Sekirei: The Lost Wolf

by Helghast honored guard

The Lonewolf survived and made it off Reach .Now he finds himself trapped in another world, another time and another conflict. Up against a madman forcing a race of super powered aliens to fight to the death to bring a new age of the gods . (Six and Harem)

6. Chapter 6

Paying close attention to the map displayed on his HUD, Six made his way through the alleyways, using his active camouflage to hide in plain sight and directing his sekirei where to go.

Soon enough they found themselves in another long alleyway, at which point one of the twins decided to break the awkward tension that had fallen on the party.

"So, how long have you been winged?" Hibiki asked Toyotama.

Toyotama gave her a sidelong glance, suspicion clear in her eyes, "You trying to be friendly with me or something?"

"Oh, make no mistake. Like my sister I don't care much for you either. However, it doesn't mean I can't be civilized with you – right sis?" Hibiki explained, glancing at her sister who just huffed.

"Fair point. Well in that case, I winged myself on him last night."

Hibiki's eyebrows rose, "Only last night? How did the two of you meet?"

"He saved me from being dragged off to the Ashikabi of the East to be forcefully winged by him," Toyotama answered, a tone of bitterness in her voice.

Both Hikari and Hibiki's became shocked and horrified at the greenette's words.

"That's horrible. I heard he had a reputation of forcing sekirei to emerge," Hibiki mused before shuddering. "Being forcefully winged by a person who is not our destined ashikabi is the worst fate imaginable."

Even Hikari couldn't help but shudder a bit at the notion. "I wouldn't wish that on any sekirei even if they are my worst enemies."

"So, what happened?" Hibiki pressed.

"To make a long story short, Higa sent three of his sekirei to hunt me down and cornered me in the apartment complex I mentioned before. We duked it out, but I was outnumbered and tired, so it wasn't long before they had me on the ropes. Before they could try to drag me away however, this guy showed up and ended up defeating two weapon-types and even a strength-type. He saved me from a fate worse than death and I'm forever grateful to him," Toyotama explained, directing a loving smile at Six's back as they walked.

Hearing the greenette's story, the twins couldn't help but be disgusted at what could've been her fate. At the same time, they were in awe at the Spartan to hear he took on three sekirei and won, especially against one like a strength-type.

Stunned, Hibiki remarked, "Wow! I didn't think he could take on a strength-type, let alone three sekirei!"

Even the ever-stubborn Hikari was impressed, "I'll say. We've dealt with Higa's goons once before – persistent assholes. But my sister and I were able to get away from them."

"You've had run-ins before?" the weapon-user asked curiously.

"Couple of weeks back out while we were out hunting unwinged sekirei, we ended up becoming the hunted for once. A little electro-shock therapy made them reconsider, though," Hibiki replied, grinning a bit deviously which was shared by her twin.

"Speaking of that, who did Higa send after you since he wanted you so much?" Hikari queried.

Toyotama gritted her teeth at the memory, especially where it concerned the betrayal of her friend, " He sent Numbers eighteen, thirty-one and one-oh-one after me: Ichiya a strength-type sekirei, Sai another weapon-type that uses whips with blades attached at the end of them, and Oriha a weapon-type that can control disc blades."

Hibiki raised an eyebrow at that, "Ichiya, huh. With how close your numbers are I guess you two would've known each other?"

Toyotama scowled, her eyes darting to the side, "I thought we did."

The sisters felt a pang of sympathy for the younger sekirei, knowing full well what the Sekirei Plan did to those considered close.

Surprisingly enough, it was Hikari who tried to comfort her. "You know she was just following the orders of her ashikabi, right?"

Toyotama sighed. "I know she was. Still, it just hurts to know how far she was willing to go to bring me back to Higa…. Look can we drop this already? I don't want to talk about it."

Seeing that things were getting a bit heavy, Hibiki decided to change the subject.

"Well, if we have anything in common at least we avoided ashikabi that would've been the bane of our existence."

"What do you mean?" Toyotama asked, her curiosity piqued.

Hikari rubbed the back of her head, "Well we had an opportunity a while back to get winged, but we didn't take it."

"Why?"

The sisters looked at each other for a moment wondering who should tell this, "You want me to explain, sis?" Hibiki prompted.

Hikari shrugged, "Go ahead, you probably can tell this a lot nicer than I could."

Hibiki nodded and began, "Not long after we were first released we met this guy named Seo. At first he seemed like a pretty decent guy since he was willing to take us in, which netted him some favor with us since we didn't have a place of our own yet."

"Sounds awful nice of him, so why didn't you wing yourselves to him?"

Hikari folded her arms and spat to the side, while Hibiki grimaced a bit, "I was getting to that. He brought us to his apartment and when we first walked inside we noticed a few red flags. The place was bit messy and a little disorganized."

Hikari barked out a laugh, cutting off her sister, "A bit?! In the living room the table had nothing but empty beer cans on it! And we even found porn magazines hastily stuffed under the sofa seats – creepy bastard was probably trying to hide them from us before got there."

The pieces began to fall into place within the pole-user's mind and the result was rather bleak, to say the least. "…he was a bum wasn't he?"

"Please, that's being nice," Hikari retorted bitterly.

"And that wasn't the end of it. He had no money, no job, and we barely found any food in his fridge and cabinets. He'd been living off of food stamps…. He was a deadbeat," Hibiki went on, developing bit of a headache just thinking about the guy again.

A tick mark appeared on Hikari's forehead, a bit of electricity starting to radiate off of her, "Got to a point that we were starting to see behind the illusion since he started perving on me. I can't tell you how many times I caught him ogling my breasts, even tried to cope a feel and ended up with a violent shock for his troubles."

"So, we ended up ditching him since he was a creep and a freeloading leach," Hibiki concluded with a look that bespoke of relief but added with a note of disgust, "since we also learned he's been getting food from the home of his dead friend's widow."

"He's a real scumbag then," Toyotama declared with a scowl.

"Yep, he was the lowest of the low. If we did end up with him we would have faced hardships every day," Hikari remarked, idly imagining the future she and her sister would've had under him and shuddered.

For her part, Toyotama couldn't fathom herself with Higa either. The bond between an ashikabi and their sekirei was meant to be one of trust and of course mutual love. But given the feeling she got from Higa, she had the sinking notion that it wouldn't have been anything like what was expected of that magical connection.

Hibiki scoffed, "Knowing what we almost had for an ashikabi, it makes you wonder who is more dangerous: our fellow sekirei or the ashikabi themselves?"

Toyotama and Hikari nodded in agreement since ashikabi have proven to be more dangerous and unpredictable thus far – one being a broke pervert, and the other a corporate asshole.

"Yeah, we could've had it rough. However, I like to think we all ended up making the right choice for an ashikabi," Toyotama remarked, smiling at the Spartan leading the way in front of them. "He's rough around the edges but he is interesting, and he damn sure doesn't try to cop a feel…though, I wouldn't be against it, hehe."

As Toyotama went off in her own little world, the twins took their attention from her to the Spartan in front of them as they continued following him. In some ways they couldn't help but agree with the greenette. Despite the rough first encounter with each other and the absurd story Six and Athena told them, the twins couldn't help but feel they did make the right choice.

Noble Six for the most part was not part of their conversation, but he overheard all of it. From Higa of the East and this worthless excuse of a man the twins mentioned called Seo.

Unbidden, Carter's last words to him echoed in his mind.

"Six! That AI chose you... She made the right choice."

"That remains to be seen…." Six found himself muttering but quickly shook his head.

These thoughts served him not a shred of good. He needed to stay in the present, not the past.

Right now, he had a new mission: to put an end to this insane charade along with the madman responsible for it. Even if he was alone in the field without any support, that suited him just fine.

'Just like the simulations,' he thought wryly.

"You may not like it, but I think those girls are right. Out of all the Spartans who could've ended up here and with the record you have, I believe those girls are in good hands," Athena commented listening in on their conversation.

Not wanting to broach any further on the subject, he aimed to bring up another one, "That name they mentioned – this Higa of the East. I take it he's another major ashikabi like Mikogami?"

"Yes. I went ahead and perused the MBI records a bit and found his name slated alongside a designation: Ashikabi of the East. The three sekireis you fought last night were from Higa as well."

Six narrowed his eyes, already weighing the possibilities. If those three managed to report back to Higa, he would likely have to deal with the rest of his Sekirei instead of just three this time.

"Athena, dig up what you can on this Higa, his known sekirei and anyone working with them. If I'm going to have this Ashikabi of the East coming after me I want to be prepared."

"I'm already on it."

With Athena back to work, Six was left to his thoughts.

Thinking back to the AI he delivered to the Autumn, Six hoped that Captain Keyes and his crew found whatever the AI led them to. Hopefully it was a weapon powerful enough to finally defeat the Covenant. Much as he'd rather be back in his time and universe to see what the sacrifices of Noble team lead to, his part there was done.

But things were only getting started here it seemed.

