Author's Note: Well hello! If you're a viewer who's read my other stories. You know I've started making a habit of not finishing previous ones and starting willy nilly on new ones. Do I plan on ever changing that? No, not at all. I do what I do because interests shift and fun is subjective. Anyways, here's the opening chapter for "Noble Intent."
P.S. Any major questions will be answered up here in the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or ROTSH as they belong to their respective owners.
"Quotes."
"Reading and/or Thoughts"
Radio Messages (Chapter Only)
Emphasis/Emphasis
New Alexandria, Espoz, Reach
August 23, 2552, 1925 Hours
Catherine - B320, colloquially known by her team as 'Kat', or Noble Two, sat on the reinforced chair reading the beginning of a book she had picked up from the ONI tower library while monitoring the movements of UNSC personnel as they retreated from the city following the completion of each of their objectives. Beside her stood a very familiar calm, cool, collected, and hardened individual wearing an armor similar to that of hers, watching outside the window at the dark and rainy skyline above the megacity.
Kat smirked. "You know, she's not gonna get done faster the longer you stand there and wait". She remarked to Carter.
"Oh yeah? And what're you doing? Reading something while on the job? That's quite unprofessional, even for you, Kat." Carter shot back, the hint of a smile forming on his hardened face.
Setting the book down, Kat leaned forward, making the chair groan as its legs held on for dear life. "You know it's something I do to not think about everyone we've lost. First Tom, now Jorge? How many more are we going to lose in a war that we know we can't win? It makes me think we've already lost sometimes." Kat said, glancing her eyes down at the screen monitoring UNSC activity.
"You know it's not like that Kat. We all have a job to do. Jorge gave his life thinking he saved the planet, and even though it didn't stop the invasion, he gave us the breathing room we needed to evacuate whoever's left. We should all hope to be so lucky." Carter replied, placing a hand on his subordinate's shoulder and staring her in the eye.
Kat nodded and took a deep breath. "Just what I needed to hear, Commander."
"What were you reading?" Carter inquired, tilting his head to get a better look at the book in her hands.
Kat glanced momentarily in his direction. "Just some fantasy book about some heroes that isn't even complete. It only gets about a third of the way through before showing up blank pages for this shield hero. I guess whoever wrote it didn't have time to finish it."
"Hmph. Imagine where we'd all be if this war never happened." Carter thought out loud.
Just as Kat opened her mouth to respond, a ping popped up on the dashboard of her monitor. "Right on time." She thought. "Noble Six, great work out there. Noble Actual, this is Noble Two, all jammers destroyed, awaiting orders."
"Understood Noble Two. Begin evacuation of the ONI HQ, we're pulling out of this city. Say confirmed." Colonel Holland responded over the comms.
"Confirmed, ONI tower evacuation —"
Boom!
Debris from the ceiling began raining down in clumps as a plasma torpedo from a banshee slammed into the side of the ONI building.
"Noble Actual, this Noble Two, I have Covenant hitting the ONI tower in force! They must have zeroed in on my signal. Noble Six, I'm receiving word of incoming phantoms stationing shade turrets on surrounding rooftops, take them out so we can proceed with evacuation." Kat sent word out to Six, their newest member of Noble Team.
Carter firmly placed a hand on Kat's shoulder. "You stay here and monitor the evacuation. I'll link up with Emile and Jun to make sure none of the Covenant make their way here."
Kat nodded. "Understood Commander." She replied, putting her helmet on and bracing as another plasma torpedo slammed into the side of the building.
The five remaining members of Noble Team lounged around waiting for Kat to fix up a radio transmitter. She drowned out the noise of her team, no, her family, as she tinkered and dug to salvage whatever she could of the transmitter.
"Sir, that true about Gauntlet, Red, and Echo teams being assigned to civilian EVAC ops?" Jun, Noble Three, asked Carter.
Carter turned, his face filled with annoyance. "Those are senior level communique's…"
"I hear what I hear." Kat shrugged. "Problem is, why put Spartans on defensive deployments?" Kat questioned, her hopes about the war slowly dwindling.
"I need that link to SATCOM, Kat." Carter hurried her, the authority in his voice shutting Kat's retort down.
"Chasing it, but this console's got more shrapnel in it than transceivers. You didn't answer my question." Kat asked, pausing to look at Carter with a raised brow.
"You want to know if we're losing?" Carter asked with a modicum of sarcasm.
