Commander Keyes left Chief Deputy Andersen's office with a ton more questions than she'd entered. She sighed, rubbing her face and murmuring, "I swear, someone should've told me the kind of mess we were gonna get into before I became a brain in a very fancy jar," and turning to face Kelly and the Sergeant. She spoke, "You folks also said Chief was here, right?"
"Aye, ma'am," Johnson replied, "He's out on a long haul op, though, so it might be a bit before you see him and his squad."
"Let him do his work. There's no rush," The woman shot back, then crossed her arms and looked at herself in the reflection of a tinted window. She murmured to herself, "A bit overkill on the redesign, I have to admit..." while she gave herself a proper once-over. Kelly didn't comment on it, arms crossed to her chest and helmet on her head. The Commander asked, "They did give me an M7 SMG, though, so that's a nice bonus. Means I'm not gonna be completely defensive."
"Any other things?" Johnson inquired as the group turned and started walking toward one of the many dozens of elevators leading to the Surface, namely the one specifically for the Outpost. He saw the Commander's face morph into that of a confused woman, before clarifying, "Usually some High-Spec Nikkes like the type you are have an enhancement or two hidden in their sleeves, y'know. Stuff meant to help us in combat. SO I read from some reports, anyhow, not like I understand much of that damn technobabble," as he slid a cigar between his lips.
"You're never gonna give that up, are you?" Miranda smirked. From his reaction alone, she knew the others had ribbed him about it enough.
Johnson rolled his eyes, his words sounding a bit off, "Chief's been pesterin' me about it, too, Commander. Lemme have my damn stress relief..." before lighting it with his trench lighter. He patted his pockets and pulled his last pack of Sweet Williams. He shook it, hearing the muffled bump of two of his favorite rolled-up addiction sticks. Sliding it back into his pocket and taking a deep puff of the third-to-last cigar, he murmured, "Prayin' to the good Lord for some extra out here."
Kelly snorted, then looked to the Commander and asked, "Didn't get to, ma'am, but I have to ask, how does it feel? Being a Nikke, I mean."
"Odd," Miranda replied without a second thought, "Like I'm still certainly me, but there's a little add-on. Speed, enhanced reflexes. It almost feels like things are moving slower than I am, or that I'm moving fast. Ingrid, the Elysion CEO, warned me that there might be a few 'growing pains' with being a cyborg, however, so... I'm preparing for much worse than a little dizziness."
Johnson nodded, "Let's hope it won't be botherin' ya if and when you deploy, ma'am."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm going to deploy, Sergeant-Major," She shot back, "I find sitting idly behind a desk rather boring, especially when humanity's survival's at stake. Thought you'd figured that out by now, what with the Index on Delta Halo and... Well, everything else during and after," and she smirked. The friendship between the two was like that of an uncle and a niece, or so Kelly figured. Her knowledge of familial bonds was rather lacking, obviously, so she might've been wrong.
He snorted, then gave her the biggest compliment he could think of.
"You sure sound like your father."
The Commander smiled at that, giving a nod in thanks, before examining the Ark itself as they walked through. The rising ceiling that acted as a hologram displaying the sky was obviously surprising to learn about, though it was a beautiful rendition of a false sky. She understood that psychology was somewhat more heavily studied in order to ensure that humanity could survive this long underground, including making the comfortable illusion that there was still a sky above their heads instead of the damp darkness of a massive cave.
It honestly made her wonder just how close to this they had been in their own war. Had the Elites not switched sides, would she even have been able to think right now, or would she have been turned into stellar dust with the rest of her people and the Galaxy at large? She shuddered, feeling the cold chill that shot up her spine as if she was still completely human. Best not to think of such things, she told herself as she watched the crowds around walking, smiling, laughing and living their lives like the world above was not a hostile hellscape.
