Lost Sectors
Kelly and her unit had decided to leave Commander Keyes to her own devices back at the Outpost, since they still had work to do. As they approached a Crossroads on the tracks through the Lost Sectors, the Spartan commented, "... And the UNSC Signal split into two properly... Closest one is to the right and is fairly strong. Which do you want to hit first, lads?"
"Best to take the closest one, ma'am," Johnson replied as he leaned against the console, too, "Rather not hoof it back without supplies, considering the rough estimate for the farther one is a few dozen miles extra," only to watch Kelly shift gears to the right, toward the closer Ark. As they did so, Johnson got a chill up his spine that made him straighten up. A nagging feeling at the back of his head told him they were venturing toward something familiar. And familiarly horrifying, at that.
Kelly looked to him, wordlessly asking if he felt it, too. The man nodded, then slowly turned back toward his Marines, watching as a couple of them grabbed their heads in pain. God damn, of course they'd feel the vibes as well. Johnson checked his ammo and made sure he had buckshot loaded into his shotgun, murmuring a prayer to himself despite having not gone to church for several years at this point. Auntie Marcille didn't raise no godless heathen, after all.
As the tram pulled up to the Ark station, Andersen spoke through the radio, "Be advised, Chief Petty Officer, the Alva particle concentration in that specific Ark is massive. Expect no contact or reinforcements until you're out of the AO," and she could almost hear the unspoken apology in the rapidly-distorting radio signal. She tapped her com twice to signify an affirmative answer, before drawing her shotgun, gently pulling the pump back to do a check and seeing the slug she had loaded hang for a moment. Slamming the pump home and thumbing the safety on, she grabbed the rest of the gear they needed to contain any items of interest they'd find here.
Exiting out into the streets, they found the place unusually destroyed. From rubble that covered destroyed electric vehicles, to shards of glass crunching beneath their boots and whole buildings, freshly constructed and under construction, bearing the marks of battle and the scars of energy weapon discharges. Even the sky-dome above still glimmered an eerie, glitching blue that cast a disrupted light over the entire area.
"Got a bad feeling about this..." Mendoza murmured.
Johnson glared back and shot back, "Boy, if you don't shut up..." with an anger that he was keeping down. The platoon instinctively formed into a wedge as they pushed down the massive main boulevard, the debris below crunching under their feet. There was no marks telling of the dead, no desiccated bones or abandoned homes. The few pristine buildings glowed an eerie glow...
And Kelly noted both through her motion tracker and through her own enhanced eyesight that there were Rapture units trailing them and flying above them, mixed with the layer of faux-clouds up above. Their oculuses peered down on the squad, though they didn't engage. Were they tracking them for some reason? Were they trying to keep them in check?
"Sarge, we ever been to abandoned cities before?" Mendoza inquired as he swept the area around with his MA5, flashlight on as he peered into destroyed would-be shops whose shelves were completely empty, still in rows and waiting to be filled. He had a nagging feeling they'd faced something similar somewhere, but didn't know what and where. Maybe another planet, maybe the Halo ring.
"Damned if I know, Mendoza," The Sergeant replied, "All the places we fought in that were made by our folks meld together after a while. Except Voi. Damned I be if I won't be remembering that place for a while..." and he looked to Kelly, who was rather obviously running on instinct, scanning everything around them. He asked her warily, "Take it you saw the drones as well?"
"They've been on us since we got out," The girl replied as they pushed deeper into the area. "Wonder what-"
The Radio blared as they approached a central plaza where a Missilis building was-
/WARNING:CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE ACTIVE. CLASS-10 BIOHAZARD THREAT LOCATED WITHIN INNER ARK AREAS/
Every single Marine in the platoon tensed, Spartan right beside them. The female voice that had warned them, monotone and loud, blared from PA speakers. Ahead of the, past the Plaza, there was a massive wall erected in order to keep something in. And Kelly saw what she couldn't believe at first:Slews of heavily modified Raptures stood guard atop the tower, their turrets belching white-hot flames into the containment area.
A quadrupedal Rapture drone sat above them, letting out a meek call as the Spartan and Marines all turned, rifles facing the woman as chills shot up their spines. It looked at them, then jumped down in front of them and simply skittered over toward the target area, feet thumping against the old concrete below. Kelly lowered her shotgun and murmured, "Friendly Raptures?"
"Or they don't think we're the biggest threat..." Jenkins murmured, rubbing his aching head.
