For what is a child if not innocent, and what is a man if not sinful? A vessel of hate, unbridled and pure. And we are the best of teachers to our child.

The detonation of the HAVOK nuke aboard the Mantle's Approach should have caused Cortana's glorious, final dispensation once the systems of the ship were broken. Instead, the AI now finds herself facing a new, terrifying world side-by-side with the Tactical Dolls, specialized combat Androids that take the form of armed young women. In this broken world, she must search for answers.

The Spartans hated them, they were A.I. but competing with the Spartans. The ODST that knew about them were terrified of them, and even ONI did not really feel comfortable with them. Tactical Dolls were not normal A.I. as far as the UNSC understood it, certainly their programming had removed rampancy from UNSC A.I. but these A.I. had bodies. (Prologue has been totally rewritten)