SPARTAN 102

"I'll miss you..."
-Spartan 102's last words
"I was wondering which would break first. Your spirit? Or your body?!"
-Spartan 102 upon defeating ONI Agent Codename Everest in hand to hand combat.
SPARTAN - 102, Jack, was a SPARTAN II Commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command. He was a member of Spartan Team Hoplite during the Great War, later a war criminal and convict. 
==Biography==
Born into a farming family on Harvest, with an overbearing mother and a drunk policeman for a father, Jack didn't have the most humble of beginnings. Through his childhood he suffered the occasional school bully, one of the most prominent nicknames he'd become subject to was "Fireman Jack", but it wasn't something the teachers and mentors considered sinister at the time.
The truth behind it was rather more disturbing however, as several days prior to his second year at the school, his mother was killed in an inferno at the local bank. Jack had tried desperately to save her by crawling through the flames with a makeshift hosepipe, attempting to hose down the fierce blaze and reach his mother. Despite his best efforts, Jack's mother died in the fire. The schoolboys learned of this, and one particular bully, "Warrachk Will" as he was called, decided to torment Jack regarding his mother's death.
Again, the teachers and Jack's mentors were unaware of the entire truth behind the namecalling, and in some cases suspected it to be friendly. That was until they found "Warrachk Will", named after one of the most ferocious beasts on the planet Harvest, beaten to within an inch of his life with Jack standing over the crippled child, looking shaken, knuckles bloodied. It was projected to take 8 years of intensive care to nurse Warrachk Will back to health, but come the Human-Covenant war he was still in a care ward being treated for his massive trauma and having several organs transplanted.
Unfortunately, Warrachk Will died in the Covenant assault on Harvest. Jack paid his respects to the souls lost across the entire planet on his first deployment there to retake it, and all subsequent attempted liberations of Harvest. He took particular time out to pay respects to the boy he had so viciously beaten in his youth, and though he risked a court martial for disobeying orders and could not directly contact them in order to uphold secrecy of the Spartan Program, Jack made certain that Will's sisters made it off of Harvest alive. At the time of his death, he still did not feel his debt had been paid.
===Doctor Catherine Halsey's Intervention===
Following immediately the incident with Will, Jack was taken into care, and even custody with the police force for such a vicious beating inflicted upon another small boy. Jack's father was slowly sobering up following the death of his wife, vowing never to drink again... Or not until Jack had become independant.
It was at this time that Doctor Catherine Halsey found herself on Harvest, inspecting a pair of candidates for the Spartan Program, when she heard about the incident. She investigated cautiously, thinking nothing more of the boy than a simple nutcase, but she was surprised to see his intelligence scores to date had been amongst some of the best across the planet, and his perception during police trials was reported to be above average. Most notable however was his short fuse.
Halsey decided to take Jack into the Spartan Program, replacing him with a flash clone after flashing ONI papers at the Police Station, he was used to fill in the spot of a candidate that had gone missing. The original Candidate 102. And so began Jack's life as a Spartan.
===Spartan Program===
At age 7, Jack was abducted, and taken into the Spartan Program alongside 74 other candidates of impressive backgrounds and each posessing special skills, and remarkable aptitude. He was eager to start, and showed no resentment towards his previous life, where he'd been destined to become a farmer if he were ever released from jail. Jack was surprised to learn he wasn't the only one who'd been picked up from a troubled background, it was quite a common story, and sharing these stories made each of the Spartans feel much more at home with eachother. 
Training started off heavy, and Jack was unprepared for it, he considered himself one of the underdogs no thanks to a pessimistic frame of mind the exercises had put him in. He'd not been eating correctly, he was falling behind in most studies, and training was becoming too hard on him.
This was all until he was antagonized by one of the guards, or "Mentors" assigned to keep the children in line and help them where need be. He lay asleep one night, in his own bed, nobody bunking with him, and he began to roll around in bed and groan. He was having a nightmare. One of the guards came over quickly, but instead of helping Jack out in any way, he merely whispered into his ear; "Fireman Jack, Fireman Jack, you can't save them all". With this, Jack awoke immediately, flung into a rage both by his dream and by the guard's torment. 
Before Chief Petty Officer Mendez, Jack's chief training instructor could arrive on the scene however, there was nothing left. Jack had broken the guard's arms and eventually his neck, and now stood over the body, defiant of anyone who dare approach him. But approach him Mendez did, and after a brief tussle, Mendez knocked some sense into Jack and the boy was sent back to sleep as the remaining guards cleaned up the mess.
Following the incident in his bunk, Jack found his inspiration. He was going to become a Spartan, no matter what this project asked of him, he would step up to the plate each and every time, fearlessly. Nay, defiantly, stubbornly, refusing to give in and pay anyone the satisfaction of seeing him fail.
===Augmentation Procedures===
When the night came for Jack and the remaining Spartan candidates to begin their augmentation procedures, Jack had become somewhat nervous, he had been pulled to one side and administered more drugs than the others without any explanation as to why, and his classmates were nonethewiser.
The Procedures went ahead as planned, and Jack took his place, he inquired again about the extra drugs when he was lain to rest on his designated operating table, but he was denied an answer.
Everything went on schedule, and soon the Spartans were being injected, moulded, drugged, twisted, morphed and built into the biggest, strongest they'd ever been. Many did not survive the night, and as such there were many empty seats in the mess hall the next week.
Halsey visited him one night during his recovery period, as he had taken an extraordinarily long time to fully recover. She explained to him that because of his mental disposition, his nightmares, how he was never truly at peace, the procedures for him were exponentially more dangerous because they could not find a way to relax a single muscle in his body. He was administered depressants, which Halsey swiftly apologized for, to keep his mood levels as low as possible to make his particular procedure as risk free as possible. Following his recovery, he, along with the remaining candidates, were accelerated into the final stage of Spartan Training; MJOLNIR.