"I know we're losing. I want to know if we've lost." Kat shot back, her voice filled with that dwindling hope. She sat in an awkward silence before the transmitter activated, to everyone's surprise. "Colonel Holland, hailing us! What's he doing on an open channel?" She asked as she isolated Holland's signal, handing the receiver to Carter.
"How long for a secure link?" Carter asked his technician.
"I can't guarantee secure anymore." Kat replied.
"Could the Covenant trace it to us?" Carter asked, concerned.
"I could." Kat responded sarcastically. "Keep it brief." She said, handing the receiver to Carter.
It was barely a few moments later when Jun warned them about Covenant forces retreating from the area, opening up concerns amongst the rest of the team while Kat was alerted to the radioactive signal.
"Radiation flare! Big! Forty million rout-gens!" Kat alerted the rest of the team.
"I just lost Holland, what's going on?" Carter asked.
"Atomic excitement scrambled the signal. Ninety million now!" She said with widened eyes, her senses flaring to higher alert.
"Source?" Carter asked.
"Airborne. Close."
"How close?"
"THAT CLOSE!" Kat yelled as she dove to the floor as a Covenant glassing beam ripped through the sky above the ONI building. Getting up, she and the rest of Noble Team ran for a pair of elevators that sat waiting to be used.
"First glassing? Me too." Kat asked Six, who stared at her silently in response. "Don't worry, I'm on it. Our best bet is a nuclear fallout shelter on sublevel two, ninety-six meters northeast. We get orders from Holland, sir?"
"We're being redeployed to Sword base." Carter responded in his typically calm and collected tone.
"Sword?! Covenant own it now." Jun tried protesting.
"Which is why they want us for a torch and burn op. Keep Dr. Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands." Carter informed his team.
"If it hasn't already." Kat remarked.
"Maybe, but according to Holland, the Covenant are still hunting for something." Carter responded.
"Where does he get off calling a demolition op priority one —" Pssshh.
Kat's vision suddenly went dark as her lifeless body crumbled into Noble Six's arms. A strange cold filled her body as the world around her went dark in a flash. Her mind lay frozen for a moment as it attempted to process what was unprocessable, her focus going hazy as a void filled her vision, the sounds of gunfire echoing somewhere off in the distance. She tried to run towards it but felt her feet felt heavy, sluggish even, as if they were held down by a force greater than anything known to man. As the sounds of gunfire began to run quiet, a sharp and immense pain surged through her head. Grasping it, she screamed in agony as drops of blood trickled down her face. "Is this what death feels like?" Kat thought to herself, realizing what must've happened.
Her body felt weak, her limbs aching as she tried to move in the void. Her legs were the first to give out, bringing her to her hands and knees in an attempt to crawl away from this intense gravitational force. It wasn't but a few moments later that she felt herself rapidly plummeting. Trying to orient herself, she couldn't make out what was up or down in this dark void of nothingness. Then, all of her feelings of cold, pain, and falling abruptly ceased as she found herself laying on her back on a hard stone floor.
The room was dark, barely lit up by a series of candles lining the wall. Air filled her lungs as she took a sharp breath, coughing heavily as she recovered from the fall. Once she steadied herself, she activated the lights mounted on her helmet. Sitting up, she glanced around and noticed that she was in a small, circular room surrounded by multiple unknown robed figures and three other semi - distinguishable men beside her.
Upon seeing the heavily armored Spartan, the robed figures began speaking in hushed tones, though Kat was easily able to make out their conversations of awe, wonder, and even confusion and worry. That was until the tallest of the three men spoke up.
"Holy shit, who're you? Where am I? Hey, what's going on!" He shouted, his attention going from her to the group of robed figures. After a split second, Kat noticed the incredibly ornate weapon, not too discernible from a spear, the man was holding on to. Glancing at the other two, she noticed they each had a weapon of their own, one with a similarly ornate metallic bow and the other a sword. The scientific part of her mind began questioning what exactly was going on, while the more emotional half cried out in anguish about what had just happened with Noble Team. Pushing that part of her mind away so as to focus on the here and now, it only took another few seconds before she picked herself up, taking note of the small metallic shield attached to her left forearm and giving it a puzzled look.
"What the hell just happened? Where am I? What's with all the medieval getup?" Kat thought to herself, cocking her head in confusion as she stood to her full height of six foot nine. She noticed the group of robed individuals take a step back clearly intimidated by her sheer size.
