Divergent Warriors Rise Of The Hunter

by BeeSamusnChief

Alternate version of Different Galaxies Same Fighting Hearts. After destroying the first Halo, Master Chief on his way to warn Earth of the incoming Covenant invasion. On his Journey he accidentally enlists an extraordinary toddler to join him in the war against the Covenant.

3. Chapter 3

I am going to be drastically stretching the time after Halo 4. Just like I did in the original version of this story. I am not following any exact timelines I am just using events as a guideline. I also thought it would be much more interesting to have the Spartan's more involved on Zebes. And have the Chozo more involved as well.

---

Samus watched out the window as the ship lifted off the ground. Watching as the Spartan below grew smaller, and smaller, as the ship increased in altitude.

It didn't take long for Chief to get back down to the squad guarding the gondola. As he started the gondola, hearing the engines of the alien ship from behind he turned around. Taking note of the four inbound Banshees coming to investigate the gondola.

-Warning. Four unknown aircrafts approaching.-The ship's on board CPU spoke in Chozodian as it warned it's passengers of the incoming aircrafts.

Chief immediately grabbed the nearest Rocket Launcher from the supply drop, taking aim at the Banshees. He waited for them to get in range.

"Those are Covenant Banshees. They are most likely coming to shoot at us. But they won't hesitate to bring down your ship. If you have defences I recommend opening fire. We'll do our best to assist from the ground." Cortana contacted the Chozo ship in hopes that they would defend themselves if need be.

"We're not involving ourselves in their war." Grey Voice spat as the ship suddenly shook after taking a couple hits of gunfire.

Samus whimpered holding tightly onto Old Bird's cloak as the two elderly birds disagreed with each other in their native tongue. Old Bird ignored his old friend. Activating the defences the ship opened fire on the hostile aircrafts. "We cannot just sit and take on gunfire, Old Friend. We must return home safely."

"Yeah! Woo!" The small squad of marines cheered as they watched the Chozo ship release a storm of seeking missiles, watching each individual Banshee explode one after the other.

Chief lowered his Rocket Launcher. He gave an approving nod to the ship before it disappeared into the clouds. The unique orphaned toddler now becoming a distant memory in the Spartan's mind.

"I hope that doesn't count as their gratitude payment for caring for Samus." Cortana thought aloud as more enemies on a passing gondola appeared.

"Cortana..." Chief almost scolded, after shooting down the jet packing Elites and Drones.

"What? I'm just saying they could be a useful asset..."

Chief shook his head as he examined the now deceased bodies of the marine squad for any signs of life. "We barely made contact with the Chozo. Asking for military support from them is a bit absurd. Being able to keep in communication with them should be privilege enough." He said as the gondola docked at the temple.

Before stepping off the gondola Master Chief fired his weapons taking down the entire welcoming committee at the temple dock. As Chief stepped onto temple grounds a bang from above brought his attention to the sky.

"That's the largest Covenant fleet I've even seen. The largest anyone's ever seen." Cortana commented as their time was now running out rapidly.

Staring up into the sky was a massive mushroom shaped ship surround by an entire fleet of Covenant ships. Chief couldn't help but worry that the Chozo ship carrying Samus would get caught up in the fleet's arrival.

"Get inside the temple, and kill Regret before it can stop us." His AI's commanding tone refocused Chief on his objective. Shaking his concerns for the toddler out of his head John marched forward into the temple.

Once the Chozo ship had reached the Halo's orbit, both Old Bird and Grey Voice asked small questions, it didn't take much for Samus to get back into speaking the Chozo language. Out the window she stood by Samus had noticed the massive fleet of Covenant surrounding a very oddly shaped ship. Her gut feeling told her that those were not friendly ships.

Grey Voice hummed as he realized how foolish this Covenant truly was. "The Covenant the human spoke of is more relentless and foolish than I had thought." He thought aloud as he turned to the dashboard. "Set jump course for Zebes."

Samus pointed out the window to Grey Voice. She was in disbelief that Grey Voice seemed to be so unconcerned that her new friend who was in danger. "But Chief needs help!"

"Indeed. We cannot risk infection from the possible Flood lurking on that Ring. We cannot provide that assistance. And neither can you. Not yet." The tall robed bird told the toddler, as he gestured for his old friend to distract Samus from the window.

Old Bird wrapped an arm around Samus's shoulders guiding her away from the window. "In time you will be able to assist those in need, as a Chozo warrior. You will protect the peace within the galaxies. But first you must grow strong, and master your lessons."

As the ship jumped, Samus crossed her arms in frustration. Disappointed that she could not assist her new Spartan friend. "But I wanna help now."

Old Bird chuckled softly, leading Samus over to a small cot in the living quarters. "Come. Rest hatchling. You must be exhausted." He gestured for Samus to climb into the cot to which she reluctantly did. Dropping her Master Chief plushy in the process.

Old Bird bent down picking up the soft toy. Looking over it he noticed it resembled the Spartan that they had spoke. "How curious. This is much more than a simple trinket isn't it?"

Samus took the toy that was being handed to her. Cocking her eyebrow in confusion as Old Bird spoke in riddles. "I no understood what you're saying?"

"When you see this toy what do you see?" The short elderly bird asked sitting next to the cot.

"Matter Chief." Samus shrugged.

Old Bird smiled with a small nod. "And what do you see when you look at this Master Chief? What is he?"

"He really strong. Really fast. And smart. Like to keep everyone safe." Samus explained tiredly as she lay in the cot snuggling her plushy.

"Hmm... A symbol of hope and protection." Old Bird thought aloud. Before bidding the young toddler a good sleep.

8 months after returning to Zebes. Samus was kept in the confines of a small area in Brinstar as her body slowly adapted to her mutations. The mutations unfortunately would not be complete until she begun to hit puberty. But she had officially been on Zebes for a full year. The four year old endlessly talked about the short time she spent with the Spartan. In detail she would tell Old Bird, about what Master Chief would teach her on certain days. Even expressing that Chief had begun to teach her some defensive techniques in the last few days she had spent with him. She would mention the Spartan so often it was beginning to get a little annoying to Grey Voice.

But as much as her chatter about the Spartan annoyed him. Grey Voice was actually grateful for the Spartan. In the time they had adopted Samus, her journey to becoming a Chozo warrior was looking promising. The population of Chozos on Zebes were ancient, therefore the planet's only child was not able to look up to, and mentor under a capable warrior. Although Raven Beak and the Mawkin would've been a reasonable choice for combat training. The Mawkin leader's morals didn't stand right with most on Zebes. Master Chief was a key motivator for Samus to become a capable warrior.

As Samus took to her boring lessons she often drifted off in thought. Wondering if Master Chief was still alive and fighting to protect the universe?

Master Chief watched as his new ally and friend assassinated the Prophet of Truth. Roaring in triumph Arbiter had finally gotten his revenge for the Sangheili that were betrayed and lied to by the Covenant. Turning, Chief watched as Johnson carried Miranda Keyes's lifeless body into the nearby Pelican.

As Arbiter and Chief went to follow, massive tentacles erupted next to them. Startling the Spartan and Sangheili, Sergeant Johnson piloted the Pelican in a panic. Master Chief was able to grab onto one of the landing gear struts, hanging on with one arm he reached the other out to the Arbiter. Powering off his sword Arbiter leapt up grasping the Spartan's hand as the Pelican lifted off. The two warriors were quickly batted off by one of the Gravemind's tentacles.

"We trade one villain for another." Arbiter commented to the Master Chief as they prepared to battle the incoming Flood forces.

This was a situation where Chief was extremely thankful to have been able to return Samus safely back to the Chozo many months ago. He could not imagine trying to keep Samus safe during this long gruelling battle between Halo, Earth, and the Ark. While also being exposed to the horrors of the Flood. It would've been too much for both him and the toddler. Even though he truly wished he could've gotten some assistance from the Chozo during this time.

As they took out the oncoming Flood forces in a race to cross the bridge. Luckily the Flood had a difficult time standing in their way as Arbiter cut through them with his energy sword, while the bullets from Chief's weapons shredded the parasites. By the time they reached the lift the Sentinels were assisting with containment allowing Chief and Arbiter to Escape.

Years went by her mutations adapting further. Samus was finally able to mostly roam free through Zebes. Running through the city of Tourian, her giggles and playful energy brought adoration to the elderly Chozos wandering through the city. She had learned to hunt for food, repair machinery, take down easy targets. Whatever Samus broke, she had to repair as part of her lessons and schooling in technology. And with her body gaining strength everyday she was being introduced to some combat training.

Once back in the study with Grey Voice Samus inquired about contacting her Spartan friend. "Can I try to call, Master Chief?"

"No, Samus." Grey Voice sighed in frustration as he tried to read Mother Brain's reports.

With an eye roll the girl complained to her guardian. "Ugh, you always say no!"

"Samus... You inquire almost daily. I myself, along with Mother, have explained that the range is simply too far and complex to reach such a short range transmitter." Grey Voice groaned for the hundredth time as Samus was persistently pestering on a daily basis.

Overhearing the conversation Old Bird beckoned Samus over to his work area. "Come here hatchling."

Samus obeyed approaching the elderly Chozo. Old Bird's section of the lab was a stone desk with a few miscellaneous devices, and a holographic screen display. "Yes, Old Bird?"

"Come with me." The short elderly Chozo gently took the girl's hand, leading her down a small hallway leading into a separate room from the lab.

Samus looked around the rectangular room, it seemed nearly empty except for what seemed to be a display in the back of the room. "What is that?"

"That is a Chozo power suit. Made for combat. Outfitted to survive harsh conditions." Old Bird explained to the inquisitive young girl.

"Who will wear it?" Samus asked as she examined the shiny copper armour with her turquoise eyes.

"You will."

"Me?!" She exclaimed a bit shocked.

Old Bird smiled bowing his head. "In time you will."

"With the help of Mother Brain, we have created a couple prototype suits for you to shed as you grow. It's taken some work, and extra attention to detail using your DNA, Mother Brain has been working hard to make this particular suit in front of us for your final stage." Grey Voice said as he approached from behind, with a Mother Brain probe, along with the Rabbilis in tow. "In theory It would've been simpler to make one suit. And have it adapt to you as you grow."

Old Bird leaned on his staff as he turned to his old friend. "The process would take years. Also the armour fusion sequence may be too harsh of a procedure on a such a young prepubescent human child." He warned, concerned for Samus's safety. Although the girl had astonished them by adapting seemingly well to her rebirth as a hybrid.

Samus gulped nervously clutching Old Bird's cloak. As what the two birds were describing seemed to be something that she may have to painfully endure in the future.

"Old Bird, is correct. It would take a few years for me to calculate the suits ability to transition and configure to the child's evolving body. There is a 95% chance of succession if I focus my efforts into this particular armour. Rather than continuing to create disposable armour for the child's many growth stages." Mother Brain agreed with Grey Voice, gesturing to her project suit of human shaped armour displayed in front of them.

The short elderly bird glanced at Samus before questioning the probe. "What is the estimated success rate if the fusion were to be done before Samus, reaches her adolescent phase?"

Mother Brain was quiet for some time before giving Old Bird a response. "The child's body should be fully adapted to her mutations before he adolescent stage. I predict the fusion to be 98% successful."

"Focus all efforts on this power suit, Mother. Samus, will make do with the disposable suits for now." Grey Voice prompted the super computer to work solely on the power suit for Samus.

"Understood. I will focus my work to this particular suit of armour." Mother Brain's floating probe quickly darted off to check on her other duties before returning to the suit.

Samus followed Old Bird and Grey Voice back to the laboratory. Once back in the lab Samus could not rid of her curiosity to know what exactly the two elderly Chozos were talking about with the super computer. "Why were you asking Mother, about success rates?"

Grey Voice looked up from his data pad, answering the young girl's question. "Because we wish for you to be successful in becoming a protector of the galaxy. As a Chozo it is your duty and responsibility to protect the peace within the galaxy."

The girl cocked an eyebrow at the taller bird. Knowing that was not the answer to her question. "I know that already. What does that have to do with a fusion?"

"You will understand some day. For now focus on your studies. You have more lessons with Mother Brain, later on." Old Bird encouraged Samus to return to the studies he was currently teaching to her. The young human girl was now 8 in human years. She was ready to begin her training in armour. He knew Samus must've known that is why he showed her her future battle suit. But those lessons would come soon enough.

Samus deeply sighed as she returned her focus to the cognitive learning program she was trying to complete. Inside she could feel herself getting stronger everyday. Even though she had been with the Chozo for many years, they were always so secretive constantly telling her not to concern herself with their work at the moment. She supposed it was so that she would focus on developing herself rather than worrying about things she did not understand.

The following day started out normal with the usual romp with Pyonchi through Brinstar. Before Samus could set out for her jaunt through the city of Tourian, one of Mother Brain's probes halted her in her tracks. "Samus. You are required to head to the bio-lab." The probe floated at eye level with the young blonde.

The girl rolled her eyes with a groan. "Right now? Why?" She did not want to stop playing because the old ones wanted to give her more boring lessons.

"Because Old Bird, and Grey Voice, are waiting patiently for your cooperation. I should also scold you for not attending my lessons this morning, but fortunate for you there are more important matters. Now please make your way to the bio-laboratory." Mother Brain firmly told the young girl, before floating off to carry out her other duties.

With an eye roll Samus made her way to the bio-lab. Knowing that Mother Brain monitored basically every inch of Zebes, so if she dawdled any longer the brain would be happy to show her caretakers how reluctant she was being. Walking into the entrance of the lab Samus could hear her caretakers conversing about something. As her body adapted her hearing and other senses were becoming more sensitive, but she could only make out a few words. Words she had never heard the Chozo speak of before. Metroid? The X?

Grey Voice caught a shadow approaching them. Turning to see the young blonde girl waiting to be given permission to fully enter the bio-lab. "Samus, come this way." He gestured for the girl to follow him and Old Bird.

Samus took a couple energetic strides to get to the two. Grasping Old Bird's hand as they walked over to a closed capsule. Where one of Mother Brain's probes was waiting. "What is this?"

Grey Voice didn't respond right away, as he typed in the code to unlock the capsule. With a hiss and shot of steam the capsule lifted its lid revealing shiny pear green metal armour. "This will be your first set of armour."

"Whoa..." Samus was awestruck as she ran her hand over the smooth untouched metal. "You think I'm ready to start training in armour?"

"You have proven yourself to be athletic. Resilient. Growing in strength everyday." Old Bird said as he gestured to the clips Mother projected, of Samus jumping off and climbing up cliffs. Running through the jungles, and fighting off pesky wildlife that would go after Pyonchi.

Samus giggled at how funny she looked fighting off the alien bugs that would attack the Rabbilis. "So am I done with my lessons? And focus on this?"

"Hardly." Grey Voice scoffed. "You are still to continue your current lessons. Along with new ones after you begin to learn the functions of your armour."

The girl's facial expression changed from playful excitement to pure disappointment. "More lessons on top of the old ones? Why can't I just move onto the new exciting stuff?"

"Because we want you to be able to communicate with your human compatriots as well. You cannot just take lessons in technology and combat. You must also listen to history, and social teachings. You must learn morals." Grey Voice strictly explained to the youngling. He understood the youthful girl just wanted the fun lessons she enjoyed. But she had to learn to take the bad with the good.

"You also must attend those lessons in order to be properly prepared to reenter the human existence." Mother noted to Samus's dismay.

"Are you not attending your human social lessons?" Old Bird inquired the young girl.

Samus lowered her head shamelessly as she admitted that she was not attending the AI's lessons. "No..."

"Samus, you must complete your social lessons. I know Mother has taken over for me, as we've gotten overwhelmed with other work. But you must attend or you will have a harder time interacting with other humans." The short elderly bird expressed his concerns.

Grey Voice could tell Samus was extremely reluctant to agree with Old Bird. It was clear that she would be just as happy to ignore the lessons about humanity and continue on her Chozo warrior path. In a way Grey Voice agreed the lessons were obsolete compared to what she should be focusing on. But there were some benefits to her human side. "Obey Old Bird's, instructions. You will be reintroduced to humanity one day and you don't want to be under prepared."

Although she did not like the extra workload. Samus did understand why she had to endure all those lessons. But Samus always came to a brick wall with Mother Brain. As the AI was quite callous when she made a mistake. "So how do I put it on?" She charged the subject.

"Piece by piece. Mother, will talk you through it. Old Bird, is here to assist for this first time." Grey Voice explained as he handed Samus the armoured boots.

"That's a lot of pieces... It's like a puzzle." Samus's eyes glazed over the many pieces of armour she had to wear.

"I suppose you could word it like that. I suggest that you learn the patterns of how to equip it. You will be using this armour until you grow out of it." Grey Voice said as he walked away to go back to his reports.

