Broken

[TinCanHitman]

Prologue
The spark

It was dark...why was it so dark?

Roy felt color explode into his vision as he suddenly woke up, magnetized to the floor, from the feel of it...

He was in a open area on, what he assumed, was the colony Derarrium...but...why was Dani standing over him?

"Well whats it going to be? I will kill you Roy..." she said, her usual cold voice only cracking slightly. Roy suddenly felt as if a jack hammer hit his skull, as the memory came flooding back...

20 hours earlier
Aboard the ULNSC Party Hard Flaming Indignation
In orbit above the colony of Derarrium

Captain Marcus Ferring stood on the bridge in front of Roy and Dani, looking onto the planet. The planet below them was where it was all starting...where it was all falling apart.

After the fall of the covenant empire, the sangheili returned to their home and left the UNSC to its own devices...except that has caused problems.

The UNSC was only in charge as a military government because of the war on the insurrection, which was still going on, but with the time given, the remaining SPARTANs had been doing quite well at removing the problem. This had made the Civilian Conglomerate of Councils want control returned to them. The ONI council, with the support of a group of admirals and generals, denied, and caused the splitting the forces of the UNSC into two units. The CCC Vanguard and the United Loyalist Space Command. The two factions scrambled to gain colonies, the CCC Vanguard gaining the support of the insurrection, and the ULNSC kept the majority of its troops.

Originally the split was going to be peaceful, albeit strained, but a spooked ULNSC grunt was startled by a group of children playing in street on the treaty planet Derarrium. In his fear he gunned down those children, officially staining the date of January 2nd as the date the Human Civil war reached its peak.

The fighting started then, with the CCC Vanguard attacking on a street level, and calling upon the insurrection to aid with space combat. The fighting started up all around human space as supporters of each faction began their bloody struggle for control on the planets around them.

The fighting was going bad on the ground level because of the ferocity of the CCC Vanguard. They fought for freedom, they didn't want money, just control. That was not the case for all of the ULNSC, many had stayed because of personal loyalties, but most because they were paid quite well to stay. That made this a job for them, not a cause, the difference was apparent with ground combat.

Now the ULNSC wants Derarrium, it being a bridge planet between outer space and inner space, they would use it as a jumping point to strike at the CCC Vanguard. Roy and Dani had been pulled from GOLD team, on direct orders from Dr.Harper, one of the few section 3 scientists that remained, to help take back the planet.

They had been taking aboard the ULNSC FlamingIndignation which had just been won with blood, the entire officer's crew being executed no the deck, including Captain Matthew Temple. With blood as his ink Captain Marcus Ferring christened the ship its new name, and then made his alligeinces clear.

Roy stood at rest whith Dani as the captain gave them their ONI directed orders. They were to meet up with a local informant and eliminate a CCC out post, then move on to helping take the main city of Gels.

Roy had accepted it like any other mission, it was Dani who seemed to be worried. Of course no one but Roy could tell, the slight shifting of her feet, the little twitch she did with her hand while she waited, even the slight strain in her voice while being given orders. Some thing was up, but Roy ignored it, she would one hundred percent, as she always was.

Roy snapped out of his daze when the Captain turned to him and spoke.

"Is that clear, SPARTAN?" He asked, facing Roy head on, though he had to stare up, the power the smaller man emanated made Roy feel smaller.

"Yes, sir." He said, staring straight ahead, even though the man couldn't see into his helmet, Roy felt as if he looked down, the man would know.

"Good, remove yourself from my bridge." he said, turning to face the screen. Roy saluted and nodded at Dani as he turned, with her, leaving the deck. It was time to gear up.

Roy grabbed a M280, several drums for it, a shotgun, and a M6J. He then loaded his satchel with every thing he wanted, as well as four pipe bombs, a canister of c12, and four grenades.

He walked up to Dani, who was fidgeting with her combat knife. He placed his hands on her shoulders, causing her to look up.

"Relax, just another mission, eh?" he said, with his crooked smile. She gave him a week smile in return and looked down.

