Different Galaxies Same Fighting Hearts

by BeeSamusnChief

After losing Cortana, and gaining his team back. Master Chief would have never thought of himself to become a father figure. Sent to investigate an unkown alien planet, the Covenant have invaded. Chief, and the rest of Blue Team, are put in a situation they've never been through in spartan history. Link to the full cover /art/Different-Galaxies-Same-Fighting-Hearts-Cover-569152729

4. Chapter 4

Chapter redone

As you could probably tell there's no exact timeline I am following.

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After being briefed on the information the ship's AI Roland gathered from the attack on Zebes, John shook his head in disbelief. What an odd situation the young girl was in... Returning to his room from his morning briefing, Master Chief was met with the slumbering hybrid child.

"Get up. Move. Double time." John woke the slumbering girl. Chief immediately brought the girl out into the corridor before the little warrior could even open her sleepy eyes.

"W-what we doing?" Samus yawned rubbing her tired eyes.

"We're going to be patient, and wait here for the team." Chief sternly told the half asleep girl.

Samus didn't exactly get a choice in the matter, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She shook off her drowsiness with a large stretch and yawn.

Fifteen minutes passed by, Master Chief's mind he was attempting to start the training by waking the girl up without any warning. Hoping to teach her a bit about patience and punctuation. But realistically he was concerned for the little girl's safety. It was odd, as if he had deep sympathy for the child. If she proved to be independent enough without caretakers, she would be exiled off the ship sooner. He had to prove that Samus was too young, and dependant for such a penalty.

A tiny whimper brought the Spartan out of his thoughts. Gazing down at the small blonde girl who was clutching his hand for security. The hallways were bustling with activity this morning. John had been standing outside his quarters with the girl for a while now. Waiting for his teammates to emerge from the nearby rooms. He figured the busy atmosphere of the corridor full of strangers must've been making the shy girl nervous.

Samus squirmed in an awkward dance while holding the Spartan's hand, attempting to hide from the many curious gazes that were passing by. All while attempting to hold back the urgent need to use the bathroom. Samus didn't dare complain, or stray away from the Spartan's side. Chief seemed to be very strict today, maybe even agitated. The last thing the she wanted to do was make Chief angry at her.

"Stand still, Samus." John ordered the young girl as the rest of the team exited their designated rooms.

Samus did as she was ordered. But only for a brief moment as standing still put her on the verge of embarrassment.

Chief sighed heavily rolling his eyes behind his visor. Wondering if all children were this stubborn and jittery.

"Ugh, John, are you just going to keep bringing her out looking like a wild child?" Kelly greeted her leader with a groan. Immediately locking her gaze onto the wild blonde frizzy mess.

"I've got an extra brush I can give you, John. So you can brush Samus's hair in the mornings." Linda mentioned. Halting in front of Chief, with Fred, and Kelly.

Fred observed the squirming girl's awkward dance, recognizing it as an urgent sign of desperation. "Do you need to go, kid?"

Samus nodded eagerly as the two female Spartans clued into what the hell Fred was asking the squirming child.

"John, open your damn room and let the kid relieve herself before she springs a leak." Kelly hissed at her clueless leader.

John didn't appreciate the rude tone from Kelly, but he did as she requested. Watching the two female Spartans rush the young girl into his room's lavatory.

"Did you wake Samus, and dragged her out of bed before she could fully awaken?" Fred questioned his leader.

"I didn't know she had to use the bathroom. She didn't say anything." Chief scoffed in defence.

"Did you ever think that your rude awakening scared her enough to keep her silent?" Fred challenged.

"We used to wake up, and go straight into training exercises." John replied to his Spartan brother.

"That may be true, intensive training tends to distract you from certain urgencies. But I also remember a lot of our fellow Spartan trainees had embarrassing moments because of that." Fred reminded his brother. "Remember we also weren't raised by aliens. The kid hasn't been around other humans for 8 years. She's not accustomed to our ways yet. This isn't Spartan boot camp. I know we have to train the kid, but let's not harshly drag her through what we had to go through. I'm sure she's already endured enough difficult training with her alien caretakers. So cut the girl some slack, John. She's just a child."

Samus was indeed just a child, and situations like this exactly proved Samus's immaturity. Which was what John was attempting to do. But his brother's words proved that his treatment towards the girl contradicted his need to prove that Samus could not be exiled. Samus was no ordinary girl. But she was still a child.

"Ow!" Chief hissed, after being punched in the shoulder by the speed runner who was exiting his quarters.

"Don't do that to her again!" Kelly warned her leader threateningly.

"Is Samus, okay?" John asked concerned.

"The kid is... she's fine. Can we not ignore the kid's basic human needs?" Kelly reported, positive that John knew she was frowning at him from behind her oversized visor. "Why the hell didn't you allow her relieve herself!?"

"John, was trying to rekindle our rude awakenings from Spartan boot camp." Fred mentioned.

"That's ridiculous, the kid has already gone through intensive training with those aliens she spoke of. I wouldn't wish what we went through upon any child, alien hybrid, or not." Kelly sternly expressed her disagreeing feelings about her leader's actions.

"You're both right, but it's all we've ever known." Chief replied to the two who nodded understandingly.

"We know brother. We're soldiers, not child raisers. We all lack the common knowledge of child care." Fred attempted to reassure the Master Chief.

"Just remember that she's a child, kids have tiny bladders." Kelly joked trying to lighten the mood. "I do agree with Fred, though. Samus, is unknown territory to us all. What happened to us wasn't exactly right, or fair." The speed runner sighed heavily leaning against the wall. "You need to take a page from Fred's book, and learn to how to read the kid's body language. She's still a shy immature little girl, I know..."

"I believe being raised by aliens, instead of humans, has mentally thrown the kid's maturity back by a few years. Since I'm sure upbringing a human child was not a part of their alien culture. But I would suspect learning to care for a kid is more of a natural course learning, rather than a teachable one." Fred mentioned to his uncertain leader.

John understood his brother's words, they made a lot of sense to him. It made sense that Samus was at a lesser state of maturity, because of her upbringing with an alien species. "Where is, Linda?"

"Cleaning the kid up. You can't keep letting her out out of your room looking like a wild creature we picked up off a foreign planet." The speed runner scoffed at the green Spartan.

"She is an alien hybrid we picked up off of a foreign planet..." Fred muttered.

"Shut up Fred!"

Linda rolled her eyes behind her visor as she guided the young girl out of the room. "It wouldn't be a proper morning, if you two weren't bickering."

"There, you must feel a lot better now." Kelly cooed to the child, ignoring the sharpshooter's comment.

Samus nodded in response, warily lining herself up next to the massive green Spartan.

"Are we heading to the arena this morning?" Fred asked, as John locked his visor on the young being.

"Yes, let's move." Chief replied allowing his three teammates to lead the way.

Even though Chief seemed to be grumpy that morning, Samus still clutched onto the Spartan's hand as they walked through the massive corridors.

John halted turning his gaze to the tiny being holding his hand. The training is what the UNSC wanted to see, they wanted Samus to progress with her defences so she may fend for herself. It was something he was going to have to argue.

"Why are you stopping, John?" Linda asked turning around to see their leader halted behind them.

"Change of plans, we're going to go to the memorial park." John replied, changing the direction.

"The park?" Fred repeated, confused.

"What the hell is at the park?" Kelly retorted as they continued to follow their leader.

"A change of scenery, for one." Chief said, as they approached the park. "It would be nice for Samus, to see something... Other than guns, and battle." Chief replied taking his brother's advice.

"Is this a team effort? Or can we go train?" Kelly responded impatiently.

John glared at Kelly for her lack of patience.

"It's our mission to keep her safe. As a TEAM." Fred reminded the impatient Spartan.

Kelly rolled her eyes behind her visor. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't take an entire team of Spartans to take a single kid out for a stroll through the park."

Fred pulled his argumentative Spartan sister closer to him. "Do you even remember what she did yesterday? I think it's wise to keep multiple trained eyes on her today."

"Alright. Alright. Point proven. Get off me!" Kelly groaned shoving Fred away from her.

Chief looked down to his side after feeling a small tug at his hand. "Samus?"

"What's a mem-ree park?" Samus asked trying to repeat the word Chief had mentioned.

"Memorial Park. It's a place that was established to remember those for their brave actions. A tribute to fallen soldiers." Master Chief explained to the young girl who tried to understand what he was saying. "It's also a place to wind down. It's a very peaceful area."

Samus blinked thoughtfully, continuing to follow the Spartans into the Infinity's memorial park. It was beautiful with an artificial skydome. Gorgeous gardens, a small field, and a large waterfall amongst tiny waterfalls and creeks throughout the park. It almost reminded her of Brinstar, back on Zebes.

"Pretty." Samus though aloud in awe as they approached a small seating area.

"Indeed." Fred smiled behind his visor.

Master Chief gestured for Samus to sit. To which the girl hesitantly did so.

Samus didn't really want to sit around and stare at the beautiful park. She wanted to run and play.

"Now what?" Kelly folded her arms, glaring at both Chief and the child.

