Ark Rail Station
Captain Cutter and his escort of Spartans and Marines held onto the railings of the tram car as it began to slow its approach. He had caught a glimpse of the Ark as they passed through the opening of the last tunnel and he was a tad impressed by the sheer architectural brilliance he saw on display. Kelly, however, had been kind enough to provide them a detailed report on what in God's name the Ark was while on their way over and to say his trust in the Central Government to run things was low would be an understatement.
Especially with that little rat, Syuen, and her scruple-less behavior in regards to the Flood. The man had never seen a Spartan show any kind of anger before, but while Kelly was showing it openly through her accent changes, Jerome, Alice and Douglas seemed a little less vocal about it, their fury a muted, chilling one that had turned the last legs of this train ride into one of the most silent and tense ones the man had had to endure.
Stepping onto the platform, the man and his escort were greeted by a platoon of Nikkes in red bodysuits, armed with what looked to be light rail rifles. They peered through visors at the group, standing guard beside the tall man with a five o'clock shadow and messy hair that had come to greet them. Pulling at his cufflinks in what seemed to be a nervous tic, his officer cap under his arm, Chief Deputy Andersen nodded in greeting, "Captain Cutter."
"Chief Deputy Andersen," Cutter saluted, then extended a hand, "A pleasure."
Andersen looked at the hand, then gripped and shook as he wore a small, forlorn smile, "Wish it were under better circumstances. The Ark's going to hell in a handbasket lately, so if you and your staff will please follow me..." Yet, before they departed, the man looked to Kelly and spoke, "PO Kelly, thank you for bringing him here and letting me and Shifty know first thing."
"My pleasure, sir. These are Red Team, by the way," She motioned to Jerome, Douglas and Alice. She then told the man awkwardly, "They're not feeling very talkative today, honestly. And I don't blame'em."
"After what they must've heard from you..." The man nodded. He motioned for them to follow along as they and the escorting platoons of Nikkes and Marines moved on. Andersen asked, "Is the whole parasite issue true? I mean... This seems beyond even what she would usually pull. Yes, she's got no moral compass worth a damn in that head of hers, but still..."
"Yes. I have the footage in my helmet cam, sir..." The girl replied, "Trust me, sir... The Flood is nothing to scoff at. And the fact that little shit experimented with it is..." She then let out a sigh. Shaking her head, she chose not to continue the thought process lest she go on a full-on tirade like Daisy would have in the past. She wondered if Daisy would show up next, at some point.
Continuing the walk to the CG's building, the group entered, walked past the Nikke Secretary to whom Andersen said, "Take my calls... I'm gonna be busy again..." calmly. In Andersen's office, the man activated a transmitter and said, "Black Room protocol..." only for a young woman's voice to hum affirmatively. The computers flashed with warnings for a moment, before turning black and then returning to normal in the span of two seconds. He sighed deeply, then told everyone, "Apologies. Security measures are necessary nowadays."
"Take it something major's happening, sir?" Jerome inquired.
Andersen nodded, "People have strangely started going missing. Not just anyone, either," and he pulled up several images, turning his holocomputer around. Names to faces, the people disappearing were fairly vocal and supposedly competent members of the Central Government and Enikk's court. Andersen continued, adding, "We've lost a few Deputies and trainees with promising careers as well... Most of them only have a few things in common... Among them being a dislike for Missilis."
Kelly clenched her fists and unclenched them, suddenly feeling a spike of fury as she spoke, "Don't tell me, sir... She's trying to start a Coup...?" which seemed to make the room grow even more ice-cold. If there was one thing that Cutter recalled would making Spartan blood boil, it was traitors and would-be coup attempts from said traitors. Syuen's desire to see the world run by her might just prove to be her biggest issue.
Andersen's frown alone told them that Kelly's hunch was probably right. The man sighed and said, "Before we start considering plans of action, going to court probably is not going to work. Enikk's been a bit on the fritz for the past few days, which makes me think Missilis might be messing with her. And with the Court attendees and other supporting judges being slowly replaced by Missilis mooks over the next few days, even if we brought evidence like your helmet cam footage, they'll dismiss it in a private hearing..."
