Welcome!
This is my first fic, so any feedback would be appreciated. I wanted to have a heavy internal thought system in kind of a faux first person kind of deal.
Italicized single quotes are six's word for word thoughts, double italicized quotes are her real speech, bolded double quotes is sign language, and anything stricken through are thoughts six tries to force out of her head. Anything in square brackets are alien to her, she's not sure where they're from
"Bet you never thought you'd see the light of day, after Reach"
Six walked along the space dock in civilian clothes, not something she's in every day, but she'd adapt. She always did.
The Cadet leading her to the hotel kept talking about the planet and how it was the birthplace of humanity, but she wasn't listening. Six didn't know how long ago she'd been fighting for her life in the shipyards of Aszod, but it felt like just yesterday. She couldn't say how long it had been for sure, only that Reach had been gone a long time.
"Hey! You need to scan your I.D. here, so they'll let you on the elevator down to the surface. I'm trying to do you a favor here!" The officer was persistent in getting her to listen, telling her to take time off, trying to teach her how to act. That was fair, she had no clue how to act normal and barely ever spoke. She'd be worried too. After all, she'd been navy property since the beginning, barely human from the start. She touches her arm to the thing that would let her down to the surface, the security guard waving them through like an ONI Officer so obvious he'd have blown his cover as soon as he'd left the building and a seven foot tall freak of nature walking by.
"You're pretty hard to talk to."
Not exactly easy to talk to a wall if you're expecting a conversation, and she was acting a lot like one. It had been longer than she'd care to admit since she had seen a planet not currently under threat, and she'd never been to Earth before either. ONI scientists had told her that her genes came from Earth, and that they weren't found anywhere else. Special creature that she was, there was only one of her left that she knew of, the only one to make it back here. She'd rather think about her own existence and its complexities than talk to a flunky spy who couldn't even nail a disguise. His clothes were sloppy, unfit for the bustle of the space elevator. She probably shouldn't judge, she likely didn't look any better. Not exactly her fault when she didn't know how to blend with normal people.
Just as that thought was concluding the elevator had hit the bottom. She knew the way from here but annoyingly enough she needed him around because she had no clue how the civilian world worked. She motioned him forwards and for the first time looked around the elevator car she rode down from space in.
She had been too taken with the view that she didn't notice the crowd of people staring at her. She should have probably taken greater care to disguise her abnormal head, most of the time when you saw foxes they were on four feet and about two and a half feet tall, not on two and standing at seven. Their eyes burned through her fur, uncomfortable but manageable for a short time.
Six hoped this "maintenance" period didn't last too long, she wasn't sure how much of the staring she could take without bolting and trying to hide, or snapping and killing the first person that got too close. She had killed a lot of people for the Office, and she would probably go on to kill more.
"Bet you've never seen this many people out of uniform they didn't tell you to shoot, huh?" He had finally said something somewhat interesting, though she'd rather not talk about it.
Classified meant something, especially to greenies like him. So green she didn't bother learning his name and hell, she'd barely looked at him, aside from to judge the flaws in his disguise.
Walking along the street she absorbed the sights and sounds she hadn't from the elevator. It happens on every new planet, but earth was something special. She'd never seen roads this old before, and there was a charm to the hyper-urban environments that her eyes were taking in. To beat a proverbial dead horse, this was the oldest civilization on this side of the war, where this side even began. ONI even had a major office here in Africa.
The hot August sun was almost as overbearing as the eyes Six could feel crawling across her form. She wasn't meant to be out of even the techsuit this long. Six just wished her escort would walk faster. That at least, was something she could influence.
She shoved him forward a little, and stared at him.
"Guess you're not so tough out of that shell, afraid of a little crowd?" he said.
There was a crowd, right again. She also saw that he'd turned around. This was the only person who would willingly piss off a spartan on the entire planet, credit where it was due. Armor or no, her figure was nothing short of imposing, but here this bottom-feeder was, teasing the unrestrained fox in a planet full of hens, hens that would snap like rotting wood. Maybe an example? The disguise watch they had given found her palm, its face cracking into fractals, then crushing into a small mass the size of a pinhead, before falling on the floor between them.
'The Office wouldn't mind buying another. I'm quite the high ticket item myself.'
"Fine, fine, don't tease the space racist, got it. On we go."
She raised her eyebrow and paused for a second, then followed behind. The sooner she got to the hotel, the sooner she could tell top brass she wanted away from the crowds. This was who she was fighting for? She should have at least grabbed a pair of sunglasses to preserve some guarded expression.
