Halo: Destinations

Themes
"Rogue, we all have Destinations, for some, its a simple job at the helm of a ship, for others its a never boring world of wilderness... But for us... for SPARTANs... for SPARTAN Rogues, we'll never reach our Destinations. SPARTANs never die, Rogue. Our destination... its beyond the stars, beyond death. Our destination live eternal. Rogues are eternal... for us, destinations are forever..." -SPARTAN Rogue F06 (Leonardo) to SPARTAN Rogue 177
==Prologue:==
Rogue laid flat against the muddy ground, the dark semi-liquid was cake to a good part of the surface of her mark VI armor. Halsey had said to be careful, it was only a prototype, still in the developmental stage. The green moon above was emmitting a speacial sort of radiation that the covenant was attempting to use as a new source of energy. The purple light was coming around again. Rogue burried her head into the mud, and waited, thinking of all the things that Blaster would be saying right now, if he saw her. She'd never hear the end of it from Houdini either. Rogue peeked her head back up, then wiped as much of the mud off her faceplate as possible. They hadn't seen her. Rogue slowly crawled forward, then froze, lurkers were on patrol, the last thing she wanted to deal with. Huge werewolf-like creatures that ate corpses, even their own live accomplices at times. She'd seen grunts be ripped to sheds, and eaten half alive by lurkers. Rogue couldn't see the point of why they were in the Covenant.
One stopped, and sniffed, druel oozed from its jaws, then looked around.
Rogue silently stood, then jumped onto the branch of a sturdy tree, making not a sound, she waited, the lurker walked directly under her. It stopped. Rogue waited, she didn't want to attack, unless necessary, if a corpse was found, it would arouse suspicion before she could get back out with the Intel. Stupid ONI! The least they could have done was tell me what I need to expect. Rogue thought in her rage. The lurker knew, Rogue had no choice, she hung down, then in a single motion sliced her hand down, breaking its neck in an instant, then she pulled the corpse up, and hung it over the branch, hoping it wouldn't be found. Rogue dropped back down, then took her battle rifle off her back, and placed the silencer on the barrel before she bolted over behind a tree, then aimed. jackals with beam rifles were on station, she was about twenty meters from the entrance, elite guards had been placed at the entrance, four. She had to get through three walls. She could handle it, but she still didn't feel safe about solo missions. SPARTAN Rogues had never been good on their own, their strength was in their numbers. John 117 had once told her that SPARTANs have to stay together, united, because divided we fall.
As much as she hated to admit it, Rogue had slowly been severed from her team, she trusted Doc being in charge, but the ONI had been using her for an entire three months, with the promise that she'd be seeing her team. She wasn't even aloud to speak to them. Rogue was hurt, and angry. She wasn't hurt physically, but mentally, she wanted to see her brothers and sisters again, all she could do was follow orders until ONI decided to keep their promise.
Rogue slowly merged back into the shadows, then slipped behind the trees, and made her way to the entrance. She peeked out.
"This is the Austin to Rogue, come in Rogue, what is your progress?"
"Radio silence."
She looked down, then picked up a rock before throwing it.
The elites tensed, then drew their swords. Two started to walk to where the rock had landed. Rogue nodded, before jumping into the tree above her, then jumped again until she could see the top of the wall, then in a wink, jumped out, and landed without a sound behind the first elite, and delivered a deadly blow to its back, then she jumped again, just as the second jolted around. Rogue landed behind him, then delivered another blow, the two were out, or even dead. She quickled hid the bodies, then entered. She had to admit that she was disappointed in the Covenant's security, quite pitiful. She had made it through the next two obstacles without a single problem, and no alarms had been activated. Rogue's adrenaline slowly increased as she continued, though. Something felt wrong, very, very wrong. One of those times that Streets would quote from an anchient human film called star wars. She'd say "I feel a disturbance in the force", but still, Streets had always had an uncanny sense, always knowing the smell of danger.
Rogue waited, holding herself to the ceiling, her radar detected only one enemy inside, most likely a scientist. The elite in green armor finally exited. Rogue dropped down, once it was out of sight, then crept over to the door, and pushed the opening symbol. The panel turned red, then vanished. Rogue stopped, wondering what had happened, just before the doors opened. Rogue brought her rifle up, then scoped the room out, before entering. There was one large generator in the center of the circular room. It glowed green, with waves of energy that were being extracted into the power cells in the manufacturing, and examintation levels bellow. Rogue placed her rifle on her back, then opened a come line, only to hear static, she expected that from all the radiation. She approached the generator, as the door closed behind her, then stopped halfway. She looked down, her legs felt... heavy. Rogue flashed her red signal light, just before sinking to her knees, and fading into the utter darkness.
==Part 1:==
===Duty===
"I'm going to kill you, Speed!"
Speed slipped under Boomer, then flipped back before he could grab him. "What'd I do?!" Boomer had always been horrible with patience.
Doc walked in, the froze as Speed knocked him off his feet, and to the ground.
"Sorry, sir!" Speed shouted.
"Did you forget weapons duty again?" Doc asked, laying on the ground.
Speed stood back up, then turned, "I-am-so-sorry, Boomer."
Boomer crossed his arms, "Do you understand that I'm the one who takes the fall for your irresponsibility?"
Speed shrunk, "It won't happen again, Boomer."
Boomer walked over, then swiped his hand across the back of his skull. "Oh, I know," he whispered sinisterly.
Speed rubbed the back of his neck, then helped Doc up, "Sorry."
"You can't keep doing this, Speed, Boomer might actually kill you next time, seriously, don't skip out again."
"I won't."
Doc put a hand on Speed's shoulder, before walking past him, and approaching his cot for a moment of down time. He laid down, and closed his eyes. Rogue had been gone for an awfully long while. Doc had never quite understood why she became as pressured as she did, but now, being squad leader, he was starting to understand. Rogue had talked to him before she left. The ONI had called her in for an extended mission that she knew nothing about. All she had known was that it had been Halsey who had called her in. He at least wished he could no how she was, if she was safe, for all the rest of the team knew, she could be dead, he discarded the very thought. He'd hate that to be so, it was enough that she had been MIA once, but to lose her for good would destroy the squad.
"Pillar to F06."
"Sir?"
"I need you in the situation room, now."
"Aye s-."
"Bring Onyx team along."
"Yes-sir," Doc said.
----
Rogue's eyes cracked open, her vision was a blur, and she re-closed her eyes. What happened to me?
"Yes excellency, it went exactly as planned, the fool played right into our clutches."
Rogue blinked, making an attempt to regain her vision.
"Have you found the purpose of the SPARTAN's mission?"
"No, it has yet to come conscious after the severe decompression. If the radiation had not taken care of its sensors, then it would have escaped."
"Are you certain you can contain it?"
"Yes, Fleetmaster, this stasis field is being fueled by the very radiation from the moon."
Rogue looked up, a large black armored elite was speaking to a hologram of another elite.
The hologram looked over, "It has come to."
The elite turned, she saw an evil grin, "Welcome back, SPARTAN."
Rogue shuddered, hating herself for being so stupid. I am so screwed.
====Orders====
Doc, along with the rest of Onyx team, Lucky, Tease, Matchstick, Skates and Specs. Communicator joined as the center of communication amongst the Rogues.
The seven rogues took a sudden halt, there was nearly a domino effect, until Doc was able to stop.
“Doctor Halsey, m-ma'am!” Doc snapped to.
“At ease, all of you,” she said in her perfect tone. “Take a seat, you need to be briefed.”
She was wearing what Doc had always seen her in. Lab coat, and all.
The rogues obeyed, and removed their helmets.
“Doctor Halsey has arrived to inform Onyx team only of this situation, nothing said here leaves this room, is that understood, rogues?” Pillar asked.
“Aye sir,” they replied.
“As you all know, Lauren has been away,” Halsey started.
Doc nodded, “Yes ma'am.”
“108 days, ma'am,” Specs concurred.
“She has been on a elongated mission for the ONI that has lead her from Earth all the way out into Covenant territory, dealing with both rebels, and the Covenant, this mission has been priority red, that is why she hasn't been in contact with any of you.”
Doc tapped the table, and closed his eyes.
“Then why are you telling us this now?” Matchstick asked.
“Because something has happened to Rogue,” Doc answered, then met Halsey's gaze.
“Precisely, Leonardo,” Halsey said, looking at him, “Precisely.”
----
“Listen to me, SPARTAN, if you want to live, you will answer my questions.”
Rogue kept jerking in the restraints, not listening to the elite.
He grabbed her chin, and forced her to look at him, “What was your mission?!”
Rogue ripped her head away, then glared under her helmet.
The elite stepped back, and watched.
Rogue's arms shook as she strained to break out, but it wouldn't phase. Something else was happening here, if it had simply been a research facility to test the moon's power, they would have simply have killed her, no, there's a lot more going on, something that would make them wonder.
“So tell me, SPARTAN, how is the moon's energy holding?” he asked grimly.
Rogue stopped.
The elite smiled, “Are you wondering how you were caught?”
Rogue caught her breath, still glaring at him.
“You should always take precautions. Our Fleetmaster found it difficult to believe a single SPARTAN could be causing all of our grief, but I knew so, I had seen you, demon. You move like a wicked spirit, killing what is in your path, took me an entire month to think of what I could possible do to capture you, and I knew this facility would be too much for your UNSC to not look into, and I knew your ONI would send you, the phantom.”
Rogue kept herself silent.
“But for now our superiors are debating what to do with you, it is not often that a SPARTAN is taken prisoner, it is very rare indeed for us to acquire a live specimen...” he slowly approached her. “Killing you would completely waste everything we had done to prepare, but our Fleetmaster knows how difficult it is to contain, to keep you SPARTANs from escaping. He has dealt with your kind before.”
