Post by Danny on Nov 9, 2010 16:45:22 GMT -5
I started writing up ideas for how my character Claire dies. All I really had was 'Anau kills her'. So I started putting together a quick little scene in Word, but it then somehow became 9 pages long. Everything sort of just flowed.
If you feel like reading, go ahead. I tried to make it a dark short story, but a subtle dark story, if that makes sense.
I'd like some feedback if you do read it, specifically on the fight scene. Expect grammar errors due to writing this up at 10pm. I copied and pasted from Word, which jumbled up the way I had it laid out, I tried to fix it, so if you see a weird paragraph blame proboards.
I have permission to use Mitch's character too.
“Mitchell.”
A soft yet firm voice echoed through the Spartan super soldiers helmet, awaking the giant from his slumber.
“The upgrades are nearly complete; you have to wake up now.”
The Spartan turned his head on its side and watched the long blonde haired woman leave his side for a computer monitor. “There isn’t much time; Alicia will have to brief you on your armours modifications later.”
“What’s going on?” Asked the drowsy Spartan, noticing he had been placed on a bed, and that he was fully armoured.
“Nothing. Don’t try to move, your armour is still locked up.”
“I noticed,” the Spartan moaned, struggling to move his head back to normal, “I went to bed in pyjamas...”
The woman by the computer monitor turned and looked at the Spartan, “I know,” she giggled, “Something’s come up; we’re being forced to accelerate our plans.”
“What is it?” The Spartan asked.
The woman turned and looked at the Spartan with a blank expression, and then smiled awkwardly, “Nothing.”
“Claire, what is it?”
She blinked and shifted her eyes, “Mitchell, you mustn’t worry,” she smiled, skipping over to the Spartan, “Boss is just getting impatient.”
“Okay.” Mitch replied, “Where’s Alicia?”
“She’s in my terminal, she’s being updated to run your new systems,” Claire replied, running her hands over the Spartans armour to check for any imperfections. While she did this, Mitch looked around the room he was in. It was Claire’s lab, he knew because it was brightly lit from the white lights in the ceiling, computers and PDA’s scattered all over the place, and ‘Sub Level 9’ written in large grey letters on the wall. This did not excite Mitch, he knew being in this room meant another day of testing.
While he continued to move his head around the room, it suddenly shook. It was only for the briefest moment, but it was enough to cause the room to lose power temporarily.
“What was that?” Mitch panicked, attempting to sit forward but meeting great resistance from his locked up armour.
“Mitchell, stop!” Claire yelled, shocked by his sudden movement, “You could cause damage to yourself or worse, the armour,” she chuckled, putting her hand on the Spartans chest piece and lightly pushing him back down onto the bed, “It’s just the boys on level three blowing things up again.”
Claire lightly slapped the side of Mitch’s helmet and left him for the computer again, “You gave me a hell of a fright!” She laughed.
The room shook again, this time violently.
“That isn’t explosives testing,” Mitch said, attempting to move in his armour once more, “get me out of this!”
“One-Oh-Five, enough!” Claire yelled, returning to his side, “You could break your back trying to move in that thing, and I don’t want the death of my greatest creation to be caused by himself!” She really put her foot down, which Mitch knew she never did. Something was definitely wrong. He turned his head and looked at her; she looked exhausted just from yelling those few words. Fear was written all over her face as she looked away from him and put a hand over her stomach, then mumbling something about ‘second best’.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
Claire looked up at him, desperately as the building shook once again and an alarm began to sound, “Something’s happened...”
“What?”
“It’s The Covenant...”
“Are they here?”
“Yes.”
“On Reach?”
“Yes.”
Mitch looked away from Claire and looked back at the ceiling. Covenant on Reach was indeed a horrifying thought, but he had been doing armour testing for weeks, it was about time he put it to a real test. “Well, get me out of this and find me a weapon, it’s time for me to do what I do best.”
“It’s not that simple,” Claire sighed, “They’re here, and there’s a lot...”
“They’re in the building?”
Claire looked over her shoulder at a computer terminal, then looking back at Mitch, eyes watering, and nodded.
“Claire,” he growled firmly, “I can help you, I’m a Spartan, I can help everyone here,”
“No, you can’t,” she sobbed, “It’s only going to take a few minutes for them to get down here, and your armour isn’t ready, you won’t be able to do anything,”
Mitch didn’t respond.
“I’m going to do something for you, though,” said Claire, moving over to her terminal and withdrawing Alicia, “You can’t help us today, but tomorrow...”
She returned to Mitch and inserted the AI into his slot, “When your armour is updated, she’ll run the tutorial.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m doing you a favour, and I hope in return you’ll do one for me.” She rushed over to her desk and opened the top draw, taking out a hardcase and emptying its contents onto the desk, “There’s someone on Earth, someone very dear to me,” she began writing a note on the back of a small photograph, “You have to deliver him this package.”