Credit to where it's due though, he was persistent. Maybe he wasn't incompetent, just green enough to seem that way. "I haven't been with ONI very long, how's the pay as an LT?"
Oddly enough, Spartans don't get great pay, the gear's a little too expensive and they don't tend to live long enough to spend it anyhow. She said none of this, however, tilting her head in question. He's in a career where people go missing regularly and are never found, and he asks about the pay? Maybe he was more than a little green, and she wondered how long she'd have to put up with him.
"I know your file said you don't talk much, but we haven't heard you say anything since Aszod."
She was a little busy thinking. She had never been so close as she was to NOBLE team, close enough that she had started to think of herself as Six, rather than B-312, or the Grim Reaper or—
She was going off on a tangent.
Six stared at him. At length. Unbroken eye contact.
"Right, you Spartans are all about efficiency, or something. Goddamn cyborgs." He looked deeply unsettled.
'Must not have gotten as far into the file as Carter did.'
They were finally at the hotel. He had been pushing his luck far too much, and she was glad to be rid of him. She could get in contact with high command and tell them that there were too many eyes on her, felt like it was weighing down on her—
̶'̶H̶o̶w̶ ̶I̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶.̶'̶
Interrupting her thoughts, Six heard the spy speak for the last time she'd see him.
"You know, I can tell you don't like their attention, you rely on your suit too much to mask your emotions." Her eyes snapped to him, surprised he'd bothered saying anything. "They've never seen anything like you, true, but for the first time they're seeing one of their heroes out of their shells, you're a living legend to them. They're in awe."
They shouldn't be. One of the only things standing between humanity and extinction wasn't even human. She'd go on with her own views, but maybe he wasn't so full of shit like she'd believed. He probably won't understand it, but she swiped her hand across her face, the most basic Spartan gesture. He didn't look like he understood it now, but if he spent long enough in service to the skeletons in the navy's closet, he'd probably learn. He rendered a lazy salute and started to turn around.
"Good luck to you LT, I'm sure they'll send me after you when leave's up."
Checking into the room was a little difficult on the account of her unwillingness to speak, but she managed with some improvised gestures. Improvisation was her strong suit, after all.
Why did there have to be tourists in the elevator. She wasn't much better, being her first time planet side, but still they had to gush about how beautiful the planet was and how quaint the populace was. She was just happy the planet wasn't being glassed. She had no clue how people could talk so much, either.
"You're not from around here, are you?"
No, Really? Seven foot tall super soldier covered in fur and your icebreaker is "you're not from around here?" She hoped the tourist left soon, the words from the junior officer still rattling around in her head.
"You know, your head, I remember seeing that shape."
'Wait, what?'
"I used to live on Reach—"
'I'm so sorry.'
"—When they were running evacuations out of New Alexandria, I thought we were done for. You swooped in with a limp, but it must not have bothered you too much because you're walking fine now"
'I still wasn't fast enough.'
"Anyways you swept in like a tank and killed the aliens that were gonna get us"
'At least I can save some people.'
"In that moment when we looked into your visor, we had hope that someone would save us, and you made that a reality."
'I don't deserve your praise. I was just following orders, at the time. Some groups were pretty far out of the way, though, weren't they? Didn't have to save them, but I did.'
"So I guess what I was trying to say, is thank you."
She still didn't deserve it, not that she would convey that. Instead she just nodded as the elevator music cut out and she ducked out of the elevator.
Finally, some peace and quiet. She slumped against the door and sat still for a moment. Allowed to rest at long last, the tension bled out of her frame, as she sank to the floor with her head resting on her knees.
How long had it been since she'd just been at rest? As far back as she can remember, she had gone from operation to operation, the only respite being the cryosleep she was put in to preserve her, to stop her from spoiling. She supposed it worked, she had outlived everyone on Noble team, with the possible exception of Jun. He had gone with Halsey, what had become of him? She supposed she'd have to ask the higher ups. For all her rush to make the call, she'd almost rather brave the crowds because she'd have to talk but if she made this one call she might be done with both for the rest of the time she was down here. Maybe they could move her to the outskirts of Mombasa? It would still be easy enough for the office to keep track of her, make sure she wasn't stepping out of line.
She rose from her rest at the door, making sure it was locked behind her for all the good it would do. Walking across the hotel room, her mind automatically tried to make up escape plans, none of which were viable. She didn't have her armor, the room was high up, and there was only one way in and out of the room. If an escape became necessary, it would have to be improvised.