Master Chief cocked his helmet curiously at his teammate. "What do you mean, what now?"

"We're just going to stand around and admire the flora?" The impatient female Spartan scoffed.

"Generally kids play in a park, John." Fred mentioned looking up at the skydome.

It had been so long since he himself had played in a park. Chief had forgotten about the general playful activities children do in a park like environment.

"Then we may as well have been training." Kelly grumbled.

"Enough." Chief hissed quieting his teammates. "We can walk around the park." He turned around to find the child missing from the bench. In a panic John scanned the area with his eyes, locating the small girl, walking with their sharpshooter.

"Looks like Linda, took the liberty of walking the kid for us. Can I leave now?" The speed runner continued to complain after they located the child.

Linda furrowed her brow turning around. "Nobody's asking you to stay, Kelly." She hissed as she approached the other female Spartan.

Samus didn't exactly pay attention to the arguing Spartans. She was currently occupied by the pretty flowers. "Chief! Chief! Look!" her bubbly little voice called, pointing at a small shrub of large multi coloured flowers.

John left the two arguing teammates, approaching Samus. He calmly knelt down next to the adorable little girl. She was trying to show him flowers. Why? Was Samus trying to show him how pretty they were? Or was she just pointing at the flowers for the sake of getting his attention? Maybe it was both? He was of course overthinking everything.

"Pretty." Samus said as Fred approached them.

"Yes." John awkwardly nodded in acknowledgement.

"Did you want to play some tag?" Fred asked, absolutely exciting the young girl.

"Yeah!" Samus squeaked excitedly.

"There's quite a few people here, Fred." John said as he approached Fredric.

Fred chuckled at his leader. "It'll be fine, John. There's enough space for all of us. And we're not using any weapons. This is strictly just child's play. You're all welcome to join us."

As Fred led Samus off to go play tag, Chief didn't exactly like the idea of pushing aside the fact they were Spartans just to play a game. But he reluctantly followed the rest of his team into the small field next to the flowing creeks and large waterfall.

Fred ran through the field with the little girl chasing after him. She had a decent speed and was able to keep up with him for the most part.

Kelly was reluctant to leave John and Linda's side. But she couldn't miss the chance to beat Fredric in a game she would excel at.

"Tag me kid. Tag me." Kelly held out her hand as she ran next to the girl.

Samus giggled tapping her hand onto the one held out for her. Kelly was now it. The young girl halted backing herself away from Kelly's direction as she watched the speed runner chase after Fred.

"I saw that!" Fred exclaimed as he tried to outrun his speedy Spartan sister. "Kelly!" He yelped as Kelly caught up, slapping him. Fredric groaned glaring at the speed runner who had happily tagged him.

Samus giggled after a while of zig zagging, Fred tagged her once again. Sprinting up to the massive green Spartan. The girl tagged the Spartan leader, sprinting away with a giggle.

John didn't pursue. He stood unmoving as the girl sprinted away in hopes that he would give chase.

"You're not going to go after her?" Linda questioned her leader.

"Why would I?" Chief replied emotionless.

"John, you were the one who dragged us here. Instead of training. You better join in." Kelly threatened stopping next to the Master Chief. She knew well that John was her team leader. And she respected him for it. But she wasn't afraid to give her opinion to him when needed.

John rolled his eyes behind his visor. Tagging Kelly's arm. "Fine. You're it."

Kelly returned with a punch to the shoulder. "If you're going to play like that. You're it again!" She scoffed before sprinting away from her annoyed leader.

Chief sighed turning to look for Linda. Though she had already wisely left his side during his little moment with Kelly. With another heavy sigh Chief gave chase to the other male Spartan on the team.

Samus gasped as Fred sprinted up to her. Chief was right behind him. Samus was now the new target in sight. She quickly leapt across the flowing creek next to her. Sprinting along side the large waterfall's creek. Master Chief leapt to the same side causing Samus to once again leap over to the other side again with Chief in tow.

Fred watched as the two leapt back and forth across the creek. Samus was clearly only paying attention to the Spartan chasing her, and not to Fred who was now directly across from her on the other side of the creek.

Samus leapt across the creek once more. Fred attempted to move but not in time. As Samus bounced off of the steel blue Spartan and into the creek.

Master Chief stepped into the creek lifting the drenched girl out of the man made creek. "Are you alright?"

Samus could hear Kelly's hysterical laughter from across the field. She couldn't help but giggle at herself, as Chief carried her out of the flowing creek.

"Playtime's over. Let's go to the gym." John sighed, putting Samus down in front of his team.

"You don't think the kid needs to be dried off or changed into something... oh I don't know. Less soggy." Kelly sarcastically retorted as Chief led them to the exit of the park.

"Lose the sarcasm, Kelly." John warned the speed runner.

"I'm serious, John." Kelly hissed.

"Whoa! What the?!"

The entire Spartan team cringed as an unfortunate marine slipped on the water Samus was tracking through the hallway.

"The kid's getting water everywhere." The Spartan with an oversized visor gestured to the puddles of water trailing behind them.

"Chief, is that you dripping all that water through the halls?" another marine called out.

Chief quickly turned to Linda and Kelly. "Samus, does not have a spare change of clothes. Get her dry, and meet us in the gym." He said, handing the girl to the two female Spartans.

"We're not nursemaids." Kelly scoffed exchanging glances with Linda.

"Master Chief?" The marines called diverting the green Spartan's attention long enough for the rest of his team to start leaving him.

"We'll meet you in the gym."

John turned around to see the three Spartans leaving him with the soaking wet child.

"Chief, did you hear me?" The marine asked once he was next to the Spartan.

"Yes, soldier. We're trying to address the situation. Call maintenance to assist with the... spill." Master Chief replied, escorting Samus towards the gym.

"I don't think we should've left John, like that." Fred mentioned as they wandered around the unoccupied gym.

"It'll take moments for John, to figure out that there are towels in the gym's showers. And it's a kid, not a Covenant bomb." Kelly retorted to the guilty feeling Spartan.

"If she's just a kid. Why'd you immediately disregard John's request?" Fred challenged, as Master Chief entered with Samus.

"Because I am not a babysitter." The speed runner argued as Linda took Samus into the shower room to find some towels.

"None of us are. Like it or not, Kelly, we were assigned to safe guard the child until a suitable caretaker is available." John scolded his Spartan sister.

"Suitable caretaker?" Kelly laughed with scoff. "Or until she gets exiled? Which one is it, John?"

"Exile is too harsh a punishment for a lost child, Samus, cannot..."

"Lost child?" The female Spartan interrupted Chief. "I don't think Samus, is exactly lost, as opposed to being feral."

"The kid's not a wild creature we plucked out of the wilderness." Fred laughed at the speed runner.

Kelly rolled her eyes behind her oversized visor. "You discovered her on a dangerous wild planet. She was raised by aliens. Samus, barely knows how to behave around other humans, let alone communicate with them..."

"Kelly, you know why Samus, is like that." Master Chief sighed slightly annoyed.

"Okay, so she was adopted by aliens when she was 3. Became an alien hybrid that was raised by her adopted alien family for 7 years. That doesn't mean a normal human can't raise her." Kelly argued.

Fred shook his head with a sigh. "Lethal, alien hybrid. No normal human being is going to ever raise that girl."

"Where's your optimism? Some eager kind person is going to want her." The female Spartan scoffed reassuringly.

"Not with an exile lingering close behind her. Fred is right. No one is ever going to be able to take on a fully equipped lethal child, that has already spilt blood." Master Chief informed the argumentative Spartan.

Fred cocked an eyebrow behind his visor. "So what are you saying? We should just exile her while she still barely knows us?"

"Of course not. She'd become even more wanted by the UNSC if we just set her loose. The Covenant would scoop her up in seconds. They want Samus, and her birdbrain powers." The female Spartan scoffed as Linda entered with the said child.

"Exactly. End of discussion." Master Chief nodded in agreement, before acknowledging Samus and Linda.

"Got her as dry as I could. What are we doing here, John?" Linda greeted her leader as Samus happily smiled up at Chief before following Kelly over to the exercise equipment.

"I don't know." Chief replied truthfully. "He was uncertain about what to do with the young girl. Samus seemed to be a warrior in the making. He knew it was only a matter of short time before she became fully capable of sustaining herself. His concern was that Samus may fall into the wrong hands like Kelly mentioned. Even though Samus has skill she may get her self killed, due to lack of experience.

"John?!" Linda called her leader snapping him out of his thoughts.

"We..." John tried to think of a plan to slow the young foundling's exile. "Let's work on one thing at a time. Strength. Stamina. Speed. Accuracy. Melee."

Linda watched as Samus lifted the same weights that Kelly was lifting. "I don't think strength is an issue. She just know her own strength yet." The sharpshooter mentioned mentally checking it off the list.

Master Chief gave an inaudible sigh of frustration. "Let's take her to the track then..."

"John." Linda sighed with smirk. Gaining her leader's attention. "I know this is going to sound odd coming from me. But why don't you just talk to the girl."

"Talk to her?" Chief cocked his head confused.