"Well, I'll be damned," A female voice, hardy and with an undertone of a professional soldier, sounded off. The Commander's gaze locked unto the owner of the voice, a Nikke with short black hair, flecktarn camouflage uniform and a long rifle of some kind slung over her shoulder. Two others escorted her, clad in similar gear, though with different hairstyles and faces, their helmets and goggles clipped to their belts. The black-haired woman had dark-blue eyes deep as the darkest sea and a few scars on her face to compliment the grin. She greeted, "You must be the new folks around the block."
Kelly noted the scarlet crossed guns and skull emblem on the woman's and escorts' shoulders and plate carriers, then nodded, "Some of us. You're the RedGuns."
"Indeed, we are," The woman nodded. She hit herself in the chest and spoke, "GUN ZERO-ONE, Michigan, at your service! These are GUN-02, Nile," motioning to the blonde to her left, "And GUN-04, Volta," and extending her hand out, "We're the REDGUNS Private Military Contractor, Subsidiary to Elysion Defense Industries. You need a job done, a good guard on duty or just someone dealt with without giving a damn about things like stealth? You call the REDGUNS! Who might you folks be?"
"Chief Petty Officer Kelly-087, UNSC Navy. Pleasure, REDGUNS." Kelly nodded.
"Sergeant-Major AJ Johnson, UNSC Marine Corps. Funny name there, Michigan," He grinned. The Redguns officer laughed jovially at that quip, then nodded. Well, she was at least kind enough to take jokes at face value, so Johnson continued, "Damn good to see the Ark's keeping at least one sane-looking military force. No offense to other High-Spec Nikkes up there, they look a little too underdressed for the occasion."
"You'll find me agreeing, Sarge," She tipped her cap to him, then looked to the Commander.
Keyes, to her credit, maintained professionalism, "Commander Miranda Keyes, UNSC," then blinked, surprised to see that the three RedGuns snapped quick salutes at her. She saluted back and nodded to them, "At ease. I don't think I'm quite a soldier of the Ark yet, considering I haven't even taken a citizenship exam," then smiled. Michigan grinned and nodded.
"Any officer deserves a salute, ma'am," Michigan replied, "Sorry for stopping you. You all must've been going back to Outpost 13, where that New Blood, Commander Harriss, is with his weird alien buddies," all while eyeing Kelly and Johnson. The two replied with quick forward tilts of their heads to confirm. Michigan then said, "Alright, then. We'll leave you all to yours. REDGUNS, move it out! We still got a job to do!" only to pause, "Oh, right. Commander."
"Yes?" The woman raised a brow.
"We're short some command staff at the REDGUNS, taking into account the fact I'm barely a Sergeant myself. We're gonna need some help runnin' the joint... For a price, of course," She smirked, deciding to sweeten the offer now, "If you ever find yourself underpaid, swing by our HQ in Ward Schwarzkopf. You won't be disappointed with the benefits. Hell, we even cover Nikke dental!"
The woman snorted and said, "I'll consider it, Sergeant Michigan. Godspeed."
Her Redgun counterpart snapped a salute, grinning, then dragged her troopers off toward whatever job there was. Keyes commented, "Well, that was certainly interesting... Wonder what kind of Nikkes they were," more to herself than to anyone. Regardless of that going unanswered, the group continued their walk, taking the Elevator back up to the Outpost and to the sight of the place being surprisingly built up rather quickly as more new squads were coming in.
Kelly had half-a-mind to ask who kept assigning new Nikke units to the Outpost, but, then again, she wouldn't really look a gift horse in the mouth. Descending from the area where the Lift station was, they all found the Marines in a pub, laughing and drinking while the Command Staff was away, apparently. However, the moment Mendoza noticed the fact that the staff had returned, he dropped his bottle, jumped to his feet and cried out a resounding, "OFFICERS ON DECK!" that caused his voice to crack, one which scared the bartender.