"W-...What if this is wrong?" she mumbled out, not looking at him. Roy did a double take.

Wrong? No, the UNSC, even as the ULNSC, was never wrong, its just not how he was trained. His job wasn't right or wrong, it was just act, or wait.

"Wrong? No. No matter what the navy calls itself, ONI is still in charge, we don't pick right or wrong." he said firmly, turning away from her to walk out of the armory.

"Now lets go, we've got a bird to catch..."

(Thanks for reading, i just had this sudden urge to write this, I will probably add more to it soon. Comments are welcome, and encouraged.)

[SuperCommando]

Impressive, Tin! I was skimming the 100 most recent posts when I found this, and was so intriuged by the prolouge segment that I actually stopped to carefully read the entire story. ;D

I love reading short stories people on this site write, and my favorites are ones that star our RP characters. (And when they happen to be Spartans, all the better!). In this case, I like the political rift you invented and the creative story possibilities that can result. I am quite eager to see what happens next, so please post more soon!

[TinCanHitman]

Chapter One

Outskirts of the city Gels

Roy watched as the pelican, clearly defined with its green coloring and the freshly painted ULNSC on its side. Roy himself looked down at his chest were the ULNSC was branded into the armor and then painted, staining him with the logo. Dani's was much the same, though she seemed more focused on the moving ground right outside the door.

Coming in from orbit Roy had seen the fighting, cities lit up with AA flak and screeching fighters. The CCC Vanguard had taken to painting their armor, weapons, and ships with a dark crimson and a bright orange CCC on it, it helped clearly define people, the only problem was that a lot of the insurrectionist supporters did not, wearing civilian cloths and carrying civilian grade weapons. Home made explosives, street cars and civilian model ships, all these things combined to make it even harder on the ULNSC to not kill innocents. Recently a directive was passed allowing a maximum civilian casualties rate of 2 to 1. This meant that any ULNSC personnel was allowed to kill two civilians for every proven CCC support. The support part was another thing, Roy had seen where they had started pulling people out of their homes, after finding weapons they executed them, leaving their corpses in the street. 

Roy didn't like that, but it wasn't his decision, it was ONI's. He would do what ever it would take to get the mission done, it was what he was raised to do from the start. He looked up in time to see them land in a large open park. It was made of a sort of tan colored concrete. All around was chalk drawings, puppies, cats, children, even a Ms.Gielana, with a sunny smiling face next to it. Roy gave a small smile seeing a drawing of a UNSC Marine punching what appeared to be a squid with a body...but the corner of the pictured had a dark crimson stain...a child's hand rested there.

Roy moved over to it, leaving Dani standing at the blood tray. The rest of the child was blocked by a jungle gym, moving around he found that there was no more to the hand. Where a child should have rested a crater stood, small bits of metal and a empty SPNKr tube sat near it. A tiny hand holding chalk sat, blackened at the end...

Roy's fist tightened, he was angry, the CCC had obviously used this park as a battle point, leaving these innocent children to-

"Roy..." Dani's voice cut into Roy's inward rage, as one of her hands rested on his shoulder, and the other pointed to a low wall leading into an apartment. Laying against the wall rested a bullet riddled ULNSC marine, limp in his left hand was a spent M19 SAM rocket launcher. Roy went from enraged to confused, he was about to turn to address Dani when the illustrious Captain Ferring crackled over the COM.

"Oh-Oh-One, your signal shows you still in the LZ, double time it SPARTAN, I don't care how many operations you have successively completed, we need this done! Ferring out." he said leaving Roy angry and confused. He stood, hefting his LMG and moving forward through one of the connecting alleys. It took him out to the street, which was littered with corpses, ranging from, civilians, CCC, and even ULNSC. 

It wasn't any thing Roy hadn't seen before, but some thing about this one was...different...he felt more in tuned with the dead this time around. Dani stepped out in front of him. 