===Spartan Team Hoplite===
Jack had been assigned to Spartan Team Hoplite, composed of some of his brothers and sisters from the Spartan Program, and organised into a deadly covert ops team. Their typical objectives held political significance, be that including pushing back relentless Innsurrectionist attacks or eliminating high ranking Covenant officials, Hoplite were always on top of their game and operated very efficiently for a unit.
==The Great War==
Jack served with Spartan Teams Omega and Hoplite throughout the duration of the Great War, operating as the team's tank, or weapons "platform". Unfortunately, because of past events and his emotional instablility, he was soon exposed to the beginning symptoms of PTSD, and his emotional control began to wilter even further. It was during this time that ONI filed a report on him specifically, debating whether or not to remove him from duty with immediate effect.
It was decided that they should medicate him, as no Spartan could be afforded retirement with the war going as it was. This was 2547.
His medication did it's job and kept his control steady over the concurrent three years, until in 2550, during a routine armour check-up and a basic medical examination, he was put to sleep. Unfortunately, this had an adverse effect to what the Engineers and Doctors were hoping for, and he slipped into REM Sleep (Paradoxical sleep), something he was quite unprepared for, and had no previous knowledge regarding.
During his REM Sleep, he was forced to rewatch his mother's death, something that the Spartan Program had been desperately trying to help him forget. The sudden trauma began to terrify him, but during his REM Sleep he was unable to move, or act in any way, so he was forced to continue watching as the image eventually faded to one of him beating his childhood bully almost to death, in which dream he followed what happened to the Bully, seen barely breathing in bed, but just enough to tear away his oxygen mask and begin tormenting Jack again.
Medical Staff and Engineers noticed very quickly Jack's increased heart rate and lack of reaction to all stimuli, and quickly began to drag him out of his REM Sleep. Once he was removed however, he was already over the edge. Jack tore free from his restraints and killed 11 of the staff assigned to him, while the others got away and he was heavily sedated.
Halsey learned of the incident, and immediately began work on finding some way to control Jack's negative thought processes and limiting his cognitive functions, or at least devising a way to monitor them and directly affect them. She argued with herself that controlling some of his thoughts was no more immoral than letting him suffer further. Until her solution could come through, though, Jack was removed from active service immediately and locked up for his own safety aboard UNSC Trafalgar.
===AI Styx & AI Sibyl===
It took several months until Jack was taken back into active service, and ran an Op with SPARTAN - 087, Kelly. During which he was assigned AI Styx, named after the river which forms the boundary between Earth and the Afterlife in Greek Mythology. Styx was ONI's solution, an incredibly proefficient AI that could operate much faster than the majority of the other AIs at the time, though he had been in service already for six years, and was already showing signs of instability himself.
AI Sibyl was Halsey's solution, which she handed to Spartan Program staff to install whilst she worked on her Latchkey Discovery on Reach, named after Greek Oracles.
Unfortunately, the staff were somehow unaware of Styx's presence, and gave Jack two AIs, which Styx had secretly advised him not to protest to. It was here that Jack began his recovery, primarly with the aid of Styx.
While Styx had been helping Jack recover, there were several instances over the next three years that lead Halsey to believe that treatment had been faulty, and that Jack was, concerningly, still in total control of his thoughts. Styx's job had been to separate all of his neurones from firing up simultaenously when he became enraged or angry, giving Jack a much denser combat efficiency, and removing the issue of migraines entirely. This also allowed Styx to separate Jack's thought processes and control the ones he didn't deem helpful, necessary, or safe. But Styx was approaching the end of his serviceable life, his own usefulness and cooperation with ONI's plans could not be accurately accounted for.
Halsey's AI, Sibyl, had been assigned to soothe Jack's mind, calming his thought processes as carefully as possible whilst pushing away anything she deemed unsafe and burying it in the back of his mind.
But she often came to blows with Styx, blows which usually played out as two voices in Jack's head arguing, until he'd batted the side of his helmet to shut them up. This didn't shut them up, rather started to fire up Jack's agitated thought processes, and gave the two of them a lot of work to do before he lost control, prompting them to shut up.
===The Fall of Reach===
During the Battle of Reach, Jack had been assigned to protect the groundside Generators for the Super MAC Stations in orbit that were keeping the entire covenant fleet of over 500 ships effectively at bay. He had dislocated his shoulder during the jump from the Pelican, arguably getting away with the best of the injuries amongst the Spartans as four others died on impact.
Some way into the battle, Frederic - 104, Kelly - 087, and Joshua - 029 headed out into a Covenant staging area to drop a small, tactical nuclear device and thin out the Covenant ranks before their generators were overwhelmed. Unfortunately, during the attack, Joshua was reported MIA suspected KIA after his Banshee fell of the scopes.
This sunk Jack into a deep and immediate depression, only amplified by the later loss of Reach and many of his own friends after the Spartans were put vigorously to the test. They'd come out on top, at a collosal price. It took three years for Jack's depression to end, even after the end of the war he was unable to pick himself up again. That which removed him from his depression was far more disturbing.
==Pegasi Omega Incident==
Some time after the Great War (Roughly 2555), Team Hoplite was dispatched to one of many asteroids lying in an indirect orbit with the Outer Colony World Harmony. Their objective was to eliminate the Innsurrectionist General that ONI had claimed had set up a base of operations there.
Two hours passed until the team reached the main compound, and up to now there had been limited resistance, and better yet they had spotted the General.
However, for reasons that remain debated amongst some battle analysts today, the General was aware of the Spartan Team's presence, and briefly assaulted the Spartans over intercom before launching a series of highly nuclear missiles pointed at Harmony.
Hoplite reacted immediately, their leader ordering that they stick to their objective, the General.
Jack had immediately protested, arguing that they had two choices, kill the general, sacrificing the entire planet, or go for his courier carrying the kill codes and permit the General the time he needed to get away. Unfortunately for Jack, his team grossy disagreed, arguing that they'd been searching for this General for several years. After checking their orders with an ONI Prowler positioned overhead, Spartan Team Hoplite prepared to move.
Jack begged with them one last time, that they had to remove the nuclear threat first, but their minds had been made up.
