again. "I can control the actions of the Brutes, but what they are forced to do is up to you." Brigid eyed the Brute and lifted her hands to her head, unlocking the helmet and pulling it form her head. The owner of the voice came foreword in a hovering chair, a Prophet. "Strange," he said, "You do not seem as though you would pose much of a threat."
"Apperances are deciving," Brigid said, tucking her helmet under her arm and then shifted it around to her back so that it could attached to her suit. She put her hands in the small of her back and fingered the hidden blade attached to her armor. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes," the Prophet said, hovering around her. Brigid turned with him, but back away as she did to keep the Brute in front of her. Brigid felt her back touch the wall and kept both shoulders on it. "Why do you recoil?"
"You have not given me a reason to trust you," Brigid replied.
"I am surprised you are human," the Prophet replied, "Why do you fight with those who would destroy your race?" Brigid gave no reply, this was how the Prophets worked: they planted the seed of doubt into their prisoners and broke their minds, usually granting them access to almost all memories and information that the person possessed. Brigid knew what she had to do, she slowly began closing her mind to the voice of the Prophet as he dripped poison in her ear. Brigid felt her body relax as she stood there for an unknowable amount of time, just waiting for the Prophet to finish with her. She derw out of her stupor to see that the Prophet was still going and the Brute was becoming enraged at Brigid's silence.
"Answer him!" Tartarus yelled. He brought back his mallet to strike Brigid, but the years of training kicked in. As he swung the hammer toward her Brigid slipped on her helmet faster that the eye could register and brought her left arm up to protect her from the blow, which it did. The mallet stopped right at her arm and Brigid leaned slightly into it, both Tartarus and the Prophet gasped at, what they thought, the amazing display of strength. Brigid used the momentum to continue the arm of the hammer away from her and into the wall, where it dented the steel considerably. Brigid was glad for the helmet, her face was contorted in pain as she felt the stitches in her arm strain and the bone connector creak. Brigid lowered her arm and saw the Prophet swing his chair towards her. He smiled and fingered a small pad to his right, a red beam shot out from the chair and come close to her.
The next moment Brigid felt her shields die and the heat passed directly through her suit and protective black gel layer to her skin. The laser roamed over her skin and Brigid screamed in pain as the surgery on her body flamed alive just as it had been two years ago when she had the surgery. Brigid felt stitches expand and come back to the surface, and old wounds open anew. Brgid screamed and felt her body fall to the ground, smoke seeping through the gel layer of her suit and between the seams in her armor. Brigid heard the Prophet give Tartarus an order and two other Brutes came in the room, dragging her by the arms out of the room. She could remember nothing but her feet dragging against metal as she was dragged through High Charity and thrown, unceremoniously, into a cell, then Brigid remembered only blackness.
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