She inserted the picture into an envelope and then took up a small AI chip, holding it in front of her for a brief moment, “Take care of him, Kelly...”
She put the chip in the envelope and sealed, then returning to Mitch, picking up a syringe on the way. Claire stood over Mitch, the syringe in one hand and envelope in the other, “You have to promise me you’ll deliver this, ok?”
“Doctor Church...”
“I told you,” she laughed, wiping away her tears, “call me Claire,”
“Claire...”
She leaned over him and placed the envelope into his ammo pouch, then sealing it. She then looked at Mitch, holding up the syringe, “This is a drug; it’s going to kill you.”
“...What?”
“Well, not completely, just enough so that the Elites with thermal won’t be able to detect your body heat.” She then changed her tone, “Alicia, deactivate all lighting and other electronics on sub level 9 and activate the air conditioners.”
“Complying.”
The room fell pitch black, and silent. It was cold now too.
“You’re going to feel a little pinch,” she whispered, inserting the needle into Mitch’s arm.
“No, Claire I can help you!” struggled Mitch to yell.
“Not this time.” She said, crying nearly uncontrollably as she withdrew the needle. Mitch’s body began shaking; it was either the effect of the drug or him trying to move in his armour. Either way, it soon stopped.
Claire pulled out her PDA, it confirmed Mitch was dead, his body core temperature was dropping and the armour upgrades were continuing. She nodded in the darkness, happy with her decision, and turned off the PDA. There was still hope the Elites wouldn’t find her, but she knew in her gut that they would.
She covered Mitch with a sheet and moved the bed into the corner of the room, hopefully to go unnoticed. She then felt her way over to her desk and pulled out her M6. If they do come, they won’t be putting her down without a fight. She moved into the centre of the room, and waited.
Minutes past, and security camera footage displayed Claire standing in the centre of the room with her gun pointed at the door. Occasionally she would lift her arm to wipe her nose; she was obviously crying. Seconds later, but what would have felt like hours for Claire, she was on the ground with her arms wrapped around herself. The rooms temperature had dropped to just 15 degrees, she was scared, cold, and alone.
The door suddenly began to open.
Claire jumped to her feet and pointed her gun shakily at the door. All she could see were the two orange lights on her sidearm. At least, if they killed her, she wouldn’t know it was coming. She listened to the door open completely, then as two sets of heavy footsteps entered the room. Their armours lights activated with a flash. Their armour became illuminated by small blue lights, in the pitch black, all that Claire could focus on were their eyes, their blue glowing eyes.
Fear stuck Claire at her very core. “Oh God,” she said, over and over again. The two Elites stood there, almost motionlessly while she shifted her aim between them.
“Come on then!” She yelled in her strong Australian accent, “Get it over with!”
The two Elites looked at each other, and then one stepped by the other and approached Claire. Her hands shook as it stood in front of her, as if teasing her. It suddenly grabbed her arm. Claire screamed and dropped the weapon as soon as it tightened its grip around her arm. The Elite turned and began dragging her out of the room. “No!” She yelled, “No!”
The second Elite stood in the doorway for a moment, inspecting the room, then following the other.
She was pulled out into the hall and then down it. She was taken into a room lit with Covenant lighting. It was the lobby where she was taken, and sitting by the receptionists’ desk, in front of the elevators, was a large group of the senior scientists. She was tossed into the group, being caught by one of the other scientists. It was Dr. Aristide, an older woman who took Claire under her wing when she started working at the ONI building.
Claire immediately curled up into her arms, “What are they going to do with us?”
Aristide shook her head, “I don’t know, dear,”
Claire began crying once again, looking around at the other terrified scientists with the Elites surrounding them.
“I don’t know,” Aristide said again, putting her hand on Claries head and running her fingers through her hair.
“Nadumee,” Commander Riok growled.”
“Commander,” Anau acknowledged, looking away from the female he had just retrieved.
“You have proven to me that you are a warrior,” he growled, “You all have!” He yelled, addressing his squad, receiving growls of approval in return. Riok took up his Plasma Repeater and moved over to Anau.
“I believe you have potential,” he said quietly, “However, my words will not be enough for my superiors,” He handed Anau the Repeater, “Do something so I don’t even have to say a word,”
Anau looked at the weapon in his hands, and then to his squadmates. He lifted the Repeater to his hip, “Squad...”
The Elites raised their weapons, causing the group Humans to begin frantically squirming. They began yelling phrases in their language, Anau could only work out “No!” and “Stop!”
Anau aimed is rifle at the girl he had taken, the one in the arms of the older female, the one sobbing pathetically.
“Squad,” He began, “See to it these free thinking Human minds think no more.”
“No!”
System reinitialising...
Complete.
