Chapter 27: Unexpected Difficulties

Jaka POV

"—You stand properly relieved!"

The soft grunt of the Marine as he put his chatter back into one of the many pockets on his BDUs annoyed Jaka for a moment, but it wasn't long before he felt a bit hypocritical. After all, the wounded Lance Corporal was taking online courses while on duty before, so he didn't exactly have a leg to stand on. His replacement was one of the many other Marines stationed on the platform, several scars lining his face showing his status as a survivor of the decades long war. "'Bout time" was the only response that Jaka received before the Marine stepped into the lift. The dismissive behavior of the Marine didn't dampen Jaka's spirits, as it wasn't exactly Jaka's fault he got pulled to talk to Lord Hood.

The stern but respectful conversation with the most powerful man alive still shook him to his core. The idea that the Fleet Admiral wanted him to directly report any conversations he had with Shress, along with any unusual behavior weighed heavily on his mind. It wasn't too long before he began his short roving watch down the passageway of Cairo Station's brig. One by one, empty cells passed the marine by as he discreetly made his way to Shress's cell.

That was when his blood ran cold.

Bang!

"Huh squid head?! I can't hear you!"

Bang!

Eyes wide, Jaka rushed over as fast as he could to the hatch, quietly sliding it open. Inside, he spotted Shress prone on the floor, squirming in pain with an ONI agent and a Marine above her. The green garbed soldier looked absolutely furious even as the ONI agent calmly typed into a datapad.

"All we need is a location. Your people destroyed our worlds, all we want to do is return the favor."

'What?!' Jaka thought.

Jaka knew for an absolute fact that no one was supposed to be down here. The horrific scene he was watching was definitely not sanctioned by Hood because the idea of peaceful observation was the core subject of the entire conversation he was literally just returning from! Quickly reaching down to his radio, he flipped it on without even trying to be quiet.

"Security breach in the brig!"

Six POV

'Come on', Six told himself, 'If you can talk to an alien about your feelings towards her, then surely you can speak to your fellow Spartans.'

Six took in a gulp of air before sitting. He glanced up and caught the Spartans II's observing him before returning to their meals. They were in the galley, eating lunch, or so say the clocks in the room. Admittedly it was hard to tell exactly what time it was onboard floating metal stations like this. This was the first time Six had sat with a team of Spartans since what felt like a lifetime ago. It had been a few hours since they arrived, and they were all cleaned, fed and were provided medical care. After they got settled back into routine, they were all pulled into a briefing room. It wasn't long before Master Chief told a slightly baffled Lord Hood and Six everything. The loss of the Pillar of Autumn, the death of almost everyone on board, and the discovery of Halo.

Six was still reeling from the fact that the famous Master Chief was on board the ship that he helped save when the Chief told them of the Forerunners. According to him, they were an alien race that was far superior to the Covenant; the race that the Covenant referred to as their gods—something shress confided to him on their journey to Cairo station. According to the Chief, he and the crew of the Autumn made a blind jump into slipspace that ended up with them finding Halo; a fully artificial superstructure of massive size, shaped like a ring floating in space but providing air, water, and possibly food on the surface as if it was a planet. The technology and equipment used to build Halo is light years beyond human comprehension, or even the Covenant's. They encountered the Covenant and the Flood, a horrific parasitic hivemind. It wasn't long before they also discovered that the Halo ring was actually a massive super weapon, capable of destroying all life in the entire galaxy.

Apparently, the Forerunners believed that the wholesale destruction of civilization was the only way to destroy the flood, by destroying the food source they fed from, life itself. Using the Autumn's engine core, they destroyed the ring, and Chief was able to find a Long Sword and escape. They also recovered cryo-tubes that were ejected from the Autumn before it was destroyed. Sadly, only one person in the tubes survived. A Spartan by the name of Linda-058. Soon after they were engaged in a fight with a roaming Covenant patrol in which the Chief and his now small crew of misfits boarded a Covenant Flagship, eliminated the crew and jumped into slipspace before the remaining Covenant vessels could retaliate. From there they made the journey back to Reach in hopes of finding a small refuge to restock the ship. Next, it was Spartan 104, Fred's turn to tell the story. While Six and Emile were making their run to the Pillar of Autumn, a total of twenty two Spartan II's, led by Fred, were dropped to the surface of Reach.

In a final desperate attempt to defend the planet, the Spartans were tasked with guarding the ground generators that power the Few remaining Orbital Defense Platforms circling in the planet's orbit. Those weapons were critical to the human's space battle against the Covenant, though at that point they were little more than covering fire for the evacuation. They put up a valiant fight, but it ended with their demise except for four Spartans, one of whom was Fred, who were forced to fall back.

