John had grown tense, what with everything happening around them. The search for Cortana kept running into dead-ends, leaving him fewer and fewer options to seek out besides directly asking Penny. He had a team scouring the town's various electronics shops for the AI and was damn near ready to further deploy teams out to areas that still contained even the faintest traces of IFF and Tracker pings.
He sighed, then shook his head as he and his team prepared to move forward with another stage of the search. Perhaps Cortana had tracked them all the way over to the parlor and gotten herself stuck in the computers? He didn't know, but he was willing to try anything to find her, with outright interrogating Penny over the matter being considered as the real Last Resort.
She had been good to them until now. John knew he shouldn't take his feelings into account on the matter as a soldier and SPARTAN and that he should've talked to Penny first, before going anywhere down the path of an investigation. He presumed that the failing hormone regulator implant had something to do with that issue, however. It was like equipment was failing, but it was failing within his own body.
No. John had grown a bit beyond a machine, or so he wanted to think. Every time he saw another of his fellow Spartans walk on Remnant, be they as they were, he felt the faintest hints of a joy he thought he'd lost decades ago. His friends were now all alive around him, his team was with him and he had everyone he had fought side-by-side with in their decades-long war of survival, not to mention a few fresh faces like NOBLE's S-III component. He had some of his humanity back, as little of it as it seemed to be to him.
Setting his helmet onto his head, the Spartan descended as night fell upon Beacon. They were going to go check the parlor where they had played that game of paintball before they would finally engage in any other form of search. His team waited for him, weapons stowed on their backs. They were starting to run low on ammo for their main rifles and other firearms, so they had to evenly divide any mag and shell they had between one-another.
Not like any ammo was going to be expended this mission. John had the local forges to make more ammo for Caliburn, too, so the Spartans figured they could switch to the tried-and-true Dust igniters and projectiles to ease their own mess. Several were still learning how to wield their Auras, but that would be a matter for teams RWBY and JNPR to assist them with.
For now, the Spartans left the building with Carol and her co-pilot. Foe Hammer always proved herself a pilot that was ready to go through hell to get them in and out of wherever they needed to go. She looked back to the Chief and the others and said simply, "I'm sure we'll find her, Chief. She can't have gone far," as if to try and reassure the Spartan.
He nodded in thanks before they boarded the transport aircraft. NOBLE Team had taken the bird beforehand, so a bit of fuel had been expended yet again. Thankfully, the Pelican remained one of the most fuel-efficient aircraft in the UNSC Airfleet, even as a transporter of heavy-duty equipment. As the five members of BLUE boarded it, they retrieved whatever extra ammo remained in the webbing above, too, stowing it below the seats and sitting themselves down.
"Foe Hammer!" Johnson called out, "Chief! Blues! Hold up!"
Chief and the others turned to see Sarge marching up to them, clad in his BDU, but lacking the armor. Similarly, his squad had also dressed up in their camouflage clothes, bot forewent the armors and helmets, instead opting to just keep their sidearms hidden below the jackets of the uniforms. As they climbed aboard, Johnson smirked and said, "Damn fine thing we caught you before we left..." before approaching the bird's cockpit and stating, "We're going 'round the same area as them, cap. No need to drop us anywhere else."
"Y'all looking a bit civilian, Sarge. Goin' for a drink?" Carol inquired, grinning as she powered the aircraft's engines and closed the rear hatch. The shrill roar of the engines filtered in for a moment, blocked by the Spartans' helmets adjusting the volumes of their external mics and noise suppression systems kicking in. For Johnson and company, it must've still been pretty loud for all those two seconds before the hatch closed.
Johnson winced, then replied, "Something like that. One of the Spartan girls wants us to check on their newly-acquired buddy, see what intel he can give us."
"Got it," The woman nodded, "Sit yaself down, Sarge. I'm lifting this bird up off the ground and heading in. Contacting ATC as well," before the aircraft lurched up, nearly knocking the Sergeant off-balance. The man rolled his eyes, sat himself down next to Chief, then took out a cigar and pushed it between his lips, lighting it with a flick of his favorite lighter.
"So..." Johnson started, "You find her yet?"
"That's why we're heading out," Kelly replied, leaning forward, "Scouting the paintball place in case she tracked us all the way there and got herself stuck in one of the servers."
"Got it," Johnson nodded, "Hope we find her quick. Makes my skin crawl thinking of where the hell she could be, but..." He sighed, "I'm sure y'all will get to her in the end. Chief made a damn promise after all... And this man isn't anything if not capable of keeping his promises," words to which Chief had a moment of flashback to everything that led up to his arrival on Remnant.
John nodded, then said "Keep us updated on the info you receive from Xiong. I'd like to know what to look out for."