"I will be honest though," Toyotama was saying, bringing him back to reality, "least your winging went lot smoother than mine."

Six cursed under his breath.

'Oh crap, here we go.'

"What do you mean?" Hibiki pressed, glancing at the taller Sekirei.

"Well how do I put this…," Toyotama started, rubbing the back of her head, "He …pulled a gun on me after we bonded.

"He what!?" Hikari and Hibiki shouted in perfect unison.

"Not going to let that go, are you?" Six grumbled with a bit of embarrassment in his voice.

Toyotama smirked at him, "Not a chance. I'm going to hold that incident over your head until we're both dead and buried. So be prepared for me to bring it up every so often."

Six just groaned in annoyance. And now he was being blackmailed until likely the end of their days…

'Wait, just how long am I going to be with her?'

Athena's chuckle broke him from his musings, "You certainly know how to make a first impression on a lady don't you, Spartan?"

Dodging her remark with practiced ease, Six demanded, "How long until we reach the factory?"

"Shouldn't be long now; I can bring up the map if you want."

Six simply nodded, studying the map with the intent of both figuring out their next move as well as drown out the cluster of mother hens behind him.

After recovering from her shock, Hibiki chuckled nervously, "Well that's an… unusual way for a sekirei and Ashikabi to bond."

"Unusual here having the meaning of uncalled for," Hikari snipped, aiming a glare at Six.

Toyotam shrugged sheepishly, "Well it was kind of my fault to be honest. I tricked him into taking off his helmet and faking a headache to get him close enough for a kiss," the sekirei admitted with an impish smile.

The twins both aimed sour looks at the spartan who had the sense to look a bit guilty.

"I'll simply say that I was still on alert after fighting off three other hostile sekirei… then seeing your wings I didn't exactly have the best response…. Can we not talk about this anymore?"

Unfortunately for him, the three Sekirei, for some reason they found his discomfort of the kiss-at-gunpoint incident adorable.

"Aww, is somebody a little shy?" Hikari teased with chuckle.

"I think it's kinda cute…in a really messed up sort of way," Hibiki remarked with dry smile.

"Definitely memorable!" Toyotama chirped with a grin.

'Kinda cute? On what planet would that be-? …oh, right. Aliens.'

"By the way sis, what do you think ever happened to that cosplayer we were hunting?"

"Hmm, good question I totally forgot about her," Hikari replied, scratching her head.

"Strange. Now that you bring her up, I can't help but feel like I've seen her before," Toyotama remarked, pursing her lips in thought.

Hikari scoffed dismissively, "Who cares? We're going have to hunt her down again before she's winged anyways."

Toyotama glared at Hikari, opening her mouth to fire off a scathing retort only for their ashikabi to break his silence.

"No, you won't."

Hikari's head snapped towards him, indignant, "What?! But if we don't take her out soon she'll-!"

"I'm well aware, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Six cut her off, imperiously. "As of right now your unwinged sekirei hunting licenses have just been revoked."

Hikari, not one to back down to any sort of authority, held her ground, "You're making a big mistake you know. If we don't take out any unwinged sekirei then we'll have bigger problems on our hands!"

"I'll be sure to take that under advisement. From now on, no more hunting of unwinged sekirei."

"Can we at least ask why we're not allowed?"

"Because I don't want to endorse that psycho's game and I don't plan to give him what he wants," Six answered tersely.

Hikari huffed, "You know sooner or later we're going to have to…"

Suddenly, Six came to a stop and with it the other three as well.

"Let me be clear. If you two go against my orders, there will be consequences – do you understand?"

With those four words, Six turned to stare at the sisters who gulped seeing their own reflections staring back at them from his visor.

It was an unnerving sight to say the least.

Toyotama couldn't help but smile. It warmed her heart to see her ashikabi looking out – in his own way – for other sekireis, giving them the chance to look for their destined ones without the fear of people like Hikari and Hibiki stalking them.

'You continue to prove that I made the right choice making you my master,' she thought fondly.

Now the only other things the unwinged would have to worry about are the despicable ashikabi of the East and the South who hunt them down only for their power.

However, what the Spartan and greenette didn't notice, was the sisters putting a hand behind their back and crossing their fingers.

---

Sahashi Minato watched the rise and fall of the brunette's chest, lying passed out like a rock on his bed. Turning away, he gave a sigh. Minato could barely believe what he'd seen earlier, or that he somehow managed to get her back here without any trouble.

Once more he replayed the events back in his mind again, hoping to make sense of it. This cute brunette had quite literally fallen into his lap, dragged him away running as fast as a speeding car, then he passed out from motion sickness. By the time he woke up she had laid him down on the soft grass on the bank of a waterway. She apologized profusely, then she passed out herself. Thus, he had to be the one to get her to somewhere safe which, as luck would have it, could only be his place.

'Okay... so a cute girl dressed like a miko falls from the sky, explosions, something soft- ahem, some crazy girls who shoot lightning from their hands... That green haired girl with a staff... and a 7-foot mecha-robot-thing that was somehow invisible.' Minato recited internally. 'I must be crazy, but it seems all too real...'

All of this seemed way out of his realm of comprehension. At first, he'd thought he might've stumbled into the shooting for a movie scene what with the explosions and cute girls showing up. But it wasn't, it was real – all of it!

One could look no further than the out-cold brunette lying on his bed to prove that fact.

However, he remembered something the girls had mentioned. 'An ashikabi… I wonder what the heck that is?' Minato wondered to himself.

The greenette seemed proud of it if nothing else, which was evident by what happened next.

'Is that what an ashikabi is: some sort of 7-foot tall robot?'

Minato didn't know what to think anymore, hoping today would be just some crazy dream and he would be waking up to take his college exam again.

Ring!

Ringtone blaring and feeling the vibrations in his pocket, Minato whipped out his phone and looked at the caller ID.

It was his mom.

"Wonder what she could want now? Hello, Mom?"

"Hey Minato," Takami greeted on the other end.

"Hey, um…gotta say, I wasn't expecting a call from you so soon."

"Well, I'm on my lunch break so I figured I'd call you to see how the exam went," Takami replied, which made Minato's stomach drop.

Minato gave a depressed sigh, "I didn't get in."

There was a long awkward silence on the other end of the phone, and Minato braced himself ready to hear his mother shout. Yet somehow, a shout would've been easier to handle than a simple:

"Well better luck next time I guess."

Minato was stunned she didn't yell at him like he expected "Um yeah… I see you're in a better mood today, since the last time I failed you were mad as hell."

"Oh I'm still pissed that you failed again, but let's just say I've got a neat little distraction at the moment," Takami chuckled a little bit on the other end still laughing at that fake article about Minaka.

Minato gave a mental sigh of relief; grateful she was in a much brighter mood. But in the back of his mind, he was wondering if he should tell her what he saw today. Biting the bullet, he went ahead and said, " Um…Hey mom can I tell you something?"

"Yeah?"

"I saw something..."

"Saw what? Get to the point, Minato."

"Uh.. well..." Minato hasn't considered how to say what he saw, since he gets nervous around his mother stuttering. Both his mother and little sister had always been domineering types and thus effectively made it hard for him to be confident around them. "You see, there was-!"

But Takami cut him off sharply, "Hold on, Minato - what did you say? Im on the phone... WHAT?! You lost them?! How can you lose them?!"

"Mom? what's going on?" Minato asked hearing the commotion on the other end.

"And now he has two more!?" Takami shouted again, completely ignoring him. "Sorry Minato I'll talk to you later, something just came up at work that I need to deal with. See ya."

"Mom wa-!"

CLICK.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Minato wondered to himself as he put his phone away.

Turning his attention back to the sleeping girl in his bed, Minato just sighed and collapsed on the floor on his back. "I hope this is all just a crazy dream," he muttered before he passed out on the floor exhausted after all the craziness he saw today.

---

"This is where we're staying? …a run-down car factory?!" Hikari exclaimed, looking at their new home through the fenced gate in front of them.

The sekirei looked upon the building's floorplan, equivalent to a three-story complex with another three-story brick building of offices on one end. All of them looked unsure of their ashikabi's choice in locale for their new home, but Hikari was by far the most vocal in her protests.

" I don't know about this. I thought you were taking us to like an apartment or a house or something… not an abandoned industrial complex," Hibiki remarked, frowning as she stared up at the rundown building.

Toyotama was also skeptical about the place but unlike the twins was a bit more accepting. "Well… least it looks better than the last place… hopefully there's no rats this time… When you said Athena found us a new home, I was expecting the penthouse I mentioned earlier not…well this."

"I'm with the stripper! A penthouse with an awesome view would've been kickass." Hikari protested with a huff.

"Who are you calling a stripper, battery?!" Toyotama yelled, whirling on the shorter sekirei.

As Hibiki tried once more to keep the two from killing each other, Athena gave a chuckle in Six's ear. "Kind of spoiled aren't they?"