"Come on, Roy, I studied the map more, I'll lead us." she said, not waiting for a response. Roy just followed as they went through the dead city, nothing moved except them. Bodies were every where but non of them living. They went through an empty hotel, its large windows blown out with gun fire. They went passed a fountain that was filled with blood, staining its white tile red. Finally they approached a school building.

Roy didn't wan't to enter, he knew that he would see dead children, some thing he had seen on planets before...but again...this was different. Roy forced himself to keep up with Dani, who moved with confadince through the school. Halls were littered with casings, and the occasional ULNSC, but no children, and no CCC even. Roy was relieved, but confused.

"What do you think happened here..." he said, looking over the dead.

"freedom..." Dani  whispered, just loud enough for Roy to hear. He straightened, about to confront her, when a voice came over the intercom system.

"Good, SPARTANs 047-Dani and 001-Roy, just what we needed." Came a voice...Dr.Harper? The wall to their Right opened up to reveal an empty room. Roy stepped in ahead of Dani, something that may have cost him his life.

"I'm sorry, Roy." Roy looked over his shoulder in time to see Dani stab a large syringe gun in the port that ran along his spine. He spun, his hand grabbing her helmet, but his strength slowly left him. He could barely stand, but he did manage to grab her harness, pressing his face plate to hers his helmet unpolarized to show the fire in his eyes.

He then slipped into black, the only thing swimming to the top of his consciousness was

Why?...

[TinCanHitman]

Chapter Two

City of Gels

Hidden CCC base

Their wrong, freedom, death before imprisonment...

Is it working, Dr.Harper?

I believe so, but Roy's mind is suffering RUN from psychosis, a strange one at that. It may alter what we want from the KILL indoctrination.


Roy heard and felt the voices swimming up to the top of his mind, specifically a woman's voice, but it was neither Dani's or the doctor's. No this one felt familiar...but, Roy felt as if this voice was his mother's, he felt as if he should listen to it on instinct...but then there was another voice. This voice was harsh and male, it kept interjecting into what ever Roy did, telling him to run, kill, flee, escape, fight. It hurt, every time the male voice spoke Roy wanted to cringe, but his body wouldn't allow him.

Roy...
flee...
Roy...
kill...
Roy!

Dani's shouting pulled him back to the true world. She was standing over him with her helmet off, she held a magnum pointed at him and a determined face. His own helmet was off, but he knew had been on moments ago. He squinted and looked about him. They were in a large laboratory. The wall to the left held a door, on the right a cat walk with an elevator to their level. The equipment around them was all computers and machines, a lot of them were hooked to Roy's armor, a lot of them to the helmet especially. 

"D-dani?" Roy croaked trying to sit up. He found that he could strain against the armor, but wouldn't move, only his head.

"Roy, I have disabled your armor's response nodes, they no longer read you as inside of the armor, so it no longer assists in moving you. You will listen and you will help moma." she said the last word and he felt his skull fill with a buzzing pain. 
liar, run.
"What, what do you want?" he asked, his eyes blurring, losing focus and snapping in, but always on her face.

"Aid the CCC vanguard, Roy, aid moma." Dr.Harper got close to his face, coming from around the desk. She took Roy's head in her hands. "Will you help moma?" she asked. Roy wanted to responded, but his head snapped to the right, as a voice screeched in his head.
No, kill, run.
"Yyyy-I don't..." he couldn't talk, the buzzing was to loud. Suddenly the woman's voice entered his head, swimming through the man's voice, it spoke.

Help, Roy, help moma....

"Help us, Roy." Dani was in front of him. She held his face in her hands, looking him in the eyes. "Help us..."

Roy's mouth hung open as he looked at her. Their moment was ruined as a screeching metal on metal noise ruptured the air. The door on the cat walk to their right had been pulled open, revealing a man wearing street cloths, but carting a rifle.

"We're compromised! We gotta go!" The Doctor and Dani looked at Roy, who was flinging his head side to side, trying to make the buzzing stop. He convulsed inside his armor, his mind tearing in two. Dani stood, but the Doctor ran to the elevator.


"Dani! We must go, the seed has been planted!" Dani stood there, a pained expression. Suddenly the door they originally entered flung open.