"Will do, Chief," Johnson grinned, then looked to Mendoza as he was tightening the laces on his boots, then at Bisenti as the man checked his pistol. Them and Jenkins were still twitchy, considering they had had to deal with the Flood a while ago. Meanwhile, Dubbo, Stacker and the others were simply relaxing as the ride down to the place continued.
Johnson was dead set on getting that info. If 'Junior' didn't wanna talk, he was gonna have a nasty surprise in the form of a bunch of pissed-off Marines. He hummed, checking his own sidearm and muttering something about his Shotgun to himself, fully aware that Chief and the other Spartans could hear it. The aircraft began its descent down toward the deluxe residential area where all the bigshots lived and where most clubs, be they underground or otherwise, existed.
The group exited, with Carol calling out, "I'll come pick y'all up the moment you flash the signal to me."
"Heard you loud and clear, Foe Hammer," Johnson replied for both teams. He looked to Chief, then bumped a fist into the MJOLNIR-clad Spartan's shoulder and said, "Go on, Chief. Git. We'll call you if we need backup, seeing as we only got our pistols with us."
John nodded, "Smallest sign of trouble and you call."
"Magnums may be powerful, but nothing beats a good rifle," Sam quipped as he patted his MA5. Johnson nodded approvingly, then split off with his fireteam toward the bar and pub area, keeping themselves nice and calm and acting as civilian as a bunch of soldiers in same-looking camouflage uniforms could act, honestly. The only thing was Johnson felt naked without some form of body armor. Sure, he had his Aura, but that soulstuff mumbo-jumbo wasn't particularly high on his list of protective things.
He wasn't too sure his soul could deflect bullets, after all, but he guessed he was gonna find out if the need arose to find out. Entering Junior's place and marching down the stairs, the men were greeted by the thumping beats of electronic music and the cheering and laughter of patrons. Marching up to the bar, where mister Junior Xiong was doing his work and helping the newly-hired bartender fix up drinks, Johnson said to the Bartender, "Beers, for all of us."
"Alright," Junior nodded, before motioning to the bartender to go find some in the fridge nearby. He hummed, then asked, "You the tall lady's friends?"
"We are," Johnson replied, "Whaddaya got for us?"
"A lot of movement is what. White Fang's been gathering a lot of supplies for something big in Vale... Beside them there's rumors of some bigshots in Vale's arms industry going AWOL," He remarked as he cleaned a glass, "And just recently, some other chick and her posse came by here. Robot arms, black hair, heterochromia. Had a surprising amount of Faunus traits..."
"That don't sound too abnormal... Vale's full of interesting people," Johnson remarked, "Anything else ya got?"
"Nothing really... Oh, shit," He spoke, then motioned toward the door. Johnson and the team turned to see a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, marching into the place. As described, she was a beauty with black hair and two eyes of various colors. Her strut told of confidence as she marched forth toward them, a grin on her face. She noticed Johnson and his team and her smile disappeared for a moment... Only to come back moments later.
"Some new patrons, I see, Junior," She remarked as she approached the counter, "You folks seem rather new."
"We are," Remarked Johnson.
"And what're military folks like you doing out here? Atlas finally letting its dogs out of the cages so they can relax a bit?" She asked as if she knew Atlas, before turning and leaning against the counter and on both her robotic elbows, her claws shimmering with the rhythmic change of the club's various lights. Her uniform seemed to be a standard-issue urban-grey combat camo with the added connection points to where she could mount armor.
"We ain't Atlas," Jenkins replied, eyeing the men around them, his hand gently hovering nearby his pistol to not arouse suspicion. Junior had a bead of sweat running down his cheek as the tension in this area of the club grew thick enough to obscure the thumping of the electronic music and the sounds of his patrons' laughter. The woman chuckled, then crossed her arms to her chest.
"Your boy's feisty, my friend," She spoke, eyeing Johnson, "Fun."
Johnson replied calmly, "We've had a bit of a rough go at it before we got to Vale, so you'll have to excuse him."
"I'll believe that," She replied, grinning still, showing off her dentures. Canines were longer, too, almost like fangs. Johnson sure as hell didn't like her. People like her seemed weird. And her friends? Well, most of them wore balaclavas, so that was telling Johnson they had shit to hide, like their identities or their own gene modifications. Junior was right about her being off. Faunus used to only have one trait, last he read about them. She asked, "Just here to relax, then? No asking our buddy-boy Junior anything important?"
"Not really," the Sergeant shot back, "What about you?"
"I like hearing the gossip in town. Can you blame me?" She chuckled.
"No," Johnson replied. He nodded to his men, then said, "We'll be out of your hairs."