The spartan said nothing as the realization of these girls' cirsumctances settled in. MBI had likely waited on them hand and foot all their lives, so now that they were out in the real world they weren't prepared for the dismal reality it really was. It was something the spartan fully intended on correcting at the earliest opportunity.

"In case it's not clear, I'm not exactly well off at the moment so a five-star hotel is a bit of a stretch," Six said aloud, getting their attention. "You all may not like it but this place suits me just fine. Truthfully, this might as well be a hotel compared to what I'm used to."

Grabbing the lock and chain on the fence, he tore it off with little effort and broke the chained lock, discarding it with a toss over his shoulder. With a push, the gates opened wide and admitted them entry.

For all his training, Kat had at least drummed into him the idea of being a gentleman, even if the concept was still as foreign to him as it was the day she taught him.

"Ladies first", the spartan said, gesturing them to go ahead.

"Oh, so polite," Toyotama giggled, batting her eyelashes at him as Hikari did the same. Hibiki for her part just smiled at him, while Six rolled his eyes inside his helmet.

With the girls in the lead, they walked through the entrance with six following right behind them, the spartan giving one last glance at the gate.

"You're sure we're off their scanners?" Six asked Athena. The AI appearing in a tiny window of his HUD.

"Don't worry big guy, I took care of it. I have them watching re-looped footage of you and the twins in that alleyway…Hmm, but it looks like they figured it out already, and now they are scrambling field agents to your last known locations as well as to the old place."

The window replaced Athena's profile, showing satellite surveillance footage of his old base with MBI vehicles parked outside. Men in suits came in and out of the building, and a number MBI soldiers were stationed around the perimeter with a group with them going into the building with the agents.

"Doesn't look like they appreciated our disappearing act," Athena added, her image replacing the video feed again.

"What's to stop them from tracking us down, then?"

"As I said don't worry about it. I'm hacked into those satellites hiding you and the others from their scanners. If they pass over here I can easily feed them old footage showing nothing but an empty lot," Athena assured her partner with a smirk.

Six smirked. Having a smart AI like Athena really was convenient. "Good work, I'm counting on you to keep us hidden and safe from their surveillance."

"You can count on me for anything big guy!" Athena cheerfully said.

Her enthusiasm still had him at a bit of a loss though, so all he could do was nod and catch up with the girls.

Soon enough they approached the door to one of the office buildings. While they weren't chained up like the gates, it was clear they hadn't been opened for some time.

" Now how are we getting in? I doubt these doors are unlocked," Hibiki complained, hands on her hips.

"Same way as before," Six said, moving to kick the door down with his foot.

"Hang on, Six," the AI spoke up, garnering the attention of the Sekirei also. "The roller-doors should be easier to resecure than this one. There's a one on the west-side you could lift up to get inside."

"Good idea. That will save me a bit of work."

Hikari huffed, "Can I ask you something? Do you always go around breaking into places like this?"

"It's the simplest way to get in,"Six said a bit defensively as he started walking to the west side of the building with his sekirei right behind him.

"He has a point, girls – although a broken door would let in the vermin Toyotama hates so much."

Developing a look of disgust, Toyotama shuddered a bit," I don't want to deal with that ever again." She only stayed one night in that rat-infested building but once was enough for her.

"I didn't think the apartment was that bad," Six protested.

"Says the fully-armored super soldier!" Toyotama spat, irritated. "Of course you wouldn't have a problem with it. You wouldn't even feel it probably!"

"You're just nitpicking now," Six sighed.

"And you, mister, have no respect for a woman's feelings!" Toyotama shot back, folding her arms as she glared at him.

Behind her, the twins nodded sagely at their fellow sekirei's words.

Feeling that discretion was the better part of valor, Six decided to leave things as they were and keep any further protests to himself.

Soon enough, Six and the trio stood in front of a huge, thick, and heavy loading bay door

"Athena, any chance you can open this thing?" Six asked the AI.

"Well Six I would, but the problem is the power is shut off for the whole building so you're going to have to open this thing manually."

Six nodded and walked up to the sliding door.

"Ok, I can have some suspense of disbelief you'd be able to break metal locks and kick in doors," Hibiki started to say, shaking her head, "but there is no way you can get this open yourself."

"There's no shame in asking for help, Master," Toyotama sneered at him, still obviously upset about his words from before.

Six, not even responding to their taunts, bent his knees and dug his fingers under the door. With little to no effort he started lifting it up, and a painful scraping sound filled the air as the top of the door was hauled up, forcing the girls to cover their ears with their hands to block out the noise.

After a few moments the horrible noise stopped, the girls uncovering their ears and saw Six hefting the heavy door just right at his shoulders.

"Anything you'd like to add?" Six asked, his voice not even showing the slightest bit of strain.

Six's sekirei were all blushing madly with Hikari openly gawking at him. Seeing him throwing punches like a sekirei was one thing, but this made it seem he had held back, as if there was nothing he couldn't lift... And it was unexpectedly hot?

"H-holy," Hikari murmured, swallowing hard.

Hibiki was about as red as a tomato, trying and failing not to gawk at her ashikabi.

Toyotama however…was eyeing him like a piece of meat, her heart hammering wildly in her chest. "You make it…really, really hard to be mad at you," Toyotama grumbled under her breath as she walked through the entrance. "Oi, come on you two!"

"R-right!" Hibiki snapped to reality once more, grabbing her sister's hand, "Come sis."

"Haah," Hikari mumbled, face flushed as she let Hibiki drag her through.

"…what's up with them?" Six wondered out loud, puzzled by their behavior

Athena scoffed, "Are you really that clueless? They are impressed with your strength. As they say women love a strong man. If I didn't know any better I figured you were showing off on purpose."

"You're imagining things," Six replied stoically, but didn't deny it outright. Once everybody was in he pulled the door back down, sealing off the way they came in.

Pitch darkness enveloped them.

"Well… this is great I can't see a damn thing!" Hikari complained not being able to see two feet in front of her.

"Calm down, let's see if we can find a light switch somewhere," Hibiki suggested blindly trying to fumble around for it.

"Even if you found it, without any power running through this place it wouldn't do a thing," Toyotama pointed out.

"Then why are we here if we don't have any power?!" Hikari complained.

Toyotama shrugged even though nobody could see it, "Well you guys are basically walking generators why don't you – KYAA!" Toyotama cut herself off with a squeal as something touched her.

"Hey I think I found something…. feels kind of squishy though," Hibiki commented as her hands touched something soft.

Even though nobody could see save for Six thanks to a certain augmentation which enhanced his vision even in the dark, Toyotama eyes squinted with a blush forming on her face, "Hibiki…those are my boobs…"

The second the words registered to her fellow sekirei, Hibiki yanked her hand off as if scaled," Ah!…Sorry about that!" Hibiki exclaimed.

Athena laughed gleefully in Six's ears, "Quite the wives you-"

"Stop calling them my wives," Six growled, making sure his helmet speakers were off so it was just him and Athena.

"Then what am I supposed to call them, Six?" Athena asked, glaring at him on his HUD.

What indeed. Thus far, Six had been so focused on figuring out how he was going to function in this new world that he'd almost neglected anything to do with the sekirei apart from what was absolutely necessary. That of course didn't mean he care about them, but all this talk of destined ones and such flew right over his head.

In the end, he settled for what accurately summed up their situation.

"Bonded partners."

Athena rolled her eyes, "Somehow I have a feeling they're not going like being referred to by that."

"They'll get over it," Six declared stoically, turning on his helmet lights to help the girls see in the dark.

"Finally, some light!" Hikari cried joyfully.

"Let's keep moving, and make sure to not get separated," Six commanded, taking the lead once more.

All three of them nodded and followed him as they continued with their trek through the abandoned complex.

Soon enough they found themselves traversing through the warehouse part of the building where the workers likely had kept supplies, evidenced by the boxes scattered about the area.

Not long after, Six was able to lead them out into the main assembly area where they saw a rows of paired robotic arms along conveyors and lots of empty space.

As expected a lot of the equipment was covered in dust and cobwebs here and there, but not too much. The place had been abandoned pretty recently it seemed.

"Everything looks intact, which is good. All it'll need is a bit of cleanup and this place will be good as new," Six stated, casting a critical eye over everything.

"Wait a sec. You're not expecting us to clean all of this, are you?" Hikari pressed, overhearing what Six said and looking at the massive room in front of them.

"Let's keep moving," Six said, ignoring her as he walked past.

"Hey! Don't just walk off like that, you big lug!" Hikari snapped, chasing after the spartan as the other two took up the rear.

The group walked to the other end of the building coming across a set of dual-swing doors, with a tall and narrow window with safety-wires through the glass that were partially covered in sheet stainless steel to prevent wear and tear.

"Is there any other way inside?" Six inquired.

"Not really, unless you want to break one of the windows outside."

Six sighed. Guess that left him little options then. "Alright, stand back you three."

"What are you going to do?" Toyotama asked.