It was then that one of them stepped forward to address the group. "O' great Cardinal Heroes! We beg of you, please, save our world from destruction!" He exclaimed, getting on his knees with his head bowed, raising his interlocked hands to the group of four as if praying to them.
There was a moment of silence as Kat registered what the man had just said. Cardinal Heroes? She recognized that phrase from somewhere. It couldn't be the book she had been reading not but an hour ago, could it? No, it certainly was. Did that explain where she was now? She needed more information, especially on how she got here.
"What do you mean? Where are we?" The blonde man with the bow asked, his voice a little high pitched.
The man who stepped forward responded, keeping his face obscured beneath his hood. "There are many things that will take some time to explain. To quickly put into perspective, you are the four Cardinal Heroes, summoned by an ancient ritual due to our world being on the brink of destruction."
"Oh yeah? And why should we help?" The supposed spear hero asked, his sudden and harsh response getting the attention of everyone in the room. "You brought us here without our consent. If you send us home, then we can talk about your situation."
The blonde bow hero backed him up. "I agree. Besides, if you guys send us back home after peace has been restored, then we would've done all that work for nothing."
"Hang on, before we make any rash judgements, let's figure out a few things first. Who knows, they might just have a good explanation." Kat reasoned to her fellow heroes, all of whom seemed surprised to see her speak, though none more so than the tall blonde.
"Thank you O' holy Shield Hero. Please, allow us to give you an audience with the King of Melromarc. Any questions and demands you may have would be best suited for his highness." The robed individual bowed before turning and heading towards a set of spiral stairs.
Taking the lead of the four heroes, Kat followed the group of robed figures while her three compatriots followed behind. As she passed by an open window, she paused and took a moment to observe the scenery outside. Much of it looked like that of a medieval city she read about in her studies of warfare classes.
Looking back at her fellow heroes, she saw their eyes glued to her as if in a trance. Kat just swiftly turned away and shrugged it off. Civilians, and by extension various members of the military, were always filled with awe and curiosity when they saw a Spartan. However, this 'King of Melromarc' had quite the explaining to do as her mind filled with a million questions and theories about the "summoning" that had brought her here. As the reality of the situation continued to dawn on her, her expression fell as a frown etched itself on her face, her eyes glancing down in sorrow as she muttered a barely audible, gloomy apology to her team, especially Carter and Six.
Passing through a luxurious garden and grand plaza, the four Cardinal Heroes soon found themselves standing in a large throne room where two thrones sat side - by - side. One of the thrones was occupied by a man, presumably the king, adorned in an ostentatious purple and gold robe with a similarly gold crown fixed with purple jewels sitting atop his head. The other throne present remained unoccupied, most likely meant to be filled by the Queen. A rather large portrait hung over the king's head, that of what appeared to be the royal family consisting of himself, the queen, and two younger women, presumably the princesses, something Kat took note of.
Upon noticing the two daughters, a spark of memory ignited in her mind as she recalled the short bits of information the book provided before going blank. "Right, the princess is going to betray the heroes, but which one?" Kat thought with a newfound curiosity at the new dilemma. Keeping that information in mind, she understood that she would have to tread lightly from here on out, or at least until she knew the extent of the betrayal at hand.
The king, who had remained silent thus far, quietly observed each of these figures brought before him. Once his gaze passed over Kat, he paused as his eyes widened in shock and disbelief over this hulking armored… thing standing in place as the Shield Hero. He furrowed his brow in anger, dissatisfied that his plan might not work on an individual like this. No matter, he would see them humiliated.
Standing from his throne, he announced himself with a booming voice. "So, you four are the Cardinal Heroes of legend? I am Aultcrey Melromarc the Thirty Second, king of the country of Melromarc." He exclaimed.
"Why, aren't you dramatic?" Kat sarcastically thought, rolling her eyes. She was quickly snapped out of it when the king suddenly spoke with a loud and assertive tone.
"Heroes, name yourselves!" He exclaimed, raising his arm in a motion to give them the floor to speak.
The tall blonde man wielding the spear was the first to step up. "My name is Motoyasu Kitamura, 21 years old, college student." His demeanor seemed overly confident, perhaps even bordering on arrogant.
His shorter blonde bow wielding counterpart was next in line. "I suppose I'm up next. I'm Itsuki Kawasumi, 17 years old, high school student." He said with a respectful bow.
The black haired sword hero took a step forward. "Ren Amaki, 16 years old, high school student." His voice remained neutral, almost apathetic in its tone. Kat smirked. It reminded her of Six in a way… almost.