Six remembered his supposed last stand, fighting in a field full of fallen Spartan II's. That must have been Fred's teammates, or what was left of them. The remaining Spartans fell back to Castle Base where they met Doctor Halsey. At that point Six butted in and asked, or rather demanded to know if Jun was with her. Fred gave him an odd look before shaking his head. None of them saw another Spartan III at Castle Base, nor did Halsey mention him. Six felt his fist curl at the idea that the doctor left him behind on the doomed planet.

'Did the doctor abandon Jun? No, most likely Jun ensured that the doctor made it safely to the base before probably going back out into the field, searching for the rest of Noble team, looks like he is still MIA.'

Returning to his story, Fred gave details of how the Covenant found them again, forcing the Spartans, plus Halsey, to retreat further below into the underground caverns beneath the base. Here, the Master Chief spoke again. Upon arriving at Reach, the crew, save for Cortana who stayed behind to watch their only escape route, traveled to the surface when they received an emergency broadcast sent by a Spartan. They followed the signal and discovered a three man Spartan team who were split from the rest of Fred's group and were in company with Admiral Whitcomb.

From there Master Chief led the party to Castle Base, where he suspected the rest of the II's were, considering they trained there as kids. They rescued the remaining Spartans as well as Doctor Halsey. Once rescued, they returned to space and discovered that Cortana had constructed a hybrid vessel, combining the flagship and the destroyed UNSC ship Gettysburg together to empower the vessel. They then jump back into slipspace, however before they got far, the ship was fired upon and took damaged; forcing the Spartans plus the one pilot to attempt to fix the damage. This was accomplished, but resulted with the deaths of the Spartans known as Li, Anton and the pilot, leaving only six Spartans accounted for.

From there they jumped to Eridanus II, where they stumbled upon an insurgent base built in a nearby asteroid field. At first the insurgents refused to help them, but when the Covenant arrived, the UNSC forces managed to eliminate the threat. In return, the insurgents helped the Spartans. However, something unexpected happened as Doctor Halsey went AWOL, kidnapping the Spartan named Kelly. How she managed to do something like that, Six had no idea, but it wasn't long before he felt his blood starting to boil. He always knew Halsey would always put her own personal interests first and it would be fatal to those who depended on her. Judging from the Spartans rigid posture as Master Chief said this, it looks like he was right.

More Covenant forces arrived soon after Halsey disappeared, forcing the Spartans to jump to slipspace once more, but not before the distraught ODST killed himself in an explosion, whether it was a intended suicide or accident was apparently unknown. Yet while en route to earth, they learned of a massive Covenant super battle station called Unyielding Hierophant. Believing the station was on its way to Earth as well; the Spartans boarded it and raided the ship. They were able to arm a bomb and place it into the station's core, destroying the large refit station, but during the attack, Spartan Grace was killed.

It didn't stop there however, the remaining Covenant ships started to chase after the Spartans, but Admiral Whitcomb and the ONI agent disentangled the Covenant flagship from the Gettysburg and rode it into battle, destroying the pursuing Covenant ships, but sacrificing themselves in the attempt as well. Master Chief took a deep breath after finishing the story, some of which Six couldn't really understand. It was now easy for the lone wolf to see how it was that the Chief was so well-known. He probably had the best luck out of everyone else in the service. With the story done, it became clear that the Spartans Fred, Linda, Will and Master Chief, were the last remaining II's… just like how Six was the last of the III's.

After the story telling, they contacted Hood, but he was rather busy at the moment, so the Master Chief just had to write a long report for HIGHCOM. The supersoldier almost laughed at the poor suit that would need to read through all of that mess. That was approximately two hours ago, now here Six was, sitting with the IIs, who felt more and more like an outcast by the second. He was at least fifteen years younger, but he was sure their level of experience was the same as his. They all had a wariness about them that united them in combat, but Six could still see he was singled out in situations like this.

He was sitting in a relaxed pose while the others sat rigidly, eating with manners fit for nobles at a formal dinner party. Yet, almost embarrassingly, he noticed that they were taller than he was by a few inches, Master Chief easily towered over the III, standing well over seven feet tall, though thankfully it wasn't as obvious sitting down as they were. They all might have been in the standard Navy coveralls, but with their supreme height and muscle tone they were an intimidating sight.

Six heard a burst of laughter and looked to his right. There he saw the Sergeant known as Johnson getting along well with the other Marines at his table as they all laughed.

'Why can't it be that easy?' Six wondered as he saw their smiling faces.

He shook his head and decided to scan the Spartans at his table. It was obvious that Fred was second in command, he wasn't as large or as lean as most Spartans, but he exuded stoicism and confidence, emphasized with streaks of silver hair on the sides mixed in with the brown. Next to him sat Linda, she was the only woman in the group, small, about six foot nine, had blood red hair, sparkling green eyes and a hard, perceptive demeanor. She did not appear to ever blink—easy to see why she was the team sniper.

