Fortnite: Project Mecha

Chapter 9: Glitch Out

TW: Suicide Attempt (I don't know if this is an accurate description, just be wary if you're not into that sort of stuff)

Nobody looking would've thought it due to the lack of success, but the Scientist and Shanta were searching for mech parts using the Scientist's holotable. The Scientist was quite proud of himself; he had managed to prepare the holotable for scanning things. Before, it had only accepted USB sticks of prescanned things to edit them in 3D but since very few people used those these days he'd managed to a little bit of recoding.
  The Scientist had sent out a drone that filmed different bits of the island in 3D before sending them to Sanctuary. Currently, the drone was flying over Logjam Lumberyard, a timber preparation factory in the northern portion of the island. So far, no mech pieces had been found but they still had half an island left to search, so the Scientist did not give up hope.
  "Scientist, I'm beginning to give up hope." Shanta admitted.
  "No! We're doing epicly! Look at all of the nothing we've found." the Scientist joked.
  "Exactly. We're failing. You can stay if you want to, but I'm going to go check in on the Foundation to see if I'm needed elsewhere." Shanta waved him off.
  "WAIT!"
  "What?" Shanta gasped before repeating, "What!?"
  "Oh, it's not a mech signal. But it's something! A large rift energy reading, it looks like." the Scientist pointed at a little monitor he'd set up beside the holotable, "It's funny. I didn't know that IO worked around the Jonses."
  "The Jonses? Do you think that it's Jones himself?" Shanta asked, referring to their agent that used to be in IO.
  "Well, I've not actually met him in person but from what I've heard about him from the Order and the Foundation, he's not the sort of person to just go suddenly rebel or go rogue. Except if it's against IO." the Scientist rubbed where his forehead would be, thinking.
  "Would you like me to go check it out, babe?" Shanta sighed, knowing the answer.
  "That would be nice, babe." the Scientist nodded.
  "Ok. Keep looking, I'll try not to get lost in the dark." Shanta waved, strutting towards the door again.
  "You do that!" the Scientist waved, "Unless..."
  Conveniently walking just by the door was Plague. In one hand was his mask, the other held a bagel which Plague was eating in large mouthfuls, smiling at how good it tasted. He wasn't doing anything important. He could eat the bagel on the way over to the Jonses whilst he got lost in the dark instead of Shanta. Hopefully he wouldn't, of course.
  "Plague! Can you and bagel go and check out this energy signature near the Jonses?" the Scientist asked.
  "Mmf?" Plague swallowed the last of his bagel and replaced his helmet, "Yeah, sure. I'm not doing anything."
  "Amazing! Report back to me asap." the Scientist returned to his drone scan.
  "Don't get lost in the dark." Shanta waved.
  "I won't." Plague itched his arm as he went on.

***

  The sky had gone dark, creating an increasingly dark haze over the Jonses and the rest of the island. The only light near Master Chief's tent was the campfire he had made to cook the fish he'd caught for Skye. It had sharp spikes and went crispy quickly, like there was no moisture in the body to begin with.
  "Ooh, yummy!" Skye took the freshly cooked meat.
  Skye began to eat the fish, and a whole story was told across her face. At first, she smiled from being able to taste something at last, then her smile faltered a little and then disappeared completely, fading into a frown which Skye frantically fanned with both hands, her tongue stuck out. She panted before collecting herself and sighing.
  "That was an experience and a half." Skye spluttered.
  "I probably should've told you that it was a Spicy Fish. I never think of them as being that bad, sorry." Master Chief shook his helmeted head.
  "Stop being so hard on yourself all the time, it's not good for your mental health. I should know, being hard on yourself just isn't good. You would never have guessed that I have the spice tolerance of a pebble." Skye shrugged, panting.
  Considering the mental health comment, Master Chief replied, "Pebbles don't eat."
  "Well- ok, that was a bad example but you get my point." Skye laughed.
  "Of course." Master Chief assured her.
  Master Chief watched the story continue to play out across Skye's face. There were moment where she pretended to be able to bare it, and then there were times where she ate bigger bites and being overtaken by the inferno in her mouth. Chief kind of wanted his own Spicy Fish so he could join in this 'experience and a half.'
  "So, you know a bit about me. What about you? Where do you come from?" Skye asked, finishing the last of the fish.
  Master Chief nodded, "I just as well say. It'd be the right thing to do. So, when I was very young I was kidnapped from my parents to join this exclusive program without my consent. They said I was replaced by a clone, but where I come from clones don't last long. I can't even imagine how my parents felt to lose the clone, if I even had parents. I trained under the army, being toughened up through cruelty. I was tenacious, one of the top in the class. So, when I was... what, 12? 13? 14? I was put through this augmentation process. My bones became unbreakable. My muscle density increased. And the process was very, very painful. But I'm now superhuman, basically."
  "So, you're immortal?" Skye gasped, intrigued.
  "No. Vampires are said to be immortal, but give them garlic and they'll die. If you shot my bare skin with a bullet, then I'd die. That's why I have this armour. Keeps me safe." Master Chief hit his armour with his first, "I fought a few wars, but now I'm here. I followed orders that could be considered unethical, so I understand why I deserve to be here. But you? I'm stumped."
  "It's not a matter of deserving it or not. Just one moment you're where you used to be, and then you're here on Artemis, or murder island or whatever you call it." Skye shrugged, staring at the waving grass, "And as I said, don't be so hard on yourself."
  "Sorry." Master Chief bowed his head.
  "Ah!"
  "I'm not sorry."
  "Good boy."
  "So, do you have any memories before the Seven?" Master Chief asked.
  "God, I don't... don't." Skye began but stopped.
  Skye fell to the floor. Chief's augmented heart skipped a beat as he leapt up and leapt to her side. She looked faint, but she wasn't unconscious. Not yet. Had the fish not been properly cooked? Had Chief failed again? He couldn't even take care of a civilian. Not a civilian. His friend. He'd failed her!
  "Skye! SKYE!" Chief shook the sleepy girl losing his confidence and his composure.
  Suddenly, Chief found himself being blasted back by an unseen shockwave. Skye's outline began to blur. Was something wrong with Chief? Had he been drugged along with her? How? When? Skye's outline began to jitter, but she stayed still. The jittering became sharper and sharper, extending further and further away front the body, little blue sparks being emitted each time it happened.
  Master Chief felt an itching feeling that crawled up his spine like a vine, or a venom injected into the bloodstream. It was something he hadn't felt in a long time. True, solid fear. Skye's eyes shot open in less than a second and her shape flew all over the place, and yet didn't move. She screamed as she appeared to almost glitch or lag, a banshee-like shriek that burned Master Chief's brain. He put his hands over his eyes, willing it to end or for him to die.
  Then, he spotted the Ranger AR he'd discarded earlier. He crawled over to it, reaching for it, trying his best to end his suffering before anything too macabre happened. Just before he managed to get ahold of it, everything stopped. She wasn't dead, but asleep. The gun was right there, and as he picked it up Chief stared at it, his life torturing him.
  Then, he threw into the trees. His extended strength sent the gun flying away so that it would never be found by him. Master Chief's breaths rattled his skull becuase he breathed so hard. There wasn't enough oxygen for his expanding lungs to take.

To be continued...