Sitting on the floor after putting on the boots Samus tried to figure out her leg armour. How annoying, she thought. What an insufficient way of getting ready for a battle. "This takes too long. An enemy won't wait for me to armour up like this."

"Humans. Always so impatient." Old Bird chuckled as he leaned on his staff. "This is only your first battle skin. A practice suit. You are correct. This is not the most efficient way to put on your armour."

"Then what's the easier way?" Samus huffed as she grew more frustrated. Even though Mother Brain was basically dressing her. As the probe moved each piece of armour over the correct body parts.

Old Bird smiled warmly at the girl who was now fully armoured. "You are much too young to endure such a demanding procedure." He said as he handed Samus the red helmet.

Samus took the helmet in her left hand, staring at the black deactivated visor. She wondered if the concern for her young age was what Old Bird and Grey Voice were conversing about yesterday. But what was the reason behind their concern she wondered.

Old Bird observed the child, it was clear to him that she had many thoughts going through her mind. "Take your time hatchling. But do not overthink."

With a deep breath Samus closed her eyes as she put the helmet over her head. The distinct hiss and click of the helmet connecting and locking onto the armour caused her to open her eyes. Staring through a visor was weird. It was as if she was trying on a pair of glasses. Many things began to appear on the sides and the top of her visor. "What is all this?"

"That is your Heads Up Display calibrating. At the top is a compass that is constantly calculating your position aiding you with directions. On the bottom left is your monitor. It detects life forms that are around you. On your right is a threat indicator. It measures the level of threat around your position. Whether it be a toxic substance or atmosphere. Or a creature of hostile intent." Mother Brain explained to the young armoured girl. Highlighting each of the functions on the HUD as she explained.

Samus sighed as she went to rub her head only to smack herself in the face with a cannon. "Ow! Ugh that's too much too remember..."

Old Bird stepped forward taking a good look at the future warrior. "Do not fret. For now just learn to naturally function in your armour. Go about your day as normal. Explore this new feeling. Do not overthink." He said as he gently gestured for Samus to exit the lab.

"That's it?!" Samus replied confused. "What about this?" She said totting her cannon.

"It is currently deactivated. Once you gain an understanding of the armour I will re-upload the cannon function." Mother reassured the girl she would not be able to cause any lethal accidents.

With a bit of hesitation Samus eventually left the lab. In a bit of an awkward cadence as she adjusted to the feeling of the armoured plating encased around her. It would only take a day for her to figure out how to naturally move. Realizing that she was less likely to get scraped up or bruised during her wild run arounds. Samus rather liked the feeling of having armour.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Months turned into years. Samus had shed her first armour quickly. And now was reaching the end of her time in the final suit she would shed. Over the years she had learned how to piece together her armour. How to physically function in it. And had even begun to learn to use the weapons properly. Everything had came to her quite naturally. But in the back of her mind she always wondered why her caretakers were so concerned about her getting her final suit.

Grey Voice stared at the human shaped Chozo armour that was floating in a massive glowing sphere. Mulling over the details Mother Brain had gave him moments ago.

"Mother, are you certain this will be successful?" Old Bird asked as he observed the empty sphere next to the armour.

"There is a high chance of the procedure being a success. Samus, has proven to be ready for this for some time now. It cannot be delayed any longer." The super computer's probe reminded the concerned elderly Chozo.

Grey Voice could sense his friend was quite nervous. "I understand your nervous energy, Old Bird. We have never done this before."

"I will remind you both that just because this has not been done on a human before. Does not mean it won't be successful." Mother once again reminded the elderly birds that this was the right choice.

Old Bird sighed deeply as he hobbled along with his staff, pacing as they waited for Samus to arrive. "Samus, has been reborn as a hybrid. We know this. But this is more demanding than anything we've ever asked of her. And if the procedure doesn't take we may cause her significant brain trauma. Or worse."

"Nonsense. Samus, has surpassed every concern we've had since bringing her to Zebes. She is strong." Grey Voice reassured his elderly friend. Even though deep down he shared the same concern.

With another deep exhale Old Bird glanced up at the armour, before scanning the room with his eyes for the girl. "Where is Samus?"

Alone in a smooth sandstone room was the young blonde child. Anxiously staring out the window into the lush green jungle of Brinstar. Watching the wildlife in the distance she barely had time to react to the Rabbilis that jumped in through the currently open window.

"Hello, Pyonchi." Samus chuckled glancing over her shoulder as her furry friend explored her room. "Did the Etecoons chase you out of their territory again?" She teased referring to the native monkey like creatures that lived in Brinstar.

Pyonchi swished his big bushy tail as he rummaged through Samus's belongings, clearly out of spite to tease the girl back.

"Hey! Don't make a mess!" Samus scolded her pet who in turn grabbed something off the shelf above her cot.

Samus gasped as the Rabbilis jumped to the floor making its way back to the window. "Pyonchi, don't!" She panicked after realizing what was in the animal's mouth.

Pyonchi leapt onto the window sill his one ear tilted outwards indicating he was ready to leap out and run away. He could see Old Bird entering the hut, as he prepared to leap off the window.

"Please!" Samus's cry stopped the furry rabbit squirrel in it's tracks.

Hearing the child cry out Old Bird halted just before the girl's room. Peeking his head around to see what the commotion was about.

"You can take anything else. But please don't take him... I need him..."

Hearing the quiver in his girl's voice Pyonchi could tell that Samus was being incredibly sincere showing that she had a great fear of losing the prized possession he held in his mouth. With a twitch of his nose he leapt down to the girl who crouched down to his level. Pyonchi respectfully deposited the possession into the girl's waiting hands.

"Thank you." Samus gratefully thanked her Rabbilis, giving him a loving scratch behind the ears as a reward.

Old Bird entered the room startling Samus. "Old Bird?!" She gasped standing back up.

"I'm glad to see the skills I taught you so long ago, have not left you." Old Bird warmly chuckled as he hobbled into the room. He was referring of course to his first encounter with Samus back on her home planet. When he had taught the young toddler to calmly reason with and befriend the Rabbilis.

Samus wiped the small amount of slobber off of the Spartan plushy she had gotten 7 years ago. "I remember everything."

"Then you surely remember the importance of this day?" He tested the girl's memory, knowing that she knew well enough that she was supposed to be in the laboratory.

Samus closed her eyes as she anxiously exhaled. "I know... I just... I'm nervous." She admitted, even though she knew she had nothing to fear.

"Come along." Old Bird coaxed the girl to take a walk with him.

Samus was hesitant to follow, turning she put away her Master Chief plushy. Before following her caretaker out of the sandstone hut. She knew that she was being led over to the bio-lab. It was something that could not be avoided as fate had chose her to continue the Chozo legacy.

"Are you prepared for this?" Grey Voice asked the girl upon arrival.

Samus stared up at her armour that was soon to be a part of her for the rest of her life. "I don't really have a choice."

"There is always a choice, Samus." Grey Voice said turning his full attention to the child. "We can choose to ignore the evil that plagues the universe and damns the innocent. Eventually destroying life as we know it. Or we can fight for galactic peace. To protect the innocent from tragedies such as the one that had brought you to us."

Those were the only choices? They were grim choices but the Chozo had been around long enough to know the true evil that plagues the universe. And as they had mentioned before, Ridley is simply just a taste of what true evil lies beyond the stars.

"I'm ready."

Mother Brain's probe idled next to the two bipedal birds as Grey Voice began to press multiple buttons on the keypad attached to the massive bioreactor. Old Bird watched as Samus climbed to the top of the platform that was level with the summit of the bioreactor. He watched as she observed the bioreactor open up to her

With a deep breath she stepped off of the platform. Dropping into the bioreactor Samus was absorbed into the familiar liquid that she had been submerged in when she had been genetically altered to survive on this world. Though this time she shared the space with a set of armour which quickly separated into many pieces upon her entrance and the activation of the bioreactor. Many components of armour which she had seen in the last couple years, and had grown to learn how use them to assemble her power suits. But this one was different. It was to be her final set of armour. A new part of her being.

As the top of the bioreactor shut closing Samus and the armour within the massive vat. Grey Voice initiated the fusion sequence.

The top of the bioreactor closing sent a small wave of anxiety through Samus as she was now completely trapped. Submerged in the warm alien liquid with no air to breath. Her anxiety was soon diverted as the armour in front of her dissolved into many particles. Swirling around and around as it began to forcefully absorb into the her biological molecules. Samus wanted to scream as the process of absorbing the tiny invading particles seared her from the inside out.

Old Bird began to get more anxious as the pained expression on his charge, tugged at his chest. His heart was in knots as the time for Samus to draw a breath grew closer. This process was both an initiation and a test of strength and endurance. If she was able to survive this fusion, the promise of Samus becoming a feared warrior would be set in motion.

"Fusion at 95%." Grey Voice tried to ease his friend's stress by telling him the process was nearly completed.

Old Bird continued to watch as Samus's body went rigid as light engulfed her in the sphere. A momentary flash showing the child fully armoured for a brief moment, as the sequence completed.

The sound of liquid draining was music to her ears as she was finally able to take a big breath. Weakly climbing out the of the bioreactor, Samus laid herself on the cool metal grate platform. Closing her eyes, her entire body was on fire with her head taking most of the pain.

"Scans indicate that her vitals are elevated, but stable. The fusion was a success."

Samus wasn't entirely shocked to open her eyes to see one of Mother Brain's annoying probes floating in her face running scans. "Was it? Was it a success...?" She sat up with a pained groan.

"From what my scans indicate, the suit accepted your body. Now it's up to your body to accept it." Mother explained as she followed the girl down to the two elderly birds.

Samus had a hand over her head as took a few off balance steps. "How do I know if my body will accept it?"

"Uncertain. You seem to be going through the adequate amount of pain. Though this has never been done on a human before, or a Chozo for that matter. This stage may prove to be slightly more painful for you." Mother Brain's probe told the young girl as she displayed Samus's vitals to Old Bird and Grey Voice.

"Wh-what do you mean never been done to a Chozo?" Samus scoffed now glaring at her caretakers who had previously told her stories about Chozo warriors and their debuts of getting armour.

Mother floated in front of the girl who was clearly in pain and annoyed. "This suit was specifically created to grow with your body. In order to do that I had to create the armour the same way we genetically modified you."

"So you basically injected a virus into me?" Samus thought aloud.

Old Bird shook his head no as he clasped a hand on Samus's shoulder. "It is another genetic mutation added to your body. Remember this is a part of you now."

"How do I put it on?"

"For now just rest." Grey Voice approached the young girl. "You will go through several symptoms within the next few hours. After you have fully recovered from your fusion we can start further training."

Samus frowned a little disappointed she couldn't go straight to training. But she knew Grey Voice was right, she didn't quite feel herself at the moment. "So I can go play?"

"No." Grey Voice shook his head as he gestured for Mother Brain's probe to approach. "Mother, see to it that Samus, returns to her quarters for rest. Please monitor her in the meantime."

Before Samus could protest, Old Bird wrapped an arm around her in a gentle escort. "Come, I will walk with you."

Grey Voice watched as the probe and his old friend escorted the child out of the laboratory. Samus almost always seemed to prove his doubt to be wrong. He doubted she could survive such a world as Zebes. He doubted she could endure and survive a rebirth as a unique Chozo hybrid. He feared she could not endure the fusion. His doubting had began transforming into optimism due to the girl's consistent resilience, and tenacity, to keep growing stronger. Samus's future as soldier was becoming increasingly promising.

Samus groaned as she sat down on her cot. This was not how she planed to spend her day. "Old Bird? I don't have to sit in my room the entire day do I?"

Old Bird chuckled softly at the child, sitting next to her on her cot. "You sure are a strong one. But even the strong need rest."

The blonde rolled her eyes with a sigh as Old Bird sputtered out one of his usual riddles she supposed was a lesson of some sort. "Ugh, Old Bird..."

"Rest. Mother, will be here to monitor your health. I will return shortly." The elderly Chozo pat the girl on the head before departing back to the bio-lab.

Samus went to her window to make sure the short old Chozo had truly left. She was not about to sit around and do nothing on such a beautiful day. Making her way to the door it suddenly swished shut with the clear clicking of the locking mechanism kicking in.

"I would advise against that." Mother Brain's probe advised the girl.

With a groan Samus turned to focus on the floating probe in her room. "Oh yeah... I forgot you were still here." Taking note of the Spartan plushy that had fallen off the shelf onto her cot

"It is paramount that you stay here and rest. Your vitals are still elevated, and there is no doubt that you are not feeling too well at the moment." Mother Brain said as the reluctant child returned to her cot.

Mother was right Samus still felt as if her entire body was on fire. Random waves of searing pain washing over her head as if her brain had a heart beat. With various images of each component of her power suit cycling through her mind.

"Fine. I'll try to rest..." Samus hissed curling up on her cot clutching her plushy tight against her chest as her body took to her new mutation as Old Bird put it. She honestly was not feeling well enough to do anything but sleep.

"Good. She is finally resting." Grey Voice thought aloud as he observed the monitored footage from Mother Brain.

"That's a lot to go through. At the end of the day she is human. Slumber is the best recovery for her." Old Bird agreed with his friend that it was good Samus was finally resting after her armour fusion.

Grey Voice gazed off thoughtfully as they switched to the other side of the laboratory. "Indeed. No doubt she will be fully ready to continue her training by tomorrow. Though this time it will be much more challenging for her while the suit adapts to the structure of her neural network."

The stubbier Chozo hummed thoughtfully as he followed Grey Voice. He was uncertain, surely Grey Voice was as well. "I fear we will not be able to adequately provide Samus, with enough training to progress into what we want her to become."

"We may be ill equipped. But I refuse to reintroduce the Mawkin to Zebes. Samus, has already forgotten about Raven Beak's existence. And that is the way I prefer to keep it." Grey Voice made it very clear that he did not want Samus to be taught the Mawkin's ways.

Old Bird bowed his head in agreement. He also did not want the power hungry Mawkin's to taint Samus's fragile mind. "They are the Chozo warriors though... But since we do not want Raven Beak's influence on, Samus. We may need an outside source."

The taller Chozo furrowed his brow at his old friend. "What are you getting at?"

"We must contact the Spartan. We have a debt to repay. I told him I would give the UNSC something to aid them in keeping the peace in the galaxies." Old Bird expressed to Grey Voice who was quick to feel that decision was just as bad as handing Samus to the Mawkin.

"Our debt is not to be repaid with the fruits of our labour." Grey Voice scoffed looking over his shoulder at the monitor that displayed the napping child.

Old Bird could see this was a subject he would have to bring up later again with his old friend. But either way he would contact the UNSC, as they had no other choice then to enlist Samus into a program capable of teaching her how to become a soldier.

Super-carrier Infinity glided through stars as they travelled on to the next galaxy for any signs of Covenant rebellion remnants.

A squad of Spartans were spending their time training and keeping in shape ready on call if needed at a moment's notice.

"John?" A Spartan with a British accent called out, shaking her squad leader out of deep thought.

Master Chief turned his head towards the smoke white armoured Spartan. "Kelly, what is it?"

"You were staring off again. Are you alright?" She asked concerned for her leader.

"I'm okay." Chief responded short.

Kelly folded her arms clearly not believing her Spartan brother. "You sure about that? I understand if you're not. We're all getting pretty worn out with these constant missions. Now we're heading back to Requiem."

"Supposedly we have a few more stops before we get there, since we have to pick up more eggheads since Requiem is a shield world." A brown armoured Spartan mentioned as she approached with a steel blue armoured Spartan.

Before Chief could add anything to the conversation between his team, he got an alert from his suit about an incoming out of range transmission. The voices were very distorted and full of static he couldn't register any words. He had to get to the bridge.

"John, where are you going?" Fred asked hastily following his leader out with the rest of the team in tow.

Master Chief didn't respond until they were face to face with Captain Lasky. "Captain. I have an incoming galactic transmission. I'm unable to connect with my suit's short range."

Lasky and Commander Palmer both approached the Spartan squad who gathered around the large virtual table.

"Roland, connect the transmission. Let's see who's trying to contact the Chief." Captain Lasky spoke to the ship's AI.

"Connecting now." The golden AI appeared in the middle of the virtual table connecting the transmission codes to the ship's intergalactic transmitter. "Let me clean up the audio... and there! We're connected."

"Greetings UNSC. Master Chief, Spartan 117. Or UNSC AI Cortana. It has been some time since we had last spoke. Rest assured the Chozo have not forgotten about you and your kindness."

Although he had only heard that alien accent once in his life, it was very familiar. Chozo? It had been quite a few years since hearing that alien name. Besides some more seasoned marines aboard the ship, Chief was the only one who had experience with these unknown beings trying to contact him.

"What the hell is a Chozo?" Commander Palmer was the first to question the odd alien accent that echoed through the transmission.

"There's little to no information about the Chozo in the UNSC database. But from Master Chief's past reports the Chozo are stated to be humanoid birds. A peaceful ancient technologically advanced alien civilization." Roland replied describing who was on the other end of the transmission.