She walked into the bathroom to turn on the tap, the most basic anti-listening device she had on hand. An old trick, but one she found still worked, despite five hundred years of constant improvements. Searching the hotel room, she had found something the Office had left her, a slate black COM pad. You could have any color you wanted, as long as it was black. Turning the pad on, she browsed around the contents. They wouldn't mind if she poked around for a while, she was supposed to be relaxing after all. New Mombasa was an important city, a major port with a direct tether to space. It had been important for almost as long as the navy had been a concept, with a long history of changed hands. It was also home to a prominent wildlife reserve, hadn't she seen that on the way down? She must not have been paying close enough attention to miss that.
Enough stalling. She had a call with someone far older with far more power than she had to make. Her only real bargaining chip was how useful she could still be, and how effective she had been before. She only hoped it was enough for a favor. She opened ONI's home grown call software, an offshoot of VISR, apparently. She didn't know much about the ODST's system—
Focus. She was making a call and she needed to focus.
She should at least appear collected. Ultimately, she had three things to ask of them: Could she be moved away from the city center? Did they know how she made it off Reach (and would they tell her)? Did Jun make it off Reach as well? With these questions in mind, she hoped she had enough pull to get answers, and hit the connect button.
Why was she looking at Margaret Parangosky? Why was she—
"Surprised to see me? Don't be, you're only a short hop away, after all. How is earth, so far?" She wished she had gotten a drink beforehand. You know what? This was fine. ̶S̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶R̶e̶a̶c̶h̶.̶
"Nice view. Too many people." her voice was raspy, unused, not that it wasn't normally raspy, usually people were dying when she had to talk—
Focus on the woman she had made so many disappear for.
"Well it was the best we could do on short notice, we're a little short staffed after Reach, although there is something promising"
Maybe Halsey or Jun?
"We haven't found Halsey yet, the snake, but on the topic of things we haven't found, the Pillar of Autumn successfully got away"
They hadn't found Jun. He probably didn't make it off Reach. She didn't need to ask about the others, she had seen them go. Last of her company, last hope for humanity, a lot of lasts. ̶S̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶s̶h̶e̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶i̶x̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶m̶. At least she did something right.
Parangosky scowled. "You're the only part of NOBLE that isn't marked MIA, but we haven't pinned down Three yet."
Some small hope was kindled inside of her. Maybe not the last after all?
"Don't tell me you're getting soft, my Grim Reaper"
A shiver raced down her spine, SHE KNEW she knew she had gotten too attached.
"Don't worry, if anyone has earned some leniency, it's you, especially after all you've done for us"
Well she wasn't disappearing any time soon, at least. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"
"What were you doing before? At this level there isn't anything other than speaking freely."
"How did I get out?" After Aszod, Six's memories were blank
"We were hoping you could tell us, we couldn't even find your helmet."
Parangosky knew everything, how could she not know?
"Your helmet stopped recording at Aszod. Impressive, what you did there, if only we could find out what made you so durable, so capable, the MIA designation wouldn't be necessary."
"We can worry about that later, after all I've scheduled you for quite the amount of shore leave. What was that you said at the start of this, too many people, hm? We may be able to help with that, though you may not like it."
'You haven't given me a target yet, something's wrong'
"Section one and two had some ideas. You have a choice for once, 312, isn't that something? You can either stay there, or you can go to a publicity event, after which we'll relocate you to Old Mombasa, the suburbs, and section one will make sure nobody can track you down. Section two thought it would help public morale, after Reach."
'Spartans never die, what could improve morale more than the invincible shield of humanity?'
"The theory is that by proving at least one Spartan was really MIA, the dissidents will calm down a little and we won't need our remaining Spartans tied up in counter insurgent ops. You aren't exactly cheap, you know."
Yeah, she knew.
"You would go to an event where you'd meet with the public, before we move you into a new location."
She'd had worse. "I'll take option two"
Parangosky's smile was predatory, "I knew you wouldn't say no. Get some rest, then. Tomorrow I'll have an agent pick you up from the hotel." She started to disconnect from the call, only to be interrupted. "One more thing, 312, I know you don't need a reminder about classified information, but be careful. I would hate to lose you"
'We both know I know more than enough to bury everything connected to ONI. We also both know I won't.'
Six said none of that, and nodded. The call terminated from the other side.
After turning off the water in the bathroom, the shower soon started up. Six hadn't bathed in a very, very long time. What Spartan had? To say it felt cathartic was an understatement, they hadn't done so much as rinse her off when they picked her up. For the first time, Six felt disgust, where she wasn't used to feeling anything at all. The pressurized techsuit normally kept dirt and grime out, but after such a long uptime something had failed.
̶'̶J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶C̶a̶r̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶t̶h̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶d̶i̶s̶a̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶.̶'̶