It was time...that day was the day we'd dive once more unto the breach. I was all rested up, Widow had her entire plan already thought-out, Ghost had set-up the radio station we would be communication with the outside allies with then tweaked our armor enhancements, and Artemis was feeling better, as well as ready for the task ahead...we didn't really know what to expect in there, so this mission would be our most dangerous yet. All we knew was that there was probably a massive amount of enemies unseen before using technology which nopony had ever encountered...yeah, perfect for us.
"Blow it." Widow ordered as we all snapped on our helmets. As soon as I had mine all set to go, I witness a somewhat large explosion of fire and debris where a locked bay door used to be. Once the wind blew the smoke and fire away, all that was left was a gaping, pitch black hole that seemed to go to nowhere...
"Well...who's ready to go to hell?" Artemis asked cheerily, slapping Ghost and I on our backs, her internal helmet cam showing bright and cheery smile in the top right corner of our HUDs.
I nodded and Ghost laughed, "As always!"
Artemis woke up a while earlier with no apparent recollection of her little breakdown, roaring and ready to go. I found out that Widow and Ghost had talked to Luna and Halsey about the mission and the findings from my sample before she woke-up, though...including the part of the mixed DNA, and Widow's request to remove Artemis. Still that inevitable travesty would have to wait until AfTER we all go home. We didn't want to upset her right as we entered a place such as that Factory.
The rest of my team's faces appeared on my HUD, as mine did to theirs after the explosion. All of us were grinning like maniacs as Widow started, "One, two..."
"We're comin' for you." Ghost continued, shouldering his AR as we all began to trot in.
"Three, four..." Widow continued, loading a clip into her shotgun and pumping it.
Artemis was next, her tail swishing joyfully and her rifle, undertaker bobbing on her back, "Better lock your door."
Widow counted again, holding up both hands not that her shotgun was clipped to her back. One hand had all fingers displayed, the other, just the middle one,"Fix, six..."
"We're in it for the kicks!" Artemis laughed, hoof-pumping a couple times.
"Seven, eight..."
"We'll tell it t' ya straigh'..." I added, nodding to my partners as we stepped into the darkness while the soldiers outside closed-off the entrance with a mobile blast door.
"Nine, ten..."
For the last line, we all spoke in unison, our helmet lights activating at the end just as all light left us, "You'll never see day again."
We all just stood there in silence for a few moments, looking around the area. It very much resembled the inside of any Covanent installation: Blue and purple chrome, rounded edges, and a whole lot of foreign designs.
"Remember, our night vision needs light to work. It can't amplify zero." Ghost reminded, "I would have installed the better one's that produce their own...um, stuff...Uh, I really don't think you want me to get into the specifics..."
"Agreed, egghead." Artemis interjected, snickering.
"Right...so anyway, yeah, we just don't have the funds to do it." he concluded just as Widow started to walk forwards, "Anywho, what's the plan, boss?"
Widow looked around, noticing a couple of storage boxes, containers, and what appeared to be parts for a multitude of unfinished...things. We honestly couldn't really tell what any of it was...
"The plan?...for now, find the schematics for this place, along with any useful blueprints, plans, and salvageable tech." she pused, grinning on her video-stream in the top center of my HUD, "Then we blow the entire place the fuck up...after we haul out, of course."
"I like this." Artemis quickly added in, "A lot."
"Are you sure that's the right way to go about this? We don't have clearance to do that, technically..." Ghost questioned.
We all began to walk toward what seemed like a hallway entrance, all of us in a skittish and paranoid mood. Since he had to rely entirely on our sight, seeing as the enemies had radar blocking technology. Every step was cautious, slow, and heart-thumping. Since the entire place was quieter than death, sounds of skittering and buzzing could clearly be heard from deep within the facility. Of course, we never knew if anything was in that room with us, so we were all on intense look-out. Luckily, nothing struck us within the entrance room and we made it to the hallway without any mishaps or attacks.
"Artemis, take point." Widow demanded, to which she quickly followed through with by jumping to the front of the group and looking every which way, her currently thermal-sighted DMR shouldered and aimed to fire at a moment's notice.
"Clear."
I took the rear, constantly flipping around to check behind and above us for anything which could be a threat...Celestia, the entire process was so intense...it's like watching Ghost play his "Dead Space" game, which I heard was very similar to that incident involving the terminated Marker Project...there was even somepony with the same name and abilities part of it, too...Isaac Colt...I met him once. Mission on Beta Halo...good pony, he was.
"Maybe we should find a way to get power on?" Ghost suggested as we continued to slowly, agonizingly make our way down the hall, which seemed to wind on forever.
"I don't know..." Widow responded, "We don't really know what activating this place will do. Remember that 'Resident Evil' movie?" Ghost's face quickly resembled his namesake up in the right-hand corner of my HUD, "Exactly."
"Yeah...but still, I'd rather see what wants to kill me than not, even if seeing it involves dealing with some extra and more fucked-up shit." he concluded.
"Group vote. Power search, or no?" Widow asked.
"Aye." I answered. I honestly agreed with Ghost on this one.