Initiating emergency life saving procedures... Clear.
Clear.
Clear.
Pulse elevating, heart rate returning to normal. Subject has been recovered.
“Claire!” Mitch began attempting to sit forward, but his body was too incredibly weak.
“Mitch, it’s Alicia, please remain calm,”
“Where is she!?” He asked, looking around the pitch black room, “I can’t see anything!”
“Activating VISR,” Alicia advised.
A thin orange line scanned the room, creating everything perfectly visible. Mitch immediately attempted to sit himself up but still met resistance, “Alicia, deactivate the armour lock!”
“It is deactivated, you’re weak, Mitch...”
He lifted his arm onto his chest and began rolling himself over. He pulled off the sheet and fell onto the floor with a crash, a sound the Elites surely would have heard.
“Claire anticipated you would be out for much longer. I highly recommend that while you are in this state, you remain in this lab until the Elites have vacated,”
“They’re still here? What about Claire?”
“I’m still receiving her vitals, she appears to be just down the hall with the rest of the scientists, the Elites have rounded them up.”
Mitch let out a groan as he attempted to stand himself up. He made it to his knees before collapsing onto the ground again. He looked up, out the door and down the hall.
“She’s so close...”
Panicked Human cries began to echo up the hall, followed by gunfire and flashes of blue plasma.
“No!” Mitch roared, immediately standing to his feet and limping to the door. The gun fire and screams continued as he reached the door frame. But, exhausted, he collapsed once again. As his eyes began to forcibly close, the screams and gunfire echoed, trapped in his mind.
He awoke minutes later. The screams and gunfire had stopped. It was quiet; there was no sound at all. No soothing hum of computers, no footsteps, not echoes or mumbles, not even the sound of Claire humming a song from the 1960’s. Nothing.
He stood up and walked down the hall by resting himself on the wall; he didn’t know what to expect as he approached the purple-lit lobby. He stopped, leaning against the wall when he saw the open hand of a scientist on the floor of the lobby. He feared as he got closer, he would see something far more gruesome. He swallowed and walked forward. As he entered the lobby, his eyes travelled up the open palm hand, up the wrist, up the arm and finally to the blood soaked body of a male scientist. Surrounded by this body, was more. There would be about 20.
Mitch did nothing but stare. Somewhere in that pile was Claire. He couldn’t believe it. He had lost soldiers in the field before, but this, this was different. He stepped forward, slowly and cautiously approaching the massacre before him.
“Claire...?”
No response. Perhaps louder...
“Claire?”
He looked through the bodies, attempting to distinguish Claire’s face from the others. She was nowhere, maybe buried at the bottom. Mitch began breathing heavily as he began sorting the corpses.
“Mitchell... We should go...” Alicia spoke softly.
He then spotted a blood soaked coat, one with Claire’s name badge attached. He reached both hands into the pile, wrapping them around Claire’s ribs, and pulling her body up out of the pile. He slugged the body over his shoulder, like a dead soldier, and walked her away from the scene. He kneeled down to the floor and slid the body over and into his arms. His metal green armour was now stained blood red.
“No life signs detected.”
Mitch didn’t respond to Alicia’s more than obvious statement, the girl’s chest had been ripped apart by plasma bolts. But surprisingly to Mitch, there was only one tiny speckle of blood on her perfect face. He put his finger over her cheek and wiped away the tiny drop of blood, then looking into her eyes. They weren’t green with life anymore, not that explosion of hazel. They were grey, and empty. He moved his hand over her face and shut her eyelids, then resting her body on the floor.
“You know what she would be saying right now?” asked Alicia.
“What?” Came Mitch’s delayed reply.
“Don’t look at me like that,”
Mitch chuckled, still kneeling over Claire’s body. He suddenly remembered the package he had been asked to deliver. He immediately opened the ammo pouch and pulled out the envelope. It had nothing written on it, just the ONI water mark in the corner. He tore it open and reached one finger inside, sliding out a small chip. He held it in front of him, curiously examining it as it glowed an ominous yellow.
“I believe that chip houses an AI, one not compatible with a Spartan suit.”
Mitch nodded to Alicia and placed the chip back in its envelope and then pulled out a small photograph. It showed Claire, a much younger Claire sitting in a Pelican’s troopbay with a man, a short brown haired man with his arm around her.
“Someone very dear to me.” Alicia repeated.
Mitch nodded again. He folded the picture and placed it back into his pouch. He then stood, standing over the body, looking down at her.
“I’m so sorry...”
The sound of metal dropping, like a pan, echoed down the hall. Mitch immediately snapped to the direction it came. Two Special Operation Elites fumbled out of a room, they then looking down the hall, seeing him. Mitch stood motionlessly as the Elites glared at him.
“Finally, a prize,” Ream growled excitedly.