"Talk to, Samus. We've already witnessed that she's capable of defending herself. Although a little bit sloppy. Why don't you just ask about her training? What her routines were, her training process, and so on." The sharpshooter explained to her reluctant Spartan brother.

"Why me?" Master Chief questioned reluctantly.

"Because you're our team leader, John. And while she's under our care you take the biggest responsibility for her." Linda explained as Kelly approached them.

"Plus the kid is enamoured with you for some strange reason. Even after you dunked her in that creek." Kelly teased her Spartan brother. "Take Linda's advice. She's usually right."

"What's Linda, right about now?" Fred asked as he walked over with Samus, who immediately ran to Chief's side.

Both female Spartans chuckled at Fred's response. "Point proven. We'll meet with you two later John." Kelly said as she quickly dragged Fred away, with Linda in tow.

"No, Kelly..." Chief called after his team as they abandoned him with the alien child.

"Is Kelly, in trouble?" Samus's youthful voice asked the frustrated Spartan.

Master Chief glanced down at the small child standing next to him. With a deep sigh he wondered if he still had Cortana, if she would've been able to assist him with child care knowledge? A very strange alien child at that.

"When we meet up with them later she will be." Chief remarked as he led Samus back into the busy corridors of the Infinity.

Samus once again felt all eyes on her. Making her incredibly uncomfortable and shy.

John was sure he would've tripped if he wasn't built like a brick house. Samus clung so tightly to his side, every few steps the girl's tiny feet were on top of his boots. Looking around to see if there was any major cause for this distressed clingy behaviour, Chief didn't fully understand why Samus was so shy around this large volume of humans? Although she was already in hot water for murdering an ODST out of defence. She showed this behaviour previous to the incident.

"Samus, are you frightened by the many personnel roaming around us?" The Spartan pulled the shy girl off to the side of the hallway.

Samus warily looked over her shoulders as many people passed by behind her. She did listen to what the Master Chief had asked her. It was taking a moment for her to translate a small portion of the Spartan's sentence.

With an inaudible sigh Chief crouched down to be level with the uncertain girl. "Samus?"

A chatting group of marines walked by as John called the young girl's name. One of them nearly tripping over Samus as his attention was diverted by the kneeling Spartan.

Samus cringed waiting for the man to run into her, but was quickly pulled out of the way by Chief.

"Whoa! Sorry! There...? Little, girl?" The marine corrected himself. Clearly confused by the young child's presence.

Chief stood up halfway, bending down to be able to guide the child with his hand placed on her back. He needed to get her somewhere quiet, less populated. Before he could even attempted to get a full response from the alien child. As they took many flights of stairs up to the observation deck, John could feel the tension in Samus's back ease as only a handful of workers were on deck.

As they rounded a corner Samus's turquoise eyes lit up in astonishment as they were met by a massive observation window.

Master Chief walked the girl straight up to the massive window where she immediately hopped up on the window sill. They were passing through a cluster of stars that twinkled gold. He observed the beautiful sight with the alien hybrid child for a few moments before breaking the silence with his earlier question.

"Samus, why are you so scared of the people roaming the halls?" Chief asked again, hoping his simplified question was easier for Samus to understand.

Samus turned away from the beautiful view. Trying to configure the right words to reply to the Spartan with. "They're crumble-bee."

Master Chief blinked his eyes behind his visor confused. "Crumble, bee?" He repeated under his breath. "Crumbly." He corrected getting even more confused. "The one's roaming around the Infinity are crumbly?"

"Yeah!" Samus replied nodding in confirmation.

Chief was still confused. What did the girl mean? What about them crumbled? Than he began to think, what crumbles? Fragile objects. "Do you mean fragile? The people around us are fragile?"

The young girl blinked trying to translate in her head, the word the Spartan had just mentioned to her.

"You're afraid of hurting them." Master Chief could see that was what Samus was trying to tell him. She underestimated herself. Samus had been away from human's for so long she had no idea how strong she had truly grown over the years in their absence. In a way Chief understood her dilemma. After augmentations, he too did not know his own strength and abilities. And ultimately unintentionally caused fatal harm.

Samus nodded yes at the Spartan who returned with a nod of understanding.

"You're very strong Samus. Those who had raised you had given you the strength to survive. I am sure you were in the middle of learning how to control that strength. Until the Covenant invaded." Master Chief thought aloud as he watched as the ship approached a small astroid field. " I am uncertain just how strong you are. Possibly you feel the same way. But I want to help you control it..."

The asteroids collided making a thunderous noise behind the young girl. Lasers on the Infinity fired at the asteroids, to prevent any damage to the ship as it passed through a small astroid field. The noise causing Samus to jolt away, stumbling off the window sill she stood on.

"Do you understand?" Chief asked kneeling down as he helped Samus stand back up. Through the room's silence the Spartan picked up the sound of panicked breaths emitting from Samus. Observing the girl closely he could see tears streaming down her face. She winced and flinched at nearly every sound the lasers and astroids made behind her.

The last time Samus had heard these kind of noises was when the Space Pirates attacked her home world, K2-L. And when the Covenant attacked her adopted home world, Zebes.

John recognized and understood the girl's response to the noise. Bringing the smaller frightened being closer to himself, he carefully turned Samus around. "It's the ship's precautionary lasers clearing a pathway through this astroid field. To keep us safe. We are not under attack." He attempted to be reassuring.

Samus warily watched the lasers cut the massive astroids into tiny pieces. After a few moments it was almost relaxing. Quickly wiping away her tears, Samus thought Chief probably thought of her as a huge baby for crying about something so simple.

"I not m-mean to cry. Sorry..." the girl turned keeping her watery gaze away from the golden visor.

"Why are you apologizing?" Chief asked his tone firm yet confused. He could tell the young warrior was suffering from her trauma.

"Cause I be stronger. Not scarier." Samus replied not offended by the Spartan's firm tone.

Master Chief gave an insignificant smile under his helmet. Samus was clearly trying to find the right words to describe getting frightened, due to being traumatized. "Samus, your trauma traumatized you. It's not supposed to make you stronger. You make yourself stronger, over time." He didn't expect Samus to understand everything he was trying to say, but hoped what he said would at least make her feel better.

Samus understood what Chief was saying to her. It was something that Grey Voice would've told to her. Giving a small smile in understanding, something inside told her that Master Chief was speaking from his own experience.

Chief stood back up with a heavy sigh, he knew he could not delay Linda's suggested conversation any further. "Tell me, Samus..."

"Look, Chief! It looks like a Etecoon!" Samus seemed to easily bounce back from her panic, as she pointed up at a small broken off piece of astroid.

"Sure." Master Chief shrugged confused as to what an Etecoon was. "The Cho-zo? The Chozo who raised you. Did they speak any human languages?" Chief figured he'd start casual than build up the conversation.

"Some did. No mostly." Samus replied hopping off the window sill. "We speaked Chozodian."

"Right..." Chief rubbed the back of his helmet. "I assume you were around 3-4 years of age when you last spoke a human language? Once you were adopted into the Chozo culture you spoke only their language." The Spartan nodded in understanding. It would explain the child's lack of english language skills. He also took note of Samus's lack of understanding when her suit was off. It must've had a translator he supposed. It was all very small details about the girl. Details he was certain to forget over time, as more pressing matters surrounded him and the hybrid child.

"No humans but me were only ones on Zebes." Samus confirmed the Spartan's theory of her being the only human to inhabit Zebes.

Master Chief sighed, he needed to get back onto the topic of the girl's training. "Samus, back on Zebes, you mentioned you had an array of different training skills. From hacking, to advanced martial arts, and combat skills. How far along were you in each of those skills?"

"I just start them." Samus replied simply.

"Y-you only just started to learn all of those skills?" Chief asked a bit confused since the girl already seemed so capable in her abilities.

Samus nodded yes to the questioning Spartan. "I um... learned a long time before I tried it."

Another heavy sigh escaped the Master Chief as he desperately tried to translate the youthful broken english. "Are you trying to say you studied the skills for a long time before engaging in them?"

Samus blinked, she didn't understand anything the Chief was trying to say to her.

"You can put your armour on Samus, if it helps." John sighed as Samus eagerly obliged his suggestion. He was still astonished by the way the child applied her armour. Once the child's brightly coloured armour was applied Chief repeated the question. "Did you study all those skills before engaging with them physically?"

"Yes. I st-ud-ied them. Then apple lied my learnings to my starting training." Samus answered in her youthful broken english. "I start real training 3 weeks than the Covenmant attacked."

With another heavy exhale John placed his hand on the side of his helmet. At this rate he was going to need a translator for the child's broken english, he thought to himself. "You only just began to apply your studies to your physical training for about a month before the Covenant invaded. Okay..." Chief thought aloud. It meant Samus had no conscious of how strong and skilled she really was. Almost a completely untrained warrior.

"Kelly!" Samus called excitedly, causing the green Spartan to spin around.

"Hey squeaky!" Kelly greeted the bubbly armoured child that ran up to her.

"Look Kelly, the lasers are sploding the astroids." Samus pointed out as she leapt back onto the massive window sill.

