Sent To Protect and Serve Humanity

Chapter 45: Murky Water

3rd POV

Surrounded by carnage and death, a young French lady could do nothing but quietly remain still. The bodies of dead Atlesian guards were her company, as were the occasional birds that would soar overhead. It was at this point that she began to feel time alude her. Her masterfully crafted engineering that was designed in the great forges of Forerunner heydays, bested and countered by a blade of steel and a simple electromagnetic pulse.

With her mind starting to go, she slowed her breathing and began to drift off.

"Get up."

"You can NOT be bested by a mere human!"

"You are Forerunner by birth, keeper and guardian of all that exists, GET UP!"

Courageous' eyes fluttered open. Her breathing was heavy and desperate; her body ached all over after just trying to move. Through the small visage in her helmet, she could slowly watch her distorted HUD return to normalcy.

"SHIP SERVANT! GET UP AND FIGHT!"

Those very same voices that appeared during the night of her upgrade had returned. Their commands echoed around her, but the more she listened, the more they all began to sound like one person. One single angry man who sounded so familiar and commanding, but she couldn't piece together who it was. With a grunt, she planted her hands on the ground and pushed, attempting to get up, yet her body failed her.

"Argh!" Courageous whimpered and collapsed onto the ground. She looked down and noticed the small puddle of her own blood she found herself in, yet she couldn't bring herself to stand. "It's not done... just a little longer."

Without Spring, the frigate knew this process would've taken longer, but she didn't know how long. Her companion knew her body inside out, literally, and losing her for the mission would prove to be a detriment.

All that she could do was lay there, under repair, and wait for her wound to seal up. She rested her head against the ground and gazed into the forest before her mind began to wander into dark depths. She had never felt more useless and weak, and her thoughts began to stray toward what would happen if Adam got his hands on Blake, her chérie.

It was this horrible realization that reignited the spark in the girl.

The frigate groaned and felt the wound with her hand, pieces of her armor disintegrating to allow her to do so. From what she could tell, the skin tissue and cut had been sealed, but internal damage to what she assumed was the ribs and her diaphragm had remained an issue. It would make sense why breathing was such a task if that was true.

She would pull her armored hand away as the Forerunner fragments reappeared on her chest to cover the skin-tight black suit beneath the armor. With one great heave, she pushed herself off the ground and forced herself to stand, using the cover she rested by to assist her.

"Just a little longer, Blakey- ow!" The girl winced in pain before falling to a knee. "I can't..." She felt tears begin to form in her eyes. "I'm too weak-"

"FIGHT! YOU ARE FORERUNNER, KEEPER OF PEACE, PROTECTER OF LIFE ITSELF, AND FAITHFUL SHIP SERVANT! NOW, FIGHT!!"

Just then, the blue lights on Courageous' armor, the hardlight that binded it onto her, flickered between a firey orange and her beautiful blue. Suddenly, she found the strength to stand and pushed herself onto her feet with ease as her helmet disintegrated into orange particles, revealing her altered appearance. The blue tips at the end of her long chocolatey hair had changed colors to a glowing orange, and her once radiant blue eyes had been replaced by a flaming orange pair.