Emerald Spartan

Inner Demons

Naomi reloaded her magnum and handed it to him as well as several magazines.

"Here, you're gonna need this. Can't have you not be able to fight back can we now?" She said.

Steven grabbed the large handgun carefully. He'd shot a different version before, but he'd been told the principle was the same. But the thought of having to actually shoot and possibly kill another human being? That scared him immensely.

But it may be unavoidable.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't try to go on the defense for as long as possible.

He put the items in a still intact pocket. He then clenched his fist and breathed deep. A slight hum sounded out as his shield materialized on his arm.

Even his own shield was different now. Made up of crystalline styled hexagons. With the same rose in the center, but now with a diamond at the center of it.

Yet another reminder of his cracked reality.

"Naomi, we need to find Lapis! I can't leave here without her. I'd never forgive myself if I did." He said with a rare grit on his tongue.

Naomi turned her helmeted head to look at him. She racked the bolt on her MA5K, slotting a new round in the chamber.

"You think I came all the way down here just to pull you alone out of the fire? Missions clear, rescue both of you, get any data I can from this damn place and get out before the compound is leveled." She told him with a practiced ease.

She grabbed a grenade off her harness.

"As soon as this blows we go. Stay behind me and use that jackal shield of yours to stay safe. Fire on anyone that's not a gem or wearing UNSC standard. Can I trust you with that?" She asked in a deathly serious tone.

He clenched his fist and nodded. He'd save Lapis, hell or high water.

She nodded and pressed a button on the top of the frag grenade. She then peeked over the wall and chucked it. A few seconds and several panicked screams were heard before a loud boom and the sound of metal fragments hitting filled the air.

She was gone in an instant and Steven followed up right behind the Spartan. His shield raised in front of his body.

They both rushed through the doorway the enemies were behind. He heard several short bursts from Naomi's rifle put down any survivors of the explosion.

She motioned with her hand toward an airlock on the far side of the wall. Steven nodded and grabbed the pistol from his pocket with his right hand. Anxiety filled him as he followed Naomi.

They stopped directly in front of the airlock. He watched as Naomi pulled a chip out of the back of his helmet that he'd recognized as the same one that carried AI.

It went into a small port below the control panel. A few moments passed before the airlock slid open into an elevator.

They entered and the door slid behind them. He guessed the AI Naomi had inserted stayed inside whatever computer this place had, because the elevator started moving on its own.

His heartbeat was like a machine gun in his chest. Just, why couldn't he just have a single minute to just think some things over. But everything had just kept hitting him.

He turned his head to look at the Spartan that rescued him. After everything that went down, he never got a good look at her.

Covered in a car different style of armor then he'd seen the other Spartans use. Was it something new? Or was it just a different version of the same suit?