"That's neat, kiddo." The grey and white Spartan chuckled at Samus's youthful vocabulary. Before turning to Chief who was watching Samus like a hawk. Kelly gave him a small tap on the arm to gain his attention. "You look stressed. What's the status on the kid's training level?"

"Green. I am unsure of how green, since we got a little diverted with our conversation." John replied with a sigh.

"Well, she can't be that green. She managed to protect herself on her home world and from the ODST's." The female Spartan pointed out as they watched Samus observe the dancing lasers.

"That's what I thought. Now, I don't know. She physically trained for a total of 3 weeks before we found her. I am questioning how we're going to get to is training done? Samus is uniquely different from us." The Spartan leader replied turning to his teammate.

Kelly shrugged keeping her oversized visor pointed in the child's direction. "You're not wrong there, John. But I wouldn't stress about it too much. She seems highly trainable. Linda got through to her, so did I, and Fred."

"If we all apply a large amount of patience to our lessons, we shouldn't have an issue training, Samus." Linda said as she approached her Spartan siblings with Fred in tow. "The only one that hasn't taught Samus a skill is you, John."

"You've already taught her about shooting, stamina, and combat. What is there that I could teach her?" Chief scoffed making excuses.

"Seriously? I could list a hundred things for you to teach, Samus." Linda retorted, a bit disappointed in her leader. "How about strategizing, teaching her when the right moments to strike are. Why not strengthen her some more."

"Or more importantly. Teach her how to obey commands and superiors." Fred suggested.

"I will try..." Chief replied distantly, keeping his focus on the occupied young girl.

"You seem unsure. What's on your mind, John?" Linda asked after exchanging looks with Fred and Kelly.

Master Chief finally turned towards his team. "I am uncertain about training her. Samus, shouldn't be exiled just because she's capable of surviving on her own."

"Why not? All this is temporary." Kelly asked confused.

"A child shouldn't be thrown into the universe..."

"John, we were her age when we were thrown into war." Kelly reminded their concerned leader.

"We were. But not alone." Chief reminded his Spartan sister.

"She won't be alone. Samus will have a guardian by then." Fred tried to reassure his brother.

John turned his helmet back towards the innocent yet deadly child. He didn't agree. No sane person would adopt an alien hybrid child that already had blood on her hands.

"Don't over think it, John. Everything will be just fine." Fred patted his leader's shoulder as Linda walked over to the Chozo child.

"Hi Linda!" Samus happily greeted the helmet-less Spartan.

"Hello, Samus. What are you watching?" Linda's tone was soft spoken as she greeted the young child.

"Watching lasers splode astroids. They pretty." Samus pointed out as the ship finally began to get clear of the astroid field.

"I see. The lasers are very pretty sometimes aren't they." The red head agreed with the young warrior.

"Okay, concern aside. Why the hell does the kid talk like she's three years old?" Kelly bluntly asked after overhearing Linda's conversation with Samus.

"I don't think Samus, has spoken english since she was around 3 or 4." Master Chief answered the female Spartan's question.

"That makes sense." Kelly shrugged as Samus excitedly watched the astroids with Linda. "Come'on Fred. Linda, will catch up with us at the shooting range. She never misses an opportunity to shoot something." She said gesturing for the steel blue Spartan to follow.

"That's true enough. Are you going to join us, John?" Fred asked as he began to follow the speed runner.

"Possibly." John replied his focus still fixed on the alien child.

Kelly snorted with a laugh as she walked past her leader. "Don't get too attached to the kid, John. She's only a temporary resident."

"With Cortana gone, that hole is empty. It's inevitable that Samus, could be John's new best friend." Fred gave a halfhearted joke in reply. He knew his brother was hurting from Cortana's absence. But Samus seemed like a nice distraction.

Everyone continued to think that Samus was just a temporary stay. Chief didn't fully believe that was the case. Nor did he want to exile an inexperienced young warrior into the unknown.

"Will I see my family again?" Samus turned her gaze up towards the red head.

"Your family?" Linda repeated. "I-I just don't think that's going to happen, Samus. Sorry..." she sadly replied.

Samus gave a reluctant nod in understanding. "Chief, said I never go back home..."

"Did he now?" Linda cocked an eyebrow as Chief approached. "Samus, unless the planet somehow explodes from the inside out, I believe you may one day return to your adopted home world. Wounds mend over time, but scars are permanent, Samus. It will take some time for Zebes to recover from the destruction. It may not be the same after the attack, but it will still be there." She reassured the young girl.

"Why can't we no make sure that happens now? Why can't we go back, and make Covenmant go away?" Samus asked getting quite emotional as she spoke.

"It's too dangerous." Chief answered emotionlessly.

"But this ship big enough to fight." Samus argued a valid point.

"Because we can't, Samus." John argued back getting impatient.

"John..." Linda warned her brother to watch his tone.

"Why though?" Samus continued to press on for further answers.

"Because the Covenant wants you, Samus!" John hissed losing his patience with the pressing subject.

"John, stop!" Linda hissed at her leader who was now giving out too much sensitive information.

"The Covenmant attack Zebes, because me?" The girl asked as tears flooded her turquoise eyes.

"John, don't..." Linda hissed through her teeth, warning her brother not to continue on as she pulled the concerned guilty child closer to her.

"I was informed this morning, that the Covenant got a tip from an unknown AI source. It told of a very powerful and highly trainable bio weapon that inhabited the planet. Mentioning that it was available to be taken from the planet by force. To leave no stone unturned." Master Chief explained his morning briefing, getting a disapproving head shake from Linda.

"Mother..." Samus muttered under her breath. Mother Brain must've sent out the message. But why? Mother Brain was a loyal successor to the Chozo, why all of a sudden retaliate? "I have to go back. It was Mother, who sended the signal."

"Mother? I thought you said your parents were dead?" John held a hand up to the disapproving sharpshooter as she was once again was going to scold him.

"Th-they are!" Samus hissed through tears. "Mother Brain, is Chozo's AI!"

Both Spartans exchanged confused gazes. "Why would the Chozo's own super computer send out an inviting lethal message like that? Knowing the harm it would cause to the planet and it's inhabitants?" Linda finally began to question, although she wasn't thrilled they were pouring salt into Samus's open wounds.

"Cause Mother, hates me!" Samus cried knowing that Mother Brain hated her from the moment she set foot on Zebes.

"Hates you? Why would an planetary AI loath a child? " Linda thought aloud turning to her leader.

"Unknown, Linda. Perhaps we should move on from this subject." John said placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.

"You shouldn't have brought up the subject in the first place, John." Linda countered back, knowing it was too soon for the young girl to hear such sensitive information.

While the two Spartans glared at each other disapprovingly, Samus began to wish she never was rescued by the Chozo. Because of her the fate of the Chozo was unknown. Because of her they were most likely terminated.

Both Spartans turned their focus back onto the child when the girl's armour suddenly vanished. Revealing the sobbing girl in her bright blue jumpsuit.

"Let's take a walk." John guided Samus to move forward. Unsure of where they were going or what they were doing. He just wanted the young girl to feel better.

"There you guys are!" Kelly scoffed as the three made their way down the hallways. "We thought you got lost or something... Why's the kid crying?" The female Spartan with an oversized visor asked curiously as they approached their teammates guiding the sobbing child.

"John." Linda replied giving the green Spartan a sharp glare.

"Did you hit her?!" Kelly asked gaining the attention of the marines that were passing by them.

"No! Why would I hit her?!" John hissed in defence, pulling his team off to the side of the corridor.

"Jesus Kelly, don't jump to conclusions!" Fred warned his abrupt Spartan sister.

"John, unwisely released sensitive information to, Samus." Linda sighed turning to the crying girl. "You're not at fault, Samus. That AI set that disaster in motion."

"You told her about the Covenant, and why they invaded her planet?" Fred asked his leader.

"Yes, I did." Chief regrettably replied.

"I don't see why we're making a big deal about it. The kid was bound to find out soon enough." Kelly retorted with a shrug.

Linda shook her head at her Spartan sister. "It probably would've been wise to relay that information after, Samus, had been assessed by the onboard psychologist."

Chief realized that probably would've been a great idea. But unfortunately he did not believe it would've went over well since Samus was nearly terrified of interacting with strangers outside of Blue Team.

"Maybe we should start with a psych. See how much mental strength she has before putting her in a training program." Fred suggested earning shrugs from the female Spartans.

Stepping closer to his team John whispered. "There's no..." he stopped mid sentence as Samus clung to his inside leg. "There's no way, Samus will be willingly to speak with a psychologist."

"John, we've known the kid for one and a half days. Quit bubble wrapping her and try something. It's for her benefit." Kelly rolled her eyes behind her oversized visor.

"I hate to agree with Kelly, but the kid needs to be assessed by a professional. Maybe they can help downgrade her penalty..." Fred expressed his agreeable thoughts to his brother.

"Spartans, watch Samus. I will be back." Chief said as he pried Samus away from him before heading toward the bridge.

"How come we constantly babysit? Is it because he has to bunk with the kid?" Kelly complained as they led Samus down the hallway.