The dozen or so Marines jumped to their feet and all turned to face the officers, some(Jenkins) a little more disheveled than others. The Commander, by virtue of being an officer, should have chewed them out right then and there. She couldn't find it in her heart to do so, however, knowing these were Johnson's men, the same men who served under her father on the Autumn and, by that, the men who died to the Flood.
Johnson, however, had no such qualms, barking out, "WHAT THE HELL AM I LOOKING AT, MARINES?! GET YOUR ASSES TO THE BARRACKS AND GET YOURSELVES CLEANED UP, THEN REPORT DOWN HERE FOR DEBRIEFING! YOU GOT TWO MIKES! HAUL ASS!" with all the anger of a pissed-off DI flowing through every word. He watched them scramble like apes out of the place, then pinched his brow and shook his head, "Swear to God, you die once and you forget the Code of Conduct."
Keyes snorted, then replied, "Cut them some slack, Sergeant. It's not exactly their first rodeo. Unlike Halo, though, they've got a place where they can relax here."
"Still, ma'am, I'd rather your first proper introduction to the boys I went through that hellhole with be a bit more proper," The man replied, "Gives a bad impression of me being a poor choice for an NCO, if'n'you ask me," and he took a deep drag from his Cigar, puffing the smoke out of his nose. Keyes shrugged. She didn't really see it as such, but that was because she knew Johnson fairly well.
Johnson, meanwhile, wanted to keep the Commander in high spirits, mostly due to the fact he'd failed her once. Like he'd failed her father, he thought. At least she was alive again, so that gave him a little bit of leeway in fixing the issue. Beside him, Kelly had simply watched the men scramble out of the place and found it a little amusing, though she understood the Sergeant's desire for more uniform and capable work force.
She watched Liter and Centi stumbling toward them, both looking incredibly tired, then asked, "Long day, Mighty Tools?"
"You have no idea," Liter sighed. Both were actually covered with muck and dirt that Liter soon indirectly clarified the origin of by saying, "The sewer pipe got clogged... Ugh, this is the dirtiest I've felt in years and I've been on the Surface for a while for a couple missions... We'll go shower and then we'll finish the Wings of Victory statue and be done with it for the week..."
"Okay, ladies. Take care," Kells replied, then looked to the Commander and said, "Those are the Outpost's building team. Might Tools."
"The Engineers, then," Keyes nodded, "Good to know."
Eden
Flashes of plasma struck his shield, forcing him to protect himself. He dashed to the left amidst the rising white pillars of the Training Room. An annoyingly sharp laugh echoed from the center, followed by the vicious mockery of a young Nikke with bubblegum hair and two gigantic shield/plasma blaster combos. She laughed at him, "This the best you can do!? Did you happen to beat Isabel by a fluke, you weakling?!"
He dodged past a pillar as a blast of energy washed over it, boiling a black mark. Even with his speed, he could see the twin shields, split open in the middle and acting like defensive turrets. If he tried taking a shot, they'd shift into place and block the bullets, so his best bet was closing the distance. She yelled out to him as a taunt, "Come on! I wanna see the man who beat the weakest of Inherit's members up close!"
Six's gaze swept up toward the observation window, to the sight of an angry Isabel punching the window, while Commander Johan and Cecil watched the fight. He sighed, ducked under a twin blast that struck the wall behind him and grabbed onto a thinner pillar, utilizing it to cancel his momentum mid-sprint and change directions. He pulled himself with the pillar, dropped onto his back and slid toward the girl as she gasped, starting to track him.
He jumped to his feet, rolled and took another blast from one of the two shield/turret combos to his own energy blanket. He ran around her, closing the distance ever more as she focused on tracking him, calling out, "Stop running, you coward! Come on, fight like a man!" though he could hear the ever-aggravating fear in her voice. The pink one's hair flowed as she forced her body to track him at the speed he was running at.