"Not gonna share a drink?" She inquired jokingly. Johnson shook his head and lead his team toward the door, causing her to scoff. The woman said, "Damn shame. Well, guess we'll get our own drinks and leave," before turning to a somewhat surprised Junior. As the door shut the moment the Marines left, the woman inquired, "Did they ask anything important there, Junior...?"
He hesitated. She smirked. Oh, this was gonna be a fun questioning, even with a crowd.
Atlas
She felt the fake muscles twitch as they powered on. Her visual sensors flickered for a moment as she updated the firmware herself, improving the reaction and detail that the eyes could see at minimal cost. Strange that Atlas would put caps like that on them, but, alas, it was good to have self-adjusting systems that proxies and copies of her could run in the meantime. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing the bright white light overhead.
Her auditory sensors powered on next, the echoes and rumbles of the machine around her working to assemble the last pieces of herself, namely the last bits of skin. Following up the auditory systems, which were fairly sensitive and accurate, considering Cortana could hear Prof Polendina working through the last diagnostics for the tenth time, came the rest of her more active muscle controls. Her facial muscles contorted, then formed into a smile as Cortana managed to learn how to control them.
She blinked, looking around and moving her head gently from left to right. Following that, she tested her extremities and setting the correct parameters, before moving whole limbs up and down. She looked down at herself next, noticing the armored body-suit that the Professor had fitted onto her new frame. The suit was a layering of bullet-proof polymers with a comfortable under-layer that utilized a similar system to the heat-adjusting gel layer in MJOLNIR armor, though dumbed down severely.
She had also installed a connection port system into both of the suit's 'gauntlets', which allowed her to directly interface with operational computers belonging to the CCTS network similarly to how she would've normally interfaced with stuff like that. Beside them, in specialized containers that used the 'mecha-shift' technology which allowed most modern weapons to be so compact, she had stun dart launchers stuck in hidden compartments that slightly bulged up on her forearms.
Gently, the AI learned to stand, pushing her mainframe to learning how to walk before long. She climbed out of the vessel in which her new body had been sat and out into the wider laboratory, her boots now hitting the metal floor with a clang. She smiled, arranging the artificial hair she had received as she looked into a mirror, before stating, "Gotta admit, this is pretty interesting..."
"I added a few more things I intended to test when preparing to upgrade Penny's frame for future operations... At her request," Pietro chuckled awkwardly. Cortana was fairly aware of these new 'additions' considering what she saw and felt about herself. She smirked at Pietro, before arranging her bodysuit. He noted, "I've added the modifications you've requested to the suit, as well. Color me impressed that you want stun rounds after everything you told me about Penny's new friends."
Cortana was about to make a snarky comment, but a hammering on the door told her she probably needed to get out of here. Marching up to a computer and linking herself with the building-wide network, the AI saw through the security cameras that a squad of Atlas troopers had come in. One of them called out, "Professor Polendina, are you feeling well!? Your staff reports you've been in your office for a couple days now!"
"I'm well, lieutenant, thank you! I just got very busy with an... Important... Project for Penny!"
"General noticed the expenditures! Hope that project's coming along well, doc! Because we've been ordered to come check it out!" The man stated, causing Pietro to panic for a moment. Cortana paused, pulled back away from the terminal, then noticed the window that led to the outside. They were a few thousand feet in the sky, above the city of Mantle, where the Contact was.
She hummed, then said, "Hope this body was made with rough landings in mind, too... Thanks, prof Polendina. I'll tell Penny everything went alright!" before she charged forth toward the glass pane without even hearing the man protest. Bursting through and shattering the glass in her new body, the Artificial Intelligence's processing power seemed to have kicked into overdrive, the artificial brain inside operating at several times the normal capacity of a human mind.
She made calculations as she fell toward one of the Tether-Elevators linking Atlas to Mantle, making sure she knew the direct trajectory and point she was going to land in. She made up her landing strategy in her mind, focusing on the bodysuit's integrity and strength-enhancing capabilities that boosted her frame's somewhat-superhuman abilities beyond.
She smirked as she flipped forward, bringing her feet in first and powering the magnetic boots as she approached the tether at terminal velocity. The girl had also added a small grapple system to her suit which would allow her to slow down in time. It was fired out of the wrist dart launchers, which was a bonus. She aimed her right hand at a nearby rock face as she descended, then fired the line-holding dart with a quiet thwip.
Tying itself around a piece of rock, the dart managed to slow down Cortana just enough for her mag-boots to lock her into place on the large tether. From there, she had to run down toward Mantle in order to safely reach the place. Frankly, with how fast the body moved, she had no worries about it. What worried her was, however, the Atlas aircraft that had suddenly done a one-eighty toward her.
"Aw, nuts..." She murmured...