Captain Lasky was uncertain about the entire situation, but he trusted Master Chief's judgment. "Chief, I'm giving you the choice to respond or not."

Master Chief gave it a moment of thought before replying to the Chozo. "This is UNSC Spartan 117. Master Chief." He hesitated for a moment scanning the room before he called out the odd name. "Is this, Old Bird?"

With that reply Roland finally displayed the holographic image of the stubby elderly humanoid bird.

"Indeed. Your memory is good. I feared you would not recognize me after our very brief encounter years ago." Old Bird greeted the familiar Spartan amongst the many other humans.

Master Chief took a step closer to the display fully engaging himself into the conversation. "A lot has happened since then. But I had not forgotten..." he said turning his gaze to the side as memories of the tiny toddler flashed into his mind.

The elderly bird made what best could be described as a smile for a creature who had a beak. "Ah, yes... Samus, certainly is unforgettable. Just as you are to her."

"I figured she would've forgotten about me by now." Chief mumbled trying to catch the words from escaping him.

"Not at all. She speaks of you very often."

Chief was almost flattered by the fact the young girl he seemingly rescued so long ago still talked about him. But looking over his shoulder he could see the Commander and his team were getting a little impatient, wanting to know what the bird wanted.

"Why have you contacted me?"

Old Bird sighed as he knew once he did this there was no turning back. "I have called upon you to repay our dept, as promised."

"What dept is he speaking of?" Palmer questioned as the Captain motioned for Roland to mute the call.

Master Chief turned to face the Captain and Commander. "Just before the Covenant invaded Earth, I thought I was rescuing a toddler from the Covenant on a desolate planet. But in actuality she was a resident there with her alien caretakers." He gestured to the Chozo displayed in the hologram. "To keep this brief, during our pursuit of the Covenant, after Earth. The Chozo met us on Installation 05 and the child was returned. But that encounter was not without the Chozo hinting that they knew about Halo and it's capabilities to harm the universe."

"It sounds like these are potential allies." Captain Lasky thought aloud.

"Yes Sir." John nodded in agreement.

"How do we know that for sure though?" Commander Palmer replied with a great amount of skepticism.

"As I mentioned the Chozo are well advanced. Beyond our technology. They seek out ways to protect the galaxy from harm." Chief reminded everyone that the alien they were talking with was peaceful.

"If they know information about the Halos. Perhaps they could provide us with information about the Forerunners." Linda thought aloud.

"Let us hear his proposal." Captain Lasky gestured for Roland to unmute them, for Chief to continue on.

Turning back to the display Chief exhaled. "How exactly is this dept going to be repaid?"

"I propose you come to visit Zebes. We have ways to accommodate your human needs so you can survive. But we can discuss information. And as promised I will give you something to help aid you in the battle to protect the galaxies." Old Bird gave the Spartan a short description of what he was hoping to achieve with this call.

Master Chief glanced over his shoulder at the Commander and Captain, knowing he would need permission and clearance to accept any of what the Chozo was offering. "I will discuss it with my superiors. I can contact you at this code correct?"

"Indeed. Take your time, I understand and look forward to your reply." The elderly bird bowed his head respectfully before ending the transmission.

Palmer sighed as she watched Captain Lasky walk around to the other side of the table. "I know that look. You know we have other priorities right now."

Leaning on the table Lasky exhaled as he gazed up at Master Chief. "Understandably, yes. But we also have an opportunity to gain advantages from possible allies. With the Prometheans rising, our battle strategies, and tactics are rendered obsolete. We need to gain an upper hand."

"We are still on course to Requiem." Sarah reminded the Captain they were already routed on a set course.

Lasky kept silent for a moment biting his bottom lip in deep thought. Keeping the suspense and tension in the room as he made a decision. "Blue Team. I'm going to put you in charge of investigating this odd invitation. Pack a Pelican full of supplies. Infinity and the Spartan fours will handle Requiem."

"Sir, is it wise to dispatch an entire Spartan team onto an unknown world with no back up, or estimated time for how long they will be be stuck there?" Palmer questioned Lasky's choices as it seemed a bit unwise considering the only one to have met this alien was the Master Chief.

Lasky smiled as he walked around the table, approaching the Master Chief as he spoke. "I put my full trust in the Master Chief. I briefly read his reports on the Chozo. I believe it was a missed opportunity for the UNSC to gain a permanent ally. I trust that Chief will guide his team thoroughly. And confirm an alliance with these peacekeepers. And by the sounds of it bring back something to assist us in our battles."

Palmer frowned, feeling the Captain was putting too much trust in an unknown source. But in the long run she would at the very least not have to babysit Blue Team during deployment on Requiem. More so she just didn't want to have to deal with Chief's ability to stray away from the objective because he felt differently about a mission.

"Are you up for this mission Blue Team?" Lasky asked as Roland waited for the Captain's next command.

"Yes Sir." Master Chief and the rest of Blue Team replied in confirmation.

The Captain nodded as he turned to the golden AI. "Roland, punch in the coordinates our friend gave us. Change course for Zebes."

"Yes Captain." Roland replied doing as he was commanded. "Course set for planet Zebes. ETA 72 hours. I have sent a message to the Chozo as well."

Once Blue Team had exited the bridge, excitement and confusion lingered within the team.

"Yes! I'm so happy we don't have to babysit while the eggheads set up camp on Requiem." Kelly thought aloud as she followed her team towards the hangar bay.

"Oh come'on, Kelly. I thought you loved standing guard while scientists tinker with rocks and sticks." Fred teased his teammate even though he was equally grateful they did not have to watch over scientists.

Linda like the Master Chief ignored the playful banter between Fred and Kelly. Prepping her mind for the upcoming mission. "What do you know of this planet, John?"

"Not much. I've been on it once. Briefly. As far as I know the Covenant sniffed around there only once." Chief mentioned as they picked out the Pelican they would be taking to Zebes.

"That bird mentioned something about accommodating human needs for survival? What was that all about?" The sharpshooter continued to try and gain more information.

Master Chief unlocked the empty storage compartments on the Pelican so he and his team could start loading it with supplies. "The planet is inhospitable to humans. Dense, I believe toxic air quality levels. The gravity is quite high. Armour will most likely be worn for the entire duration of our stay. But with their advanced technology perhaps we will be accommodated."

"Sounds like a riot." Fred sarcastically remarked as he loaded in various supplies.

Kelly pushed an ammunition box to the back of the compartment before grabbing another and doing the same. "Wait didn't you say you rescued a kid from that planet? What happened to that kid? Are they still alive if that planet is so inhospitable?"

Chief froze in deep thought. He hadn't thought about Samus in quite some time, he was also wondering the same question. As the last he saw Samus, she was adjusting to her mutations. "Last I spoke to her was on a Halo years ago. I have not had contact with her since then."

Waking up in a puddle of sweat was not exactly the nicest awakening Samus had. She knew it was due to her body adjusting to her new armour. Sitting up she scanned her room, focusing on the window it was still very bright outside. It was now early afternoon, she now felt ready to move.

"You slept for 3 hours. You are charged and ready for training." Mother Brain's probe floated down from the corner of the room.

"I still don't know how to put my armour on." Samus replied, following the probe as it unlocked all the doors in the sandstone hut. "We're meeting Old Bird, and Grey Voice, in Crateria. You will learn how to master it soon enough. This training practice is to allow your suit's processor to adapt to the structure of your neural network."

"Sounds fun..." Samus sarcastically cringed as they took the elevator up to Crateria. Grasping the wall for balance as the elevator activated. She still was quite woozy and shaken from the fusion.

"It may take longer for the suit to adjust given the fact it must keep up with your growing body. But nonetheless once it's adapted you will be able to control your suit simply." Mother continued to explain even though Samus was not interested in listening any longer.

As Samus slowly approached the two Chozo she could tell Grey Voice was quite annoyed and cross with Old Bird. It wasn't unusual for the two to disagree as Old Bird was a bit more open minded than Grey Voice was. She wondered what they were bickering about?

"I can't believe you gave them an open invitation. And they accepted. It's going to distract Samus, from focusing on her suit." Grey Voice hissed at the shorter Chozo standing next to him.

"We can only train her so far, Grey Voice. You and I have both discussed what's best. That time is zeroing in quicker than you think. We must do what's necessary even if she doesn't understand it." Old Bird reassured Grey Voice that inviting the Spartan to Zebes was the best decision they could make. In hopes that the humans were capable of adopting Samus as a new soldier to train.

Samus exhaled deeply as she walked up to the two. "Whatever it is. I didn't do it."

Grey Voice sighed shaking his head at the girl. "Never mind that. How do you feel?"

Samus looked over her own body with a shrug. "I feel a bit weird and tingly. But other than that I'm fine." She replied referring to the fact her entire body felt as if she had been electrocuted.

Old Bird smiled with a nod. "You are ready to begin."

"Okay how do I start? How do I put on my armour?" She questioned.

Grey Voice lifted up one of his hands to halt the questions coming from the child. "Those are not simple questions, Samus." He replied as they walked over to a more open area. "You must first ask yourself if you're prepared to emotionally invest yourself?"

"Emotional invest...?" Samus tilted her head curiously at one of her mentors.

"Emotionally Invest." Grey Voice repeated with a nod.

Old Bird once again nodded as he approached Samus. "The suit reacts to your thoughts. Your energy. Your body. In order to control it you must invest yourself emotionally. Your strong willpower will be key to your success." He explained cupping his hand to the girl's warm cheek. "Close your eyes and try..."

As Old Bird removed his comforting hand from her cheek , Samus closed her eyes. Relaxing her mind she put her entire focus on her armour. Picturing every piece and component of the Chozo hardware. As the two elderly Chozos observed a small light followed by a swarm of particles form around the child as she conjured up her armour.

"Open your eyes, Samus."

Doing as Grey Voice instructed, Samus was shocked to open her eyes to a heads up display. "I did it!" Scanning herself completely astonished by the shiny armour that had been wrapped around her.

Old Bird smiled proudly at the child's pure excitement. Even Grey Voice crack a small smile for a split second. "Excellent work. It is time to move onto the functions, let the real training begin. Mother, are you able to set up the test?"

"Indeed. Right this way." Mother Brain's probe replied leading the three to the set training course.

3 days In a slip space tunnel the supercarrier Infinity travelling closer and closer to the alien world of Zebes. In the bridge was Spartan Blue Team getting briefed before their arrival.

"So you understand it is of utmost importance that you don't return empty handed. Even if that means you only return with the Chozo's word that they will agree to an alliance." Captain Lasky firmly explained to the Spartan team that they could no longer just simply chat with the Chozo. "We cannot afford to make new allies without risking them being found by the Covenant. And since they have already been discovered by the Covenant it is our duty to make sure we have an agreement to protect each other."

"Completely understood, Captain." Master Chief answered as the ship came out of slip space revealing the orange rocky planet.

Sarah Palmer scanned the sight with her eyes giving a scoff. "Pfft, doesn't look like much."

"Looks can be deceiving Commander." Captain Lasky reminded as they followed Blue Team to the hangar bay where the prepped Pelican waited for them. "There should be enough supplies for you and your team for a while. If things go over smoothly on Requiem, we will do our best to keep in contact with you Blue Team." Lasky said as Master Chief's team bordered the Pelican starting it's take off sequence.

Stepping into the back of the Pelican Chief nodded in understanding. "Thank you, Sir. We will have full reports ready for when Infinity returns."

As the back hatch of the Pelican shut tightly Chief knew there was no turning back. Feeling the Pelican take off out of Infinity it only took a few moments for them to be entering the atmosphere of the Zebes.

"Mind the bump. This planet sure is rough." Kelly thought aloud as she levelled out the Pelican, flying over the acid rain singed region of Crateria.

Master Chief entered the cockpit as they descended into a nearly empty shipyard next to a structure. "Bring only what you need. Pistols only. No weapons will be drawn unless absolutely necessary. We keep the peace." He instructed his team as the Pelican opened the back hatch where he walked out with his teammates in tow.

It took only a matter of seconds for one of Mother Brain's probes to greet the heavily armoured humans. "Greetings. You must be Spartan 117 Master Chief."

Though his team was a bit leery, Master Chief greeted the Halo monitor lookalike. "Yes. This is my team of Spartans."

"Is this thing Forerunner?" Kelly questioned, clearly thinking the same as Chief.

"Not at all. I'm Zebesian. The Chozo created me in order to keep Zebes in optimal condition, while monitoring the universe, amongst many other tasks." The spherical AI probe explained to the curious Spartans. Floating over to the supposed leader of the team Mother Brain began to explain what they should do. "Is this your carrier? I would highly recommend pulling it into the hangar bay as your vessel is clearly not equipped to handle the coming acid rain." She expressed as she floated over the human air craft.

"Uh... we're not built for acid rain either." Kelly thought aloud as the AI continued on talking.

"They already seem well aware that we are not, Kelly. I wouldn't worry too much." Linda told her concerned Spartan sister.

"It will also make it easier for you to transport your necessities to your adapted living quarters."

Master Chief nodded in understanding choosing Fred as the Spartan to move the Pelican into the safe hangar bay as the AI had explained.

"Sure. I'll move it right now." Fred said as he made his way back into the Pelican.

"Excellent. Once that is complete we must make haste to Old Bird, and Grey Voice. The acid storm will be here in an estimated half hour. They are training Samus, not far from this location."

Once the Pelican was repositioned they followed the AI probe to the nearby training grounds. Taking in the dusty sights. There were crumbling ruined structures along with ancient statues of various Chozos. As they walked on, Chief could hear the alien Chozo language being shouted along with gunfire in the near distance.

Many drones approached the young armoured girl positioned straight ahead. They fired at the Samus who was clearly getting overwhelmed.

"What are you waiting for, Samus?! Shoot them!" Grey Voice shouted from the cliff just above the practice grounds. Where he, Old Bird, and Pyonchi, observed Samus's pitiful efforts.

"Agh, don't get so close!" Samus hissed closing her eyes as she fired at the closest bot. Missing it by a landslide and hitting the nearby cliff just missing the two Chozo's observing her.

"Oof... that was pathetic..." Linda thought aloud as they witnessed the girl's panic and horrible aim.

"Pathetic indeed." Mother Brain agreed zooming off to scold the young girl.

"Where'd the kid's armour go?" Kelly scoffed astonished by how the armour suddenly vanished from the small blonde.

Master Chief almost didn't recognize the young blonde girl in the pink clothing. She had grown so much since they had last interacted with each other

Grey Voice facepalmed with a groan disappointed in Samus's effort. "Ugh she's hopeless... she barely moved her body."

"Perhaps not all is hopeless. Our guests have arrived." Old Bird's eyes quickly took notice of the familiar armoured human leading a small team of similarly armoured humans. Watching as Mother's probe stopped the simulation quickly dashing off to scold the now unarmoured child sitting on the ground.

Samus visibly drew back in shock as the AI probe appeared nearly inches away from her face. "The power suit reacts to your thoughts, but it cannot think for you!"

Samus grabbed the probe clenching it in both hands as she shook it in a fit of frustration. "Then what the hell is it good for?! Grey Voice, and Old Bird, keep telling me to be more intuitive. Which is it?!"

"You must practice and allow the suit to adapt to the structure of your neural network."

Samus groaned lowering her arms in annoyance as Old Bird and Grey Voice approached. "Ugh... does that sound like it helps me Brain?"

"Samus, release Mother's probe." Grey voice demanded as he approached. Watching as the humans approached the girl from behind. "What is troubling you? You're not investing your emotions into fighting."

Samus looked at both her mentors as multiple shadows cast over her from behind. Tilting her head back to see multiple armoured humans standing behind her. One in particular was incredibly familiar to her. But before she could greet them Grey Voice was just beginning to lecture her of course.

"Despite the promise of prosperity from humanity and their war efforts. Violence and calamity still run rampant throughout the universe."

Samus was quick to hug her knees as the violent memories from her past flooded her mind. Being the victim of the so called violence and calamity in the galaxy. She understood what Grey Voice was getting at. But this was not enough to stop Grey Voice's lesson.

"You cannot afford to be the average warrior." He said. "Not even a great warrior, such as these humans behind you." The tall Chozo gestured to the armoured humans behind her. You have to be the best. Do you understand? There are greater threats than the Space Pirates, or even Ridley, that faces our galactic peace."

"What are they saying?" Kelly leaned towards Chief wondering if he understood the spoken alien language.

"I don't know." Chief whispered back in response. He assumed Samus was being scolded for the inefficient training session, but he was not sure as he could see tears streaming down the child's face.

"If you're one of us, you are also a protector of the galaxy."

Old Bird no longer could hold his tongue reassuring Samus that she was instrumental in creating a safer universe. "Mother Brain believes you to be instrumental in our preservation." He approached the girl, gesturing to the soldiers behind her. "I wish for you to quickly become a soldier and carry out your duty."