Across from her was Will, another average Spartan who appeared quite plain save for the twin scars caressing the side of his face as his brown eyes kept their full attention on his food. Finally, sitting across from Six was the man known for his rank: Master Chief. He wondered what his real name was, but at the moment Six did not really have the faith that he would answer, so he would just call him by his rank like everyone else. He had sandy brown hair, a light dash of freckles and dark eyes. He was efficient, never wasting a breath; the grim reaper if Six had ever seen one.

Six looked back down at his food in deep thought. When he and Shress talked she usually would be the one to start the conversation with a question, maybe he should give it a try. Finally deciding against sitting there in awkward silence, Six cleared his throat.

"So… Are you all uninjured from your last mission?"

Almost all the Spartans looked up, as if surprised that the III could speak. It unnerved Six when they acted as one and said in unison, "We're fine, sir." The strange sound of their voices mingling with one another caused the III to shiver.

Six sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Please don't call me sir. It's strange enough that you salute me."

The Spartans stared at him as if he was an alien for a moment, before the Master Chief replied, "It's protocol sir."

Shifting his weight, the lone wolf felt more and more alone by the second as he tried to explain himself.

"Yes, but you don't have to keep doing that…" Six said awkwardly, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. Gesturing to the war hero, he gave a strained smile. "Honestly Chief, I feel like I'm the one who should be saluting you."

Six hoped against hope that the Master Chief would laugh or at the very least smile, but his chiseled face remained as emotionless as it had since he arrived before he said, "I'm sure you are as worthy of your rank as I am of mine."

Six had to physically restrain himself from releasing a growl of frustration. Was Jorge really the black sheep of the Spartan II family? The giant Spartan was well known for his positive demeanor and deep chuckles. As for the other II's… Six was sure that they only smiled twice a year.

Trying once again to open a dialogue with them, he picked his brain for another topic before diving once more into the unknown.

"You were inside the Pillar of Autumn?" Six asked the Master Chief.

Chief was silent before looking back at Six, "Yes, and you were the one who defended it?"

Six nodded his head, remembering the dead spartans below the cruiser. A ping of annoyance overtook him as he realized that the conversation had yet again come to an awkward end.

"You're also the one who transported Cortana, correct?"

That question threw him off. Six tried to think of a time when he did that. Did Chief have him confused with another Spartan? Because he certainly could not remember transporting Cortana; he had not even met her before.

"I'm sorry Chief," Six began, "I don't recall—"

Before he could finish speaking, his datapad beeped. Six took it out, activating it before almost jumping in surprise. He was looking at the projection of an AI that could only be Cortana, her face filling the entire screen.

"A little on edge, aren't we, Lieutenant?" she said with a smirk.

Six felt embarrassment and shame starting to overtake him. He had no idea what was going on, but his senses seemed to have dulled some over the last few months. He felt like his demeanor had also been more open and acceptable towards others. Has his time with Shress altered him in some way? Anything that would negatively impact his fighting skills would become a problem down the road. Normally, his training told him that he would need to cut out the distraction, but that idea was instantly shut down in his mind. Under no circumstances did he want to stop being with Shress; he wanted to be with her more than ever right about now.

He had been surrounded by people like this most of his life. Why was he suddenly no longer reassured being in this sort of presence?

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" probed the AI.

He looked into the small, glowing figure's expression and it was about then that it clicked. He remembered that face, it was the one he had often seen in Doctor Halsey. He remembered back at Sword base, the package, and the strange glowing chip, how it looked like a woman before it was downloaded, a very specific woman to be precise.

"You were the package," Six said flatley.

Cortana smirked at him. "Yes, Lieutenant, and for the record, I didn't enjoy the ride."

"I didn't either..." Six said, deciding quickly to change the topic. "I'm glad to hear it was worth it in the end. From the briefing, it sounds like you were a big help."

"As is my programming." Cortana replied, giving him a large smile in return. "Your skills are almost similar to the Master Chief's."

"Almost?" Six questioned and glared at Chief, hoping a quip from his AI companion would get some emotion from the man. The Chief's jaw tightened by a fraction before it relaxed again.

Six's amusement faded when he noticed Cortana seemed distracted, her right hand caressing the side of her light blue head. He asked, "What is it, Cortana?"

The AI looked Six straight in the eye; where there should be webs of veins, there were endless lines of code.

"I've just intercepted a message that was being sent to this datapad from Lord Hood—"

"Cortana," the Master Chief interrupted rather sternly, even as his eyes flicked to Six's collar device. "That's material sent between officers for their eyes only."

