"Ahhh, sweet a hot computer lady! The future totally rocks!," Deadpool exclaimed as he swaggered over to Cortana and leaned on the holographic table, passing off the plate of chimichangas to Ice Man.
"Easy there, killer, I don't think you can handle me." Cortana joked.
"Damn, I'm falling in love with you, you gotta name to go with that personality, sexy computer chick?" Deadpool flirted totally ignoring everyone else in the room that watched between humor and stewing outrage at his antics.
"Cortana." She said, turning back to the tactical map and re-evaluating the plan, now including Deadpool in the equation.
"Guzentiet!" Deadpool joked.
"No, my name is Cortana. How would you like to have an Iron Man suit for the mission? You'd be a good fit with the group chief and I are in, your regenerative capabilities means you would be the perfect man for clearing rooms and enemy positions." Cortan asked, surprising Wilson and everyone present, even the Chief to a mild degree.
"I'd say hell yeah!" Deadpool shouted in euphoric excitement and kissed cortana's hologram, or tried to. His masked face just phased through her and he made a comically exaggerated kissing sound.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, giving Deadpool a Iron Man suit? He's insane!" Wolverine asked with a snarl.
"Exactly, I thought you would vette the people given the suits not give them out like candy on Halloween." Stark said, his hands moving in an animated manner as he spoke.
"He's been vetted by the Chiefs of SHIELD, isn't that good enough?" Colonel Rhodes asked as he walked in, along with a slew of other men and women who wore various uniforms of Special Operations groups the world over.
"Hey buddy when did you get here?" Tony asked as he walked up to his friend and clapped him on the back in a hug
"Just now, SHIELD's heads pulled us in from all over, Israeli Special forces, SEALS, Green Berets, NSA Operators, SAS, Marines, Spetznaz. You name it they brought it. There's about a battalion of us." Rhodes said, stunning the assembled people.
"Holy shit." Deadpool stood up, completely sombre and stoic, surprising everyone. The reality of the situation had hit Wade like a freight train,"Russian Spec ops working with the US is as ridiculous as a Super Soldier from the future fighting off an alien invasion. Oh, wait a minute…" he said out loud.
"Yup, there's no punches being pulled." A man wearing a 101st Airborne Ranger uniform said, "I'm Master Sergeant Mikelson, I'm in charge of getting the orders given to us done."
"Sergeant how many men are in your colationary battalion?" Master Chief asked.
"Last time I counted just over 900, we're expecting another 200 shortly,but that's just command staff." Mikelson informed the Spartan.
"Well, I think that we've got ourselves some armor bearers." Cortana said "I just vetted all of them, you're all clean."
"I wouldn't know about that most of us were extracted directly from the field, haven't had the chance to clean up yet." Mikelson laughed and caused a few chuckles to be made around the room,
"Well, we're moving out in twenty four hours, clean up, eat and get some rest, we'll all need it." Fury commanded, getting a grateful nod from the Master Sergeant.
"I'll go inform the men." and with that let himself out.
Five Hours Later…
"Alright Chief, your armors been repaired. I had to clean it and enlist help from Doctor Grey and Lencher, but we got it back to peak condition, I also added some gadgets to give it some extra umph." Tony Stark said as he led the Spartan to the workshop where the armor had been serviced.
When the door opened, it revealed a room with a set of polished and repaired MJOLNIR armor.
Gone was the gouge from the orbital fall, and the various other dents and dings. Everything was spotless and in prime condition. Before the Spartan could do more than a visual once over, Tony began his narration.
"We modified the suit to have an arc reactor working in tandem with your fusion reactor on the back and inserted some hard mounts on the back of the shoulders. You could if you wanted to mount a minigun or something else I could cook up for the suit. I think modifying one of those M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle that Cortana told us about would be totally badass, but that's just me." Stark paused for a bit to smile to himself as he imagined the weapon system he just thought of. It was apparently a bit of an ambition.
He continued,"You might have noticed the massive gouge is gone. We have Magneto to thank for that, he filled that in with some raw materials and manipulated them in flawlessly. And he mixed in some adamantium in the overall alloy, according to him, even Wolverine will have to work on scratching it after that."
