A9 to C9

(Alpha Nine to Copper Nine)

Chapter 10: Unknown City Streets III

UNSC Lance Corporal Jonathan 'Rookie' Doeherty,

Unknown City, Copper 9

6 Hours After Drop

After following the waypoint for a brief period, taking him through the heart of the city, Rookie found himself standing before an odd looking tower that jutted upward unnaturally compared to the surrounding buildings, one of Copper 9's ringed moons sat just behind the tower, casting an ominous silhouette around the already eerie looking structure. Making his way into the only entrance to the tower itself, passing by wrecked, frozen vehicles with bodies still inside, and stepping on the remains of a Worker Drone buried in the snow. Entering the tower, it was hollow. Lined with metal slag all over the ground, some of it though, he wasn't sure if it was junk or perhaps the bodies of more Worker Drones. At the very center lay a pill-shaped, metal pod featuring a series of orange, crab-like legs extending out, though now buried in the snow. The waypoint was somewhere around here, likely buried under all this junk.

Before he could begin searching, however, a ping appeared on the Rookie's motion tracker. Someone else was here too. Taking cover behind a bank of snow and metal, the Rookie kept his gun trained on the entrance. And before long, the source of the ping made itself clear. Another Worker Drone it seemed. Shorter than the others he had seen before, and seemingly not wearing anything particularly military related as opposed to the dozens of Order troopers he had seen all night. Instead, she was wearing a black hoodie and a beanie covering a long set of purple hair, and a matching set of purple LED eyes. However, on her back was some kind of rifle, maybe she was some kind of scout? Unknown to the ODST was that this particular Worker Drone's name was Uzi, and she had business here, hunting for an energy source for her little pet project strapped to her back.

Figuring that he wasn't going to take any chances with her, especially considering she was armed, the Rookie took aim at Uzi's head while she was busy picking up a battery off the ground, before he could pull the trigger…his motion tracker picked up another source of movement incoming rapidly, seemingly spooking Uzi too into taking cover. Landing on the pod nearby was the very same Disassembly Drone Rookie had seen slaughtering those Order troopers earlier in the night…and probably the one that had been stalking him ever since he landed too. Holding the head of some unfortunate Worker Drone over his head and drinking the fluids seeping out, before crushing the head like an empty soda can. Rookie kept his head down and figured that fleeing was the best option and just coming back later, surely whatever the waypoint here was wasn't so important that he needed to square off with some death machine, right?

It seemed to notice Uzi first and proceeded to leap from the pod and slam down onto the ground near her. Sending her flying backwards, though she managed to recover with an albeit flashy backflip and action pose. The Rookie prepared to make his move, though again was unsure as to whether or not he should remain in cover or actually attempt to help in some way. It'd be certainly nice to have the Disassembly Drone who had been hunting him, and likely his squad, eliminated entirely…

Now having driven its odd, scorpion-like tail into Uzi's hand, the Disassembly Drone began throwing her around in the air, before casting her aside into the nearby snowbank. Now was the time to strike. Rookie leaned out from his cover and began to open fire, one of the shots managing to hit the Disassembly Drone, though harmlessly pinging off its advanced chassis, now having been alerted to someone else being here, Uzi quickly dove for her railgun. Now unsure as to who to use it on first, opting to point it at Rookie, who responded then by sending gunfire her way. Enemy. She was an enemy too it seemed.

Laying down suppressive fire and pushing up towards the pod, the Rookie loaded a fresh magazine in transit, before he could reach the cover of the pod, however, the Disassembly Drone had leapt forward and grabbed the Rookie by the throat, now staring right into the 'X' shaped LED's on the drone's face screen, it lurched its tail up and drove the sharp, needle like end right into the Rookie's chest, though his chest plating actually managed to do its job and mitigated most of the damage, though now it was melting into slag due to the yellow fluid contained in the vial on the drone's tail. The drone then delivered a devastating upward strike with its long, blade-like claws that sent both the Rookie and his helmet flying back into a nearby snowbank. Now completely dazed and wounded, all the Rookie could really do was watch the blurred image of the psychotic war machine approach, unfurling a submachine gun from one of its arms and chambering a fresh round. Before it could finish the Rookie off, a muffled voice came from nearby, causing the Disassembly Drone to glance towards it.