"Improvise," was all the spartan uttered before giving a sharp kick to the door, sending it flying inward bolts and all. "Come on."

Had he glanced back just then, he would've noticed the blushes each of the women were sporting.

At this point they knew he was beyond human… It was just difficult to get used to the sight of another being that has superhuman abilities other than a sekirei – especially from one who claims to be from a few hundred years in the future of some other reality.

But that wasn't a complaint; if anything, it was one hell of a perk that made their ashikabi quite a catch.

"If there's one thing I can't wait for, it's to get him out of that armor," Toyotama remarked aloud, her voice thick with desire.

"Same here," they said in perfect sync, drooling a bit as they imagined him without that armor of his making bodybuilder poses.

Six, despite being a good distance away, picked up everything they were saying because of his hearing enhanced hearing. Deciding not to comment on it, he barked out, "Are you three coming or just going to gawk all day?"

They almost scrambled through the door at that.

Continuing down another hallway, they came across another door but this one had a set of maglocks. With the power off, there should've been no conventional way to get this thing open.

So Six kicked the door in, sending it swinging wide-open and breaking the locks on them.

"Surely you don't intend to break down every door we come across," Hibiki deadpanned. "

Six just shrugged, "Anything broken can be fixed up better than before later."

Hibiki found she couldn't argue with that logic, and neither could Athena.

The group made their way inside, stopping to take a look around the place. Surprisingly, the interior felt more like an actual home with carpeting, appliances, etc.

"Well now, this looks way better than what I was expecting. Is this place really our new home? " Toyotama wondered, giving the place a good once over, "Still, is this really going to be our new home? I wasn't expecting to live out the rest of my days in a factory of all places."

"I have my doubts about this place too. And all that stuff you broke on the way in doesn't ease my anxieties," Hibiki stated folding her arms under her chest.

Hikari gave a strong nod, throwing in her two cents. "Of all the places you could've picked out to live in, why did you decide on this anyways. There are literally thousands of other areas in the city we could choose from! Why here?"

"We're staying here – end of discussion!" Six declared, turning towards them with a clenched fist. Calming down a bit, he gave a sigh, "Look, I understand it's not much right now but give me some time. With your and Athena's help, this will be the secure place in the city. And I'm sure MBI can pay for the materials expenses after all."

The three alien women took in everything he said. All three looked at one another unsure of his words. Finally, Hibiki spoke up.

"Where do we start?"

But Six shook his head, "Let me take a look around first. In the meantime, you try to get this place cleaned up a bit and I'll return soon."

The trio nodded and set about their tasks while Six headed out to scour more of the facility. In a matter of minutes, they had the place somewhat tidied up and each took a seat on some of the chairs that had been left gathering dust.

"We certainly know how to pick our destined ones," Hikari remarked sullenly.

"It could be worse," Hibiki remarked, crossing one leg over the other.

"How so?"

"We could be working for Higa," Toyotama pointed out grimly.

Hikari winced, "Fair point. I still think our ashikabi has got a few screws loose."

"Hikari!" Hibiki chided her sister.

"What? It's true! I'll bet he doesn't even consider us in a romantic sense either."

"You might be right," Toyotama cut in, determination glowing in her eyes. "So we need to change that."

"And just how do we do that?"

Toyotama's grin turned devious, and it sent a chill down the twins' spines, "Simple: we peel back that armor of his and see who's really under it."

---

Leaving the hens to tidy up the lobby, Noble Six explored the offices wing of the factory. Looking though lot of empty cubicles, utilities, and even a kitchen/cafeteria, he took the scenic routes to leave no stone unturned. Midst the dust, copy paper, and ceramic mugs, he found the conference room.

"This would serve as our command center." Six thought aloud to Athena. As if on cue, the hanging projector snapped off the remain wisp of wiring. It slammed into the dusty meeting table in a mushroom cloud of chocking soot. Fortunately, Spartan helmets easily filtered it out of his inhalations. "Once we install proper equipment."

Athena signaled green though his HUD. "While we're exploring the facility, want me to give you the rest of my SiteRip?"

"Yes, you stopped at Mikogami." Six recalled, leaving the conference room to get the layout of the premises "What do you have on him?"

"Bringing up his file now."

Athena's avater vanished to windows of the data she had acquired. From the stream of bits, she enlarged a portrait of slim teenage boy - average height, brown hair and hazel eyes, a predominately white and gold formal suit. At a glance at the image as Six guessed Mikogami came from wealth.

"A kid?" Six spoke up.

"Yes, rather unexpected, though he looks younger than his birth certificate suggests." Athena shared.

Six was taken aback, if only a little, to find a child among his list of potential threats. While the Insurrectionists used whatever means, including child soldiers, he hoped the relatively peaceful humanity of this universe would not stoop down to those levels. Regardless, it was no issue for the Spartan, and would never be.

"What do you know?"

Athena scrolled through a montage of thumbnails, showing off all data she had looted from MBI's network servers. "Mikogami Hayato. Age 15, born November 3, 2005. His parents are fifth generation lawyers - successful ones too - with a combined net-worth in the high millions, USD. He is a straight-A student, skipped one grade. Smart kid." Six had to admit he was a little impressed with the kid with his performance in school. Could rival a Spartan 2 candidate in mental acumen. "Not another supposed 'super genius' like Minaka?"

"He has a high IQ but it's not to the levels of Halsey or Minaka-the-Mental." Athena reasoned.

Six nodded as he entered another cell, the corner of his lip tugged at the nickname. The room he entered was locker room, walls lined with narrow cabinets, back-to-back in two rows. Beyond them, he saw a bank of shower cubicles at the far end. Toyotama and the Lightning-Twins would be happy about this discovery, he was sure.

"Another thing I found here is his psychological evaluation. From MBI's observations, it seems like to be a typical spoiled rich kid. Even has the neglectful, busy parents." Athena answered. "He seems reasonably independent, save for the few maids and the butler on his parents pay-roll for the mansion he lives in. Also from what MBI has seen, Mikogami has a big interest in video games of all kinds of titles purchased and played to various levels of completion. He has been pro-active in Minaka's Sekirei-Game too, targeting the new-releases and building up his - I quote - collection - unquote, and organizing them into hunting parties."

"He's actually trying to win this sick experiment?"

Athena's avatar appeared and nodded. "Mikogami has a large number of Sekirei, second only by a narrow margin to Higa. Both Ashikabi sent squads of Sekirei to capture the Unwinged as they were added to the game. Mikogami even has territorial patrols set up, composed of two or three Sekirei. The kid has plenty of strategy-game experience, but Higa either matches him or simply copies his formations."

Six grunted his displeasure. "Never thought a kleptomanic, completionist gamer would make trouble for me. Keep updates of their patrol routes for openings we can exploit."

"Will do. And for the record, Mikogami's Sekirei occasionally out-pace or defeat Higa's Sekirei. Terminations are rare, but it would seem they to perform better."

"Hmm, superior combatants? Small unit tactics?" the Spartan offered.

"Having a single-number like Mutsu in his ranks certainly tips the odds in Mikogami's favor considering how powerful they are… however I still wouldn't rule out the Eastern-Sekirei just yet. I'll get to them once we're done with the report of the Southern-Ashikabi." Athena said.

Six nodded as he went towards the showers. His hand, capable of snapping an Elite's neck gripped and gingerly turned the knob.

No water.

"Looks like we're gonna need to get the water running too. Hope the piping isn't compromised." Six said leaving the locker room. Walking down the hallway again Six couldn't help but comment. "This Mikogami reminds me of someone."

"Damon A161 of Delta squad?" Athena chirped.

" How did you guess?"

Athena chuckled. "I downloaded your files back on Reach. I know all about the mission on Barilia. I didn't know you worked with another Spartan team before Noble team, but turns out you did."

"I wouldn't say worked with them." Six replied. "Went in with the impression they were all dead, but we managed to survive together against the odds in that forsaken jungle."

The Spartans of Delta team, he had to admit they were an interesting bunch - well, it's four surviving members at least. If any of them had to take the cake it was probably Spartan A161, the team technician and engineer. For a Spartan, Damon was rather negative and sarcastic, with a nihilistic sense of humor. The sort that rub those around him the wrong way, even to his own squad mates. He spoke his mind freely, barbs often annoyed and sometimes even hurt others, even superior officers. Mikogami's background was eerily similar. Damon also came from a rich family of lawyers, high IQ, straight A student in school. Hearing possible neglect, he wondered if this Mikogami resented his parents like Damon?

The only Spartan III Six knows that didn't join the program out of vengeance, unlike so many other children orphaned by the covenant. Six still remembered what Damon said to him in one of the moments when they had some downtime when they weren't constantly fighting for their lives: "I didn't join out of vengeance for the death of my parents. For all I care, fuck-em! The inheritance was worth avenging, not them! Besides, when they ask me to join, I said 'why the hell not' and signed. I figured being a super soldier would interesting, giving me the opportunity to tinker with all sorts of technology, human or alien ."