“No, Ream,” Anau said, “That Demon is different, that one is angry,”
“Good, a challenge,”
“I order you to remain by my side,” Anau said as Ream began readying her blades.
“You are not Commander yet!” Ream ran forward, drawing her sword. The Spartan immediately drew his knife and returned the charge.
Ream lifted her sword and began to perform a downward diagonal slash. The Spartan ducked and rolled, evading to the side. Ream looked over her shoulder and spun the sword around, the Spartan ducking and then standing to punch the Elite in the face.
Anau joined the attack, charging confidently with a stab motion. The Spartan utilized his motion tracker and prepared for this, he spun around and stuck Anau’s arm, forcing the direction of the stab into the wall, and then elbowing one of his chins. He turned and faced Ream, who now had her dagger drawn as well. She attacked wildly and unpredictably, forcing the Spartan to dodge and retreat. Anau took the sword from the wall and followed Ream and the Spartan back down the hall towards Claire’s lab.
Mitch held Ream’s dagger hand back with one hand while attempting to dodge her sword. He ducked when she swung it to decapitate him, causing her to tangle herself. He grabbed hold over her sword arm, and then elbowed her in the face, then head butting her, and then kneeing her in the gut. He forced her back, and then slashed her lower gut with his knife. She cried out as Anau took over, he lunged powerfully, but the Spartan was quick to grab hold and used his own weight against him. He grabbed the Elite and dragged him to the ground. The two crashed violently, landing in and sliding across Claire’s lab floor.
Ream entered the lab and attempted to kill the Demon while he was down with one quick lunge, but he rolled over and began shooting. He used Claire’s M6 to force Ream back out of the lab. Once it was empty, he looked at it with a smile.
“Thanks, Doc,”
He used the empty pistol as a club to bash Anau in the face with, but it had no effect. Anau grabbed the Spartan by his neck and lifted it off the ground. Mitch took up his knife and lunged it into the Elites heart, but it barely broke through the armour.
Anau held the Spartan up, growling.
“You will die by my blades, Demon,” he growled to the best of his ability in their language, “Just as your female friend did.”
“You...” Mitch said, this Elite killed Claire. He was face to face with the bastard that killed her. He was overcome with rage, and became desperate to kill this Elite. He looked over the Elites shoulder, however, and saw Ream re-enter the room, someone else seemed to be overcome with rage.
Anau lifted his dagger and prepared to enter through the Demons neck, when Ream grabbed his arm.
“This prize is MINE!” She back handed Anau across the face with her dagger, forcing him to drop Mitch and sending him across the room.
Ream stepped forward with not a moment to lose. She lifted her sword and lunged it for the Spartans chest. It suddenly became covered in a while glow. Her sword shattered on impact and her armour systems suddenly failed.
“Engaging armour lock.” Alicia said.
Ream staggered back, “I’ve seen this before,” she growled, “You have only granted yourself a few extra seconds of life, enjoy them!”
“Indeed,” Anau growled from behind her. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and threw her out of the room. This Demon wasn’t important anymore; it had been replaced by another.
Anau stormed out of the lab as Ream scurried backwards, “Anau, wait! Brother, please!” She begged, while her armour systems were still offline.
“You were a sister to me once,” Anau said, reactivating his sword, “Now what are you? You’re a parasite, leeching off me to gain commendation from our superiors! You would even kill me for it!”
“While they are arguing, might I recommend getting the hell out of here!?” Alicia yelled as Mitch watched the confrontation.
“That Elite killed Claire,”
“I know, there will be another time, trust me.”
Mitch left the lab and bolted down the hall towards the elevators.
Anau caught sight of this and followed, Ream could wait after all.
Mitch pressed the ‘Up’ key and waited, eying his motion tracker as Anau got closer. He ducked when Anau attacked, the sword impaling the elevator doors. Mitch stood, looking at the Elite, and then punched him in the face, knocking his helmet off. Anau groaned, letting go of the sword and staggering back. Mitch then withdrew his knife from the Elites armour and slashed him across the face.
The elevator doors opened and Mitch stepped inside, immediately closing them. As they closed slowly, Anau glared through as the gap became smaller and smaller. They would meet again. The doors shut completely and the elevator began to rise to the surface.
Anau took his sword back and began prying open the doors. Perhaps he could cut a cable, causing the lift to drop. He forced open the doors and looked up the shaft; the elevator was long gone.
Ream saw this as a perfect opportunity. Her systems were still disabled, but all it would take was a light push... She stood up, walking quietly towards him, then jogging, and then an all out sprint. She prepared to ram Anau down into the shaft, but he knew she was coming. He ducked, causing Ream to ram into him, but to also catapult herself over him and into the shaft.
She screamed as she fell into the abyss, Anau watching until she disappeared into darkness below. He closed his eyes when the sound of her thud reached him.