Samus stuck herself in between Linda and Fred, occasionally grabbing onto Fred or Linda when she became unsure of the people passing by them.

It was all so new and overwhelming for Samus. Her lack of socialization with humans had made her uncertain.

Master Chief entered the bridge making his way directly towards the Captain.

"Spartan 117, on deck sir." Sarah Palmer mentioned gesturing to the large Spartan standing behind them.

"Master Chief, what brings you to the bridge?" Captain Lasky turned around to face the Spartan.

"Captain Lasky, I came to inquire about the lineup for Samus's guardianship." Master Chief replied.

"Chief, after yesterday's incident, no one is suitable." The Captain sadly replied.

Sarah Palmer shook her head. "I don't trust that kid. We should drop her off on an astroid."

"That was initially the plan, Commander." Lasky emotionlessly replied walking over to the large table sitting in the middle of the bridge. With both Spartan's in tow. "But fortunately we got the UNSC to understand that Samus, is a target the Covenant is hunting for. Now to get them to recognize that the penalty is too high."

"The penalties were too high?! She killed someone, Tom!" Palmer scoffed in disbelief at the Captain.

"I know. There's a reason the Covenant are looking for her. And I have been able to get the UNSC to agree to let her go through vigorous training first. I hope to present Samus, as a highly desirable soldier." Lasky mentioned.

Master Chief was intrigued by the way the Captain thought. Clearly Lasky saw as much potential in the girl as he did. Although Chief wouldn't admit it aloud to the Captain.

"Captain, you can't be serious. Aran, is a loose cannon." Palmer protested the Captain's idea.

Captain Lasky gave the Commander a sharp glare. "Samus is young, strong, and inexperienced. She needs guidance. And the Spartans can provide that to model her into a nearly perfect soldier. She stays until further notice."

"Understood sir." Palmer reluctantly agreed before making her exit past the green Spartan.

Lasky turned to the Master Chief who locked his focus on him. "A lot of people share her opinions, Chief. The exile still remains. Be careful with the kid. You can't delay her strength, Chief. Whether you like it, or not. We're all in uncharted territory. You must train her."

Chapter 4 Part 2: Teens

---

As much as the intensive training came. The sooner the better for the UNSC. Master Chief took Captain Lasky's advice. Putting Samus through routine training. 3 years of Blue Team's training had passed by. There was a major language barrier for the first year and a half of the girl's training. Blue Team never thought to teach Samus to properly speak. As the girl grew, Samus began to pickup most of the lingo. John had found that Samus had physically matured in prowess. But seemed to mature at a much slower rate mentally.

Whatever the matter, Samus was strong. An impressive battle ready warrior. With her ongoing training, there was strong evidence that her ability to survive had skyrocketed. Putting her exile on the doorstep.

Blue team was beginning to think Chief was still stalling the exile he had yet to tell Samus about.

Samus shifted uneasy in her berth. Before waking up to see Chief was not in his berth. Quickly rolling over onto her side, she caught Chief staring outside his window. Sliding off her berth Samus quietly stood behind the large Spartan.

"What's out there, Chief?"

With a deep exhale John closed his eyes, resting his head on his chest plate. "A lot of different galaxies, and other life forms." Chief gave a short reply.

"I know that, Chief. I want to know what you think is out there?" Samus replied with a groan.

John turned to face the tall developing teen. "I answered you."

"No you gave me the short answer." Samus quirked an eyebrow.

"Not now, Samus. I'll answer you later." Chief sighed, walking past the teen.

Samus rolled her eyes activating her suit while following her mentor to the door.

John glanced over his shoulder to see the teen in tow. Calmly activating the door he was not surprised to be greeted by one of his teammates.

"Hi, Kelly!" Samus was of course the first to greet the female spartan.

"Hey kid." Kelly greeted, tipping her helmet in the Chief's direction. "Im just going to speak with John, okay?" She said pulling the Spartan leader off to the side.

"Sure thing, I'll go to the training arena." Samus shrugged making her way down the corridor.

Master Chief rarely let Samus wonder the Infinity by herself. Mainly because he feared the trouble the young teen could accidentally cause. "Stay awa..."

"Stay away from ODST's. I know, Chief." Samus pivoted to face the Master Chief, finishing his warning for him.

"I know you know, Samus. I want you to do..."

"Do as I say, don't just listen to the words, and ignore the order. I know I know." the blonde rolled her eyes.

"You don't have your combat visor activated. I can see you rolling your eyes." Chief quirked an eyebrow behind his visor.

"Sorry." Samus gave an annoyed sigh.

"If only I thought that was sincere." John exhaled.

"You have nothing to worry about, Chief. Im faster then them, they would have to catch me first." Samus teased continuing down the corridor.

"Stay away from them. That's an order!" Chief continued to warn the cocky teenager.

"Got it!" Samus gave a thumbs up as she passed by the rest of Blue Team.

As Fred and Linda joined them, Kelly couldn't help but chuckle at their leader's attempt at controlling the sarcastic teen.

"What do you need, Kelly?" Chief hissed at the brunette.

"Don't you just love teenager attitudes?" Kelly smirked behind her visor, her tone dripping in sarcasm. "That's the most emotion I've seen come from you in a while."

"You pulled me away from Samus, for what reason?" John turned to the sarcastic Spartan.

"I'm guessing you haven't asked him yet. Looks like we arrived just in time." Fred stopped next to Chief.

The irritation inside began to boil over in the Spartan leader. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh we are just going to take a wild guess and say that you've said nothing at all to Samus, about her soon to be exiled ass." Kelly sarcastically remarked to her leader.

"I will tell her." Chief replied emotionlessly.

"John, you've had 3 years to tell her. If you don't tell her someone else will." Kelly warned.

"Kelly, is right. You're stalling, and the situation could get ugly." Linda agreed with the other female Spartan.

"It's better she finds out from one of us, rather than suddenly getting exiled without warning" Fred warned his Spartan brother.

"I'll tell her today. Samus's exile was withheld until she completes her training." John sighed heavily, looking in the direction that Samus had left.

"John, you know Samus has excelled in her training with all of us since day one. It's up to you to give her the rest of the skills you have to offer her." Kelly smiled. "She's got the big test tomorrow. The UNSC had plenty of time to change their minds. But we haven't gotten any different responses from them."

John led the team down the corridor towards the arena. With no further words, a heavy fog of akward silence fell upon the Spartan team. Entering the stadium Chief stopped at a dead halt. His teammates didn't miss a step halting without contacting eachother. There was only but a single marine jogging around the track. No other being besides Blue Team was in the stadium.

"Where the hell is everyone? This place is usually full." Kelly scoffed in a confused tone.

Where is she? Was the only thought going through John's head.

"Where's the kid is more like it?" Fred mentioned while scanning the arena.

Kelly didn't hesitate to go after the single jogging marine. "Marine!" Kelly quickly sprinted up to the lone soldier.

"Yes ma'am!?" eyes wide the soldier quickly halted, turning his attention to the female spartan that was after him.

"Where the hell is everyone?" Kelly stopped directly infront of the marine.

"At the battle field arena watching the challenge ma'am." the soldier simply replied.

"What challenge?" a baritone voice growled from behind the soldier.

"A squad of ODST's challenged that kid." The soldier nervously replied to the Master Chief.

With out any further words the whole Spartan team vanished out the door.

"I knew it!" John pushed through the marines crowding the corridors. "She never listens to a single order!"

"It's called selective hearing, John. It's programmed in every teens brain!" Kelly sarcastically added.

At that Palmer came jogging down the hallway after them. "Spartans!"

"Commander!" Blue Team halted for Commander Palmer.

"You are to report to the bridge immediately." Palmer wasted no time, turning back from where she came from.

With no questions, Blue Team made their way towards the bridge. Even though mentally John was resisting the urge to go track Samus down.

"The Spartan kid kicked their asses!"

"Chief, sure trained her well."

The voices of many impressed soldiers echoed in the hall, as the Spartan team passed by them.

Locking his vision a few feet ahead, Chief recognized that Samus was also heading towards the bridge.

"Samus!" Chief practically tore through the marines to get to the teen.

Samus's heart skipped as her eyes went wide at the sound of that angered voice. "Chief! Hiiiii..." she gave a nervous smile beneath her visor.

"You deliberately disobeyed my orders." Chief grabbed Samus's hand, pulling her out of the crowd.

"No I listened to you. The ODST squad came to me!" Samus attempted to defended.

"You accepted their challenge. And fought them. You gave into their pressure." Master Chief shook his head. If the teen wanted to argue. She picked the wrong person to argue with.

"So what, I saw it as training. After all we used the simulation paint." Samus argued with a shrug.

"Wait, what?" Blue team halted off to the side.

"We used the paint on eachother. It was just capture the flag." the teen explained.

John caught a glimps of movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking towards the bridge he saw four ODST soldiers, exiting out of the bridge covered in paint.

"Well judging by the fact the ODST's look like a paint can fell on them. I bet you stole their flag and..!" Kelly excitedly praised the teen. Earning a glare from her leader. Clearing her throat, Kelly quickly rephrased her encouragement. "But uh, you still didn't listen..."