Rogue narrowed her eyes, before having a sudden rush, and urge to escape, she hadn’t bothered to consider what she was doing to herself. She heard the cracking sound before she felt the agony. She’d dislocated her own shoulder. Rogue shouted in pain, and released her tension, clenching her teeth. This wasn't working.
The elite started to chuckle, “Don't hurt yourself, SPARTAN, that is our scientist's duty.”
The elite left, still chuckling.
Rogue breathed slowly, then closed her eyes allowing her head to sink, she felt so... “I-I'm so sorry, Halsey... I failed you...”
====Starting off====
Leo shoved the rest of his supplies into his pack before zipping it up, and throwing it on to his back. He shot out of the medical bay. He met the others in the hall, then they all exited the Twilight's Hope, and onto the Austin. “We're on, Doctor, we'd prefer to get underway immediately, ma'am.”
“We are, Leo, I want you up here now.”
Leo nodded, then threw his pack to Communicator, before running faster. He halted on the bridge. Where ever Rogue was, they'd find her. He was angry at the fact the ONI had never told him. After all he was in the higher levels of ONI affairs. Yet he hadn't been informed of Rogues mission.
Halsey greeted him, “Leonardo, I'm sure as one of our operatives, you were wondering about Rogue's whereabouts.”
“Yes ma'am, you know as well as I that no rogue lasts long on their own, I suppose Lauren would be one of the stronger of us in lone wolfing, but she is no exception,” Leo explained.
Halsey nodded, “Granted, but more than one of you would have done more bad than good in this case. We needed Lauren to work alone on this one. Her skills were a critical asset in this operation.”
“Why her?” Leo asked, following Halsey.
“As her medic, and at times, the one she comes to speak to, you know that since the affair having to do with her implants she's been different, she has something the rest of you don't.”
Leo remained quiet.
“She has no emotions as far as my examinations could tell...”
Leo sighed, then closed his eyes, “So you simply decided to start sending her on insane missions?”
Halsey looked at him more critically, “She had no objection.”
“Doctor, in my sense thats taking advantage of her,” Leo said.
Halsey sighed, “You're right, Leonardo, I took advantage of her, but if it meant the safety of humanity, would you have done the same.”
Leo silenced himself.
“So, are you going to help us find her, Leonardo?” Halsey asked.
Leo nodded, “I think we should call in an ally.”
“Ally, Leonardo?” Halsey asked.
Leo smiled.
==Ally==
Morak glared at the screen, it had been sitting there for two weeks, the SPARTAN Ops had slowed, it seemed like the humans were hiding them. He hadn't even seen anything on the famous John 117... Either they were hiding, or they were wiping out the covenant by the thousands. Most likely the second. He was a bit concerned about the location of this base, the moon was way too close to the humans. It had been long since his last assignment. He always seemed to run into the SPARTAN 177.
He continued to think about his sister, he missed her so. She was on a planet, a rogue planet. He wondered why she'd want to be on a planet that had broken out of orbit. Although she had told him of an amazing resource there. She was a scientist, biology, chemical, energy, everything. Even medical science. She was far smarter than him to say the least. Morak was the third born, she had been the last. He continued to watch the scanner, while filing away a year's worth of reports. Documenting missions was often aggravating, despite the obvious recordings, they always wanted something from the participant.
Just then, he stopped, smelling something familiar. He sniffed again, then looked up, just as F06 released the ceiling.
Morak jumped back, as F06 landed in front of him. “SPARTAN! What are you doing here?!”
“I need a favor,” F06 said.
“SPARTAN, I am on duty... Not a good time.”
“I know I-someone's coming!”
Morak clamped a cloak on him, then shot back to his seat. “Enter,” Morak said, continuing, making a desperate attempt not to worry about F06.
Shn’tak, his brutal, and uncooperative partner entered. “Today is you lucky day, Morak, been wanting to see your-your,” he coughed before finishing his sentence. “Pardon, the sickness has been worsening, we are heading deeper into our space. A science facili-.”
Morak stood, and accepted the datapad, “Thank you, Shn’tak, I have work to do, I’ll report back shortly.”
“But I-!”
Morak growled, “Out!”
Shn’tak snarled, “And you claim me to be on the harsh side.” He left.
Morak released a breath, if any found him to be in league with humans, he’d be tortured before death, but he knew that killing off a race was wrong. The prophets were liars.
“Smooth,” F06 commented.
“You have put the both of us at risk, why have you come?” Morak growled, then walked over to F06, dwarfing him slightly more than two feet.
“Rogue’s gone missing, she’s been off for a while,” F06 started, “Now she’s gone missing.”
Morak moaned, then sat down, “No reports of any SPARTAN activity, and as a SPARTAN Ops officer, I would know.”
Leo sighed, “Are you sure?”
“I absolutely hate it when I am asked that, yes, I am sure, F06,” Morak growled, then started to look over the datapad.
“Alright, thanks anyway.”
“I’ll make an attempt to contact you if anything appears,” Morak whispered under his breath. Not that he had a choice, he owed his life three times over to Rogue 177. Just then he realized what this call-in was for, “F0-…” he was already gone, he turned back to the screen, seeing a transponder, “Thank you, SPARTAN.”
===Explanation===
Leo growled, then ventured back into Halsey’s office.
She looked up from her book, “Anything from your contact then?”
“He’ll let me know,” Leo said.
Halsey’s eyebrows went up.
“I can see you’re wondering who this contact is,” Leo muttered.
Halsey nodded.
“It all started back when Red Six was being attacked,” Leo said.
Halsey smiled, “Take a seat, Leonardo, this sounds to be an interesting story.”
Leo sat, “I was stationed on Melos at the time. But I formed a psychological profile from the records. Rogue had been unsure of herself from the start. Back then of course, we all thought ourselves rookies, but since the beginning, Rogue had considered herself the worse out of us, most likely because she was the oddball of our group, the true Rogue or us. After rescuing a group of hostages, one led her to the bomb, she disarmed it only to find a scarab threat, as the Stiff she was then, she sought to destroy it, and succeeded… But as they say, no good deed goes unpunished. She was captured soon after, but what she saw while she was imprisoned nearly destroyed part of her. She watched a civilian boy be executed, but she was unable to stop it, the feeling of helplessness she must have felt would have torn down anyone…She escaped, only to find herself on High Charity, little is known about the ship, Rogue tries to forget it, something must have happened there that she still hasn’t told me yet, but she found out about the invasion, and the bio-weapon.”
Halsey nodded, “That much I had heard about.”
“She had met an ally on the moon, an elite by the name of Morak, they survived the desert moon together, then Rogue escaped he later capture her, but apologized for… He told me he considers Rogue a friend.”
Halsey’s eyebrows raised higher.
“My reaction exactly. You know the rest. He’s helped us on a few occasions,” Leo explained, he paused, then looked out to the stars, “Where are you, Lauren?”
==Radiation==
Aching, burning, pressure… The radiation would kill her at this rate. Rogue’s head pulsed, her skin felt cold. She didn’t care, she wasn’t afraid to die… She’d prefer to die. Her fingers twitched. Her body screamed for her to struggle further, but the bruises on her wrists from pulling at the restraints keeping her barred to the examination table. Rogue closed her eyes, clenching them shut, attempting to clear her mind. She concentrated, and slightly wished Hypno was there to get her mind off the situation. Rogue suddenly tensed as the radiation field brightened. The tension grew to a point that she couldn’t move at all, her head beat harder and harder. Her finger drove deeper and deeper into her palms. Her jaws became so tight that she felt blood start to pool in her mouth. It was all that she could do to keep herself from screeching.
It suddenly vanished, the radiating light, the heat, everything.
Rogue sucked in all of the air she could, gasping at the sudden vanishing of pain. She took in deep breaths. There was tremendous pressure in her ears, but she could still hear the door open, and two sets of feet walk in.
She heard voices, they were speaking the elite language. Rogue activated her universal translator, with the tap of her wrist.
“Akiya sie helmet, it would most likely result in a greater result.”
Rogue was surprised, she’d yet to see a female elite.
She reached for Rogue’s helmet.
Rogue whipped her head away as far as possible.
“Interesting, that is the first direct response I’ve seen of her yet, curious.”
Rogue’s visor tilted down with her glare.
“This is going to require further restraint, Major.”
Rogue grunted, then tried to keep away from the hands, but couldn’t fight another bar clamping over her neck, preventing her from anymore struggling as they removed her helmet, and also restricting her breathing. That’s when the thick smell of her own blood hit her nose. She’d created openings in her own palms.
“Fascinating… In all experimentations, I have never seen any human cry blood before…”
Rogue had never heard of crying blood… But that would explain the smell in her helmet.
”Tsumi, I have informed the SPARTAN Ops, they are sending their two most knowledgeable Ops. They have dealt with this exact SPARTAN before, and will know proper precautions.”
The female turned, “I don’t want two trigger-happy Spec Ops obstructing my experiments ordered by the Fleetmaster.”
“Your experiments, are merely to keep the SPARTAN under control, they hold no significant meaning.”
“They will, and this radiation can not only be used for energy, but also weaponry.”
Rogue shuddered, her foggy vision refused to clear. She felt the examination table lean up. She reopened her eyes.
The female took her chin, and forced their eyes to meet.
“Blood has flooded her eyes. The reaction of her body is most unusual. When this had gone through with a normal human, this had not happened,” She whispered.
Rogue’s jaw was trembling at her attempt to regain control.
“So weak, disappointing,” she hissed.
Rogue narrowed her eyes, “Weak… Hm… Sounds familiar,” she whispered.
She gasped, “The SPARTAN understands… how.”
“Ever heard of a translator?” Rogue muttered.