Just as Kat was about to take a step forward, she saw a split second glare of disdain directed towards her. Judging from his earlier body language, she could now tell something was certainly amiss though kept it to herself for the time being. For now, she would need to play her cards carefully whilst she was here. There would always be more opportunities to investigate later.
The king took a breath as if he were about to speak and completely disregard Kat's presence. Being much faster however, she beat him to the punch as she took a step forward and, with an almost mocking tone, addressed herself. "Lieutenant Commander Sierra - B320. However, you may just call me Kat." As she stepped back into line, she could've swore she saw the king frown with a hint of disgust upon hearing her introduction.
While the others stared at Kat, clearly surprised by her introduction, the king cleared his throat, gaining their attention once more. "Now then. Motoyasu, Itsuki, Ren, and Kat, I suppose I must explain why we have summoned you to this world. Our country, Melromarc, and the world around us is falling down a path of darkness and ruin. Ancient prophecies told of a time of great chaos that would come to plague us every few centuries known as The Waves of Calamity. Creatures from worlds beyond our own are unleashed and wreak havoc on our land and people. My kingdom has already experienced the first of these many waves, a first that we had barely managed to repel. Once it was over, we realized that unless we summoned the Cardinal Heroes of old, we would all surely meet our doom come the second wave. My court is prepared to provide any necessary resources to aid in your endeavor, though any skills you may need will be left up to you to learn." Aultcrey explained, keeping the details brief, yet important, internally cursing whatever forces brought him a female shield hero.
Kat stood still as a board while the others had a myriad of emotions coursing through them. She split her attention between listening to the king and managing her expectations for what the waves may hold in store for her. Until she saw firsthand the power of these waves, she'd ensure they were treated as a threat on par with the Covenant.
"Okay, I think we get the gist of it now." Ren said, brandishing his sword. "Anyway, you didn't think you could bring us here and save you for free, right?" He asked, his apathetic and neutral look shooting towards the king.
One of Aultcrey's advisors stepped forward. "Of course not. Once you've successfully repelled all of the following waves, I can assure you that you'll be rewarded handsomely for your efforts." The man responded to the sword hero with a respectful bow.
"Good. So long as you don't go back on your word then, we'll work with you. And don't think for a moment that you'll be able to tame us." Ren threatened the king and his court.
"Agreed. We won't put up with you looking down on or attempting to use us." Ituski threw in, showing his assertive nature.
"It seems we have no choice but to take you at your word. If those demands can be agreed upon then I suppose it would be nice working with you." Motoyasu smirked, clearly taking advantage of his once - in - a - lifetime position.
"Ugh, you three could certainly benefit from some of Mendez's discipline." Kat thought sarcastically, her posture barely moving an inch as she listened to these three already make demands..
The king addressed the group again. "I presume we've reached an agreement then?" He paused for a moment, waiting to see if there were any objections. Hearing none, he continued. "Moving on. Heroes, please check your status'."
"Our what now?" Kat inquired, her head slightly cocked to the side.
Ren audibly sighed at her question. "Really? It should have been one of the first things you noticed after getting here. See the icon in the bottom right of your vision? Focus your attention on it."
Begrudgingly doing as instructed, Kat saw a small circular icon in the bottom right of her vision. Focusing on it, she swore the icon moved with her eyes rather than her HUD and, after a moment, a menu popped up.
Catherine - B320
Age: 22
Level: 1
Weapon: Legendary Shield (Locked)
Otherworldly Clothes and Armor
ATK: 307
MAG: 112
DEF: 721
MDEF: 536
AGI: 652
"Tangible statistics? Hm, this world is certainly very different. Mine are quite high, most likely influenced by my Mjolnir. I wonder if the others have similarly comparable stats." Kat thought, analyzing and reading over each stat description. "Hmmm… magic? Does that mean like fire, water, and lightning? That could be very interesting. Too bad my stat on that is quite low in comparison. Hopefully someone can show me how the laws of this place work, maybe even upgrade it?"
"We're only level one? That's really disconcerting, isn't it?" Itsuki suddenly asked, his eyes darting between the others looking for a response.
"Yeah, no kidding. I don't even know if we can fight in this state." Motoyasu said, tapping through his stats and adding to their concerns.
"Heroes, in order to acquire more strength and upgrade your legendary weapons, you must set out on an adventure and fight your way through our harsh world." Aultcrey's advisor explained to them, displaying through some sort of illusion magic the legendary weapons blinking with a red outline the closer they were to each other.