'I wonder how he and the rest of the team are doing right now?' Six wondered to himself. The last he heard of Delta team they were stationed on Onyx.

Back in the Halo universe:

Location: somewhere on Onyx.

"Achoo! Ah... oh shit, so damn hard to clean the inside of recon-visors! Damnit!"

Back in the Sekirei universe with Six:

Putting that thought to rest, he continued down the hallway. "Athena, any chance you can give me a waypoint to the power?"

"Sure." Six made his way to the her markers. Athena's popped up on his HUD again. "You know, once we turn the power on it's going to attract attention of anyone monitoring the local power grid. Once they see power is not paid for this section. They'll send somebody over here. MBI will know where we are."

"Can you hide us?"

"I can hide electronic records pertaining to the building and obfuscate with the monitoring gear, but there is no hiding that more power is being drawn than before. A proper audit will blow our cover. If we keep it to lights and appliances we may go unnoticed for a while, but kick up the factory and everyone will notice. I would recommend portable generators if you want to power up the whole factory, unless you can convince the twins to power the whole facility for you?"

"I doubt they'd wouldn't appreciate being used like that. MBI might have some generators we could "requisition." Six emphasized

Athena's avatar smirked.

Back at the lobbywith the girls:

Bored waiting around for their Ashikabi to return, the trio decided to explore the office building for themselves, roaming through the hallways and exploring empty office rooms.

"Actually, this doesn't seem so bad. It would make a decent apartment or dorm if the factory wasn't attached to this place." Toyotama idly commented, standing in the middle of an empty room after taking stock of the place.

"I still say we should've went with your penthouse idea." Hikari complained leaning against the inside of the door with her arms folded across her chest. "It would've been a hell of a lot better than this dump!"

"Sis, he probably had his reasons, so let's be patient with him in the meantime." Hibiki reasoned from another room.

Her sister huffed. "Whatever."

"Don't be so moody, Double A. Lighten' up a bit." Toyotama joked.

The oldest twin groaned angrily. "Will you stop nicknaming me? Stripper."

Toyotama's smirk broadened. "You know? You act like an emotionally stunted 12-year old at times. I see why your sisters always worries about your tendencies. Being provoked so easily? I find it kind of funny."

"You-"

"Hikari, back off!" Hibiki butted in suddenly as she wandered into the room. "She is trying to get under your skin so you lose points with our Ashikabi!"

Number-11 stared blankly at her twin for a moment, taken completely off-guard. "Hibiki..."

"Toyotama, quit pushing her buttons." Number-12 continued with a stern glare. "If you piss her off and come to blows this whole factory will come down around us, and that will make our Ashikabi mad."

The greenette bit her lip and averted her gaze, unwilling to risk losing her own temper after being called out.

With her fun ended, the staff Sekirei suggested "Now, can we look though the closets on this floor for any cleaning supplies?"

For a moment it seemed like Hikari was primed and ready to strafe Number 16 with repudiation and electric discharges, but ultimately about-faced and left for separate areas of the building. Hibiki let out a ragged sigh and let her head fall back.

"Hurry back, Six. I don't know if I can keep this cold war from going nuclear."

A sudden loud smashing sound roared through the halls making Hibiki flinch. Sounded like a metal door being forcefully kicked opened off its hinges. Hibiki turned in the direction of the noise.

"And there goes another door." Hibiki sighed.

The loud bang didn't go unheard by Toyotama and Hikari flinched at the sudden loud bang, both regrouped with Hibiki. Hikari and Toyotama frowned at one another returning, and both of them huffed at one another.

"The hell's he doing?" Hikari voice for them all, folding her arms across her chest and staring in the direction where they heard the bang.

"Should we… go see if he needs help with anything?" Toyotama suggested staring in the same direction .

Hibiki shook her head. "Eh, leave him be. Lets just let him continue … whatever he's doing."

With that said Hikari and Toyotama nodded in agreement with her and went back searching through the empty rooms in closet.

Back with Noble Six:

Noble 6 reached the waypoint marked on his HUD, it brought him before a locked metal door.. A small peek window at eye level allowed Six to see inside. There were plenty of cabinets with viens of cables running along the ceiling. Six reared himself back and Spartan kicked the door, with the enough force to give a Brute pause, he sent it flying off its hinges. The offending slab of metal sprawled out the middle of the room.

"Don't care for knocking, do you?" Athena teased. This was the third door he kicked opened.

Six strode in. "Athena, talk to me. What am I doing?" the super soldier made to the closest locked metal cabinet and peeled. Not popped out, not removed, not even unlocked. No, peeled the metal plate covering like tin foil.

"In short, since we're only restoring power to the office building. All you need to do is mess with two cabinets flips some switches. Then hit office fuse-box and flip everything."

"Simple enough. Which one?" Six asked "Theres two dozen of them in this room alone."

Athena tilted her head to one said. "Hold on, I'll paint the correct ones."

Six nodded, then proceeded. "I believe we were up to Higa of the East in your intel report?"

"Yes." the AI virtually nodded on his HUD. Two cabinets were highlighted red though his visor. This AI partner highlighed each part as he manipulated the controls as per her walkthough.

While working, Athena enlarged an image of a young man of average height and build, seemingly in his mid-late 20s, wearing a elaborate, pure white suit with a white dress shirt underneath the jacket, a black tie, matching dress pants, and black dress shoes. He has short brown hair and grey eyes.

"He almost seems kind of cute." She cooed.

"Intel?"

"Okay, he actually CEO of Hiyamakai Enterprises, owns a hospital of the same name, and currently has the most winged Sekirei."

"Really want to win this sick competition?" Six wondered aloud as he shifted between cabinets Athena highlighted switches.

"I think it's more of a personal reason why he has that many." Athena replied.

"Explain."

"Hiyamakai Enterprises is primarily a pharmaceutical company and infamous for a bitter rivalry with MBI. Minaka has been blowing them out of the water with all the new medicines and technologies derived from the alien technology. He probably joined this competition to get back at MBI. No doubt he's going to be the most dangerous in this fucked up game." Athena summarized. "Of course this is MBI's data I've used to draw these conclusions, so expect bias and I miss what they miss."

Six nodded, flipping a few switches on the cabinet "Another spoiled rich kid born into money like Mikogami? I think we figured the demographic of Minaka's "game"."

"Not much in his psychological profile. MBI marked him down as stern, serious, stoic demeanor. That's about it." Athena said.

"Makes sense. As a corporate CEO, he should be well trained in facial & body language control. Business poker-face." Six stated. Six may not know business himself, but he understood businessmen reasonably well. CEOs like this were similar to top rank command staff in a way, keeping their emotions in check as they made serious and weighty decisions. Six learned a lot of strange things thanks to his tenure with ONI.

Athena nodded in agreement. "True. Overhearing the conversation of the girls, I did confirm Higa has hunting parties patrol and pursuit Unwinged Sekirei to be forcibly brought back to him and added to his collection - or arsenal. Take your pick."

"So when I rescued Toyotama…" the Former Headhunter lead.

"Yes, you saved her from one of these parties. You can see why she's grateful to you."

For some reason, it stirred something within him. What happened last night... he had flashes going through his head, watching her getting beaten savagely down to the ground, threatening to be dragged away. To know it was this creep that ordered it? Six clenched his fist and for some reason he had a desire to shoot Higa on sight.. Veterans, no, survivors of Covenant attacks would recall their comrades being dragged off by Elites to be made sport in ritualistic combat, thrown into packs of Jackals to be torn apart by the disgusting scavengers, or worst, the Brutes. Few are ever-so versed in the perverse interest Brutes have in "live prey".

Six found his composure again and spoke up. "I want regular updates on hunting parties. I'm putting an end to it."

"Roger. I'll keep you posted." Athena acknowledged.

" Is there still more on Higa?" Six said, finishing up with another cabinet and moving on.

"Well, Higa does have a second in command." Athena replied, bringing up another image on his HUD.

A tall, relatively slim built, black-haired and hazel-eyed man who wears spectacles, a black suit with a white shirt underneath and a yellow tie. "Kakizaki (no last name or first name? Can't tell). He is Higa's secretary. I learned he is also an Ashikabi bonded to number 22, Kochou. A brain type similar to number 2, Matsu."

Athena displayed an image of that particular Sekirei. A short grey hair and violet eyes framed with red half-moon glasses.

"According to his psychological profile from MBI observations, Kakizaki appears to be completely obedient towards Higa."

Six hummed curiously. "How long has he served Higa?"

"All their lives, it seems. Their families have been allies for a life-time, so naturally two boys of the same age got to know each other. They've been a pair through schooling till now. Higa leads, Kakizaki follows. Like a dog."

Six recalled of how close Noble Team was. Those Spartans had been working together for years. When he came into the team they were cautious of him since he was a stranger coming into their pack. After the massacre of his home world Six never got close to anybody, not even during the early days in Beta Company. He barely talked to anyone, much less, the other recruits during training - kept to himself. and worked his ass off. He was deployed for a special mission away from Beta Company, when they got wiped out.