The guard shoved Tsumi aside, and back handed Rogue before putting his right hand on her neck, and squeezing, “Behave, SPARTAN, and you might be spared.”
Rogue couldn’t breathe until he finally let go, “I-I don’t care if you kill me.”
The elite stopped.
“L-life has little meaning… and I’m n-not afraid t-to die.”
The elite glared, “So you no longer feel the emotion of fear?”
Rogue looked at him… “Emotions are simply a burden… I don’t need them.”
----
----
"So she's still on the planet?" Leo asked.
Morak sighed, "As far as I am aware."
”Well then, pretend to not expect us. The rogues are moving out…”
===Obssessions…===
Rogue clenched her eyes shut, but reopened them as fast as she could. She's not let the scientist have pleasure in seeing her in pain.
“Does that hurt, SPARTAN?” she asked.
Rogue didn't reply, there wasn't a point in it.
“Hm...” she mumbled, then flipped another switch.
Rogue shouted at the sudden rush of cutting pain to her skull. “STOP!”
The pain vanished, leaving her panting.
“No emotion, no responses until now... extraordinary,” she marveled.
Rogue caught her breath, before making another desperate attempt to break out.
“Afraid not SPARTAN,” the scientist's name was Tsuli.
Rogue gasped at the restraints tightening. This elite was crazy...
“Hm... pupils unresponsive...” she said looking at Rogue's blood-fogged eyes.
Rogue couldn't stand it much longer. “Why don't you feed your obsessions into something that matters.”
“Excuse me, SPARTAN?” she hissed.
Rogue breathed, “Put you obsessions into something that will be useful to your Covenant, something that will actu-actually be used.”
“This will be used,” she hissed.
“Not according to your buddy. 'Your experiments, are merely to keep the SPARTAN under control, they hold no significant meaning',” Rogue quoted.
“My experiments will become significant. This radiation will soon be used to kill your kind.”
Rogue rolled her eyes, “What ever helps you sleep at night.”
The scientist grabbed her chin, “What makes you SPARTANs so strong, what makes you special, what makes you-a child as strong as a full grown Sangheili?”
“As if I'd tell you,” Rogue said in a low dark tone. “But I will tell you your little obsession is just going to consume you.”
“What obsession?” she hissed.
“Apparently, me,” Rogue whispered. “You're obsessed with me, fascinated by my anatomy, my reactions...”
The elite released her, and turned back to her data.
“Why. Because you've never encountered another SPARTAN, and sure as heck not a human with out real emotions... You're wondering 'why? Why doesn't she feel anything?'”
Rogue knew she was getting to her.
The door opened, and two familiar figures walked in.
“B-brother!” she shouted.
Rogue was nearly surprised, the table became vertical.
“So it is the infamous Rogue 177, ironic, truly, to see you in this situation once more,” Shn'tak said.
Rogue's expression did not change, "Hm did Truth send you this time, or did you simply come to gloat?"
Shn'tak's develish smile nearly put a scare into her. "Do not fear, SPARTAN. You replacement implants have not been complete."
Rogue then realized she had only one emotion... her rage.
"Ooh, it appears that I have collided with a nerve," Shn'tak taunted.
The fact was, no one could push her buttons like Shn'tak. He, just as Truth had taken a specific liking to her, it was like he was addicted to angering her. Rogue made every attempt to leash herself, and only barely succeeded.
"You mean to tell me that this is the very SPARTAN that had infultrated High Charity?" Tsule asked.
"It is," Shn'tak told her.
"Extrardinary. That simply adds to my questions, and hypothosis. Brother, may we speak at the next meal?" she asked.
Morak nodded, then turned to Rogue with an emotionless gaze.
Rogue found herself simply glaring, “Going to say something, Velten'ee?” she asked darkly.
“As you humans say in using sarcasm, 'nice to see you again',” he said tauntingly.
====Plan of Terror's====
“Doctor, from what I was told, this isn't a weapons facility, its a research facility,” Leo explained.
“That can't be good,” Halsey whispered.
“No. It can't, 'cause what I was told, Morak has a sister working there as a scientist... He made her sound...” Leo searched for the right words.
“Leonardo?” Halsey asked.
“Sound a bit obsessive, ma'am,” Leo whispered.
“Could that be a bad thing?” Matchstick asked.
Leo shifted his sight to her, “If she is obsessive to the point of over working, or being drowned in one thing it could.”
“And... who cares 'bout some elite chick we don't even know?” Lucky asked, sharpening her knife.
“Not a danger to herself, to Rogue. Morak said she was the head of hancho over at the facility, meaning if the Covenant decide- 'oh, we have weapon 177 again, lets run some experiments on her, hey-try the radiation'-his sister is going to be the one in charge of the experimentation,” Leo said.
“Have a plan, Leonardo?” Halsey asked.
“Actually ma'am, I do.”
“I sure hope you're going to be there, 'cause the closest thing we have to an actaul scientist that we can bring along, is you,” Matchstick growled, pointing her blade accusingly at Leo.
“Don't worry, I'm going to be there. Terror, could you-?”
She answered with the sharpening of her knife’s blade, sending sparks to the deck.
“Thank you,” he nodded.
Terror nodded, then continued to sharpen her knife.
=====Escape one=====
Rogue had finally discovered a way to escape, she had been digging her middle finger into her palm, if she could simply get a single drop onto the deactivation panel, she could get out. Blood had only started to ooze out. She pressed harder, grimacing at the pain. Once she finally felt that enough had formed, she took her fingers back out of the opening, and aimed as best she could before flicking her hand. She missed twice before pausing, every time she missed it angered her unbearably. She refocused before flicking a larger drop. There was a low hum, and the restraints retracted back into the table. Rogue gasped for air, taking a moment before sitting up, and it was only then that she realized how exhausted she was. Rogue rubbed her bruised wrists, then whipped her face across her armored arm.
Rogue slipped off the table, and tried to keep standing, but found her legs unwilling. She forced herself over to her helmet, and put it back on. She felt more bloody tears come. She clenched her teeth, then maintained her balance long enough to walk unstably over to the control panel. Her knees gave way. “G-God help me, please,” she begged. Rogue hit the button, and only then realized how unstable she was, mentally. The guard gasped, then tackled her down. Rogue summoned what was left of her, and punched the elite in the skull, at least stunning him. She got back up, and forced her screaming legs to run. She was running on auto-pilot, not even her head wanted to make her escape. Rogue ran faster, and clumsier, not bothering to attack the enemy. She leapt over a trio of shrieking grunts, and it was when she felt the hot plasma of their pistols hit her back, that she realized she had no shields active.
Rogue yelled, “Get back up,” she ordered herself. Rogue lifted herself back to her knees, and started to crawl, and to even the unggoy it was a pitiful sight indeed. Rogue stumbled back up to her feet, and started to run as fast as she could make herself.
----
“She is willing to do anything for her team, I know that much.”
“Loyalty seems to be in all human beings,” Tsuli agreed.
“This 177 is much different though, Tsuli. If you anger her enough, and she escapes, there is no doubt she will kill you. 177 has made an attempt on the high prophet of Truth’s life before, foolish, granted, but she came very close to succeeding,” Morak warned.
Tsuli laughed, “The SPARTAN will not escape.”
Morah and Shn’tak glanced at one another.
“Something I don’t know?” Tsuli asked.
Shn’tak cleared his throat, “The rogue is not called a phantom for no reason, Tsuli. I’d hate to see one such as you be hurt by the SPARTAN.”
Tsuli grinned, “Thank you for your concern, Shn’tak, but I have no doubt that the SPARTAN will be of no trouble for now at least.”
Morak sighed, “Will you ever understand the meaning if danger?”
Tsuli rolled her eyes, then stood, “I will see you later?”
Morak nodded with a hopeless sigh.
She clenched his hand before leaving.
----
----
----
Rogue swung herself into the jackal, the mix of her weight and force killed him. She struggled back up, then breathed in and out trying to stable herself. Rogue jumped over an elite before its hand shot out, catching her foot, and making her fall faceplate-first to the ground. She felt her body yanked back. Rogue hooked her foot upward, hitting itsjaw, then turned over, and kicked as hard as she possibly could. She jumped back up, leaving her enemy clenching his head. Rogue grabbed a needler from the ground, then started trying to run again. She came to a skidding halt, falling back at Tsuli.
“How did you possibly-?”
Sorry, Morak… she thought. Rogue jumped up, somersaulting over Tsuli, before landing, and ripping Tsuli down to her six-foot level.
“Release me, SPARTAN!”
Rogue shook the unconsciousness out of her head, but knew she wouldn’t last much longer.
----
Rogue tried to keep control of herself, but what had been done to her had weakened her so much. It was a fight to keep standing, but it was war of the worlds to keep her hostage
"Release me SPARTAN! And perhaps you will live!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but that kind of stuff doesn't appeal to me."
"Not even your very life, SPARTAN?!"
"No." Rogue wanted them to kill her... wanted.
Tsuli was suddenly scared, perhaps Morak was more right than wrong.
Rogue started to tremble with exhaustion.
"Hault, Phantom!"
Rogue turned, then glared. She knew how mush trouble she was in, she was cornered. There was no way out, even with a valulable hostage. Thats when she saw the garbage shute. Rogue looked down, then back at Morak, and Shn'tak, holding wave shields, and stun weapons. Wouldn't it just be easier to kill me? Rogue scowled in her mind.
"Let her go, 177!" Morak shouted.
Rogue took her chances, dropping her weapon, and bolting toward the shute. She screamed feeling the shock wave thrust her forward, and aiming her body well, she flew straight into the shute
Rogue screamed, hitting one curve after another before finally being thrown into pile of trash. Her armor was covered in grine, she wiped her face plate, before trying to crawl out of the pile.