"So, what do we do, then...?" Alice inquired, "Because we can't let someone like Syuen take charge. There's a lot of historical precedence for this type of crap-"
Cutter raised his hand to quiet them down, then said, "We do what we do best... Prep a counter-response. Chief Deputy, I want to know every single thing about the Ark, every single possible avenue of approach we have and any sort of options this runt, Syuen, has to access power directly. Elections, emergency powers, whatever it is, I wanna know it so we can make a plan to counteract it. Not to mention everything else about the Ark."
"I'll get you all the details you need if it means saving humanity from Syuen first and the Raptures next," The man offered. He pulled up several files he sent to the Captain's handheld tablet, before continuing, "And if worst comes to worst... I have the authority to ask you to deploy troops to deal with what is essentially an insurrection led by one of the Big Three."
"My men haven't shot innies in a while, sir," The Captain replied with a smirk, "Damn shame if we have to kill fellow humans, but we'll be ready... If you don't mind, though, we'd like to go see the Outpost where Chief and his comrades are settled."
"Be my guests. Thanks for your time, Captain," The Chief Deputy replied.
"And thank you for calling us. Ensuring our species' survival is a job the UNSC's quite good at," Cutter offered, "We'll head to the Outpost now, meet the rest of the staff and decide on a course of action when we send a communication over to the Spirit to start deploying our troops here as quickly and secretively as possible. Good day, Chief Deputy," The man then gave a nod and they all departed.
It was gonna be one hell of a mess, Cutter thought to himself as they boarded the next transport to the Outpost, carrying kit. Johnson hummed, taking a puff from his cigar as he said, "This is gon' be an interesting one. I think the Commander idolized him," before flicking some of the ash out of an open window. The other Marines nodded in agreement, though none of them knew the Keyes Daughter up-close compared to the Sarge.
Forge quipped, "You'd think she idolizes her father..."
"She does, but you can have more than one hero, Sarge," Johnson shot back, more defensive of the girl. He had a certain sense of duty to the Keyes family after everything that happened with them. It was only natural he'd want to keep her healthy. He'd practically made an unspoken promise to Jacob. One he'd broken once, damn it. He wasn't gonna break it again, especially not now that the Commander was a Nikke.
The man nodded approvingly, replying, "Yeah... Hey, I heard from one of your boys you got a Spartan kill tally. How the Hell did that happen?"
The entire transport immediately turned to face Johnson, who tried to think of when he would've killed a Spartan. He smirked and looked to Kelly, who understood and snorted, then blanked. Johnson sighed deeply and said, "Remember us mentionin' the Flood infection that spread throughout that abandoned Ark? We forgot to mention the reason, I think... A UNSC Dropship, with a SPARTAN Fireteam aboard. All of them infected."
That-...
That put a stop to everything everyone else was doing. Jerome, Douglas and Alice all turned toward Kelly, who nodded to confirm the Sergeant-Major's words, while Forge let out a, "Son of a bitch, infected Spartans? That sounds..." only for it to fully settle in. Cutter himself looked almost horrified beyond words, while everyone else on the transport that was well aware of it remained deadly quiet, Jenkins in the back shivering.
"It was about as terrifying as you'd expect," Johnson nodded, "Son of a bitch managed to knock Kelly down in the final stretch. She'd set off a neutron charge in order to kill all of'em and had a few seconds left before it blew. Had to step in and save her, put the barrel of my shotgun to his face-plate and squeezed. Thank the lord the bastard didn't have any shield to stop the hit."
"Saved me in more ways than one," Kelly murmured as the transport reached the landing zone. The group disembarked as Kelly told them, "The Raptures themselves seemed to know just how bad the Flood was, like we said. Johnson saved me from probably becoming another corpse they'd add to the pile, if nothing else... Well, that or a fried brain thanks to the neutron blast."
"You did well, Sergeant," Cutter nodded, approvingly, "An infected Spartan's nothing to scoff at."
Johnson smiled, "Thanks, sir," before sighing, "Wish we'd've found them before the Infection, though. Saved them, too, somehow..." and giving Jenkins a pat on the shoulder to try and calm his twitchiness down at the Flood being brought up again. Jerome, Alice and Douglas all noticed the man's reactions, but chose to say nothing over the thought they'd learn something they shouldn't.