"**** it's-" The loud explosive crack of a S2-anti-material rifle. The man's skull suddenly ceased to exist, instead a pink gravy hung for a moment before hitting the ground. Roy's eyes bulged as he watched Ryker step through the door, followed by 009-Silas. Silas fired a burst from his Assault rifle, forcing Dani into the elevator, firing her side arm as the glass wall covered her and the Doctor. Roy could only stare and convulse as the two voices screeched at him, each telling him how to live. Silas ran over to the computers, connecting a TAC-Pad to them.

Ryker came over and slapped Roy.

"Come on son, let Papa help ya." One side of the screeching had subsided. But the female voice seemed to yell louder, but it kept rising until it was just a high pitched whine in the background of his mind. There was a beeping and suddenly Roy felt his ability to move return. He shakily rose to his feet, Silas moving to help stabilize him.

"I got you, Gold two." He said, his face portraying the fact that he no longer considered Dani a member of gold. Roy just looked at him, wide eyed. Ryker stood and brought Roy's helmet over, slotting it on Roy's head and giving it a firm twist. A hiss registered the fact that it was now air tight.

Ryker stepped in front of Roy, and suddenly his vision exploded with color. He found himself reaching for his gun, placing it to the scowling Ryker's head and firing, sending grey matter and blood all over.

"Roy?" Silas asked, Roy suddenly finding himself standing with Ryker and the SPARTAN looking at him. He hadn't shot Ryker...

He looked Silas in the helmet, Silas having unpolarized his helmet to reveal the eye patched skull, Roy did the same, looking the other SPARTAN in the eyes.

"I...I'm one hundred percent...s-s-s-SIR." he forced the sir out, it some how sticking into his mouth. Ryker stepped up and put his hand on the soldier shoulder.

"Papa's got ya." he said, forcing a smile. Roy felt himself lean forward and embrace the man. It was weird, he felt as if this man's approval was all that mattered at this moment. 

"R-Roy...that will do..." he said, causing Roy to set the man down. He looked a little off, but smiled and nodded.



"You did good, son, ya did good." Roy's heart swelled.

 

[TinCanHitman]

Chapter Three

City of Gels

Pursuing Dr.Harper and Dani-047

Roy stood looking at the two of them, now able to ignore the high pitched whine as he stretched his tired limbs. He noticed his things piled on a table on the wall to the left. He moved, gathering his things. His hand was shaky, his robotic arm not being able to shake, he pulled it to his chest. He was nervous, he felt as if he had forgotten some thing, or was supposed to do some thing and he wasn't doing it.


"Roy, lets go, we have to catch 047 and the Doc" Ryker said, approaching Roy with a chip. "Slot this in your main port, it will help with the head ache and the voices." he said, holding out the chip. Roy's eyes bulged, how did Ryker know about the pain and the voices.

"H-how do you know about the voices?" he stammered, slowly pushing his arm out. Ryker smiled and dropped the chip into Roy's hand.

"The CCC have been trying to convert soldier with brain washing. This chip will reverse the brain washing and help prevent any further attempts." Roy looked at the small black chip, looking similar to an AI data chip. Roy let his breath out and pushed it into the port on the back of his helmet. He felt the cold mercury rush into his skull.

WRONG

Roy's skull exploded as the chip attempted to re-write his mind. The screeching happened again, Roy was suddenly flooded with the image of him stepping forward and breaking Ryker's neck. His hand shook as he stared the older man in the eyes.

"009, restrain him." Ryker said, turning away. Silas stepped forward and grabbed Roy's shoulders.

"Easy, two, easy." Roy started to shake, images of a silhouetted woman being beaten by a similarly shadowed male. It was horrifying, Roy couldn't stand to see the woman hurt. There was blood every where, the woman having been beaten to death, Roy felt as if he were a child again, staring at some thing he couldn't understand. The male form rose, turning to face Roy, even after seeing the violence the figure caused, he felt as if he should rest in it's arms. It picked him up and began to whisper, softly.