She slipped on a smooth sheet of metal, falling straight into the watery bottom, making a sickening splash in the filthy water. Rogue heard, and felt the clang of her right boot hit the bottom. Rogue grimaced, at the pain in most likely making a fracture in her ankle. She stopped struggling, then slowly brought her hands to her head. She could drown if her helmet came off. She nearly took it off, when a large hand grabbed her by the arm, and ripped her upward. Rogue felt as though her body was floating before her back hit a sharp corner, making her head whiplash back, and hit the wall, before falling to the ground.
Rogue felt like she was going to vomit. She tried to get back up, but failed.
"Attempting escape, was a bad move," Shn'tak hissed.
Rogue's breath grew more shallow, she gripped the floor, slowly trying to edge away.
"That is too pittiful," he chuckled.
"This is Doc-F06 to Rogue, Rogue can you hear me?"
Rogue's eyes widened, how-?
"Rogue respond... please respond," she heard his desperate whisper.
"L-Leo... d-d-don't come," she managed.
"Lauren! Where are you, we're-."
"Do not come for me, Leo! Do you hear me?!" Rogue shouted.
"All do respect, sir... You try and stop me," Leo dared.
Rogue let out a small shriek at the point of Shn'tak's armored boot coming down on the middle of her back.
"Rogue!" Leo yelled, "Are you still there?! Can you hear me!?"
Rogue couldn't find her words, the effects of the radiation had only started to wear off, but it seemed that Rogue was in for even more now.
=====Alive, yes. Well? Hell no.=====
“Rogue?! Rogue!” Leo shouted.
“At least we know she's alive, Leo,” Matchstick assured.
“Yeah, I say we charge in there like the 300, and smash them all to smithereens!” Skates shouted.
“Hold on, we need to think this through,” Leo cautioned.
“Leonardo is correct, if you run straight in just as Lauren had, you all might be captured,” Halsey warned, “Leonardo?”
“Terror came up with a great idea, risky, but I'm going for it.”
==Terror's play, Doc's part==
Leo and onyx team ran stealthily through the dark forest, they'd taken hours to get a mile from the facility after landing on the other side of the planet Speed continued to bolt ahead, scouting before slowing back down, and reporting back, long distance running wasn't the hard part, they had recently started going through deep muck. Terror had gained the new play name of monkey, she was simply jumping from branch to branch in the trees, she'd nearly fallen a few times due to her weight, but didn't hit the ground. One thing Leo had started to notice, was that the moon's radiation was having the slightest effect on their sensors, and he kept feeling noxious. Matchstick had commented on feeling the same way earlier. Communicator was aggravated at his instruments wanting to fluctuate on him. Leo had started to sink into thought, when he slipped off a sudden drop.
"Doc!"
Leo saw the ground rushing up, and landed with perfect balance, and a racing heart.
Terror slid down a close by tree,and looked at him.
"I'm alright," he assured.
Terror nodded to him.
Lucky dropped beside him, “Nice.”
“We're not far now, we're going to need to be aware.”
Terror jumped back up, disappearing into the trees.
====Lost====
Rogue couldn't open her eyes, but she felt the radiation beating on her again, she heard the voices.
“I'm sorry, brother, I permitted my arrogance to blind me,” Tsuli said.
“It will not happen again,” Shn'tak growled.
Rogue yelped at brutal fingers gripping her neck.
“You hear me in there, demon?!” he hissed, “Escape again you might not live, but thats exactly what you want, isn't it, girl?”
Rogue was only happy she still had her helmet, “L-Let-me-go.”
That only made it worse.
“Morak, please, if you permanently harm my experiment, my data will not be accurate.”
Rogue could hear the sarcasm in her voice.
“As you wish,” Shn'tak said with pleasure.
She forced her eyes open.
“What was the transmission, SPARTAN?”
Rogue stopped, trying to come up with something. She couldn't think, her head was doing loop-d-loops, and she couldn't concentrate on a specific lie.
“Don't bother attempting to think of a lie, SPARTAN, you are drugged,” Tsuli said, with a a wicked smile.
Rogue realized it wasn't the radiation. Thats when she opened her eyes, and was seeing multiples. She blinked trying to focus.
Shn'tak activated his sword, then lifted it, “Answer, SPARTAN, your friends are coming aren't they.”
Rogue shuddered, “O-Of course not.”
=====Charge=====
Leo charged into the facility, they'd gotten through each wall. He glanced back at Luck on th wall, knocking Covenant off, with a shove to the back, none of them knew what was coming. Plasma sprayed against Leo's shields, and Skates was a blur leaving anything he touched laying on the ground with blood running out the neck. Leo grabbed Matchstick's hands, then swung her about, allowing her to kill anything near with a deadly blow, and sent her flying into a brute.
“Doc to Skates, progress?”
“CLAVIGERS!” Skates shouted.
“Whi-?”
“Slithers!”
Leo turned around, only to have a claviger tackle him. Leo yelped before, one of its arm slipped around his neck.
Matchstick leapt onto its shoulders beating it in the back of the neck, “Get-of-my-BROTHER!”
The snake being collapsed.
Leo gasped for air, trying to regain his balance, and thanked God that it's fangs hadn't reached his carotid arteries, and fulfilled its purpose, draining his blood, leaving corpses for lurkers to consume. “Th-thanks Matchstick!”
She nodded to him, “You going to be alright?”
“I'll be fine,” he assured.
Matchstick jumped away, no clue of his intentions.
They advanced into the first building, running down hall number one.
“Terror, are you in position?” Leo asked.
Her light winked green.
Leo looked ahead to on coming Covenant. He wasn't too sure what would happen, but Rogue had done the same for him, and she'd do it a thousand times over. “Onyx, team!... Fall back!”
=====Metabolism=====
The alarm blazed off.
Rogue sighed in anger, allowing her head to sink, and released her tension. “Leo... no...”
“SPARTANs are breaching out defenses!”
“We'll be right there!” Shn'tak shouted.
Tsuli watched as they exited, she turned, then approached the pannel.
The table leaned back once more.
“I will return, SPARTAN... Perhaps my brother will capture one of yours.”
Rogue felt dread as the elite scientist left, she glanced at the IV drip that she'd been place on, it was drugs, and there was no way for her to get off them, she could only pray that her body would metabolize it fast enough for her to try to figure something out.
====Terror's prey====
Terror crawled through the large vents, looking for a place to set up shop, the core would be best, but she could settle for a line to it. She laid the computer on the bottom, then hooked the lines in place, before opening the screen, and setting up a cybernetic cloak. Terror hacked into the camera visuals, hoping Specs's training would do her well, of course she had learned what she did by simply watching him.
“Terror, is it ready?” Leo's impatient voice asked.
Terror winked her light, then came across the brig, nothing on any of the eight visuals, she switched to the power levels, and found much of the power being directed to the lab's radiation chamber, she selected, and there was Lauren. Terror felt a wave of urgency come over her, Rogue didn't look good, and she had ans IV drop, most likely containing a drug. She switched to the SPARTANs, they were making the get away, but now it was Doc's turn, it was up to Leo.
===The Doctor's orders===
Leo started to slow his pace, allowing the others to speed ahead before he stopped.
“Doc, why are we-? Doc?!” Matchstick halted, then jolted around.
“DOC!”
“Get out of here, guys,” Doc ordered.
“Say wha-?!” Tease started.
“Get out of here, thats an order!” Leo shouted, then shut the blast door, before jamming it. He turned back around to make his last stand, and reloaded his SMGs. “Alright, who wants their medicine first?”
----
Terror sliced into the last security system, the accessed a screen near the Rogues, trying to open the door back up.
PART OF THE PLAN GUYS, GET OUT!
----
“DOC!” Matchstick bashed at the door, “Open, we're not leaving you behind!”
“Matchstick, look,” Skates said.
Matchstick growled, glaring at the message, “Idiots, not letting us in the loop... Lets go!”
====Falling====
Lucky fired at Covenant still coming out, but she was running short on ammo. “Guys, I'm about to run out of ammo!”
“We're on our way out,” Matchstick said.
Lucky stopped, “Y'all got Rogue?”
“Change of plans, Alex, just keep our exit clear,” Matchstick growled.
“Gr... aye, ma'am,” Lucky hissed, aiming again.
Lucky killed a lurker leaping across the clearing, then sniped several clavigers coming out. Why would they leave with out getting Rogue? That's the whole point of this op! Lucky couldn't shake of the guilt if they'd leave Rogue behind, she is gruff, and a bit bloodless, but she is our sister! Lucky's eyes widened at the sight of a cobra, and fire, only to hear a 'click'. “Dang it!” Lucky reloaded in the blink of an eye, but by the time she had, it was gone. “Where the h-?”
“Fall human...”
Lucky yelped, being thrust off the wall, it was even worse than her dreams of jerking off, and falling to eternity. She brought her arm in front of her faceplate in hopes of survival.
====Join====
Leo ran down the fall, killing anything and everything in his path. Seconds under his SMG fire was lethal. He leapt over obstacles, dodged weapon fire, reloaded, never had he felt like such a monster, do my brothers and sisters ever feel this way?
He felt his boots crushing limp bodies, he heard blood splashing onto his armor. Or am I the only one to feel this remorse?... These creatures most likely have families. This must be how Rogue felt on the Tenak mission... Leo somersaulted over a quartet of grunts, leaving them the gift of a plasma grenade, he felt innards, and organic debris splattering his armor. Why did Halsey make us? Why couldn't there have been some other solution?
Leo skidded to a halt, throwing purple sparks into the air, “Hello.”
Morak and Shn'tak had been waiting...
“SPARTAN fool.”