He'd managed to get up to 52 miles per hour in a full sprint. Ten miles per hour slower than the fastest Spartan, but still fast enough for a Pilgrim-class Nikke like Inherit's personal shield defender to have a little trouble tracking. She barked at him, "I'M FRICKING SERIOUS, STOP RUNNING, YOU ANNOYING RAT! DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT OR NOT!?" seemingly both annoyed and afraid.
"I do, just on my terms," Six replied coldly, skidding to a halt suddenly. He felt the Gee-Forces in his body and felt his brain slam a bit against the left of his skull, but he was fine for the most part. The Nikke's twin plasma cannons overshot him as she fired, two plasma bolts scorching another pillar and melting a hole in it. She gasped, wide-eyed, as she watched Six cock his fist back.
Then barely managed to bring her left-hand shield up to stop him. The impact against the Goddessium-infused alloy of the floral, ornate war shield reverberated across the room like a hammer blow against armor plate. That was to say, it was loud and sounded like it should have dented the girl's shield, even if it didn't. Six activated his Armor's enhancement system, a gentle push that allowed his Spartan Time to kick in on demand.
He shifted on his feet, hammering blows against the shields to try and move them out of the way, even as they slowly shifted from gun mode back to proper shields. Noah, her face contorting into various expressions marred by disbelief and shock, guided her shields to keep him away, interlocking them in front of herself as the Spartan tried to sidestep them. He threw punch after punch, his cadence going at one punch every three seconds thanks to the Adrenaline surge. In real-time, it must've been the sound of an active jackhammer hitting titanium.
He was gonna make this little brat quiet down one way or another.
He delivered a hardy punch to the top shield, causing it to shift slightly on its antigravitational axis, then saw an opening. He shoved his hands between the shields and, with his muscle enhancements kicking in, he pried the two shields apart against the force of magnetism, gravity, whatever was helping them float around their owner, until he could see the fearful wide eyes of the girl. He could see their semi-biological forms shifting in the sockets, the biomechanical irises widening slowly, like fanning petals, and he could see his helmet's face plate reflected in them, a markless visor held by a titanium frame, featureless, emotionless, like a machine.
She grit her teeth and forced the shields closed again, their sharp edges scratching against the top of Six's helmet and nearly cutting it. He backed off and shifted his hands to deliver more hammer blows, trying to side-step the shields and get to her. The adrenal overcharge was slowly starting to wear off, reality shifting back to its normal time for the Spartan. He scoffed, shifted his right foot back and cocked his right fist back again.
He threw another punch that sent the shields apart once more, just as the warning bell for the round finale echoed across the alley. The forest of pillars around them retreated into the floor, revealing the domed structure's rounded walls. Noah, the shield Nikke, let out a laugh and pointed at him, "H-Hah! You c-couldn't break through my defense!" Though the stuttering displayed anything but the brash confidence she'd entered into this battle with.
Six sighed and extended a hand to the Nikke on the floor. She stared at it, then awkwardly took it, to which he said, "Tone down the rhetoric. One of these days, you're gonna get yourself killed," before lifting her to her feet. She wanted to protest, but the Spartan had already turned toward the observation window, where he saw both of Eden's familiar faces, Johan and Cecil, staring with wide-eyes at the Spartan.
Beside them, Isabel had a look of... Well, Six couldn't really describe it, but the creepy smile actually sent a chill up his spine.
"... I pity you," Noah told him as she, too, stared at Isabel, "Being that girl's object of affection's gonna be a pain in the butt for ya."
"A little cosmic karma for kicking her ass and yours," He replied rather proudly. Noah scoffed, then shook her head and walked away, shields stowing behind her. Arms crossed, the Spartan followed seconds later, unsure of what to even think about this anymore. He stepped out onto the hallway and took the elevator up to the observation room, pausing as he saw the stare Isabel had and the sheer stalker-esque Aura she was giving off. He chose to ignore it and walked up to Cecil and Johan, asking, "Well?"