"I know... I want to someday hunt down every evil in the universe. Starting with the Space Pirates and Ridley." Samus said wiping away her tears.

"You must get stronger!" Grey Voice shouted sternly at her.

More tears began to escape Samus's turquoise eyes as no response seemed to satisfy her mentors. The mounting pressure becoming too much for her. Leaping up causing the Spartans to leap back as she took off easily jumping her way up and over a cliffside.

Old Bird sighed as they watched the girl rush off. "She is getting stronger every day, there is no doubt about that."

"Yes. But she is incapable of harnessing her strengths properly." Grey Voice continued to complain as the Spartans approached them.

Old Bird smiled turning to the massive armoured human, he switched to the spoken language of the humans. "Apologies Master Chief, our training sessions have not been going as successfully as we had hoped. Welcome back to Zebes."

Master Chief gave a small nod in understanding as he reached out his hand for a shake. "We understand. Thank you, I am glad to be back. Hopefully we can get more acquainted this time."

The shorter Chozo nodded in agreement reaching his old taloned hand to grasp the Spartan's armoured one in a shake. He had forgotten about the odd human greeting customs, as Samus was quite adapted to their Chozo lifestyle. Even though he himself tried his best to make sure Samus understood human customs as there was so much they both did not know. But as he grew busy with the Metroid project amongst other things, shortly after retrieving Samus back from the Spartan many years ago, Mother Brain had taken over most of Samus's human culture lessons. Unfortunately Samus loathed any lesson with the AI, usually skipping out on the lessons or was less inclined to pay proper attention.

"I believe our training session is done for today." Grey Voice sighed in disappointment as he too greeted the human team.

Kelly chuckled as she had to agree with the Chozo who was as tall as them. "I would say so. Do your sessions usually end like that?"

Grey Voice shook his head in response to the Spartan's query. "Not usually, no. But this is a new chapter for our hatchling. She has trained in many suits but this one is new, and permanent. It has many functions that the others had not prepared her for. A great frustration clouds her ability to properly use her armour efficiently."

"It is a conversation for another time old friend. Come let us go to Tourian, before the acid rain begins." Old Bird hobbled along with his staff as the fuzzy Rabbilis followed him.

Blue Team and Grey Voice all began to follow the much shorter Chozo. But Chief was reluctant to do so as Samus was still out here.

"What about Samus?" He asked concerned.

"She will find us. Or she will eventually retreat to Brinstar. Samus, can withstand the acid rain to an extent. Do not worry, her body took to the recasting excellently." Old Bird reassured the Spartan leader that the girl would be fine.

Samus sat under a broken structure hugging her knees as she watched the acid rain soak the valley below. Disappointed in herself for making such a pathetic impression on the man who saved her from invaders so long ago. This was not how she wanted to be reunited with the Master Chief. Though she quickly lifted her head as a thought crossed her mind. Why was the Master Chief on Zebes?

After the rain had settled and nightfall began, Pyonchi joined her on the bluff overlooking the the cratered valley illuminating the blue rocks. As she pet the Rabbilis Samus noted that he seemed quite distracted by something. Looking over her shoulder she took note of a winged creature gulping down the electrolytes from her drink bottle. With each gulp it glowed brighter until it's bioluminescent body was just a ball of blinding light. Taking off it joined many of it's kind flying nearby.

"Pretty." Samus thought aloud as she watched the creatures dance in hazy dark yellow-teal sky.

"Pretty?" Said Old Bird, startling Samus out of her trance. "I suppose they are. We call them Ionoferia. They absorb moisture and use the energy from the methane that surrounds us."

Samus watched with gleaming eyes as her Rabbilis hopped out of her lap. "They're beautiful."

"We use the methane in the atmosphere as a reliable energy source as well." He mentioned as he sorely descended into a seated position next to his charge. "I find them relaxing. There were similar creatures on Tallon IV, but no one has returned there since the corruption."

Samus exhaled deeply. She did not care about what made the creatures glow it was enough to her that they were a beautiful sight. But she knew Old Bird was not here for to watch the glowing bugs. "Sorry about earlier. I know I'm sworn to my path, but it makes me uneasy."

"What makes you uneasy?" Old Bird asked placing a taloned hand on the girl's shoulder.

The child lowered her head shamefully as it was difficult to explain what she felt. "It's hard to explain."

The elderly bird chuckled. "You worry despite knowing what must be done. No wonder humans keep so busy."

As the crater below began to glow Old Bird left the girl to enjoy the view. Giving a nod to the waiting Spartan as he passed by.

Chief stood in the shadows watching as Samus leaned over the bluff to see the beautiful sight below. Before he could approach, Samus ran off. But she quickly returned with bags of drink bottles. Now below the bluff she offered each Ionoferia a drink. Picking the beautiful flowers that bloomed in the crater. Before moving closer to the Cerebratorium entrance to begin sorting and planting her flowers, reminding the Spartan of her youthful energy.

Hearing heavy footsteps approaching Samus could tell they were not Chozo in origin. Looking up she saw three unfamiliar Spartans standing over her.

"Whatcha doing there kiddo?" Kelly asked crouching down to be level with the girl.

Samus shrunk herself as she gave a shy smile in response. Not entirely certain of what the female Spartan was saying to her. Her face went red with embarrassment as she realized she would have to recollect her human language lessons in order to communicate with their human visitors. More so the lack of knowledge and skills due to skipping and blatantly ignoring her human culture lessons since Mother Brain fully took over teaching her.

"Picking flowers huh? They sure are pretty." Kelly continued to attempt a conversation despite the child not engaging.

Samus recognized those words as she used to pick flowers for her Mother on K-2L quite often. "Picking flowers." She nodded as Chief approached his team.

A smile crept behind the visors of both Kelly and the Master Chief as Samus repeated what Kelly had said. Chief didn't know whether to be or not to be surprised that the girl had a bit of a Chozodian accent to her voice. It was clear to him and his team, Samus spoke in broken English as the alien language had clearly been her dominant tongue in her last 8 years. Master Chief wanted to converse with Samus, but did not know where to begin. It seemed every time he tried, something else would distract the girl.

Grey Voice stepped out of the door next to the girl surprised to see Samus kneeling on the ground. "Samus? What are you doing out here?" He asked in English as a way to promote Samus to engage in her almost nonexistent human language skills.

"Relaxing." She replied, speaking Chozodian as it was much easier while keeping her focus on her task. "I read once that humans are allowed two out of seven days to just relax and play. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

Grey Voice was quick to switch back to Chozodian as well even though he knew it was not very encouraging for Samus. "I have heard. There was a time when we here on Zebes enjoyed similar divertissements, but we are in a more difficult period. The more sentient the galaxy becomes, the more dire threats to life arise."

Samus knew Grey Voice was always more morbid with his lessons. But he was only trying to be realistic. "Do you think the Space Pirates will do to Zebes what they did to K-2L?"

"That depends on our level of vigilance. They came here once before." Grey Voice mentioned as he stepped closer finally taking notice of what Samus was doing.

"I found these blooming in the crater. Aren't they pretty?" She asked holding up one of the flowers to the tall Chozo.

Grey Voice recoiled back as if Samus had aimed a loaded gun at him. "Those are badger clovers! Quickly, where is the crater?!"

Samus pointed in the direction confused by her mentor's sudden panic. "Just west of the training grounds. What's wrong?"

"No time." Grey Voice replied switching to english so the humans understood what was happening. The sense of urgency in his voice causing the Spartans to become alert. "Mother, we need a class-one phytogenic cleanup. Stand by for coordinates." He advised as his claws tapped rapidly across the hidden keypad on his wrist under his sleeve.

The Spartans took note of the glow in the distance as the familiar scent of burning metals and hydrocarbon hit all their noses.

"What are you doing?! Samus screamed. "Stop!"

Grey Voice sharply turned back to the crying child. His tone strict as he spoke back in Chozodian. "Don't you know this plant is from another planet? It is deadly toxic! Immediately go to quarantine, and touch nothing! Await further instructions from Mother Brain."

"But I feel f..."

"Go!" The old Chozo shouted, not to be challenged.

Samus ran inside, shortly after Mother Brain's voice came over Grey Voice's communication collar. "Grey Voice, I have preformed a spectroscopic scan of the child. So far no active traces of badger clover toxin. Her unique body chemistry has neutralized any amount of substance. I have probes scanning the area for toxins. But her prognosis is favourable."

A sigh of relief escaped Grey Voice as he replied to the AI. "I am relieved. What of the crater? Have we contained the threat?"

"We will. Samus, is being briefed on the situation and has been turned away from quarantine." Mother Brain replied.

"Grey Voice!" All of them turned to the angrily approaching Samus. She was no longer going to attempt speaking the human language as it was easier for her to find the right words in Chozodian. "What is wrong with you?!"

Chief cupped a hand on the girl's shoulder in attempt to calm her boiling anger. "Easy, Samus."

"I have seen these flowers before. Like everything on the Pirate home world they can be fatal." Grey Voice calmly explained speaking his native language in return as armed drones scanned and torched the clovers Samus had replanted nearby.

They all watched in silence as smoke and embers danced across the darkness.

"Did you see Ridley... last time?" Samus murmured.

"Only from a distance."

"Did he come here?" She pressed on, her tone more nervous.

"Our defence systems were not configured for their tactics back then. And they have no reason to attack us now. You are safe here." Grey Voice replied in a weak attempt to comfort the child.

Samus stared at the flames the smell reminding her of the devastation on her home world. Watching every human she briefly knew getting slaughtered and burned alive. "I may be safe here. But they're not safe out there."

Before Grey Voice could explain the difference between justice and vengeance one of Mother Brain's probes flew in to alert the Chozo.

"I have discovered that the Ionoferia are the carriers for the toxins of the badger clover. A symbiosis." Mother Brain exclaimed.

"No..." Samus cried as Grey Voice ordered the destruction of the beautiful creatures. "Please!"

"Sterilize the whole crater." Grey Voice ordered as the Spartan team observed to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Chief tightened his grasp on Samus as she began to argue against her mentor's choices once again. Even though he could not understand what they were saying he could tell Samus was being rebellious.

Samus could not understand why they could not treat the Ionoferia and brush the toxins off like they had done with her. Why did they have to meaninglessly kill? "This is barbaric!"

"What did you say to me?" Grey Voice demanded.

"You heard what I said! Barbaric!" Samus challenged.

Grey Voice stepped forward pressing a talon in the girl's chest. His face almost nightmarish from the dark glow of the methane air sparkling from the flames. "Do not ever speak to me in such a manner! I have devoted my life to protecting the ecology of many, many, worlds. Eradicating invasive species is sometimes the only option. You are in no position to judge. This is not your world!"

"It's not yours either!" Samus spat as a laser blast burst through a piece of Grey Voice's robe.

Each Spartan quickly unholstered and aimed their pistols. Someone had shot at the Chozo. Looking up to see that it was the Ionoferia, holding a disproportionately large Pirate plasma pistols.

"Hold your fire. Hold..." Chief commanded waiting to see if the little creatures were truly a threat. His question was quickly answered as the creatures immediately took aim at the Chozo once again.

Grey Voice was quickly swept out of the way in a golden blur. Old Bird stepped out just in time to see his old friend's rescuer. It was Samus completely armoured.

Placing the elderly frail Chozo on the ground Samus immediately took aim, firing her cannon at the Ionoferia. With each accurate shot she disarmed the creatures without injury. Disarming the first wave with ease. The Spartans took aim following suit they shot and disarmed the Ionoferia.

Chief motioned for Kelly and Fred to check on Grey Voice and protect the two birds from stray gunfire. As the Ionoferia got overwhelming Samus leapt in the air her armour contorting mid air as her entire body became a sphere bowling through the unprepared creatures. Causing them to drop their weapons and retreat to the crater. Where the Chozo drones corralled and exterminated every last one of them.

Each Spartan holstered their weapons as the drones took care of the rest of the threats.

"Everyone alright? Nobody hurt?" Fred asked the two Chozos who nodded their heads in reply.

Master Chief and Kelly slowly approached the very upset girl. But they did not get a chance to ask if she was alright as she began to express her rage. Samus never intended to harm the creatures. The massive eradication of the beautiful creatures enraged the girl. She smashed one of the nearby drones with her fist before turning to smash another and another. Soon she was surrounded by smoking scrap metal and an awestruck audience.

"Are they going to tell her to stop?" Kelly leaned over to Chief.

Both Chozo stood and watched Samus work out her childish rage. They knew that the best thing to say was nothing. Both of them were secretly proud. Samus had proved herself capable of being responsive and protective of the innocent. Not to mention a surprisingly dexterous practitioner of the morph ball. Once done with her fit, Samus ran off once again, climbing on top of the Cerebratorium where she sat watching the twinkling light over the city of Tourian city.

"She did a number on these things." Kelly thought aloud as her and her teammates investigated the smashed metal drones.

"Indeed. No cause for concern. Samus, will repair them. As is her usual responsibilities." Old Bird reassured the three Spartans that the drones would be repaired.

Fred chuckled rubbing the back of his helmet. "You break it you fix it sort of situation huh..."

"Samus's duties are to train, and attend lessons. Mechanical repairs are part of her technology studies. Anything she destroys during training sessions are to be repaired and rebuilt by her." Grey Voice added as the helpful humans began to move the broken pieces inside the building.

Samus could hear footsteps coming from behind her. This time she was followed by the Spartan leader. Chief stood next to her for a short while, taking in the view. He carefully sat himself next to the girl.

They both sat in silence for a good while. Once again Chief was unable to start a conversation with the girl. Somehow it was much easier to communicate with Samus when she was a toddler. Or it was made easier when he had Cortana to assist him with child communication. But luckily for him Samus broke the ice with a simple yet odd question.

"I'm ten... Am I um... adult?" She asked speaking slowly so her english was proper enough, clearly amusing the Spartan with her question.

Master Chief held back his sarcasm as he replied to the young child. "Um, no. You're still a young child."

"Oh." Samus replied watching the lights in the city sparkle.

"Why do you not know that?" John asked purely out of curiosity.

"I dunno. Chozo know not much bout humans." She shrugged with a yawn.

Master Chief nodded in understanding. Between the broken english and naivety towards basic human knowledge. It was pretty apparent it had been some time since Samus had been around other humans. He supposed he didn't completely understand what it was like to be raised by aliens, completely isolated from your own species.

"Why you here?" Samus bluntly asked. Her intent was not to be rude she was only curious.

"Old Bird invited me to Zebes. I'm not entirely sure as to why. But we hope to make friends with the Chozo officially." He replied as Samus spun herself to face him.

"Who's we? Are they brothers? Sisters?"

Samus's multiple questions reminded the Spartan that she was definitely the exact same child he had rescued 8 years ago.

"In a way yes. They are my teammates. I will properly introduce them to you later on." Chief said as Samus blinked her tired eyes. "Aren't you tired from today?"

"Yeah..." She yawned getting up from the ground. "Where you sleeping...?"

"I think we're staying somewhere here?" He replied unsure.

"Stay in Brinstar." Samus said as they approached the other Spartans who were still conversing with Old Bird.

"I think we're supposed to stay in our assigned quarters." Chief mentioned.

"Old Bird, can Chief stay with me in Brinstar?" She asked in Chozodian, as she went running up to the short Chozo.

Old Bird turned in the direction of his energetic child. Gesturing for one of Mother Brain's nearby probes to approach. "I suppose Mother can adjust your quarters to the living environment of the humans so they may rest comfortably."

"You can stay!" Samus excitedly began leading the Spartans to Brinstar.

Blue Team was astonished by the underground jungle, so much alien wildlife and foliage everywhere they looked. Once the Spartans and child were inside the sandstone hut. Mother Brain filtered the air pumping oxygen into the hut sealing the outside atmosphere out. "These quarters are now suitable for humans. If you step outside of this hut without protective armour you will be able to survive only for a short time before succumbing to breathing issues."

"That shouldn't be an issue. Thank you." Master Chief thanked the AI before it exited the hut.

"So you gonna show us around kid?" Fred asked playfully, as they all turned to the young girl in front of them. Master Chief quickly stepped in front of his team so he could properly introduce Samus to them. "First introduce yourselves. Samus doesn't know you."

"I'm Spartan 104 Fredric. You can call me Fred." The steel blue armoured Spartan introduced himself as Kelly and Linda did the same.

"Spartan 058 Linda."

"Spartan 087 Kelly."

Samus smiled up at the tall armoured humans. "I'm Samus. I'm 10." She said as Pyonchi came bounding over from her room. "This is Pyonchi. He's a rabbilis."

Chief vaguely remembered toddler Samus mentioning the Rabbilis name years ago.

"Oh yeah... look at that bunny... squirrel...?" Kelly bent down giving the odd creature a little scratch under the chin. "So do you want to give us a quick tour?"