As Spartan Team Hoplite began to move out, three very loud cracks sounded off, causing each suit of armour to collapse to the ground. Jack had stood over the bodies for almost a full minute, the horror of his actions would haunt him for the rest of his life. But he put his feelings to one side.
SPARTAN 102 assaulted the Innsurrectionist Encampment alone, and turned the battle into a lengthy bloodbath. His inhumane acts of torture, dismemberment, disfiguring beatings, and unnecessary violent outbursts would later become one of the toughest foundations of his severe case PTSD, which he dealt with with more violence.
Eventually, he had managed to neutralize the Rebel operating the kill switches, and detonated the nukes a safe distance from Harmony, he then focused on the General. It took a further two hours of battle, evasion, sneaking around, and blowing up every imaginable off-planet transport until he cornered the General. What he did to him, nobody knows, not even the ONI Prowler could see.
Following the incident, ONI painted him as a war criminal, traitor, murderer, enemy of the UNSC, and planted him on their most wanted list. This brought the entire Spartan Program down on his head, as they relentlessly searched for him for years and years to come.
==Classic Space Adventures and the Cosmic Muffin I/II==
Some time into Jack's evasion of ONI censors and officers, as he continued to dodge Spartans searching the galaxy for him and had to hide his face everywhere, fake the number on his armour, and even adopt a new accent, Jack found himself aboard UNSC Ramillies.
He had stowed away aboard the medical ship to reach his next destination, a hideout on Arcadia.
However, some way into the trip, his ship was assaulted and immediately destroyed, killing everyone onboard but him as he was launched out into space. He soon found himself aboard the perpetrator ship, the Cosmic Muffin, but the sudden change in atmospheric pressure caused his visor to implode over his face and cause incredible facial damage and scarring, the reaction to which his aging AIs could not control. As a result, as a member of the Cosmic Muffin --a deep cover ONI Agent known as Everest-- came to inspect him, he flew into a rampage. The resulting fight left Everest only alive because his suit willed it so, tore a huge hole in a Pelican, broke several bulkheads and caused Jack to pass out from a mix of energy expenditure and pain.
===Yautja Encounter===
It was here that he was abducted by an alien known as the Yautja, a Predator, which trained him in the ways of it's kind in order to help him seal his revenge on the crew. The training was tough, but Jack was able to grasp it, and soon became rather adept at stealth. The Yautja fixed his facial scarring and trauma by ways of a mask that would feed anaesthetic through to him constantly. The anaesthetic used was enough to knock out 30 Rhinos, but only enough to keep 102 calm and keep his pain at bay.
===Second Encounter on the Cosmic Muffin===
Eventually, it was time for him to return to the Muffin, and he did so by breaking through the hull and arriving in it's Recreational Centre. He was greeted by an individual clad in 23rd centry post apocalyptic armour, but soon located his target when Everest confronted him. The fight that ensued once again left Everest completely battered, without so much as a scratch left on 102. Everest had had his ribs crushed, broken, snapped, and splintered into all major organs sparing his heart and one kidney when Jack lifted him over his head and slammed him down on an outstretched knee, breaking his back in several places. This finally left Everest out of the fight.
Other clashes with the crew of the Cosmic Muffin saw him battling a Titan on some run down space station, Kamino, and a Forerunner planet harbouring the Didact.
===Cosmic Muffin Crashes===
Some time into his long list of encounters with the Cosmic Muffin, immediately following his visit to Kamino, the entire ship had exploded in space and crashlanded into a nearby planet. Jack dispatched the newly abducted Everest to retrieve a sensitive case from the Muffin's medic and local Clone Trooper, Caluum Fallire, which contained a fetus of the very template for the Clone Project.
Jack needed this for his own plans, and would return to Kamino with it, but instead of taking the template by force, Everest warned the crew. Jack immediately took to the planet in an escape pod meant for deep space trajection, meaning the pod arrived in under two minutes to it's destination, and he immediately tore his way out of the pod and sneaked his way aboard the tank Everest and the Fetus were located.
He began yet another engagement with the crew, including three Clones, the medic Cal, and Everest. Unfortunately for the crew, this resulted in a crushing defeat, as Jack ripped the Clones apart, tearing some of their limbs off and beating Everest and Cal quite severely until Styx recommended his retreat, having come up with a new plan that took less risks.
===Recruiting Spartan Team Barricade===
Styx was still classed as an ONI AI, and with his clearance he transmitted a message to ONI, requesting the immediate allocation of a handful of Spartan IVs. ONI were incredibly and unusually lenient with handing Spartans over to the AI, but they also thought little of the Spartan IVs. Eventually, Jack was met with four Spartan IVs, his new team; Barricade.
His first assignment for them was to dispatch them to the Cosmic Muffin II and seize the Medical Officer Cal, an assignment they completed almost without incident, until one of the Spartans was killed and detonated his armour. The resulting explosion merely shuddered the Muffin, as it was carried out into space.
===Styx's Plan, Kamino, and 102's Turnaround===
Soon after began Styx's plan to build an army of Spartans on Kamino, Clones of Jack, "perfect" soldiers with no emotional restraint and terrific anger management issues. They set this plan to motion in the underwater cities of Kamino, a derelict research centre would provide the perfect location, and a Monolith in the centre would be the building from which they would work. 
Their plans were thwarted however, as Cal refused to cooperate, resulting in Jack snapping his leg in two and assigning Everest to beat him further should he continue to refuse to cooperate. Everest was, up until this point, controlled and kept on a leash entirely by Styx, Jack's AI, and was most obedient when nearby as Styx could not leave Jack's mind lest the Spartan suffer a brain death and die himself. Styx had mastered projecting himself across small distances, allowing him to be inside Everest's head and Jack's at the same time without having to be docked or plugged in to both.
Their plans were further thwarted as the Cosmic Muffin's crew arrived to rescue Cal, and a gigantic space battle had begun over Kamino between the UNSC and the Gryllian Empire. 