Leo saw their weapons standard issue for the SPARTAN Hunters. It was then he knew that Terror was correct, they were going to capture him, not kill... but what'd they do to him after? Nothing worse than that of what ONI had put him through to develop resistance to interrogation. Of course thats why they all saved a bullet for themselves. Suicide rather that capture, but not this time, the only real torture he had ever been put through was watching one of his siblings in pain. He needed to prepare himself for that. They had Rogue, and torturing her was something that they might do, and had already done.
“Make this easy, SPARTAN.”
Leo had to put up a fight to avoid suspicion. He turned back around to run, only to feel a blow to the back, and numbness shoot through his limbs. “No!”
“Fear not, Brother, this SPARTAN is one who dislikes violence, it will be easy prey.”
Leo stood back up, and started to run again, regaining feeling in his limbs again. But before he had even looked up, he had run slamming into a hunter. Leo fell back. Clumsy idiot! The hunter's shield came down on his gut. Blood sputtered out of his mouth, and onto his inside faceplate. But the blow wasn't hard enough that the hunter would kill him. Leo shouted, it aimed its cannon at him, as did the other, but by then Leo was seeing colors. Just let me pass out, just let me pass out... he prayed. He felt like he was going to vomit. Two more appeared in his vision.
“Where's Rogue?!” Leo demanded.
“You can join her, Doc,” Shn'tak laughed.
Leo felt a wave of anger come over him, then glanced at the camera before feeling the stun dart allow the drug to enter his system.
----
Terror's eyes shot open wider, they had Luck, “No...”
----
Lucky felt her body being dragged, she opened her eyes, and saw the ground moving beneath her, but she couldn't move, one of the clavigers had bit her, she felt like morphine was trying to take over her. Her head started beating at every noise, then her body suddenly dropped.
“They are going to wantssss thisss one,” a creeping voice hissed.
“Her blood isss delisssioussss,” another purred, “I wissssh to have more.”
Lucky felt her heartbeat start to accelerate.
“No, we ssshall remain loyal.”
A slithery, thick arm came around her waist, and lifted her up.
Lucky shuddered, and the realization of how tiny she was came back. She was thinking of a plan to escape, when she fell out of consciousness once again.
===Another Gift===
Leo couldn't see, and couldn't struggle against his arms being restrained to what felt like an examination table, he couldn't tell. But before he new it, he was unable to move, and what ever had been covering his helmet was removed, leaving the image of Shn'tak, Morak, and some other elite. He knew Morak was a friend, but the other two were not. The one he didn't know looked odd though, slimmer, and had... hair?
“Where's Rogue?” Leo demmanded.
Shn'tak growled, “Open your eyes, SPARTAN, she's right beside you.”
Leo turned his head, “Lauren...” She looked horrible, her armor was scorched, her faceplate scratched, her hand that was bare, with an IV inserted was inhumanly white-green. There was a light over her, sending out some sort of pulse, he couldn't see her face through her helmet, but there was no doubt that she was in pain.
“What are you doing to her?!” Leo shouted.
His question was overlooked.
“Oh brother, you've gifted me with another,” she said, affectionately to Morak.
Of course! That must be Morak's sister!
“Not only is this another SPARTAN, but it is a medical SPARTAN, with all the knowledge of human anatomy you can think of,” Shn'tak boasted.
“Guards are going to be placed outside at all times, Tsule, I don't want a reoccurance of when she had escaped.”
“I will not underestimate any longer, Morak,” Tsule assured.
Shn'tak took her hand, “We realize how much work you must have, so we shall leave.”
“Thank you, Shn'tak, I hope to see you next meal time.”
Shn'tak nodded, but turned back to Leo. “Cooperate, and perhaps you might live, SPARTAN F06. Your sister might not care for her life, but I know you do.”
Leo glared, did Rogue told them she didn't care about her life? Of course not! Rogue loves life... I think.
Morak and Shn'tak left, leaving the she-elite, Leo and the unconscious Rogue.
Tsule was her name, or the name Leo had heard.
“So, you are a medical SPARTAN?” she asked.
Leo narrowed his eyes, “What's it to you?”
“Everything,” she said, walking to a panel, and pressing several keys, “Would you know what it means if I told you your sister here is suffering from cellular degeneration?”
Leo felt his heart nearly stop, “How? What are you doing to her? To what extent?!”
“How-the radiation is having that one of several effects on her, what am I doing-experimenting for weapons against you SPARTANs, to what extent-if her exposure continues, she'll die within a week, but fear not. I have no intention of killing either of you.”
“Then what is your intention?” Leo asked.
“To continue my experimentation until I find-... until I find... until I find what I'm looking for.”
“What are you looking for then?” Leo asked.
Tsule stopped, her head jerked to Leo, “I'll know when I find it.”
Leo saw the IV, he wanted to just break out, and rescue is beloved sister.
“With 177 here I am interested in anatomy, her logic, her psychology, and other things, such as her reactions to my experiments. But you-you I'm most interested in for personality, and psychology.”
“Personality, why?” Leo asked.
Tsule laughed, “We profile what SPARTANs we can, F06, you are more on the peaceful side, you only fight when necessary, or if a fellow human is in danger, such as your sister here. Do you know how many you killed? Do you know how many of them had families?”
Leo wished he could plug his ears, and if his helmet was off, he probably could, his wrist weren't restrained at his sides, but luckily by his helmet, making his arms at 90 degree angles...
“You killed forty unggoy, all of which had family, twelve kig-yar seven of them had children, nine sangheili all with families, two of which have sons here who I believe would love to have your head at this moment,” Tsule said.
“Don-don't l-listen to her, Leo. They aren't w-worth your breath.”
Leo looked to see Rogue's faceplate meet his.
“You're a blasted idiot, you know?” Rogue's voice said gravely.
Leo couldn't help, but smile remember how many times he'd heard that one.
Tsule twisted a nob on the panel.
Rogue grimaced, and yelped.
Leo saw her body tightening, she was trying to over come the pain. He closed his eyes. “Stop that.”
“I will tend to you in a moment, F06, my first experiment is priority one for now.”
“I-'m fine Leo... Don't worry 'bout me, I don't care,” Rogue grunted.
Leo shuddered, was the elite simply trying to get a rise out of him?
==No death...==
“Why would the SPARTANs leave one of their own behind?” Morak asked.
“In the recording, he had ordered them to go, I'm assuming he thought he could rescue the 177 all by himself,” Shn'tak said.
Those Rogues are up to something, I'd better stop digging, or I'll screw it up. But F06 was a fool to have allowed himself to be captured! Morak thought.
“What are the clavigers up to?” Shn'tak asked.
“A Cobra? What is he doing?” Morak agreed in question.
The Cobra bowed, “Another wasss found.” The cobra drew his head back, then allowed one of the walkers to proceed, and drop a limp body.
Morak nearly stopped, and restrained himself from showing signs of knowing the SPARTAN.
Shn'tak walked over, “Another, hm. It's number is S45.”
“I believe that one is their sniper,” Morak said.
“It killed many of my upwalkersss,” the cobra hissed.
Morak nodded, “Understood, cobra, return to the nest, we will breif you later.”
The cobra hissed, then drew back along with its fellow clavigers.
“Its dieing.”
Morak forced an emotionless face, despite his alarm, “You think Tsule will want to save it?”
Shn'tak chuckled, “Of course, you sister is very dedicated in her work, she told me that if she continues in her experiments that 177 will die, this S45 could be a likely replacement.”
Die?'' Tsule, I know you don't want to do that... Oh if only you could see the side of humanity that I have. Please, Leo, show her that side... Or your sister is going to die... Morak prayed.
===Awareness is needed.===
“Dad-gun-mig-frig!” It took everything in Matchstick to not start sputtering out a cursing whirlwind of profanity in front of Halsey
“Were you aware of this plan?” Halsey asked.
“Of course not, Leo’s been in ONI too long, he’s too good at keeping secrets, he Terror and Lucky! Lucky didn’t report back, and Terror was MIA from the start of entering the facility, one things for sure, we’re not going to be getting back in if the Covenant have anything to say about it,” Matchstick growled.
Halsey sighed, “Do you think they know what they’re doing?”
Matchstick remover her helmet allowing her light brown hair to fan out, and her greyed eyes displayed her anger, “Leo-yes, Terror-she’s too much to herself for me to know, Lucky-heck no, ma’am.”
“Is that because of her size, Terra?” Halsey asked.
“No ma’am, I just think she would have known the plan if she had been in the Terror-Doc loop.”
“Are you sating she didn’t?” Halsey asked, eyes growing.
“No ma’am, she didn’t seem to.”
“Well then, she must have been captured, that another problem Leo will simply have to fix on his own, you said she’d been stationed on this wall?”
Matchstick nodded.
“Have you considered the possibility that she might have been killed?”
“What?! No way, how-!?”
“Something could have come up behind her, and pushed her off if she wasn’t paying attention.”
Matchstick sighed, “I should have looked for her…”
Halsey put her hand on Matchsticks shoulder, “We’ll wait for word back, that’s all we can do for now.”
The communicator started to beep.
“Halsey here.”
“How long do I have to be down here, ma’am?! It’s really cold!” Sanders shouted.
“Give that to me! Doctor, he’s got a good point, ma’am we just hit a blizzard, or rather it hit us! Can you hear me?!” Communicator shouted through staticy wind.
“I hear you, Ken, just hang in there until you can get a signal from Kale,” Halsey ordered.
“Yes ma’am, but I sure hope that Sanders and I won’t have to resort to body warmth.”
“Do what?!” Matchstick exclaimed.
“He better not-he didn’t mean that, ma’am!” Sanders shouted, “Over and out!”
