Ghost Prototype IS

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or IS Infinite Stratos

Chapter 2: The Ghost and the Rabbit

Ghost sighed as he kept watch over Tabane. He didn't know why he told Tabane about the Prototype. Maybe it was because she was a scientist and he thought that she was an UNSC scientist or was it because she was just so trusting, like the best friend you never knew.

It was just so easy for him to talk to her, something that was hard for him to do. Ghost never talked to anyone expect for his squad on missions to give orders or to higher ups.

You could call him a loner but after the death of his squad and the marine who granted him a chance to become human died leaving him as the one survivor, he simply isolated himself, blamed himself for their deaths.

He didn't care if he was called a Ghost by his fellow marines, hell he didn't even cry for them. To his fellow marines he was scary, cold hearted, malevolent. They thought of different things but one word stood out against the rest.

Spartan…

Ghost looked down at the sleeping Tabane with her arms sprawled out at her sides. Her expression changed from a dizzy, spinning eyed expression when she fainted to a blank expression before having her eyes closed with a big smile with some drool coming out. That was her current expression.

Ghost touched his arm that he regained before looking at the Prototype suit with his marine helmet next to him letting his black hair out. He wondered what happened to the rest of Hades Corp. Did they escape from the battle? Did they get off planet? Ghost hoped they did.

"Chi-chan~" Tabane said in her sleep. Ghost turned to the sleeping purple haired IS creator.

"They must be close" He thought as Tabane kept talking.

"I'm sorry Chi-Chi~" Tabane said as Ghost rose one of his eyebrows. "You can play with Ghost later~"

Ghost's eyes widened a little as he listened to the sleeping woman. Ghost wished he had his rifle on him so he could clean it. It was a habit of his to clean his gun, as well as a few other marines. It was something to keep him busy.

Ghost hadn't had any time to check the armour to see if his rifle was there somewhere. Did he even bring it with him when he entered the suit? He couldn't remember as saving his squad was the important thing to him at that one moment.

He would have gone over to the walking tank but…Tabane liked to roll occasionally and if she wanted to cuddle, he learnt that she had an iron grip.

He had already gotten his arm back and he didn't want her to pull it off, he didn't want to lose an arm again.

Ghost released another sigh as he watched one of her fake robotic ears twitch, this happened a few times and he wondered how she got that to happen.

He leaned back as he closed his eyes, he heard the seagulls caw, screech and squawk with one another. He heard the waves of the splashing against the sand on the small little island, he thought of one thing.

It was peaceful.

And that was a nice change to the marine. Peace was a hard thing to come by back when he was fighting the Covenant for the UNSC. Ghost was almost constantly fighting, there was no telling when the Covenant would attack or when he would be assigned a mission with the squads.

He opened his eyes to make sure the purple haired 'scientist' didn't roll anywhere. The marine stood up as he looked around the small island, nothing.

No fruit bearing trees and only salty sea water. Ghost could rummage in the… drop pod carrot that she dropped in for food, but he decided against it.

Ghost looked at the purple haired girl who seemed to fidget, her mouth closed as she squirmed rolling over on her side. Tabane then released a yawn before her eyes slowly started to open.

"Ahh~" Tabane said as she released another yawn while rubbing her eye. "Morning Ghosty~"

"…You have only been unconscious for about an hour or so" Ghost replied as Tabane was still drowsy.

"Oh" The genius creator of the IS said. "That long?"

"So Tabane, how do we get off this island?" Ghost asked the yawning Tabane.

"Oh that?" She asked. "Don't worry about it, we will be off this island quicker than you can said rabbi-"

"Rabbit"

Tabane pouted at Ghost who finished the word before she could. "That's cheating" She said.

"You said it would get us off the island quickly"

"You're just like Chi-chan Ghosty" Tabane said now fully awake. "Hmm Ghosty as a nickname is too long, your name is Ghost after all"

Ghost just stood there as Tabane was starting to think of another nickname. "I think its fine" He said.

"Well Ghosty I'll come up with a better nickname for you later" She said as she grabbed his wrist. "Now let's get out of here, I'll even introduce you to my sister!"

Ghost nodded as he picked up his marine helmet and entered the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I Prototype. The armoured suit booted up and looked down to see Tabane smiling at him.

"How far can it fly?" She asked.

"Depends" He replied. "The suit is pretty heavy and I probably don't have much fuel left. I haven't really tested the length I can go"

Tabane looked over to her carrot rocket thing. "Well…this was more of a one person type of thing…" She said as the tall form of the tank with legs looked down on her.

"Then how do we both get out of here?"

"Well…you could hold onto it" She said. "And occasionally give a boost here and there"

"Are you sure that will work?" Ghost asked.

"…Possibly?" She said showing that she was unsure with the expression on her face as Ghost sighed.

He felt possible future headaches on the way with this girl. He watched as she stood inside of the carrot and said drop pod closed. He was still confused at what it was.