Arriving in the Outpost's Plaza, the group was surprised to see that several new Nikkes had been lined up neatly by what seemed to be one of'em clad in UNSC gear. She spoke calmly, "... Since the Outpost's going to be your home for the foreseeable future, all of you MP Nikkes need to know we run a tight crew here... You'll be treated fairly by me, the Commander and the Executive Officers of this place. Still, be ready for anything. We ain't here to take it easy and we'll need every single hand available in keeping our exit ramp clear of Raptures. Watch each-other's backs and ours. We'll watch yours. That's all for now, dismissed."
The MP Nikkes of various forms, ranging from Product 08s(Which partially surprised and saddened Kelly) to iDoll Oceans, saluted and filed out, marching toward the barracks and guard posts where they'd be needed. The Commander then turned on her heels and gasped as she saw Captain Cutter in the lead of the formation. Crisply, she snapped a salute and said, "Sir! Commander Keyes, reporting..."
Cutter saluted back and smiled, "At ease, Commander. No need for Keyes's kid to be this uptight around a superior. Especially not me."
"S-Sorry, sir. Just surprised to see you here is all," She said, then looked over to Kelly and Johnson and told them, "I hope you two realize you will tell me every little detail of how you found Captain Cutter and..." She paused, looked to Cutter and whispered, "Your whole ship, by any chance, sir...?" only to get a nod out of the man. She blinked, murmured, "The Ark just got one hell of a reinforcement..."
At the Forerunner Recomp Station
The thump of the beast's feet and arms was muffled by the snow, but still audible. Thankfully, it seemed as though the team had managed to set the ambush in time. In the sky above, Rusty reported, "Chatterbox is moving in. No supporting elements..." before shutting off her com and grunting. She swore to herself and murmured, "Syuen, you bitch... I'm gonna be fighting this. Just you wait 'till I get my ass back to the Ark..."
The rest of the Nikkes held position on the top of the snowy hill beside the construct and within the construct itself. Chief was up in front of the formation, tagging his allies quickly with his IFF as visibility began to drop due to a blizzard coming in. That'd give Rusty a bit of an issue in terms of flying and fighting, but he thought they'd be fine. Beside him, Alyosha peered through binoculars with FLIR, whispering, "He's coming right into the killzone..."
"Perfect L-shape ambush," Rapi commented as she checked her magazine and pulled the bolt of her rifle back halfway to ensure her rifle had chambered and properly seated a round. She looked to the Chief, who gave a nod as Pinne and Sammy sat beside him. Niner, Layla, Snow White, Samuel, Linda and Delta were up on top of the hill. Neon, Anis and Rapi stuck with them inside and Signal was in the rear, coordinating via radio communication.
"Hoping Rusty's ready for this," Anis stated, cycling the drum of her launcher. She shouldered the weapon and aimed, then spoke to Alyosha, "Keep to the rear with Signal, Commander. Better not to risk ya..." just as Neon racked thep ump of her shotgun, feeding high-caliber Sabot slugs into the chambers. Sammy had loaded AP ammo for this one, while Pinne loaded the same 6ga slugs their resident gun nut from Elysion had given her.
"I know, Anis," Alyosha sighed deeply. Rapi gave him an understanding look, well aware he wanted to do more to help than just give orders. He smiled appreciatively at his executive officer, which caught her a little flat-footed and caused her to blush, then he peered through the binoculars again. In a moment of hilarious clarity, the man asked, "Hey, we did tell Reggie to keep his Drones as backup just in case, right?"
Everyone save the Chief and Rapi snorted. While the two were dead silent, serious, Pinne asked rhetorically, "Did you seriously give the hundred-fifty thousand year old AI a nickname like Reggie, sir?" while Cortana and Sammy were giggling. Alyosha shrugged, then looked to Chief, who nodded, answering the man's question affirmatively. The Spartan did one final press-check of both his AR and his pistol, nodding approvingly, then shouldered the AR again.
"Target is approaching Point Zero. Requesting permission for Alpha Strike in 30 seconds," Snow White spoke coolly over the com as she and Linda prepared their rifles to meet the threat. Chief clicked his com twice to give the confirmation, then activated his own armor's VISR Thermals. The creature was coming in with no escort whatsoever, which was... Chief didn't know if them being on even footing was just a fluke last time, or if he had an ace up his sleeve. Or whatever passed for a sleeve to the biomechanical gorilla.