"Bite me."

Was all the Rookie could hear, before a thundering blast of green energy erupted just in front of him, managing to slam into the Disassembly Drone's head. Once the blast cleared, its head was completely gone, replaced by nothing more than some sparking wires and melted metal. It shuddered and staggered before falling to the ground. Uzi approached the Rookie and carefully leaned over to inspect him to see if he was even still alive, realizing that he was, she pointed the rifle at him, likely to deliver another shot onto him too, though the railgun's battery was spent and displayed that it needed to recharge…fate again saving Rookie's life. Noticing the Rookie's helmet lying nearby him, Uzi picked it up to inspect it as well.

"Wait…you're a human?…you're from Earth aren't you? Bet it sucks when your pet monsters turn on you, huh?"

Uzi carelessly tossed Rookie's helmet back onto his chest and was about to just leave him to freeze…though she stopped when she realized that the Disassembly Drone was reconstituting its head and standing back up again. Realizing that this was a losing fight, and using whatever energy he had left, despite being wounded. The Rookie quickly donned his helmet once more, and staggered to his feet, though Uzi seemed to stand her ground, grabbing one of the many severed Worker Drone arms scattered across the ground and using it as a club against the now reconstituted drone's head.. On his way out of the tower, the Rookie managed to spot an Order data pad among the junk…was this where his VISR was pointing him to? Grabbing the data pad, Rookie quickly made his escape. Trying to get as far away from the tower as he could before even thinking about slowing down. After what felt like minutes worth of running, the Rookie stopped at a frozen intersection to take a breather. Leaning against a lamp post and taking a cursory look at his wound. It wasn't deep, but that needle had stabbed him, no doubt, alongside some scratch marks on his stomach, his under suit was still stained with blood. He needed to find medical supplies, and soon.

To make matters worse, two more, fast moving targets were approaching. Grunting in pain, the Rookie bolted into a nearby alley, prepped and ready to fight if need be. V and J landed in the center of the intersection, very clearly looking for the Rookie. The Rookie noticed something hanging from V's hip, that being an ODST helmet with the faded name 'HARTWELL' written across its forehead. Well…that answers who ambushed him.

"I swear I saw someone here. I think it was one of those ODST guys. I'd hope so, I need more accessories~" V rubbed her hand against Hartwell's helmet, J rolled her eyes.

"That's against company uniform policies and It looks tacky as hell, V. Maybe your optics are malfunctioning."

V's 'eyes' had a noticeable crack running across them. One that she carefully massaged as a sour expression spread across her face.

"Yeah. Maybe I can add that medic douchebag's helmet to the collection by the night's end, eh J?"

"Forget it. There's nothing here. Let's just get back to the pod and see what took the synergistic liability offline. Probably tripped over his own feet again…"

With that, J leapt back into the air towards the tower, V remained for a moment, still trying to locate the Rookie, before eventually just giving up and following J, once he was sure that they were out of range, the Rookie fled the area, still clutching at his wound.

Having walked through the snowfall for what felt like an eternity, the Rookie found himself standing before a large, metal blast door, lit up by various service lights, almost like a beacon among the blizzard. A nearby sign seemed to label the building as 'Outpost 3' Was this actual civilization? There didn't seem to be any sign of the Order nearby, maybe this was an Accord outpost? With his wounds, the Rookie didn't really have much of a choice besides bleeding out or risking capture. Approaching the doors and slamming his fist against them, and there he waited. A set of cameras were watching him. After a moment of deliberation, the doors began to slide open. Revealing a quartet of Worker Drones, all wearing matching sets of military-like uniforms and white, construction helmets, all playing cards around a metal table. So far so good, they weren't dressed like any Order troopers…playing cards in an active warzone seemed to be in character for the Order's conscripts. The wind from the outside managed to blow their card game across the room, however, much to their dismay.

"Have you ever heard of knocking, man? Geez!" One of the Worker Drones, by the name of Makarov, seemingly wearing a mustache on his face shouted at the Rookie. "Also…did we have a Combat Drone that I just never met before? I mean, If so, your armor looks great" Makarov flashed Rookie a thumbs up. Before Rookie could move any further in, his legs buckled underneath him and he collapsed into a pool of his own blood. Startling the card playing 'soldiers'.

