Halo: Spartan III

Lawrence shrugged non-committally, eyes still locked in place. Yes, it had most definitely had been a strange day, at least according to their usual Spartan doctrine. A teammate snubbing another out and being beaten down brutally for it, probably having to spend a month or two in hospital because of it. He didn’t particularly like Spike, but didn’t think he deserved that kind of rebuke either.

“What do you think?” her soft voice yanked him out of his reverie.

He glanced slightly to the left, where the exercise bag he had kneed a hole in was still pathetically pouring sand.
“We’re sure as hell ready for it.” He said. “But personally I think they want us to be able to control our own strength first and get used to it.”

Jacob was outside of the Doctors hall. He was right everything was still blurry but it was more like he was looking through thick semi-foggy glass.

He was walking down the hallway. He was a little tired but decided to do some more working out. He needed to get used to his new body and usingit was the only way that would happen.

Jacob walked by givening a nod to the new girl Spartan on his way by. He also saw Axel talking to Rae. At least Axel had decided to do some interaction instead of hanging in the shadows.

Jacob could see everyone was looking down about themselves for various reasons. The overall tone was heavey and sad. Jacob wanted to change this someway. He thought past all the years before them. All the good and the bad that happened to the Spartans.

Jacob thought about one possible thing they could do. That would both help them get adjusted to their new bodies and possibly lighten the mood.

Jacob went over to where the balls were kept. Looking in he saw exactly what he was looking for, an American Football. He picked it up remembering the first time teh Spartans had actually done anything together.

He held it in the air so everyone could see it. Then Jacob utteres just a few words. "Anyone who wants to play come outside with me"

Jacob then went by axel and Rae again walking dow nthe hallway to the field. Looking directly at Axel daring him to come and play almost like he was saying Axel wouldn't drop his steely outer skin even for a little game. He figured axel couldn;t deny a challenge against him.

He didn't know how many would follow but tiwas worth a shot.

Spike looked up at the girl standing next to Rae.

"Let me show you how it feels to be ignored."

Spike said as he walked away from his squad leader and the girl.

"How long until the Dream arrives?" Axel finished putting all the needed information into the PDA he was holding before handing it to the Lieutenant. He eyed the taller man, but refused to say anything else that was on his mind. It was pointless.

"Tomorrow." The response came, calm and cold. "I probably won't be joining you when you give your final goodbyes to your friends." The Lieutenant said. "After the act you pulled I don't think they'd want me to show that kind of respect to the person arranging their 'funeral.'"

"He deserved it." Axel's reply was simple, half distracted as he read over the PDA the Lieutenant had given him. "Besides... he hit me first."

"So that's it? Some form of immature revenge? He hit you first so you beat him to the edge of death?" The Lieutenant glared. "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" He barked. "I'm still your superior officer and you will act accordingly! Or did you forget about those regulations?"

Axel looked at him. He winced, the words stung. "Aye, sir. And no. It wasn't revenge."

"Then what? What was it?" The Lieutenant exhaled slowly. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Well..." Axel trailed off. "Aside from everything going wrong and everyone dying nothing really. I got into a war, and my side lost." Picking up the line casually. He glared back. "Are we done? Sir?"

"No. We're not." The Lieutenant sighed. "Is that how they would want to be remembered Axel? With acts of anger? That the person who lead them, the one they looked up to, was the kind of person to kill people he simply didn't like?"

"I didn't kill him!"

"No... you didn't. This time. But you're very lucky you didn't. If he wasn't a Spartan, if everything hadn't gone perfect, he would be dead. And his blood would be your hands."

"But it's not." Axel said, defensively.

"Really? Then why did you have to clean it off?" The Lieutenant took a step forward, challenging him. "Why did you have to go and find a way to apologize to Spartan 116 without saying the word itself?"

"Because I am..." Axel's mouth snapped shut. "Because what I did was wrong! Is that what you wanted to hear?!"

"Why?! Why is it so hard for you to admit that?" The Lieutenant checked his voice as several heads turn to look at the two. "I'll ask you again." He said, softly. "Is that how your family would want to be remembered?"

Axel didn't say anything for several seconds. "No..."

The Lieutenant straightened. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"What?" Axel frowned, not understanding.

"You can't hide what happened. Maybe you can fail at hiding it from yourself, but you can't even start hiding it from others. You and your soldiers... You already did what you did. They will be remembered by what you have done. You're nothing compared to what you used to be." The Lieutenant let venom seep into his tone. "But even as a fraction of the person I saw on Onyx I don't believe you'll stand by without trying to change things."

"I... don't know." Axel looked away.

"Bullshit you don't. What are you? Confused? Blind? Afraid?"

