I know, long time no write. I've been so busy lately, and trying to write this so that it didn't sound awful. Don't hurt me!
Anyways, I made it up to you faithful (and new readers) by making this chapter extra-long! And, it's connecting more of the dots for you all. I hope I didn't make things TOO obvious before now. In the meantime, enjoy!
Year: 2524; Location: UNSC Marine Barracks Tango-Alpha 1, UNSC Colony Reach
Allison removed her hat and tossed it onto her pillow, then proceeded to strip down to the black tank top that she wore under her camouflage uniform. The other service women around her in the women's barracks could barely hide glances of awe or glares of jealousy at her muscular body, perfect blonde hair tied up in a regulation bun behind her head, or her almond-shaped green eyes. They dressed in knee-length dresses or shorts and turtle-necks for their excursion into the main city, while Allison changed into a pair of boot-cut jeans and a Grifball t-shirt. She jumped up to the top of her bunk bed and settled against the lumpy mattress and pillows, while the others grouped together with whispers and giggles about their plans of night on the town. Allison picked up the book that she was reading, a farewell gift from Leonard, and buried herself in its thick pages until the other women had left for their excursion into the city.
There came a knock at the door to the empty barracks. "Male officer on deck," came a voice through the door. With a sigh, Allison leapt down from her bed and stood at attention. "All clear!" she shouted to the door, and it opened. A dark man in camo fatigues and hat entered, exhaling a puff of cigarette smoke. Allison snapped to attention and gave her superior a salute.
"At ease," Johnson nodded at Allison, and she relaxed. "Just here to deliver a message from Command," and he handed her a beaten-up manila envelope with lazy script spelling out her human name. "You're coming along nicely, Jameson," Sergeant Avery Johnson remarked to his subordinate. "You don't socialize much, though. Any particular reason?"
"Just don't share a lot in common with the other service folk, sir," Allison responded, tossing away the message for when she was alone again. "They don't like my style, and I respect that, sir. I'm here to do a job and get it done right, not be noticed. Pomp and circumstance is not my thing, sir."
Johnson gave no reply except a quiet "huh." With a nod of his head, he turned and left Allison so that she could read the message from the higher-ups. Her brow crinkled as she read the words on the page, not entirely certain that she understood what it was saying. Then, it clicked. Someone with a lot of influence had reassigned her to ONI because they thought that she had more information to offer them. Three guesses as to who that is, Allison thought wryly as she replaced her orders back in their envelope. Halsey could be a little too curious at times.
Just then, the communication console in the corner of the barracks started flashing urgently, with her military code flashing across the screen. Allison walked briskly over to the console and typed in the password to open the video. A familiar male face with streaks of grey in his short, dark hair looked back at her, his face ashen.
"Well, well," Allison greeted in a neutral manner, folding her arms. "To what do I owe the call, Fate?"
"Courage, this is not the time for old grudges to come up again," her mentor spoke gravely, but she cut across him.
"You drop me off on Earth to keep me safe and then just take off to who knows where and put my own flesh and blood through unimaginable danger to teach her how to confront the Flood," Allison snarled. "I think now is the perfect time-"
"Allison, come into the city. There's been an attack."
Allison leaned forward. "There are attacks every single day in one way or another, and the Insurrectionists are not helping the matter. Why do I have to pay particular attention to this one?"
"It's Roselyn Church," Fate explained. "She was attacked today."
Allison froze, her face erupting in shock. "Where? How?"
"She is with me right now, but I have to release her to the proper authorities soon, make it look like a murder. But you have the right to know this before anybody."
Before Fate had finished his sentence, Allison had grabbed a thin jacket from her foot locker and bolted out the door.
Location: Eastern Dockyards, New Alexandria, UNSC Colony Reach
Allison was breathing normally after her sprint the few miles to the dockyards from the Marine Base, but her breathing was getting even shallower as she tried to navigate her way through the numerous shipping crates stacked in various towers, forming an endless maze to the untrained professional. Unfortunately, mapping out shipyards was not something Allison did in her free time.
A door leading into a crate opened beside her with a rusty creak, and Gentle Heartbeat of Fate's head poked around the outside quickly to make sure that the coast was clear. Satisfied, he waved for Allison to rush in, and closed the door gently after her. The large metal box had ventilation shafts, but was dimly lit from the outside's setting sun. A few candles had been lit to make up for the lack of lighting, which wasn't a huge problem to Forerunners.