"A tour?" Samus questioned.

"Do you want to show us around the hut?" Linda rephrased for the girl.

Samus waved for the humans to follow stopping at the first room. "This room. Two you can stay here. There's two cots."

"No armour while using the cots. Don't even sit on them if you are." Chief advised his teammates as they all took note of the cots made of wood and cushions.

"I'll bunk in here with Linda." Kelly said as Linda shrugged sure in reply.

"Next is a room too. Chief? Fred...? You have it." Samus said as she gestured to the middle room. Before leading the team to the last room at the end of the hallway. "This is my room."

The child's room was more or less the same as theirs. With the exception of a couple childish decorations. Most notably the Spartan replica Master Chief plushy sitting against the pillow on the girl's cot.

"Nice. I see you like to paint a lot." Kelly said, admiring the multiple drawings and paintings on the walls around the room.

"I did..." She replied. These days she had no time for her art as she was constantly training and in lessons.

Soon all but the Master Chief left to go get settled in their assigned rooms. Entering the girl's bedroom he carefully picked up the plushy. "You still have this?"

"Mhmm." Samus crawled up onto her cot getting ready for a good rest before she had to return to training.

The plushy was slightly worn from constantly being brought from place to place on Zebes. But it was still in good enough shape to be identified as the Master Chief. He was actually surprised to see the girl still had the toy. He figured it would've gotten lost somewhere by now. But judging by it's condition she clearly had some sort of sentimental attachment to the toy.

Looking up from the toy Chief could see Samus was now laying on her cot half asleep. "I'll leave you to rest." He said placing the toy next to the girl in the cot, before exiting to go converse with his Spartans.

"So besides the interesting temper tantrum's. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that kid is not fully human?" Kelly mentioned as soon as her leader entered the room.

"You read my past reports. And the reports from Commander Keyes, and the Sergeant Major. You should already know that information." Chief replied.

Kelly sighed taking off her helmet feeling the warm stagnant air inside the hut. "Is it wrong to ask about confirmation?"

"Kelly, as if the moment you set foot on this planet and approached the kid wasn't confirmation enough." Fredric sarcastically remarked to the brunette as he pulled off his helmet as well.

"It's clear the kid lacks common human knowledge. I think that's enough of an answer." Linda mentioned as she checked the quality of her pistol. "One thing that stands out to me is her ability to fight."

Fred nodded in agreement with the sharpshooter. "She's clearly got a lot of potential to become a soldier. But her elderly frail caretakers lack the ability to teach her how to really fight."

"She's got fight in her for sure. She's got some power. That much is very clear, judging by the state of those drones outside." Kelly scoffed proudly.

Master Chief agreed with his team on multiple points. But it was not their job to teach Samus how to become a soldier. They were here on strict instructions to gain the Chozo as a reliable ally. They had not even begun to converse with the Chozo about that potential. The chaotic day had not seemed to have given them the chance.

"Get some rest Blue Team. Tomorrow we are going to gain more intel from the Chozo. That is our mission." He reminded his team of their objectives. "Samus, is an interesting study. But that is not why we're here."

Mother Brain observed the humans from the monitors placed within Samus's hut. Little did the humans know that was exactly why they were here. Both Old Bird, and Grey Voice, had been discussing with each other, admitting that Samus had begun to outgrow Zebes. On a planet full of an ancient dying species, there was no place on the planet for young blood anymore. They had successfully re-birthed Samus as a unique hybrid. They had successfully trained her to use Chozo technology and weaponry. There was nothing more for her here. Unlike the Chozo on Zebes, Samus could not sit around and monitor the universe for danger. She had to actively step out into the universe to protect the innocent and aid in bringing galactic peace.

The next day came quickly. Samus awoke, immediately making her way to the laboratories to repair and reconstruct each of the drones she had destroyed yesterday. After she was done with that she made her way to the training grounds where Mother Brain began the simulations.

"Old Bird?" Master Chief called to the stubby Chozo monitoring the girl on a display hologram.

"Master Chief. I thought yesterday would've frightened you away. It wasn't the typical human standard welcoming." Old Bird turned to greet the approaching Spartan team.

"Samus, is spirited. She has a lot of potential." Master Chief replied wholesomely.

The elderly Chozo nodded in agreement as he hobbled his way over to Grey Voice. "Indeed she has much potential." Both him and Grey Voice found it promising that the Spartans saw so much promise in the Chozo child. "So tell me Spartan, how have your endeavours been? It has been some time since we last met."

"A lot has happened since then." Chief responded. "It seems like everywhere we turn we cannot escape war. We believed that we ended the Covenant not long after we had met you. But we were wrong. I found myself trapped on a Forerunner shield world with Covenant rebels. Only to awaken the Didact, and his Promethean army. Though we dealt with the devastation from that, we cannot catch a break."

Grey Voice was less than impressed to hear of that. "Did you silence the Didact permanently?"

"I neutralized him as he attempted to set off Halo. But the Prometheans continue to fight while we continue to fight the Covenant." Master Chief explained. He chose to explain with lack of detail to test what knowledge the Chozo had on the matter.

The taller Chozo paused in deep thought. It was difficult to tell if the humans truly understood the gravitas of the dangers they were facing. "I truly hope for humanity sake, that you did indeed destroy the Didact."

"What makes you say that?" Fred asked curiously.

Old Bird sighed as he observed Samus losing her suit as she got too overwhelmed. Turning away from the hologram display, he aided his friend in explaining the dangers of the Didact. "The Didact would stop at nothing to eradicate humanity. Much like you saw last night with the Ionoferia crisis. To put it simply, the Didact seeks to eradicate what is in his mind to be an invasive species."

"The Chozo have been around for many millennia. We know the Forerunners well. It took valiant efforts to imprison the Didact. The Didact does not go down so easily." Grey Voice warned the Spartans. "Though humanity as Reclaimers were to inherit what was left behind by the Forerunners. Meddling with what you do not understand seems to be a trend for both this Covenant, and humanity." He scoffed with a head shake. Clearly very disappointed in humanity at this point.

"Trust me we nearly lost our lives trying to kill that bastard. The Didact is gone for good this time." Kelly scoffed confidently at the Chozo.

Samus groaned as she entered the laboratory with one of Mother's probes in tow. The girl was drenched in sweat from her training session, and seemed to be quite annoyed. "Old Bird, is there a simpler way to keep my armour on? It keeps disengaging." She once again spoke in the alien language.

The subject change seemed to be a relief for both the Spartans and the Chozo. As the conversation about humanity and Forerunners kept increasing the tension. Old Bird turned to the tired child as Grey Voice went to gather data pads.

"I'm afraid not, hatchling." Hobbling over to Samus, Old Bird gestured for Mother Brain to perform a scan on the child. "You must continue your practice in order to allow your suit to adapt to your neural network." curious to see if the Spartans had any input on Samus's situation he quickly switched to speaking the human language. "You slow down your suit's progress if you continue to give up every time you get overstimulated. You're overthinking."

Samus rolled her eyes at that response, waving the AI probe away from her. "You tell me the suit cannot think for me. But you still tell me not to overthink! Which is it?"

"Excuse me? If I may give a little input to this situation." Linda cleared her throat as she took a step towards the two.

"Please, all opinions are welcome." Old Bird bowed his head gesturing with his taloned hand for the Spartan to voice her thoughts.

"I'm just curious as to how important it is for Samus, to be training while wearing her armour?" She questioned as the taller Chozo reproached the conversation.

"It is vital that Samus, endures the training while armoured. In order for her body to fully connect and complete the fusion with her armour." Grey Voice informed the questioning sharpshooter.

Linda nodded in understanding, observing the child's unamused expression from the corner of her eye. "Could I perhaps assist with this process?"

"Highly unlikely, this is Chozo technology which you have no knowledge..."

"Now. Now. Let's not get carried away old friend. As much as this is our technology, we must remind ourselves that Samus, is human. This is the first time our technology has ever been intergraded with a human. Perhaps human input will be beneficial." Old Bird stopped his skeptical friend from dismissing the human soldier's suggestion. "Please, take Samus. She can show you more of Zebes. Just be careful, some areas may not be safe for you Spartans."

Once again the brown armoured Spartan nodded in understanding. Watching as Samus reluctantly made her way to the exit. "Understood. I'm sure we can assist Samus, with her armour troubles."

As the Spartan team followed Samus out, Grey Voice turned to his comrade. "Why do you put so much trust in those humans? We only just met them. They're proving to be like most other humans we encounter, incredibly immature."

Old Bird chuckled at Grey Voice as Pyonchi joined them in the lab. "Humanity is indeed a young breed. But they can also teach Samus, what we cannot."

Walking through to the lush green jungle of green Brinstar the Spartans followed the girl dressed in the pink skin tight two piece body suit. Kelly jogged up to Linda who was following the child. "So what's your plan here?"

"I think the Chozo are pushing Samus, too quickly. She's had zero time to adapt to her armour. They dropped her into a set of armour and threw her into battle with zero experience or training." Linda replied sharing what she thought of the whole situation. To which Samus overheard. Understanding most of what was being said, she disagreed partially on the matter.

The blonde child pivoted to address the sharpshooter's opinions. "I have lots of ex-peri-ents..." Her broken english softening her tone as she recollected the correct words in her human vocabulary. "I had other suits, lots of training before this suit."

"Okay, so what's the difference between those suits and this one?" Kelly asked as Samus sat down next to a beautiful stream.

With a heavy sigh Samus tried to explain what it was like to have this new suit. "This suit is built to fooze... with and spond... to my DNA. Grey Voice, says is like a new organ, or a limb. A part of me."

"So basically it's like learning to ride a bicycle..."

"What's a bi-si-cal?"

"Never mind." Kelly quickly rephrased her thoughts. "It's like relearning how to walk."

"It's almost like a symbiotic link." Fred thought aloud.

Linda took a step forward crouching next to the child. "Why don't you get your armour on now."

"Now? But we're no near the training grounds?" Samus replied getting up to her feet.

Linda stood back up as well, scanning the area with her eyes. "For now, everywhere is a training area. You are going to put on your armour and we're going to continue exploring and walking around." She told the now confused child.

"I umm... don't understand?" The young child was still very unsure about what Linda was trying to get her to do.

The sharpshooter was beginning to get annoyed hearing Samus's consistent overthinking and questioning. "Just suit up. I will explain." With a shrug Samus conjured up her suit with a couple flares of light and glitches indicating indicating the incomplete connection between her and the armour.

Linda nodded in approval taking a good look at the young girl in copper armour. "Good. Now let's go. Come'on show us your favourite places to explore."

Samus tilted her head in confusion as the sharpshooter began to walk away. "That's it?"

"Yes." The Spartan could tell by the girl's body language that she was confused and quite hesitant. As if she was waiting to get scolded.

Scanning all around the area with her eyes Samus knew she was being monitored by Mother Brain and the Chozo. "B-but I have to train..."

"We are." Linda replied as Kelly gave Samus an encouraging nudge forward. "I asked Old Bird if I could try training you my way. He said yes. Your mentors will not get angry at you because you strayed away from your usual routine."

With that being said, the young girl led the way deeper into the jungle territory of Brinstar. There were few Chozos wondering around, most of them stopped to stare at the human visitors as they passed by. Master Chief could tell that Samus seemed to be less tense, her armour seemed to now be consistently on and functional. Looking around he took note of some hostile looking flora and fauna, some plants even hopped or crawled across the ground to eat the nearby creatures that wondered near them.

"What's on your mind brother?" Fred asked taking notice of his leader's wondering gaze.

"Just in thought." Chief mentioned slowing his stride to walk in pace with Fredric.

Fred acknowledged Chief. "Mhmm. This place sure is alien. But the Chozo know more than we know. They are definitely foreseeable valued allies."

Chief couldn't agree more. The Chozo were certainly a well of knowledge. Exactly how much knowledge? Was unknown. But the nature of the ancient aliens was unclear. The Chozo were adamant about keeping the peace in the galaxy. Very calculated and meticulous They seemed to have a decent amount of knowledge about the Forerunners and perhaps mingled with them in the past.

"Watch out!" Samus warned the Chief who was about to step into the range of a resting WhipVine.

Chief halted in his tracks. Fred doing the same. Waiting for Samus to give them directions.

"Go round. It will hit you." Samus could not think of the proper words to name the creature in english. Pointing to the seemingly closed large purple plant.

Both male Spartans gave the unusual plant a very wide berth. Continuing to follow the child as she continued to show off the interesting sights. Hearing an unfortunate creature squeal behind them both Chief and Fred caught a glimpse of the Whipvine striking an insect away.

With a successful day of being fully armoured without falter, Old Bird decided the Spartans should continue their way of training, and when they felt ready the Chozo would continue to run Samus through a variety of training exercises to ensure her suit was permanently fused properly. It was beginning to be set all in motion. They had some fine tuning to work on before they reached the moment they could no longer keep Samus on Zebes.

Weeks went by and Old Bird was more than happy to communicate with the visiting humans. They asked some questions that were to be expected, like how they knew of the Forerunners and the Halos. Letting Blue Team know that they knew about the many different species within the Covenant but not of the Covenant itself. Grey Voice chose to stay away from most conversations allowing Mother Brain to chime in her logical opinions here and there. It was clear to him that the humans were seeking something from them. It had been weeks nearly a whole month since there arrival, Blue Team had successfully assisted Samus fuse with her armour the first week they were there. Master Chief attended most of Samus's training sessions. Nearly never interacting with her. Always just observing from the sidelines, occasionally with his teammates. The Spartans grew more curious about gaining information rather than taking full interest in the young future galactic saviour.

Master Chief exited the docked Pelican within the docking bay, to his waiting team. After he had just gotten off the long range communication relay.

"So? What did they say?" Kelly asked eagerly.

"Infinity is on it's way back to get us." Master Chief replied making his way past his teammates.

"That seems rather quick? Considering they were supposed to study Requiem." Linda thought aloud as they all followed Chief.

Feed nodded in agreement. "I agree. There must be something going on. I'm guessing they didn't give you much detail?"

Kelly scoffed as they walked past the playing child and her Rabbilis. "Pfft... Please, the eggheads probably set something off and they're picking us up so we can help them sort it out."

"Requiem is no more. Captain Lasky expressed that the Covenant were the ones responsible for its destruction. More about the subject is to be described during debriefing when we return."

Overhearing the Spartans chatter, Samus leapt above the Cerebratorium following the sounds of their footsteps she used her morph ball to get into the vents that led to the laboratory.

Master Chief greeted the elderly Chozos, both halting their work as they were approached. "Old Bird, Grey Voice. We have appreciated your hospitality, on top of your generous and valuable information about our enemies. But I am afraid we must leave."

"We understand. It has been some time and you must carry on your endeavours." Old Bird bowed his head in understanding. The time had come, it had been some time since the humans first arrived. Old Bird himself amongst the Chozo elder council gave information and agreed to be allies with the UNSC.

Samus slunk out of morph ball onto the highest platforms in the lab. Far out of eyesight hoping to go unnoticed.

"I suppose the biggest question is, can the UNSC count on the Chozo's support if we require your aid? And of course vice versa." Master Chief asked hoping to officially confirm their alliance with the ancient aliens.

Grey Voice was quite opposed to this agreement along with a few other Chozo elders. But inevitably they were out voted, and an agreement to confirm an alliance with the humans was confirmed. On certain terms of course. The humans were to have no access to their weaponry, or defence systems unless urgent circumstances occurred. The only weaponry and Chozo tech they would be granted, was a weapon with a conscience.

"We have spoken amongst Mother Brain, and the elders of the Thoha tribe. We have agreed to confirm our alliance with the UNSC. Under the circumstances that you do not have free access to our weaponry, or technology, unless unforeseen circumstances arise." Grey Voice firmly told the human super soldiers the agreement to their alliance.

Master Chief exchanged glances with his teammates who nodded in agreement with the terms. Though disappointing to not be able to have immediate access to the Chozo technology. The Chozo were willing to be flexible with their terms. "Understood. We thank you for your cooperation with this alliance. The UNSC looks forward to being able to assist each other if the occasions arise."

"We are grateful to hear your appreciation. But your tone does not hide your disappointment." Old Bird chuckled dryly as he hobbled closer to the Spartan leader. Master Chief stayed silent glancing at his Spartans who shrugged at him a bit confused as well. "Worry not. You're not departing completely empty handed. Your Command will not be disappointed."

"I'm not following?" Chief cocked his helmet at the stubby elderly bird.

"The Chozo grant you with a gift. It is a generous gift that has outgrown this ancient world. This gift will grow stronger with the proper programming, it will nearly be unstoppable." The bipedal alien bird pivoted, taking one of his taloned hands off of his staff. Pointing upwards to the highest point of the room. "We gift you your very own Chozo warrior."

