//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Hell's Angel 
// by Resurgent Wanderer 
//------------------------------//

	Fireteam Raven watched as their newest member trotted into the room. They knew she'd be back there for just under a week, and they had all brought the food, water and ammunition(should they need it) to last in the only entrance hall to that room. Securing their items once more, Kramer and Indigo took first watch while the other sat down for dinner.



~~~~~~~




This is a memory crystal, Faolan. It was something that managed to come with me when I was...misplaced. Anyway, the point is a lot of things could go wrong, so if you could hold onto it for me...you know...if I don't make it. If you want, you can, uh, go through it. It has me and my mom when we became family. The first  time the Remnants showed up on that planet too. Few other things that are more everyday. Anyway, see you in a week.

The Spartan held the crystal in his hands before bringing it up to his fore head and closing his eyes.



~~~In the Depths of the Crystal~~~




"Hey squirt! I've got something important to show you!" called Rainbow Dash as she flapped down and landed next to the orange filly.

"Oh, is it a new trick?!"

Shaking her head, the blue pegasus pulled out a quill and paper.
"Even better, check this out, it makes everything legal!"

Scootaloo read the paper quickly before squealing happily and wrapping her hooves around Rainbow's neck.
"Does this mean I can call you mom?!"

Hugging the filly tightly the larger pegasi nodded.
"Definitely squirt. I'll always be there for you, and don't you forget it."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou! I love you...mom."

Blinking back a tear Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo all the tighter.



~~~~~~~




Rainbow and Scootaloo were up flying together when  a small purple form on the ground called up to them. Flying down quickly, the two listened as Twilight explained that Discord was loose again and on his way there.

"Scoots, get back home now! I'll be by later, but I don't want you hurt, okay?"

"Kay mom, be safe!"

"I will!"



~~~~~~~




*CRASH*

"You may be the fastest flyer, Rainbow Dash, but how well do you limp!" Discord laughed maliciously as he entered the ruined cloudhouse through the wall Rainbow had just made a hole in.

As the mare struggled to get back to her hooves, she noted with horror that this was her cloudhouse, and that meant-

"HEY! You leave my mom alone!" Scootaloo growled as she stared down the Chaos god.

"My my, what is this? You have yourself a fan Rainbow, but what happens if I send you away?"

With a flash of magic, a bolt was sent towards the blue mare, but there was a flash of orange as Scootaloo jumped in the way. 



~~~Four weeks after Discord~~~




"Week four, and a local family has brought me in. They haven't been mean so that's good. Anyway, I'm tired and off to bed, I'll check out the falling lights tomorrow."



~~2 months after Discord~~~




The filly stayed hidden as they creatures stormed through the house.  Mr. Saipan's corpse managed to hide her scent from the predatory beasts' noses. She didn't move until three hours after they left, and not without crying over the bodies of the family that had taken her in.



~~~2 months and nine days after Discord~~~




"Happy birthday to me, I should hang in a tree, I'm a fucking pussy...happy birthday to me..." Scootaloo murmured dejectedly from the confines of a closet. Peeking out, she saw the partially eaten remains of a number of small humans before being sick everywhere.



~~~2 months and two weeks after Discord~~~




Scootaloo had been sneaking down the alley way when she saw it. A Jiralhanae had just reached into a car and yanked a man out from inside. With one bite, the alien ripped an arm from the guy and laughed before throwing it to the others. Huddling into the trash in the alley, the filly fell asleep.



~~~Three months after Discord~~~




The Jiralhanae chieftain laughed as his second held Scootaloo in his grasp. The filly had tears running down her face and was shaking from fear. Yelping slightly from being thrown to the ground, the chieftain leaned over her.

"Don't know if tastes good, so instead of cook you, we tastes you first!"

Letting out a second yelp the filly cried as she felt her wing get pulled to the side. She thought of what Rainbow would do in her situation, and thought of what she knew of the Jiralhanae. Then with a cry of rage, the filly twisted out of the chieftains grasp and slammed a fore hoof into the beasts face. Then another, and another, and another. She continued until she was beating nothing but the ground, now stained red and littered with chunks of flesh and bone.

She took his knife and gun, and then the lives of his followers. No Jiralhanae survived that day.



~~~Back in the Present~~~




Scootaloo was scheduled to be done in an hour. Raven was packing up there things, having made it long enough to know that ONI couldn't touch the mare for not being a Spartan. As the group laughed and mouthed about how ONI wasn't as tough as they thought Commander Travis entered the room with a platoon.

"Fireteam Raven, I see your mission was a success."

Williams saluted before nodding.
"Hell yes it was sir. ONI didn't come close to us."

The commander nodded before his platoon levelled their rifles on the Spartans and a group of ONI spooks rushed in.

"That's because they were busy with me. As it turns out, they're a bunch of backstabbing cunts, as they knew of a law prohibiting us from using our Spartan technology, or sharing it, with aliens. I am sorry Raven, but there is nothing we can do." Travis growled angrily.

Faolan glared hard at the ONI spooks before pulling Scootaloo's knife from his belt and diving towards them. Kramer Indigo and Davis only just tackled him in time to stop him while Williams tried to talk him down.

"Hey, HEY! Grant! Enough! They won't get away with this! We will find a way to stop them, and we will keep our Fireteam whole."

On command from Commander Travis the platoon led the fireteam out and into another room while ONI collected the still anesthetized Spartan-IV Scootaloo.