"It seems like he's telling the truth." Motoyasu confirmed, reading over that specific detail in his menu. "Can't we use other weapons until these are upgraded?" He asked, twirling his spear in a dramatic fashion.
In a momentary flash of remembrance, Kat glanced down at her leg and saw that her M6G magnum was still magnetically attached to her thigh. Grabbing at her sidearm, a sudden surge of powerful electricity coursed its way through her robotic arm. Whereas most would drop the item out of reflexive pain, Kat, with her prosthetic, didn't feel any. On top of that, she noticed a fresh charge of energy surge through her armor providing it with an overcharged shield thanks to the reverse piezoelectric effect.
On her HUD, a notification popped up.
[Legendary Weapon Rule Violation:]
Legendary Hero cannot use weapons other than those assigned to them.
"Can't use other weapons? Hm, we'll see about that." Kat thought, challenging the system with an intense focus. As she stood there seemingly unphased by the magical electricity attempting to harm her, everyone stood in awe with their jaws practically on the floor.
"You have a gun?!" Motoyasu exclaimed with surprise. "How do you have a gun?! You must've done something special or even cheated to have one!" He tried accusing Kat.
"You mean my standard issue sidearm? I carry it everywhere I go. I suppose when I arrived here, it came with me since it was still on my person." Kat questioned him calmly, brushing off his accusation.
"I — wha — no fair!" He cried out as he stomped his feet on the soft red carpet..
"Oh God. He's acting like a manchild. No better than Dr. Halsey." She thought, comparing the whining man to her brief encounter with the 'respected' doctor, gritting her teeth at the memory. She wasn't going to hurt Dr. Halsey, but she was definitely going to give her a piece of her mind before Carter stepped in and did so himself.
"Sir Motoyasu, I implore you, the phenomenon we should be focusing on is how Lady Kat is able to wield her weapon even after all this time. From the looks of it, her cardinal shield is attempting to disarm her, albeit without any luck." Aultcrey explained to the man, his hatred for her seemingly disappearing for a split second, replaced with an intrinsic curiosity. "Lady Kat, are you receiving any messages from the status magic of the legendary shield?"
"Yeah. It's saying 'that a legendary hero can't use any weapon other than what they were assigned'. I guess its defense mechanism isn't very effective against me." Kat explained to the court, receiving a bunch of murmurs about possibly being a demon which she ignored.
"Very interesting. Do you know why this might be?" King Aultcrey asked Kat, rubbing his chin with a raised brow.
Kat hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should explain herself to this unfamiliar monarch. Looking at her dilemma, it seemed like a lose - lose situation. On one hand, it's extremely sensitive and classified information, but on the other, it would make her more than just a person of interest for any hostile actors. Sighing deeply, she decided to go for something in the middle. "Well, having a prosthetic arm seems to certainly help. My armor's also resistant to electrical damage." Kat surmised, adding up all of the different parts of this unique situation together.
The notification flashed on her HUD again.
[Legendary Weapon Rule Violation:]
Legendary Hero cannot use weapons other than those assigned to them.
Kat scoffed in annoyance. "It keeps providing me with the same notification. Sooner or later this thing will have to give up. For its own sake, it better be soon."
[Legendary Weapon Rule Violation:]
Legendary Hero cannot use weapons other than those assigned to them.
"Ugh, why won't you give up your fantasyland logic and let me use my gear." Kat internally groaned, rolling her eyes at the effort this shield was putting up. It was then that a similar, yet different, notification popped up on her HUD.
[Legendary Weapon Rule Violation Broken:]
Legendary Hero can use weapons other than those assigned to them.
"Whoa, we have a breakthrough." Kat suddenly remarked, shifting her tone from annoyed to intrigued. Holstering and re - equipped her magnum a few times, she tested to see if the electric safeguard was really gone, and to her joy it was.
"What kind of development, if you don't mind me asking? Do you mean you've broken the legendary shield's limitations?" Aultcrey stroked his chin as he intently inspected the spartan.
"Seems so. I guess it decided to give up before I did." Kat replied, informing the court of the strange outcome which received several hushed conversations from the surrounding nobles, asserting that they were now confident about her being a demon and to inform the church, which she promptly took note of for later. "I guess the name follows us everywhere… good."
"In that case, I must congratulate you on such an accomplishment. I doubt it's an easy feat to simply break the rules imposed by the cardinal weapons." King Aultcrey grinned at her, nodding his head. Silently, he praised this development, as once his plan sprung into action, he could frame this incident as an example of this woman truly being a demon.