He stood silently, staring at the murder behind him. He quietly cursed himself; he was scarred in more ways than one this day.
If you feel like reading, go ahead. I tried to make it a dark short story, but a subtle dark story, if that makes sense.
I'd like some feedback if you do read it, specifically on the fight scene. Expect grammar errors due to writing this up at 10pm. I copied and pasted from Word, which jumbled up the way I had it laid out, I tried to fix it, so if you see a weird paragraph blame proboards.
I have permission to use Mitch's character too.
“Mitchell.”
A soft yet firm voice echoed through the Spartan super soldiers helmet, awaking the giant from his slumber.
“The upgrades are nearly complete; you have to wake up now.”
The Spartan turned his head on its side and watched the long blonde haired woman leave his side for a computer monitor. “There isn’t much time; Alicia will have to brief you on your armours modifications later.”
“What’s going on?” Asked the drowsy Spartan, noticing he had been placed on a bed, and that he was fully armoured.
“Nothing. Don’t try to move, your armour is still locked up.”
“I noticed,” the Spartan moaned, struggling to move his head back to normal, “I went to bed in pyjamas...”
The woman by the computer monitor turned and looked at the Spartan, “I know,” she giggled, “Something’s come up; we’re being forced to accelerate our plans.”
“What is it?” The Spartan asked.
The woman turned and looked at the Spartan with a blank expression, and then smiled awkwardly, “Nothing.”
“Claire, what is it?”
She blinked and shifted her eyes, “Mitchell, you mustn’t worry,” she smiled, skipping over to the Spartan, “Boss is just getting impatient.”
“Okay.” Mitch replied, “Where’s Alicia?”
“She’s in my terminal, she’s being updated to run your new systems,” Claire replied, running her hands over the Spartans armour to check for any imperfections. While she did this, Mitch looked around the room he was in. It was Claire’s lab, he knew because it was brightly lit from the white lights in the ceiling, computers and PDA’s scattered all over the place, and ‘Sub Level 9’ written in large grey letters on the wall. This did not excite Mitch, he knew being in this room meant another day of testing.
While he continued to move his head around the room, it suddenly shook. It was only for the briefest moment, but it was enough to cause the room to lose power temporarily.
“What was that?” Mitch panicked, attempting to sit forward but meeting great resistance from his locked up armour.
“Mitchell, stop!” Claire yelled, shocked by his sudden movement, “You could cause damage to yourself or worse, the armour,” she chuckled, putting her hand on the Spartans chest piece and lightly pushing him back down onto the bed, “It’s just the boys on level three blowing things up again.”
Claire lightly slapped the side of Mitch’s helmet and left him for the computer again, “You gave me a hell of a fright!” She laughed.
The room shook again, this time violently.
“That isn’t explosives testing,” Mitch said, attempting to move in his armour once more, “get me out of this!”
“One-Oh-Five, enough!” Claire yelled, returning to his side, “You could break your back trying to move in that thing, and I don’t want the death of my greatest creation to be caused by himself!” She really put her foot down, which Mitch knew she never did. Something was definitely wrong. He turned his head and looked at her; she looked exhausted just from yelling those few words. Fear was written all over her face as she looked away from him and put a hand over her stomach, then mumbling something about ‘second best’.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
Claire looked up at him, desperately as the building shook once again and an alarm began to sound, “Something’s happened...”
“What?”
“It’s The Covenant...”
“Are they here?”
“Yes.”
“On Reach?”
“Yes.”
Mitch looked away from Claire and looked back at the ceiling. Covenant on Reach was indeed a horrifying thought, but he had been doing armour testing for weeks, it was about time he put it to a real test. “Well, get me out of this and find me a weapon, it’s time for me to do what I do best.”
“It’s not that simple,” Claire sighed, “They’re here, and there’s a lot...”
“They’re in the building?”
Claire looked over her shoulder at a computer terminal, then looking back at Mitch, eyes watering, and nodded.
“Claire,” he growled firmly, “I can help you, I’m a Spartan, I can help everyone here,”
“No, you can’t,” she sobbed, “It’s only going to take a few minutes for them to get down here, and your armour isn’t ready, you won’t be able to do anything,”
Mitch didn’t respond.
“I’m going to do something for you, though,” said Claire, moving over to her terminal and withdrawing Alicia, “You can’t help us today, but tomorrow...”
She returned to Mitch and inserted the AI into his slot, “When your armour is updated, she’ll run the tutorial.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m doing you a favour, and I hope in return you’ll do one for me.” She rushed over to her desk and opened the top draw, taking out a hardcase and emptying its contents onto the desk, “There’s someone on Earth, someone very dear to me,” she began writing a note on the back of a small photograph, “You have to deliver him this package.”