"Detecting a secondary Alva Particle source approximately a kilometer out. It's stationary, but... Oddly familiar in terms of Ident..." Cortana spoke over the com to the entire group, "It's just... Somehow wrong. Like it isn't supposed to be here at all..." and that made Chief and just about everyone else tense up. So, there was something backing him up. It was probably just observing the creature's next few seconds.
Pinne shifted uneasily and spoke, "I got a baaad feelin' about this."
"Girl, you always have a bad feeling about something..." Sammy murmured, shouldering her rifle. Chief could faintly hear their heartbeats had grown in speed and intensity. No reason to blame them. Chatterbox was not someone who could be underestimated. Unlike a lot of the Raptures they'd faced up to this point, the ape was a smart one. Smart enough to speak.
Chief spoke, "Status update for all units:Prepare for possible hostile backup. Alter engagement plans as you see fit, but stay safe..." before humming. He checked the time and started counting down for Snow's alpha strike. He heard the distant hum of the charging rail rifle the woman held even through the growing blizzard that started covering the outside in a fresh layer of snow.
Three... Two... One...
The rifle's magnetic coils whirred and a path was cleared through the snowstorm as the magnetic field sent the ferromagnetic slug forward. It almost looked like a spear of light had stabbed through the darkness of the snow storm. The shot... Narrowly missed Chatterbox as the beast took a fast step back, causing the shot to dig a cratering wound into snow and the dirt and rock below.
Snow swore to herself, while Chief called out, "Engage! NOW!" before he lifted his rifle and opened fire. They could still adapt to this. Bullets sparked off of Chatterbox's armor as the machine charged forth through the snow next. The Nikkes and Spartans opened fire, with Chief surging forward to meet the beast in hand-to-hand like last time, block it from attacking the Structure.
He slammed into the creature like a sledgehammer, stopping his advance. He growled, then greeted, "It has certainly been a while... Spartan... Thank you for opening that door for us..." before slamming his armored fist into the Chief, causing a gust of wind to stagger the snowfall around them as the Chief caught the hit. Two Sniper shots rang out from Linda's rifle, denting through the creature's hip armor and causing him to stagger back.
The Nikkes followed up with Armor Piercing slugs and ammunition fired from every single barrel they had. Anis's missiles struck like hammer blows, cratering chunks of his armor, but he continued protecting himself, unfazed. Chief paused, however, when he saw the beast's fists start to glow a burning red. He called out over com, "All units, disengage and take cover!"
The monster shot his left arm out toward the hill. A particle beam lanced out from the multitude of projectors covering the fist. Snow melted and ground turned to glass in front of the Nikkes as they took cover. Sam and Will jumped out from cover, firing their weapons together at the beast to try and take his attention away from the Nikkes. Snow called out, "I'm gonna need a minute to recharge!"
"You'll have it!" Chief called out, "Will, Sam, on me! We're taking this thing on now!" and he drew his pistol, firing shots into the armor plate on his chest. Will closed the distance, cocking his fist back and slamming it into the beast's arm, which caused the armor to bend, not break. The beast swung right back at him like a hammer, sending Will spinning, staggered. The Spartan doubled over, shook his head and landed on his feet, then canceled his backward momentum and charged forward, the armor and his increased muscle mass allowing him to speed forward.
"He's got much thicker armor than last time!" Anis called out as she provided the Spartans cover with Rapi and the girls. Pinne took Sammy and pushed forward into cover, closer to their commander and his friends. Both girls opened up as the Rapture turned and swung for Sam, which the boy barely blocked with crossed arms. Bullets hit the more weakly-armored back of the monster, causing him to turn around.
Two burning red eyes glared at both Pinne and Sammy. The two girls spread out, one moving left and one right. Above them, a laser-like line of bullets shot toward the machine from Niner's MG, while Layla provided ammunition and spare barrels for the girl. Neon joined Pinne, crying a battle-cry as she slam-fired semi-armor-piercing High-Ex slugs at the monster, chunking away at its armor.
Sam dodged over the beast's swinging arm, utilizing his fist as a spring board and jumping high enough to be level with the monster's face. He threw a roundhouse right into his teeth, cracking the alloy they were made from and causing the biomechanical foe to stagger. Chatterbox, however, cocked back his fist and hit Sam back, sending the Spartan flying through the snowstorm and into the ground. The young man shook his head and whispered, "Ouch..." before jumping back to his feet and charging in again.