"Poppa..." Roy breathed staring straight ahead. Silas let him go and patted his shoulder. Roy had stopped shaking, he felt as if he had just been won in some sort of fight for dominance...but, he felt as if he was also basking in the praise of a paternal figure, the warmth was some thing new to him...

Silas and Ryker moved into the elevator, Roy followed, wrapped up in his own thoughts. The door on the cat walk lead to a tunnel system, two tunnels branched in front of them. Ryker stopped, looking at the two paths, thinking.

"Alright, SPARTANs, you take the right path, I'll follow the left. Move." Silas nodded and moved to the right, allowing Roy to follow. The tunnels were simply made, just dirt paths with simple flood lamps every twenty feet or so. There were no foot prints in the dirt, just scuffs. Silas seemed to suddenly hear some thing, not stopping but raising his head.

"I know, that's why I'm with him. I know..." Silas whispered into his shoulder, talking almost lovingly to some thing...

"Hello SPARTAN-01. I am code named Maica, I will be the personal A.I. to help you with basic mission specifications as well the prevention of further attempts to compromise you."

The voice was sweet, a sickly sweet like the scent of a deadly flower, waiting to swallow a fly. He could feel her in his head.

"Whats a matter honey?" she queried, some how sensing Roy didn't like her.

"Don't talk like that!" Roy growled, he hated the fakness surrounding this...thing. 

"Now that's no way to treat an aiding entity!" It said in a pout. Roy just growled, moving further with Silas, who was now looking at Roy.

"They gave you one too?" he asked, Roy could sense the eagerness in the SPARTAN's voice, some thing extremely unusual for Silas. As long as Roy had known him, Silas was a block of ice, cool and in control...but he was different now.


"Mine is called Matka! She is so useful! I can't believe they didn't give us these earlier!" he said turning back down the tunnel. Roy just looked at the other super soldier. He didn't like how things were going...

"Roy! Contacts!" Silas suddenly said, having given Ryker the assault rifle, he was now using his own custom BR55, Silenced with a laser site. Around the corner came men, all of them brandishing military grade weapons and wearing red armor, stained with the CCC logo. They opened up on the two soldiers, but Roy and Silas were still sharp.

Roy dropped to his knee and opened up, mowing down the advancing line, Silas waiting further back firing controlled burst into the remaining CCC. He came up to Roy, his weapon still focused on the tunnel entrance.

"Come on gold two, i think we found the right way." He advanced forward, coming into the blistering light of the noon day. They were in a concrete stare well, it lead up into an open soccer field. On either side of the field were huge storm drains, tiny bridges up and down the perimeter allowing access to the buildings on the sides.

Roy was hesitant to go out into the open, knowing what kind of kill zones could be set up on such a wide open space. Silas rested at the top of the steps, his head barely poking out to get a clear view.

Duck

The voice was quiet, so quiet Roy almost missed it, but some thing about it made Roy want to listen. He fell to the bottom of the steps. Where his head was resting a moment ago a high caliber anti tank round just smashed through, going through the concrete. Silas jumped back, landing next to Roy.

"Close call, two." he said, sticking his BR55 around the corner. He pulled it back in.

"fifteen floors from the top, large black building, reference warthog billboard. I'll cover, break for the drains, cover with heavy fire. On three."

Roy tensed himself, gripping the large LMG

"One."

He tensed his legs, ready to burst up the stairs.

"Two." He exhaled and took a deep breath...

"Thr-" A high pitched screech suddenly grew to a crachindo as a rocket hit the wall to Roy's right. He slammed into the left wall and cried.

"Three!" he ran from the stair well, hearing the cough as Silas fired at the sniper. Roy heard the explosion as the sniper fired another round, feeling the ground he was on a few minutes ago explode into dirt. 

Two more steps...

He pumped his legs and launched himself, face first into the drain, a sniper round tearing a chunk from the concrete to Roy's left. He rolled, coming up into a crouch. He quickly turned and climbed back to the top of the drain. He allowed his LMG to rest on the ledge as he began to scan the sky line. He found it, a burnt out looking building next to a car billboard. He quickly searched for the glare that would give away the sniper.  It hit him just in time, a small glint and Roy opened up, the loud weapon blowing the deathly silence that had over taken the field.