Jack changed plan, despite Styx's protests, and intended to kill everybody and leave the planet. But before he could put any of his plans into practice, Sibyl made her presence known and seized control of two massive Protectors in the room, gigantic machines that had been tasked with taking control of the city after it had gone dar following several experiments. The two Spartan IVs battled one of the Protectors while Jack battled the last, but his engagement had launched him out of the Monolith and into the deepest reaches of Kamino's ocean. Almost crush depth.
Back in the Monolith, Sibyl used Styx's absence to lock down the Spartan IV's armours and incapacitate Everest. She had been cooperating with Cal since they'd arrived on the planet, no longer willing to serve Jack or work with Styx, and she begged Cal to claw himself out from beneath one of the Spartan IVs who'd now rendered both of his legs useless, and restore Everest's original AI to him; Prophet. The struggle almost caused Cal to pass out from the pain ravaging its way through his body, and he was unable to get the AI chip to Everest. Luckily, Everest had recovered quite quickly, and noticed one of the Spartans clasping something tightly in his fist that Cal had been attempting to reach for. Everest took it as a hint and removed the AI Chip, inserting it into his helmet after being prompted by Cal, and was finally restored to his former self. Everest engaged the two Spartans immediately, easily overcoming their mediocre speed and training with his Nanosuit and superior Deep Cover Training, but was forced into a ranged battle with them as they pressed him out into the central room of the Monolith, a circular room with a large hole in the middle that reached all the way down to the bottom of the Monolith again. Everest was easily overcoming the Spartans still, until he began to press back, and one of the Spartans tackled him over the edge, causing the two of them to plumet a thousand feet down to their inevitable death. The last Spartan had been dispatched by Cal's girlfriend, after the crew barged their way to his location. 
Whilst all this had been happening, Styx and Sibyl had been docked with the city, Jack now had no AIs in his head at all save a small fragment of Sibyl's intended to keep him alive by keeping watch over his cognitive functions. However, because the two AIs had been docked with the city, they'd began tearing the entire place to pieces as they fought eachother, causing ghost holograms and memories to walk the city's streets as inhumane and terrifying screams pierced the crisp air. Jack left immediately, he had had enough, he returned to the surface and boarded his old ship of operations; UNSC Dauntless, a UNSC Cruiser.
He turned himself in, the resulting trial was carried out aboard the ship and ONI thus had no part in it, which later turned against the Captain as he himself was targetted for a very severe court marshall. Jack's trial found him guilty of murder, treason, and gross negligence in the line of duty. It also found him honoured with keeping to the noblest of UNSC military traditions and their code of conduct. He had saved an entire colony at a great personal cost, putting the lives of millions before his own or anyone else's. 
The trial outraged several Spartan IIs already on the ship, Linda - 058, and Fred - 104. The latter of which assaulted Jack aboard the ship and slashed his throat, leaving the knife embedded into the underside of his chin, up and through his tongue.
This injury prolonged Jack's need for the mask, which he was slowly coming to rely on less and less.
===Third Encounter with the Cosmic Muffin and Alliance===
Some time after Jack's trial, he was assigned to operations with SPARTAN - 034, Samuel, one of his closest friends. Samuel proved to be an incredibly efficient replacement for Styx and Sibyl, causing Jack to calm down much more frequently and rarely causing him to fall over the edge.
His operations brought him back aboard the Muffin, as he started an uneasy alliance with the crew to right some of his wrongs, mostly as instructed by Sam.
===Kamino and the Empire===
At some point during Jack's pairing with the Muffin and it's crew, he found himself back on Kamino, the Muffin's plan this time had been to liberate it. Cal, the medic, had collected a large number of specialist Clone Troopers that Sam regarded rather highly.
The Liberation of Kamino from the Empire would prove to turn Jack's life and views around entirely, and finally bring him back to the light.
Jack had turned up to finally settle his business with Cal, vowing that it was he who would kill the Clone who had threatened his life so many times before, not the Dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.
Jack confered with Vader before the Empire's response assaulted Kamino, stating that he would help the Empire if they provided him with a window, but on one condition; he wanted his blood debt paid. And he would collect it.  He cared not at all for the Muffin's liberation plans nor the Empire's retaliation, and indiscriminately tore through Clone Trooper ranks and Stormtrooper ranks alike, inadvertently turning the battle against the crew, in a brash attempt to reach Vader before the Muffin's crew did.
He was too late, as by the time he had arrived, Vader had already cut Cal's closest assortment of Clones down along with several other Clone Specialists. Jack launched himself down to Vader and Cal's level, already seeing the latter engaging Vader in very close combat, which surprisingly seemed to show Cal holding his own against the dark lord. Jack quickly intervened, battling the two of them simultaneously.
At this point, Cal removed himself from the equation, unable to keep up and letting the dark lord and the Spartan fight. Jack had seemed to hold the upper hand throughout the battle, but that soon turned on him as Vader tried to distract him, permitting an opportunity to finish the Spartan off. Vader revealed that the Empire had been collaborating with ONI from the beginning of the Great War, permitting ONI valuable resources, but in exchange the Empire had been eliminating select Spartan IIs that ONI saw as financial reliabilities.
Vader tricked Jack into believing the Empire had killed Spartan - 087, Jack's closest friend, and that ONI had permitted such a move. Vader obliterated Jack's mask, causing the anaesthetic administering to fail completely, causing him immense pain, and with the lack of his AIs save for a small segment of Sibyl, he was unable to countermand his vicious outbreak of rage.
During the time in which Jack had become distracted, stumbling a little, a huge wall segment had pinned him and the dark lord against the furthest wall of the room. Vader was the first to recover, but as the dark lord had leapt for Jack, the Spartan had broken out of the wall segment and began assaulting the dark lord anew.