The AI disappeared from Six's pad, leaving it in its original default setting. Before Six could question where she went, the lens of the camera in Six's pad suddenly released a ray of blue light and there stood Cortana as her miniature holographic self.

She crossed her arms and looked at the Chief, "I was designed to hack into security systems and to dismantle them Chief, are you questioning the point of my existence?"

He shook his head before looking down at his food.

"How are you doing this?" Six asked as he observed the light streaming out of his Pad, "I didn't even know there was a projector in this thing."

"There isn't!" Cortana said cheerfully with a sly grin, "It's a little trick I learned from the Forerunner Archives."

"Cortana," Chief interrupted again, "You shouldn't be experimenting with Forerunner technology. You should turn it over to ONI."

"I copied and downloaded all of my files to ONI Chief," She said, a bit of irritation clear in her voice.

Feeling a little tension rising, Six instead asked, "What is it you wanted to tell me, Cortana?"

She returned her gaze back to Six, "I intercepted a message from Admiral Hood to you—"

"Which is for his eyes only," Master Chief stated again.

Six glanced up and saw the Spartan giving Cortana a hard look. However, the III noticed the other Spartans were now watching with twinkles of amusement in their eyes. Six guessed this was not the first time the Chief and Cortana argued.

Cortana gave a sigh of exasperation, "It's about and for the Lieutenant and the Sangheili prisoner, Chief."

Before the Master Chief could speak again, Six leaned forward, and asked, "What? What did it say about me and the… prisoner?" It pained him to refer to Shress in this manner, but what could he do?

Cortana arched an eyebrow, probably hearing the desperation in Six's voice. "Apparently something has happened, and the Sangheili is acting extremely aggressively toward medical personnel that have been sent down to see it. He hoped that a familiar face would make it more receptive to care."

"What?!" Six said suddenly, as his heart sank. "What happened? Why does she need medical attention?"

Cortana seemed surprised at his outburst, simply opening a file and replacing the screen below with a few images that Six began to scan through furiously.

"You are to report to the brig, but before you go…"

She then turned to look at the other Spartans, "All of you," here she looked at Six pointedly before looking back and continuing. "have been ordered to the armory at seventeen hundred hours, your new MJOLNIR armor had just arrived."

Surprisingly, Fred was the first to respond, calling out with a quick, "Thank you, Cortana."

"My pleasure." And with that, the light from the pad faded and so did Cortana's form.

It could easily be told from a distance that the mood at the table had lifted. Fred's fingers started to drum on the table, Linda leaned back on her chair, and Will actually smiled. Master Chief remained as serious as ever, but Six noticed his eyes squint slightly, this must be as much emotion as the Chief revealed.

But Six was no longer paying attention.

The supersoldier sat as still as a statue as his eyes flew over a hastily put together report, showing two very familiar faces in his datapad being arrested by military police. A few pictures were attached to the report, showing several items taken from the two which included a shock baton and a few odd pieces of tech, but the picture that most caught Six's attention was the last one. The scene was obviously chaotic, as it showed a white coated doctor fleeing a darkened cell, his sleeves having a few splashes of purple blood spilled onto them with the prone form of Shress lying on the floor behind them, mandibles wide in a snarl.

Standing up, the metal chair he was sitting in screeched across the floor for a few feet behind him before crashing to the floor, causing the entire room to go quiet. Not even bothering to pick up his plate, he stiffly made his way to the door, with a boiling rage deep within his chest.

"Lieutenant."

Six turned back to the Chief who was giving him a solemn observation, looking him up and down as if he had never seen him before.

"Yes, Master Chief?" Six asked, his voice grave.

The Chief looked up from his spot at the table and said, "Do you need reinforcements?"

Six took a moment to examine the Spartans, his previous assumptions about him being the odd one out were immediately proven wrong. All of them appeared to be ready to jump to his aid, showing that at the end of the day…

They were all Spartans.

Six replied with a short, "No" before making his way out of the galley, fists clenched.

'I can handle this on my own.'

Shress POV

Shress coughed up another blue mass of blood before resting her head on the floor again, feeling exhausted just from that small action.

She took in a few long and slow breaths as she tried to assess her damaged body. She commanded her left leg to lift itself up, thankfully feeling nothing as she did so. Feeling relatively okay, she shifted her weight around so she was facing closer to the ground. Pulling her unharmed leg under her, she then tried to get her right one to move to no avail, she hissed in pain from the protesting limb.

Knowing she used her left arm repeatedly to block the electric weapon, she tried to use her right one to push her body up, but she only placed a small bit of weight on it when the arm gave out. She hissed once again as she made contact with the floor. It felt as if her entire body had inherited the weak muscles of a youngling. She had no idea how long she had been lying on the floor, nor how long the interrogation had lasted. As her honor demanded, she remained silent throughout the whole ordeal, the humans just got angrier and angrier until the guard was beating her for no apparent reason at all.