"Gold two, clear to move?" Roy flashed his HUD light green, still firing controlled bursts at the sniper. He heard Silas more than saw, the dirt shaking slightly as the super soldier pounded through the field, tearing gobs of earth with every step. Silas launched himself diagonally over Roy, landing into a roll as well. After Silas was clear Roy slid down the slanted side and rested next to him.

"Close call there, gold two." he patted Roy and turned down the drain.

It was time to hunt traitors.

[SuperCommando]

Niiiiice.

I read these new chapters soon after you posted them just so you know, so sorry it's taken so long to get back to you.

Anyway, I honestly couldn't stop smiling to myself once Silas came in. It's quite flattering for you to use my character, so thanks again. Also, the development with Dani and Dr. Harper is an interesting twist, and I'm curious about how the kinda creepy AIs will come into play. Again I have to comment on how interesting the dynamics are between the ULNSC and CCC Vanguard factions, it makes a unique atmosphere.

[TinCanHitman]

Chapter Four

City of Gels

Pursuing Dr.Harper and Dani-047

Roy was sitting with Silas, not resting as much as waiting. They had tracked the doctor and Dani to a dead end, dodging CCC supporters all the way. After having ONI undercover teams alert them to a possible location they had eliminated the snipers guarding the small buidling at the edge of the city's edge. They were now staking it out, waiting for the doctor, and Roy personally was waiting for Dani. It was nerve racking, and frustrating. Roy had never had anything actively anger him like this A.I. did. It's very voice made him physically flinch, he would grind his teeth to the point of pain. He didn't know what it was, but it felt as if every thing about this A.I. was wrong.

Maica, not A.I.

"I didn-" 

"Two! HVTs exiting the building, sight in! South side, reference lunch truck, left side." Roy brought the rifle to his shoulder, the optics being fed directly into his HUD. He allowed the cross hair to trace the lateral line of the lunch truck, tracing to a doorway. In it was a shabby looking civilian with a beat up MA5B. Behind the civilian was the one and only, doctor Harper. 

Roy frowned, where was Dani? He didn't worry about it, he had clearance to take the shot.

"Range."

"1300 yards." Silas responded, his spotter's rectacal perched on the windowsill. Roy adjusted his sites using the inner tuner of his HUD.

"Windage." 

"2-3 east to north west." Silas responded after a tense moment. As this happened the CCC soldier moved out into the street ahead of the doctor. She sprinted across right as Roy finished adjusting the sights. He flashed his Heads Up light green twice.

"Copy, target ready, conformation is green. Fire." Roy adjusted, tracking the CCC soldier.

He lead the target

Fire...

Almost

Fire...

He squeezed the trigger slightly

Fire..

Tighter

Fire.

The crack registered with Roy long before his target would hear it. To the target the world went dark, his neck ceasing to exist as the high velocity anti-material round tore through it and vaporized it. 

"Hit, solid kill Two." Silas said, adjusting himself "The doctors on the move."

Kill her Roy. Maica's voice suddenly ruptured Roy's concentration. He reined himself in and focused, adjusting his aim.

"Range, 1320" Silas said.

"Fire, fire, fire, fi-" Roy focused on the Doc for a second more, watching her in normal cloths, thinking on her for a moment, before glancing at Silas. He was in a close grip with...a black SPARTAN? The spartan had all black armor, obviously painted, a red fist adorning the breast plate. The SPARTAN was large for an average human, but small by SPARTAN standards. To the untrained eye it was just a painted SPARTAN but to Roy, it was very obvious.

"Dani..." he stared at her as she pulled the cord of the garrot line tighter around Silas, his hand clasping at it.

Kill her, Roy. Kill her!

"Shut up!" he cried, punching the side of his helmet. Dani's helmet looked over at him, she reached down to the holster on her thigh, pulling the pistole free she pointed it at him, shifting herself to hold the noose with one hand and pushing on Silas' back with her foot.