Will managed to get under the swings via a crouch, dodging one of the wider attacks. He then started pummeling the beast's stomach like a jackhammer, staggering it enough for Chief and Sam to get a couple more good hits in. Linda and the Nikkes, meanwhile, fired every armor-piercing and armor-breaking type of ammo at their disposal to chunk the beast's protective layer. And they were succeeding.
Muscle and sinew started showing through the cracks of Chatterbox's armored skin. Still, he threw another wave of beams toward the Nikkes on the hilltop. Before Niner could duck in cover, the beam struck her left arm, taking it clean off and causing Layla to swear up a storm. Rolling over Niner, the woman sealed the bleeding coolant wound and called out, "You got so FUCKING lucky there, Niner!"
"Keep my gun fed, Layla! We ain't stopping till this bastard goes down!" The girl replied. She used her good hand to switch out the overheated barrel, throwing it into the snow in favor of a fresh one. Layla, meanwhile, put a few more belts of ammunition into the woman's feed and backpack, allowing Niner to open up even more, despite missing a limb.
Pinne aimed her shotgun and fired, tearing a capacitor out of the monster's fist and grinning, only to gasp as he turned toward her with fury in his eyes. He let out a volley of missiles at her from the shoulder-mounted, organic-looking protrusions with holes that were the MLRS attached to it. A tail-swipe caught Will mid-jump and sent him flying backward, shield broken and recharging.
Chief narrowly dodged a similar hit and watched Pinne take several missiles that tore through her armor. She still stood, a true trooper, hefting her shotgun and firing more rounds. He barked at her, "Get back into cover! Sammy, Neon, move her!" to which the Counters and Lucky Strikes members complied. As they dragged Pinne back into cover, they noted that the girl's left arm was barely hanging on by a shred of artificial muscle.
Pinne grit her teeth, shutting off her pain receptors and feeling parts of her burned face as she said, "Good news is, I got a couple of the capacitors for its beams..."
Neon nodded with a smile as she started patching her up. Rapi looked to Anis, who nodded. The two girls then pushed forward, both firing missiles from their respective weapons, with Rapi loading even more high-caliber AP rounds. AR and missile launcher let out volley after volley of penetrating munitions, cracking even more of Chatterbox's outer layer and peeling it away.
In anger, the monster turned toward Sam as the man tried to run circles around him, now focused on taking the armor off with his pistols. Aiming his good arm, Chatterbox let out a full particle beam volley. Sam was hit twice, his armor blaring integrity warnings about a sudden drop. He swore to himself, jumped out of the way of the next beam, then backpedalled and turned toward the monster.
Charging and cocking back his fist, Sam called out, "Breaking his side armor now!" before throwing the punch. It connected with cracking chest armor of the beast, shattering it like a MAC round hitting bare armor. The Spartan then dodged a swing from the monster and several of his missiles. He called out, "Got it! Linda, Delta, snipe this bastard!" only to watch several rounds strike the monster's exposed side, sending black, gooey blood flowing out of wounds that enraged it further.
Chief and Will moved in together, Chief ordering, "His launchers. I don't wanna see'em anymore..."
Will nodded, primed two fragmentation grenades and climbed up the Creature's exposed spine. It began to buck and move, trying to grab at Will with its arms. The Spartan cocked one grenade-filled fist back as he held onto the spine, throwing it down one of the missile launcher holes. Then, he threw the other. Letting go and pumping his legs to jump off the monster's back, he narrowly avoided a swing from the monster and took the other like a champ, feeling the air knocked out of his lungs.
"Son of a bitch is really tough, ain't he...?" Cortana murmured, seemingly trying to get into the creature's mind.
Thank goodnes most of the Battlefield was snow, Chief thought. He cocked his fist back and delivered an uppercut to the beast's chin, staggering him further. Chatterbox roared in anger, then in pain as the launchers on his shoulders exploded in a shower of gore and fire. Staggering forward, the beast panted heavily, angry, then said, "You insolent little vermin...!"