The green garbed marine struck her multiple times with the metal club-like weapon, each time it shocked and bruised her skin whenever it struck flesh. The electric nature of the weapon caused her shields to drop at an alarming rate, making it to where she tried to fight back at one point, but that only resulted with her receiving an odd poking sensation in her neck that seemed to sap the strength right out of her. She directed her left hand to the exposed shoulder of her armor and felt it become slick with blood. It was the only wound she had sustained that had drawn a significant amount of blood. She carefully touched her face, but flinched as soon as her fingers grazed her bruised skin.

She did manage to protect her mandibles from extensive harm. Even lying here on the ground, Shress could hear the familiar tone of Jaka talking to someone else from outside of her cell that she couldn't bother to translate. All she was aware of right now was the fact that the wounded Marine was the one that saved her from the tortuous humans, and she would be forever grateful for that fact. Glancing over to the still open hatch, she could see Jaka still pressing his back to the door. The odd protective nature of her friend caused a small smile to form on her face.

'Even if he did bring… healers.'

A bout of dizziness overtook her, and she heard a loud thud. The entire room had shifted on its side. No, maybe she was on her side? Shress honestly didn't know why she felt so unbelievably disoriented. It was difficult for her to focus through the radiating waves of pain. Her eyes widened in panic for a unit when she heard the door sliding open. Looking over to the open hatch from her spot on the floor, she saw that it was someone wearing a black skin tight suit. Growling to herself, she renewed her efforts to try and get to her feet. Shifting around, she got about as far as she did previously, before landing face first onto the ground in another bout of dizziness.

She only realized now that she couldn't face whoever was entering.

She shivered when she heard the sound of booted feet entering the room before the door quietly shut with a soft clang. She was facing the opposite wall, making it nearly impossible for her to see who had entered, especially with her weakened state ailing her from turning quickly. She heard quick footsteps heading in her direction. She tried to steal herself and release a growl, but after all the effort to lift herself, she lacked the stamina to empower it with any real force.

She became alert when she heard something drop down next to her. Before she could wonder further what was happening, she felt hands pulling her and carefully rolling her over so she was looking upwards. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw who it was. Hovering above her was Michael. His eyes and mouth were set in a grim and angry look as he looked down at Shress, but his forest green eyes were clouded, full of tears.

Shress couldn't tell if she was dreaming, she had longed for this moment and there was no one else she wanted more than her suitor. Was her mind playing tricks on her? That thought was like dust in the wind when he raised a hand and removed her helmet. His hand then descended and slowly started to caress Shress's cheek, telling her clouded mind that this was no illusion. This was real. Michael was here with her once more.

"Shress," her chest tightened with so many emotions when she heard him say her name in a loving yet deeply concerned manner. He looked her body up and down before looking into her face and said in a pained voice, "What happened?"

Shress couldn't form the words; she was still having a hard time believing that the Spartan was truly here with her. Instead of speaking, she moved her head forward and leaned it against his chest, feeling his clothes rubbing against her skin. She gasped slightly when she felt his arm tighten around her shoulders while the other was positioned underneath her knees and he stood up, holding her. She leaned back to look at Michael. She knew the human was strong, but she didn't think he would have the strength to lift her up fully armored like this. He didn't look stressed at all, but he looked as if he was drowning in misery as he looked down at Shress. He took a half step back, but Shress's arm moved forward and gripped him as she whispered hoarsely, "Stay with me… close."

Michael looked her body over again before leaning down and said, "I don't want to hurt you."

She raised her hand and held it against the side of his face as she replied, "You won't… I really need you now, Michael."

His eyes released the tears and they fell down his cheek, Shress felt her own eyes starting to water. However, Michael slowly crawled into the small bed as well, their combined weight causing the metal to strain. Shress hugged the Spartan with her one good arm and nuzzled his neck, while pulling her knees up as she snuggled against Six, wanting him to hold her. He wrapped his arms around her and she felt him kissing the top of her head lovingly. It pained and exhausted her to move this much, especially while she was still wearing her tough Zealot armor, but she just wanted to feel safe in her suitor's arms.

She leaned back to look into his eyes. The tears were gone, but his eyes still gleamed as she took in the familiar green color that she has missed for days now. She placed a hand alongside his head and rubbed it, mindful of her talons. Her hand eventually went upwards and ran through his fur, but as she felt the hair she tilted her head as she peered at Michael closely.

"I missed you." She said plainly.

Michael laughed as he looked into her eyes, a loving but distant smile covering the former serious face of her suitor, "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner."

She shook her head, feeling a smile starting to take shape for the first time as she said, "Don't worry. My honor is undamaged. I know if I fought back they wouldn't have survived."

