NOBLE SIX P.O.V

Three hours. Three goddamn hours inside an infirmary, waiting for the doctors to give me the green light to go outside again.

The infirmary was filled with wounded marines, and crewmates. The doctors sure have work to do here...

I was sitting on a chair, next to the exit door. Since I was fine, just some minor wounds, they didn't put me on a bed. Those were reserved to the gravely injured.

I can't stop thinking about my team, and F/N... I hope they are okay...

???:"Hey."

I moved my head to my right. A marine was there, "protecting" us. In truth, the only thing this guy was doing is just saying stupidities... and I'm getting annoyed.

Marine:"How does it feel to be inside one of those big suits?"

Noble Six:"..."

Marine:"Could I borrow yours one day?"

Noble Six:"No."

Marine:"Oh, please! Only some footsteps in it! Just for a minute!"

Noble Six:"I said-"

???:"EVAC TEAM IS BACK! OUR HEROES ARE BACK!"

A voice outside the infirmary started to shout that. I instantly got up, anxious to see my team. I looked to the medic for permission. He sighed, and nodded. Freaking finally...

I opened the infirmary's door, and searched for the pelicans. The campment I was in was filled with marines running around, warthogs and moongoses leaving the camp to get deployed around, and two pelicans, landing on the ground.

I quickened my pace, going towards the pelicans. A group of marines had the same idea, and gathered around them. They opened, leeting our heroes to exit the pelicans.

From the first one, Noble team and a group of marines exited the pelican. People cheered them, but the marines weren't really happy, and went straight to the infirmary, lead by Sergeant Johnson.

Kat saw me, and walked towards me. She patted my back, and stood next to me.

Kat:"You good?"

Noble Six:"Yes."

The other pelican opened. This times, no one cheered. A little group of marines, filled with blood, went outside, carrying their dead teammates. Two Spartans went outside, Master Chief, and my dear F/N. He wasn't in a good mood...

I walked towards them, followed by Kat.

Noble Six:"F/N?"

He turned around. He threw a phew, happy to see me.

F/N:"Hey."

I hugged him, as tight as I could. Kat chuckled, still behind me. From F/N's back, I can see Emile and Clara coming towards us.

F/N:"Missed me?"

Noble Six:"A lot."

Emile:"I don't wanna be "that" guy, but, we have a little problem to deal right now."

I quickly broke the hug, separating myself from him. Emile is right, we have some aliens to kill.

Kat:"He's right. We need to plan a counterattack. Chief, come with me. I'll need you and your blue friend with me. The others, go around, and get ready."

We all nodded. Clara greeted us, and went her own way. Emile followed Kat and the Chief, probably to annoy them a little bit.

I was left with F/N, who went back to his bad mood.

Noble Six:"What's wrong, dear?"

F/N:"They... Cortana told us during our flight... they captured dad..."

Sigh... the situation is worse than I expected...

Noble Six:"We will recover him. I promise."

F/N:"Thanks. Let's grab ammo, and something to eat. I'm hungry."

F/N started to move through the campment, looking for a place to grab food. Meanwhile, I followed him, giving him some company.

Noble Six:"You didn't had breakfast already?"

F/N:"No, sorry, I was too busy fighting aliens in a destroyed ship on space."

Noble Six:"I meant no offense..."

F/N:*Sigh* "I'm sorry, baby... I'm just in a bad mood... where's the food any- oh, there it is!"

He turned to the right, and walked to a group of people giving food to everyone in need. They were mostly MRE's. Not very tastefull, but it sure fills your stomach.

F/N grabbed two, and passed me one.

F/N:"Follow me, let's go to a more secluded area. I know you don't like not having your helmet on public."

Noble Six:"Thanks, love."

F/N exited the camp, and sat next to a tree, close to the camp's entrances. I sat next to him, and removed my helmet, my golden hair flowing with the wind.

F/N:"Have I told you you are really beautiful?"

Noble Six:"M-many times..."

We opened our MRE's and started eating them.

F/N:"You know... you never told me your name."

Noble Six:"My... name?"

F/N:"Yeah. I don't wanna call you Six forever, you know?"

Noble Six:"I don't have a name. Only my Spartan name, B312."