"Don't move Roy! I'll Kill you!" She was suddenly bucked by Silas, lurching forward, she was off balance.

"Two kill her!" Silas cried, falling back away from her, watching as she teetered at the edge of the large open window.

Do it.

Roy didn't think, he acted, stepping towards her he kicked out, his foot connecting solidly with her stomach. He watched as she reached out to him, grasping wildly, before being fully pushed out the window. They were a solid fifteen stories up, but Roy knew better. He and her had survived much worse. 

"This is 009, Fire mission on grid Delta 543 by sierra 353, danger close, repeat, danger close." Roy looked over at Silas, the horror on his face not apparent due to the gold visor. Roy was suddenly stricken, Dani was in danger, he knew she would survive the fall from the building, but a air strike?

"Copy, the only squadron in your area currently is Breaker, redirecting." As soon as the message snapped off the remaining glass of the buildings all along the street shattered, the supersonic space fighters passing over.

"Two c-" Silas was cut short as he and Roy were both blasted through the wall behind them, crashing through to the stairwell, where Roy proceeded to plummet to the bottom floor, activating his own suit's gel layer. He crashed into the floor, actually managing to stay conscious, he sat there a moment, in shock as he realized exactly what that explosion meant.

The only human being in the world, the only thing he ever felt was truly his, was dead.

[SuperCommando]

Pure. Awesomeness.

[TinCanHitman]

"Why is mommy always late?"

"She'll be here..."

"She's always late...she doesn't love me. I hate mommy."

"Don't say that!...Every time you see her could be the last. Every time you say goodbye, tell her 'I love you.'..."

Chapter Four

City of Gels

What now?

Wake up

The A.I.'s voice came through into Roy's mind like cold icicles, stabbing into his skull and forcing him to sit. He didn't have much time to really think before massive green metal boots filled his vision. A deep rumble filled his ears as a clawed hand wrapped around his throat and lifted him, with little effort, to be eye level with...some thing. It had spartan's armor, but the face plate was blown out and all that stood was a burnt out skull. It's teeth clattered, as if speaking to Roy, but he didn't understand any of it. It was choking him, no, shaking him.

"Two? ROY!" Silas sat holding Roy by the shoulders as reality seemed to warp into existence around him. Roy was shaken, maybe not visually, but his core was shaken. What was wrong with his reality?

Shhh, it's alright.

"STOP." Roy roared as he tore away from Silas, he felt his legs give, forcing him to hold to the rubble of the building around them. Silas pulled his arm away. He was as Roy had thought at first, his face burnt and torn and the glass plate actually having been blown out. Roy was staring into the hard eyes of an angry SPARTAN. Roy wasn't afraid, or, he was, but not of Silas. Or he had never been before, why was that stare piercing him now?

"Two, I need you tip top. Strap in, or get out." Silas wasn't loud, or really angry. He was impatient, but not angry, that scared Roy more than any thing. If Silas had roared at him, given him a challenge, Roy would have been able to handle that. The calmness Silas had, the suddenness of it all, it shook him. What was left? Hunt the Doctor, all they could do?

Roy was confused, he didn't know what was wrong with him, he'd never had outburst like this before. He hadn't ever felt so many emotions, or noticed them at least, and suddenly they were welling up inside of him, on the edge of every word was a waterfall of pent up emotions from decades past. It was if some one had been storing up any sort of feelings he'd had over the years and suddenly poured them all into his head at once. His mind was ripping from the mood swings, the crushing anguish of his friends dying in the covenant war, the fear of being a child soldier, and the crushing depression of having killed one of his closest friends. On top of that he had a comrade in front of him he didn't recognize any longer, and simply wanted to kill one of their shared teachers.