He smiled and nodded his head obediently before the miserable look returned and he looked at Shress as he asked again, "Of that I have no doubt. Though it isn't your honor I am worried about…"

Feeling him move his hand to the wound on her shoulder for a moment, Shress hissed in pain for only a moment before he quickly moved it away.

"Shress, what happened?"

She wanted to forget what had transpired, but she saw the desperate look in his eyes. She sighed, "The two humans burst into my cell, obviously angry about something, though I didn't quite know what. They demanded for me to answer their unanswerable questions once again, and when I didn't reply…"

Michael's face hardened and Shress stiffened when she felt his arms tighten around her and burned her injuries. The Spartan became aware of what had just happened as he loosened his grip and said, "I'm sorry."

Shress nodded, accepting the apology before preparing herself to continue. Closing her eyes as she remembered, the whole scene replaying in her mind. "They stopped asking questions soon after, attacking me. I knew I could not fight back."

Glancing up to her suitor, she saw the confusion on his face. "Why couldn't you defend yourself?"

Feeling a growl forming in her chest, she looked away from him as she buried her face into his chest, thankful that the ordeal that she went through ended with the result she wanted.

"The Fleet Admiral said if I harmed any more of his soldiers, he would take me far away from you."

Michael shifted his weight for a moment, causing another bout of dizziness to run through the disoriented Sangheili.

"Shress, nothing anyone says here will keep me from you."

The sincerity of his voice surprised her, causing her throat to tighten a bit in an unknown emotion. Deciding to accept his statement, she nodded into his chest before continuing.

"They… they were angry that I could talk, yet I wouldn't speak to them. That ONI human poked me with something that caused my muscles to collapse, and then they pulled out these… these blunt weapons that sparked lighting."

She couldn't finish, she didn't know why but she felt her throat closing once again. Chills broke throughout her body when she felt Michael's soft lips as they brushed over her face. His multiple kisses finally caused Shress to chuckle lightly as she finally opened her eyes to look back up to Michael. She could tell he was still angry, but his expression had softened as he looked at Shress. He ran a hand down her form and she quivered whenever his flesh made contact with hers. He paused when he felt a scorched area of skin on her ribs. He sighed lightly before looking back into her eyes.

"I can see if some of the doctors can come in and have a look at you." He finally offered, "They might not know much of Sangheili biology, but they could try and help lessen the pain."

Shress was already shaking her head before saying, "It's alright Michael," he opened his mouth to argue but she said, "It's alright, I will heal faster than you humans do and… it had always been viewed as a dishonorable act to be treated by a healer."

Michael's eyes squinted slightly before replying, "I don't care about honor. It just hurts me to see you in pain."

She ran her talons down his chest like before, feeling them make the marks beneath his clothing. She smiled as he shivered like she predicted he would.

"You might not care, but I do. Please, Michael, no doctors."

He frowned and looked at the wall across from them. There were burn marks from the lighting weapons with spots blue and purple from her blood. She sighed and leaned against him, "Please Michael… I miss Sanghelios…" She admitted in a sad, almost broken, voice. "My honor is all I have left to remember my home." She felt her tears returning as she thought of her decision of changing to the human's side, a decision that resulted with her being beaten within an unit of her life.

Michael took hold of her again as he sighed, "There must be something that I could do."

"There is. Just hold me."

She felt him let go as one hand gently took hold of a part of her leg that wasn't covered in armor and pulled it closer against him while his other arm pulled her upper body against his chest. He shifted his body until it could accommodate her and she could fit into his full embrace.

"Thank you," she muttered.

Michael responded by kissing the top of her head and saying, "Of course…my beautiful Shress."

She felt her smile return only for a moment before her heavy eyes closed and she began to fall asleep. Before slumber took her though, she allowed her throat to thrum.

-UA-

Shress felt the painful state of consciousness as she opened her eyes. Thankfully, she was still lying next to Michael, but only one arm was holding her and she heard him speaking. She blinked and saw she was pressed right up next to the Spartan's chest just like before. She began to move her mandibles so she could reply to him, but then she realized he wasn't talking to her.

"I know, I know," he said, "Just tell them I got caught up in something, I'll be down as soon as I can."

She waited to hear the other person reply, but there was only silence. She sniffed the air carefully and smelled that she and Michael were the only ones in the room. Michael then spoke, "Look Cortana, let's just say I'm in an important meeting and… what?" his voice was suddenly filled with surprise. He carefully raised himself higher, keeping one arm on Shress's back so she wouldn't slip off. She acted as if she was asleep, curious with what he was discussing and more importantly, who he was talking to.