Artemis took a bit more time to think than I did, but answered shortly after, "Although I enjoy the fact of using my ears and nose over my eyes..." it was true, she had a very acute sense of smell and hearing...it's what saved my flank multiple times, "I'd really like to see what's inside this place."
With a sigh, Widow conceded to our votes and agreed, "Fine, if anyone spots any sort of power switch, you may activate it."
"Thank God." Ghost sighed, "Hold up...radar went dead..."
Artemis' lips curled into a grin on the top left corner of my HUD, "Of course, they've been creepin' 'round us for some time now."
"And you didn't tell us, WHY!?" Ghost asked, his face burning a bit in anger.
"Cuz they don't seem intent on attacking, didn't want to get everypony all worked up over nothing." she flashed her head around a corner and quickly brought it back, her face going blank in shock.
"Wh-what!? What'd you see!?" Ghost asked, bringing his AR up cautiously.
"First..." don't point your lights upwards...we don't want to scare the pack of whatever's up there..." she said, taking a breath while Widow and I brought-up our respective weapons, "Second...something big just creeped by at the end of that hallway...I recommend we don't go that way...I'd rather not encounter something...Uh, big while I can't see it properly."
We all agreed to continue to follow the hallway as we were, trying to ignore the clicking and scuttling noises from above and behind. I had to admit, though...it was creepy as buck...must be similar to what it feels like to be stalked by Artemis.
"Listen...as much as I'd like to NOT say this..." Ghost suddenly said after about an hour of paranoid walking, "I think we should split up to find...anything." he groaned, "We've been doing this for quite a while and all we've found it wall and something creeping around corners."
"...true..." Artemis agreed, snickering slightly.
"Fine. Artemis, Ghost..." Widow pointed at a hallway which split off from our current one, a blue waypoint appearing over it's entrance thanks to a command system Ghost built into her armor systems.
"Ma'm?" the two asked in unison.
"Follow that hallway. Pip and I will see what we can find further down here." she concluded with a nod, "Go."
Ghost ran up to Artemis, clapping her on the shoulder and nodding to her before flipping around the corner and cautiously stalking down it, Artemis trailing close behind, "Stay frosty, guys." Artemis warned, "Stay in radio contact in case anything happens."
"Same to you two." Widow responded, "Let's go, I'll take point."
The two of us continued down the dark abyss, the continuous sound of the horde around us, on the outskirts of the flashlight, pestering my ears. Eventually, and thankfully, we reached an end to the hallway. There was a door, slightly opened as if there was a malfunction in it's mechanism. Widow told me to watch her back while she tried to see what was inside, so I turned around, aiming my helmet light down the way we came. I caught a glimpse of...of...well, something skirt out of the light, as well as glints from...I guess their eyes in the light.
"I...I think this is...maybe the control room!" Widow exclaimed, standing back upright, "Lemme try to get this open."
I nodded, gulping from having to watch what appeared to be a large mass of dangerous and unknown enemies stare me down from within the shadows. I could even still hear their movement above us...this was probably the second most traumatizing experience I have ever had, with the first being my first mission ever...Celestia, I regret everything that happened that night...sorry, going off on a tangent, there. Thankfully, I heard a lovely click, followed by the sweet sound of sliding metal against metal, then a small sigh of relief from my commander.
"Alright, slowly make your way back into this room." Widow ordered, "Slowly...don't excite those things..."
I did as I was told, very slowly and carefully creeping backwards. I didn't want to take my sight away from their direction, fearing they'd attack. After a few moments, I passed the doorway and saw Widow, her back against the inside wall directly to the right of the door, waiting to close it. Suddenly, with a screech, one of those THINGS charged into the light. A few others followed, moving with the jittery speed of Drones and agility of Skirmishers. Widow slammed the control panel on the door while I opened fire, LWC on full-auto, to hold them as the door slid shut. While it closed decently fact, it felt like an agonizingly long time. The doors slammed shut and multiple sounds of clattering and banging rang from the other side. I could hear myself breathing heavily, almost having been ripped apart by those things. Due to the minimal lighting, I was still unable to get a good look at them, though...
"Well fuck..." Widow muttered, taking a deep, calming breath, "Let's see what we can find around here, shall we?"
I nodded and turned to the room we were in, since we were safe from the horde out there..for now. Scanning the area a few times, we concluded that this was in fact a control room of sorts, yet we couldn't find anything which looked as though it would turn on anything...
"Hey! I found...Uh..." Widow held-up what looked like a holo-disk, turning it over in her hands to try and figure-out how to turn it on, "Uhmm...one moment." after a couple of moments, she eventually shouted, "AHAH!" and held the disk out, a dim purple image popping-up in front of us, "It's the layout of the entire facility! Score!"
Widow activated a scanning device in her helmet and quickly downloaded the plans into her system, a mini-map appearing in her HUD in replacement of the bugged radar, "Here, sending you the map now. It's even got the names of all of the rooms and translated them to English for ya."
Just as she said, the map data started loading to my HUD. It only took a few second then everything was all set and in working order.
"Artemis, Ghost..." Widow pressed a button on her helmet to activate long-distance communication with the rest if the team, "You copy?"