During an attempt from Vader to slice Jack's arms off, Jack used the small opening he'd been provided to pin the dark lord against a wall and begin beating him to death with a renewed rage he had not been exposed to since his traumatic events as a child. His vicious attack caught the dark lord by surprise, and he was unable to counterattack Jack, relying once more on teasing the Spartan into providing an opening by calling him a creature through pained breaths. Unfortunately for the Dark Lord, Jack's rebuttal was to grab Vader and smash him down over the Spartan's knee, much like he had done with Everest, breaking his back and leaving him on the floor in a state of paralysis. Vader soon stood once more, whilst Jack was unable to overcome the pain, and in the small amount of time he'd been granted he assaulted and severely maimed the Cosmic Muffin's medic, Cal, leader of the Liberation of Kamino. This was until Jack stood one final time, punching out the Sith Lord's chest and crushing his heart, ultimately and finally killing him.
Jack eventually collapsed, unable to fight off the pain.
The Battle for Kamino was later won as the Stormtrooper Corps were turned on the Empire, and Jack was put into medical stasis for the medical bots to begin their work. He soon after joined the Cosmic Muffin II as an official crew member, and began his work to reunite the entire Spartan II Program, bringing every Spartan II back together again.
==Life as a Crewman of the Cosmic Muffin II==
Most of Jack's time aboard the Cosmic Muffin II as an official crewman was spent training, assessing his weapons and building upgrades for himself, and trying to locate his Spartan brethren. 
His training was extensive, and he frequently overexerted himself, displeased with his progression and often subjecting himself to injuries and ligament issues. Fortunately enough, the ship's medic with which he had previously had the greatest grudge, had returned from his new station leading the Republic and as such he had the best possible medical care on hand. Honourary General Fallire was pleased and eager to help Jack recover from all his injuries, as he had been after a drop of the Spartan's blood since he first learned of Jack's existence, but he also harboured some ulterior motives Jack nor Styx could ever trace.
Thanks to Cal, Jack came to rely less and less on his mask once more, and was soon recovering well from his trauma after the confrontation with Spartan - 104 aboard the Dauntles after his trial. He was having new teeth plugged every week, and his tongue tissue was repairing itself according to the medic's predictions, though the scarring was an issue still.
Some time into his stay aboard the Muffin II, the crew had planned their first strike into ONI territory, a hit on a large ONI Ressupply Station. Unfortunately for Jack, thanks to the Battle of Kamino and a few altercations between himself and Fred, his armour was far too catastrophically damaged to be deemed safe and his repairs were taking a lot longer than he'd like. Lightsaber slashes had ruined several of the vacuum seals, cooked electronics, and sliced sharply through several sections of armour. As such, Jack had to take on the mission devoid of his suit, carrying much less weaponry to which he was accustomed. Though throughout the mission, he counted for two Spartan IV kills regardless of his disadvantage.
During the mission, Jack had inquired as to the real purpose of their mission other than destroying the station, and suggested the crew search the databanks for any news on the UNSC's top secret NOVA Warheads and the locations of any weaponized caskets. Searching the archives provided the ship's Engineer with a vast database of ONI information regarding some Spartan movements and locations, several shipping yard manifests, the location of stocks of nuclear warheads (though none of them NOVA Class), and finally information regarding the existence of a top secret MJOLNIR Project titled MARK VIII. Jack set his sights on the new suit, as he was still in need of a replacement for his own damaged suit.
Jack set course for the base in which the MJOLNIR MARK VIII suit was stored alone, despite the protests of the Muffin's Captain.  Whilst he was busy tearing through the base's defence however, he was notified by Styx of a nearby Spartan II Signature with an unidentifiable FoF Tag. Jack changed his objective immediately. What he found at the source of the signature startled him; Spartan - 104, Frederic, had been strapped to a table and was being probed at and injected by several vicious looking needles which Styx reliably informed him were full of poisons and toxins as part of a research subject to further the human race. They had planned to kill Fred in order to learn their boundaries.
Jack mercilessly slaughtered the doctors involved in the experiment.
After a brief period of distrust, Fred agreed to help Jack acquire the MJOLNIR Mark VIII suit he had plundered the station for, adding his own proposal; Fred told Jack that they were going to find the remaining Spartan IIs still alive after the war and unite them once more to assist in the war with ONI.
The two continued on through the base until locating the suit of armour on the other side of a massive secured bulkhead, and testing with the new suit revealed unusual results as Styx commented;
: Revolutionary... I was just testing what seemed to be a built in algorithm for quickly getting in and out of the Mark VIII. If you plan a Spartan revolution of your own, you will need more of these suits."
They discovered that MJOLNIR Mark VIII was implanted with a system that allowed the suit to move freely about itself for very short distances, allowing it to quickly envelop or detach from the "Pilot" extending it more practicality than the usual suits which take a team of engineers and heavy lift machinery to detach from the soldier beneath.
After retrieving the suit, Jack returned with Fred and his old suit to the Muffin II.
==Reuniting Spartan II Class of 2517==
Jack and Fred returned to the Muffin, having successfully retrieved the new and improved, Forerunner Tech infused MJOLNIR Mark VIII prototype armour unit. It took a while to clear their intentions with the Captain, and even longer for the crew to become accustomed to the presence of a second Spartan, thinking the hassle Jack had provided them lately had been more than enough.
Once the two were convinced people were satisfied with Fred's presence, they returned to the Muffin's Weapons Testing to start analyzing the new suit. It was at this point that Jack confronted Fred over what it would take to gain his ultimate confidence and convince him he was on the right side of the brewing war, which ended in Jack showing Fred both the recordings from his helmet showing him dispatch Vader and the brief conversation they'd had before the Dark Lord was killed, and the recording of the Pegasi Omega Incident. 
Disturbingly, Jack knew exactly how long both recordings were, and was able to point out that Fred hadn't said anything after the first had been finished for 60 seconds. Jack then asked that Fred watch the helmet cam recording of the Pegasi Omega Incident in order to give a perspective other than that of ONI's on the happenings on the asteroid immediately after Hoplite Team's demise, or rather, murder. The recording disproved the most troubling claim Jack believed ONI had made; that the Innsurrectionist General had in fact survived and Spartan 102 had sided with the enemy. The truth was very different, as Fred realized before discarding the helmet across the room, shocked and thoroughly disturbed by the violent nature of Jack's mental breakdown on the asteroid.
