Halo: Spartan III

David walked over the field, observing the warthogs. Without hesitation, he stood up straight before the veichle without knowing what would happen next. It could not possibly get worse, that was for sure. He stood attention and saluted the man who in David's honest opinion lacked manners. But it was just the way he had always been, and probably the way he would always be, too. He made sure to stand straight in line together with the rest of the spartan III unit.
"Sir!" He spoke, to show that he was alert and ready for the next command.

Mendez was proud to see how quickly the Spartans had managed to assemble themselves into a presentable group. They were recovering faster than anyone had predicted. Atleast most of them were.

"Excellent work, Spartans!" He praised, his dark eyes studying their eager faces. "Now pile in! You've got your work cut out for you today."

Raevynn was content with working today. Her body was barely starting to recover, and perhaps a training exercise was what she needed to push her body past the healing barrier. The girl wasted no time scrambling into the back of the nearest warthog. Little did she know, they were in for a much bigger surprise.

The warthogs waited a few minutes for the rest of the Spartans to load up before their engines roared back to life. Moments later they turned back the way they came and headed down a rough dirt road.

Jacob jumped into the nearest Warthog. Rae happened to get into the same one as Jacob did. Jacob had no idea what to expect from this. Mendez's ideas of fun weren't exactly the Spartans.

Before the Warthog took Mendez bellowed at Jacob that his eyes were fine and he could take the goggles off. Jacob did as he was told. The initial shock of light overwhelmed him.

Finally though Jacob's eyes adjusted to the sun and he realized just how much the enhancements had helped him. It felt like he was wearing binoculars on his head. That is how far and clear Jacob could see.

Every image looked like an epic picture was being taken. Jacob was excited to test this new sight on the battlefield.

Parker grumbled and walked towards a Warthog. "Shotgun.." He mumbled, and jumped into the passenger seat.He was always like this after losing to football. Then again, the other team didn't win either, so it made him feel somewhat better.

Mendez had a tone in his voice that made Parker cock an eyebrow. What was he up to? Shouldn't they be still training instead of jumping straight ahead? It didn't matter to him. As long as it happened sooner or later, he would be happy.

He jumped into the warthog very excitedly and an inthusiastic look on his face. He strapped in and waited for the hogs to move. He looked around at everyone else and started to think what might be happening. His fingers were tapping quickly with excitement because he could be going on a mission. His eyes fixed on Mendez for the next orders.

"Does anyone know what is happening?"

"I assume we'll be moving on to the next step, which is getting our armor and A.I.'s, i'm not entirely sure." Parker placed his hands behind his head, put his feet up on the dashboard and stared up at the sky, waiting for the Warthog to drive off.

"I wonder what my A.I. will be like? Hopefully someone who can follow orders and isn't a chatterbox. Then again, I guess we don't really get to decide what type of A.I. we get, now do we?"

"I don't know much about A.I.s but they can't equal to logic.. We'll see which we get I guess"

He stretches while sitting in the back and looks ahead. While waiting for the warthog to move he looks at the layout of the hog, admiring it detail.

"I wish we would move soon.."

[]lol we were already driving... But it was a long drive. Heehee[]

Raevynn sat quietly next to Jacob. She was so glad to see him take those glasses off. After all, his eyes were the sharpest. It must have been hard for him to have them restrained for such a time.

The young Spartan gave Jacob a hardy pat on the back. "How are your eyes?" She yelled over the warthogs roaring engine. "Mine still bleed a little."

The warthog ride, was long, and a little too bumpy for Raevynn's liking. The back seats weren't really intended for passengers. The heavy chain gun had simply been replaced with make shift metal seats, and they were by no means merciful on the bum. Thank goodness she had Jacob here to pass the time.

After what seemed like an eternity, the warthogs slowed down and passed over a cement speed bump. On either side of them were watch towers armed with men carrying high powered rifles with scopes. The men watched as each warthog passed over the bump and entered a large tunnel that sloped downward. The eerie passage was illuminated by a trail of flood lights.In here, the engines seemed much louder as their sounds bounced off the closed ceiling and walls.

The convoy of warthogs made its way down a spiraling underground roadway for nearly twenty minutes. Mendez had once explained to them how Reach was used for mining along time ago. Today these tunnels had a different purpose.

The warthogs finally made it to their destination: a guarded entrance to some sort of lab. Raevynn waited eagerly for Mendez to climb from his vehicle and order them to do the same.

The Spartans regrouped and followed Mendez past the guards through a set of sliding metal doors. Inside was a long brightly lit hallway, filled with various machines and security. Each Spartan and trainer was required to present identification before proceeding.

Once the routine security checks were finished, they were permitted to move to the next door way. Here Mendez was forced to stop and peer into a retinal scanner. The process was short and simple, and in a matter of seconds, the door split open, revealing a huge white room with a high ceiling. It was lined with dozens of computers, and monitors. Busy techs and doctors scrambled about the place, working extra hard now that the Spartans had arrived. The room was a piece of work itself, but the one thing that really caught the eye, were the dozens of shining grey sets of armor that stood waiting for them.