She inserted the picture into an envelope and then took up a small AI chip, holding it in front of her for a brief moment, “Take care of him, Kelly...”
She put the chip in the envelope and sealed, then returning to Mitch, picking up a syringe on the way. Claire stood over Mitch, the syringe in one hand and envelope in the other, “You have to promise me you’ll deliver this, ok?”
“Doctor Church...”
“I told you,” she laughed, wiping away her tears, “call me Claire,”
“Claire...”
She leaned over him and placed the envelope into his ammo pouch, then sealing it. She then looked at Mitch, holding up the syringe, “This is a drug; it’s going to kill you.”
“...What?”
“Well, not completely, just enough so that the Elites with thermal won’t be able to detect your body heat.” She then changed her tone, “Alicia, deactivate all lighting and other electronics on sub level 9 and activate the air conditioners.”
“Complying.”
The room fell pitch black, and silent. It was cold now too.
“You’re going to feel a little pinch,” she whispered, inserting the needle into Mitch’s arm.
“No, Claire I can help you!” struggled Mitch to yell.
“Not this time.” She said, crying nearly uncontrollably as she withdrew the needle. Mitch’s body began shaking; it was either the effect of the drug or him trying to move in his armour. Either way, it soon stopped.
Claire pulled out her PDA, it confirmed Mitch was dead, his body core temperature was dropping and the armour upgrades were continuing. She nodded in the darkness, happy with her decision, and turned off the PDA. There was still hope the Elites wouldn’t find her, but she knew in her gut that they would.
She covered Mitch with a sheet and moved the bed into the corner of the room, hopefully to go unnoticed. She then felt her way over to her desk and pulled out her M6. If they do come, they won’t be putting her down without a fight. She moved into the centre of the room, and waited.
Minutes past, and security camera footage displayed Claire standing in the centre of the room with her gun pointed at the door. Occasionally she would lift her arm to wipe her nose; she was obviously crying. Seconds later, but what would have felt like hours for Claire, she was on the ground with her arms wrapped around herself. The rooms temperature had dropped to just 15 degrees, she was scared, cold, and alone.
The door suddenly began to open.
Claire jumped to her feet and pointed her gun shakily at the door. All she could see were the two orange lights on her sidearm. At least, if they killed her, she wouldn’t know it was coming. She listened to the door open completely, then as two sets of heavy footsteps entered the room. Their armours lights activated with a flash. Their armour became illuminated by small blue lights, in the pitch black, all that Claire could focus on were their eyes, their blue glowing eyes.
Fear stuck Claire at her very core. “Oh God,” she said, over and over again. The two Elites stood there, almost motionlessly while she shifted her aim between them.
“Come on then!” She yelled in her strong Australian accent, “Get it over with!”
The two Elites looked at each other, and then one stepped by the other and approached Claire. Her hands shook as it stood in front of her, as if teasing her. It suddenly grabbed her arm. Claire screamed and dropped the weapon as soon as it tightened its grip around her arm. The Elite turned and began dragging her out of the room. “No!” She yelled, “No!”
The second Elite stood in the doorway for a moment, inspecting the room, then following the other.
She was pulled out into the hall and then down it. She was taken into a room lit with Covenant lighting. It was the lobby where she was taken, and sitting by the receptionists’ desk, in front of the elevators, was a large group of the senior scientists. She was tossed into the group, being caught by one of the other scientists. It was Dr. Aristide, an older woman who took Claire under her wing when she started working at the ONI building.
Claire immediately curled up into her arms, “What are they going to do with us?”
Aristide shook her head, “I don’t know, dear,”
Claire began crying once again, looking around at the other terrified scientists with the Elites surrounding them.
“I don’t know,” Aristide said again, putting her hand on Claries head and running her fingers through her hair.
***
“Nadumee,” Commander Riok growled.”
“Commander,” Anau acknowledged, looking away from the female he had just retrieved.
“You have proven to me that you are a warrior,” he growled, “You all have!” He yelled, addressing his squad, receiving growls of approval in return. Riok took up his Plasma Repeater and moved over to Anau.
“I believe you have potential,” he said quietly, “However, my words will not be enough for my superiors,” He handed Anau the Repeater, “Do something so I don’t even have to say a word,”
Anau looked at the weapon in his hands, and then to his squadmates. He lifted the Repeater to his hip, “Squad...”
The Elites raised their weapons, causing the group Humans to begin frantically squirming. They began yelling phrases in their language, Anau could only work out “No!” and “Stop!”
Anau aimed is rifle at the girl he had taken, the one in the arms of the older female, the one sobbing pathetically.
“Squad,” He began, “See to it these free thinking Human minds think no more.”
***
“No!”
System reinitialising...
Complete.
Initiating emergency life saving procedures... Clear.
Clear.
Clear.
Pulse elevating, heart rate returning to normal. Subject has been recovered.