Samus was just as shocked as the Spartans. Taking a few steps back from the railing in front of her, hiding herself out of view. She did not expect to be offered up to the humans just like that. Even if they tried to make it sound pretty by calling her a gift. Samus quickly transformed back into her morph ball, retreating out of the lab.

"So you're offering up the kid to the UNSC?" Kelly asked what everyone was thinking, yet in her usual blunt manner.

Grey Voice shook his head with a heavy groan, restraining himself from rolling his eyes as he stepped closer. "We are not unwise to humans. You came here for gain. Though generous in your Commands way of thinking, we will not give you humans any Chozo weaponry. But we agreed that by gifting you Samus, who's fully equipped. Both sides get what they want. You get Chozo technology. And we get some relief knowing the technology has the capability to know right from wrong."

"The kid's barely taken the training wheels off. The UNSC will have no use for her!" Kelly scoffed even though in the back of her teammates minds they were sure the UNSC and ONI could find a few uses.

Old Bird once again chuckled at the Spartans. "Now, I hesitate to believe that statement. Don't underestimate what you do not know. Underestimating is a quick and easy way to demise. You have already seen her potential. Samus, will only continue to grow stronger and more powerful as she grows."

Once the Chozo allowed the Spartan team to take a quick break to consider their options Blue Team discussed what they should do. Samus was not far eavesdropping from the top of some ruins just above the conversing humans.

"Did you know they were going to spring this surprise adoption on us? Because I didn't see any signs that said alien orphanage when we landed."

"Enough, Kelly. I'm sure this is just as surprising to John, as it is to all of us." Fred hissed at Kelly to calm herself.

Master Chief was surprised, perhaps not as much as he thought he would be. Since arriving on Zebes, it was quite clear that the peaceful passive tribe of Chozo were struggling to properly conduct physical battle training, amongst other aspects. It was very obvious Samus had outgrown living with the ancient Chozo. And if she didn't get some firm direction from a physically and mentally strong leader soon, she would quickly fall down the path of vengeance.

"We're bringing her to Infinity."

The Spartans of Blue Team exchanged glances almost shocked by their leader's sure response. "Contrary to popular belief, it's not horrible to refuse a gift. Especially if that gift is an uncontrollable, mutant, alien hybrid, with weapons." Kelly remarked to which Linda and Fred had to hesitantly agree.

"Mutant...?" Samus repeated under her breath as she continued to listen in on the Spartans. She wouldn't let the word get to her. It seemed the Spartan was using the word in a descriptive manner. Unless it was intended to be an insult...

Linda was hesitant to fully agree with either Chief or Kelly. Trying to understand both of their sides was proving to be difficult. But she knew they were very capable of connecting with Samus. She would be a worthy asset to the UNSC with her unique abilities and tech. And despite the girl's shy demeanour, she had a fiery personality hidden underneath. With a strong instinct to protect the innocent.

"I'm going to have to agree with, Kelly. What do we really know what this kid is capable of?" Fred mentioned.

"Samus, needs direction, and discipline. She needs more than what she can get from this planet. Unfortunately her caretakers are not able to keep up with her needs as she grows. But we can." Master Chief explained to his Spartan team that hesitated to agree with him.

Kelly sighed placing a hand on her hip. "So we're on literal babysitting duty now? Is the kid even going to agree to leave her home? Or are we going to have to drag her away?"

Old Bird did not jump at the sound of the armoured child landing behind where he was working. "Did you complete your training session this morning?" He asked in Chozodian.

"I did." Samus replied disengaging her armour, raising her vulnerability as it faded from her body. "Are you really giving me away?"

Grey Voice emerged from the other side of the laboratory giving a heavy sigh in response. "No, we are not. Old Bird, and I, have had discussions with Mother Brain. We have all come to the same conclusion."

"What's that...?" Samus was anxious to hear the answer.

"Your needs have begun to grow beyond the reaches of the feeble Chozo of Zebes. The only way you can continue to grow is to put you with your own kind. They will teach you the lessons we cannot." Old Bird explained as one of Mother Brain's probes joined the conversation.

The young girl's upset expression quickly turned to concern as she was not comfortable being thrown completely back into the human existence. "I can't. They won't like me..."

"Humans, always wanting to fit in and be exactly the same as their peers." Mother thought aloud, pointing out that Samus was afraid she would not fit in.

Grey Voice cupped a taloned hand on Samus's shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze. "Mother is right. You are still human, Samus. But you're not meant to be like all the others. Don't try to be the same. Embrace your unique differences. There's no other human like you."

With a somber nod Samus exited the lab to take in the scenery of Zebes one last time before she prepared herself to leave with the human super soldiers. As she exited through the tunnel the Spartan team passed her, but she did not dare to look up at them. For she was too upset to even look at her new caretakers.

"Blue Team, have you taken our offerings into consideration?" Old Bird greeted the entering humans.

"We accept your terms. We will have Samus, join the UNSC forces." Master Chief replied, to which the stubby Chozo nodded in acknowledgement.

"That is excellent to hear. I believe Samus, is getting her affairs in order before she takes her leave with you. What is the ETA for your pickup?" The elderly Chozo asked as Mother Brain's probe hovered around the Spartan team.

"ETA 8 hours."

"I've been monitoring the proximity scanners nothing has entered our galaxy as of yet. Nor has anything entered our orbit." Mother Brain informed the Chozo that she had been monitoring for the humans arrival.

Fred gave a small nod, gesturing to the probe. "Seems like you'll know of their arrival far quicker than us."

"Something on your mind?" Grey Voice asked the Master Chief who clearly wanted to say something to them.

Master Chief gazed in the direction Samus had left them. He did want to insult the Chozo but he had to make sure things were done the right way. "We will not be taking Samus, by force. She is not our prisoner, nor is she our allied slave."

Grey Voice would've been insulted if he wasn't so impressed by the human's clear respect for their hatchling. Old Bird felt the same as his friend, respecting the Spartan's respectful attitude. "Worry not, Samus is fully aware of what is happening. We have had discussions in the past about this. Though we did not know who we were going to send her with. Samus, understands that this is her next step in her Chozo journey to becoming a protector of the galaxies."

Samus kicked a pebble as she walked her interesting routes through Zebes. She could hardly believe she was being shipped off the planet to go live with humans after living so long with the Chozo. Knowing she would not make friends easily, as she was very different. And as Grey Voice would put it. Humans often feared different.

"Samus." One of Mother's probes soared over to the young wondering child.

"What now, Mother?" Samus groaned as the annoying silver orb hovered in front of her.

The iris of the AI's probe dialled as Mother Brain did her best to ignore the child's whinging. "You must stop sulking. And prepare yourself for your departure with the humans."

The blonde girl sighed as Mother Brain was correct. She could not walk around all day while there was very limited time to collect what she needed before leaving Zebes. "I'm on my way to do that now. How long until I have to leave?"

"Very limited time. There has been a detection of slip-space in our galaxy. I would estimate that you have an hour."

On her way to her hut in Brinstar Samus took note of Old Bird conversing with the Spartan team. Whatever they were speaking about seemed to be an interesting topic as the Spartans seemed quite animated.

"You're telling me this kid can pilot a whole gunship? And you want to gift her with her very own gunship?!" Kelly scoffed gawking at the shiny alien looking gunship in front of them.

While everyone was talking about the ship the Chozo were insisting Samus take with her on her journey. Master Chief noticed the young girl quickly making her way down to the next section of planet.

"We'll need to get permission from the Captain, before we make any commitments to this ship." Fred mentioned, as Chief exited the conversation following the girl.

Samus could hear the doors whooshing open in the hut followed by heavy boots heading her way. "I'm hurry upping." She said as the green Spartan entered her quarters.

"Easy. I'm not here to rush you." He said as he approached the girl. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Samus shook her head no. She had a small container with a minimal amount of items.

Chief couldn't help but observe what was in the bin. "You're going to need more than that." He said gesturing to the container in the girl's arms, containing his plushy look a like, a couple of drink bottles, and a single outfit.

"I've never moved away before..."

"What about when you came to Zebes?" Linda asked as Chief watched her enter the room. "I got tired of listening to Fred, and Kelly." She mentioned getting a nod of understanding from her leader.

"My home planet was attacked and destroyed. I had nothing to bring with me when the Chozo rescued me." Samus said as she placed more outfits in the small container.

Linda gazed away sorry she had asked the question in the first place. While Chief tried to find more things the little girl could pack even though she clearly had very limited possessions. Once Samus finished packing her stuff the green Spartan kindly carried her small container of possessions to her gunship. Once there she said her goodbyes to her Chozo family, thanking them for all they had provided her.

Grey Voice clasped his taloned hand on the girl's shoulder once more, speaking in his native tongue as he spoke to Samus in a very firm tone. "Remember what we have taught you. This is the next chapter in your learning. Remember that you cannot, and will not, be like these great warriors who are taking you to your next journey. You have to be the greatest. You must invest yours emotions correctly in order to do so."

Samus softened her gaze into the elderly bird's eyes. She could feel the incredible power Grey Voice spoke of, brewing inside of her. Though inside she was terrified to unleash it, afraid of unleashing it for the wrong reasons, such as vengeance. Though leaving with the humans gave her the hope that her quench for revenge on Ridley would subside. Embracing Grey Voice with a hug goodbye, she replied in the Chozo native tongue. "I won't disappoint the Chozo."

"The human super-carrier awaits in Zebes's orbit." Mother Brain mentioned, reminding everyone that time was of the essence.

Blue Team once again thanked the Chozo for their hospitality. Their knowledge sharing. And their agreement to ally with the UNSC. Before boarding their awaiting Pelican. With the exception of the Master Chief joining Samus in the small gunship.

"Alright, kid board your ship. Follow our lead." Fredric told the girl through the comlink. As he piloted the Pelican to the Infinity with Samus piloting her ship in tow.

"Huh, the kid can really pilot. You better let Command know we've got a friendly in tow waiting to dock alongside us." The white and grey Spartan thought aloud.

"Blue Team to Infinity. Requesting docking for one Pelican, and one gunship. Friendly." Fred spoke through the radio receiving permission for both him and Samus to land.

Samus carefully piloted her ship to land on the empty landing pad next to Blue Team's Pelican. Watching through the windscreen as Blue Team exit the Pelican she turned to the Master Chief. "Should I have armour?"

"It is up to you." Master Chief took note of the Captain and Commander waiting outside with a small squad of armed marines. Though Samus seemed to have caught onto their main spoken human language. During their month stay, Chief did notice Samus preferred to rarely speak english, and continued to mainly use Chozodian. If the girl's armour had a translator it would be best for Samus to armour up. "Though, if you find yourself having difficulties understanding what someone is saying. Perhaps you should armour up if you have an in-suit translator."

Samus didn't think too much of it, figuring if she had a hard time she could apply her armour whenever. Stepping out into the massive super carrier was incredible. Incredibly overwhelming that is. Soldiers and crew workers shouted over the sounds of loud hissing motors and repair tools. While others ran around to assure the aircraft's were secure on the landing pads.

"Who is that?" Palmer asked pointing to the young child following Chief out of the alien gunship.

"That is the Chozo's gift to the UNSC." Kelly mentioned.

Master Chief followed patiently behind Samus, who seemed to be both amazed, and overstimulated by the busy environment. Watching as she nearly walked into another docked aircraft, he quickly steered the distracted child towards his team standing next to the waiting Captain and Commander.

"You're joking...? I thought that little ship was the so called gift." Palmer scoffed in disbelief.

Linda shook her head no. "The ship belongs to the girl. We do not know how to operate the aircraft, nor were we trained on it while we were on Zebes."

"I already don't like this..." Palmer crossed her arms suspiciously.

"We are glad you and your team made it back in one piece." Captain Lasky greeted the Master Chief. Giving a small smile to the clearly uncomfortable child.

Samus briefly locked eyes with the Captain. His eyes were soft and welcoming. He seemed like someone who could be trusted. Looking at the armoured lady without a helmet was a different story. The Commander's eyes were like daggers piercing her layer, by layer, to discover what lay beneath Samus's shy exterior.

"Briefing room. We'll catch you up on what's going on. And what has happened since your little vacation to the alien run orphanage." Palmer said as her and Lasky began leading the way out of the hangar.

As gently as he could Master Chief escorted the young girl to follow along. He could feel how tense Samus was, it was definitely going to take a little time for her to adapt to the busy environment and lifestyle.

Once inside the briefing room the Captain got straight to the point. "We've had a lot happen in the short month you were gone..."

While the grownups talked Samus was too busy scanning the room with her turquoise eyes to acknowledge the conversation. Her eyes watched the small window on the shut door leading to the busy corridors. She watched as many different people passed by. Old Bird was right, humans were quite a busy species. She wondered if that was why she could never stay still or completely focus during her studies or her very brief moments of free time.

"You're caught up for now, Spartans. But we are actively searching for Forerunner, or Covenant activity." Lasky told Blue Team before Palmer began to question the Spartans on their visit to Zebes.

"I have yet to read the reports on this little one, from your previous encounters years ago." Sarah leaned placing both hands on the table in front of her. "My question is, why did the Chozo give her back to you?"

Before anyone could reply, Captain Lasky held up his hand to pause that thought. "Let's hold off on that answer for now. A more important question is, did the Chozo agree to the alliance agreement?"

Fredric and Chief both nodded as Fred handed over a data pad for the two to read. "Yes Sir, they did agree to the alliance. But they had some terms we had to agree to before they signed the agreement."

"No alliance goes without its certain conditions Spartan." Lasky optimistically replied, understanding this new alien ally had the right to assist them only if truly necessary and vice versa. "What is this Thoha tribe agreement?"

"Uncertain to be exact. But it seems to the Chozo who inhabit Zebes at the moment." Linda responded although her words were unsure.

"From what we've learned. The Chozo are a well travelled ancient alien species that has mingled with many others in the past. They have inhabited many different worlds before." Kelly added.

"Kid, what's your perspective on this? What's the difference between the Thoha tribe, and other Chozo out there?" Palmer turned her direct attention to the quiet child.

Samus blinked she was not exactly paying attention to the conversation. Nor did the Chozo teach her the difference between their specific tribes. Old Bird and Grey Voice were very withholding when it came to asking about other Chozo in the universe they never even mentioned different tribes. Only specifying that there were great Chozo warriors, amongst great Chozo scientists.

Palmer raised an impatient eyebrow waiting for an explanation that she would not be receiving. "What's with her?"

"With all due respect, Commander. She may be reluctant to reply to you. This is the first time in 8 years Samus, has interacted in a human environment." Fred reminded the Commander that the young girl in front of them had minimal human interaction in the last almost millennium.

With a heavy sigh the Commander folded her arms leaning back in her chair. "Does she at the very least speak, or understand what I am saying?"

"Yes. Samus, is bilingual but she has not spoken our languages in some time. It takes a moment for her to remember the meaning behind our vocabulary." Linda explained as Chief knelt down to speak with Samus.

"It's probably best you use your armour, so you are fully present and understand this conversation." Chief told the young girl who hesitantly nodded in understanding.

It took a few flares of copper light particles flashing over her body before Samus was completely armoured.

"Something we'll have to work on." Linda whispered to the Master Chief who nodded in agreement. She was referencing to Samus's clear lack of focus in new environments.

Palmer and Lasky both looked intrigued by the girl's armour and how she had become armoured. But those were questions for another time. "I guess I will repeat myself. Do you know if different Chozo tribes exist? As we would like to be able to ally ourselves with them as well."

"I do know not. I was not told." Samus quietly replied, her voice barely audible in the silent room.

Sarah once again raised a suspicious eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe. How can you live in the culture for multiple years and not know?"

Samus shrugged in response after reading the translation on her visor. "I learned much from the Chozo. But they do not tell."

As the child spoke a bit more confidently both the Captain and Commander intently listened to the intriguing alien accent the youthful voice spoke with.

"The Chozo are a very mysterious and secretive race. Is what Samus, is trying to explain Ma'am." Kelly explained their confusion.

"Something we will have to explore later when we contact the Chozo." Lasky thought aloud as he tried to keep his suspicions at bay.

Palmer reluctantly nodded. Unpleased with the fact the Chozo were secretive, but she had other questions to have answered. "Can we circle back to my earlier question. Why on earth did the Chozo send you back here with a small gunship and an armed child?"

The Spartans exchanged glances with each other and Samus, before replying to the Commander. "The Chozo believe that Samus can achieve more with the UNSC. She has, in their words. Outgrown their world of old. Saying that Samus, is a monumental gift born from their technology and training."

"So they gifted us their technology with a conscience. Like they don't trust us to wield their equipment?" The Commander scoffed with a laugh. "We have an army of highly trained marines and Spartans. What could we possibly need with a naive child?"

Once again Lasky held up his hand in protest. "Sarah, we cannot judge the Chozo's way of life. They have sent us an asset. Let's see what she can accomplish before returning to sender."

"Tom, this is not what we need right now. Especially with all that's happening." Palmer mentioned completely against focusing on developing a young soldier.