He caught Neon just as she was running to meet him, shotgun firing. One punch threw the smaller Nikke flying back toward her other two teammates. Her glasses broken and an arm dislocated, Neon whined. Rapi dropped to her knees beside the girl, calling out, "NEON!" and checking her injuries. She spoke, "Don't charge ahead next time, you idiot!" worry coursing through with every word, her voice cracking. She then spoke, "It's gonna be alright! I just gotta get your arm back in its socket!"
Rapi ordered, "Get her back into cover! NOW!" before a hint of fury caused her mind to flare and for her to see red. Her artificial muscles tensed as she surged forward and, to the surprise of the Rapture and everyone else, delivered a hard kick to the machine's head. Armor tore and sundered, revealing the black synthetic skin and faux-fur underneath. Cortana felt the girl's mind flare and gasped, watching alongside Chief as she jumped again, dodging multiple shots from the monster's quickfiring beams. Putting the barrel of her AR to his head, she laid into Chatterbox, emptying her entire magazine to the surprise of every single Nikke and human present.
The monster roared in pain, furiously lifted both fists up in a flash that seemed to be a boost to his reflexes, then brought them down onto Rapi, sending her flying into the ground. She grunted in pain as the energy around her dissipated, then grabbed her stomach, coolant flowing from the corners of her mouth. She coughed, then murmured something as the beast pushed past the Spartans and charged her.
"SEVEN DWARVES, FULLY CHARGED!" Snow barked... Every person in range of the Anti-Ship Rifle's magnetic coils felt the hair on their necks stand on-end. The shot rang out moments later, just as the monster lifted one of his arms to pummel Rapi down. When it made contact, it tore the monster's arm out of its socket, scattering components, black blood and torn sinew all over the place. Chatterbox screamed in pain, stumbling back.
"... Critters...! Vermin! RATS! HOW DARE YOU...!?" It growled, almost primal. The undamaged Nikkes and the Spartans closed in for the kill...
... But the com blared, "NEW CONTACT, HIGH PARTICLE CONCENTRATION!"
And a burst of plasma made a perimeter around the Rapture, stopping them all. A voice sent chills up everyone's spine, a young woman speaking, "I think you've had enough of your play-time, Chatterbox..." as a figure descended from above. Clad in a black armor set with two weapons attached to her midsection, one of which glowed scarlet from having just been fired, with silver hair that flowed thanks to the antigravity device, two tiny horns, a strange visor that covered her eyes and a white bandage wrapped around her head, what looked almost like a Nikke landed.
Chief and the others aimed their weapons toward her. She tisked, "Disappointing manners for someone like you, I suppose..." before turning her gun toward Snow. A burst of automatic fire left the barrel, washing Snow's position in hot lead that almost looked like plasma. Several rounds connected, Snow grunting in pain and ducking back into cover. She swept in front of the Spartans' feet with the weapon, speaking, "That's far enough..."
Her gaze shifted toward Alyosha, whose eyes widened. She paused, hummed, then smirked, "Ah... I see..." before turning to the Chief.
"Who are you?" He demanded, rifle trained on her head.
"Someone you should be concerned about... Master Chief..." She smirked, arms crossed to her chest as she saw the three Spartans pause. She warned, "We will come back for this installation. Now that it's open, we need to learn its secrets, much like any and everything these Precursors have dropped here. For now, though, I must bid goodbye to you all..." before a massive machine descended.
A burning white light washed over the battlefield. When it passed and their vision cleared, the group saw that the Heretic and Chatterbox were gone. Chief breathed a sigh as he heard distant gunfire, then turned toward where the shots had come from. The massive mech that this new Heretic had come with flew away overhead... And two Spartans, one clad in green Mark IV, the other in red Mark IV CQC armor, fired a sniper and assault rifle respectively at them.
Their IFF tags flared onto the Spartans' HUDs. The one in red, Number 023, swore to herself, "FUCK! WE MISSED HER!" and Chief immediately noticed a few minor burn marks on her armor. She sighed and shook her head, "The rat had to leave behind some units to mess with us... And I'm almost outta ammo, too, now, god dammit..." only to pause as she saw Chief, Sam, Will and Linda. She blinked and spoke, "... Holy shit... Cal..."