"Samus, I told you to stay away from them." Chief scolded the girl.

"But Chief, I can't avoid them entirely. They live on the ship. It was just a friendly battle after all." Samus reassured her mentor.

Before John could continue scolding their teen. Palmer stepped over to the team. "Spartans the Captain is waiting for all of you."

Blue Team reluctantly turned away from arguing with their teen. Making their way towards the bridge entrance.

Master Chief put both his hands on Samus's shoulders escorting her into the bridge.

Natrually Samus resisted the escort. Digging in her heels as she complained. "Chief, stop. I can walk myself!"

John ignored the complaining continuing his escort until they were all securely inside the bridge.

Blue Team saluted the Captain. With Chief still holding Samus in place as he saluted.

"Commander, would you escort this young lady outside the door for a moment?" Captain calmly commanded Palmer.

"Of course sir." Palmer obliged taking Samus off Chief's hands, escorting the teen back out the door.

After the door swished closed behind the two. Captain Lasky turned his focus to Chief. "Master Chief, the exile." He paused as Blue Team all held their breath.

Master Chief's stomach muscles tensed waiting for the words Is in effect. to echo through the bridge.

"Is pending."

The words confused the team greatly. Master Chief was more relieved than confused to hear the words.

"The penalty was too big for someone of her age. I managed to convince the council that It would have been a grave mistake to exile a child that the Covenant was clearly trying to make their new weapon." Captain Lasky explained to the Spartan 2's.

The team of Spartans could feel the relief radiating off their leader.

"Shall there be a future reason to put it into action. The UNSC will not hesitate to exile her." Lasky walked down the row of Spartans. "However, there has been recent activity with the Jul Mdama. And we would like your team to investigate." the Captain walked back to Chief. "Commander Palmer, will give you your mission briefing. Blue Team, you are dismissed."

Blue Team saluted, and exited the bridge as a synchronized squad.

"Master Chief?" Lasky caused the Spartan leader to pause before exiting. "Take Aran, with you. I think you could use the extra fire power. It's about time she see's the real battlefield."

Chief was reluctant to put Samus into the battlefield. "But sir, she's..."

"Been trained by the best. I know she has excelled exceptionally. Samus could be a possible new asset for Blue Team." Lasky reassured the concerned Spartan.

"Yes, sir." Master Chief exhaled, quietly following his Team out.

Samus uncomfortably stood with the Commanding Spartan 4. The white armoured Spartan without a helmet always gave her dirty unappealing glares. Like the ODST's, Commander Palmer, for some reason had a large distrust for her.

Though they had never really interacted with each other. Samus thought she'd try to appeal to the Commander's better nature by disengaging her armour. Although it would hinder her ability to fully understand everything the Commander would be saying to her. Samus was attempting to seem a bit more human, and less hostile looking.

"I'm Samus..."

"I know who you are." Palmer cut the young teenager's introduction short. "You've been an invasive creature aboard this ship for 3 years now."

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be..." Samus apologized even though she wasn't sure why the Commander seemed upset with her.

Palmer rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Look, I know you're the baby amongst this vessel of seasoned warriors. But your youth, and inexperience does not fool me. You're lethal. And you've proved it." Sarah Palmer scolded the young teenager who was attempting to socialize with her.

Samus narrowed her eyes at the rude Spartan Commander. "Okay... I tried being nice. Kelly, was right. You're a real bit..."

"Commander, we're here for briefing." Master Chief reported in as he approached the two with his team in tow.

Samus was thankful Blue Team showed up to stop her from going further with her insult towards the Commander. Engaging her armour so she could fully follow the coming conversation.

Palmer gave Samus one last disapproving glare before turning to the Spartan team. "Now that you're all here I can begin your briefing. Your mission is at 2400hrs. Be sure you are all sharp and ready. It is a stealth mission. You are to scout and gather as much information on Jul Mdama's next move, without engagging unless absolutely necessary."

"Understood Commander!" Blue Team replied in acknowledgement.

"Excellent the Pelican will be waiting for you." Palmer said before reentering the bridge.

"Chief. Kelly, Linda, and I, are going to train. Are you and the kid going to join us?" Fred asked as he began heading down the corridor with Linda, and Kelly.

Samus thought it was a great idea. Smiling through her visor, she gazed up at Chief waiting for his approval.

He looked down at the girl and replied. "Go. We will meet you later."

Samus quickly activated her combat visor. Her smile disappearing behind a wall of acid green. Quickly turning her attention in the opposite direction from her mentor.

Asking no questions Fred shrugged following the two other Spartan's down the corridor.

Samus held her breath. Preparing for more scolding. Wishing Chief wouldn't treat like a little child.

"Samus, I am not upset with you. Just disappointed at the fact you went out of your way to ignore what I said to to you." John began guiding Samus forward.

"Chief, running the track gets boring. It was something different, nobody got hurt. And we all had fun. Im not a little baby, I can handle myself." Samus scoffed striding past the Spartan.

"You never were..." John sighed grabbing hold of the teens shoulder plate. "Samus, if I can't trust you. I have no choice but to escort you everywhere."

"That's not fair, I did nothing wrong!" Samus complained. She felt like the black sheep of the UNSC. She wasn't allowed to go anywhere, or meet up with any other soldiers to do organized training sims, without Blue Team holding her hand.

"We have training to do. You are joining us on this mission." Chief ignored the protesting teens complaints.

"Finally!" Samus excitedly cheered. She was finally going to get the debut she's long awaited for.

The Spartan threw his arm up infront of the teen stopping her in her tracks. "This isn't a game, Samus. This is a serious, dangerous job!" John snapped.

"I know that, Chief. I've been waiting to go on a mission with you guys." the teen reassured that she understood. "That's why Ive been training so hard."

John exhaled. "I... You have been excelling with your training, yes." He continued down the corridor with the teenager.

Samus followed him in his footsteps as she smiled behind her visor. She was ecstatic to finally help her Spartan family out on the battlefield.

Entering the training arena Chief looked around. There were many soldiers training, in almost every corner of the facility. At the end of the field off in the far corner, was Fred, and Kelly, battling it out in the paint simulation.

Samus wasted no time walking over to the two. Leaving Chief at the enterance of the arena. "Alright there's Kelly, and Fre..." John stopped mid sentence when he turned back to where the teen last stood. Sighing he quickly caught up with the teen.

Samus gasped. "Chief, we should verse each other..."

"No." John knew where the teen was going with the question.

"Come on, Chief." Samus begged.

"I'm not going to verse you in a battle simulation. End of discussion." Chief sternly told the persistent girl.

Kelly came up behind Samus. Wrapping an arm around the teens shoulders. "Why not, John? I think that would be a great idea." Kelly smirked at her leader.

"See, Kelly agrees." Samus smiled up at Kelly.

"That's not helping your argument kid." Fred chuckled at Samus's argument.

"Please, Chief. You'll probably win." Samus pleaded.

Chief shook his head "No. End of discussion, Samus Aran." John was getting irritated.

Samus wasnt one to easily just quit. "One quick one. And I will never ask again."

John stood silently for a few moments. Samus stared at him with a glimmer of hope that he would challenge her. "Five minutes. And that's it." It couldn't hurt to just do a quick battle.

"Yes!" Samus practically squealed. Earning herself some odd looks from the nearby training soldiers.

Samus quickly leapt into the confined area for paint simulated battles.

Chief half rolled his eyes as he followed the eager teen.

"You sure this is a good idea, John?" Fred questioned walking beside the Chief.

"It's not live rounds. If Samus, is going to join us on the battlefield tonight. I want her to be prepared for anything." Chief replied, entering the small arena.

"So what are the rules, Chief? Fifteen kills to win, checkpoints, what do you want to do?" Samus shot a bullet of questions at the Spartan leader.

"Checkpoints. Whoever can collect the most flags, and arrive at the safe zone without getting shot three times, wins. More of a stealth game then shoot pointblank." John replied to Samus.

"Sounds fun, okay!" Samus happily agreed with the rules.

"Kelly, go ahead." Chief gave Kelly the okay to set the simulation.

Samus disengaged her arm cannon, due to the fact it was a paint battle. Keeping the rest of her suit on, she grabbed one of the paint pistols and loaded it with rounds.

Chief did the same with his pistol. Respectively placing himself at his starting point. While Samus did the same and waited for the signal to go.

A buzzer sounded and Chief immediately went for the first flag in sight. While Samus immediately started firing at him. Dodging the fire evasively, Chief lept for the flag.

Samus acted quickly and shot the Spartan's reaching hand. Her next shot shooting the flag to the ground a couple feet away from the Chief.

John returned fire hitting the teen in the shoulder before she could leap out of the way. Both being shot once they had two more hits before the battle ended.

Grabbing a flag on the way across the arena, Samus quickly planted herself behind a small pillar. Master Chief was already well ahead of her in the flag count, and she knew it. Watching his travel pattern, Samus stalked Chief in the shadows.

Grabbing his sixth flag Chief was getting ahead of himself. Samus hadn't made an advance on him in some time. Slowing his pace he knew something was up.