The Captain once again waved his hands for Palmer to stop speaking. "Alright, alright. We have other matters to attend. Blue Team, for now just focus on making our new asset worthy of joining you on the battlefield. Get her comfortable with the Infinity. I'm sure there's a room available that is nearby your team's quarters. Get the kid settled. I will leave the training to you. I'm sure Commander Palmer will try and help whenever she has time."

"Thanks for volunteering me, Tom..." The Commander sarcastically sighed in annoyance as she wanted nothing to do with babysitting the odd child.

Master Chief nodded in acknowledgment, cupping a hand on one of the girl's shoulders. "Understood Captain. We will get Samus, settled and start her training."

"Good. Dismissed."

Retrieving the small container of personal items from the gunship seemed like a simple task, at least to the Spartans. Though they seemed to be just as intrigued by the alien ship as the crew members in the hangar bay.

With her eyes Kelly scanned the interior of the ship. It was certainly an odd flight control setup. An AI would definitely have to fly the gunship before any human aboard the Infinity dared to even attempt its controls.

Fred took the container that was handed to him by Chief. Walking towards their designated quarters. "Just one box, huh?" He commented on the girl's small amount of belongings.

Samus nodded in response as Chief halted them in front of a line up of doors. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on at that moment, but she was too busy watching the people in the bustling corridor they stood in. Everyone that passed by had to gawk and whisper comments about her.

"What are you thinking?" Kelly asked the Spartan leader, who took a moment to respond.

"This room is vacant." John motioned to the door next to his quarters. He wanted to be able to monitor Samus but at the same time give her space.

"Sure." Fred shrugged entering the room with the team and the hesitant child. "I'll put your stuff on this desk here." He said as Samus disengaged her armour.

Scanning the room with her turquoise eyes Samus thought the room to be quite boring. There was no colour to it. Just grey on grey, but differing shades of grey. It had a bed to sleep in, a desk table, and a small lavatory.

"You two have been quiet. Why?" The grey and white armoured Spartan questioned the sharpshooter, and Master Chief.

"We're just thinking, Kelly. There's a lot to consider here." Linda replied nearly emotionless as she explained why they were being silent. "The kid has a lot to catch up on. Samus, is behind in most of her basic human skills. And on top of that we have to train her to become a soldier. But different..."

"Different is an understatement." Kelly scoffed watching as Fred playfully assisted Samus unpack her very few belongings. "She's already got basic training, if not more. She just needs to be put in the field."

Master Chief was not in complete agreement with his teammate. He knew Samus was not ready to be put straight into the battlefield. "Samus, will adjust first. Then we will run simulations. Linda, is right. She needs to be trained first. Samus, may have showed us skill, and potential on Zebes. But this is a war. Not a simple defence drone, or a wild alien creature. We cannot treat her like she's a fully trained soldier straight out of basic training."

Kelly and Linda bowed their heads in agreement with their leader. "How much time are you giving her to adjust?" Kelly asked turning her head to Chief.

Master Chief didn't respond. It was something he would have to judge by. But knowing the girl had enthusiastic spirit, he expected Samus to adjust quickly.

"We shouldn't concern ourselves too much with her lack of common humanity. Samus, has empathy, spirit, and fight. It's enough to get her by." The female Spartan with a British accent thought aloud as Fred joined in the conversation.

Linda was in agreement with that. Even though she could tell Fredric had other thoughts on the matter. "Yeah... I guess we've never been big on socializing. But this kid takes it to a whole new level."

"Training takes priority, Fred. Samus, will adjust to her new environment soon enough. It's our job to further her training as a soldier, and make her a warrior." Chief reminded his Spartans of the task at hand.

"Sure, Sure. Did anyone else feel like the Commander, and Captain, were leaving a lot of details out of the briefing?" Kelly changed the subject as she just could not shake the thought.

"Yes. But it's not our position to question it. Not at this time." Once again Master Chief replied taking note of Samus, who was sitting on her berth quietly observing them while holding his lookalike plushy toy. Stepping over to the young girl, he exhaled deeply. "You can take a moment to settle. We're going to retreat to our personal quarters for the night. The team is located in the row of four doors to the right of yours. Mine is the door next to your quarters."

"Umm... Okay..." Samus replied unsure.

He could tell Samus was quite uncomfortable about the whole situation. Maybe he should've offered for her to bunk with one of the female Spartans. But nonetheless she had to learn how to be independent in an unknown environment. "I'm just in the next room if you need anything." He said following his Spartans as they exited the girl's new room.

"Well, we better get started on our reports. We've got a lot to report after that short month." Fred thought aloud as everyone split off to their individual personal quarters.

Samus watched her door hearing all the chatter and footsteps going by on the other side. It was a little startling to hear so many people outside her bedroom. After tossing and turning a few hours later it eventually became quieter, with the odd few people walking by the door. She tried to imagine it was like the Zebesian wildlife that wondered around her hut at night. But the sounds were too different to imagine it. Samus tried thinking of it like the busy city of Tourian. Though she didn't like going there often due to it being so busy, which is why she chose to have her quarters in Brinstar, away from the hustle and bustle. Even though the ancient Chozo civilians of Tourian were not quite as busy as the humans on Infinity.

Chief didn't know whether to be surprised or not by the sound of his door opening. Laying in his berth facing the wall the small shadow of a child cast on the wall he stared at. "Samus?" He rolled over to face the girl who seemed hesitant to enter until a group of crew workers and soldiers walked by. Causing Samus to eagerly enter the room out of view of the people passing by.

Sitting up in his berth Chief swung his legs over the side to face the direction of his door. He was shocked by how wary of humans Samus was. It seemed she was like a fish out of water. Completely out of her element.

Kelly who was walking back from the showers noticed the young Samus leap into the Master Chief's room after a few soldiers passed by it.

"They are just crew members and marines. Why do they frighten you?" Chief got straight to the point. As Kelly stood in the doorway curious to what was happening.

"I... I... Why so many?" She replied approaching the muscular man in a black jumpsuit.

Chief supposed Samus was right, it had been quite a while since she was around this many humans in such a massive setting. "Infinity needs a very very large crew to run the ship. None of the crew will harm you. They just want to do their jobs and carry on with their day."

"But why so shy? You've been around soldiers, and many many people. Before you even lived on Zebes if I remember what I was told correctly." Kelly questioned why Samus was so nervous about being around humans. When there were crowds and crowds of Chozo in certain areas on Zebes, why be scared of the same thing only humans?

"I dunno..." Samus shamefully looked away from both Spartans.

Master Chief had a hunch as to why she didn't trust humans. While on Zebes one of her mentors, one of her main caregivers, was overly skeptical of humans. Even though he did respect humans, Grey Voice made it very clear that he did not trust the choices and actions humans made. With the exception of Samus of course. "How much studying did you do with the subject of humanity? Or socialization lessons?"

Samus sheepishly grinned as she nervously laughed with a shrug. "I not attend most... if many..."

"Well, to be fair being taught those lessons by an AI doesn't exactly prepare you for the real thing." Kelly thought aloud, though Chief was in disagreement.

"We were taught lessons by an AI." He reminded his teammate.

"True. But always with many other children. We almost always trained with others. It was rare if we didn't." The brunette Spartan remarked as she entered the room to approach the shy girl. "You will get used to it. Your mentors may have been skeptical about humans, and perhaps they rubbed some of that distrust onto you. But remember, they trusted us enough to bring you with us and help you become a seasoned warrior."

"Samus, with time you will be able to make your own judgments on the human kind. You are human after all." Master Chief firmly reminded Samus that she was now able to make her own choices.

Samus nodded in understanding. It was true she was now able to focus on embracing her human side, after many years of being raised by her Chozo family she had forgotten most of her humanity. Even though Old Bird did his best to remind her of her human side. The pure excitement of her surviving the many genetic mutations, and infusions, while growing stronger everyday from the modifications and training, proved it difficult to remind Samus of her human side. Limiting his subtle reminders to only when she had her very human moments.

"Try to get some rest alright?" Kelly said as she gently escorted Samus out of the room. Samus sighed with a small nod, before returning to her designated room.

Stepping back into her leader's room Kelly exhaled deeply as she locked eyes with her leader and Spartan brother. "I'm starting to think Linda's right. We may have to take a much slower, and different, approach."

Chief stood up, he had to agree with Kelly. "We'll walk to the bridge to hand in our reports tomorrow morning. Having Samus, wait outside the bridge should help her get used to dealing with the bustle of the corridors."

"Yes. But I think some training will help her get out of her nervous funk." Kelly said as she exited Chief's room to go back to hers.

Though she did not get much rest as the new environment was too overwhelming to calm her busy mind. Samus armoured up as instructed by the Master Chief, before following the entire Spartan team through the incredibly busy corridors. Walking through the hallway was no different than yesterday, all eyes were glued to her. But Chief had mentioned to her that she was something new on the Infinity, everyone was just curious about her. Though walking through the corridors with everyone staring seemed harmless enough. "Humans fear the unknown. They often despise those who differ from them." Grey Voice's words continuously echoed through her mind as she overheard the whispers as they passed by.

"Why a kid?"

"Weird."

"Odd armour."

"Now that's different."

Walking by many marines shook their heads in disapproval of yet another child being exposed to war too early. Blue Team was all too familiar with the comments.

"Yet another child at the military's whim."

"Another child to brainwash into a super soldier."

Once they had reached the bridge Kelly, Fred, and Linda entered. While Chief quickly spoke with Samus before joining them. "Wait here. We will not be long."

"By myself?" Samus asked concerned.

"We will not be long." He repeated before entering the bridge, leaving Samus to stand outside the door by herself.

Taking a deep breath Samus stepped off to the side of the door. With her back against the wall she watched as people passed by. Besides the odd glance and whisper it wasn't horrible just standing there. Once the first handful of people went by the corridor it was silent for a moment. The sound of giggles and horsing around caught her attention. Looking further down the corridor she watched as what seemed to be a squad of soldiers in black armour playfully joking around as they made their way towards the bridge. It seemed not everyone was uptight, and strict. Looked like some people on this ship knew how to have fun after all, Samus thought as the squad got closer.

"Whoa, who's this? The new Bridge guard dog?" One man sarcastically joked gesturing to the alien armoured girl.

Samus nervously smiled behind her acid green visor, taking a step further away from the door just to be sure she wasn't in their way.

"I think the better question is, what is this?" A woman with jet black hair scoffed as she tapped a finger on Samus's shoulder plate.

Samus shifted her shoulder away from the woman, visibly shrinking herself as the squad of soldiers curiously surrounded her.

One of the other men in the squad shrugged as he too examined the copper coloured alien armour. "Didn't that Spartan team confirm an alliance between the UNSC and some other aliens. Is this one of their soldiers?"

"Pfft... A soldier? Let's not get carried away, Jablonsky." The rude woman continued to speak in an increasingly condescending tone. "This is just a kid in a tin can. I saw her in the hangar bay yesterday, when Blue Team returned."

"A kid? What are we recruiting children for war like Doctor Halsey, now?" The pushy invasive man scoffed shaking his head as he lifted up Samus's arm canon. "The Captain and Commander are just going to let an armed child walk around..."

Samus yanked her arm cannon out from the man's grasp. Shoving him away to create some space between them. Sharply glaring her acid green visor at the squad, tired of her personal space being invaded.

"Hey! Watch it kid! That thing can kill people." The third man who was there finally spoke up, taking a cautious step away.

"S-stop... l-leave me alone..." Samus's soft voice was barely audible as she requested for the ODST squad to leave her alone.

The woman who seemed to be the squad leader stepped forward trapping Samus against the wall. "Listen, you're going to learn your place real fast brat. Don't mess with my squad." She threatened shoving Samus hard against the wall.

Samus didn't know how to react, she didn't want to cause trouble. But she wasn't going to just stand there and be harassed either. Using the wall to her advantage Samus pressed herself against the wall using both of her powerful legs to kick the squad leader square in the chest propelling the woman into the wall across the corridor.

The squad members gasped in shock, quickly reacting two out of three men grabbed Samus by the arms to restrain her, while the third man assisted his leader. Once again Samus retaliated against being held. Using one of her legs to kick the man on her right side, the sound of his tibia snapping in half sent the man falling to the ground. Freeing her cannon arm she used it to strike one of the soldiers to the floor, stepping on his chest to keep him in place, she then aimed her cannon at the squad leader and the soldier assisting her.

"We appreciate your quick report delivery. Perhaps one day we will return to Zebes, to create some more rapport with the Chozo. Possibly get a small base set up." Lasky thought aloud as he and Commander Palmer, collected the reports.

"I'm shocked you didn't start the training first. I figured you'd be running the kid through simulations before even doing reports." Palmer thought aloud.

"In a way we are training, Commander." Kelly replied. "The kid is waiting outside, we're trying to get her used to being around her own kind again."

Palmer nodded in acknowledgement she understood exposure was a good way to train the young girl. "I suppose being suddenly ripped away from all you've ever known for years, can be a bit of a shock to the system."

BANG!

BANG!

"AGH!"

All Spartans and the Captain visibly jumped after loud bangs against the wall, followed by pained screams, startled them.

"The hell?!" All six quickly rushed the door to find ODST's screaming in agony on the floor, while two others were held at gunpoint.

"Samus! Stand down!" Master Chief quickly grasped both of Samus's arms pinning them against her sides as he lifted her off one of the men, pulling her off to the side and away from the ODST's.

"Hey, wolves! You need to put your damn pup on a leash!" The ODST squad leader spat as Commander Palmer and Captain Lasky called for a medical team.

"Are you bloody joking?! What the fuck did you do to the kid?!" Kelly argued taking a step towards the ODST's as if ready to fight.

"Easy, Spartans!" Lasky quickly stepped in between the teams before things escalated. "Get checked over by medical. Then if cleared immediately report to the bridge. Blue Team, Samus, report in immediately." He sternly commanded everyone.

Commander Palmer followed the Captain back into the bridge as Medical Officers began examining the ODST squad.

"I didn't mean to no hurt no one!" Samus exclaimed to Chief as Blue Team followed the Captain into the bridge.

"I believe you. We're going to get to the bottom of this." Chief replied as they lined up in front of their superiors.

"Roland, pull up the surveillance footage of the corridor just outside the bridge from 15 minutes ago." Palmer ordered the yellow AI standing nearby on the holographic projection table.

"Yes, Commander." Roland replied, pulling up the audio visual from the surveillance footage.

Samus visibly shrunk her head to her shoulders, knowing she was about to get into a lot of trouble. She was more concerned about disappointing the Master Chief, though his stoic emotionless stance made him hard to read.

As the video played it showed Samus standing where Chief had told her to stay, quietly observing as people passed by her. Once they were gone the squad of rowdy ODST's approached the bridge, halting in front of the child. They were verbally and physically teasing and harassing young Samus, as she tried to get away and ignore them numerous times. Until eventually the soldiers pushed too far, prompting Samus to defend herself.

Captain Lasky was less than impressed with the ODST's and was very disappointed in their poor behaviour. Commander Palmer was furious, yet secretly impressed with the kid's ability to defend herself.

"It would seem the ODST squad provoked the situation." Roland thought aloud.

Captain Lasky shook his head with a deep disappointing sigh. "That should have never happened. We will be speaking with the squad, this incident will not go without consequences."

Palmer exhaled as she tried her best to keep her cool. "Yes, they will be punished for their actions. I will make sure of that." She said before turning her full attention to Blue Team. "Spartans, I suggest you stay clear of interacting with this squad unless of course absolutely necessary. I will be giving the ODST's the same warning."

"Understood." Blue Team replied, although Kelly was internally reluctant to comply.

"Good. Blue Team dismissed. We'd like to have a quick word with your trainee." Lasky nodded gesturing for Blue Team to wait outside.

Blue Team did as they were told exiting the bridge. Samus looked visibly nervous as she watched them leave. Chief made sure to tell the child he would be waiting for her outside the doors.

As soon as the doors shut behind the Spartan, Samus immediately began to apologize to the Commander and Captain. "I'm sorry. I not did mean to hurt them."

Palmer was amused by the child's alien accent and broken english. But Lasky was quick to calm the child's frantic apologies. "Easy, Samus. We're not here to punish you. I wanted to speak with you because I don't want this unfortunate event to be your only impression of the people aboard this ship. I know you've been a bit skeptical of us featherless beings." He tried to make a lighthearted statement in an effort to ease the girl's nerves.

Samus gave a quick inaudible giggle at the Captain's lighthearted wording. "It... It's different."

"It is. And so are you. Most everyone aboard this ship is going to be very curious about you. I've got to do more research on you, and read the Master Chief's past reports with you." The Commander stated, keeping her attitude at bay while communicating with the child.

"Why are they carry us...?" Samus curiously questioned.