"Yeah, we're here." Ghost responded.
"Got a little problem, though." Artemis interjected, "Part of that horde followed us and suddenly went berserk. We had to hole-up in a storage room..."
"Basically the same happened to us." Widow stated, sighing, "But I found schematics for the whole place and will be uploading then to your HUD in a moment."
"Sweet...this only adds to how excited I am to prove to Ghost our location." Artemis laughed.
"What are you talking about?" Widow asked, absentmindedly looking over some of the other objects in the room while I leaned against the wall to wait.
"Well...I say we found a prototype weapons stash, because I KNOW weapons." Smartemis explained, "But Ghost disagrees."
"Damn right I do!" Ghost's voice boomed in over the radio, "They wouldn't just leave all this stuff lying around here!"
"Hey, I know weapons!" Artemis shouted back.
I laughed while Widow diffused the argument by stating the schematics, which were in the process of being sent to their suits, agreed with Artemis, as it was labeled "Prototype Weapons Storage."
'To think...she was reduced to a crying foal only yesterday...' I thought, 'I hope she finds whatever she's looking for from Luna soon before she goes insane...er than she already is.'
"Alright, alright!" Widow suddenly shook me out of my thoughts, yelling at the two debating soldiers, "Listen, take scans of EVERYTHING," she demanded, "And I mean everything. Afterwards, see what you can easily carry and use...just be careful. It's unknown alien tech. On top of that, they're all prototypes, so..."
"Don't blow yourself the buck up?" Artemis suggested, "Well that's a given, really."
"Right..." Ghost added hesitantly.
"Also, when you're done with that...if you could make your way to this room here." Widow marked a waypoint on our maps, indicating a room titled "Power Center", "It'd be really great if you could turn the lights on."
"Alright..." Artemis responded somewhat unsurely, "It'll be a while, though. We have to find a way around those things outside the door."
Widow thought for a moment, scrutinizing the map, before suggesting an alternate route, "Use the engineering shaft. It's a bit small, but you should fit, seeing as both of you are smaller than the Brutes which used it originally."
"Hey, yeah!" Artemis shouted joyfully, "Leads practically RIGHT to the Power room, too!"
Widow nodded, "Alright, take those scans, plant some charges, and get to the power room." Widow sighed, looking to the source of continuous clattering and banging: the door," Squirt and I are stuck here until you get the power on..."
"Yes, Ma'm!" Artemis shouted before cutting the connection.
"Pip...what do you think goes through that head of hers?" Widow asked with a sigh, leaning back against a desk of sorts.
I shrugged in response.
"...heh, yeah...I don't think she even knows most of the time." Widow snickered slightly, "But what I wanna know is why Luna seems to take such an interest in her? I know Halsey and the rest of her staff only see her wrecked mental state, yet prevailing capabilities to still function properly, as a big and exciting experiment..." she paused, "But Luna...What could Luna possibly see in Artemis that makes her so interesting? Can't be her warrior skills...nor her royal status...not her stature, and certainly not her 'in-your-fucking-face-BITCH' personality...so WHAT!?"
I thought back to the times I've witnessed Artemis and Luna together...the first time was when Luna personally admitted the Spartan Graduates into an official position...this was two years before me, as Artemis is older than me and she GREATLY excelled at everything necessary to be a warrior. I still witnessed the induction, and Artemis had, quite literally, pounced upon the princess, pinning her and blatantly shouting, "You are EXTREMELY sexy!"
She was quickly tackled to the floor by a multitude of soldiers, then nearly court marshaled, but Luna interjected after dusting herself off, actually thanking Artemis for the compliment. The next time they personally met, and first time they formally talked, was when Halsey was showing-off the capabilities of her Spartan-IVs to the higher-ups. Luna was present and, after Artemis had wrecked the practice course, Luna decided to personally congratulate her. As I was another Spartan taking part in the demonstration, I overheard the two hitting it off about how much of an "uptight bitch Halsey was." I was legitimately surprised to hear Luna, a royal Princess, use such language but...well, after all, there are reasons she's still my favorite Princess!
After that...they would meet every now and then if one of Artemis' missions happened to be where Luna was Stationed at the time...as far as I knew, anyway. After the mission on Earth where we diffused the extremist Anti-Pony party, Artemis and Luna appeared to see less of eachother, but...I have a suspicion, now that I think back, that they had been sneaking-off to do...I don't know. I don't think they've actually gone at it, but from that picture I caught Artemis with...well, they were probably doing SOMETHING many wouldn't like...please don't tell Luna I said any of that...
"Pip...? H-hello! Squirt!"
I jumped out of my thoughts, shaking my head and looking around frantically before realizing Widow was trying to get my attention.
"Rookie, I think you zoned out for a while there." she laughed, "Artemis just contacted me, explaining that she and Ghost are on their way to the Power Center."
I nodded my head in understanding.
"So get ready to head-out again. We still don't know what we're going to be fighting against out there."
I quickly checked over all of my equipment and supplies. After everything was set...I waited...wondering what Luna was doing at that very moment. I don't know why, but my train of thought had gotten Luna and her feelings towards Artemis stuck in my head.