Looking at the others, she saw their mixed reactions. Ren simply nodded to the spartan. "Hey, great job Kat!" Itsuki smiled brightly at her, giving her a thumbs up. Motoyasu pouted with a 'no fair' expression plastered on his face which Kat also ignored.
"I suppose now all that's left is to form a squad and get to work." Kat suggested to the others who nodded in agreement.
"Just a moment, heroes." Aultcrey interrupted. "Unfortunately, you cannot travel together, as it's stated that the legendary weapons naturally repel each other, hindering your progress." Aultcrey's advisor explained to the four heroes. "However, don't fret. Tomorrow we'll gather the best of the best to help form your parties. For now, it appears to be getting late. Go ahead and rest here for the night. We've prepared quarters for each of you, so please, make yourselves at home." Aultcrey extended an invitation to the four heroes.
"Man, I can't believe you get to use a gun. This is soooo not fair." Pouted the ever vocal Motoyasu who laid back on the soft bed.
"I'll admit, it does give me an advantage you guys don't have. But I'm not going to apologize for something as ridiculous as this." Kat replied, sitting by the windowsill and looking out into the starry medieval city below. Reaching for her helmet, it came off with a subtle hissas the compressed oxygen released from its recycled prison. Setting the helmet down on a nearby table, a bead of sweat glistened from her brow as she wiped her matted black hair back into its usual makeup. The others, upon seeing her face, went near - slacked jawed at her features; her bright blue eyes and scars across her face gathering some attention, though her chiseled jawline stood out as her most prominent attribute.
Motoyasu was the first to break his stupor, nearly jumping out of the bed as he put on his best charismatic charm, adjusting his hair to appear more confident as if he hadn't just been pouting a moment ago. "Sooo, Kat, was it? You're a soldier, right? How about I be the tango for your foxtrot?" He asked not - so - subtly, giving her a wink as he stood charmingly against the wall.
"This feels a whole lot like a video game, not like I had time to play any." Kat remarked, seemingly ignoring and shooting him down with an eye roll as she looked over her stats again.
Unphased by her rejection, he took a bold step forward as he wrapped an arm around her with a partially unnerving expression of lust. His confidence lasted all but a second more as she harshly took hold of his wrist and a loud pop emanated from the joint. With a pained yelp, Motoyasu suddenly found himself face first on the floor and a heavy object weighing down on his upper back, his arm feeling as if it were about to be torn from its socket.
"Unless you want a prosthetic like mine, you best keep your hands to yourself. Got it?" Kat remarked, scolding the blonde Japanese man.
Breathing heavily, he grunted in anguish. "Yes ma – a'am!" He replied, crying out in terror, barely able to formulate a response. Satisfied, Kat released the perverted man as he rolled on the floor in agony holding his now swelling arm by the shoulder. A bit startled from her reaction, the two teenagers in the room glanced at each other with a silent look that read, "Don't piss off the big lady."
"Ok uh, Kat? Uh, we should probably get him some help, right?" Itsuki asked, moving to assist Motoyasu into a nearby chair. Looking back towards Kat, she gave him a nod of approval before taking out her basic first aid kit and utilizing some of its contents on the struggling man.
"…This is obviously a game." Ren replied after recomposing himself. "It's exactly like the VRMMO Brave Star Online."
"A VRMMO? That's only been tested by a science fiction game. This is clearly Dimension Web, a console game that just recently came out." Itsuki quickly retorted as Kat took over in dealing with Motoyasu.
Whilst she wrapped his shoulder, she thought long and hard, trying to recall ever hearing names like those. "I've never heard of any products like those. All I know about this world is from some book I thought was unfinished. Seems like that wasn't quite the case."
"A book? That seems a bit redundant, don't you think? I mean, what would a book have to do with a game like this?" Ituski questioned, tilting his head as he went to scratch an itch on his scalp.
Kat simply shrugged before putting her medical supplies away, having sufficiently reset Motoyasu's shoulder allowing him to rest. "Can't say I know. If I did, I wouldn't be here. After all, weird magic that summons a person to another world isn't exactly my specialty."
"So then what is? I know we're all probably curious to find out what's going on with this place, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that there's something off about you." Ren stated with a blank expression, his tone almost as if he were trying to interrogate her.
"Yeah! The fact you broke my arm!" Motoyasu complained, grasping his shoulder as he slowly rose to his feet.