~~~~~~~




An hour later Commander Travis entered the room Fireteam Raven was being held in. Immediately Faolan Grant's hand clamped over the man's throat and lifted him into the air.

"Give me one good reason why Ah shouln' snap yer fuckin' neck!"

In response the Commander gestured to a key on his belt. Faolan dropped him to let him explain.

"Two stealth drop pods, one stealth ship, armour amplified with active camouflage and suppressed weapons.  Officially you're locked in this room. Off the books though...well, we don't leave our Spartans behind. Also after securing the HVT expect back up from a group of Sangheli." Travis explained, "Now go get our Spartan!"



~~~~~~~




"Has it moved at all?"

"No sir."

"Still staring at the wall?"

"Yes sir."

"Jesus Christ, does it even blink?! Seriously, we've left it in that room for hours and it just stares at the door! Have we at least made any progress with the d.n.a sample to figure out how to emulate the wings?" the scientist growled.

When the assistant shook his head the scientist stormed off towards the room, sidearm in tow.



~~~~~~~




If bored glares could burn holes in walls, Scootaloo would have stopped being bored ages ago, she loved pyrotechnics! Regardless of that she also knew it bothered the scientists. They seemed to mistake the (newly)5'5" tall filly as a non-threat. You know, never mind the fact that she could now punch through their skull and play puppets with their brains and went through the same process as the Spartan-IV's.

Regardless, the filly found an odd humour in messing with the men, mostly because they planned on cutting her open to see how she worked. Just then the door opened and one of the scientists walked in.

"Do. You. Speak. English? As. In. Words."

Giving a snort of derision Scootaloo snapped back at him.
"Dunno, you suck dick often?"

The scientist practically fell over in his embarrassment and shock.
"What?! NO!"

"Then I guess I don't speak English. Therefore you're wasting your time. You can go now."

As the man left the room Scootaloo began to think over things she could have done differently. First was her situation in Ponyville. To think that Rainbow had been an orphan too! Turns out had she just said something the mare would have taken her in in a heartbeat. Then there was the Saipan family. She wuld have grabbed that gun and fired away if she's known she would have been such a natural. ODST Raetz and grabbing the Chopper rather than the Mongoose. Leading Faolan on and causing him to develop feelings for her.

'Why?'

'Because we obviously could never be together, that's why.'

'According to who?'

'Well, ONI doesn't approve....'

The argument was weak, and Scootaloo knew it, especially since she was arguing with herself.

'Who cares what ONI thinks.'

'Well, still....'

'You're scared?'

'NO!'

'It's okay to be a little scared Scootaloo, you know that, Luna taught you that.'

'I know...'

'Then why not?'

'I...can't...look at what we've done. I'm practically a magnet for trouble, a berth of broken dreams. Dash couldn't get into the 'Bolts because she chose me, and the Saipan's stayed behind for me. I've caused so much trouble...'

'Afraid to get hurt again?'

'No! Yes... I don't know...'

*Thud*

Scootaloo's eyes suddenly focused as what appeared to be the lead scientist walked into the room.

"Alien, do you understand why you are here?"

"Because you think that because I'm not human means I don't have any rights."

"As you shouldn't! You aliens come to our homes, take our belongings, then expect us to play nice. Even ONI thinks we should be nice!"

Scootaloo carefully logged that apparently this guy wasn't with the real ONI, probably a splinter group. Even still it meant trouble for her.

"We'll be taking you apart in an hour or so, so any regrets?" the scientist jeered.

Thinking about it, Scootaloo could only truly think of one at the moment.
"I shouldn't have just run Faolan into the ground like that....should have taken him up on his offer. I...I think maybe I was just too afraid, and that's why I didn't accept his offer to date. That's fine though, because as soon as he arrives and wipes the floor with your ass, I'm so taking him out somewhere nice...granted on his budget...or I'll just take your wallet."

"Ha! Really? You expect to get out of here?"



~~~~~~~




"Set and ready on mark."



~~~~~~~




"Yep, you see, they already believe me to be one of their own, and they don't leave each other behind." Scootaloo smiled.

The scientist just looked at her like it was a joke.

"So, you might just want to prepare your anus, cause it's about to get wrecked."



~~~~~~~




"MARK!"