Ghost could barely hear Tabane through the large carrot. "Hey Ghosty, can you pick me up?" She asked as the prototype suit went and picked up the carrot drop pod. "Wow, your suit is really strong~"

"Now what do I do?"

"Well depending on your throw, grip and thrusters I can't tell for sure" She said. "I could come back with help if you want"

Ghost's answer was to shake the carrot. It was quite the sight to see. "G-G-Ghosty~" Tabane said as Ghost shook the carrot with no change of expression. "I-I'm s-s-s-sorry!"

Ghost stopped the shaking. "I rather not be left behind with no food" He said as he could tell that Tabane had a sheepish smile on her face.

"Sorry, sorry" Tabane said. "But what do you want to do?"

"…Is there another way?"

"Hmm… I could call for help?" Tabane said the last word with a little bit of fear.

That's when the carrot shook again. "You could have called someone to get us?" Ghost asked as he stopped the shaking as he placed the carrot back into the ground as the carrot opened. "Why didn't you do that in the first place?"

The carrot opened as Tabane rubbed her arm as she looked at Ghost. "We'll you see…remember how I created the IS?" She asked as Ghost nodded. "Well I might as well tell you the IS history as well"

"I created the IS for space exploration before I decided to make them for competitive sport, that was 10 years ago" She said surprising Ghost, she must really be a genius and she was only in her 20s.

Ghost's eyes narrowed behind the mask, he knew he was too fast to trust her and she made it so easy to. The creator of these IS who seemed childish created something 10 years ago when she was in her teens.

She gave off the air of someone who could be trusted and he, despite being a lone wolf, also ended up trusting her. His eyes stayed narrowed at the genius, he would give her a chance to explain but if she was using him to get the Prototype or take any information from the UNSC that he knows or the classified files on the suit then he would be forced to resort to violence.

"I created 467 cores and it shocked the world, IS are very popular now and I am the most wanted person by the entire world" When this words left her mouth the piloted suit jumped back as its arms was raised.

"So you're a criminal?" Ghost asked. He would not let a criminal get hands on the suit or data of the suit.

"No, no I'm not" She said. "Let me continue, please"

Ghost's arm stayed in the air for a while before lowering as the walking tank then walked over to Tabane albeit rather carefully.

"After the creation I disappeared off the face of the earth" She told him. "I'm not a criminal, they want me for the IS by the organizations that produce them due to my knowledge"

"I see…you aren't a criminal but rather staying away from companies that want your information"

"That's right" She said.

"…I'm sorry"

"Sorry for what for Ghosty-kun?"

"I was too quick to judge you Tabane"

"Please call me Ta-chan~"

"Okay Ta-chan?" Ghost said testing the suffix.

Tabane just smiled and clapped her hands while jumping, she was genuinely happy. He was too fast to judge her after learning that she created these IS's 10 years ago.

He would still be a little wary of the purple haired scientist but after seeing her happiness and learning a little about her he felt a little guilty. The air of trust was genuine, it seemed she had no bad bone in her body but now he was still wary.

If only a little but the warm feeling of trust coming from the woman put him at ease from the wariness he felt about her, this however won't make him tell her everything about the UNSC and the classified information though.

"Aww~ that's okay Ghost-kun" She said.

"But I assumed you were a criminal, you're not angry?" He asked.

"Nope~" Tabane cheered happily.

Truly this girl had no bad bone in her body it seemed. "Well how are we going to leave?"

Tabane just gave the piloting suit a smile. "Don't worry about it, we'll be gone before you say-"

"Rabbit"

Tabane pouted again. "Cheater"

Ghost allowed a ghostly smirk to appear on his face. "I keep saying it but we are stay here"

Tabane grabbed her phone as she dialled some numbers before putting the phone away. "There we go" She said with a smile.

"What are you doing?" Ghost asked.

"Just called some help"

"I thought you didn't want to be found as you are the most wanted person in the world"

Tabane smiled at him. "I didn't say it had to be human help"

"Non-human help, does she mean AI, Aliens, Robots, what exactly?" Ghost thought and after a while a helicopter approached. "What is piloting it?"

The helicopter landed as Tabane pointed at the cockpit. Inside the cockpit was…nothing. "So not robots but an AI" Ghost said as Tabane shrugged.

"Not really more like auto-pilot that I messed with" Tabane said.

"You messed with an auto-pilot?"

"Yeah, it is nowhere close to an AI yet but it does respond to me and does pickups and drop-offs" Tabane said as she hopped on the helicopter after sliding the door open.

"What do you want to do with the carrot?" Ghost asked.

"Oh, attached it underneath if you want"

Ghost nodded as he picked up the carrot and placed it under the helicopter that was hovering and got on board the helicopter and closed the sliding door. The marine got out of the power armour and walked into the cockpit after making sure the prototype was secure.

"Have you ever flown one before Ghosty-kun?"