Giving the taller man a gentle hand on his shoulder, Ituski gave Motoyasu a comforting look before focusing on Kat once more. "I think what we're getting at is that you're definitely different from the rest of us. Is there anything you could tell us? Like where you're from, or what you did before being brought here?"
Kat breathed a heavy sigh. It's not like she was going back to Reach anytime soon anyways. "I'm from Monistar, New Harmony. It was an inner colony acting as a military academy. When the Covenant attacked, the UNSC was able to fend them off in one of our few victories, but they just came back later and glassed the planet."
"Colony? UNSC? Covenant? I think you've lost us, care to elaborate?" Ren asked with a raised brow, his typical neutral expression giving away to a hint of intrigue.
Kat had a surprised look on her face as her mind began to run at a thousand miles a minute. She thought of every kind of scenario in which a question like that was asked, and the only answer that kept coming back to her was the multiverse theory. "Are you not citizens of the UEG?" She asked, silently hoping they would say no.
"No?" Ituski and Ren both questioned in unison, confirming her excitement.
"Holy shit! They are living proof that the multiverse theory is probably correct!" Kat internally thought, giddy as a school child for being the first human in history to confirm old Stephen Hawking's final theory. Her exterior, on the other hand, remained calm and collected as she took a deep breath.
"The UNSC is the military branch of the UEG, humanity's overarching governing body. I'm a member of the Spartan's, a special forces group meant to be the shield to the UNSC's arm. We're the best of the best, at least we're meant to be." Kat vaguely explained, running a finger over the newly formed scar around her eye.
"So world governments finally decided to work together? What made that happen?" Ren asked, his eyes squinted in disbelief even if Kat was living proof of her claims.
"Long story short, we colonized space, so a need to finally work together came and we took it. It went well for over four hundred years, with the occasional ideological revolt, but we handled those. By the time I was born, however, there had been some brewing tensions in the outer colonies who felt used as resource hubs. They eventually broke out into open rebellion and nearly caused us to collapse into civil war, but the first round of Spartan volunteers were able to keep them at bay. That's when the Covenant arrived. They're fanatically religious aliens who're hellbent on exterminating us. We've been holding out for decades, but were losing nonetheless. Sometimes I wondered if we'd already lost." Kat explained, the memories of her time as a war orphan flashing through her mind. She then thought of Beta Company and all the friends she made in training before she was pulled from Operation: TORPEDO. When she found out that Noble's new Noble Six would be a former member of Beta Company, it was the first time she felt truly happy in a long time.
A smile momentarily appeared on her face, but it vanished just as quickly as she grabbed her helmet and stared at her reflection in its visor. "My last mission was defending our fortress world of Reach. The last thing I remember was running to a fallout shelter to avoid being glassed, but on the way there I was shot in the head. None of us saw it coming."
The room was silent as everyone stood motionless. "I'm sorry." Itsuki softly said with a tear running down his cheek. "I don't know what you've been through, but that sounds like an awful way to go."
"Yeah. And this Covenant sounds like a bunch of assholes." Ren agreed, staring at the floor with an apologetic expression on his face.
Kat nodded, accepting their sorrowful sympathy. "Thanks. Too bad so many can't hear the same thing." She shook her head, reminiscing on the well over twenty billion death toll.
"I think changing the topic to something less of a downer will definitely help at the moment." Motoyasu said, not daring to look Kat in the eyes. "What're your guys' stats like? My highest is my magical attack at twenty three, with my lowest being agility at fourteen."
Itsuki wiped the tear streak from his cheek before recomposing himself. "Mine's my regular attack at twenty five, but my defense is only nine." He said, glancing over to Ren.
The swordsman crossed his arms and spoke up, his tone back to its typical neutral tone. "My agility is twenty four and magical attack is eleven."
"Hm, my stats are quite high compared to yours." Kat said, notifying them of her being possibly even more broken than she already was being allowed her magnum. "My offense is three o' seven, magical offense being my lowest at one twelve, defense is my highest at seven twenty one, magical defense sitting at five thirty six, and my agility is six fifty two… I can only guess what half of that means." She explained, her stats dropping everyone's jaw for a third time today.
Motoyasu slumped over in his chair, burying his face into a pillow. "You're cheating. It's not fairrrrr." He muffled in complaint, seemingly forgetting that his arm was nearly just torn off.