~~~~~~~




An explosion ripped through the complex violently, rocking the entire room that Scootaloo was held in. While the scientist was sent face first to the floor, the pegasus, with the aid of her hyper-musculature, stood firm on all four legs. Pressing the advantage, the filly stepped forward and stomped down hard on the scientists arm as he reached for the  M6C causing it to break audibly.

"Pitiful. You talk your game, but you can't back it up!" the filly snarled as she spat on the man.

"At least I fight for the humans!"

Scootaloo's right eye twitched involuntarily for a moment.
"Fight for the humans? Would you like to know how I got this scar? Because I don't just fight for the humans, I fight for everyone out there who has some semblance of a good moral alignment. This scar was received killing a backstabbing Sangheli remnant as he made an attempt on the Sangheli Thel 'Vadam. He's also the acquaintance that found out your plan back at the night club."

The scientist paled at the realization that he may have made such a powerful enemy.

"It's okay though, because I won't let him kill you. No, you're off to see Faolan."



~~~~~~~




Williams took point, stealthily pushing through the smoke and debris of the ruined entry way. Just behind him was Davis, Kramer and Indigo. The four members continued moving forward a few hallways before stopping, coming to the realization they were missing somebody.

“Davis, where the hell is Grant at?!” Williams growled.

All members cast looks around only to realize the soldier was missing.

That was when they heard it, a rhythmic thumping tell tale of a weighted down Spartan.

“Tell me he isn’t...”

“Fuck, he is Williams...”

Sure enough rounding the corner came Faolan Grant, hefting a pack of ammunition on his back and a AIE-486H HMG in his hand. Each Spartan glanced down at their suppressed weapons, then at the unsuppressed behemoth held by the Scotsman as he pushed past him. For once it was Davis that spoke sense.

“This is a stealth mission! They can’t know we were here!”

Turning his head back slightly, Faolan spoke in a tone that practically told the others how his face would look under his helmet.
“Yer righ’....an’ Ah don’t plan on leavin’ anyone behind to tell the tale. Stay here or come along, but stay ou’ o’ mah way, cause Ah’m no’ leavin’ Scootaloo for much longer.”

With little grace Faolan walked up to the next door, fired off the hinges and lock, then booted the door straight in before opening fire on everyone with in. As the rest of the fireteam followed, they mopped up anyone reaching for weapons that were left.



~~~~~~~




"Sounds like my friends are having a hay day with your defenses. They'll be in here soon enough though, so enjoy." Scootaloo laughed. As she did so and fiddled with the M6C she failed to notice the scientist begin transmitting data on a small datapad.



~~~~~~~




Faolan Grant had effectively torn through the majority of the complex, but there was one more room left housing five security personelle. Not worried though, due to his chosen weapon, the Scotsman slammed through the door and laid on the trigger.

*clikclikclikclikclik*

"Auferfukssake!" the Spartan roared as he ripped the ammo feeding line from the gun and gripped it by the barrels. With a now sizeable club in hand Faolan charged the five guards. The first attempted to dodge out of the way but was still clipped hard enough to slam him into the wall. The next two both tried to chearge the Spartan-IV with knives, but they were dispatched by a bone shattering swing. The fourth just stood his ground firing away while the back end of the HMG came down and smashed him into the ground.

Dropping the now mangled remains of the gun, Faolan looked up to see the final guard desperately trying to get through the door on the far side of the room.



~~~~~~~




Hearing the gun shots Scootaloo readied the M6C and set up in the corner using the head scientist as a humna sheild. There was frantic pounding on the far side of the door and the mare was ready for the worst when an uparmoured fist suddenly drove itself through the door. It glistened red it the dim light.

The hinges groaned terribly as she watched, and then the door came right off the frame as a large Spartan form filled its veiw. Shoving her 'meat shield' to the side Scootaloo rushed forward, recognizing the Pathfinder armour as Faolan's own.

"Faolan you crazy bastard!" Scootaloo cried as she literally tackled the armoured form off his feet.

Removing his helmet to reveal the smiling face beneath Faolan ruffled the pegasus' mane.
"Ah figured you'd ha' done summat like take a prisoner, good on ye lass!"

"Ha, you think you're so smart! But no one prepares like the Didact! How do you think these Remnant forces of the Covenant have lasted so long? You see, it doesn't matter that you've destroyed this base, because we have what we needed." the scientist laughed, "It took the Forerunners years to have finally mastered hardlight technology, but to imagine a whole race that has hardlight technology naturally interfaced with their bodies? The wonders one could achieve from that? That's where you little ponies came in. You see, we find a way to take you apart and meld with your d.n.a and we could become as gods! We would be....INVINCIB-*BANG*"

"Invincible tha' you shit eating cunt."