Lasky smiled warmly the more the child spoke the bigger their smiles got. "They are, curious... Because you come from a place completely unknown to us. You are very different, and very young to be here. But do not think of that in a bad way."

Again Grey Voice's words mentioning that humans feared different, and the unknown, echoed through her mind. Samus shyly looked around the room for an escape from this uncomfortable conversation.

Palmer noticed Samus got very uncomfortable every time they mentioned she was different. "Well, at least you're cute. And you can certainly hold your own at the very least."

"Thanks..." Samus mumbled in reply as she continued to fight the urge to escape.

Captain Lasky could finally tell that Samus was done with this conversation. Gesturing with his hand for Sarah to dismiss the poor girl.

With a scoff and a laugh, Palmer sighed with a smile. "Alright, kid. Go back to your Spartan team. Just try not to injure anyone else. You want to stay on my good side. Don't annoy me, listen to my commands, and don't piss me off. Pretty simple. You're dismissed."

With that being said Samus hastily exited the bridge to find Chief waiting for her just like he said he would.

"The others went to the training facilities. We can continue our walk around the vessel before joining them." Master Chief greeted the armoured girl who eagerly approached him.

"I wanna train." Samus replied, finally something that sounded familiar to her.

Chief turned to Samus. "Are you sure?" He asked knowing it was incredibly busy and loud in the training facilities. The young girl eagerly nodded yes at his question. With a nod he led Samus to the training grounds.

Master Chief was not wrong. It was incredibly busy, and loud. Many soldiers were doing different activities. Some were shooting, some sparred, while others exercised, or ran simulations. But the moment she entered most everyone stopped what they were doing to stare as the Master Chief walked her over to his team.

John glanced down surprised to have Samus tight against his side as they walked across the training grounds. He realized she was completely out of her comfort zone. And the fact that news travelled fast through this ship, many who were in the here training, already heard about the morning incident. Once far enough away from gawking soldiers Samus actually opened up to him.

"Chief?" Her acid green visor glanced up at his golden visor. "Can you... help me...?"

"Yes. What do you need help with?" Chief asked as the girl took a step away from him. She looked fidgety, maybe even embarrassed.

"Can you, help me... talk better?" Samus asked mumbling her question as she tried to hide her shame.

Kelly smirked with a playful eye roll. "And that's why you pay attention and attend your lessons." She sarcastically teased the child.

"I know..." Samus sheepishly smiled behind her visor. She was really ashamed that she never paid any attention to her human studies when she should have. Or attended any of her human nature and social lessons. Though the Chozo were not strict on making her learn them.

Ignoring Kelly's sarcasm John agreed to assist the child. "Yes I can. But I think you already know more than you believe."

The armoured child gave a small nod in agreement with the Spartan. She did know much of the human language, it was pronunciations, and word placement that she found utterly confusing. "I do... I... I'm afraid..."

Chief cocked his helmet thoughtfully, confused as to why Samus was afraid to speak. "What are you afraid of? Speaking?"

In a way she supposed a fear of speaking was the correct answer. "Yes..."

"Why?" Linda asked, her tone soft and kind.

"I don't not wanna get it wrong." Samus shrunk visibly as she admitted she was afraid that her words were not correctly being spoken.

Softening her eyes behind her visor, Linda replied in a calm encouraging voice. "It's okay to speak differently. What makes you so afraid? You've only just been reintroduced to the human world. We don't expect you to be perfect straight away."

The girl's eyes wondered as she tried to shake her shame. As much as she loved her Chozo family, they were almost always critical. Old Bird was of course the softest, and more encouraging one. But Grey Voice, and other elders, along with Mother Brain, were ruthless. Especially if giving her a lesson. Nothing seemed to please her mentor, though occasionally Grey Voice would show very unnoticeable moments of proudness. He was always constantly telling her to win, or else consequences would follow. He was harsh but never cruel. But Mother Brain was no different, except she was cruel. Mother would always belittle Samus. Even if they had just begun to learn something she would make Samus feel incredibly stupid for making a mistake, or asking questions. Which was the main cause of Samus skipping her lessons, instead going straight to working with the Chozo, or training simulators.

Master Chief took note that since coming aboard the Infinity, Samus had greatly lost quite a bit of confidence. Though he did not know if it was because he had originally met her when she was a toddler, that knew very little. Leaving her more confident. Or because she now had a good understanding of what others around her were thinking. "Samus?" He called, jarring the girl out of her thoughts.

"I just no want to mess up. Or Em-bar-rass... you..." Samus gave a verbal response.

The entire Spartan team exchanged glances, curious as to who created such a fear in the child? "Has someone told you that if you mess up, or make a mistake. That you'll look dumb? Sound dumb? Or embarrass, and disappointing everyone around you?"

It was as if the female sharpshooter was taking the words right from the Chozo's planetary AI. Nodding yes, Samus began to look even more uncomfortable with the subject.

"We're not going to tell you that here. You're here to learn. You can't learn without making a few mistakes." Fredric reassured Samus that it would be different for her here.

John began to realize that perhaps they shouldn't focus on combat training. For now she had enough combat training from the Chozo. But clearly even without really trying Samus was already strongly skilled. "Change of plans."

"What is it, John?" Kelly asked a bit confused by the sudden change of plans.

"We're going to get Samus, acquainted with the Infinity."

Linda cocked her head as she holstered her rifle on her back. "So we're giving her the grand tour are we?"

Master Chief nodded. "We'll get you familiar with your surroundings. And communicate with the others aboard the ship. We'll work on your other skills before leaping into upper level combat training." He explained to Samus as he escorted her out of the training facility with Blue Team in tow. Samus was a bit taken aback by the sudden change of plans, but went along with it as it was probably wise to make good impressions on the people aboard the ship, rather than them just spreading rumours about her beating up their own members.

"Do you feel confident that you'll understand simple greetings?" Chief asked the child who was sticking close to his side as they walked towards the infirmary.

"Yes..." She nodded wondering why Chief would ask such an odd question.

"Disengage the use of your armour."

Samus was very reluctant to the request, it was busier than ever. And she didn't have confident communication skills yet. "Why?! You get to keep yours!" She argued.

"You need to gain more skills. This will test your confidence in a vulnerable environment. There will be far worse times when you are vulnerable." Master Chief explained to the young girl. Keeping a calm tone as Samus reluctantly disengaged her armour, revealing the young child wearing a skin tight pink tank top and pants with long blonde hair.

Vulnerable was an understatement. Everything was unknown and even more eyes were glued to her wherever she looked. Most of the stares were in adoration of her, others were very curious like the Commander had mentioned.

Master Chief glanced down at his left arm as Samus clung tightly to it in attempt to gain security in her vulnerable state. Instead of forcefully removing his arm from the girl's grip, he allowed Samus to use him as security for now. After all he was asking quite a bit from the young Chozo hybrid. And he wanted to reinforce that he was there to help her if needed.

It did not take long for the Chief Medical Officer to come over to eagerly greet Blue Team and their very young trainee. "Master Chief. Blue Team. Who's this adorable little friend of yours?"

Samus hid mostly behind Chief, but he nudged her forward, prompting her to introduce herself to the nice CMO. "Samus Aran... I'm 10 years old..." she reverted back to the greeting lessons she received in daycare on K-2L many years ago.

"10 years old?! Wow, you're the youngest aboard this vessel. You got a cute little accent." The CMO cooed to the clearly shy girl.

"Thanks... you have cute accident... too." Samus replied putting a confused grin on the dark haired lady's face.

"We're working on building her language skills. She's a bit rusty." Kelly mentioned taking note of the two ODST's far across the room getting treated for the wounds Samus had inflicted upon them earlier.

The female CMO nodded in understanding. "Uh yes. One our patients that came in from this morning's scuffle, swore some feral young alien child significantly injured him." She rolled her eyes with a laugh. "I'm assuming they were referring to this little one."

"Yes. Those who are in your care were taken down by, Samus. But it was all in self defence after they continuously harassed her." Fred explained to the CMO who seemed to understand the situation already.

"Oh I understand. Well, I will say welcome aboard the Infinity. Not everyone aboard the ship is that rude." The CMO tried to reassure Samus that not everyone was like the ODST's that attacked her. "I'm the chief medical officer for this deck. CMO Skye. Don't be afraid to come see me if you're not feeling well."

Samus smiled sheepishly, nodding in acknowledgement as the last thing she wanted was to have any more procedures.

"Let's continue." John said escorting Samus back into the busy hallways. As soon as they left the infirmary Samus was ready to hide herself in her armour again. "Relax. No armour. We're here. Nothing is going to hurt you." He reassured as they entered a massive atrium.

Samus was hesitant at first but was astonished by the atrium's size and artificial skydome. There were garden plots amongst a few different small activity buildings. A large grassy field to either sit in or run through. The only thing missing was some wildlife.

Linda took note of Samus's interest in the atrium. It must have felt somewhat like home to her. Using the comforting environment to their advantage the Sharpshooter made sure her leader continued to bring Samus here for all lessons. It took about a week for Samus to get pretty comfortable in this human environment, with her language skills beginning to really polish off the rust.

Early in the morning Samus followed Chief into the empty atrium. It was very peaceful and quiet without anyone else around. It was a big difference from the usual bustle that Blue Team brought her into. But she didn't mind this at all. She had been here for a week now. Her first week consisted of one lesson a day for a couple hours, then she hid in her room away from everyone for the rest of her time, while Blue Team trained. As much as her language skills were improving she had no one to really converse with. The Spartans all kept to themselves never offering for her to join them in their training routines or exercises. Though Samus supposed she was no better, she kept to herself as well. Closed off from everyone once her lessons were done, never voluntarily leaving her room.

Master Chief had been scolded by his teammates for allowing Samus to hide away after every lesson. They hissed at him for not allowing them to invite the girl to go along with their training routines. But he didn't know if it was right to start training Samus now. He saw how harshly the Chozo criticized the child during training. And they had been training her non stop since she was a toddler. He felt it was fair to give Samus a small break during a stressful transition. He wanted training to be different for the child. He almost disagreed with the situation of having another innocent child being molded into a super soldier. But his teammates were correct it was time for them to start incorporating Samus as a soldier. After all that's why she was here.

"Chief?" Samus called as they both faced the large window facing the stars.

Master Chief turned his head in Samus's direction. Acknowledging her in silence as he waited for her to continue.

"Is the Sergeant on the ship?" She asked confusing the Spartan leader.

Cocking his head curiously Chief inquired as to whom the girl was referring to. "There's quite a few Sergeants aboard this ship. Who are you talking about?"

"I know not really his name... It was kinda like yours. But he was loud and funny." Samus described to Chief who immediately turned his gaze to the stars after that description.

"Sergeant Major Johnson, unfortunately fell in battle on one of the Halo Rings." Master Chief replied to the girl. The image of his friend's death was still haunting him years later.

Samus bowed her head in sorrow. "I'm sorry..." She was saddened to hear that one of the familiar humans she had met years ago was now deceased. While they were on the subject of missing people she unknowingly asked another difficult question. "Is Tana, on a different mission with someone else? Or does she run the ship with that lello AI?"

"Cortana, is not running the Infinity with Roland. She fell in battle six months before I returned to Zebes..." Master Chief replied uncomfortably, he was ready to move away from the subject of deceased battle partners.

"Sorry... I'm no trying to make you upset." Samus could tell Chief was quite uncomfortable with the subject even more so about Cortana. It must've been very difficult for the Spartan especially since he just lost Cortana not long ago. Samus understood loss well, and knew how painful it could be.

Chief internally sighed, it wasn't easy to speak about his friends that had been lost in war. But Samus wasn't prying any further which was something he wouldn't have expected from someone so young. "It's alright..."

Samus gave a small smile before reaching out to examine a flower from the garden that was in front of them. "Why are there no aminals here?"

A small smile flashed for a moment behind Chief's visor, at the girl's mispronunciation of the word animals. "There are no An-nimals... Here because this if a war vessel. And an artificial area."

"But the plants would be so much healthier if they had the aminals and bugs to care for them." The young girl replied releasing the wilting plant from her hands.

"Come. Suit up. We've got work to do." John gestured for the girl to follow him out of the atrium.

Samus tilted her head curiously before following the Spartan. "Wait, we do?" She asked jogging to catch up.

Master Chief glanced back at the young girl not in armour like he had asked. "Armour up. And I will explain more."

Rolling her eyes she complied with the request in a flash of bright light her body was completely protected by the copper Chozo armour. "Okay I got my suit on. What are we doing today?" She asked as they entered the training facility.

"We're going to run simulations today." The Spartan leader said as they approached his waiting Team.

Samus was surprised that the Spartans were finally allowing her to join them in their training routines.

"That's right, we're going to put you through a few situations, and see how you handle them." Kelly explained as Fred and Chief programmed the simulator for the exercises.

Linda was a little skeptical of pushing Samus to go straight into a battle simulator after no combat training for a whole week. And these were real simulators that gave you real pain if you screwed up. But her teammates were persistent and confident enough that Samus could handle it. Even Chief was confident in Samus, and he usually agreed with her feelings more often than the others.

"This is a very simple simulation. You're going to get to an extraction point, and reclaim the cargo protected by Covenant forces, and hold off enemy forced until the extraction is completed." Master Chief explained very simply to the young girl.

Samus shrugged at the explanation. "Simple enough."

"Yes. But you're going to work with the team. Following every order and command given by me, or other Blue Team members." Chief strictly informed Samus that they were to perform as a team.

Samus stayed quiet processing what Chief had told her. Working as a team? Interesting. She had never worked in a squad before. Having trained on her own her entire life. "Understood." She replied almost hesitantly.

John and Linda exchanged glances, not very confident in the girl's reply. "Let's begin."

The simulator whirred as it transformed the area they were in. It was a jungle full of obstacles, and Covenant. It reminded her of Brinstar back on Zebes. Well, the green part of Brinstar that is. Following Chief closely, Samus had her hand resting on her cannon ready to aim at the nearby aliens. Chief quickly did a few hand signal to the team, Samus didn't know what Chief was telling the team but each one of them snuck off into different positions.

"Samus, locate and secure the extraction zone." He turned to the waiting girl.

Samus was a bit hesitant to leave Chief's side. Not because she was nervous to face the enemies but because she had no idea what she was looking for.

Master Chief could practically hear what Samus was thinking as she prepared herself to leave his side. "You'll know it when you see it. Just do what you can, the others are here to help as well." He said purposefully leaving out the description of what to look for as on the battlefield you may not know what you might be looking for.

With a nod Samus took off scanning numerous areas with her eyes as she ran by. She was still trying to process what Chief had said to her. The Chozo usually told her she could not afford to just do the bare minimum, she had to be the greatest. Rounding a tree she quickly recoiled hiding behind the tree after locating a decent amount of the Covenant guarding some sort of little machine. That must've been it. The extraction thingy, she thought. Charging her cannon Samus released the blast taking out the Elite commanding the other Covenant soldiers. Rushing out from her cover she opened a barrage of gunfire tearing through any unfortunate creature trying to block her path. Dodging the multitudes of enemy gunfire she used her cannon to fire back, but also using it as a deadly club if anyone came too close. Once the majority of the Covenant were downed, Samus put her focus on the weird machine. Examining it she found a button on the top, clicking it down. Activating the the extraction securing process with a count down of thirty seconds. Before Samus could barely turn around, a Sangheili warrior grabbed her by the collar of her suit, tossing her like a rag doll the Elite fired at her getting a few good hits. Transforming into her morph ball the girl rolled away with speed knocking into the aliens legs, it growled as the alien wobbled off balance. Transforming Samus used a charged blast to take down the Elite. Hearing gunshots from behind she whipped around to see multiple Grunts, and Jackals, with the occasional Elite being shot down by Blue Team members. Joining the shooting she flipped through air shooting down enemies as she did so. Returning to the extraction device that seemed to have completed its download.

-Extraction completed-

As soon as the robotic voice announced their victory the simulator dissolved the course and enemies.

"Nice work kid!" Fred praised Samus for her quick work.

Master Chief nodded in agreement the girl indeed impressed him with her quick work and skills. Though the task was incredibly easy, Samus still proved that she was willing to do better than what was asked of her. "How are you feeling after that?"

Samus shrugged in reply, the exercise was fairly easy. With Chief only giving her one command she was free to carry out the mission as she wanted, as long as she still accomplished her task. She also had never had a team as a safety net before. It was different having others watching her back. "Fine. It was easy. Are we doing another?"

Fred chuckled at Samus's enthusiasm to continue on. "Yes, you did well. Even with the surprise from that Elite. But it's up to Chief, to decide."

Master Chief thought about it. Did he set up an exercise that was too easy for the young child? They could try another more difficult exercise he supposed. "We can do a different exercise. Capture the flag. Teams."

"We're uneven." Linda pointed out they did not have even teams if they split up.

"We'll just have to make do with what we've got. We're not always going to have the advantage. Samus, wanted a challenge."