Ituski chuckled nervously, his eyes darting between Motoyasu and Kat. "I think we should get some rest for the night. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Hope we get well acquainted with our new parties." He said with a shaky thumbs up.
"Agreed. You especially need some rest." Kat said as she glared daggers at the incapacitated Motoyasu. Taking her helmet and heading for the door to their room, she heard some scuffling coming from the other side. Throwing the door open, she saw a pair of maids scurrying away, no doubt having just spied on them. Kat squinted her eyes in suspicion, but decided not to pursue the pair as they may have just wanted to listen in on the heroes' backstories; not like they would have heard much other than Kat's.
Heading to her own room, Kat stepped inside, locked the door, then barricaded it from further entry. Taking her M6G off her thigh, she laid it down on the nightstand beside her helmet and counted how many rounds of ammunition she had overall. "Forty eight total, not quite as much as I'd like to be carrying, but I guess beggars can't be choosers." It was then an idea came forward to her, one that, unless it was mentioned by the others, she never would have thought of attempting. "Hmmm… video game. I wonder if the shield will do anything if it…" Her thoughts trailed off as she took one of her magazines and fed a bullet into the bright green central gem of the legendary magic weapon.
[Armory Shield:]
+32 DEF, +21 AGI, Magic Penalty (None)
Equipped Bonus: Advanced Ammunition Crafting 1 (Level 15)
Reading this notification, Kat smiled like a schoolgirl as she fed more bullets into the shield.
[Advanced Armory Shield:]
+48 DEF, +28 AGI, Magic Penalty (Low)
Equipped Bonus: Advanced Ammunition Crafting 2 (Level 20)
[Legendary Armory Shield:]
+64 DEF, +35 AGI, Magic Penalty (Medium)
Equipped Bonus: Advanced Ammunition Crafting 3 (Level 25)
After having fed an entire magazine, Kat felt extremely satisfied. It appeared that this world only followed a loose set of rules, leaving the rest to her imagination. "Ok, this world just got a whole lot more interesting. Ammo now won't be an issue, but what about other materials?" She wondered, her interest peaked and curiosity barely satiated.
Reaching for her small personal medpack, she cracked open the case and explored its contents. Taking one of the two glass vials of polypseudomorphine, she held it near the gem of the shield, and as it was absorbed, another notification popped up on her HUD.
[Basic Medical Shield:]
Simple Pill Recipe: Unlocked
Combat simple diseases and provides a slight energy boost.
Raising her brow, Kat decided to take a gamble with the only other vial of polypseudomorphine; it paid off as the notification went off.
[Intermediate Medical Shield:]
Standard Pill Recipe: Unlocked
Cures simple diseases and provides a short health boost.
A cursory glance at the upgraded pill read that it could combat all diseases and moderately heal any wounds taken, whatever moderately meant. Grabbing some of the antiseptic battle dressings, she also fed those to the shield, concluding that any medical equipment would suffice to upgrade this shield, and she was proven right.
[Heroic Medical Shield:]
Improved Pill Recipe: Unlocked
Combats advanced diseases and provides a moderate health boost.
Giving in, she gave it the rest of the medpack's contents, eventually leading it to give her a notification which astounded her.
[Legendary Medical Shield:]
Advanced Pill Recipe: Unlocked
Cures advanced diseases, magical effects, and provides a large health boost.
[Mythic Medical Shield:]
Universal Pill Recipe: Unlocked
Cures all diseases, magical effects, and heals all sustained damage.
"A single pill that treats anything? God, if only we had this kind of thing in the UNSC." She thought, imagining the countless lives that could've been saved if each medic carried several hundred of these pills. Shaking her head, she knew that was impossible. The only reason it works like this here is because the rules of logic are different and the world is treated more like a digital fantasy land.
Smiling to herself, she felt satisfied at her discovery. First she finds out that her Mjolnir is perhaps statistically the best armor in the world, then she could wield her own weapon(s), and finally anything given to the legendary weapon can provide a boon, whether it be a useful item to craft or bonus to her stats.
Laying down on the soft bed, it groaned and creaked as it struggled to maintain her weight. She knew she didn't really need the sleep, but she decided to take it anyway since her last nap was when she'd been shot. Closing her eyes, she silently apologized to the entirety of Noble Team as if to make amends for leaving them before she quickly drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note: Well there you have it! The opening chapter for Noble Intent is complete. What did you guys think? Please be sure to leave a review with feedback about what you liked, didn't like, etc. and I'll see y'all in the next chapter