====Blue====
“Relax, it was a joke,” Communicator said, he turned back around, when he realized Sanders had jumped him, and they were both on the floor of the pelican. “I was just kidding! Get off of me!”
“It wasn't funny-at all!”
Communicator lost his helmet, before receiving a punch in the nose from Sanders.
Communicator caught his other fist before returning the blow.
But... why were they fighting?
=====Screaming in the shadows=====
“That is the curious thing about this moon, brother, it creates its own glow from the radiation, it needs no sun to create a source of light.”
Morak nodded, “I see.”
Shn'tak blinked very interesting.
As if you know what she actually means. Morak growled in his mind.
“One puzzling thing is that when we sent a probe around to the opposite side, and discovered it to be a blue color, but when we'd sent a team to look, it was odd, there was bloody screaming on the com...”
Morak stopped, “What was that?”
“The moon has two very different sides, the blue radiation is different some how,” Tsule said.
“What happened to the team you sent around?” Shn'tak asked.
Tsule seemed reluctant to speak on the matter, but continued, “There was screaming on the audio, bellowing, screeching, we don't know what happened, but we had lost contact, and that was the end. The visual we received... they were...”
“Tsule?” Morak asked.
“They were ripping each other apart, oh the poor unggoy,” Tsule whispered.
Morak stopped. Was there more about this moon they didn't realize? “Tsule, what would happen if that side turned to this facility?”
Tsule shrugged, “I guess we'll find out when that happens.”
“What?” Morak asked.
“Every two years, judging by the rotation, the blue side will face the facility for three days, it will happen in about thirty-six hours,” Tsule explained.
Morak and Shn'tak jumped up, at the sight of Squadmaster Rovn'ee.
He nodded to them, “Tsule, I believe our guests need to know the true purpose of this facility.”
Tsule's eyes widened.
“Now.”
Tsule stood.
“I will accompany you.”
Tsule shrugged.
“True purpose?” Morak asked.
“Yes, brother, I apologize, but a mere research facility for the moon this is not,” she said.
Morak looked to Shn'tak who shrugged, and they followed.
----
Leo pulled at the restraints, not wasting his energy, but testing their hold. By the number of bars holding Rogue down, she must have been giving them one hell of a struggle.
Rogue looked over to him, “Leo, stop...”
“Not like I'm actually putting up a struggle here, just testing these,” Leo said.
“You don't seem very worried,” Rogue whispered.
Leo smiled, “Don't worry, we worked up a plan-er-Terror and I did, she's up in the vents somewhere, and will free us once she's moved schedules, hacked into this security system to free us, I was just supposed to be part of the diversion for her to slip in.”
Rogue didn't bother responding, she closed her eyes again.
“We're going to get out of here, Rogue... We.”
“No... whatever happens next, I'm never going to get out of here.”
----
“So this place is merely a cover, what is under is much more interesting.”
“A forerunner temple,” Tsule said.
Morak nearly stopped.
Shn'tak seemed just as surprised, “So you've been hiding this place from humans?”
“Yes, but only certain high clearance personnel enter, it appears to be some sort of map room that we can not seem to activate. It is quite odd.”
This is great, Rogue. Look what you've gotten ''us'' into, Morak growled in his mind.
“I've asked the fleetmaster about signs that have been displayed. He spoke with the prophet, and its been found that the humans are required.”
“This will be troublesome, 177 is extremely dangerous, and devious. I myself have been caught off guard by her before,” Shn'tak admitted.
“What of the male?” the ultra asked.
“F06 is unpredictable,” Morak said. Dang. I hate trying to cover their asses!
“But he's quite vulnerable. Threaten 177's life, or make her suffer directly in front of him, then sit back and watch,” Shn'tak chuckled.
“Then we just might do that, Tsule, go back, I need you to confirm this,” the ultra ordered.
Tsule grinned, devilishly. “With pleasure.”
==Blue Horror==
Green light turned blue... Communicator had a horrifying sensation come over him-something was wrong. He looked down as his hand started to tremble. Thats when he felt the urge to kill something. “What the heck? I don't take a joy to randomly killing... Do I?”
Suddenly there was a bellow, and Sanders was trying to knock him down.
Communicator shoved his elbow back, knocking Sanders off his feet, “'scuse you.”
Sanders bellowed, just before knocking him off his feet, “What the heck man?! I was just kidding about the cuddling!”
Sanders pulled a knife.
“Holy crap have you gone phsyco?!” Communicator shouted, he stumbled back out of the tent into the fresh snow, the sky was clear, and showed a beautiful blue moon, “Whoa...” he awed, just then Sanders jumped out, nicking Communicator's under-arm. “Ow-jeez, you aren't joking.”
Sanders pupils extended completely over his eyes, and he seemed ragged, the whole thing giving him an inhuman look, as he growled.
“Uh-Doctor... could I get some help down here,” Communicator groaned, just before his hands started to shake violently.
===Regrets...===
“Come on, Rogue, I need you to stay awake with me,” Leo said, “Lauren, up!”
Rogue didn't respond, and as far as Leo could tell, she'd lost the will to live.
Is it because of being a POW-not to mention a Guinea-pig, or because she's gone emo about Truth again? Leo wondered. He heard the scientist's foot steps, 
she was about a thirty seconds away. “Alright, Leo, come on, you can beat the elite girl in the psychological game.”
Tsule entered, bringing a grim atmosphere with her. “Hello again, Leonardo.”
“Don't call me by name, if you're going to address me, its Doc-or F06.”
“Ooh-did I detect a hint of anger in your voice?”
“Of course not, I was simply being stern,” Leo smiled under his helmet.
Tsule shrugged, then walked over to the panel, “Your sister's anatomy is fascinating. Her body has slowly been developing a resistance to the radiation, but the cellular degeneration has excelled.”
Leo saw Rogue's fist twitch. She was awake.
“I got an idea-how 'bout you leave her alone, after all, you've gathered a lot more information on her than you have on me,” Leo said.
“Was that an invitation, Leonardo?” Tsule asked.
Leo tilted his head down, with a slight growl.
Tsule, still smiling walked over to him, then folded a mechanical device over his helmet.
The started blinking before sustaining a blue light.
“What's this thing?” Leo asked.
“Its a scanner that analyzes your brain waves, by sending out certain emitter frequencies, I can practically see what you're think-quite blurred though... I bet its that helmet,” Tsule whispered.
Leo wasn't surprised when she walked over, and removed it.
She stopped looking at his face, his crystal blue eyes, and dark brown hair which was long for a guy.
“You going to keep staring at me, or continue your tests?” Leo asked, before relaxing his neck again.
“I'll ask a few questions first,” Tsule said. “Do you love your sister?”
“That-is one stupid question, of course I do,” Leo said.
“What do you think of her death wish?”
“I think she's had it the roughest, and its very understandable, but completely unacceptable,” Leo said.
“Then why are humans told 'to save a bullet for themselves'?” Tsule asked.
“Well our command would rather us kill ourselves, then be tortured for information with the possibility of breaking, then be slaughtered by you,” Leo said.
Tsule seemed to stop at that, her attitude seemed to change. “Slaughter...”
“At least humans respect our enemies,” Leo said, “All the Covenant seem to do is kill with out thought billions of innocence have been killed! And for what?! PRIDE! 'Your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instruments'? How do you know your gods want this?! What kind of cruel god would want you to slaughter all of the innocence that your Covenant does?!”
Tsule seemed to be horrified.
“Your prophets are liars,” Rogue said, still not moving, until her helmet turned over, then tilted, reflecting Tsule's image, “Humans are no more defiled than Covenant-by what the Covenant have done, they are far more animals than we are... humans didn't start this war. You did.”
Leo found Tsule to actually be in some stage of regret, and she walked out of the room very quickly.
----
Tsule was at war with herself, she'd never seen that part of a human before. Now that she thought about it, all the Covenant seemed to do at this stage was commit murder on the human race... everything she had once over looked was becoming clear. She'd never actually thought of 177 as a being, only an experiment. 177 was a sentient as Tsule was, deep down somewhere under that armor there was a sole in there. What if everything the Covenant had been built on was a lie? In history, Fal, one of the arbiters had been the last real stand against the Covenant, and the arbiter became a mark of shame after his fall. He had said the great Journey was a lie... what if he had been correct on everything?
“Tsule?”
Tsule looked over to see Morak.
“Tsule, are you alright, you do not look well,” he said, walking over to her.
Shn'tak came 'round before she could speak, “Confirmed it?”
Tsule nodded, “I have.”
“Good, this way,” he ordered the guards following him.
Tsule then realized how much further she'd gone in harming the SPARTANs.
==Never Surrender==
“On your feet, human!”
“Stop hitting her for thirty seconds and you might get that result!” Leo shouted.
"Silence, you SPARTAN filth!"
Rogue clenched her eyes shut, but heard Doc's cry after receiving a blow in punishment. She'd kill the ultra. Rogue struggled to her knees, "Don't touch him!"
The ultra slowly turned, darkness, and intent in his wicked eyes.
Rogue felt her heart nearly stop, when in a flash, she screamed, finding herself off the ground, with a covenant combat knife jammed into her gut.
The elite dropped her.
"Rogue!" Doc cried.
The honor guards held him back.
Rogue flailed on the ground, trying to grip the knife with her cuffed hands.
The elite laughed, "Here, let me help you with that, human," he hissed, then ripped it out.
Rogue cried, turning over.
"Stab her again and I'll kill you!" Leo shouted.
The ultra smiled, "Keep your head on, SPARTAN I could stab her again and again, and not kill her. She'll live."
Doc glared under his helmet.
"I know the exact points to inflict the most pain, but not death."
"Don't stab her again... you'll regret it," Leo threatened.
