Just Dropping In (A RvB x Halo Fanfic)

Chapter 9

"Rookie, you alright..? McKenna."

I snap out of my thoughts and see Agent Washington staring at me. I lower my weapon slightly. "THAT'S the Meta?!" I ask in disbelief. At first, I thought the Meta was some codename for a situation, no the name of a... person. I looked at the white soldier, wondering how in the world he managed to cause such a problem for the Chairman and Project Freelancer.

"What do you mean?" Washington asks.

Realizing that I slipped up some information, I tried to play it off as if it was nothing. "No, nothing, sir," I say, putting my Magnum away and standing up. "Just... surprising. That's all."

"Right." He says and signals me to walk with him to the Meta. My mind is racing as I have no idea if he knows I know any information about the Meta or will fill me in on whatever is happening. As we walked to the Meta, I noticed two other people on the base: one maroon and one purple soldier, with almost the same armor as Agent Washingtons. The purple soldier was unconscious while the maroon soldier hovered over him, waiting for him to wake up.

"Who are they?" I asked Washington.

"Prisoners." He replies. "Simmons, the maroon one, was with Epsilon the last time I saw him."

"Epsilon?" I said in confusion. He doesn't say anything and stops by the Meta, who growls in slight pain to Washington and snarls harsh words at me, which instantly ticks me off.

"Maybe if you would have listened more with your ears than with your fists, then maybe your stomach wouldn't have been hurting. Or learn how to block better." I retorted back. He hisses and walks towards me, only to be stopped by Washington's hand again. "Rookie, can it." He orders me, lowering his hand once more. "I get that you probably were allowed to have these smart remarks where you're from, but you're under my command. I don't want any hostility during this mission. The same goes to you, Meta."

I look at the Meta, who stares right back at me. "Yes, sir," I tell him. The Meta growls in agreement, mumbling a small apology with it. "Eh, no hard feelings. I honestly thought that I was going to win that fight." 

The Meta growls about how pulling a gun out at the end wasn't fair. I was about to respond when Washington cuts into the conversation. "Nice to know that you can understand the Meta and that you two have made up. Now, can we focus on the mission at hand?"

"Of course, sir," I said. The Meta asks Washington why I was with him in the first place, and Washington responds. "She's just a soldier assigned to help me with the mission. Now, what's the status on your equipment and power?" 

Great introduction, sir. I sighed but then picked up small talk behind us. I turn my head to see the maroon soldier, Simmons, and now-awake purple soldier making small talk. I nudged Washington with my arm and nodded to the prisoners. He murmurs something inaudible and shouts at the prisoners. "You two, quiet."

The Meta growls, stating that every time he tries to use his armor enhancements, it fails.

"Then you need to stop trying to use all of them," Washington concludes. "You just don't have the resources anymore."

Resources? I was about to ask about these resources when I heard the voices of Simmons and the purple soldier again. This time, with more useful information.

"Meta killed a bunch of other Freelancers," Simmons tells his friend. "Took their equipment."

"Like the invisibility?" The purple soldier asks, to which the maroon soldier nods. "Yeah, and the shield and the thing that slows downtime. He also stole their A.I. fragments, but those all got wiped out. Now, something seems, I don't know, wrong with him."