“Claire!” Mitch began attempting to sit forward, but his body was too incredibly weak.
“Mitch, it’s Alicia, please remain calm,”
“Where is she!?” He asked, looking around the pitch black room, “I can’t see anything!”
“Activating VISR,” Alicia advised.
A thin orange line scanned the room, creating everything perfectly visible. Mitch immediately attempted to sit himself up but still met resistance, “Alicia, deactivate the armour lock!”
“It is deactivated, you’re weak, Mitch...”
He lifted his arm onto his chest and began rolling himself over. He pulled off the sheet and fell onto the floor with a crash, a sound the Elites surely would have heard.
“Claire anticipated you would be out for much longer. I highly recommend that while you are in this state, you remain in this lab until the Elites have vacated,”
“They’re still here? What about Claire?”
“I’m still receiving her vitals, she appears to be just down the hall with the rest of the scientists, the Elites have rounded them up.”
Mitch let out a groan as he attempted to stand himself up. He made it to his knees before collapsing onto the ground again. He looked up, out the door and down the hall.
“She’s so close...”
Panicked Human cries began to echo up the hall, followed by gunfire and flashes of blue plasma.
“No!” Mitch roared, immediately standing to his feet and limping to the door. The gun fire and screams continued as he reached the door frame. But, exhausted, he collapsed once again. As his eyes began to forcibly close, the screams and gunfire echoed, trapped in his mind.
He awoke minutes later. The screams and gunfire had stopped. It was quiet; there was no sound at all. No soothing hum of computers, no footsteps, not echoes or mumbles, not even the sound of Claire humming a song from the 1960’s. Nothing.
He stood up and walked down the hall by resting himself on the wall; he didn’t know what to expect as he approached the purple-lit lobby. He stopped, leaning against the wall when he saw the open hand of a scientist on the floor of the lobby. He feared as he got closer, he would see something far more gruesome. He swallowed and walked forward. As he entered the lobby, his eyes travelled up the open palm hand, up the wrist, up the arm and finally to the blood soaked body of a male scientist. Surrounded by this body, was more. There would be about 20.
Mitch did nothing but stare. Somewhere in that pile was Claire. He couldn’t believe it. He had lost soldiers in the field before, but this, this was different. He stepped forward, slowly and cautiously approaching the massacre before him.
“Claire...?”
No response. Perhaps louder...
“Claire?”
He looked through the bodies, attempting to distinguish Claire’s face from the others. She was nowhere, maybe buried at the bottom. Mitch began breathing heavily as he began sorting the corpses.
“Mitchell... We should go...” Alicia spoke softly.
He then spotted a blood soaked coat, one with Claire’s name badge attached. He reached both hands into the pile, wrapping them around Claire’s ribs, and pulling her body up out of the pile. He slugged the body over his shoulder, like a dead soldier, and walked her away from the scene. He kneeled down to the floor and slid the body over and into his arms. His metal green armour was now stained blood red.
“No life signs detected.”
Mitch didn’t respond to Alicia’s more than obvious statement, the girl’s chest had been ripped apart by plasma bolts. But surprisingly to Mitch, there was only one tiny speckle of blood on her perfect face. He put his finger over her cheek and wiped away the tiny drop of blood, then looking into her eyes. They weren’t green with life anymore, not that explosion of hazel. They were grey, and empty. He moved his hand over her face and shut her eyelids, then resting her body on the floor.
“You know what she would be saying right now?” asked Alicia.
“What?” Came Mitch’s delayed reply.
“Don’t look at me like that,”
Mitch chuckled, still kneeling over Claire’s body. He suddenly remembered the package he had been asked to deliver. He immediately opened the ammo pouch and pulled out the envelope. It had nothing written on it, just the ONI water mark in the corner. He tore it open and reached one finger inside, sliding out a small chip. He held it in front of him, curiously examining it as it glowed an ominous yellow.
“I believe that chip houses an AI, one not compatible with a Spartan suit.”
Mitch nodded to Alicia and placed the chip back in its envelope and then pulled out a small photograph. It showed Claire, a much younger Claire sitting in a Pelican’s troopbay with a man, a short brown haired man with his arm around her.
“Someone very dear to me.” Alicia repeated.
Mitch nodded again. He folded the picture and placed it back into his pouch. He then stood, standing over the body, looking down at her.
“I’m so sorry...”
The sound of metal dropping, like a pan, echoed down the hall. Mitch immediately snapped to the direction it came. Two Special Operation Elites fumbled out of a room, they then looking down the hall, seeing him. Mitch stood motionlessly as the Elites glared at him.
***
“Finally, a prize,” Ream growled excitedly.
“No, Ream,” Anau said, “That Demon is different, that one is angry,”
“Good, a challenge,”
“I order you to remain by my side,” Anau said as Ream began readying her blades.