Roy slowly reigned himself in, then made eye contact with Silas, depolarizing his visor so their eye's met. Silas gave him a hard pat on the shoulder, a smirk suddenly coming to his somber face, as if Roy was suddenly a trusted friend. "Yeah, he's alright, my number two." he gave him another hard smack to the chest plate, no where near hard enough to hurt Roy, but definitely hard enough for Roy to feel it, and get it's meaning. They searched the rubble, coming up with two magnums with three magazines worth of ammo to split. They also found two of Roy's pipe-bombs and on frag. After policing up all the equipment they could they did a quick armor check before finally standing facing each other.

"Now what?" Roy asked quietly, feeling odd talking so much in the past day, only to end the last fifteen minutes with utter silence. Silas looked over at him, having opted to remove his helmet, due to the visor being blown out. He had cleaned out his cuts and now simply had dark scabbed lines tracing the eye-patched side of his face. "Now, we finish our mission. We've already wasted enough time, it's time to finish this quickly and get out of here." Silas turned and started to climb the rubble that was blocking them from the next block, stopping suddenly as if he was listening to some thing. "Yes, we have to finish the mission. He's good." he said, ignoring the fact Roy even existed.

Roy was to mentally drained to even think of any thing to say, simply nodding and climbing up the rubble. He felt weak, a sickness he had never felt, his mind was so tired his body seamed to scream in protest at every thing. He was still a spartan, however, and the physical side of things came easily to him, and his Mjolnir made every thing easier. His mind wandered as they climbed, not really resting on any one topic, he was to busy drowning mentally. It was Silas who seemed to be on edge, his motions quick and tight, his eyes flicking from one vantage point to the next, it unnerved Roy. Silas had always been his leader, and his friend, but now he seemed to be going insane. One minute he felt Silas was his friend, the next Silas was against him, pushing Roy harder and harder trying to make him prove his worth. 

Silas brought his hand up in a fist, telling Roy to stop. They had come to the crest of the rubble and had heard movement, Silas gave Roy a quick two fingered motion, signalling for him to move up next to him. Roy was quick, but quiet, now suddenly on some sort of combat auto pilot. He was a tiny passenger in his own body, as he seemed to simply react. He pulled his magnum up, peaking over the crest quickly. He saw three men, all wearing civilian clothes, poking around the rubble, not seaming to interested. Roy slid back down and faced Silas, using his hands to show how many were there, and that they were unarmed. Silas seemed to stare hard at Roy, almost as if he was weighing whether or not he could trust Roy, but he didn't wait long, suddenly climbing the top of rubble and standing. "Don't move! This is a UNLSC combat zone, you must vacate, if you do not you will be shot." Silas had his weapon pointed at the men, both hands holding it steadily. 

The men seamed genuinely shocked that Silas was there, all of them raising their hands, save for one. The ones who raised their hands began to back away, which Silas seemed to accept. However, the one who didn't stood defiantly as he stared Silas on. "Who are you to demand me to leave? I was here long before you were, and I will be long after." He said firmly, which Silas did not stand for. The spartan raised the pistol higher, showing that he had the man in his sights. "I said disperse, and keep your hands where I can see them!" Roy didn't hesitate any longer, standing next to Silas with his weapon drawn. His body was simply reacting, used to taking whatever Silas thought of as a threat as a threat to himself, Roy didn't seem to really have control of his actions. He was doubting these men even combatants of any kind.

"I. Said. Disperse." Silas said, giving emphasis by speaking slowly. Roy glanced from the man to Silas, suddenly not able to gauge the situation any more. His aim switched from one of the men to the others, glancing all around as he began to panic. Suddenly, the man who was standing up to them started to cross his arms. That was all it took for the two Spartans to panic, the motion looking as if he was reaching into his coat. The both fired, one shot each tearing into the man's chest as he was flung back by the high caliber rounds. They then switched their fire to the other men, used to follow through with their combat. The each fired one shot for each man they targeted, easily slaughtering them in the tight confines of the alley they had come into.

Once the shooting was finished, and all the bodies and bullets accounted for, Roy stood in the gun powder smoke and for the first time in his life doubted some thing he had done.

[TinCanHitman]

I will be picking this back up, for any one interested, and plan to start updating it twice a week.