141, the one in green, was about to reply. She turned and her breath caught in her throat. She spoke, "... Honestly, we should probably have seen this coming after we found each-other, Daisy... Hey, John, Will, Linda and-" She doubled over again, "... My god... Sam...?" which caused Daisy to stop, as well. The two stared, disbelief obvious by the slump of their shoulders, at the First To Die.
"Cal... Daze..." Sam smirked behind his helmet.
Eden
Well, Six had seen this one coming from a mile away. Final trial to fully prove his worth to everyone would have been to fight the most secretive 'member' of Inherit. He just hadn't expected it to be this quickly. He quietly thanked Cecil for managing to fully upgrade his armor with Goddessium. He felt his mind work much faster, much more sharply than without the enhancements provided by this weirdly alien material.
Wisps of plasma, much sharper and more focused than the Covenant's, melted his cover, Dorothy pushing forward. He could hear her footsteps, her heels clacking against the steel floor of the training room. Both had supposedly loaded suppression rounds, meant to temporarily stun the target rather than kill them. He saw the electricity coursing through the metal barrier and knew that if he got hit enough for his shield to go down, he'd be out of the fight.
He swept low, poking out from the bottom corner of his cover and shot back, two DMR blasts ringing out loudly. Dorothy dodged to the side, narrowly missed by the bullets as her own armor flared, the wings on her back allowing her to pull to a safer distance as she and him exchanged shots. The Spartan pounced to his feet and sprinted to the next piece of cover, fast enough that she could barely track him.
He dropped and slid behind said piece of cover just as the first few bursts made contact. Dorothy smirked, dropping the spent charge pack from her rifle and slamming in a fresh one as she complimented, "Not bad! I can see how you beat Isabel!" before dropping behind her own cover and peering through the scope at him. She murmured to herself, "Don't think it'll be so easy to get me though..."
In a blur, however, two flashbang grenades flew over Six's cover and exploded. Her eyes barely adjusted to the flash, artifacts permeating her vision clearing up just after Six had burst out of his cover and gone on a full flanking maneuver that the girl could barely track. Amidst the pillars of the training room, she saw him move like a blur, lifting her rifle to track him. She spoke, "Dirty shot!" before shooting a round just as his silhouette crossed between two points. She gasped as she watched the holographic decoy flare and disappear.
"Not as dirty as this," The Spartan replied, appearing suddenly to her left. She gasped, swiveled about and took the brunt of a bunch to the face that sent her tumbling over her cover. As she slid on her back, she tracked him and opened fire with her rifle, a little anger at being caught in the open like that filling each squeeze of the trigger. The Spartan took a few hits to his shields, but still moved.
The girl powered on her antigrav boots and pointed her feet at the man. The burst of energy sent him flying back and clean through a pillar as the girl immediately did a flourishing and fairly strange move to get back on her feet before taking off. She hit an overcharge button on her weapon, then grinned and spoke, "Everything Superfluous will be banished from Paradie!"
Her overcharged weapon spewed a highly-dangerous burst of plasma toward the Spartan. It was, however, when it impacted that she realized that was yet another decoy. A third flashbang detonated in front of her, staggering her and causing her to drop altitude. She growled, kicked down again and felt herself get dragged down by her foot. Swiveling about and landing on her back, the girl felt the Spartan land on top of her and immediately put her plasma rifle to his face... But was a picosecond short, feeling the cold steel of his Magnum pistol pointed at her face.
As the ringing in her ears subsided, she heard the alarm blare, signifying the end of the fight, and Johan speaking "Draw..." With the most confused look in the world, much like the rest of Inherit and even Cecil. Dorothy and the Spartan looked at one-another, then up at the Commander and their comrades, before Dorothy let out a short chuckle and lowered her rifle.
Six got off of her and stood to his feet, extending his hand and saying, "Good fight..."
"Agreed," She offered respectfully, accepting his help and taking his hand. She stood to her feet and stowed her rifle onto her back as her armor flashed and disappeared, leaving her in her white frilly dress. She spoke, "I'm guessing you're enjoying the updates to the armor, eh? Y'know Cecil probably enjoyed making those..." with a hint of a tease. Six sighed.
"I did thank her with a couple of 'coffee dates' as she called them," The Spartan replied as they walked out into the halls to stow their gear away.
She chuckled, "Oh, the good doctor..."
Were both oblivious to each-other's feelings, Dorothy thought to herself.
They were.