Samus was hanging from the mid section of a pillar to the right of the Spartan. She fired directly infront of the Spartan. Leaping off the pillar she landed behind the Chief.

Master Chief quickly turned in the direction the fire had come from. Scaning the arena with his eyes he saw nothing. Moving forward with cation, his firearm up and ready for to fire.

Running across the arena from behind. Samus fired again this time getting a direct hit on Chief's back.

Chief quickly recolected himself after the hit. Following Samus, noticing she had only one flag. He had two choices. Take Samus out, or run to the checkpoint and win. He had already been hit twice. Samus was only hit once. It was a dificult decission. But a plan quickly formulated. Pursuing after the teen, he opened fire on her.

Samus did her best to evade, summersaulting, and leaping back several times.

Chief timed her leaps firing his pistol he caught her unexpectedly. Hitting her ankle causing the teen to stumble. The amount of hits was now even. The stumble was enough for Chief to make his break for the check point.

Samus caught sight of Chief making an escape out of the corner of her visor. Correcting her balance she chased after the Spartan, catching up incredibly fast.

Master Chief was a foot away from the checkpoint, when all of a sudden he hit the ground hard. Samus had tackled him voilently.

The buzzer sounded, signalling that the round was over.

"Nice move kid. But perhaps it wasnt the smartest." Fred approached the two, with Kelly in tow.

"You tackled John, straight into victory. Thats where that saying think before you act comes in." Kelly teased the teen.

Samus scanned her surroundings and saw that Chief and herself were both in the checkpoint territory. Unfortunetly since she only had one flag Chief automatically gained the title of victor.

Samus cursed under her breath. "Damn I should have shot you instead."

"As long as you learn from your mistakes. You will excell further in your combat skills." John picked himself up off the floor.

"Well it was fun. But I want to correct that mistake." Samus said as she regenerated her arm cannon.

"Samus, I believe you have some unique techniques. That will be extremely helpful in the real battlefield." Chief was doing his best to prevent himself and Samus from saying the next time will be better.

"So a rematch is soon to come? As I want to correct that mistake." Samus grinned through her visor.

"We'll see." Chief sighed reluctantly.

"That was so epic. You were all like I'm going to get these flags. And I was like oh no you wont!" Samus's youthfulness was still strong in her young heart. As she bounced around, reenacting the moves Chief did in the battle.

Smiling behind his visor, Chief snuck away from his team. The Spartan leader exhaled deeply, activating the exit door. Entering into the empty corridor, for the moment it was quiet. Soothing in Chief's opinion, no rush, or crowd. Striding down the corridor a cloud of proudness filled his head. He was proud of the succes his foundling was creating.

With that thought in his mind. A smaller sized hand grabed hold of his right hand and held on softly. Gazing over his shoulder he met the teen's bright turquoise eyes staring up at him.

Samus smiled warmly up at the lone Spartan. Chief returned the smile behind his golden visor. Gently tightening his hold on the teen's hand, knowing Samus could read his hidden expressions.

Samus being the unpredictable teen she was. Began to skip, and dance, as if playing a song in her head. Tugging on Chief's hand as she did so. John stepped up his stride to keep up with the teen's oddly paced tempo.

John thought it was ironic, as a couple of years ago it was Samus who had to lengthen her stride to keep up. Samus's actions were odd, and playful. The actions were something Chief would never dream of doing. For a coming teen John thought the actions were a little strange for her age. But he didn't bother to mention his opinion. Wondering if it was her alien DNA that delayed her maturity. Perhaps the Chozo aged differently.

"John, can you come here for a minute." Linda waved her leader over to the team.

Surprised the whole team was now in a different area, when he saw them all moments ago in the training grounds. "I'll be just one moment, Samus. Go to the shooting range, Linda, or myself will join you in a few minutes." John advised the teen, as he approached the door his team went through.

"Okay, Chief." Samus quickly reactivated her armour before heading off, eager to get some target practice in.

"John, we have an issue." Kelly immediately spat as soon as Chief set foot in the room.

"Kelly, I've heard your issues and concerns." The green Spartan retorted.

"It's something new, John." Fred stepped in before a fight boiled over.

Chief went silent preparing for the news.

"Happy go lucky ODST psycho knows about the hold on the kid's exile." Kelly explained to Master Chief.

"One of her teammates must have been working in the bridge when we got the news." Linda gave her theory.

"How do you know they know?" Chief replied with concerned.

"She was kind enough to bring her ranting ass into the training sims." Kelly snorted folding her arms.

"We have to keep them away from, Samus. They will do anything to mentally throw her off." Chief said firmly.

"And worse, they will try their hardest to put that pending exile into action." Kelly added.

Upon entering the target range Samus scanned around the enviroment, not watching where she was going she bumped into a table of rifles. Knocking almost every single weapon off. "Aw crap!" immediately kneeling down to gather the dropped weapons.

"On hold!? How stupid is that!?"

Samus recognized the voice instantly, narrowing it down to the female ODST pilot. The leader of the miserable squad of ODST soldiers.

"How the fuck is that stupid brat's exile on hold!? She killed a soldier, let alone one of our teammates! And yet Lasky's soft fucking heart, is wrapped around that kid's finger." The female leader continued to voice her rage, while Samus stayed hidden under the table.

"No kidding, just like Master Chief. Man he's turned into a completely differen't Spartan. He's gotten weak since he brought back that kid." One of the male ODST's scoffed in agreement.

"Whatever, Blue team has an upcoming mission, and the brat is going with them. Watch the kid just total the whole mission." the team of ODST's left on those last words. Their cackles and remarks echoing through the empty corridors.

"Exile? I was supossed to be exiled?" Samus muttered. "Why didn't Chief, tell me!?"

"Samus, it's getting close to the mission time. Come back now, we are prepping." Chief's voice came over her comlink.

Aboard the Pelican the Spartan team sat quietly, loading their weapons. While Chief stood in the cockpit with the pilot. Samus stood in the door watching the clouds through the cockpit windows.

"He only stays there for a brief moment kid. He'll come back and give us orders soon enough." Kelly mentioned, while loading her shotgun.

"What planet are we landing on?" Samus continued to stand in the doorway.

"Unknown planet." Linda replied cleaning her sniper rifle.

"Oh..." Samus exhaled, finally leaving the doorframe walking to the seats that were closet to the hatch.

Moments later Chief entered. Content that his team was prepping for the mission. His eyes caught sight of the orange armoured form, sitting nervously by the hatch. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Samus replied, she had her mind occupied. Thinking about the team of ODST's, and what they had said. What if she did screw up the mission? What if she gets one of the Spartans killed? Would she bomb the whole mission? And what about the exile that was lingering over her?

"This is a relatively easy mission. We are on a reconnaissance mission. Collecting data, and safely exiting. We are not to engage enemy forces unless necessary." Chief explained to the teen, interrupting her thoughts.

"What is the enemy exactly?" Samus questioned, unsure of weather the aliens that invaded Zebes, were the ones they were going to go hunt?

"Covenant Remnants. The same aliens that attacked your planet."

With those words being said by the Chief, Kelly immediately perked up as if she was in shock.

John was about to attempt another reassuring quote to the now deeply saddened teen. The Spartan leader had no time to react as he felt gravity pulling him away from the conversation.

Kelly pulled her leader away from the teen momentarily. Receiving odd glances from the her teammates. "Uh Chief, wasn't the Covenant looking for her. You know, to use as a weapon against us?" Kelly gestured to the teen.

Glancing back at Samus, Chief turned back to his concerned team member. "Kelly, we have had her for three years now. I think the Covenant has moved onto bigger things." Chief responded with a sigh.

"What if she is a side project for them? A possible asset to help with their conquest?" Kelly argued.

"Kelly, we have a mission objective, no need to be adding any more stress to this situation." Fred responded to Kelly's wondering theories. "Plus the kid is trained enough that she will do anything to stick around us. She's not switching sides anytime soon."

After dropping into a heavily wooded area, the team moved swiftly away from the landing site.

Samus was quick to follow. Keeping up didn't seem to be a problem for her. Though Linda did mutter a few times that her bright orange armour was a potential give away for their positions.

"Linda, any leads on where the most valuable info might be?" Chief crouched behind a small cliff overhang.

"My guess would be that carrier over there. But there's no boarding that without being detected." Linda replied, looking through the scope of her sniper rifle.

"There has to be a differen't entry point. We couldn't possibly board, unless it throws it's gravity lift out." Chief shook his head.

Samus easily lost interest in the mission, getting bored of the planning. She took it upon herself to do some investigating. Moving as quietly and as invisible as possible, she quickly found a Covenant base camp.

"There should be a base camp around somewhere. That should have the information we're looking for." Fred sighed, scanning around them to make sure they were not being stalked by Elites. As he scanned around them his heart skipped a beat when he noticed their brightly armoured teen was missing. "John..."

Chief instantly clutched his assult rifle at the sound of Fred's uneasy tone. "What is it?"

"The kid is missing." Fred told his leader with much concern in his tone.

