We Will Never Die: A Halo Spartan Quest (AU)

Before Boot 3: The Good Doctor and Assault.

You looked at your empty board. You were in the endgame of your chess game, only a few pieces remaining. White had more pieces, but Black was in a superior position, the white king was strapped in the left hand corner.

The woman talking to you was a doctor, her hands were far too clean to be anything else, and the care and curiosity in her voice made it clear she was also intelligent. Probably smarter than you if you had to guess.

The pieces in your mind moved again, white was attacking aggressively.

But why was she here? She was certainly not a local, otherwise she would know of you by reputation alone, the creepy, aloof and intelligent boy who could do third year calculus in his head for fun, and could play ten games of chess at the same time in his mind.

That left two options. She was someone who was looking for someone else, but somehow ran into you instead, and she decided to talk to you to sate her natural curiosity, or she sought you out directly.

The question was, why? You looked to her again, and then to the man with the gun who was standing around behind her a couple meters away. That man was definitely a soldier of some kind, most likely an officer judging from his haircut, to his clear discomfort in the clothes he was wearing and the clear uneasiness in the mans feet as they shifted around.

The woman herself, besides being extremely intelligent and out of place on a farming colony, who probably felt more at home in a lab coat or doctors scrubs than the sundress and sun hat she was wearing now.

And there seemed to be some tension between the two as well. You didn't know if it was romantic, sexual or platonic, but there was something between them.

You suspected they would have many awkward moments together, before they either confessed their feelings and acted upon them, perhaps even getting married, in law or otherwise, having a love child, and if their relationship was still healthy, they would both leave each other with no regrets, knowing that their two positions and personalities would lead to toxicity and have a negative impact on the remainder of their lives.

The calculations that you had performed had only a 1% chance of being wrong, and you were going to take that bet.

Of course, you were operating on clearly limited information. Further observations would be needed of course to review the data and the subject, along with taking other factors into account.

The questions still remained though… Why was this woman here, talking to you?

She was a doctor, an important one at that, with an armed officer on an outer colony world, in the middle of an insurrection, talking to a clearly gifted child that somehow just peaked her interest?

Data, Data, Data:1D100 => 7

Inconclusive… you didn't know why she was here. And you thought you had done so well at reading the situation.

And you had lost your game, black moved bishop to capture white queen. "Checkmate." You stated to yourself.

"Pardon?" The woman asked, clearly confused.

"Sorry. I just lost my game." You replied as you closed your board.

The woman smiled. "I'm sure you can always play again."

"Yeah. But it's not fun playing alone." You replied. It was hard to only play yourself… you knew yourself to well. "No one wants to play me because I'm so good at it."

"I'm sure you'll find someone who can play with you Mr.-"

"Cayde." You replied.

The woman walked away from you. And you were left confused.
"When the game is over, the king and pawn go into the same box." The woman whispered. "Perhaps we will play soon Cayde."
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You knew something was wrong when your father walked into your room with a rifle in hand. "Cayde, get up. Get dressed." He ordered as you woke.

"What is going on sir?" You asked as you rolled out of bed. Early mornings were routine on the farm, but it wasn't even sunrise yet.

You got dressed and zipped up your jacket. "Get to the fields and stay there." He ordered as he handed over your rifle. "Keep the twins safe."

"What's happening?" You asked, showing an emotion you did not show a lot of… Fear and confusion.

"I was right. Sons of bitches are coming for me." He stated to himself before he crouched to your height. "Hide in the fields, don't come back until morning. If the house is no longer here, head to Uncle Hectors. He'll take care of you."

He than handed you the rifle and five magazines of ammunition. "Remember what I taught you. Chest than head." He stated.

You ran out of your room to see your siblings waiting for you. "Come on." You ordered and the two kids followed you out into the fields.

Gunfire started to sound off behind you, and the screams of men entered the night sky.

Able began to weep, but your held her hand tightly, and it calmed her. Max stopped moving, his face caught between terror and confusion, so you had to hand Able over the rifle and carry him on your back.

There were flashlights behind you, but you had your night vision, your eyes adjusted to the dark, and you could make out the outlines of a human body.

You snached the rifle from Able's Hands and took aim. Counting to three as you found your target, and fired.

The round found its mark, and then you switched targets, firing again.

One shot, another fell, two shots, two fell.

It continued all night, with you, Able and Max switching from firing, to moving, to reloading.

But you could not keep it up forever.

You ran out of ammo just before sunrise.

And then you felt nothing.

Reward: Welcome to the Spartan II Project.

Cyde-007 Max-109, Able-212 AAR Summary.

The Three subjects retrieval on harvest was a success, but we ran into complications along the way.

At the beginning of the operation, the Subjects fled into the field of corn and wheat that was planted, and then their father opened fire on the Agents as we attempted to pursue.

The Subjects Father had also mined the front driveway with improvised explosives, taking out two agents before we reached the house and eliminated him.

The subjects were not being taken without a fight, one of them mumbling about hiding and fighting in the tree line when they were finally captured by agents. Agents also found a rifle with them as well, with all ammunition expended.

The Cover story won't hold up, we had to kill the flash clones and burn the house down to destroy the evidence of our involvement. The blame will be shifted to the Innies of Harvest itself, and we might not be able to maintain control of the situation.

-Hotbird-1

AN: Enjoy.