"I'm all of those." He shouted. "And now everyone's dead because of it!"

"No. They're not." The Lieutenant looked behind Axel, at the Gym doors. "Some of them are in there. I'm standing right here... You're company is dead. I understand that. But it's the last of three. You didn't blame yourself for the loss of Alpha Company."

"Because I wasn't there. They weren't my responsiblity." Axel growled.

"What if you were? Would it have made a difference?"

Axel didn't respond.

"Exactly. You were an exceptional Spartan. Your influence was bigger than most peoples, but you aren't important. Your a Spartan. Your a soldier. You told me that yourself. Axel, the Spartan's here are your equals. Be part of a team. Get used to it."

"It'll take some getting used too..." The teenager trailed off.

The Lieutenant took a step forward and slapped him across the face. "Wake up! You've been sleeping. You're better than this. It's been a week already, now get over it."

"Me too, I have heard the expression Don't know your own strength, but our situation takes it to a whole new level." She punched him in the arm playfully, trying to get a somewhat enthusiastic reaction. "Hey Jacob! me and the runt are in!"

Abbra tugged on Lawrence's arm. "You might be new to this particular group, but around here we have an affinity for football. I might not be the best, but we like it. So get up, and join in. You're going to be on my team." She grinned, flashing her inherited dimples, and pull him forcefully onto his feet. "By the way, I'm the one that usually makes up all the plays, so don't get to excited."

Tony... After Doing push ups Walked over to the bench for a drink When he heard abbra Crack her knuckles. It reminded Him of when the time His brother Got angry and Threw a baseball bat at his leg and broke it... his leg that is But he just Shook his head and went back to Working out he went to the speed bag and started wailing on it After about 5 minutes He Realizes that he hasn't eatn anything in a while So he walks off to see what he can find.

OOC. Oops didnt read page 72 thought 71 was the last =P

Marie shook her head, before turning back to Raevynn. She could not believe that she was actually talking to her right now. With a pleasant look on her face, even though the not understandable words from Spike, she looked at Raevynn. Turning her head back at Spike for a while, she could not in any way understand what he ment by that. "Let me show you how it feels to be ignored" He said and it suprised her. She did not in any way ignore him. Other way around, really. She greeted him, with a smile and kind words. He was the one ignoring her. Ignoring her greetings and kind words. She frowned, before letting it slip her mind completely.

He made her think, though. She was quite eager of commencing a mission, since she had not yet had the chance of trying these new 'powers' of hers. She wanted to try her strength in other ways than just training inside a gym. She knew however, that everything takes time. Even trouble and battles.
She watched Spike a while longer, not quite understanding what his problem was. He seemed to switch personality at all time, but mainly being an ass. He deserved no less than what he got.

She bonked herself on the noggin, trying to smash these kind of thoughts out of her head. it was frustrating, wrong and disrespectful. She was being unfair. She did not even know the boy. She knew no-one in the group.
She paused her thinking for a while. That was a lie, she considered. She knew each and every one in the group, very well. She had studied their files for quite some time. That however was not enough. Knowing someone in theory was not at all like knowing them for real. A stupid file could not explain their personality in the same way as experience could.

With a smile on her face, she turned back to face Raevynn. She was just about to apologize for her disrespectful thinking, when it hit her mind that Raevynn could impossible have heard of it. After all, it was just thoughts. She was not supposed to apologize for thinking bad thoughts. Only when saying bad thoughts.
Right now, a lot of thoughts crossed her mind and with a stuttering, carefull tone, she spelled the word "Sorry", to Raevynn. "I am sorry. I seem to have joined the group in an horribly bad timing. I am sorry that I did such an horrible entrance. I am sorry I threatened to slap your squad member" She blushed, avoiding eye-contact at this time.

Jacob looked over his shoulder to give a nod to Marie inviting her to come play as well.

Jacob was exited to hear that Abbra and Lawerence were coming along. Jacob could see other various Spartans get up and start to come out. Jacob figured Wise wouldn't miss and opportunity to show off his new speed.

Jacob looked over and saw Axel talking to the Lieutenant. He hoped Axel would come out and hust try to be apart of this group again.

After staring at his hands and thinking for about five minutes, Parker stood up and shuffled his way slowly over towards the other Spartans. Even though his legs weren't in pain in any way, they were stiff and shaky, so he would need to take it easy.

When some of the Spartans noticed him, he put on a smile and continued his slow shuffle towards them.

Then the panic rat took a nip at him. He probably looked ridiculous in his shuffling position, but he just let it slide.