Jacob sat on the hard metal seat bouncing around looking at the scenery going by. Jacob was still getting used to how his eyes were functioning. They were hawk-like in their ability to see now and Jacob was happy.

Rae asked Jacob how his eyes were doing Jacob replied through his smile, "There doing fine. Still a sensitive to the light but you think you've seen beauty. Everything just seems ten times what it once was." Jacob took in a deep breath of the air. His eyes hadn't bleed probably because such links were taken to keep his eyes from straining.

The ride was long from then on. Even when they got to the base there were still much driving to be done. Jacob thought the metal doors were never going to end. It seemed like the Spartans were going to go through an endless security list.

Finally though after a Mendez retinal scan the doors opened and there the Spartans looked upon their new armor made just for them. Jacob kind of liked the grey metallic look of them.

He looked over to Rae he knew she was excited about this. Jacob was as well so much so that he felt a warm sticky feeling running down his face. Reaching up to see what was happening Jacob felt a small amount of blood running down his left eye.

Banken hadn't, of course, booked direct passage from Coral to Reach. The three ODSTs traveled from Coral to Gilgamesh, then to Harmony, where they assumed fake identities the hacker had created for them. They became low-level medical personnel associated in a vague way with the MJOLNIR program. To be safe, Banken had created a link with the Revenue Efficiency Department, so any inquiries by suspiscious superiors would make it look like they were there to make sure the money was well-spent. No one bothered the bean counters.

Dressed in the standard white medical uniforms, the three arrived on Reach a few hours before the Spartan-III's were to recieve their MJOLNIR armor, toting large duffel bags filled with the real ODST gear, should it be necessary. Banken seemed to think the Spartans might quickly be shipped out on a mission, given the extremely expedited nature of their enhancements.

The three were ushered into the room where the MJOLNIR waited, minutes before the Spartans were scheduled to arrive.

Marie placed her hands together, smiling and watching the MJOLNIR armor. It was handsome. It was strong. It was beautiful. It was advance. It was....

"Grey...?" She stopped moving, standing silent for some time. She tilted her head, looking up into the roof. The armor was gray. She sighed, shaking her head a little bit. That was annoying, at the very least. Out of all the colours that could possibly have been painted on the armor, it was....

"Grey.." She whispered to herself, sighed, running up to the rest of the group that had made some distance from her now. She quickly catched up and walked in the line as she did in the beginning. At the far back.

Parker walked up to see where the armour was being held. "Gray is right..Let it be armor at all. Without it, we would be nothing." He eyed the suits. Each was was specifically designed to fit each Spartans abilities and disabilities. In a way, they were all different.

"I don't think we'll be going on any mission soon, as we need to get adjusted to the armour." Inside though, Parker was feeling ready to burst with excitement at this moment.

Spike walked into where everyone else was standing and looking at the armor.

"wow dude that shiii is tight. O but dang it's grey. Why can't it be a cooler color like dark green or black? Well there is always something good in everything right? Well now we can be called ghosts because we are silent,scary, and deadly."

Spike said starting out happy turning sad then laughing at what he said last.

"Well guys when do we actually get to get in it?"

Spike asked looking around.

"Whenever they tell us to. If we just charge up and put them on now, we could put on the wrong suit and either be crushed by the pressure or be seriously injured by some enhancement in the suit that was meant for someone else. We need to follow orders first."

Parker was looking around the suits for one that looked like his. His would most likely stand out more from the others in a bad way.

He gazed at all of the armors laying up against the wall. He noted the shape, structure, hight and color.

"Do you think that the master chief stood here right where we are now, doing exactly what we are now?"

"Spartan one one five? Come with me." A cheery female voice yelled over the sounds of the room.

Raevynn watched as Parker made his way past the other Spartans. She was so excited for him she could barely contain herself. She wanted to throw her arms around him and congratulate him. Instead she stood there, smiling as he made his way towards the woman.

Raevynn watched as Parker was led past various suites of armor until they finally reached his own. She knew well it was his. This particular armor looked a little different. One of the arms had been removed. [I dont know what you want your armor to do about your arm lol. So I'll just let you describe your armor. Obviously everyone else's is going to be a little different. ]

In a matter of minutes, different techs started calling out other numbers, and the group of Spartans started to shrink. Soon enough, it was Raevynn's turn.

"Spartan one one six?"

Raevynn felt her heart leap into her throat. She wasn't sure how to feel. Right now there was an overwhelming sense of excitement, as well as nerves. She looked to Jacob who was still standing beside her. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face. Raevynn dabbed the tip of her finger on her tongue, then with a single swipe, managed to remove some of the blood from his face.