A stumbling series of steps came to them. The Spartan was the first to aim her gun, only to blank as she saw a Mass Production Nikke walking toward them, looking... Wrong. Her head seemed to have several cuts across its top, she was missing her hair, one of her eyes had been blown out of her skull and the other was blank, unmoving. Her face missed chunks of synthetic skin that exposed the Goddessium endoskeleton below and she looked like she should've been dead.
One other thing to note for them, however, was that they couldn't see a brain through the damaged portions of the Nikke's skull. It was an empty container. The collective revulsion and horror the squad felt was only exacerbated when it began to speak, its damaged vocalizer glitching, "C-C-cCINDer AAsksS that y-y-y-you fOllOWm me... We have mMmUch to Discuss.."
Kelly didn't lower the shotgun. In fact, her grip seemed to almost imperceptibly tighten on the heavy slug-throwing gun. She asked the machine, "Are you corrupted?"
"nO," It replied in a deadpan, "pLeAsE FOLLOWWWWWWWWW-... Follow me."
"Dunno, Petty Officer," Sarge growled, "This seems mighty suspicious..." and he looked around at the other gathering Raptures, watching them walk right past. The damaged Nikke, whatever she used to be, stared at them blankly with its one good optical sensor, seemingly adjusting as the eerie blue of the sky shifted into the Night Cycle, darkness covering the remnants of what was once a city to be inhabited and, now, a tomb.
The creep factor was only exacerbated as a mist slowly started rolling forward. Kelly warned, "Your leader, whoever they are... If they're going to shoot at us, they'd best be ready to get shot at in return," only to see concern in the Sergeant's and Marines' eyes. She told them, "We'll go see what this is about. IF push comes to shove, we can deal with whatever it is ourselves."
Johnson sighed deeply, "If you say so," before rallying his men up. They started following the stumbling, zombie-like machine as it walked deeper into what seemed to be the camp of the Rapture force stationed in this place. The ambient heat of Flamethrowers being used by the units above them kept the innards of the destroyed building warm and the place had been cleaned out, surprisingly.
A tall figure with bright red, messy hair stood near a set of holographic consoles. The upper half of her face was protected by a visor-like item that bore a scratched-out symbol. She wore a bodysuit that had some black and red armor etched onto it. She had a tan, surprisingly. And small, almost imperceptible wires seemed to stretch from her back to maybe a hundred more dead Nikkes.
Kelly scoffed. She was puppeteering the corpses of these girls.
The figure turned toward them and spoke, her voice surprisingly booming, "And here I thought we would have a shootout. Welcome, Tourists," as she crossed her arms. Kelly hummed, uneasy, as she held her shotgun close. 'Cinder', the strange Nikke they faced, meanwhile, said, "I can sense the distrust, Chief Petty Officer. Relax, I'm not gonna do anything rash if you aren't. The situation here is bad enough as is."
"How do you know my rank?" Kelly demanded.
The woman shrugged, "If you think you're the only people and things that wound up on this planet, you'd be wrong. We've found plenty of UNSC standard items around our territories, too," only to watch the scowls of the Marines grow worse. She raised a hand and said, "Relax. I, personally, never found any of your troops, nor did I ever intend to harm them... I've been here for a while, though."
"What's with this place?" Johnson asked, glaring at the woman, "What's got your bugs and these zombie Nikkes of yours, not to mention you, spooked enough to talk to us? What the hell even are you?" all while uneasily looking at the puppet Nikkes that were just staring at them, weapons cradled in their arms. Arm for some, rather obviously. All of them looked off, like they were missing their brains.
"I'm Cinder. A 'Heretic' is what the Ark calls me, I believe. We serve the Raptures," She replied calmly, noting the glare behind the visor. Spartans must've hated traitors, she thought to herself. Then, she continued, replying with, "As for what's going on here, well... Let's just say Missilis bit off a little more than they could chew... A UNSC Condor crashed through into this area of the Ark, made a bit of a mess of the place, considering what was aboard when Missilis was hanging around here, trying to study it. They pried it open... Screwed up big time."
Kelly frowned, then lowered her shotgun and thumbed its safety on, "What was aboard?"
"A Spartan Fireteam and several UNSC personnel... Infected, at that," Cinder replied and every single person present felt a sudden chill up their spines. The woman continued as she approached Kelly, "Protocols UPSILON and CORRUPTER are in effect, or would be if we had a UNSC presence bigger than a few dozen people on the planet at the moment..."