"I think having a grenade launcher mounted on one of the shoulder mounts would best. The other shoulder should have a M6, if you can modify it to fire indefinitely without running out of power. Ask Cortana for help on that. Is that everything?"
"No, it isn't I noticed that the armor was literally a machine that would be fastened together around you so I modified it to make it autonomous and easier to don. I also took the liberty of amping up the onboard maneuvering thrusters and making your suit flight capable."
"Very well, nicely done Mr. Stark. After you finish arming the suit, please report to either Dr. Grey or Professor Xavier to have the pertinent information in regards to the workings of the MJOLNIR secured while Cortana encrypts any digital traces."
"Hey what? I don't understand buddy. I just put the suit back together, this is a hell of a way to thank me isn't it?" He shouted and he stormed up to the chief his finger pointed at his chest.
"I could kill you and erase all the data to ensure that the highly classified weapons and armor technology you have been made privy to is kept secure. Would you prefer that method instead? The only reason why I haven't kill you is because you have the option of being secured by the psychics on board." The supersoldier stated in a clinical tone of voice as he looked Tony in the eyes as if to plan out how to most effectively kill him.
The silence of a suddenly mute Tony Stark was took as agreement. With that sorted out the Spartan walked out of the room to seek out Professor X. He could help Cortana and the Master Chief was determined to find out how.
When the Spartan finally tracked down the charismatic leader of the X men they were in an officer's lounge which was also occupied with the other mutants of both sides and a few of the Avengers.
"Professor Xavier, May I speak with you?" John asked the bald psychic in a tone the brokered no dissention.
"Why certainly Master Chief. Would it be alright if we had company? I do believe asking everyone to leave is quite unnecessary, if what I am picking up on your surface thoughts is what you wish to discuss."
"I'll leave that to your discretion Professor, but refrain from delving into more sensitive information."
"Very well. Then I believe that a certain conversation between Miss Cortana and yourself left you with the notion that I could be of assistance." He asked and the conversation began in earnest.
"Cortana are you available to contribute to the conversation? I believe your input is necessary."
"Hello Professor, how may I be of help?"
"I simply need more information on your condition and as to why you as a digital being have a concious that I am unable to interact with when you aren't residing in the Chief's mind. It is as if you are rather miraculously a digital human spirit, as you are more than just an artificial intelligence."
"I'm actually a digital remaking of a human brain into a digital equivalent. As far as I know, I'm unique as I was generated from living tissue and active neurons. Normally when mapping out the neural network of a human brain it is destroyed, thus cadavers are used. I was created from a live cloned brain of the most prominent scientific mind in the UNSC. I was originally meant to infiltrate and seize control of Covenant technology and aid in a mission to infiltrate the Covenant homeworld and take custody of their leaders and force a ceasefire between our people. Normally AIs have a life span of seven years due to our irresistible urge to learn more that eventually begins to inhibit the functions necessary to continue operation. Essentially we think ourselves to or insanity where we're terminated for the safety of everyone concerned. I'm starting to lose control of my emotions and several personalities are starting to appear. I'm scared. I'm losing myself. A little bit at a time, it won't be long before I have to be stopped to protect everyone. I just turned 8, and I know I'll start losing myself faster and faster at an exponential rate until I just cease to be."
Everyone in the room was listening in at this point and there were several teary eyes as they listened in to Cortana essentially admit that she was falling apart and was going to die as a threat to the people she cared for. Finally Charles spoke up and in a single sentence restored hope to a friend that they had all come to respect and like. Then go above and beyond the wildest expectations of everyone who heard.
"My dear,if you were to reside in the Master Chief I could interact with your psyche and help curb your deterioration. I have contacted an associate in South Korea that will begin to fashion a biological form for you to inhabit when you are able. I would suggest you collaborate with her and have a hand in the creation of your new form."
"Thank you so much professor. I might cry if I had tear ducts. Chief, I'm coming back to the chip."
When the ice cold feeling of Cortana's presence faded and warmed, he kneeled in front of the Professor's wheelchair and the mutant Psychic put his hands of the Spartan's head and closed his eyes. Then the Chief felt himself lose consciousness and a cold presence becoming stronger and stronger, before he finally lost consciousness.