A Hero's Sacrifice: a tale about Noble Six

Break-in

POV: John-117

Time: 0500

Location: Noble City

Status: Deployed

I looked around, examining the thief's work. Only four things had been stolen and there had been minimal damage. Emile-A229's knife and dog-tags had been taken, along with Catherine-B320's pistol. Spartan-B312's helmet was also gone. The security footage had been expertly sabotaged by an ONI-level slicer.

Spartan Buck sighed. "We've got no trail to follow! Why are we even here? We should be out there, fighting insurrectionists, not inv-"

I raised my fist, silencing him. My helmet was picking up on a strange sound. With the utmost caution, I raised my primed MA5D and walked over to the sound. When my hidden eyes fell upon a chip, I lowered my rifle.

"Employee."

A lady nervously walked over to me. "Y-yes, s-sir?"

"Open this container. I want to know what that AI is trying to say."

"R-right away, sir."

She fumbled with her keys and found the right one. With a twist, the case unlocked and I lifted it up and grabbed the chip. After gazing at it for several seconds, bitter-sweet memories rising, I slipped it into the back of my head. A familiar wave of cool mercury washed across my mind and a female voice spoke.

"Hello, Spartan. I am Auntie Dot. I worked alongside Noble Team during the Fall of Reach. Now, I wish to work alongside you."

I sighed. "Why?"

"Noble Six survived the Covenant's glassing of Reach and I wish to be with him again."

I tilted my head. He's alive, huh? Makes sense: I wouldn't die to those odds I saw on his helm cam. And we're both hyper-lethal. I looked at my team.

"Get ready; we're moving out."

The employee had a look of shock, disappointment and anger. "Y-you're not going to help us find the thief?!"

I looked at her. In my 'no-nonsense' voice, I said, "The 'thief' is a missing Spartan."

My fellow Spartans looked at me, shocked. Fred took a step forwards. "What? Sir, are you sure?"

I looked straight ahead, staring the universe down. "Yes."

Locke was skeptical. "How? If it was a Spartan, wouldn't they have taken that chip?"

"No, because they didn't know Auntie Dot was still active. I'm very familiar with AI chips and when I saw Auntie Dot, I simply thought it was a chip without its AI. Turns out, I was wrong. Now, let's get moving. The Spartan will either be fifty miles from here, or forty. Depends if they're a two or three."

Blue Team drew their weapons and we took off, not caring if we left Fireteam Osiris behind us. We left the city and made way for the last known location of Noble Six, our prime suspect.

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POV: ???

I leaned against the wall. A pelican landed and the cargo bay opened, revealing a single figure. They had what looked like Mjolnir armor on, but I knew that it was weaker. Their armor was a cyan color and it reminded me of Kat. Just a bit.

"So you're the potential recruit? Why the hell is your visor broken?" The soldier's voice was feminine.

"Got into a fight recently. Hadn't got the time nor resources to replace it."