"Wow…right in the middle of Gin Rummy too…what a killjoy…If you need repairs, just go to the Mechanic…Rookies…they don't know where anything is."

"Uh…fellas, either this guy's been drinking some weird stuff. Or that's a human." One of the Worker Drones pointed out the growing puddle of blood.

"Ah come on, Braxton. A human…on Copper 9…you're being ridiculous."

Of all the places and situations Rookie wanted to die in, he would have honestly preferred facing down a Hunter pack than this. At least there was some honor there. Here? Bleeding out in front of a group of half-brained robots playing Rummy? No.

"What in the name of all that is good is going on here?! Who opened the doors?" Khan, another Worker Drone wearing a fake mustache, seemed to be a common fashion statement around here, entered the room, not even really caring that his colleagues were busy playing cards, more so of the fact that the main gates were just open and there was a human bleeding out on the floor.

"There's a human bleeding out on the floor, sir. He was the one who opened the door…I think." Braxton scratched at the side of his head, how did Rookie open the doors anyways?

"Well don't just stand there. Push him out of here and get the doors sealed again."

Before anyone could actually go about tossing Rookie's body out, another Worker Drone, this time clad in a lab coat, bearing dark hair and a pair of round glasses rushed into the room.

"Wait! Hold on a second. We can't throw him out. Why don't we just...imprison him instead? Why dump his body out on our doorstep, right?"

Khan seemed a bit frustrated by her suggestion, though begrudgingly accepted, just wanting to make sure that the Outpost was safe, rather than beating around the bush with some random human bleeding out on his doorstep.

"You'd better have something to feed him with at least, Jin. And keep him in the science wing. Out of everyone's way."

Jin nodded with a quick salute, before she and another Worker Drone began to drag the Rookie deeper into the Outpost. All the while the door was sealed.

Awakening some time later, the Rookie found himself in an old, ramshackle medical bay. His armor still on his body, save for his helmet. Jin was in the middle of receiving a dressing down by Khan, though it was hard for him to understand what he was saying through the haze.

"That human attempted to murder my daughter!"

"I understand that, Mr. Doorman. But my Hippocratic Oath states that-"

"Don't give me that garbage, Jin! I want him thrown out by sunrise, do you hear me? Un stabilized or not! He will not be allowed to remain here!"

"Of course. Mr. Doorman. I will make sure that he is sent on his way."

"Good. I don't want to see you again. If you show your face around here again, I'll kill you myself." Khan was pointing right at the Rookie. He departed soon after. Jin meanwhile locked the door and began to stare at Rookie with an unnerving smile once she realized he was waking up.

"You're awake. That's good. I almost lost you. You have a rather poor habit of getting yourself into these unwinnable situations. Though I suppose that Is my fault for attempting to lead you to this." Jin presented the Order data pad the Rookie found earlier in the tower. Before tossing it to him.

"A lot has happened in the past few hours. The Order has mostly driven your comrades back. I wish I could do more, but I must keep my presence to a minimum. Until the time is right." Jin smiled, before the symbol of Absolute Bias appeared in her eyes.

"That's twice now that I've had to save your life, Reclaimer. Actually…three times considering what you've missed over the past hour. But that is fine. You don't owe me anything beyond your survival, and your ascendancy." Jin inched closer to Rookie's face, even caressing the side of his face, despite wanting to lurch back, he really couldn't move.

"I would keep you here for the time being if I could. But you must leave. Not because of Khan, no, I could eliminate everyone in this Outpost with ease. But they do not pose a threat to you, Reclaimer, and I must keep this façade to ensure that all is well according to my plan. I can sense the Void in this place. I don't know exactly where It is, but for your sake, It's best that you leave. I have done all that I can to delay your death."

Sure enough, the Rookie glanced at his torso to see that his wound had vanished, as If he never had it in the first place, though his chestplate still seemed to have a gaping hole in it. Before he could leave, however, he once again began to observe the data pad he recovered earlier. Jin seemed to gesture to him that it was fine for him to review its contents. Donning his helmet again, the Rookie accessed the data pad, which had been dated some 5 hours ago…

To be continued.