Rogue turned on her side, and tried to cope with the pain, "Mhhh..."
The ultra walked over, and ripped her helmet off.
"Leave her alone!" Leo shouted.
He grabbed her by the back of her head, then lifted her to her knees, "You and your brother are weak girl... Your pain is worse to him than it is to you."
"Sorry him being human is weak in your eyes," Rogue grunted.
The elite ran a claw under her chin, "Tell me, girl. Would the boy fall prey to your screaming?" he asked, "What would he do if he saw you in more pain, would he do what we order him to?"
"No," Rogue whispered. She grimaced as his grip tightened.
"You're lying, girl," he said, "And when he refuses... you'll suffer," he whispered into her ear. "I'll enjoy your torture."
"You'll have to kill me before he helps you," Rogue growled.
"Don't count on it, girl... don't count on it," he chuckled.
===Honor===
Terror closed her eyes, she hated seeing any of her brothers or sisters in pain. Rogue didn't deserve it.
When she heard a com open.
"M-Morak... you-are in league with them?"
"Tsule. The Covenant-we are just murders. I hat it-and you do too," Morak said.
DO YOU NEED BACK-UP?
Morak-HOLD THAT THOUGHT...
"The SPARTAN Rogues are my allies, and I wish to honor F06's trust. Can you not see the very sin in the extermination of humans... I for one am certain 
the gods would never wish anything like this on an entire species," Morak said, "I'm not a traitor... I'm trying to save my race from destroying our own honor."
====Fatalities====
Terror took her battle rifle, and loaded it.
"Then brother,... I choose to do the same. I will not harm humans any longer. I want to help," Tsule whispered.
Terror was oddly surprise, That was easy...
"Sister, the first step is to free the SPARTANs. May I?"
"What?" Tsule asked.
"Terror?"
GO AHEAD. MIGHT AS WELL.
"Terror-er-what?" Tsule asked.
"A SPARTAN known as Terror has infiltrated the facility," Morak said. "She is breaking our systems at the moment, and can open any door."
Tsule smiled, "That will be helpful. But... she-she-is she within the protecting dome?"
"The what?" Morak asked.
"The blue moon is coming. I didn't tell you everything, but the moment it covers the base all who do not enter the dome are going to become insane to say the least," Tsule said.
Morak stopped, "Terror... where are your men?"
NORTHERN POLE... THIS ISN'T GOOD.
"Contact your Halsey," Morak said. "She'll need to know."
ON IT, BUT YOU GET YOUR SCALEY REAR DOWN THERE! ROGUE IS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE. ONE OF THEM ULTRAS STABBED HER.
"How bad?" Morak breathed.
NOT GOOD, BUT NOT FATAL.
===Doc's Fears, Rogue's Hostility===
“Stop it! Stop hurting her!” Leo shouted.
Rogue looked at him, glaring, with her bloodied gaze, “Don't you dare, Leo...”
The elite dropped her, leaving her on the ground.
“Now are you going to activate it, SPARTAN-F06?” the ultra asked.
Leo looked down at Rogue on the floor... she'd been through enough, but what could the product be? Other than Rogue trying to court martial him, and being reprimanded by anyone he crossed paths with for assisting the Covenant.
“More blood, SPARTAN?!” The ultra growled. He slowly bent down, and brought the knife to Rogue's middle. “Will you, SPARTAN?”
Leo looked away.
“Very well,” the elite hissed.
Rogue shoved her leg up, hooking over the elite's neck, then shoved back down, forcing the ultra off his feet. “Eat that, ugly!” She rolled backward, landing on her feet, they'd freed her hands when they had first got to the artifact, and the torture had started.
The ultra jumped back up, and growled, “You will pay for that, human filth!”
Rogue was barely functioning, she hadn't eaten in days, the drugs where still slightly in affect, and she was wounded, the puncture in her stomach felt as though someone had shoved another blade in, and was twisting it.
----
Terror gasped, as Tsule turned, and saw her.
“I wish to assist the Texans.”
Terror sighed with relief, then nodded.
“Alright, lets do this.”
==== A Rogue's cry, and a Rogue's wish ====
Rogue shouted, falling down, at the hand of Shn'tak.
Shn'tak pulled his arm back, and struck her again and again.
Leo couldn't handle it any longer, “Stop hurting her! Stop! I'll do whatever you want me to, just stop hurting Lauren!”
“L-Leo...” she whispered. “Sh-shut the hell up...” blood sputtered from her mouth at each painful word.
Shn'tak stood, leaving Rogue on the ground.
The ultra hissed, “Open the artifact, human.”
Rogue struggled to turn herself onto her front, then watch as Leo was released, and he rushed over to a glowing sphere. She reached for Leo, “Leo 
don't...”
Leo looked back at Rogue.
Shn'tak slammed his boot down on her left reaching arm.
Get up, Rogue! Get up now! Stop him! She screamed at herself. You've gotta do this! Kill yourself and take Leo with you! Rogue focused... SPARTANs were strong, she was strong, she'd never surrender! Never!
Shn'tak seemed occupied with Leo.
Rogue closed her eyes... she slowly slipped her hand under her belt, and slipped out her hidden knife, and opened it. She turned part up, “Sh-Shn'tak...”
He snapped his gaze down at her.
“You-you...”
Shn'tak narrowed his eyes, “Speak up, you pathetic worm.”
Rogue glared, “You. REMEMBER THE ALAMO!” She flung the knife into his gut, then in a blink had shot up, and bolted over to Leo. She grabbed him, and 
threw herself along with him to the ground.
Shn'tak roared, charging.
Rogue leapt over him, only to have his arm come around, and strike her across the back. She fell.
“Lauren!” Leo cried.
Rogue tumbled to a limp halt, laying motionless on her side.
Leo got up, but a brute grabbed him before he could rush to Rogue’s aid, “No! Lauren, get up!”
Shn’tak walked over, and turned her onto her back, then smiled pleasantly, “The demon is dead.”
Leo stopped, “No, no! Let me go! Lauren! Lauren get up!” he cried. “Lauren!”
Shn’tak laughed, “Such a pitiful creature, you are, F06. Disappointing, I had expected her to put up a true fight.”
“Coward!” Leo snarled. “The radiation took all the fight out of her! You have no honor fighting an injured and defenseless opponent!”
Shn’tak hissed, walking towards him.
The brute released him.
Leo didn’t move as Shn’tak walked straight up to him, “Yeah, kill me too, that’ll earn it back.
Shn’tak’s rage was extensive, but Leo couldn’t afford to be the one to attack.
=== Left for Dead ===
Terror ran down the hall, she’d been in the shield, but the Covenant outside were trying to set up a reenactment of left for dead! Terror jumped over an unprepared elite, and shoved her boot back, breaking it’s spine with the single blow, and continued to run. The plan was simple, because everything was chaotic, it’d be easy. Terror would run, and free Leo and Rogue. Just how is still the problem! Then Tsule would get Lucky on her feet, and somebody-whoever finished priority one first would contact Halsey about the whole thing.
----
Tsule rushed over to the cryo-pod that S45 had been placed in, and shut the systems of, before dragging S45 out. She cursed at the weight, wishing she had her brothers’ strength, being able to pick up a SPARTAN single handedly. She heaved S45 on to the table, and extended the cardio prods. A jump start would last the SPARTAN long enough to get her to the Halsey doctor for further healings. “Alright, SPARTAN, wake up!”
The pulse jolted, but flat lined once more.
“Oh. This better work,” Tsule hissed to herself.
=== Reemergences ===
Terra balanced on the log, and jumped to a closer distance, and shoved the baton forward. 177 started to run on the log, forcing it to go back, then jumped to Terra’s log, and knocked her feet out from under her, forcing Terra to plunge into the water, then 177 tapped her in the head ending the match. The other recruits cheered.
“Yeah Sevs!”
“Go! Sevs!”
177 hated nick names, they’d been calling her Sevs for a while.
“Next recruit!” Ford shouted, “C14, hit the showers!”
177 turned around, to see Luke drop onto one of the logs.
B92 threw him the baton.
177 glared, “Ready to get your rear kicked?”
Luke smiled, “Bring it, Lauren.”
177 maintained her balance before jumping to a log at Luke’s side, she swiped back, then jumped over his blow, and somersaulted back, barely catching her 
balance before jumping up again. She made it to a far log, then waited. “I thought you were going to fight, not be some loser who only blocks.”
Luke glared at her.
“Here kitty-kitty!”
“Recruits! I'd better see some more fighting and less standing!” Ford shouted.
177 saw Luke looking back at Ford, and leapt forward, throwing Luke off guard before she shoved her baton into his chest, knocking him back, but he 
jumped before hitting the water, and landed on another log.
177 jumped after him, doing everything she could. When suddenly Luke managed to swipe her feet out from under her. She landed on her back, and managed 
balance, just as he was about to deliver the winning blow she swiped her legs under his, knocking them both into the muddy, dirty water. 177 grabbed him, 
and socked him in the nose before he decked her back. They broke surface, still fighting, the match was over but Ford hadn't blown the whistle.
Ford was obviously giving 177 the chance to take out her anger, but he'd stop it if she went too far.
177 yanked Luke under, and managed to grip him by folding her lower legs around his torso, and she punched him in the face multiple times. When ever it 
came over her, she hated Luke, he made her the shame of the squad, made her look like some brutal monster. She stopped... the word monster... she 
released Luke, who didn't move, she was only making everything worse by trying to kill him. He slowly drifted downward. 177 grabbed him by the shirt, and 
swam back up, kids were still making all sorts of noises, she laid Luke on the cement, leaned him up, then slapped him in the back, until water gushed 
out from his throat.
Luke gasped for air.
177 took in a deep breath, “You oka-angh!”