Just then a shell struck the base.



~~~~~~~




A lone Sangeheli stood on the top of the Wraith as it touched down to unload the Sangheli Loyalists. Noticing the Remnant vehicles depositing their own group of Jiralhanae the Sangheli reached down and withdrew his Type-1 Plasma Sabre.
"Brothers, tonight we move to ensure the survival of all races. We must not fail, nor can we falter."



~~~~~~~




Upon exiting the complex with the rest of Fireteam Raven, Scootaloo found herself pinned down with no armour, not exactly her cup of tea seeing as she now made a larger target. That and running out armed with nothing but a sidearm also wasn't the smartest of moves.

"Williams, we need to get Scootaloo to the ship! She's got her armour in there!" barked Kramer.

Williams just nodded as he motioned for Davis and Indigo to lay down suppresive fire before moving forward towards their ship. Keeping himslef between the hail of plasma rounds and Scootaloo Faolan dragged the unarmoured Spartan along behind him.

Just before they could make it behind cover a plasma grenade came sailing straight at Faolan. The Spartan readiedto throw himself from his friends when the grenade stuck to a tree limb and went flying back towards its thrower. 

"You have a talent for finding trouble whilst under equipped Pegasus." a Sangheli quipped from behind them.

Scootaloo just nodded as she ducked behind a rock.
"You keep pulling my flank from the fire, Thel, and someone might actually think you're starting to like me."

The Sangheli barked a laugh and shot down two Kig-Yar marksmen before turning back to face Scootaloo who was staring at him critically.
"Fine...maybe a little. You have a warriors heart, nothing more."

Rolling her eyes Scootaloo started making headway back towards the ship, her progress speed now doubled with the aid of the Sangheli Loyalists.



~~~~~~~




"You have got to be taking a piss..." Scootaloo trailed off as she slid into her Spartan-IV undersuit. It was surprisingly flexible for her, but she had to have someone seal it for her as the seal ran up her spine to allow for her wings. Once she had slid into the undersuit the mare stepped into the machine that had been built into the ship to have her armour placed on. While Scootaloo was having her armour applied Williams explained the basics.

"Obviously custom made, it has been dubbed the MJOLNIR/Alicorn Armour Permutation. The 'boots' for your hooves are reinforced to withstand the most extreme pressure. Your armour is also a lot mor lightweight than most. The helmet and the wing guards were specifically made by your friend Thel 'Vadamee. The wingguards employ hardlight technology to protect the whole wing and aid in flight while the helmet. Well, you explain it Thel."

The Sangheli stepped forward with a nod.
"The helmet is made to the same material Sangheli combat helmets are made of. Your includes a 'horn' that is actually a built in Plasma pistol and can also be used as a melee weapon. The wing guards, as your Spartan leader forgot to mention, also have Type-1 Plasma Sword technology allowing you to use two blade from your wings."

The ship rocked slightly as the final peices of armour were being attached.

"And to sum it all up it has a built in cloaking sytem and overshields that can be supplemented by any one other armour ability. Also, Scottish Spartan, a gift of thanks for your kinsmanship with Scootaloo. This is a newer model of our jet packs. It has thrusters that attack to the legs, back, and shoulders and will allow for true flight. Do not mistake this as kindness for you though." Thel finished.

"Righ', its jus' tha' you have a soft spot for Scootaloo, righ'?"

The Arbiter growled slightly and stepped forward threateningly when a plasma blade sparked up between them.

"Oh fuck the hell yes! Can I go play now?" Scootaloo asked giddily, bouncing in her new MJOLNIR/Alicorn armour.





~~~In a Place Away~~~




"She grows, and she is ready. I knew hiding such creatures from the universe was good for all. They have been untouched by the horrors of the universe for so long while their powers grew for peace, and I long feared how this one would turn out. Young...eager...but smart, and loyal to her morals. She will do well. Stay safe young one, for I must turn my attentions to another, older, Spartan."



~~~~~~~




Bolts of Plasma fizzled back and forth between the two sides coupled with slivers of metal spikes fired from the Jiralhanae. The Sangheli Loyalists and Fireteam Raven held cover on one side, the Remnant forces on the other. And in the midst of the haze winging her way along with little to no care in the world was Scootaloo. Her oversheild protected her from all damage, and even when they fell low a quick series of deft aerial manouevres allowed them time to recharge.

But still, the danger, the edge, the adrenaline rush from the constant threat of death... The insurpassable feeling of knowing that your very own actions protect your friends... There was nothing like it in the world, and there was no where she'd rather be.

A flash of light filled the air around her, and when the armour pegasus cast a look back, she found that on the flank of her armour was mark, one she instantly recognized as personal to her, was her cutie mark. It was the skeletal visage of a unicorn's head and a pegasus' wings crossed by twin Maulers. She'd gotten her cutie mark, and now it was time to show everyone what she was born to do!