"... I'd say you joining us is a fair investment to Eden's future security," Johan replied, a most roundabout way to compliment a person. Stuck-up asshole, this one, Six thought. Johan, however, continued, "Only makes sense for someone who managed to beat one of Inherit. I'd have been disappointed if you failed to do anything to that brat..."
Six sighed, then shot back, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, commander..." only to turn toward a blushing Cecil. He took his helmet off, then asked, "You got what you needed, Doctor?" as he stared her in the eye. She nodded, which allowed Six to go to the back of his helmet and remove an attachment that she'd put on to gauge the Armor's capabilities.
When she slid said attachment into her tablet, she whistled, "Your armor has actual Adrenal Enhancers...? Incredible."
"MJOLNIR's built for hard work, ma'am," He told her.
"Titanium plating is still a bit too weak to face Rapture energy weapons. The particle beams would turn it into brittle metal ribbons..." She replied calmly, tapping away information on her tablet and arranging it by order of importance. She looked up at him and asked, "Well, before we were rudely interrupted in order for Johan to test you, I do believe we were going on a coffee date...?" with the blush growing a little. Isabel audibly growled, but Six cast a glance at her that caused her to whimper like a sad puppy and back off.
Six sighed, "You're still on that?"
"Certainly," She replied, looking up at him. Despite the blush, she tried to maintain a steady, serious look. The Spartan couldn't exactly refuse, either. He'd promised it. And anything was better than keeping Isabel entertained, he thought to himself, considering he really didn't want to know how else that weird psycho kept herself from losing even more of her brain functions.
So, he nodded. Isabel was about to pounce before the Spartan genuinely glared at her. Once more, she sulked away to a corner. Cecil chuckled as she led Six out of the place, then told him, "You somehow managed to make her docile... Oh and you might not have seen it, but she was afraid of your capabilities, too. It must've seemed like you didn't go all-out to her. When you faced each-other, I mean."
"I didn't, else she'd be a nice little slightly more red smear across the desert outside," He replied awkwardly, "I still could do without her behavior."
"Heh... She did come in with a lot of kinks," The woman shot back, "I can't work them all out without a full Mind Wipe... And Johan's not keen on losing his soldiers to that type of thing. It was a punishment back in the Ark, after all," and she looked to Six, "I'll upgrade the rest of your armor, too, not just your helmet, by the way. It'll take a while longer, meaning no combat operations just yet..."
"Thanks, but I thought that was part of the deal anyhow," He quipped, offering her a smile that caused her heart to flutter. She let out an affirmative, if sharp, murmur, as the confusion of the Spartan grew. He felt someone staring at them, then shot a glance back toward a hiding Isabel, before sighing deeply and pinching the bow of his nose. He swore, if he woke up with her next to his bed at some point, he was not going to hesitate when pulling the trigger.
"She's right behind us, isn't she?" Cecil sighed. Six nodded, to which the girl said, "It's gotten to that point... Ignore her."
Entering a 'cafe', or whatever passed for one, the two found themselves seats, Six mentally thanking whatever deity was listening that they made these chairs out of actual reinforced Titanium so the Nikkes could sit on them. When they did, Cecil pulled up a menu on her tablet and let Six select his drink. He did, namely just a hard, no-addons black coffee. Cecil, however, picked something a little more fancy. Some sort of latte. She looked at him and smiled, "Makes sense you'd take your coffee black."
"If I am going to drink anything with caffeine in it, taste never bothers me. It's just added energy," He replied, then leaned against the table. With no decorum, nor care for it, he asked her, "Doc... What's got you so interested in me?" rather directly. To say Cecil's face glowed red, or that the shrill, high-pitched internal whine that Six was now hearing was loud, would be an understatement worth its weight in whatever coin was used for payments here in Eden. Whatever Six did to even elicit that reaction, he didn't want to know. For a woman of science, she seemed fairly hard to get a straight answer out of some times.
Eh, he could appreciate it. It made things a bit more interesting between them.