F/N:"Then, we should give you one, don't you think?"

Noble Six:"Hmm... I wouldn't mind...."

F/N:"I know of a fitting last name, though. Way better than your Spartan's number."

Noble Six:"Oh?"

F/N:"L/N."

I stopped eating, processing what did he just said.

Noble Six:"You... I-I alredy told you I'm okay with that... I'd like that a lot... I-I..."

F/N:"Hehehe, I know, just wanted to mess with you a little bit."

Noble Six:"Asshole."

Six L/N... I like it.

F/N finished eating, and got up, putting his helmet on.

F/N:"You finished? Let's go and grab some guns. I'm sure we ain't gonna be here for much longer."

I eated what was left of my MRE, and got up.

We both entered the campment again, and searched an armory. F/N grabbed a shotgun, and a rocket launcher.

F/N:"Whatever I blow up with this thing... I'll dedicate it to you, Jorge."

My eye caught something peculiar. A DMR. I thought we didn't had more...

I grabbed the DMR, and got a SMG. Clara told me they are useful in close quarters. I grabbed a pair of handguns, and put one on my holster, just in case.

Noble Six:"Here, have one. You never know when you could need it."

I passed the other handgun to F/N. He holstered it.

F/N:"Thanks. I think I saw the HQ on our way here. Let's go, Noble and the Chief should be there."

I nod, and moved to the HQ. Less and less marines were on the camp, pretty much everyone was alredy deployed, or on guard duty. Someone took the lead of this campment, I have an idea of who could have done it...

We entered a tent, guardered by two marines who salutated us before entering. Clara was sitting on a chair, next to the entrance, a shotgun on her lap. Emile, Kat and the Chief were discussing a strategy with Cortana.

Clara:"Kat, the lovebirds have arrived. We should tell them."

F/N:"Tell us what?"

Kat:"Look who we founded."

From behind Kat, a female marine appeared. One I knew very well...

Noble Six:"You."

Lilith:"EEP!"

Kat:"Hey, calm down, Lilith has very valuable info. Lilith, talk."

Lilith:"W-well, our pod was attacked by the Covenant when we landed. I was with Captain Keyes and a squad of marines. They told me to run, and search for help!"

Kat:"A convoy founded her exhausted. She runned 4km aprox."

Emile:"Not bad. For a marine, that is."

Kat:"Thanks for the info, Lilith. You are free to go."

Lilith salutated, and leaved the tent. She passed next to me, nervous.

Yeah, I haven't forgot that hug, you little rascal...

F/N:"So, I guess the aliens have killed my father, right?"

F/N clenched his fists so hard, he actually damaged his shields a bit.

Kat:"Negative. The covies captured him and the marine squad. Cortana, do me the favor and explain."

Cortana:"Of course, Noble Leader. Your father is being held hostage by the enemies forces in a Covenant ship."

Clara:"Good luck entering there."

Kat:"It won't be that hard, we have a plan."

Cortana:"That ship is used to deploy troops on the battlefield. For that, they have to land sooner or later. I pressume they will land on night, and hide behind a mountain not too far from our current location."

Emile:"To summarize, we go there, blast some aliens to oblivion, enter that ship, blast more aliens, and get your father's ass out of there."

F/N:"Sounds good to me. When are we leaving?"

Master Chief:"2 hours. Get ready."

Noble Six:"We alredy are."

Kat:"Good. You have 1 hour to do whatever you like. We will depart when the sun starts to hide. Dissmissed, Spartans."

Master Chief leaved the room, probably to go and have some space. Emile and Clara forcefully dragged F/N out of the room. I was about to stop them, but Kat grabbed my attention.

Kat:"Six, wait."

Noble Six:"Yes, Noble Leader?"

Kat:"I wanted to talk with you."

Noble Six:"You have my attention."

Kat:"It's about F/N."

Noble Six:"What's wrong with him."

Kat:"Nothing... is something... personal... a proposition I wanted to make you... and it involves him..."

Noble Six:"Hmm?"

F/N P.O.V

F/N:"What are you two doing?!"

Clara:"Just giving Six and Kat some time to catch up."

The two assholes of Noble Team stopped carrying me, letting me go.