"... The Flood..." Kelly felt her breath hitch in her throat. Jenkins fell to his knees and grabbed his head, while the other Marines all went bug-eyed. Johnson scoffed, then looked over toward the barriers where the Nikke puppets and the Raptures were holding the line. Kelly then asked, the slightest fear audibly cracking in her otherwise steely voice, "Damn Missilis was studying Flood... And Flood-infected Spartans at that..."
"Fuck," Johnson swore to himself, "God forgive me, but fuck, this ain't good..." and he knelt beside Jenkins, asking worriedly, "Wallace, you with me?" as he put a hand on the Marine's shoulder. He got a twitch out of that as the Marine curled up further, trying to seemingly protect his chest and back. Kelly, Cinder and some of the Nikkes watched this, the former-most of them with sympathy. Cinder herself seemed a little wary, though she, too, showed her own version of sympathy.
"Notagainnotagainnotagainnotagainpleasenotagain..." Jenkins trembled, looking at the floor. Mendoza and the other Marines knelt beside him. All the men here knew what it meant to die to the Flood, to become part of them, all of them save for Johnson. Yet, even so, the man could understand the plight of his men. Kelly could see the flashbacks to Alpha Halo hitting the Sergeant, too.
Johson growled, then shook his head, "It's alright, son. Take it easy..."
Kelly looked to Cinder and asked, "Tell me there's a failsafe or a way to eliminate them. If they escape, it won't be just us who get screwed over. You know that, right? Aside from them pouring into the Ark, they'll be coming after you, too. And from what I can tell, Raptures are biomechanical in nature, meaning they're susceptible to infection," without skipping a damned beat.
Cinder had to admire the strength of the Spartans. She nodded, "I'm well aware. It can infect humans, Nikkes and Raptures. Thankfully, it seems that Syuen, in her infinite idiocy, had one good idea for this facility. There's a low-yield neutron warhead located within the research site. Its reach would only extend as far as the barrier we're maintaining to combat the Flood. Should burn out the nervous systems of just about everything they infected."
Kelly sighed in relief, "How far away is it?"
"... Dead center, so a couple miles sprint. Why're you asking, Tourist?" Cinder then inquired rather sarcastically. She knew Kelly was going to go in. Feeling the chilling stare of the Supersoldier from behind the yellow visor, Cinder sighed, "Alright. I see your plan. Any tech you can salvage from here's yours... And once you're done, we'll leave this place. Been assigned here far too long anyway."
"No harming the Marines, I hope...?" Kelly demanded. Cinder nodded, to which the Spartan replied, "Alright. I'll go in alone. Set the bomb, grab anything shiny and book it back here before the blast hits..." before sighing. She looked to Cinder and asked, "Why help us, though...? Since you're a Heretic, as you say, you should probably hate the life out of us humans, right?"
"A bigger threat sits right in front of us. The Enemy of My Enemy is a human saying for a reason," Cinder replied, "And good idea. Going alone reduces chances of more infection vectors."
"Chief, I gotta protest about that," Johnson shot back as he stood to his feet, "Like hell we're letting you go in there alone, especially with three Flood-infected Spartans..." then he bit back his words. Damn, that crap sounded terrifying, he thought. Couldn't imagine how terrifying it'd be in real life. He told her, "At least let me come with. I have a shotgun, too."
"Sergeant," Kelly turned to face him, "It's fine... In and out, twenty minute trip. Better not to risk anyone else."
Johnson wanted to retort, but he stopped himself and sighed. She was right. So was that Heretic. Calmly, he told her, "Well, don't get yourself killed. Would hate to be the one to piss off the Chief with a report like that, especially after y'all just reunited," then bumped a fist into her shoulder. She nodded and depolarized her visor to reveal a smile, before repolarizing it and stepping off.
... Cinder ordered the barrier be opened and a path be cleared... And Kelly broke into her standard 62 mile-per-hour sprint, right into the maw.
Arctic Research Base
"How does it feel, John?" Halsey asked as she settled the newly-built armor piece into place. Unblemished and undamaged, the Goddessium-reinforced armor breastplate of the Spartan's MJOLNIR clicked into place as easy as the original Titanium would have. Halsey had just had to remove and reinstall the important parts, like shield generators, sensors and the main fusion reactor itself into the new armor plate. The Spartan seemed uneasy, though he looked to Halsey and gave a gentle nod.