"I have flown similar" He said as he looked over the controls of the helicopter, it was similar to a UH-144 Falcon in some aspects.

He grabbed the controls and then started to fly the helicopter. "Where do I go?" He asked as Tabane just pointed forward.

"That way"

"Are you sure?"

"Uh…yes?"

Ghost sighed. It was going to be a long flight.

Sometime later the helicopter dropped off the rocket and landed on the helipad. Tabane jumped out of the helicopter and turned around and held up her arms. "Tada~ welcome to my lovely abode" She said. "This is my secret laboratory hideaway!"

"I see" Ghost said as he exited the chopper and looked around. "It suits you?"

"Thanks Ghosty" She said to the armoured man who got of the helicopter.

"I do have to ask, how did you get a chopper?"

Tabane smiled mischievously. "I have my ways~" She said. "Now let's go find you a nice soft bed! Oh! You know what we could do?!"

Ghost looked at the woman who was practically bouncing where she was standing looking up at him with a smile. "What?" He asked the energetic young woman.

"We could have sleepovers! Stay up late and watch movies!" The genius Ms Shinonono said as she continued to talk about what to do. Ghost just impassively watched her as he waited for the energetic woman to stop.

Only she didn't.

She kept going. "And I can show you pictures of puppies and kittens and old pictures of my adorable little sister Houki" She continued on as Ghost wondered how she managed to get onto this topic. "I can also show you the best places to get food. There is this one place that sells the best cake!"

And so the rabbit eared maid scientist continued on and on. "This is going to go on for a long time isn't it?" Ghost asked himself as he got out of the suit as they were inside a secure room. Ghost raised his hand into the air before it came down in a chopping motion.

The karate chop hit the top of Tabane's head however it wasn't a full on chop but rather a light one that didn't hurt. "Ow Chi-chan~" Tabane said before Ghost raised an eyebrow on his impassive face.

"So my female counterpart also does this as well?" Ghost asked which Tabane turned to him.

"Yeah and sorry for calling you Chi-chan, Ghost-kun" She said sincerely. "But yeah, Chi-chan acts a lot like you but a girl"

"I know you told me that earlier but what parts remind you the most"

"Well you both hit me on the head at times but yours is lighter than hers, your both serious, have this stoic expression with little to no emotion, cold, telling me not to do things or telling me I'm not allowed to do touch certain things" She told him. "That's what I can see right now"

"That's similar to what the other marines in and out of my squad thought of me" Ghost said as Tabane gave me a look to tell her. "I was known for being cold and somewhat sadistic, showing little to no emotions towards anything especially in battle" He told the eldest Shinonono sibling.

"I guess being serious would count as being cold and they called me a Ghost for that I guess" He said. "I suppose they called me fearless and not even human"

"Why would they call you that?" Tabane asked looking at him sadly.

Ghost sighed. "On one of my assignments I let my entire platoon go down, wiped out in a single firefight with only myself as the survivor" He said as he removed his helmet that restrained his black hair. "I didn't even flinch"

"That's…" Tabane tried to speak but Ghost cut her off.

"That's when I truly became a ghost, losing my platoon, every single one of my men, I became a true ghost" He said. "That night as I looked up at the moon I swore I would avenge them…it was the first time I cried in a long, long time"

"I couldn't atone for failing them but I could save the squad I was in before coming here…Hades Corp" Ghost said as they sat on a bench with Tabane listening very carefully. "I held one of my marines I was in charge of and watched as she died in my arms"

"She asked me to be strong enough to be a human" Ghost said as the imagery came back. "And then for a split second, instantly, I was human again…"

"And that's when you self-destructed and came here" Tabane finished for him before Ghost felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "Don't worry Ghost-kun"

"You're here now right?" Tabane asked. "That means you were giving a second chance!"

"I wondered it that was the case" He said. "But the question is am I still a ghost from my old world or am I human once more?"

Tabane just smiled. "It's never too late to be one or the other and besides if you are a ghost then you can became human again as you did before" She smiled. "Now let's go and find you a room to stay in while I fix up your ID"

Tabane smiled that infectious smile that caused even him to smile if only a small one. "I guess you're right, ghost or human this is my second chance to prove what I am"

"That's the spirit Ghosty-kun" She said as she grabbed his wrist. "Now let's go!"

Ghost was then dragged along by Tabane, something that Ghost would guess would eventually become common with his time here.

Oh hey look a new chapter! WOW! Um yeah…Hi! It's been a while hasn't it. Hmm what's that? Why did I take months to update it? Well…I get a bit side-tracked… and lazy.

Anyways this chapter was more of a bonding with Ghost and Tabane with more of the two later on. Sorry not sorry if you thought that this chapter would be a big one or something. Now onto the main bit, since right now Ghost is with Tabane meaning a little to no action from his behalf at the moment unless you count robots and the what not.

The next few chapters would be with Ghost and Tabane before meeting the others.