"Damnit, that's the second time I've forgotten there are cameras in here!" Feeling the human shift for a moment, his tone becomes deadly serious. "Cortana, please delete the past two hours of footage in this room… Yes you can, you were designed to do this… Look, you can even give the footage to Lord Hood if you want, just don't let anyone else see it… Oh come on, you're the smartest smart AI ever to be made of course you can imagine how he could react!"

Shress tried her best not to shiver. She didn't know who he was speaking to, but she knew it's about her. Apparently Michael had been worried about how his comrades might react to their feelings for each other, and why shouldn't they? She's surprised that Michael didn't feel hateful towards her. Yet what hurts her most was hearing that he was late for something. For a unit, she forgot she was a prisoner and that Michael had obligations to meet. She knew he would have to leave again, and soon.

She tightened her embrace and slowly rubbed her head against Michael's chest, quickly gaining his attention.

"I've got to go," she heard Michael say before he sighed heavily, "Yes, yes, I'll give you a full explanation later, alright, Noble Six out."

Shress blinked a bit before looking up at Michael who smiled at her. The feeling was strange as it was usually the other way around for her.

'If only he is as large as a Sangheili male', she thought to herself.

"Who were you speaking to?" She asked.

Michael didn't seem surprised, she wondered if he knew that she was awake at the time.

"Just a friend," he said casually.

"You need to go don't you?"

She felt his whole form quiver before he replied, "Yes… but I can stay down here a bit longer."

She looked back at him and said, "We both know that will be unwise, especially if you don't want people to discover you are courting me."

"It's not that I'm ashamed of our relationship or anything. It's just that—"

"That your fellow humans won't approve of me."

Michael's face hardened as he said, "Maybe, but I swear, someday, when the situation allows it," he placed a hand against her face, "I will confess to everyone that you are the one I care for and nothing will ever change that."

Shress gulped as she looked down, the thought of him leaving and the fact that she's pushing him away was growing heavier and heavier in her chest. She never wanted him to leave, but she knew that they'd both be in trouble if they were caught together for much longer.

"You should leave," she finally whispered as she looked into his eyes.

"I don't want to."

She licked his neck and said, "Neither do I, but we both know what will happen if you don't return to your people soon."

Finally Michael sighed as he sat up and swung his legs out of the bed. She was already missing his touch and had to keep her hand from reaching out for him. Her human suitor looked back at her before kneeling at the bedside and carefully placed his hand alongside her mandibles. She allowed him to gently push it together with their counterparts as he leaned closer to her and she moved forward to meet him.

They met and performed the strange action that humans call a kiss. It sent a warm exhilarating feeling inside of her that filled her with a kind of wholeness and happiness—a sensation that she had missed. Michael pulled away slightly, but he raised his head and kissed the area where she felt her skin blistering. It stung, but she still liked the contact as she let her throat thrum. It was broken when she heard a light beeping originating from a device clipped to Michael's ear, a device she hadn't noticed until just now. The human sighed as he pulled back and stared at her. He took her hand in his and she squeezed it. They remained locked together for a few units before Shress heard the beep again.

Her suitor kissed her once more before saying, "I'll try and visit as often as I can."

Shress's throat had already tightened with emotions, but she finally pushed words out of her mandibles, "I'll be waiting then."

The spark in his eyes faded as he prepared himself to leave. He walked to the door, paused and looked back at her. She nodded her head slightly at him and grinned at him. He returned the gesture, gingerly. Finally, Michael touched the device on his ear and the door opened. He stepped out and cast one more sorrowful glance at her before the door slid over and blocked her view. Shress rolled over in bed and tried to make herself comfortable, trying desperately to hang on to the memory of Michael holding her. But that only caused her heart to ache.

'Back to silence.'

Six POV

"I don't think this is a good idea."

"Just tell me where, Cortana."

"Lieutenant, you are aware of the consequences that will befall you if you harm ONI personnel—"

"I am aware of the risks," Six said as he paced up and down the brig, several armed military police stiffly talking to each other about the exact legality of the incident.

He overheard the argument that since Shress wasn't exactly 'human' that assault charges couldn't legally be pressed, so they might not exactly have a case against them and they would need to be let out within a day or so. Six knew he was late for the meeting in the armory as it's already evening, but he didn't care. The pure rage burning within him was definitely not something he could ignore while sitting calmly through a MJOLNIR armor test.

"Got them," Cortana said in his earpiece, "They are in cell B-5, three doors down from… Shress."

The playful tone that she said the sangheili's name wasn't something that he was willing to acknowledge at the moment. Six marched down the hallway and his eagle-like vision scanned the door numbers swiftly. Sure enough, he found the unassuming door. The only one within eyesight of the door was Jaka, standing next to Shress's door, at attention, hand on his radio.

Walking to the door, he quickly flicked the small hatch open and looked inside. The Spartan's gaze hardened as he analyzed the man in the Marine armor. Out of the two of them, he was the one that caused the most rage to bubble up from within.