Jack revealed that he had seen the recording from his helmet cam over 3,100 times since it happened, more than once a day since the incident, and Fred began to come increasingly concerned over Jack's mental state once more. This was until he demanded that, for the sake of their mission, Jack needed to confess his past to the crew.
Jack broke his news to the crew with a limited response, though by no real measure was it negative. Fred was convinced enough to begin working with Jack, and they began to set out plans to reunite the Spartans.
Soon thereafter, the Captain briefed the crew on their motive and ultimate objective, stating that they were soon to pass the point of no return. Jack and Fred were the first to opt in, without hesitation. They laid out plans in conjunction with the Captain regarding which team of Spartans to locate first, and after arriving at the conclusion that Spartan Red Team consisting of Jerome 092, Douglas 042, and Alice 130 were to be their final hurdle given how difficult the Spirit of Fire was going to be to locate, Fred demanded they locate Blue Team first. Blue Team consisted of Kelly 087, Sam 034, and Linda 058.
Jack was initially taken aback by the suggestion that Kelly was alive, and tried suggesting to Fred that she was infact dead. Fred however reminded him that Kelly had been on the Dauntless after Jack's encounter with Vader, and expressed his concern over how Jack had repressed the memory. This would later cause Jack much internal conflict, and some difficulty sleeping.
But for the time being, they had to arrive at a conclusion, so Jack suggested they take the Spartan teams in order of; Blue, Black, Grey, then Red. They'd pick up unattached stragglers on the way.
Jack and Fred got to work immediately, and before long had departed with their new Pelican taken from the ONI Station Jack had found Fred and his new suit, and returned with Sam, Kelly, and Linda in tow. Having taken them from their duties aboard a pair of UNSC Frigates leading a PR Campaign.
Whilst the newcomers got used to the Muffin II and their new crew, Linda's AI informed the team that he had located Keiichi - 047, and shortly thereafter that he had worked with both Fred and Jack's AIs as soon as he arrived in order to piece enough evidence together to suggest that 22 Spartan IIs all in all were still alive and active in service. Fred quickly organised the Spartans into teams the next morning and they began to track down the remaining Spartans in teams, Linda and Sam were to head to Naomi's last known coordinates much to the displeasure of Linda who already had an issue with the Spartan before she had become friendly with ONI during the incitement of a Sangheili Civil War. Jack and Kelly were to locate Randall, and Fred was given the task of heading to prearranged slipspace coordinates based on the rumour of a Covenant ship jammed in a slipspace loop, surrounded by the transponder tag for Spartan - 052. Jorge.
===First Deployment with Kelly 087===
It had been some time since Kelly and Jack had worked together, the only other instance in the last 6 years being when he saved her life from an ONI experiment, though she subsequently "lost" the memory thanks to an ONI agent's careful planting of drugs in her sustenance. This forced Jack to once again retreat out of the picture, as after a fight with Kelly (Caused by her having no memory of his rescue) had left her unconscious, he became fully aware that she would only try to kill him again once she re-awoke.
As such, Kelly could observe that Jack was very nervous during the mission, particularly when travelling to Randall's last known coordinates. Jack had tried to defend himself time and time again, stating that there was nothing the matter, but Kelly eventually wore him down and he began to cave in over his attempt to rescue Kelly from the ONI experiment. At first Kelly still didn't believe him, the same as 6 years ago, but their conversation had been cut short by Styx warning that they were approaching Randall's coordinates.
It took several hours, but they successfully retrieved Randall, who had been almost incapacitated during a lengthy chase. Jack and Kelly made sure he was comfortable in the back of their Star Fighter, given they'd had to take it rather than a Pelican, and returned to the cockpit to continue their conversation. 
Kelly was almost completely unconvinced by the time they reignited the conversation, and Jack pointed out that she had seemed distracted, to which he was met with a stern glare. It took some time for the atmosphere to thin to comfortable levels again, and as it did Jack gave up, he admitted harboured feelings for Kelly that made his reaction so that he did not care for whether or not Kelly believed him; that he only cared he'd managed to save her life, and that was all that mattered to him. 
Amidst a renewed thick and awkward atmosphere, Jack struggled to look Kelly in the eye, who had remained silent since he'd last spoke. Soon they'd arrived back on the ship, and as they went to pick Randall up they were met with the other Spartan standing on his own, stating he'd find his own way out and that the two of them had some issues they needed to discuss if they wanted to commit to the mission they'd dropped on Randall's conscience whilst recruiting him.
Jack tried to leave immediately, no longer comfortable with making Kelly any angrier than she already was, but he had been tugged back into the cockpit before he could reach the doorway. The two of them shared a lengthy kiss that neither had been particularly ready for, as Kelly had only intended to pull him back to give him a piece of her mind, but they decided it best before long to break away and catch up with Randall so as to not incite concern within the other Spartans.
===Back to the Mission===
Distressed with the slow pace at which they were bringing in the Spartans, Jack tried searching for quicker alternatives, and although Kelly mentioned FTL Probes that Kurt - 051 had mentioned on Installation Onyx, he could arrive at no conclusions other than send people after Spartans on their lonesome. Fred had also not yet returned from his mission to locate and return with Jorge, a disturbing eventuality considering the nature of the discovery of Jorge's transponder; caught up in an unstable slipspace rupture.
Jack dispatched four Spartans to return with Keiichi, James, Carris, and Joseph, then kept Kelly with him to help run operations aboard the Muffin II. 
During their break, the two of them were found to be discussing the future of the Spartans after ONI's fall over a meal, Kelly showing great displeasure in Jack's idea of letting his AI, Styx, put them into Cryosleep and waking them when he deems it necessary. Jack could see next to no negatives in his idea, and soon convinced Kelly, though he was a little unsure himself if Styx could really do it without ultimately falling to Rampancy after 15 years.