For once John's heart sank with fear. Their cover was about to be blown, and the mission was going to be a bust. Worst of all Samus was going to get injured or killed running into the wrong Covenant member. Which was any Sangheili in any term.

As if on cue alien shouts were heard along with gunfire, and explosions.

"Weapons free! Kelly, call the pelican! Blue Team let's clear an LZ!" Chief immediately started barking orders as they came under fire.

"Dammit. We need evac ASAP!" Kelly cursed as she called for the Pelican.

"Kelly, Fred, clear a path. We need to locate, Samus." John ordered as he tore through a pack of Jackals.

Taking out any alien bastard that got in their way. Blue Team was succesful in finding their way to the base camp. When they arrived most of the Covenant aliens were dead, except for maybe a couple stray Grunts. Chief stepped carefully around the dead bodies on the ground, scanning for any movement or sign of the missing teen.

At that a Sangheili body began to move. Chief quickly pointed his rifle at it and waited cautiously. As it moved more recklessly it flopped over to one side revealing a brightly armoured teen emerging from under the body. "Fat ass landed on me after I shot him when he charged me." Samus scoffed brushing herself off.

Grabbing the teen's arm John was furious "Samus, you could have been killed! You listen, and obey, my direct orders! Do you understand me?!"

"Y-yes!" Samus winced at the painful angry grip on her arm. Wriggling in pain she didn't dare try to get loose.

Fred caught glimps of the pained body language from the teen. "John, you're hurting her."

Chief released Samus immediately. His emotions got the better of him, he usually didn't allow his frustration to show itself.

"If you two are done parenting, we have hostiles on approach. Our ride is inbound." Kelly reported to her team.

"The facility has been destroyed. There's nothing to salvage." Linda reported as she came back from investigating the camp.

"Get on the Pelican, there's nothing here for us." Chief said in a clearly irritated tone.

Fred and Kelly opened fire on the incoming Covenant forces, covering for their teammates as they boarded the Pelican that came in hot. Before boarding themselves.

Leaving the now hostile landing zone the Pelican reached the stratosphere with ease. The whole ride to the Infinity was silent, the tension inside the Pelican could have been cut with a knife.

Once docked back on the Infinity, Blue Team reported to the birdge for debriefing. Where the tension had followed and increased.

"The mission was a failure. We got no valuable info. The Covenant's base of operations was destroyed. We were not able to salvage one piece data." Master Chief reported to the Captain and Commander.

"The hardware that had all the data was quickly destroyed before we could gain access." Fred added.

"Our cover was blown, so they destroyed any evidence that would've allowed us to gain access to any of their future attacks." Kelly sighed, hanging her head lowly.

"What are you guys talking about? I gathered all the information needed before destroying the computer." Samus finally spoke up.

"You gathered Covenant information?" Captain Lasky questioned on approach.

Samus felt her body panick as the high officer approached her. "Yes sir, I will transfer all the Covenmant data to you now."

"Covenant." Linda corrected the girl.

"Cov-a-nant..." Samus pronounced correctly.

Samus transferred the data, within seconds Lasky recieved all the collected information on his data pad.

"Very good, we'll take the time to review this. Well done. Blue Team you're dismissed." Captain Lasky thanked the Spartan team for their efforts before dismissing them.

Blue Team saluted respectfully, before exiting out of the bridge.

Before Chief could fully exit the bridge the Commander had halted him once more.

"Master Chief, do not let this reckless situation happen again. The threat of the UNSC decommissioning your squad is at bay." Palmer warned the Spartan leader.

Commander Palmer wasn't giving empty threats. The possibility was mentioned by Lord Hood, some time ago. The team of Spartan 2s had been on duty for decades. And their retirement was to be forced upon them at some point.

The next weeks brought more missions, and more frustration to the Master Chief. As Blue Team was forced to bring Samus along on their every excursion. Samus's inexperience, eagerness, and insubordination was beginning to wear thin on the Spartan leader.

Samus felt trapped being under command. Her instincts and natural abilities were being muted by the Spartans military routines. She hated having to take orders. But that didn't stop her from ignoring some of the orders given.

Samus's constant arguing and refusal to take orders was driving John insane. And the rest of Blue Team was also starting to suffer from the teen's tiring effects. They were fed up with the high disregard from the young girl.

"Samus!" John tackled the teen out of the way of an oncoming plasma grenades. Pushing himself off the ground Chief did not find the teen under him.

Samus had successfully rolled herself out of the way, dodging the grenade in her contorted morph ball.

"John, she's is jeopardizing the mission. Again!" Kelly shouted arcoss the field of fire.

"Understood!" Chief sighed deeply, turning to his Spartan brother. "Fred, neutralize Samus. Keep her out of the way!" John ordered.

"On it!" Fred acknowledged quickly capturing the sprinting alien hybrid. Yanking the insubordinate teen into cover, causing Samus to fall backwards onto the floor.

"Hey!" Samus hissed in protest as one of Fred's large boots stepped on her chest keeping her pinned down.

Fred peeked around the wall continuing to provide cover fire for the team. "I have orders to keep you secured." Fred ignored the teen's whining.

"I'm not hurt!" Samus began batting the armoured foot with her cannon.

"I didn't say you were. Those are my orders. I obey them when given." The Spartan sternly replied, shooting down a cluster of Grunts and Jackals.

Samus saw where this was going and began to get annoyed. "I follow orders!"

"Not to there full extent you don't." The steel blue Spartan replied, lowering his weapon. He sternly glared at the argumentative girl. "I don't wish to discourage, or be hateful in any way, shape, or form. But your constant attitude towards resisting authority is causing the team fail. You are constantly putting the mission at risk. Not only that, you are constantly putting our lives at risk. And with the stress you put on John, your commanding officer, and leader. He will be killed trying to keep you out of harms way." Fred gave the teen a dose of reality.

The speech pierced through Samus like an energy sword. "I'm just trying to prove I can do more then what you ask of me! I hate having to be recon all the time, while the team gets all the action!"

"Kid, the only reason we put you on recon is because we know you're not mentally ready for the real task at hand" Fred lifted his weapon shooting down two Jackals.

"How do you know that if you never give me a chance?!" Samus continued to argue to no avail.

Samus had enough of the criticism, transforming into her morph ball she easily escaped Fred. Only to be met by another foot halting her escape.

"Dammit!" Fred cursed jumping out of cover to catch the escaping teen. He stopped on a dime recognizing that giving chase was not needed. Samus was an immobilized ball under Master Chief's foot.

"The mission is a complete success. Kelly, request the Pelican for pickup." John announced.

"A complete success. Haven't heard that in a while." Kelly retorted before doing as she was told.

Samus transformed but was met with same foot holding her down by her chest. She sighed laying under the hold in defeat.

John released the teen from under his foot. "Get up." He commanded with zero emotion.

That stern tone coming from the Spartan leader had anger hidden deep within. Samus quickly picked herself up, waiting for the scolding to begin. But it never came. Chief had finally given up on yelling at her.

"Pelican inbound." Linda announced, as she saw the shine of the cockpit through the clouds while looking through the scope of her rifle.

"Sweep the area. Make sure nothing is alive." Chief ordered the whole team.

As Samus swept the area, a flicker next to an Elite's body caught her attention. She scanned the ornamentally armoured Sangheili as she crouched down to the body. The Elite was high ranking, surely important enough to carry some type of important object or info.

The Elite opened it's eye ever so slightly, watching the teen investigate his badly injured form.

Catching the flicker of a hologram next to the hilt of the Sangheili's sword. Samus reached out grabbing the small clam like device off the Sangheili's hip.

At that action the Elite, with what strength he had left. Forcefully grasped Samus's hand. Causing the device to activate. A hologram appeared but Samus had no time to look as she struggled under the vice grip grasp.

The rest of Blue Team gathered back around their leader. "The area is clear, John. No signs of life anywhere." Fred reported.

Samus let out a starled yelp that instantly caught the Spartan team's attention. Chief immediately sprinted in the direction the cry came from, his team hot on his trail.

The Sangheili sat up pulling the teen closer to his body. His free hand reaching for his sword. Samus continued to pull away as she charged her power beam. The Sangheili warrior caught sight of the glowing cannon, swinging his sword at the weapon. With a sharp blast ringing through the air the Sangheili's grip released and Samus. Causing her to fall onto her backside.

With a sigh of relief Samus gazed down at the open device in front of her, her gaze met by a horrid hologram. In a panic she crawled backwards away from the hologram. Her heart pounding as if it were about to burst out of her chest. Becoming numb as she stared to hyperventilate.

The team of Spartans rounded the corner. Chief was the first to Samus's side, putting a concerned hand on her shoulder.

"Samus, are you hurt?" Chief gave the teen a small shake. "Samus?" John scanned the petrified girl. Staring into her fearful turquoise eyes through her visor. Chief looked up at his team for an answer, but they seemed to be focused elsewhere. Following his team's gaze he located the hologram.

"What the hell is that?" Kelly questioned, gesturing to the hologram projecting on the ground.

Chief stared in confusion at the strange dragon like creature the hologram was projecting.