"Good luck, Jacob! See you soon." She squealed before snaking her way through the mob of remaining Spartans. The tech waiting for her looked a little impatient, but his expression soon changed as he noted the obvious anticipation in Raevynn's face.

The man led her to a suit of armor towards the back of the room. He ordered her to stand in the middle of a group of rectangular markings on the floor, and she eagerly complied without the slightest of hesitation. She stood there for a few seconds as the man gathered the first component of the armor: The matte black undersuit.

As he handed it to her, she noticed it felt a little heavy and started to wonder if moving in this armor would be a challenge. Despite her thoughts, she unchanged and stepped into the black suit without asking questions.

The suite covered every inch of her body, minus her face. As the tech zipped up the back of the under armor, she noticed her worries were for nothing. The suit felt like wearing a second layer of skin.

While Raevynn was busy looking herself over, the man had already started gathering the next piece of armor: The chest plate.

"Make sure you relax every muscle in your body. Try not to strain anything, including your mind, 116." The man warned. After waiting a few seconds, he started to assemble her armor.

The armor fit into place perfectly. As the tech added more armor plating over the black suit, she could see the mjolnir starting to take shape. She was starting to look like a real Spartan now. Something to be feared.

As the armor was pieced together over her body, Raevynn noticed a darkly tanned man being wheeled into the room on an old wheel chair. He didn't look like he belonged here.

"Please, Squad leader, I need you to concentrate on relaxing your body." The tech reminded her. "As soon as you're done with this, you're in for a surprise."

[It's fine, removing one of the arms was just what I was going to do.]

"Stand here, please." The woman motioned Parker onto some rectangular markings that looked the same beside every suit of armor. "Please change into this. It's an undersuit for the armor. It may be a little heavy." Parker took the suit and was surprised. It was a little heavy. Once he was changed into it he looked himself over.

Then the woman began by taking the chestplate. "I need you to relax your body, even your mind. Just relax every muscle, like you were meditating." Parker did as he was told. He took a deep breath and relaxed his entire body, like he was in a trance.

It took about half an hour to an hour before Parker's armor was placed on him. The arm that had been taken off made room for his robotic arm. It wasn't going to be as strong as the actual armor would be, but around the shoulder area his armor compressed with it so it fit perfectly. The other flaw was because it compressed with him it was harder to move it.

Then came the helmet. The woman handed the helmet to him. He took another deep breath and placed it on. As he snapped it into place, he could hear the compression of air being released to the outside of him. On the inside, however, it was like being inside an actual machine.

Eyeing the MJOLNIR armor, empty, was a first for Col. Yi. Few line troops had ever seen the MJOLNIR except in action--and few soldiers got to see the MJOLNIR even then. The grey camoflauge was smart--it would blend in with UNSC and Covenant ships alike. Rarely did Spartans end up fighting in the woods.

Something caught her sharp eyes--one of the suits was missing an arm. Motioning for Banken and Lucente to follow, she stepped closer to investigate. The techs had already started putting the armor onto Parker when the three ODSTs quietly approached them. The woman fitting the chestplate to him was startled when Yi spoke from behind her.

"Where's the other arm?"

"Oh, ah. . . it's not the standard setup. Spartan 115 has a cybernetic replacement arm." Thinking quickly about the quiet woman's apparent financial concerns, she added, "It was a cheaper option than slow-cloning in the long run, and it was his choice."

"Don't let me keep you from your work," Yi said, motioning to the partly assembled armor, waiting to see how Parker's arm would interface with it.

He examined the MJOLNIR armors until he found one with an advanced aiming system built into the face plate. He instantly knew it was his armor. He studied ever inch of the armor until one of the lab techs pulled him away and started to examine his suit.

"That is my armor isn't it?"

The lab tech did not answer.

Axel walked into the room, already wearing the MJOLNIR the tech's had provided with him some time ago as he'd started training with it the day he'd arrived, seeing his own armour was currently too badly damaged for use. He turned in the direction of Yi, Banken, and Lucente a few steps into the room however seemingly dismissed them as another part of Reach's crew. Either oblivious or uncaring to what was going on, he hesitated for a moment before heading in Rae's direction. It'd taken a while to catch on to where she was, givin his limitations. "I'm not attenting the cerimonial service to the departed soldiers who died during your enhancements." He said, straight to the point. "I could give you a long explanation but the simplest way to put it is I don't feel they deserve it, and even if I did there's a cerimoney involving several hundred dead Spartans who died in action that I need to go to." He hesitated. "Perhaps if you and your family here weren't babied so much you could've been doing your job instead of staying here, playing games. I don't doubt your 'Spartans' would have been a valuable asset, babied or not."

Not waiting for an answer he turned to walk out of the room, glancing at Yi and her comrades once more before reaching the door. Opening it, he turned around before exiting. "The Spartans and other UNSC soldiers from Onyx were worth their blood and bravery in the line of duty. So far... All I see you and your men are worth is several million dollars each and a lot of metal toys." The door shut silently behind him.