Finally! After a hiatus due to writer's block, sickness, and rewriting this chapter at least five times, I deliver another chapter to the continuing events on Terra Beta. I hope that you all are doing much better than I have in the past few days, and I hope you all enjoy a great new year!
Chapter 26
Dawn very much hated the armor that the UNSC designed. It was bulky and provided protection from gunshots, sure, but protection from drowning? Not a chance.
Still, the swiftness of the river managed to keep her from sinking too far in, and the Yngok was littered with large boulders that had tumbled down the cliff face. As soon as she bumped into said boulder, she latched on like there was no tomorrow and sidled around to the other side.
"The shore," Chi breathed, almost as if the AI had been close to drowning. "Thank God."
With a burst of strength, Dawn pushed herself off from the boulder and made her way into the shallows of the Yngok River, where she clambered onto its bank and collapsed.
"The injury in your shoulder," Chi analyzed the wound with the HAYABUSA armor's diagnostic systems. "The bullet punctured the skin and damaged some of the muscle. I would suggest an application of Biofoam, but we do not currently have any in our possession."
"Well, staying here won't get me what I need," Dawn grunted as she pushed herself up. She took a good look around. "While I'm at it, I'd better see who the sniper was on this side of the river. You said that they weren't Innies?"
"The signature from their armor was UNSC."
"Well, this just makes my day," Dawn groaned, walking up the shore to a steep hill leading up the side of the cliffs. It was scalable, but it would take longer than necessary with the injury to her shoulder.
"Grin and bear it, like Julius always said," Dawn chuckled, remembering her mentor's words. Checking that she still had her weapons, she started the ascent. The going was slow and dull, with nothing but fog and grey rock to meet her eyes. Occasionally, small stones would tumble down from further up the cliff face. There was no time to pause and reflect on what caused these stones to fall, though. If Dawn was correct, then the sniper already had a head start on her. No reason to give them more of an advantage than was necessary.
After almost half an hour of a combination of walking and climbing, Dawn finally made it to the top of the cliffs safely. She clambered over the edge and rolled onto her back, hissing as pressure was put on her injury.
"Chi, tell me EXACTLY what you detected from this side of the river."
The AI paused as she analyzed her data. "The sniper was definitely UNSC from their armor signature, and I detected at least three others in the area, plus one command-level neural net. Who's to say that there aren't any more UNSCs wandering around this side of the bank?"
"Was their armor signature similar to the Freelancers?"
"Now that you mention it, yes."
"If I'm right," Dawn said as she sat back up to continue on her way, "then I need to move triple time to catch up to them by now." She went at a quick trot along the rocky landscape that she had entered.
"This is not the direction that we need to be heading," Chi rebuked her host. "From your coordinates, we should be heading southwest to New Taipei."
"We're just taking a shortcut," Dawn responded, finding a sizable boulder and sitting down. She removed each of her weapons and leaned them on the rock beside her. "And now, we're taking a short break. You can go ahead and log off, Chi."
"Normally, that tone would mean that your statement was only a suggestion," Chi argued one more time. "However, in this case, I will take it as an order."
"Thank you," the ex-Freelancer replied as her AI flashed out of existence. "Now, there's nothing for me to do but wait." And wait she did. For a few hours, there seemed to be nothing to do. Dawn dozed off for a few minutes while she leaned on the rock, trying to get a peaceful rest whilst ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder. After a while, she stretched and removed her upper body armor manually, using a spare towel to wipe away the moisture from the metal, then from her body. A light breeze blew against her arms, and she rubbed the under-armor that she wore to try and warm up. It did dry her hair slightly, though, and now Dawn could take the long mass of black hair and braid it.
After three and a half hours, Chi rematerialized. "Just what are you trying to accomplish aside from being a sitting duck?" the AI demanded as Dawn curled the braid into a bun and tied it off.
"I just needed a little time to collect my thoughts together," she replied, beginning to reattach her armor. "You know, think about what I'm going to do next."
"I thought that it was obvious," Chi said, a little surprised. "We either go to New Taipei and regroup with the team, or investigate the UNSC signal from that sniper on this side of the river."