The two later returned to the bridge to begin plotting out likely areas they would find Fred, preparing to temporarily commandeer the ship in order to locate him. As they worked however, they were interrupted by one of the ship's crew, an android, or "Angeloid" known as Icarus. Icarus asked about their strength and number before departing without answering as to why she had inquired, this caused a stir with Kelly whom took off after her to get the answers, but she was quite surprised to hear the Angeloid required assistance from the Spartans. They volunteered their services to the Angeloid in exchance for her assistance in locating Spartan Red Team.
Before long, the Spartans numbers were swelling, which exponentially lifted Jack's mood all the time. He was consistently nervous around the others, anxious of what they'll think or do, knowing very much what they do think and would like to do. But Fred forced him to push all concers to the back of his mind, and gave Styx orders to keep Jack's thoughts strictly positive.
Doomed to difficulty from the beginning however, the plan hit yet another bump in the road when Sam revealed to Kelly Jack's latest medical records that he hadn't knowingly provided. Kelly immediately leapt up from her meal and, despite Sam's protests and attempts to stop her, charged into the bridge where Jack was planning out the mission. She revealed to Jack that, while all the other Spartans had been implanted with biological and hormonal dampeners to remove their anger, stress, and rage issues, that Jack had either never received them by mistake or had had them removed. Styx soon revealed himself to be the mastermind behind it, and let loose his true intentions; to kill the crew and assure Jack's ultimate revenge whilst wiping out the Spartans that had dared to threaten his life. Styx's ultimate loyalty lay at Jack's feet, and he'd become deranged as a result, causing Jack to fly into a frenzy and engage in close combat with Kelly and Sam.
The spar lasted almost 15 minutes, Jack easily overpowered all the Spartans sent after him until Sam knocked him out cold. Sam was extremely reluctant to attack Jack, and very careful about how he did it. Kelly and Linda however were slightly less restrained, Linda considerably so as she drew a knife, to which Kelly responded with a disarming swipe of the hand. Jack would later lose even more sleep in the knowledge Linda had intended to use the excuse of his breakdown to kill him.
Once the fight was over however, Styx stole the suit as it had been programmed in such a way it could move on it's own, and it leapt free of Jack's unconscious being to try and escape.
It took a very lengthy chase, causing much damage to the ship and it's inventory of star fighters and space craft, but eventually the crew of the Muffin II shorted out the armour and presumably, once and for all, decategorized Styx, disassembling his core logic algorithms.
Kelly's intentions had been to remove Styx, as he was the only thing left causing Jack the anger issues he was having, and he was the only remaining danger to Jack's life. It worked, though at a cost Jack would come to realize over many sleepless nights and horrific trauma that caused him another massive period of forced amnesia and repressed memories. All attempts to choke down his memories failed however, and for the next few days he could not operate at any form of efficiency, lacking vital sleep and energy, and an appetite, he refused to even face the other Spartans.
During Jack's time spent in the infirmary, Fred and Jorge finally arrive back from their mission, bringing the count of Spartans aboard to 19. All that remained was Red Team.
To locate Red Team however, there was one final hurdle to overcome.
===The Battle of the Synapse===
Due to complications with retreiving his new suit of armour, Jack suited up in his old, freshly repaired MJOLNIR Mark IV, fully outfitted with all his old weaponry. The other Spartans made their preparations in the ways of stocking up on ammunition, Spartan Laser charges, rockets, grenades, a HAVOK Tactical Nuclear Mine, and several medical kits.
The Spartans found the protectors of the Synapse, known as Angeloids (Each of varying classes) to be formidable opponents, housing a large range of dangerous weaponry, and as such exercised extreme caution. Nonetheless, they overcame each obstacle without much difficulty, letting loose their massive arsenal or weaponry with extreme prejudice. Eventually the Spartans reached their first objective, a house or fort of some kind that housed the Creator of the Synapse's Angeloids. Kelly had been carrying the lifeless husk of an Angeloid for the entire journey through the Synapse in hopes that the Creator could fix it, as this Angeloid had been promised to be fully able to locate the UNSC Spirit of Fire, and subsequently Spartan Red Team.
Before the Spartans could reach the house however, they were assaulted, resulting in several Spartans' armours being locked down and rendering them useless as the firefight began swelling out of control. Eventually the Spartans did overcome the Angeloids enough to find an opening in their fire and sprint for the target building, but Jack was held back. An Angeloid had tackled him at a tremendous speed, sending him almost a kilometre away from the target building and the rest of the Spartans.
He quickly dispatched the Angeloid, showing a hint of stress, and made his cautious way back to his objective marker alone and without Spartan support. By the time he arrived however he had been informed that their objective had been completed, and they were just waiting to be transported back to the ship. Jack took some time to inspect his armour and began running through scenarios of Red Team's situation with the others.
===Rescuing Spartan Red Team===
It took several days for the Angeloid AI known simply as Beta to locate the Spirit of Fire, and though it was a lot sooner than the Spartans could have ever found her, they were very anxious about their timeframe and moved immediately to secure her. As it turned out however, her coordinates were disturbingly close to the Galactic Centre, making a salvage or rescue mission increasingly difficult.
Within the hour, the coordinates were checked with the Captain and the ship was underway. During their trip the crew had to size up their options, and they quickly discovered they had no functioning Pelicans or craft able to dock safely with the Spirit of Fire or land in her hangar providing it was even open. Their only option was to dock with the Spirit of Fire using the Muffin II, a ship many times the Spirit's junior. While the prospect didn't wash well with the Captain initially, Jack managed to persuade the crew that there was no other way to go about getting aboard, and that they direly needed to recover the Spartans or, failing that, collect their Spartan Tags. 
As was the issue with docking safely with the Muffin, the issue quickly rose of what to do with the remainder of the crew aboard the Spirit of Fire, as the Muffin couldn't accomodate them all and had a higher purpose to answer for than rescuing and returning to ONI space thousands of crewmen. While it was an unpopular decision, the Spartans and crew decided to leave a strong beacon aboard the Spirit when they arrived that would allow her to be located and contacted by several nearby space stations and satellites surveying the vague area around the galactic centre that had previously not picked up the Spirit due to it's lack of a distress beacon. Troublingly.