Eleven years had severely changed Rosie Church's physiology and mentality. The meek, freckled twelve-year old that Allison had met when she had first arrived on Earth had grown into a confident, beautiful young woman of twenty-three years, full of boundless energy and unimaginable skill. In the years since Allison had parted ways with Song of Rising Skies, she had watched the youngest Church sibling grow and mature with the happiness that she would have shared with her own daughter. However, the young woman with dark hair, pale skin, and dark eyes was not necessarily lively at the moment. Rosie lay on a mat that Allison recognized as one she had woven long ago, with her head propped up on her bundled-up jacket. Numerous blood stains covered her clothing, dark red blossoming like deadly flowers through the fabric. Rosie was currently gasping for air, trying to concentrate through the cranial trauma that she had sustained. The base of her skull looked like mincemeat.
"Rosie," Allison gasped, collapsing to her knees beside the young woman. A wet cloth was handed to her, and she began mopping up the blood on Rosie's head gently. Coming away with Rosie's red blood was a substance that glistened a sickly green in the dim lighting. Allison took a sniff, and she reared back with a hiss.
"This is the trouble that you have invited back to haunt our protectorates," the blonde hissed, tossing the cloth to Fate. He caught it deftly and looked at the green mixed in the red. "And now, that trouble has gone and attacked her! For all that we know, the Flood is attacking the city right now!"
"…dead," came a raspy, weak voice. Allison looked down at Rosie and gently patted her cheek to keep her awake.
"What, Rosie? What do you mean, dead?" she asked urgently. The dark-haired girl struggled to speak.
"Monster…thing attacked m-me…so much pain, like a-a migraine…worse, though…" Rosie gasped, taking large breaths to steady her speech. "Someone saved me…tore it apart…ran off again…" Rosie was succumbing to her injuries fast. Allison did not have much time.
"Did you see who saved you?" she asked her younger friend gently, but Rosie's eyes were starting to drift shut. "Just this one last question, then you can sleep." It tore at her to say that.
"White…white hair," Rosie answered, and that was all. "Alli!" Rosie gasped suddenly, grabbing Allison's hand in a vice-like grip with her remaining strength. "Keep L-Leonard safe, please," she begged. Allison wiped tears from her eyes with her free hand, letting Rosie sink back onto the floor. Her body was becoming lax.
"I will, Rosie. I won't let anything happen to him," the older woman promised, and Rosie's eyes fluttered shut. "Rest now. You deserve it." With one hitched breath, Rosie froze up for one final moment. Her chest seemed to deflate. She looked so small in death.
Allison folded Rosie's arms across her chest, then looked up to her mentor. "Fate, where is my daughter?"
"We detected some Flood here in the city, and she went to eliminate-"
"Don't avoid the question. Where. Is. She?!" Allison snapped standing up. Her blonde hair was fluttering around her ears in no obvious wind, always a danger sign.
"I'll contact her," Fate whispered, closing his eyes. Suddenly, he clutched his head and collapsed to the ground. "Curse it to hell!"
"What?" Allison knelt down, concern radiating from her in near palpable waves.
"You need to leave," Fate insisted. "Go to the Isle of Skye, that's where she is now. And hurry!"
Location: Isle of Sky, UNSC Colony Reach
Later, Allison would reflect on how she had absolutely no idea how she got to the Isle of Skye, only that she was there. It was a small land mass, a few miles long and across, with dense forest and ragged cliffs. With a sword strung to her back and her aged automatic pulse rifle in her hands, she crept through the trees to the heart of the forest, where she assumed her daughter would be. The stench of rotting, disease-ridden corpses almost caused Allison to falter, but not enough to overcome her maternal instincts. Her daughter was threatened, and she would kill whatever stood in her way.
A sickening, squelching noise came from where it was darkest, and Allison's pupils dilated to allow her to stare into the near- total darkness. She had stepped on something rather large, and looked down to see the body of a Tank-form under her feet. She raised her rifle and prepared to fire, but looked at the numerous scorch marks crossing the sickly green skin. The Tank had been properly confronted with some form of fire, and had been sterilized. It did nothing to really soothe Allison's nerves, though. Where there was one Flood form, there were always others. She continued to where her daughter might be, following the steady trail of Flood corpses along her way. All of them had been cut down and flash-burned to minimize the threat of reproduction. At least Song of Rising Skies knew what she was doing.