"Well well well, look who it is!" The Marine said, leaning up from the cot he was lying on.

The Marine wasn't just dressed in battle gear, but he had a lack of respect, that much was obvious in his pose and he had what Six assumed most people would think was a dangerous look about him. Six tried to open the cell door but found he couldn't find the combination. He was about to smash it when the padlock glowed blue for a split second and the door opened. He took one step forward then stopped; he fell silent, wondering how to start. He wanted to crush both of them, especially the Marine. It wouldn't be difficult for him to break every bone in that man's body. However, something kept him from springing onto him. He needed to be civil; he didn't want to bring shame to the Spartans further because of his actions. He breathed slowly and evenly as he tried to calm his rage. His eyes flicked over to the disheveled form of the ONI spook, sitting next to the Marine at the lone table in the room as he looked towards the opened door. It appeared as if the ONI agent had the experience to know to be cautious even in a situation like this, but the Marine looked as if he was amused.

They looked at each other for a while before Six asked in a whisper, "Why?"

The man in suit seemed to think for a moment before responding, "I had orders to get the information to find their capital by any means necessary. If they destroy Earth, then at the very least we will make them pay for it."

The memory of Shress's body flashed through the Spartan's mind. Her burnt skin, the webs of injuries that appeared after the impact of the metal baton, and the slight sliver of blood that fell from her mouth. Six felt his fists curl, the agent leaned back while the Insurgent remained where he sat, either unaware of the tension or too thick to realize the situation was going south.

"I was unaware that Lord Hood gave you permission to beat the prisoner."

The agent swallowed before saying, "He didn't, but it doesn't matter. We haven't committed any crimes. Assaulting an elite isn't against the law."

Before Six could respond, the Marine laughed and sat forward, resting a hand on the table, "It was actually quite fun, you should have heard the screams."

Six slowly craned his head until he was looking directly at the man as he asked, "What?"

The man laughed again, much to the chagrin of the ONI soldier, who was growing more and more uncomfortable by the minute.

"Its screams were so funny. It sounded like a cross between a gagging bird and a—"

In a split second Six dashed over to him and grabbed the Marine's undershirt and held him in the air with one arm, his other fist clenched, aimed at his skull. The Marine's demeanor completely changed instantly. His eyes grew large and sunk into his face. He started squirming with his mouth half open. He searched for weapons but found none. It was a primal fear overwhelming him—the fear of death. Six started to swing at him but stopped inches from his throat. Instead, he swung his fist downward, crashing into the metal table, creating a crater so large it collapsed. The sound reverberated through the compartment even as the sound of shouting came from down the passageway. The ONI agent froze in his chair.

Six was trained for as long as he could remember to protect humanity, but in this moment, he wanted to end a human life. Six glared at the Marine and started speaking with him still in the air. before looking back to the agent who watched with huge, paralyzed eyes from his spot at the destroyed table.

"Listen," Six growled, "Both of you, I don't care if you think what you did was justified. I don't care if you think you will get away with this, and I don't care who you work for. If I have to ever see either of you again outside of this prison cell, I swear I will kill you."

The Spartan turned to the Marine he was holding and loosened his fingers and dropped him to the floor as he asked, "Clear?"

The Marine didn't say a word; he just nodded and whimpered as he crawled away from the Spartan. Six switched his gaze to the other man. His face had gone stark white at this point, showing that unlike the Marine, this agent knew full well what an angry spartan could do. He nodded too, not able to find words either. Six wished he could carry out his threat rith then, but there's no doubt he can't do it. He's angry enough and strong enough to do it, but he knew this action alone would draw unwanted attention to the Spartans, and most likely end up with him also behind a cell similar to this one. After all, the UNSC doesn't particularly take kindly to cold blooded murder. With one final glare at the two men, Six turned and walked away, hardly noticing Jaka staring at him with huge eyes, gawking at the furious supersoldier.

It wasn't until he reached the elevator, and the door closed behind him that Cortana spoke up again through his earpiece, "Well that went well."

"Keep talking," Six said as he drummed his hands on a metal handrail.

"About?" Cortana asked.

"Anything."

"Why?"

"So I don't change my mind and go back there and kill them."

-AUTHORS NOTE-

Had lots of fun with rewriting how Six handled the Marine and ONI dorks. I always felt like he should have been more intimidating. Happy reading :3 -WR

WR carried this chapter… and he did a great job as usual. Happy to give it my thumbs up too though :p - C-Dog

One of the main issues I have had with both iterations of this story is how 'damsel in distress' Shress is through the story. Trust me when I say that despite the fact that it is borderline required for the story to remain on track now, it will not remain a consistent thing. -Pyre