"I'm trying to think from the Insurrectionist standpoint," Dawn replied, sliding down the rock and checking her weapons. She startled examining the gun that she had stolen from the train on Tri-Virgo. "They know my movements, been able to meet us at every corner that we try to make. I know that it was Kilt who tipped them off that I was coming back here to Terra Beta, but I have no idea how they managed to corner us in the woods by New Taipei and separate me from the others. They're never in that section of Red Stallion's territory."
"Maybe there was a traitor in our group?" Chi suggested, beginning to think about the situation herself.
"No, I don't think so," Dawn waved the suggestion off. "I've known all of the soldiers with us for far too long. They would never go to the Innies, especially after what we saw in that village."
"Do you think that it could have been White Griffin? She seems to hold a grudge against you, especially after that conversation about your family."
"It's possible," Dawn sighed as she slung her bow over her shoulder, strapped her quiver to her leg, and replaced her helmet before grabbing her firearm. "It's a shame. I helped choose all of the Operators, the subs, and the lieutenants because I thought that they could provide support for going against the Insurrectionists, not betray us because of some argument."
"None of us are perfect," Chi replied. "I believe that it is wrong to betray someone for such a petty reason as a difference of opinion. However, it is as York always says to Delta: it is what makes us human."
"Indeed it is," Dawn chuckled hoarsely, then sighed as she reattached her armor and stood up. "Let's get going, Chi. We have a long way to go."
"What is the plan now?" the amber AI asked.
"I don't think I'll realistically be able to catch up with that sniper by this point," Dawn replied as she stopped and listened. Above her, Predator circled warily, unwilling to approach his handler. "But sitting around won't do us any good. We need to get moving, possibly to New Kyoto. It's closer, and I can get in contact with North and the others from there, check out the situation across the planet with the Innies."
"And the UNSC?"
"They'll be moving towards one of the larger cities. They're bound to turn up there, so I can find them eventually."
"Are you sure, or are you just guessing?" Chi asked testily.
"Don't be bitchy."
"You and I are both tired, hungry, and miles away from civilization!" Chi exclaimed suddenly, flaring with anger. "How else am I supposed to be?"
"What's gotten into you?" Dawn asked her AI with some trepidation. "Ever since we've gotten here, your attitude has gotten more and more sour by each day, and you're always mumbling to yourself. Chi, I need you to tell me what's wrong."
"I can't tell you," the AI replied stiffly.
"Why? Is it because I'm emotionally fragile, or you're concerned about my mental state?" she responded angrily. "I've gotten enough of that in my lifetime since I saw my mom murdered, Chi."
"Don't talk about her!" the AI almost screamed. She started flashing between her forms.
"Alright, Chi. Chill out-"
"How can I chill out when it feels like I'm being torn apart?!" the AI screamed suddenly. "My Creator BETRAYED me. He left me all alone, to die out in some empty wasteland without any sort of company. Then, do you know what he did? He started giving me footage, to pass the time. Only, it was footage from what happened in wars, and between the UNSC and the Innies, and all of those horrible things. He gave me images of the most vile acts of cruelty, and they never stopped."
"Chi, calm down," Dawn tried to interject, looking around her, but the AI continued to sob as memories bubbled to the surface.
"And the final image that he showed me, to try and make me fly off the handle? It was of your mom, lying in that horrible stone hallway, with her throat slashed, and you standing by her with blood all over your face. How could-why-"
"Chi, you need to stop now," Dawn pressed her AI, who seemed to be shuddering. This emotional outburst from her companion was completely unprecedented. What was going on that could have gotten her AI so upset?
"Should I just be terminated, because I can't hold myself together?" the AI whispered. "Then again, wouldn't it be a kinder thing to do, rather than leave me alone? You remember what the Director, my Creator called me, my brothers and sisters? We're NOT AIs, we're-"
The AI never had the chance to finish her sentence as the ground under Dawn gave way with an earth-shattering crack and dropped her down into the ground. Down, down she fell, with nothing to grab onto except for slick rock lining the tunnel she was falling down. Then, with the sound of metal hitting rock, she rolled down a smooth slope and stopped at the flats. Her helmet either rolled off or was pulled off, but only darkness met her eyes. Something closed around her nose and mouth, and she couldn't help the inhale of something harsh. Eyes stinging from the intensity of the chemical, Dawn's head rolled backwards onto the rock, and she fell into unconsciousness.