As Allison crossed into a clearing in the trees, however, there came a roar from her right. She whipped around to confront the charge of a Carrier form, its back bulging and threatening to burst as it drew closer, hobbling on ill-suited, vaguely human legs. Any attempt to fire with her pulse rifle would only result in the release of the Infection forms within, and Allison had no delusions of being able to confront them all on her own.
Something long and fiery came flying out of the trees and struck the Carrier in its bulging back. Steam rose from where the yellow flame made contact with its blood, and the Carrier reared back before falling to the ground. Its swollen back became singed and shriveled, releasing a putrid gas as the kernel-shaped Infection forms were burned 'alive' in their womb. Allison looked to where the arrow had come from, and saw a limp arm hanging from a tree branch. Gently, she reached up and effortlessly brought the bloody form of Song of Rising Skies down from her haven.
If Allison had thought that Rosie's fatal injuries had been bad, they were nothing compared to the scars that Song had sustained. Numerous blows to the head had Song's gleaming white hair stained blood red, and her skin was no longer the golden-tan left from her receded fur, but a gleaming reddish-tawny. The layered armor plating along her arms had scratched from numerous blows from her assailants, as was her black chest plating. Her spinal armor had not fared so well, with evident, circular holes showing where hardened tentacles had been madly thrust into her spine. Song's chest heaved with the effort to keep breathing as Allison leaned her against the tree. She opened her silver, slit-pupil eyes and gave Allison a weak smile.
"I must look like quite a sight," Song said hoarsely, a toothy grin cracking across her bloody face.
"Don't talk, Song," Allison urged her daughter, reaching for her trusty iodine bottle that she kept with her at all times. "Save your strength."
"I don't need to, Mom," Song grabbed her mother's hand before she could reach the valuable medicine. "I eradicated the disease from this planet before it could spread. My work is done."
"Why did they come here, though?" Allison asked, wiping away the blood from her child's face with her jacket sleeve. "And they never aim for the spine, in my experience."
"I robbed them of a food source back in the city, when I helped save that human girl. Is she alright?" Song asked, eyes alight with concern. Allison sadly shook her head, her own green eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. I should have found her sooner. When I killed the Infection form, the rest of the Flood became aware of my presence, and I fled here."
"Did they try to attack you?"
"Yes, but they never succeeded," Song gave a shuddering cough, blood dribbling out the side of her mouth. "Whenever they made contact with my blood, it was like an acid. It burned them, burned the Flood."
"So the Librarian and I WERE right," Allison confirmed. "Mixing your blood with that of human and San'Shyuum immunized you from Flood attack."
"That, or Father's blood was so bitter that they didn't want a piece of me," Song suggested. They both shared a chuckle before Song erupted into another coughing fit. Clots of blood sprayed from her mouth and onto the ground. "Listen, Mother, I don't have much time," Song wheezed, recovering slightly. "The Flood started attacking again because, before I came here, I travelled to the Epsilon Halo."
"Was there a Gravemind there?" Allison asked, and a nod was her disturbing answer. "And you killed it." It was not a question, but a confirmation.
"Just barely. They needed…bodies to rebuild the Gravemind, and came here. They will try it again," Song of Rising Skies gasped, her voice beginning to falter. "We need to stay vigilant to the Flood's movements. Will you help stay alert, with the others?"
"I will," Allison promised, caressing her dying daughter's cheek. "You have made me so proud to be your mother." A tear tracked down her cheek and landed on Song's lips, sliding down her chin. "I couldn't ask for a better child."
Song nodded, and her eyes fluttered tiredly. Her breath was becoming shallower and quieter. Allison bent down and kissed her daughter's forehead. "May you be greeted with warmth in the Domain."
"Thank…" Song tried to say, but her eyes rolled up into her skull, and she fell back against the tree trunk. A single dying tear tracked down her eyes, a final farewell. Allison released her daughter, her hands shaking. Then, all her emotions flooded out of her heart and through her blood, and Allison let out a grief-stricken scream to the sky above, where lightning crackled and thunder rolled as the sky's orchestral tribute to the fallen heroine.
Location: Alexandria Crematorium, New Alexandria, UNSC Colony Reach
Allison could only stare at the open flame on the marble altar, where Rosie's body slowly burned. For her funeral, she had been cleaned of all the blood, stitched up as cleanly as possible, and dressed in a simple amber dress that complimented her braided dark hair. Beside Allison, Leonard Church wiped his glasses and stared as his sister's body was consumed by the flame.
