Augmented Heart

4

Three excruciatingly long days later, there were no covenant left on that ring. I slept during the entire Pelican ride back to HQ. I woke up with the landing.

Seargent Martin helped me out of the Pelican, "You two, help Master Chief out of his armor. Then take a shower, you smell like shit."

Master Chief led us to the armor removal area. I didn't even know where it was. I only knew how to use it from my training. My hands were trembling at the thought. Would he take his helmet off? What if he was actually ugly? People rarely saw him without his helmet. I shook my head. Master Chief got into position in the machine. I pushed the necessary buttons and watched as his armor fell to the floor, piece by piece until all that remained was his skin-tight undersuit and his helmet.

"Wow, Amos, looks like you got to meet the chief himself," One of the coworkers I'd met briefly walked by, nearly distracting me from the hiss that came from Master Chief's helmet. He pulled it off slowly. His skin was pale from the lack of sun. His eyes were serious and grey-blue. His hair was a soft brown color, and definitely slightly longer than regulation from his time spent away. Freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. Most of all, he was gorgeous. I had to force myself to look away.

He nodded to us before walking away.

"Woah."

"He was hot," Noah seemed to share my awe.

"Pick up that armor and go take showers you shit eaters!" Seargent Martin appeared behind us, making both of us nearly jump out of our skin.

We picked up the dented pieces of armor, which were much heavier than they looked.

I carried the chest plate to a bin for recycling, "Gonna hang that on your wall, Amos?"

"Hey, she fought alongside the chief," Noah defended me. "She did it. It's not just a silly dream anymore."

I smiled at him before rushing to my dorm. I hadn't even got to decorate it yet.

I stayed in the shower for what felt like ages, washing off four days worth of dirt and stench. After getting dressed, there was a knock on my door.

"Noah, what's up?"

"Sergeant Martin said we're free for the rest of the day. Plus it's only noon."

"We can leave base?"

"Yeah, everybody who just came back is free for the day."

"Let's go find Henry," we went searching through the hallways until we found his name on a door. We banged on it, he opened it, looking just as excited as we were.

"What if?" Henry leaned in close as if he were plotting something serious. "What if we invited the Master Chief?"

"I doubt he'll want to go."

"I bet he never gets invited anywhere. It wouldn't hurt to ask."

"Unless it does," I said. "He's the Master Chief. We're just marines. It's not really our place, is it?"

"I say it doesn't hurt," Henry turned to go to another area of the dorms.

"Plus he's probably exhausted and trying to get some rest," I continued to try and talk him out of it.

"He can sleep tonight."

I sighed, there was no stopping him. He walked through an entrance that read "Spartan Dormitory." It was much fancier than ours.

"He should be easy to find, right? Probably room 117," Henry headed in that direction. "Don't you want him to see what you look like when you're not filthy and you smell nice?"