Lawrence blanched as Abbra dragged him to his feet. He didn't particularly like football, having played it at his school and gotten hit rather badly. He was a runt back then, still was a runt now. Besides, he didn't even really like the sport that much; he preferred something where any player had a chance to be hero. Like ice hockey. Having lived on a tropical world he had never actually played it, but he had seen the vids and was fascinated by it.

But Abbra was his friend and he wasn't about to turn her down, so he got up and slapped her butt encouragingly.

She snorted with laughter, "I'm only returning that action if you get a touch down. It's a policy." He was quite the character, and she was going to have him on her team no matter what. "So Lawrence." Abbra began, sucking in another breath and draping her arm around his shoulders. He might not have been the tallest, but her certainly was not tiny through her eyes. To be honest, she wasn't much taller than he was. "Are you much of a runner? Wait - hold that thought."

She pulled away from him, and turned around, walking away six strides behind him. "Hey Tony!" She yelled to the boys back, "Where in God's creation do you plan on going, we're playing football! So get your butt over here so we can put you on a team!" There was that ever present friendly, and positive note to her voice as she yelled at him. "We could use somebody like you for a qb. What do you say?" She jerked her head to the group which was beginning to form around Jacob and flickered a smile, awaiting an answer. "It'll be fun, I promise."

Lawrence smiled briefly. "Just to get my ass slapped by you? I'm not sure if the running and the mad dancing through those goons is going to be worth it."

She threw an arm around him. Lawrence liked it because it was an affectionate gesture. He also didn't like it because it made him feel like a kid brother. So he settled for an extremely hard elbow dig in her ribs and a shoulder nuzzle.

"well" tony said with smug pride in his voice as he slid his hands in his pockets. " i was planing on eating But if you guys need another player ii guess i will do the honor... So who are the other players imma be beatin down?

"Hey, there are very few moments that calls for an ass slapping by me. So if you don't want it. Fine, but remember, that's one less slap your going to get." She squealed like a stuck pig and doubled over, "Hey!" She laughed, holding her ribs together. "You might not want to do that twice. Because you have to sleep sometime, and when you do..." Her index finger slid across her throat, making a threatening, but not serious gesture. One imply an obvious motive.

"Depends, were still setting up teams Tony. Get over here, we'll sort you out so the 'beating down' can commence." Abbra smirked, liking Tony's energy above everything else, although his accent had rather nice sound to it. It was interesting, clearly Italian. Axel sure knew his stuff.

Lawrence grinned wolfishly at her. "I'll bear that in mind. Although you might want to rethink sneaking up on me in the middle of the night. I'm a light sleeper; I'll look forward to it."

He sat down beside her and Tony, not sure whether three on four woudl suffice for a contact sport like football. They'd smear Tony into the ground, big and tough though he was, before he could lift his arm to throw the ball. Which meant that Lawrence would have to do some running through a daunting gauntlet.

"Damn." he whispered to no one in particular.

James sighed, walking out into the field as he lazily scanned the area. After seeing Abbra, he made a small smile, which showed through his winces. His arms and legs felt like they were ripped out of their sockets and stuck back in, with nothing but string and wire holding them together. "Ugh.." He groaned, moving his arm. "I can't believe you guys are out here.. I'm still aching.." He sighed once more before taking a seat on a bench and watching them form into groups.

"Light sleeper eh? I guess I'll just have to tip toe." Abbra knew she was all talk, as if she would ever lay a hand on him. That would be the day when she laid a hand on any friend of hers. She was so fiercely loyal and protective that she'd be the one ensuring no harm came to them. Not on her watch, Abbra didn't care if she across somewhat motherly at times, it was a job she wanted more so than not.

Her head turned, her eyes rested on James. After seeing his face she was shot wide awake for the second time today. Abbra had not believed he had made it through surgery. Within a second she was darting with tremendous speed to get by his side. "Green." She panted, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing him softly. "So good to see you."

Green winced as she grabbed him. "Nice to see you too.." He smiled and shrugged her off. "I'm aching all over.. And for some reason, I no longer have the urge to grab your bottom." He grinned stupidly, instantly regretting what he had said.

Lawrence hid a smile. Abbra put out a brave front, but she was extremely gentle towards her fellow Spartans. Although had never really seen her fight, she had a reputation for being a rather dirty fighter when extremely roused. It would take a while for something like that to happen anyways, but the girl had nerves of steel when it came to battle.

"I can't believe you guys are still out here," grunted a familiar voice. "I'm still aching."

It was Green, slumped on the bench. His face had a rather unique scar running diagonally downwards from his left eye and still bore the shade of laser incision marks. His eyes were sunken. Nevertheless, he was glad to see another fellow Spartan make it through.

"That'll be the carbide in your bones," Lawrence told him. "It hurts for the next few days, it's just that you're recovering slower than most."