“You are not Commander yet!” Ream ran forward, drawing her sword. The Spartan immediately drew his knife and returned the charge.
Ream lifted her sword and began to perform a downward diagonal slash. The Spartan ducked and rolled, evading to the side. Ream looked over her shoulder and spun the sword around, the Spartan ducking and then standing to punch the Elite in the face.
Anau joined the attack, charging confidently with a stab motion. The Spartan utilized his motion tracker and prepared for this, he spun around and stuck Anau’s arm, forcing the direction of the stab into the wall, and then elbowing one of his chins. He turned and faced Ream, who now had her dagger drawn as well. She attacked wildly and unpredictably, forcing the Spartan to dodge and retreat. Anau took the sword from the wall and followed Ream and the Spartan back down the hall towards Claire’s lab.
Mitch held Ream’s dagger hand back with one hand while attempting to dodge her sword. He ducked when she swung it to decapitate him, causing her to tangle herself. He grabbed hold over her sword arm, and then elbowed her in the face, then head butting her, and then kneeing her in the gut. He forced her back, and then slashed her lower gut with his knife. She cried out as Anau took over, he lunged powerfully, but the Spartan was quick to grab hold and used his own weight against him. He grabbed the Elite and dragged him to the ground. The two crashed violently, landing in and sliding across Claire’s lab floor.
Ream entered the lab and attempted to kill the Demon while he was down with one quick lunge, but he rolled over and began shooting. He used Claire’s M6 to force Ream back out of the lab. Once it was empty, he looked at it with a smile.
“Thanks, Doc,”
He used the empty pistol as a club to bash Anau in the face with, but it had no effect. Anau grabbed the Spartan by his neck and lifted it off the ground. Mitch took up his knife and lunged it into the Elites heart, but it barely broke through the armour.
Anau held the Spartan up, growling.
“You will die by my blades, Demon,” he growled to the best of his ability in their language, “Just as your female friend did.”
“You...” Mitch said, this Elite killed Claire. He was face to face with the bastard that killed her. He was overcome with rage, and became desperate to kill this Elite. He looked over the Elites shoulder, however, and saw Ream re-enter the room, someone else seemed to be overcome with rage.
Anau lifted his dagger and prepared to enter through the Demons neck, when Ream grabbed his arm.
“This prize is MINE!” She back handed Anau across the face with her dagger, forcing him to drop Mitch and sending him across the room.
Ream stepped forward with not a moment to lose. She lifted her sword and lunged it for the Spartans chest. It suddenly became covered in a while glow. Her sword shattered on impact and her armour systems suddenly failed.
“Engaging armour lock.” Alicia said.
Ream staggered back, “I’ve seen this before,” she growled, “You have only granted yourself a few extra seconds of life, enjoy them!”
“Indeed,” Anau growled from behind her. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and threw her out of the room. This Demon wasn’t important anymore; it had been replaced by another.
Anau stormed out of the lab as Ream scurried backwards, “Anau, wait! Brother, please!” She begged, while her armour systems were still offline.
“You were a sister to me once,” Anau said, reactivating his sword, “Now what are you? You’re a parasite, leeching off me to gain commendation from our superiors! You would even kill me for it!”
“While they are arguing, might I recommend getting the hell out of here!?” Alicia yelled as Mitch watched the confrontation.
“That Elite killed Claire,”
“I know, there will be another time, trust me.”
Mitch left the lab and bolted down the hall towards the elevators.
Anau caught sight of this and followed, Ream could wait after all.
Mitch pressed the ‘Up’ key and waited, eying his motion tracker as Anau got closer. He ducked when Anau attacked, the sword impaling the elevator doors. Mitch stood, looking at the Elite, and then punched him in the face, knocking his helmet off. Anau groaned, letting go of the sword and staggering back. Mitch then withdrew his knife from the Elites armour and slashed him across the face.
The elevator doors opened and Mitch stepped inside, immediately closing them. As they closed slowly, Anau glared through as the gap became smaller and smaller. They would meet again. The doors shut completely and the elevator began to rise to the surface.
Anau took his sword back and began prying open the doors. Perhaps he could cut a cable, causing the lift to drop. He forced open the doors and looked up the shaft; the elevator was long gone.
Ream saw this as a perfect opportunity. Her systems were still disabled, but all it would take was a light push... She stood up, walking quietly towards him, then jogging, and then an all out sprint. She prepared to ram Anau down into the shaft, but he knew she was coming. He ducked, causing Ream to ram into him, but to also catapult herself over him and into the shaft.
She screamed as she fell into the abyss, Anau watching until she disappeared into darkness below. He closed his eyes when the sound of her thud reached him.
He stood silently, staring at the murder behind him. He quietly cursed himself; he was scarred in more ways than one this day.