Micheal, Brad, and Jacob grabbed 177, and threw her down.
Jacob and Micheal held her down, while Brad started to continuously punch her in the nose.
177 tried to struggle out from under them, but she couldn't! And where the hell was Ford?!
“You tried to kill him!”
“Your such a loser!”
“You bi-!”
The last blow sent her out of consciousness.
====Wake up====
Lucky cracked her eyes open to a bright light beaming down at her.
"SPARTAN, SPARTAN can you hear me?"
Lucky turned her head to the noise, and as her sight focused, she saw an elite.
"SPARTAN-S45, Remember the Alamo," she said.
Lucky suddenly remembered everything. Lauren had to be rescued. Lucky then recalled falling off the wall, and getting herself captured herself.
Lucky quickly sat up, "What did you say?"
"Remember the Alamo," she repeated.
Lucky breathed, "Who are you, and where did you hear that?"
"My brother is Morak, and I've chosen to help the Texans," she said.
Lucky was about to respond, when Terror shot through the door, and bust the controls behind her, before slamming herself against the wall, and panted.
"Terror?" Lucky asked.
Terror pointed at her, then Tsule, then at a vent in the ceiling.
Lucky looked at the vent. "Terror, wha-?"
Terror jumped away from the door as a large dent was punched through, then another, there was something on the outside...
'NOW LUCKY!'
Terror ordered.
Lucky read the order on her HUD, then looked at Terror who aimed an over charged plasma pistol at the vent. and shot the cover off.
Lucky glared at Terror, then nodded, "Don't do anything Rogue wouldn't do."
"Lets go, SPARTAN," the elite urged, she was already up in the vents.
Lucky was surprised to see the elite's hand come down to assist her, but she accepted, and climbed up.
Terror sighed in relief as Lucky vanished, then duel wielded her Sub Machine Guns, and aimed at the door... "Three... two..."
"One."
==== Struggles ====
Leo glared at the debating covenant from a distance, then glanced at Rogue's untouched body. He pulled at the shackles on his wrists, holding him to the pillar, and out of their way. Rage and hate, on top of him starting to hate himself... it was all welling into one bitter pool. He had to stop, he had to prevent the bitterness from taking over like Rogue, but he also had to get free.
“Stop struggling,” ordered one of the three guard.
The order only made Leo want to struggle harder until a carbine was placed against the side of his skull.
“I said stop struggling, SPARTAN.”
Leo eyes him, “Why don't you make me? You need me, remember, its not like you' just gonna-!”
The elite guard swiped its carbine across his head, just before one of the others slammed its carbine into his gut.
“Careful you two... the ultra finds him no longer useful, he'll have your head.”
===== A Turning Terror =====
Terror shouted, as the lurker tackled her, and bit into her shoulder.
Morak sliced it off her, and pulled her to her feet, before they came back-to-back.
Another lurker howled, just before running after them both. Terror flipped over Morak, and shoved a sliver of metal through its chest.
Morak slashed a psychotic brute, just before whipping around to cut down a claviger. “Spartan, we need to get back within the shield, I am feeling the 
over whelming urge to ki- Terror?”
Terror was panting on the ground, she growled, then nodded.
“You as well?”
Terror stood, she fought the urge to attack him. Fight it, Kale. We've got I job to do! She shook her head vigorously, and stepped back.
“Terror?” Morak asked.
“G-get away,” she managed.
Morak took a step back, he'd never heard Terror speak... Either she was desperate, or she was trying to protect him. Still, she was serious. “Terror, we 
can get to the shield, come.”
Terror started to growl.
“Terror, come,” Morak persisted.
Terror grabbed her helmet, trying to hold on to sanity. She grabbed her knife from her ankle's sheath. She looked at Morak, shaking.
Morak's body started to tense from his own resistance, “I will return... Terror... But I can not help you now,” he whispered stepping back.
Terror suddenly charged towards him.
Morak shut the blast door, and broke the controls, he had to make it to the shield. He had to!
==A threat once laid dormant==
A threat long in dormancy. Now awakened at last. Have no need for the opened door, our curse is at cast. All beings shall bow, now that our scourge is released. Plague the galaxy once again, we shall. Inhabitants of this rock know not of our presence... for that they will regret. The open tomb releases long lost secrets now to be unleashed. The outside holds a very dangerous threat one that must first be found. Sentient beings will know of the threat, the beings will answer... Or be infected.
==Part 2:==
177 reopened her eyes to see a corpman over her, “Yeah, she'll be alright.”
Leo walked over, “Those ribs won't take long to heal either.”
177 leaned up, “Brad! I'm going to kill him!” She stood up, but stopped, turning straight in to Chief Ford.
“You won't be killing anyone little missy! You think you can just go out an get revenge on anyone you want just because they piss you off?! Snap to!”
177 snapped at attention.
“You're a sorry excuse for a Rogue! What happens the next time I piss you off?! Going to try to kill your CO?! And every time you piss me off you're 
going to wish I'd kill you! GET TO THE BRIG!” Ford scolded.
177 shuddered, and started walking with the two armed marines guarding her.
----
Leo gasped as massive tentacles burst from bellow.
“By the gods!”
Smaller... things with tentacles as well started coming out, crawling faster. Leo gazed in horror as many of the small things started to attack Covenant. 
An elite bellowed, as one jumped on, and slipped its tentacles into the Elite's flash... The elite, within seconds, turned into some sort of monster.
“Open fire!” The ultra ordered.
“Yes,” Leo whispered, he yanked as hard as he could, still failing to break out.
A trio of the small parasites started for Leo, but the moment they got near, he easily stomped them, “What are these things?!”
The Covenant were too busy to notice Leo trying to escape.
Leo looked over at Lauren's corpse, the parasites had yet to touch her. Thats when he realized... he accessed her vitals... Lauren had been playing 
possom?! There was a pulse, and Morak hadn't noticed it, or her heart had stopped, then come back. Leo snapped back to his own problem, when a smaller 
part of the tentacle, slipped around his left ankle, “Thats not good.” He tried to stomp it with his right boot, when another wrapped around his right. 
Leo felt something tugging behind him, when his hand became free. What was that?!
“This one is required.”
Leo shouted as the tentacles started to drag him towards the edge. He flipped over, and tried to drive his fingers into the ground, but he couldn't get a 
grip. “No!” Leo felt his lower half pulled over the edge, but grabbed the railing just in the nick of time. “Let me go!” He looked to see several of the 
infected Covenant jump over the edge, and disappear into the darkness. Leo gagged as another tentacle slipped around his neck, and tightened. “N-no...” 
Thinner tentacles quickly traveled up his arms. His vision started to fade, and his fingers lost their grip.
----
Lucky punched out the grate, and jumped through, Tsule came through shortly after. “So you mean to tell me that this place is just mask to some Forerunner artifact?”
Tsule nodded, “Precisely.”
“Great. Forerunner crap down there, phsycos out there, were sitting in here, okay, what next?” Lucky growled.
Morak came 'round the corner in a flash, he'd knocked himself, and Lucky down.
“Brother!” Tsule gasped.
“Tsule?” Morak asked.
“Get-off-of-me,” Lucky's head came up under Morak's, and he stood. “Thank-you.”
“Where's Terror?” Tsule asked.
Morak looked to Tsule.
----
177 had wrapped her arms around her legs, burrying her head. “Stupid. Stupid. Next time I ain't hesitating, I'll just get it over with, and beat Luke.”
The brig door opened.
“Don't worry, sir, I won't be causing anymore trouble.”
A baton whacked her across the head, forcing her to the ground ,”F-Ford?”
“We aren't Ford, Lauren.”
177 turned her head, to see team sapphire. Brad was leading them.
“B-Brad?” 177 muttered, struggling up.
He grabbed her by the left wrist, and yanked her to her feet, “Luckily Ford hadn't seen us before, but we had to bail anyway. Now, you're going to get 
it.”
177 punched him in the nose as hard as she could, “Really, you idiot! You think I'm just going to sit here and take it?!”
Micheal rammed into her gut, forcing her into the wall.
177 grabbed the baton from his belt, then bashed him in the back as hard as she could.
Micheal knocked her feet out from under her, just as Oliona ran over, jumped up, and kicked her.
177 gripped her middle.
Brad stood back up, uncovering his bloodied nose, and formed a fist, before bringing it down on 177's skull.
177 curled herself in, but the pain on continuously being beaten didn't stop.
“Lauren!”
Kale shot in, and slapped Brad square in the back, then shoved her elbow into Micheal, just before sending a round-house kick into Oliona. She managed to 
get Brad, the strongest of the Rogues into a headlock, and wrapped each leg around Oliona, and Micheal's neck, sending them all to the ground.
177 peeked up, “Kale?”
Kale stood up, then cracked her knuckles, her amber eyes met 177's, her orchid colored hair was a mess. She held out a hand to 177, then pulled her up, 
and put 177's right arm over her should, leaving the assailants unconscious.
177 looked at Kale's peaceful expression.
Kale met her eyes, and smiled slightly.
“Kale... was that your voice?” 177 asked.
Kale shook her head, and continued to half carry her to the medical bay.
177 closed her eyes.
“Of course it was me, Rogue,” A voice chuckled.
Rogue opened her eyes, gasping for air. “Kale.”
----
Leo groaned, there was a buzzing noise. He felt aching in his head, and his body ached. Leo forced his eyes to open, but his vision was too blurry. He 
blinked to clear the cloudiness, thats when he felt his body turned up right, realizing he'd been upside down. Leo opened his clear vision to see the source of the tentacles... “Wh-what the hell is that?” 
Leo was completely entangled by the thick tentacles.
What is this thing?! What is it doing here?! Most of all... why didn't it infect me?...
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Category:Stories