==Change of Plans, and Death==
During the Muffin II's slipspace jump to the Spirit of Fire's location, they received an emergency transmission coming from the ship's starfighter pilot and trillionaire, Quintus Tiborkin Aurelius. The Spartans were none to pleased, and mostly very disatisfied with the timing of the distress beacon, though they knew better than to question orders when Fred informed them of the change of plan and instructed them to use the time to train for possible Zero G environments when they finally took the Spirit of Fire mission.
As the Muffin II landed on Cote d'Azur, preparing to undertake yet another mission to save Quintus and his significant other, Fluke Doyle, the Spartans agreed it would be massively against their best interests for them to appear in front of ONI so soon. Especially seeing as they would be otherwise rescuing Quintus from an ONI fronted operation. Jack however was already wanted by ONI, and the crew desperately needed the firepower. Not only that, but he could fit into the scene much better than any of the crew, fooling ground teams into thinking he was working alongside them in a bid to reach Quintus before they did.
Exactly as planned, Jack dismounted the Muffin and walked the crew through towards Q's position, letting off a few shots from his M6C/SOCOM to make things more believable. Jack became very uncomfortable during the mission, questioning why he was there, and what he was doing. Everything about serving alongside UNSC soldiers again, even ODSTs, and not having them shoot at him even if it was just for the sake of holding up a false image in order to escape with their "fugitive" had struck him deeply. He became distracted, almost distraught with how the feelings overrunning him were toying with his mind, no longer held back by his restraining AIs.
Despite his better judgement, which would have demanded he turn himself in there and then to ONI, or to have him assist ONI in the apprehension of the entire crew they were so desperate to imprison, Jack continued to assist the crew and began escorting Quintus and his other half out of the building.
Unfortunately, their ruse was shortlived, as an ODST Captain radioed in to clear transfer of the prisoner over to Special Forces. Quintus inquired if Jack had ever played Poker, because of his impressive aptitude at holding up a charade, to which Jack merely sighed and answered "I've never indulged." before driving his fist through the ODST Captain's throat, severing the head entirely. Before they could structure their escape however, a Mantis made it's presence known with Hornet escort. There was no possible escape without indulging serious casualties. 
Jack began making peace with his demons as he ordered the crew to escape under the cover of his entire armament of machine guns and a Jackhammer rocket he expended on the Hornet escorts whilst sprinting directly at the Mantis. He launched himself into the air, curling up into a ball at the last moment so as to focus his mass on the Mantis' centre and tip it over the edge of the building's roof. It worked a charm, though he was -as anticipated- launched over the edge with the Mantis. Given the height of the building, there was a considerable way to fall, and Jack was some ways behind the Mantis, so to prevent being shredded my the Mantis' array of weaponry he closed his arms and legs to negate wind resistance to allow him to catch up to the Mantis. By the time he'd caught up to the Mantis, he'd already began desperately prying at it's weapon arms, trying to dislodge them before they had the chance to fire. His attempts evetually proved to be in vain, and the Mantis fired a point blank rocket into Jack's hulking figure, blowing off one of his legs below the knee and his left arm. Before Jack could recover or prepare himself, a thick stream of high calibre anti-armour rounds slammed and peppered their way through his midsection, puncturing his lungs and slicing through many of his internal organs.
Jack trailed behind the Mantis, no longer able to keep a hold of the metallic beast as it plummetted. In a spark of hollow fortune, the ground caught up to the Mantis, and the massive machine collided with the street below in a cataclysmic smash that forced the Mantis several feet underground. Jack followed closely behind, hurtling out of control and straight into the ground, embedded into his own crater.
As he struggled against consciousness, with broken ribs, what remained of both legs being broken, and a partially fractured spine that was making movement almost impossible, Jack finally let go of his rage. He took several raspy breaths through his broken filters as a familiar voice filled his helmet, mocking him. It was Styx. Styx apologised promptly, and told the Spartan that he was going to utterly delete himself, allowing them both to finally find peace as he had struggled with rampancy for so many years he had finally given up fighting it. Styx shut down all the AIs keeping Jack's thought processes from overtaxing his brain and killing him, Styx then states that it had been an honour to serve with Jack for so many years, before vanishing himself. Jack responded with all he could muster, "I'll miss you...", and let go of his pain for one final moment as he focused on his HUD. He instructed his HUD to replay the recording that had plagued the latter end of his life, the Pegasi Omega incident, but the recording failed and instead the words "Repentance is finally attained." flashed across the screen. Jack sighed in exhaustion, knowing Styx had done it, and finally closed his eyes as his respiratory systems failed.
Several hours later, at the end of the engagement, Spartan 104, Frederic, announced Jack's death to the crew over a tannoy system and retired to his quarters, unwilling to speak with anyone for the rest of the day as he sat in confinement.
Kelly was visited several times over the next few days by the other Spartans, her connection to Jack had been no particular secret, as nobody could keep a secret from the Spartans for very long. Fred made her an apology and a promise, that they would finish what Jack had set out to do; reunite the Spartan Program, and finish the Office of Naval Intelligence and their corrupt experiments on Spartans that Jack had saved them both from in the past once and for all.
His Legacy lives on through the Spartans, as they all immortalised him in their own personal way.
Kelly soon thereafter retired from active service, something she'd previously told Jack she found impossible to even consider.
==Quotes==
This guy was fucking insane, lest we forget.
: "I've torn heads from shoulders, legs from hips, spines from backs and hearts from the chests of men who couldn't best me.
: I'm beyond ethical concerns."
When handing a selection of goodies from a vending machine to Kelly, who in turn plans to hand them to Beta in exchange for help finding the Spirit of Fire:-
: "It'll go straight to your thighs, y'know."
When questioned on his eagerness to jump immediately to the violent option:-
: "We're all shackled to something, some of us just need to feel the tug of the chains to feel they're really there.
: Others have a keener perception to the limitations of their freedom.
: I find freedom in insanity."
Category:Human/Humanoid Characters