F/N:"For what? They are actually sisters and I haven't realised or something?"

Emile:"Nah, Kat wanted to talk with her. In private."

F/N:*Sigh* "Whatever. Let's go and find the Chief, 1 hour will it's not that much."

Emile:"Aye aye, sir."

I walked around the camp, looking for the green spartan. I saw some marines packing things inside a pelican. Probably the one we are going to use. They were getting suitted up, even some marines with bandages were getting ready for battle too. This is probably the last time we get here.

Emile:"Found our little lone wolf."

Emile signaled to the pelicans. The Chief was sitting besides some crates, looking at the sea. We walked to him, and sat besides him.

Master Chief:"All ready?"

F/N:"Yeah. We wanted to pass some time with you till we depart."

Master Chief:"I see."

An uncomfortable silence surrounded us. He is not much of a talker, huh? Kinda like Six...

Cortana:"Sooo... Sergeant."

F/N:"Yeah?"

Cortana:"You are kind of new to this... spartan thing, right? You do have experience on the battlefield, but as a marine. You haven't been deployed as an spartan many times. How are you so skilled?"

F/N:"Luck, I guess. How do you know that?"

Cortana:"I have your file in my database."

F/N:"I see."

Cortana:"Luck, huh? Interesting..."

F/N:"Something's the matter?"

Cortana:"Nothing too important. Is just, you meet all the requirements I had to choose a partner. If I knew about you sooner, I would have chosen you."

F/N:"Oh. What an honor."

Cortana:"Hehe, cheeky bastard."

Master Chief:"You're getting quite friendly with him. Wanna be with him for the next mission?"

Cortana:"I haven't chose F/N as my partner, Jo- I mean, Chief."

Master Chief:"Not curious about what it feels to be with your other candidate?"

Cortana:"Hmm..."

Cortana starts to think loudly about having "valuable information" for being with me.

Clara:"Wow. Emile and I are still here, you know?"

Emile:"Neglected by an A.I. That's new."

Cortana:"You two are too reckless. One is too brutal, and the other is way to childish to have an important A.I as me."

Emile:"Not egocentric at all..."

Cortana:"I made a decision. I will assist F/N for this mission."

Master Chief:"So be it."

The chief removed the chip from his nape, and gave it to me.

Master Chief:"Keep her safe."

F/N:"I will protect her with my life."

I inserted the chip on my nape. My visor seems to download something, till it finished. Suddenly, I heared a voice in my head.

Cortana:"Wow. Your technology is far more advanced than the Chief's. This helmet has some... rudimentary modifications..."

F/N:"Kat toyed with my helmet."

Cortana:"Noble Leader? Interesting..."

Emile:"Hey, blue girl. We can't hear you if you directly talk to him. It's rude to not talk with the rest, you know?"

Cortana:"Not like you cared one bit, Officer."

Emile:"Hmm, you're right. I don't really care. One bit. Unless, you're insulting him, or me."

Cortana:"I won't insult F/N."

Emile:"And me?"

Cortana:"Maybe..."

Cortana:"I lied."

I chuckled. For an A.I, she has an interesting sense of humor. Still, I kinda miss DOT.

Master Chief:"Don't get too comfy. You'll be back after this mission."

Cortana:"I know, I know."

Cortana:"Stupid old man, can't ever let me have some fun..."

Cortana's comment made me laugh, raising suspicion among the green spartan.

Master Chief:"You said something, Cortana?"

Cortana:"I said, you need to chill, Chief. F/N isn't any normal spartan, like those two, per example."

Clara:"Hey!"

We heared some heavy footsteps coming towards us. It was Kat, and Six. Kat had her helmet off. Before putting it, she winked at me?

Cortana:"Are you... double timing?"

F/N:*Whispering* "I don't know what that meant. I guess, it was just a friendly gesture?"

Cortana:"Yeah, keep saying that, Sergeant..."

Six sat next to me, a rested her head on my shoulder. She noticed the blue glow on my nape, and tilted her head a bit in confusion.

F/N:"For this mission, I will have some company in my head."

Noble Six:"Oh."

Six lightly knocks my helmet, like a door.