The other mourners, few as they were, had left hours ago, before the actual cremation had begun. Very few people had known Rosie so well as her brother and Allison, and even fewer seemed to actually notice that she was gone. On a colony with several million people, people were murdered by deluded wackoes a lot. One more face out of the crowd made no difference.
"We should be going, soon," Allison whispered to Leonard, but the young man stood his ground. He replaced his glasses on his nose and stared ahead at Rosie's burning body. "Leonard, they said that they would deliver the ashes to you personally at home. Come on," she said gently, trying to steer her boyfriend out of the Crematorium.
"You're not staying here?" Leonard whispered, and Allison shook her head.
"I'm needed back at base," she explained morosely. "I asked for some time off, but I'm going to be redeployed to the Outer Systems to help against the Insurrectionists."
"So you're not taking the offer to be reassigned to ONI?"
"I never said that," Allison replied, and Leonard's face turned bitter. "I've been thinking about it."
"And?" Leonard asked, one eyebrow almost disappearing into his hairline.
"I haven't made a decision yet," Allison hissed back, her green eyes clearly showing that she did not want to discuss the issue any further.
"So, you're willing to sign up with the spooks and go to some God-awful system with no guarantee that you'll come back?"
"Leonard, that's not fair-"
"No, what's not fair is that you're leaving me behind. I thought that we had something special, Alli," Leonard retorted, his speech bordering on desperation.
"And we do," she assured him. "But I promised Rosie that I would protect you, and the best way that I can do that is to make sure that your studies aren't hindered by the Innies at all."
"You could come with me," Leonard offered. "I've asked you before."
"And what would I do?" Allison demanded. "You'd have me cooped up on some God-forsaken ship doing shit that wouldn't really help anybody."
"Alli, you need to make that decision right now," Leonard stopped and turned to face her finally. "Either you go with ONI, or you come with me."
"Leonard, it's not fair to make me choose-"
"Do it now!" Church demanded, crossing his arms, his eyes blazing with annoyance.
"Fine!" Allison retorted. "I'm going with ONI." The look that blossomed across Church's face was both hurt and enraged. "If you're going to give me that ultimatum, then I'll give you my ultimate decision."
"So that's it, then?" Church ground out the words between his teeth. "You're abandoning me? After all that we've been through?"
"You're bringing this on yourself, Church," Allison hissed. "I'll keep my word to Rosie, but it's not because you. It's for her."
"You'd better get going, then," Leonard retorted, his voice rising in volume. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, bitch."
Quick as a rattlesnake, Allison's hand lashed out and struck Leonard across the cheek. "Never call me that again," she growled while the dark-haired man nursed his burning face. She turned on her heel, dawned her hat, and made for the door. Angry tears threatened to spill onto her face.
"I guess I'll be seeing you around, then!" Leonard called after her in a sarcastic tone. "But you'd better hope not."
"Goodbye, Leonard Church," Allison hissed as she pushed open the door, taking one final look back. She allowed the tears to spill onto her face, and Church's own angry face melted into one of shock and horror at what he had done. Before he could chase after her, though, Allison was gone.
Allison walked along the shore for a while, then took a left up a side street back into the city. She took another right, two more lefts, went north and doubled back to the south, and finally ducked into a boarded-up apartment high-rise. She entered the out-of-order elevator, pressed in a combination of numbers, and rose quickly to the top-floor with no incident. A few Forerunners in plain-clothes bowed their heads to Allison, muttering their condolences. She returned the gesture and was admitted into the sunlit room. Gentle Heartbeat of Fate greeted her somberly, garbed in the grey and red of a human medic.
"I did as you asked," he mumbled to Allison, who approached the boarded window and stared through a crack at the sea. "The human authorities will attribute the fire to that lightning storm from a few nights back, and the report will say that there were no survivors."
"Of course there wouldn't be any," Allison muttered angrily, turning from the window. The red-tinged light of the sunset dyed her hair the color of blood. "But that was good work."
"Have you made your decision as to what you're going to do now, Courage?" Fate asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"We're supposed to be subtly warning humanity of the threat of the Flood so I'm going with ONI," she responded. "I'll feed the information to Halsey, and see where things go from there."
"Wouldn't it be wiser to give the information to someone that you, I don't know, trust? What about your friend, Leonard?"
"That isn't possible," Allison retorted, a note of bitterness in her voice. Fate nodded, understanding a hint of what had happened. "This way, there is a direct channel into the military structure that we can use. Do you happen to have what I asked you to pick up?"