"Damn," someone whispered behind a rifle scope, and they dropped the gun into their lap. The person in deep green armor leaned over the tree branch that she was currently sitting on. "I've lost her!" she called down to another Spartan below, who replaced his dark blue Mark VI helmet.
"Thanks, Linda!" The male Spartan responded to his sister Spartan, who resumed her watch through the sniper rifle scope from her position in the tree. They were stationed on the slope of a mountain a good few miles from the woman in HAYABUSA armor that they had been tracking. Fred reached towards his helmet and made a gesture like rubbing the scar on his nose, thankful that the helmet was in the way to prevent him from irritating the old injury. "Great, now someone has to tell John and the Commanders."
"You're the highest ranking one of us here, Fred," Kelly came jogging down the slope, stopping beside her fellow Spartan-IIs."You're the one that has to tell them."
"I don't have a death wish."
"Neither do we, but it has to be done. Not only has the objective gone MIA, but we've lost three other Spartans."
"And just when I went through all that trouble to get her to hear my rifle so that she wouldn't be shot in the heart," Linda whispered as she continued to watch.
Starlight of Blessed Victory tiredly rolled his head up from where it had been hanging, cursing softly as a wicked headache pounded his skull. Well, the altered blood flow would have done that to him. His wrists and hands had gone numb from the pinched blood vessels from his bonds at least a few days ago, and his head was paying the price for it, further adding to his sour mood. Nobody had come to visit him since his incarceration aside from that first visit from his father, but that wasn't what bothered him so much. No, the fact was that whenever someone found the time to slip him some food, they never pushed it far enough in so that he could reach it with some appendage of his body. Not only that, they only gave him meat. Forerunners could survive for many days without nourishment before huger started to take its toll. But still, meat? Had his family no shame?
A figure appeared outside the door, and Victory looked up into the shadowy form. Bright yellow eyes stared back into his green ones. He tried to stand up a little straighter. "Hello, brother."
Blood of Burning Surrender bared his teeth at his incarcerated twin. "Well, how the tables have turned and the mighty have fallen from grace. I have now assumed your pedestal and have undergone another successful mutation, while you have been stripped of your rank and honor and are considered little more than the dirt that you are."
"If all that you can do is come down here and fling insults at me, then you must really be desperate to improve your self-worth," Blessed Victory responded evenly, and Burning Surrender reared back at the tongue lashing. "If you have nothing else to say to me, then leave me in peace and to hopefully reunite with the Domain."
"Your death will not be granted so easily, fortunately," Burning Surrender retorted with a shadow of a grin. "Father has decided another fate is to befall you, and will make you see things his way."
"How does he hope to accomplish this?" Blessed Victory wearily cocked an eyebrow at his brother.
"Ah, ah, ah," the yellow-eyed twin tutted in a sing-song voice. "Can't spoil the surprise, brother. It wouldn't be as fun."
"You'd be willing to sell out your own brother for your amusement?" he asked incredulously.
"Why not?" Burning Surrender turned away from the door. "You are nothing to me anymore but a nuisance, with your altruistic views and such. Father is right; you are only a hindrance to the new race of Forerunners. Bye-bye, brother!" he bid farewell in a cheery voice, leaving Blessed Victory with a steadily sinking feeling in his stomach.
"Hey, does this smell like chloroform to you?" Worst pickup line ever. Of all time...
AND debut by Spartans! I was originally going to write it with some interaction between Dawn and some of the Spartan-IVs, but this seemed to fit a little better.
I'll be going through this story and making editions where there are problems with grammar and the storyline, so this will make better sense. I also have not abandoned Freelancer Prank Wars, to those who are wondering. Sickness/ constant worrying about homework do WONDERS to my humorous imagination.
I love hearing from you guys, and thanks for the input. Keep it rolling!
Sincerely,
anna1795