Noble Six:"Keep him safe, will ya?"

Cortana:"Orders recieved, Liutenant."

Some marines started to rush the pelicans, getting inside them. Two took the pilot and co-pilot seats.

Kat:"We are getting deployed, let's go, spartans."

Emile/Clara/F/N:"Yes ma'am!"

We all stood up, and entered the pelican, ready for war.

Kat:"F/N. One more thing. After the mission, we will evac your father in this camp. Once we reach it, I wanna have some words with you."

F/N:"Sure. What's the matter? Something's wrong?"

Kat:"Not at all. It would be... rather pleasant... for both of us."

Oh.

Cortana:"Yeah, not weird at all..."

S/N P.O.V

That damm demon... he is far more skilled than I expected. I underestimated my enemy. What a foolish act...

I was hiding on a cave, tending to my wounds. Retreat to heal your wounds is a dishonorable thing among my people, but I couldn't care less. I'm sucessful in all my assasination attempts thanks to my own new methods.

Once I was finished, I checked my equipment. My blade's battery was almost out, I had to eliminate some humans who tried to hide in here. I kept one of their... magnums? -I think that's their names- just in case. I still had my plasma rifle in perfect condition, and one single plasma grenade.

There was a light blue light emanating deep into the cave. Before I adventure into the light, I wanted to be sure I was ready for anything.

I activate my shields, and test my cloak. Everything works just fine.

S/N:"Good, time to move."

With my cloak on, I moved towards the light. Eventually, I founded a weird iron door, similar to those around the Halo. The blue light was actually a console.

Putting my hands on it, the door opened. Inside, thousends apons thousends of test tubes were around. All of them had a green liquid on them. They had their own consoles, emanating a red light with two words on them.

SUBJECT TERMINATED.

There was one though, with a blue light. The tube was broken, like if the so called "subject" escaped. The tubes look old, so whatever was inside that thing, had to be really mature.

The console was blue. Looking through it, there were hundreds of files filled with info about this "subject". All of them refered to it as subject as: "Subject CP30"

I clicked on the last file, to see what was all about. A distorted voice could be heared from the console.

???:"Day 125. Last test. Subject CP30 has shown extreme regenerative capabilities. The flood infection on it's body fully merged with the host, now, functioning as one. The flood subject can't control the host's actions, nor influence them in any way, shape or form. Somehow, it has merged into the body, giving him an advanced regeneration, protecting the host from wounds that should be lethal for any living creature."

S/N:"That doesn't sound good at all..."

???:"The subject currently is in his... childhood, as they call it. He should be able to have a normal life. In fact, without proper knowledge of this, no one should be able to know about his "other lifeform" inside his body. More tests are needed to see the limits of his regeneration, or why does it happen to begi with."

The file ends like that.

To my right, there was another door. I went to it, the door opening as soon as it sensed me.

I entered a little room, with a big console. This one, seems to have way more information about these labs, or the experiments they were doing here. There were more doors on my left, but they were destroyed, making it impossible to go through them.

I booted the console, and saw thousends of files about this... flood, and the experiments they were holding here.

Whoever did this... wasn't Covenant nor human. It kidnapped hundreds of humans, elites, and brutes and experimented on them with this... flood. I do not know what is a "flood" but it doesn't sound good either.

S/N:"Hmm?"

It seems I founded something interesting. There's a program here I can launch. It tracks every each of the subjects. Out of curiosity, I booted it up.

As expected, the program founded hundreds of dead subjects, all of them behind me. Just when I was about to leave, the program founded one that wasn't dead. In fact, it was here, in Halo...

S/N:"But that... that can't be possible!"

I turned around, and went to leave. Not before taking notice of something. A skeleton of someone in the corner. It resembled of one of those... "marines..."

S/N:"Hmm..."

Suddenly, a beeping sound was heared on my visor. I was recieving a call from  Thel 'Vadam.

S/N:"Yes?"

Thel 'Vadam:"I guess you alredy eliminated the demon?"

S/N:"Not yet."

Thel 'Vadam:"You better kill him soon, or it's your head the one I'll have."

He ended the call like that. Tch, if it were that easy...

Back to bussiness, demon. Better start praying to your puny gods.