Fate reached into his overcoat and withdrew a nylon pouch full of various items. "We extracted her essence as well as collected hair and blood samples. She and her weapons are being guarded aboard the Ark." He handed the pouch to Allison. "What are you proposing that you do with that?"
"You said it yourself, once: humanity has no chance of defeating the Flood without her," Allison murmured, taking out a dagger and cutting a lock of her blonde hair. She placed it in a glass vial from her own pocket that contained darker hair samples, short and long in length. "So, I'm just making us a little…insurance policy."
"If you're planning on doing what I think you're doing-" Fate started to protest, but Allison cut across him.
"The Flood will not wait for humanity to be prepared to an attack, and neither will my husband be waiting for his own daughter to usurp him," she hissed. "We needed a contingency plan, and I'm forming one."
"And WHERE do you propose that you create this 'insurance policy'?"
"Well, I can say this," Allison turned and started for the door again. "I just need to collect on a debt."
Location: CLASSIFIED Military Facility, UNSC Colony Reach
"You certainly have been busy." A voice spoke above Doctor Catherine Halsey's head, and she turned from her one-way window to look at the young woman that dropped down from the ceiling panel, her military camouflage uniform ensuring that she was a friend. They both turned to look at the numerous individuals on the other side of the screen; young children and their handlers.
"The possibility of war is becoming more of a threat each day, and we must be prepared," the older woman responded, greeting Allison with a shake of her hand. "None of this would have been possible without you."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Allison responded wryly, removing a small backpack from her person. "Now, I'm collecting on a debt."
"What can I do for you?" Halsey asked warily. Allison took a look around the room furtively. "We're not being bugged. I've swept this room myself."
"I need you to make me a clone."
"Judging by the information that you have been providing me and your insight, I'll gather that it's going to be a person?" Halsey asked. Allison nodded, removing the nylon pouch from her backpack.
"This contains all the DNA that you should be able to use. I don't need this to be a flash-clone, either," Allison handed the other woman the package. "I want it to be a full clone."
"You know that the process takes years to complete?" Halsey took the package and glanced inside. "And in order for the process to produce the desired results, I will need more DNA than this."
"Didn't you only have a few strands of hair and blood samples to produce the clones of your Spartans?" Allison argued.
"Those were flash clones that needed to be produced more rapidly. A full clone still requires years and a large amount of DNA to reach a stable product," Halsey pointed out. Allison sighed, crossing her arms.
"That's all that I have available right there," she conceded, gesturing at what Doctor Halsey currently held in her hands. "And I don't want to use too much of my own DNA. It wouldn't produce what I need."
Halsey thought for a moment, opening and closing her eyes for a long period of time. Then, she looked at Allison. "Don't worry about the DNA. I think I might be able to use what you have here."
"Why the sudden change in heart?" Allison asked, a quizzical look on her face.
Halsey shrugged. "No reason. You have done me a great service with all of the information about the Forerunners that you have supplied. I will do my best to make a clone that you can use."
"Thank you, Doctor," Allison bowed her head. "And if there is anything else that you need to ask me, you know where to contact me."
"Of course," Halsey chuckled. "I assigned you there myself."
Allison did not reply to this, only giving a silent leap and landing up in the ceiling tiles of the observation room once again. Without a word, she reset the insulated panel into its rightful spot and retreated, leaving Doctor Halsey as though she had been the only person in the room the entire time.
Catherine Halsey was left to her thoughts for quite some time. She fingered the peculiar white hair tied off in a leather band, then at the vials of black and blonde hair that she had also received. She also lifted the vial of crimson blood up to the light of the room, examined it carefully, and clutched it in her hand. Thinking hard, she looked out the one-way window into the training room. A single child was staring back at her, a bald-headed boy with intense eyes. Their eyes met, as though he could look into where his surrogate "mother" watched all her subjects, before he was hurried away by a handler. Halsey looked at where the boy used to be, then down at the vial of blood in her hand. Ideas were forming in her head, and Doctor Halsey's ideas could be very dangerous, indeed.
The plot thickens even further! Any ideas as to what might be going on?
To the readers of my other major story, Freelancer Prank Wars, I have not abandoned you! My funny bone has finally mended itself, and I shall post at least two chapters tomorrow, if not three. The least that I can do for you for putting up with me for so long.
I wish you all a pleasant new year. Please, read and review!
Worst farewell ever...of all time,
anna1795