Now with the three Sekirei on his hands... he didn't know. What to make of them, what to do about them, or anything else. He felt responsible for them but regretted getting involved... 'but what's done is done', as the saying went. Thinking about it further, it was nice to have backup. They didn't have Spartan-like abilities, but no UNSC servicemen shied away from support. That was the easiest way for him to think of them at the moment.

Still… to think he would think of aliens this way, all the years of bloodshed with the covenant. Never thought he would ally himself with non-humans… Maybe, or despite, how human they appeared and acted, it put him at ease, if a bit. For now, he would just have to get used to their presence. Hopefully after eliminating that madman, he would find a way to sever their symbiotic bond and let them find who someone marr-, *cough* bonded to, instead of with him. If he could find a way back home... What ONI would do with them? To them?

Six flipped the last switch, then "closed" the cabinet. By close, he crumpled the edges of the metal sheet around to cabinet like tinfoil on takeout.

"Looks like it's all in order." Athena reported. "You just need to find two smaller cabinets stacked vertically. flip all of the switches in the upper cabinet."Six gave her a nod and complied.

"Athena, do me a favor?"

"Hm?"

"Look into MBI's research on Sekirei symbiotic bonds with their Ashikabi."

"Can I ask why?"

"I want to find a way how to break these bonds and let these girls choose freely." Six said as he opened the indicated cabinet.

"Should I look up a divorce lawyer?" Athena teased.

"In a sense," he shrugged. "After this whole mess is over, I'll let them be with somebody of their choice."

Athena pouted. "You're gonna piss them off like that, Six."

"I know. This is for the best. Also say we somehow make it back to UNSC space and link up with friendly forces again, what ONI would do to them?… What would she do to them?" Six left the thought unfinished, then tended to the switches.

"I see." Athena acknowledged. "If anything concrete comes up, I'll let you know."

"Thanks."

The lights flicked wavered a bit, but stayed on in the power room.

"Let there be light!" Athena announced as Six closed the cabinet, not crumpling this one.

"Now we just need to get the plumbing working." Six stated.

"There is a tap in a box set into the ground road-side, the pipe splits off from the main for the suburb. Then there are all the taps around the building, a master tap in the building that turns everything off, and an isolated pump house dedicated to the sprinkler system with its own master tap. Don't think we need bother with the sprinklers yet, might draw attention." Athena informed him.

Athena drawn up way points for the Spartan to follow. Six nodded his thanks. "Anything else?"

"Yes, I don't know how well you know about plumbing. There are sensors that sends out signals to the utility company. If MBI owns the city, I recommend disarming it before we turn on the pumps."

"Okay." Six acknowledged. "Athena, contact the others and tell them we restored power."

Athena worked her magic to get access to the phone network. After a moment of listening to dial-tone Toyotama answered the call.

"Hello?"

Before Athena could greet her Six interrupted. "Toyotama, it's me. We just restored power to the office building."

"Six? How did you…. you don't even have a cell phone?"

"Athena accessed your phone." Six plainly stated.

"Future Super Soldier Magic, got it. So you said you restored the power?" Toyotama asked on the other end.

"Yes, turn on nearby light switch you'll see." Six instructed.

"OK." Toyotama replied on the other end.

"Who's callin'?" Six heard Hibiki on the other end of the phone.

"It's Six, just told me they turn the power on." Toyotama answered.

"They did?" Six hearing Hikari reply.

"Well let's see." Toyotama replied.

After a few moments of waiting for an answer. "Ha! They did! " Toyotama crowed happily.

"Hooray! We're aren't homeless!" Hikari shouted happily too.

"Yes the lights are working here." Toyotama reported over the phone.

"Thank god." commented Hibiki.

"Good. We're going to try the plumbing next" Six replied.

"That's great! I hope you get on soon because we just found a shower rooms. I need a long hot shower after today." Toyotama said.

"Same here." the Lightning-Twins chimed.

Six blinked. "Wait, you're not back in the lobby?"

"We got bored waiting for you, so we kind of went exploring." Toyotama replied.

"I see. Where are you now?"

"Right now we're just exploring the office rooms, not too far from where we found a locker room." she explained.

"Okay, I know where. Give me a couple minutes and I'll have water running soon."

"Do you need any help? " Toyotama asked.

"I think I can handle it by myself." Six replied back.

"Are you sure?" Toyotama nagged. "We can help you know."

"No, I can handle this on myself."

"Please, you're our Ashikabi. We just want to help." Toyotama pleaded.

Six took a deep breath decided to let Toyotama have her way. "Fine, but I'll take an extra pair of hands, decide amongst yourselves."

"Thank you! I'll be right-"

"Hold it right there." Hikari spoke up. "Who says you should be the one to go? You spent more than a day with him alone already. Let one of us have a turn!"

"Oh yeah, C-battery? You want a…"

"Hold it!" Hibiki jumped in. "I have a peaceful way to resolve this. How about we just do a simple game of rock paper scissors? Whoever wins helps our Ashikabi."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a "Sure" from Toyotama and a "Fine…" snarled Hikari.

"OK here we go." Hibiki said.

"Jan!" The three alien babes chorused.

"Ken!"

"PO!" All three shoot their gestures out.

"I won!" announced a happy Hikari.

Six heard Toyotama groan, so he spoke up before she could start anything. "Toyotama, stay where you three are. I'll be there to regroup on you."

"See you when you get here." Toyotama ending the call. With that, Six left the power room, heading towards their location and with the help of Athena tracking Toyotama's cell phone.

"For future reference people don't like it when you talk over them" Athena admitting her displeasure when he talked over her.

" Understood."

Athena added "Also, with one of the twins helping us we could…."

"Fry the sensors" Six finished her train of thought, having had a similar idea himself.

"What did I say about talking over others." Athena mock scolded.

"People don't like it." Six sassed.

Not long later, Six caught up with the trio of xenos waiting outside the hallway patiently.

Hikari and Hibiki standing in the middle of the hallway and Toyotama with her back leaning against the wall with a bit of a miffed look on her face, clearly not happy she didn't win Rock Paper Scissors. Not that he really needed her for his current task.

"There you are." Hikari said with a smile on her face.

"Kept you waiting?" Six asked on approach them.

"Not really, we've only been waiting out here for a few minutes." Said Hibiki.

"I see. I thought I stationed you three in the lobby."

"We got bored and decide have a look around ourselves. Figured it wouldn't hurt to pick out our rooms and maybe clean up a bit, while you were doing your thing." Hibiki explained.

"Hm. Very well, Hibiki and Toyotama, continue your patrol. Hikari, you're on me." Six ordered.

His Sekirei nodded, acknowledging his orders. Hikari followed Six and Hibiki turned to the opposite direction. Toyotama shot the oldest twin a glare, watching her walk away with Six. Hikari felt the greenette's glare and gave her a one finger salute and a saucy smile. Toyotama shook her fist back.

Toyotama felt a hand touch her shoulder. "Come on, Toyotama. We got work to do. No need for you and my sister to continue fighting." Hibiki implored, trying to stop the weapon user from doing something stupid.

"Ugh, Fine."

Hibiki found herself defusing another situation, so she couldn't help but sigh. 'This is why we never wanted to share our Ashikabi with another Sekirei.' the youngest twin internally said to herself. In the end that misfortune came true. Toyotama was definitely the aggressive type who wasn't afraid to butt heads with her sister. Hopefully some point in the future Hikari and Toyotama would make some type of peace with each other, Hibiki hoped.

Back with Six and Hikari:

"So... we doing other than turn on the water?" Hikari walked backwards before Six, her arms tucked behind her back and bust swinging.

"Before we get the plumbing online,I need you to fry the sensor for me so it won't alert utility company."

"Ain't that illegal?"

"I wouldn't worry about legality so much as practicality. Fall in."

Six said walking out of the lobby doors and into the main factory with Hikari following right behind him. He turned on his helmet lights to help see again.

"Thought you got power back on. Why is it dark in here?"

"We've restored power to the office buildings, for now. If we turn on the rest of the factory, our position will be compromised." Six explained. "Especially to our enemies."

"Hmm, Makes sense." Hikari shrugged.

Not long later the two made it to where they had all entered the factory. Like before, Six put his hands under the roller-door and lifted it up, causing that loud screeching sound again. The older of the twins had to cover her ears until it was over, at which point she couldn't help but blush as she walked outside.

"How much can you lift?" Hikari curiously asked, admiring his…form and technique.

Six put down the door thought about for a second, it wasn't classified material. "Inside the armor I can lift a car. Outside the armor I have the strength of three humans put together." Granted what six considered a "car" is a militarized armored warthog with a full payload of armor and heavy weapons, and "three people" were three spartans.

Hikari raised an eyebrow. "How much is that?"

"Classified."

"C'mon!"Hikari said in annoyance while following him. "Can't you give me a straight answer?"