... Elsewhere in Mantle, namely within the confines of the Merry Huntresses' hideout, Halsey sat at a desk, chowing down on a special chicken soup made by the chef of the place. Around her, some of the girls continued chatting, smiling and laughing. Miss Hill, meanwhile, seemingly decided it was a good idea to come check upon the multidimensional humanoid that was in their care.
"You good, doctor?" She asked with a clear degree of concern behind her voice.
"Just fine, miss Hill. Curious about how I wound up in the middle of Mantle, but..." She replied, taking another spoonful of soup before finishing, "I will figure things out."
"I mean, you did seem like you dropped out of the sky when we found you... Didn't even know what the White Fang were," Robyn shot back, garnering a few chuckles out of the girls. Halsey muttered something to herself as she took the next spoonful of the salted, chicken-tasting broth. She brought her hand to her mouth and spat out a chunk of bone, before tossing it to a trash bin to her right.
"You could say I am..." She then said.
"Oh?" Robyn raised a brow.
"It is a long story..." Halsey paused, considering whether she should let the people here know how in the heavens' name she even got here in the first place. She had no ONI agents breathing down her neck, no active threats, no nothing of the sort, save perhaps for Atlas's own personal army coming for her and those White Fang troops. A terror organization fighting for the rights of a group that seemed to fit in pretty well with the rest of the people on Mantle's streets.
She sighed, then said, "Put simply, I arrived here, not by my own volition, but rather by orders of my superiors, including having to mess with technological advances that would make whatever you have on this world seem like children's toys in comparison. Including Atlas's own air fleet and mechanoid forces..." words which clearly shocked Robyn, as her facial expression showed.
"... Gotta be kidding, right?" Robyn asked, "I mean, it is a prank."
Halsey grabbed her badge off her breast pocket and slid it across to the woman. She looked over the semi-transparent item, which included the emblem and tags that told of the Doctor's reality. Halsey took another spoonful of the soup, then explained, "Alas, so my leaders' greed in deciding to further enhance our technology caused me to wind up in one of Mantle's alleys."
She rubbed the top of her head, then muttered, "With a trash-given concussion to boot..."
"Sounds like you've had a bad couple of days," Robyn offered as she leaned against the countertop where Halsey was eating, "You can stick around until the Fang is cleared out by the Military. Ironwood wouldn't like hearing that he left Mantle and Atlas out to dry by going to Vale for his trip. Left the troops here under the command of one of his trusted officers."
"Take it if I were to be captured, I'd meet said officer?" Halsey inquired. A nod from Robyn was all the confirmation she needed to know it still may not have been a good idea to turn herself in. Despite that, this General Ironwood whom she'd kept hearing about from the girls around the place seemed like the standard caring Military Commander. Atlas had been in good hands, both the kingdom and Academy... At least it seemed so. Certainly, the girls had their bit of disagreement with the man, with Robyn most of all. Halsey then stated, "I'd rather be free for now... Had enough of prisons to last me a lifetime."
Slightly taken aback and concerned, Robyn wanted to ask, but Halsey clarified, "A military intelligence agency saw fit to throw me in the brig for several crimes I didn't commit," she paused, then murmured to herself, "And some I admittedly did..." before returning her voice to the normal volume, "To cover the tracks of their retiring boss and her little protégé."
"Yikes..." The woman winced, "Sounds like a lot of skeletons they didn't want out of the closet."
"Indeed..." Halsey sighed, before downing what was left of the bowl of soup. She stood up and pulled her tablet from her pocket, before checking through the data she had compiled on everything. She'd still kept an audaciously detailed history of the UNSC and its wars against both traitors and genocidal theocratic empires just in case it was required, including operations, estimated death tolls from the losses of colonies and the military casualties of the UNSC from every single branch.
She had kept this as a record. A record that humanity, even in its darkest hours, fought and strived to survive. And, as it seemed, they had thrived, for what good that did to the tens of billions that were turned to ashes or died in that pointless conflict based upon a false faith. She sighed, stowing the datapad back into her pocket. She was willing to give the data to anyone who would listen, if only to ease her mind that she had told someone here about-
Knock knock knock.
Three rapid knocks and the Happy Huntresses instantly tensed. Halsey did, too, feeling her younger muscles tense up, her hand hovering above her pistol. The sheep-girl approached the door, then looked to the two. Robyn readied her own wrist-mounted mini-crossbow, offering a nod to the girl as the other two came out with their own weapons ready.
The one at the door opened it, readying her own staff/crossbow/gun combo. Halsey, however, stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the figure standing in the door. And said figure saw her, then smiled as she said, "I knew it had to be you, doc... Long time no see," as she entered the place, hands raised. She said to Robyn and her team, "Don't worry. I'm a friendly... Friends with doc Halsey over here."
Halsey paused, then took her glasses off her eyes, before asking, shock behind her words... "Cortana...?"
The AI-turned-Android smiled, happy...