He told her, "Armor usually felt like a second skin, ma'am... This makes it all the more apparent," as he flexed and stretched his shoulders, settling the new plates into place. It felt like his mind was flowing into that bit of armor, quite honestly. Almost like it in itself was enhancing his reaction time by just being attached to the rest of the suit. He wondered...
"Yes, well, Goddessium does seem to have some paracausal properties," Halsey murmured to herself, slightly annoyed. As she saw the confusion in John, Will and Sam's movements, she told them, "It bears striking resemblances to some of the more familiar Forerunner alloys we've managed to isolate. Paracausality implies, however, that there is something higher at play with it. After all, they make the skin, endoskeleton and other parts of the Nikkes from this material."
"Aye, ma'am," John replied, then looked to Sam and Will, "You two mind patrolling outside?"
"Sure thing, John," Sam nodded. He and Will stepped out, while Halsey cracked a small smile at the sight, watching the two Spartans act like siblings. John, meanwhile, took his helmet off and rubbed his face. Truly, the insanity of the place, including the revival of long-lost comrades, told of such tiresome matters that her 'son' had had to face while alone here...
She told him, "I will make sure to upgrade the rest of the MJOLNIR sets we have here with Goddessium reinforcements whenever we return to the Ark," in order to take his mind off of that for now. She then pulled up her tablet as Cortana appeared in front of the Chief on a holographic display. The good doctor was glad the Spartan and his AI were still collaborating, though she made a mental note to ask about Cortana's issues with Rampancy later, when they were all at the Ark.
Alyosha strolled in, meanwhile, waving to Chief and asking, "Doing better, Chief?"
"Much better, sir," The Spartan replied. Technically, there hadn't really been anything wrong with him physically, but the armor damage made him feel... naked, for lack of a better term. Worryingly so. Like he wasn't himself anymore. Like he was exposed to the elements. A lot of ways one could really articulate how it felt to be without armor. Now that he had the proper defenses back into place, yes, he felt much better.
"Glad to hear it," The boy replied as he sat himself down, "And hey, it's still your standard green."
Cortana chuckled, while Halsey replied without even looking out of her tablet, "I ensured it would maintain its coloring, Commander Harris. It needed to match the rest of the armor for my mind to feel at ease about it..." with the standard 'posh' attitude she bore most of the time. The Commander laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, while the Doctor added, "John tells me you two have gone through a few missions together."
"A couple," The man chuckled, "We're lucky he dropped in when he did. Saved us a bunch of trouble with a more dangerous Rapture unit."
"Codename:Chatterbox. Yes, Cortana was kind enough to tell me about him," Halsey shot back, "Endearing critter, though I'd much rather never run into him," And she sighed as she finished her search. She set the tablet down and told them, "I will be out. I have to go see if the Nikkes present do not require any extensive repairs and I do want to talk to the Lucky Strikes."
"Of course, ma'am," John replied, then watched her depart, the door closing behind her.
Alyosha quipped, "She seems... Nice?"
"Doc Halsey's a great person until you get her with under three hours of sleep and no coffee," Cortana chuckled as she crossed her arms. A small laugh escaped Alyosha's mouth as Cortana and Chief both seemed to pull up the same thing:MJOLNIR's final diagnostics. There had indeed been a slight increase in the suit's performance, much to both's common surprise, but neither mentioned it.
The group was about to speak again just as a Marine burst through the door, saluted and said, "Sorry to interrupt the discussion, Chief, Commander. We've got a sitch..." as he held his rifle close. The Spartan and Commander both tensed. Chief stood to his feet and prepared Cortana, with Alyosha following close behind. The Marine led them to the outside...
Where the sight of three figures greeted them. An ODST, a Nikke... And Linda, clad in her MJOLNIR and a poncho with a hood.
Linda did the Spartan Smile greeting again, putting two fingers up to her faceplate and drawing a half-circle with them. She pulled the hood off her head and helmet, then said, "John... Will... Sam... Good to see you all," as she looked between them, the Marines and her two newfound compatriots. The Pilgrim Nikke, clad in a white poncho, gave the group a once-over, shifting the weight of her heavy equipment, what looked to be an entire artillery battery, a little forward to maintain balance.
She locked eyes with Alyosha and the Chief, then spoke, "So, you're the Ark's troops... We need to talk."