Six said nothing and just continued walking.

"Yeah, fuck me then." She sighed.

As they closed in on the gate entrance, checking the corners were clear, six walked out of the gate and follow the waypoint Athena handily provided. Following it a few minutes and avoiding the field-of-view from wandering urban explorers and civvies on their daily commute, Six and Hikari arrived at their destinations - the road-side. Six pointed out the sensor to his electric alien,. Hikari's extended her index-finger and in a purple light, flashed fried the offending device. The sensor's plastic casing practically vaporized into nasty black smoke while what remained was charred and slagged beyond repair.

With that done Six brute-forced the spigot - almost too-small for his hands - to open the valve. Thanks to the silence of the street Six's ear did pick up the sound of water shifting. "That should do it." Six noted aloud, then beckoned for Hikari to follow as he walked back toward the building. "Now, there's one master-tap to open. Remember where it is, Hikari, so that if any of the pipes inside break or leak you can hurry out here to easily turn them all off."

The Sekirei blinked & straightened her posture. "How will I know there is a leak?"

"Usually puddles, sounds of dripping, sudden dampness." he shrugged. "We aren't done just with just the water flow. We need to turn on every tap inside to flush the pipes."

"What for?"

"If there is any stagnant water in the pipes, do you want to wash with or or drink it?" Athena's feminine voice rang through Six's helmet speakers. "Now that we got rid of the sensor, I can't tell what's going on with pressure or flow in the pipes, so if there is a leak you all are going to find it the hard way."

"Hopefully all the pipes are working, because I know shit-all about fixing plumbing." Hikari admitted.

"Well then, let's do this then head back and inspect them."

Hikari nodded and followed him. Athena marked down where master tap was. Hikari asked if she could be the one to turn it, wanting to be much more helpful than just zapping a water sensor, secretly wanting be have one up Toyotama, in trying get on their Ashikabi's good side. Deciding to humor her, Six let her try to turn the valves. Happy he let her have her way, Hikari walked up to the master tap and tried turn it. It wasn't long she starting to regret her decision. She was having a rough time. Damn thing wouldn't budge!

It was one of these moments she actually wished she was a strength type. Before she could lose her temper, Six simply put his hand on the valve and eased it for the Thunder twin. Hikari didn't want to admit it but she blushed in embarrassment since her Ashikabi elected to help her. A nice bonus was the firm grip of his hand on her own. She meekly thanked him as she turned it the rest of the way. Once that was done, Six ordered Athena again to contact Toyotama and Hibiki to have they turned on all the taps they could find around the offices to get the dirty and stale water drained out of the pipes. Once all the brown disgusting water was gone and replaced with clear clean water the girls cheered, which Six didn't understand.

Regardless of Sekirei behaviour, their headquarters was up and running again, at least the office wing portion.

With everybody getting hungry and the clock just passed noon they all decided to have lunch together. Hikari and Hibiki went out and bought some cheap folding chairs and table. Everyone sat around the table with the exception of Six who decided to stand since a literal ton of the armor and Spartan three would crumple the chair. Toyotama dump out the groceries they got earlier on the middle of the table. The greenette was hesitant to share their supplies with the twins since this was meant to be for him and her. The electric duo unexpectedly joined them, she momentarily considered refusing to give any to them, just to piss off the twins. However, something told Toyotama being petty would be counterproductive. Her Ashikabi, she felt, wouldn't appreciate childishness. She elected to just let the twins have their share.

It was mostly snack foods like chips, snack cakes and a few kinds packaged bread. Without power in the burned-out wreck they were squatting in, she brought foodstuffs ready to eat out of the package. Now that the power was working in the factory this could be the last 'MRE' meal. Next on the itinerary, she hoped was to get a refrigerator and cooking appliances. She surely was looking forward to impress Six with her cooking. Certainly.

While everybody ate. Six popped off his helmet to eat some bread rolls

There was another awkward silence between the group as they were eating. All three women drank in his exotic features, rugged yet pale as the porcelain. He could pass off as a classical age Greek statue. Toyotama after swallowing her food, yes her food NOT HER THIRST, decided to ask just to break the silence.

"So… what is the year 2552 look like in your world?"

The greenette's question caught interest immediately.

"Yeah, tell us about the future big man." Hikari asked in her own way.

"And since you said you're from another reality, I don't think what you're gonna tell us will affect this one all that much." Hibiki said.

Hikari nodded in agreement with her sister. "Is it like the movies? Hover cars, laser guns and all that cool shit?"

Six before he could say the word 'classified' Athena whispered to him from his helmets internal speakers. "Six, I don't think it would hurt to tell them, so long as we avoid anything critical or sensitive."

Six pondered for a moment and decided. "All right."

The girls became excited hearing his reply. They anxiously waited to hear about the future.

"You want me to do the explaining again big guy?" Athena queried openly.

Six gestured her to go ahead, silently relieved.

"Pay attention ladies!" the AI's synthesized voice projected from his removed helmet. "Professor Athena, will now start the lecture" she took a moment of amusement, at the collective dissapointment. 'Girls really wanted to get him talking'. Athena begin to explain like a history of the UNSC to the class... before that history started.

For the next few minutes the girls learned a lot from Athena. From technology improvements in medicine, Cybernetic limbs, Biofoam, and many other different achievements of 'the future'. Rather similar to MBI in respect to the medical field here from some of the things they've heard. Hibiki asked about bioaugmentation's, since their Ashikabi mentioned he was a biologically enhanced soldier, to which Six ended with "Classified", her disappoint was immeasurable. Athena was answering Hikari's questions about laser guns and flying cars. Telling her the UNSC haven't invented those just yet. Sort of. There was the Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, which technically used laser technology and technically a gun. And there was the Covenant series of military vehicles, such as the Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle, aka the Ghost. She did not share details of the alien species they encountered, much less their war with humanity, and the tools in total human extinction. But for the most part, they are still using wheels for cars and they are still using projectile weapons, telling them Noble six's MA37 still fires the 7.62×51mm ammunition used in modern machine guns of the universe apparent.

It was a little disappointing for them to learn the cars and weapons hadn't changed much in 500 years.

What really fascinated them was when Athena told them about a humanity colonizing planets across the stars with the discovery of slip space technology in 2291. Because of the Shaw-Fujikawa drive humanity was able to colonize over 800 worlds in a span of over 200 years. The girls stunned in amazement to hear humanity at this point built a star spanning empire like this. Athena explained humanity found and colonized many habitual planets throughout the cosmos, each of them serving a purpose. Some planets like Harvest were used as farming planets, productive enough to feed an entire solar system. Though, she omitted mentioning its tragic fate. Others like Arcadia, served as vacation planets tropical resorts. Shipyards built on planet or in space ports would churn out fleets furthering the size and reach of the UEG. And so on and so forth. Her audience really cooed with wonder of the sea of lights over their heads.

The girls began asking questions wanting of Six's and Athena's past, future… backstory, "Where did they come from?", "What was their world like?" and "How was Athena made?". Before the AI could answer, Six stepped in and told them it was enough for today and that's all they would reveal about where they are from, much to the disappoint the girls in the end as things started to wind down.

But curious alien girls, and their questions of an alien future, Toyotama got a concerning expression on her face.

"Who is this 'Halsey' woman you mentioned yesterday?"

That question got the attention of the twins. "Who?" asked Hikari, genuinely confused.

"Halsey?" Hibiki asked curiously.

Six took a deep breath realizing he probably he had accidentally expounded the most black-inked name in the UNSC in his talk with Takami.

"Classified." Six brushing off the question.

"Oh come on! Don't give us that shit again, is there anything that isn't classified!?" Hikari complained, hating the fact that he kept things from them.

"I will reveal who she is, if it becomes relevant." Six stated emotionlessly.

Toyotama perked up as she remembered the mention. "Well, when you were talking to Takami, if I had to guess it seem like you mistook her for this Halsey?"

"Wait? You talked to Takami instead of Minaka?" Hibiki spoke up.

"I actually was talking to him first, however I couldn't stand one moment listening to him rave and demanded him to get off the phone and get someone I could take seriously." Six answered.

For the sisters they couldn't help but laugh at the idea of him demanding a switch in service. Like he was ordering food and wanted a different cashier. Say what you want about professor. He was verbose and melodramatic, and easily be annoying and irritating to listen to.

"Is there anything about this Halsey you can tell us? Is she was an old flame or something?" Toyotama asked. That idea held their breathes.

Six gave her a bit of an annoyed look. "No she's not."

"Besides, she's 40 years older than him," Athena added through the speakers of the helmet. "Old enough to be his mother rather than anything else."

The three girls released a sigh of relief.

"For a second I thought I had more competition on my hands," Toyotama said. "Is that who this Halsey is? Your mother or something?"

Six shrugged. She wasn't wrong in a way since Halsey was considered to be the mother of the Spartan-IIs. IIIs like him were a creation of ONI really, but for reasons hard to decipher Halsey respected him as if he was one of her Spartan IIs. Dr. Halsey took a form of maternal responsibility for all the super soldiers, oddly enough. As if she saw them all as her work.

