ARES:Gods of War

Call To Arms

Once their mission had been accomplished and Chief had requested that Ludmilla and her team kept the Forerunner Installation safe alongside the rest of the research staff, he, the Counters, Lucky Strikes and all of their gathered comrades boarded the twinrotor heavy transport back to the Ark from the Northern Base. Daisy took her helmet off, murmuring, "You're actually dead serious, huh...?" as she stared at the Chief.

"Afraid so," Chief replied, looking at the youthful face of Daisy as she sat there, mulling this over. She sighed, then snorted, which temporarily confused both John and his impromptu partner, the reclusive sharpshooter that was Cal. Both women were eerily calm about this for anyone who was not a Spartan. Daisy especially, considering how Chief knew her as a more brash, hardheaded one.

She told Chief, "Honestly, fuck yeah. We won the war... Who cares if there's another if ours is safe...?" with a smirk. Sighing, the blonde shook her head and whispered, "I swear, things get more and more hectic the more we learn about this place. First, we had to deal with and dodge entire patrols of these Rapture freaks, then we were shot at by that weird Heretic gal in passing and now this crap... How're you handling this so well, Cal?"

"Like I said, I'm just glad we're alive again..." The woman with platinum-blonde hair spoke, shrugging. She took her helmet off, causing gasps across the overloaded transport, including from the male and female Marines alike. Anis scoffed, while Pinne, Sammy and Niner bumped fists after having made a bet with Delta and Signal about Cal being a babe, at least. The fact both were was a bonus, but their bet was on Cal.

Layla chuckled at the sight, saying, "Gotta say, ma'am, Spartans are supermodels or something. Both the women and men look like you have all been chiseled out of stone," before turning to Rusty. The Missilis girl held her head, trembling, which caused Layla to ask, "... Rusty, you alright there? You did good providing us air cover..." as she turned to look at the girl.

"It's... Not..." Rusty barely managed to let out, "It's not... That..." and she looked up. Her eyes glowed, though not the red one would expect out of the famed Corruption. An eerie blue. Her head craned to the right, eyeing Alyosha. Her expression went flat, dead serious, the corner lights of her muzzle glowing blue. She stood to her feet almost robotically, then drew her sidearm and aimed it at the Commander. She whispered, "... Sorry...!"

... Before she could even squeeze the trigger, Cortana blared an interrupt over her NIMPH, calling out, "Oh, no, you don't..." with a hint of anger. She felt the air knocked out of her synthetic lungs. Chief and Will pinned her to the floor and disarmed her. She gasped for air as the glow in her eyes faded and they flickered black. She screamed through the mask, voice altered, before Cortana said, "Rusty! Rusty, it's alright! I think I blocked the signal! Chief, tie her hands, now!"

As the gun clattered to the floor, the Spartans managed to secure Rusty. They lifted her to her feet, spun her around and pinned her down before tying her hands up with magnetic lock cuffs. Rusty whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Repeatedly toward the Commander. Everyone looked at the girl as she breathed heavily.

Anis was about to comment, snap, or something. The Commander showed her to be quiet, then asked over com, "Cortana, what just happened?"

"... Rusty has been having issues with some 'rogue code' sent her way. From what I can tell by peeling a copy of it apart, it was sent from Missilis a few hours ago..." The AI sighed deeply, "Seems like she had orders either to leave us to die, or to kill the Commander if the situation called for it. Like a killswitch just flipped on in her brain. Syuen really must want you dead, Alyosha."

"I can guess why," The man replied with a heavy heart. He sighed and asked, "Is it off?"

"Yeah, but Rusty's mind's nearing a Switch..." Cortana replied, sad, "I'm not sure we can do anything to help her. It's almost as if the Code took her body over unwillingly, left her a passenger in her own moving Nikke form. I can imagine how that's gonna screw with one's perception of oneself as a human... Maybe you can help her, or maybe we just let the Mind Switch run its course."