"Somewhat." He eventually supplied.

Now that got the three girls interested hoping he would reveal more. Upon seeing the reactions Six dashed their hopes again.

"Classified."

Which made them all groan again.

"Come on! Is there anything you can tell us about yourself? Like... I don't know, what planet your from? Or family life or something?" Hikari nagged.

"They're all dead."

They were all shocked at his response, and just how frank it was. To hear his family is dead. A matter of fact! None of them were prepared for, nor find the right thing to say.

Hikari try to make an apology. "Umm, sorry for bringing it up... I uh..."

"No need to apologize, you didn't know. All you need to know now is they're all dead."

With that things settled to an awkward silent.

Hibiki asked something to stave off silence. "You said you are a Spartan III Super soldier right?"

"Correct."

"Then, theres are ones and twos? Any similarity to Sekirei numbers?"

"Clas-"

Toyotama interrupted. "Classified?"

Six nodded. More groans. The girls were at a lost since they're not sure what to ask him since he would just say 'classified'.

"I have my own questions I want to ask you. I don't expect to you to answer them all since I haven't given many answers to yours." That did raise their curiosity anew.

"What is it you want to know?" Hibiki asked curiously.

"For starters, I've been trying to figure you Sekirei out."

"Figure us out? What do you mean?"

"For one, when I think of aliens from outer space, I don't think of something that looks like me." Six stated.

"What are we supposed to look like then? Not gorgeous?" Toyotama said flipping her hair and bouncing in her chair twice to make her breasts jiggle a little.

To her disappointment she didn't get any reaction, as he kept his trademark blank expression. Hikari couldn't help but snort out a laugh since her rival failed attempt to get a reaction from Six. Toyotama threw a quick glare at the hotheaded twin before giving her attention back to the Spartan.

"So, like, what were you expecting us to look like? The little gray aliens depicted in old cartoons or something?" Hikari asked curiously.

"Let's just say I was expecting...", Six trailed off, flashing back though the catalog of ugly the Covenant provided him through the years"...ugly looking."

"What!?" The three exclaimed in unison.

Six held a hand up to placate them. "All the aliens I've met are ugly. Smelled really bad too." Brutes and Jackals were the worst offenders. One would thing sensitive nosed predator species would be more aware of their hygiene.

The three women paused for a moment to process. "Huh?" was the most their collective brain power could muster.

"You've met other aliens?" Toyotama not believing the implications.

Six simply nodded," Yes."

"Wait! There's other aliens out there!" Hikari yelled more than asked.

"Meaning we're not the only intelligent life in existence?" Hibiki sharing her sisters surprise.

"You're not the only ones." Athena confirmed, getting everybody's attention as they stared at the helmet in Six's hands. All three girls were just stunned to hear there are other lifeforms out there in the galaxy and they all couldn't help but ask.

"What can you tell us about them? Are they big or are they small or what!?" Hibiki asked with some excitement in her voice.

"Yeah! Are they anything like the ones from the movies? Like a parasitic one with acid for blood?" Hikari added.

"Or giant race of arachnids swarming across the galaxy?" Toyotama tagged along.

Athena let out a laugh at their enthusiasm. "Well, girls, we haven't encountered anything like those. But humanity in our universe has encountered several different species of intelligent life, I can certainly clarify their features are distinctly not Human in an quite unappealing way…."

"In other words, we're ARE gorgeous!" Toyotama exclaimed, getting up from her chair and strutting what her mothership gave her. Running her fingers though her long, green hair and twisting her narrow waist.

Not to be one-upped, Hikari who decided to make her own moves to get his attention. "We're nice on the eyes, aren't we?" she casually stretched her arms over her head to let her knockers throw their weight around.

"Yes." He said under his breath quiet enough they didn't hear, having paid their wooing no mind at all.

"Anything else you can tell us about these aliens?" Hibiki queried persistently.

"For now, any and all information on the races in our time and world are classified until proven relavent." Six put firmly, wanting to be over with this conversation. Every time he said 'classified' it made the girls groan. This better not become a running gag.

"Is it wrong to say I'm starting to despise that word? Classified - ugh." Hikari grumbled.

"Get used to it." Six parroted a long past ONI employee.

All three of his Sekirei couldn't help but roll their eyes at his comment.

Things got quiet - again - the Spartan couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"Note of advice watch what you say sometimes big guy." Athena advised .

"I'll keep that in mind." Six acknowledged to himself in a low voice.

"Want to mention the war to them?" Athena whisper through the speakers, Six failed to offer a reply. "I see."

He thought it was best for them not to know the horrors of the Human-Covenant war in his time, at least for now. "Other than keeping the existence of other aliens out there from us, what else do you want to know about?" Hikari sounding a little upset sitting back in her chair and leaning in it with her arms fold over her chest.

"Been meaning to ask. I'm no expert on relationships, but typically it doesn't take one kiss on a first meeting. From what I understand time has to be built up for a couple to feel any degree of familiarity for each other. I mean, strangers usually don't like it when a random person kisses them. Case in point, when I held Toyotama at gun point."

"I thought you didn't want to bring up that incident again?" Toyotama teased.

"I'm using it as an example. I barely know anything about the three of you, I met you last night." Six reminded Toyotama, then leveled his gaze at the twins. "And you two today. For the last 24 hours i've been trying to wrap my head around what this supposed bond is and suppose to be. You three barely even know me and yet you….love me?" Six hesitated a bit saying that word since he never needed to before, like handling an old M6 pistol crusted with dust from disuse. "And I'm just at a loss here… I mean was there any doubt in your minds you chose the right "Destined one"? I could've be an abusive psychotic for all you know."

Toyotama smiled. "You aren't. You saved me from Higa's lackies, so when I reacted to you I knew you weren't."

"Same here." Hikari agreed, her sister nodding with her.

"A momentary feeling doesn't justify a life-long empathetic bond." Six countered.

"Then you have to understand our terms of relationships is very different from humans since our culture is based on love and fate." replied Hibiki as if it was a matter fact.

"Love and fate? Is that what you people believe?" Six asked with a hint of curiosity.

Hibiki nodded. "Yes, it's a natural fact of life for us; we Sekirei are part of a culture that is based on the basis of love and fate, both are essential to our race. And one of our duties is to serve you, our Ashikabi, as our master and husband. Even give our life if necessary."

"Really?" Six raising an eyebrow at her statement. "Because it almost sounds… alien to me, no offense."

Toyotama replied this time. "None taken - call it what you want, but our duty is to serve and protect you. Forever."

"Who taught you this?"

"Duh, no brainer, MBI taught us our duties as Sekirei." Answered Hikari immediately.

"You believe them?" Six asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Yeah. I mean, why would they lie to us about it?"

"Did she really just say that?" Athena whispered through the speakers of the helmet in Six's arm.

"So none of you questioned what they taught you?" Six asked as calmly as he could, since he was slowly feeling his anger the three girls nodded. Six began to realize how naïve these girls were. That pathetic excuse of a CEO no doubt lied and mislead them all their lives too, feeding them his bullshit since the cradle! The same could be said for Spartans like him, but at least Mendez and Kurt taught them right from wrong and to follow their gut instincts. Not to mention the UNSC was fighting a war against extinction! The love they spoke of couldn't possibly be real but just a fabrication of MBI's 'education' & imagination.

Taking a deep breath "I disagree."

The girls were taken aback, surprised by his response.

"There is no such thing as fate." Six proclaimed, within him, a maelstrom of decades, the Covenant's constant promises of humanities forlorn, forgone conclusion and their own inevitable ascension.

---

New notes as of May 12, 2024. This was one of the chapters that used to be two separate ones, before being combined to make one chapter. I had three different editors for this one. Jakeros who did the first half of this, Well, the other half was done by annoying marine POW and SoTaWoB. I still think them to this day for their when this was two separate chapters.

original notes : Like I said in my preview about the shower room. Not sure if something like this would exist in a largely automated car factory, but perhaps its for those who run or ride to work to freshen-up, Other words Let's pretend that is.

I'll be honest that conversation towards the end of the chapter I had a rough time making since I tried to make it as believable as possible

Also my OC Spartan and Delta squad, for a while I've actually have my own OC spartans I've been thinking about introducing into the story as I said in the preview will show up in six's backstory when we get there and future stories.

For now I'm just going to try to be vague about them not to reveal too much.

Damon A161, for those of you who haven't guessed and know nothing of gears of war. He is based off of Damon Baird from the game.

Other than that for the next chapter I'll try not to give away too much. Athena finishes up her report on the discipline squad, Six does reconnaissance around the city scouting out MBI military positions and meeting up with Minato and Musubi again. That's it for now.

Before I forget big things to SoTaWoB for editing and proofreading this. also big thanks for SPARTAN-626 for beta reading this chapter.