CAMP RÉVOLUTION CAFETERIA, NEW PARIS, MARS, JANUARY 21, 2524 (MILITARY CALENDAR)
The camp mess hall was bustling with Marines and their fellow trainees. Hungry soldiers formed a line at the food-serving counter, each of them waiting for the cue to move up as their stomachs ached for sustenance. Meanwhile, the Marines who had already queued earlier and taken their trays were sitting at their tables. Some of them ate a quick meal and quietly left the premises, while others would make small talk about their day alongside their friends as they ate.
The sliding door leading to the mess hall automatically opened to reveal Isabel in her trainee uniform. Once she stepped into the cafeteria, she spotted a recruit waving at her, greeting Isabel to the table she was sitting at. The woman had tiffany blue colored hair, turquoise eyes and a somewhat short haircut. Once Isabel got closer, she saw that the woman was with her fellow recruits.
“How’s your chest, Uteki?” said Isabel.
Upon hearing this, Uteki looked down at her bruised rib and gently rubbed it. “The corpsman said I shouldn’t move too much but he did give me the rest of the day off for it, so it isn’t so bad.”
During the exercise, she had exposed herself so that she might be able to take the shot; thinking that if she was able to take down the sniper before she had reloaded, she would have ended the shootout.
She then looked up at Isabel with a grin. “Enough about me, what about you, Miss Helljumper?”
The athletic Marine’s ego had caught up to her, bringing up a wolfish grin on her face. She casually sat down next to Uteki and said, “Oh nothing.” She then leaned slightly closer to the woman before shouting the greatest thing that could have happened to her military career, “Except that I got invited to the most awesome military academy out of the entire Inner Colonies!”
Isabel pulled out her COM pad and passed it to Uteki. The woman started scanning through the pad’s screen, reading every word on it. “For your outstanding performance on the course…” She continued reading the details until she nearly shot up from her seat when she read the last line, “You have been invited to the Reach Marine Military Academy?!” Uteki shouted in surprise. Isabel simply rested both of her hands behind her head and closed her eyes, basking in her own pride while slightly leaning on the table’s bench in response. “Wow, this is amazing! I don’t know what to say.”
One of the recruits in front of Uteki cleared his throat. She then looked over to the source of the interjection to see that everyone on the table, with the exception of Isabel, was gazing at her, hinting her of a particular subject the rest of the Marines had been talking about earlier before Isabel’s arrival.
“Actually, I think I do.” She looked back at Isabel with a frown. “What happened back there at the Complex, who shot us?”
Isabel’s eyes shot open in surprise, and she slowly brought her arms down to rest on the table. “I’m not sure, it was happening so fast. All I remember is when after the sniper went limp I could see through her, like she was invisible or something.”
“So what, you think they’re making some kind of stealth suit?” asked one of the trainees.
“It’s got something to do with ONI, I can feel it,” a Marine dressed in full body gear whispered.
Another recruit overheard what the Marine said and replied, “maybe, I guess. The Insurrectionists are getting stronger every day and the United Earth Government is getting pretty desperate, at this rate they’ll do anything to stop it.”
Everyone on the table turned toward Isabel, looking for more answers.
“What? I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on!”
Meanwhile, Uteki glanced surreptitiously out of the corner of her eyes at someone that caught her interest. “No arguments there, but I know who does.”
Uteki gestured at the far end of the cafeteria, directing the group’s eyes to a single man sitting by himself at one of the officers’ table. He was drinking down a glass full of vanilla milkshake while wearing a pair of dark silvery tactical glasses.
“Isn’t that the new guy?” said a recruit.
“He’s going to get in trouble for sure if any of the officers here catches him sitting there.”
Silence was in the air between the Marines at the table after that.
But the silence was soon broken by another trainee. “You think the new guy is maybe, I don’t know, an ONI agent?”
This had intrigued the recruit next to him. “Whoa, I think you're onto something. I mean, if what Isabel said was true then the whole training run was just to test an experimental prototype, and we were the freakin’ guinea pigs.”
Uteki rolled her eyes. “Still doesn’t explain why he could be a spook.”
“Don’t you see? He just appeared out of nowhere just as we were about to leave for the course, then somehow this guy knew what to bring and what to expect.” The man explained with utmost certainty, “Not to mention he’s just sitting there, alone, all mysterious like!”
Thar was when Uteki introduced her palm to her face. “Shut up, Mel. Nobody wants to hear your bull.”
“I’m telling you, he’s a bloody spy!”
“You guys want your answer? Fine, just shut your traps after this!” Isabel, fed up with the constant babbling, arose from the bench and started walking towards the enigmatic man.
But all of a sudden Isabel was stopped by a single yank on the collar of her shirt. “Easy there, kid.” Isabel turned around, catching a glimpse of the armored Marine who was at the table previously. “What do you think you're doing?”
“What do think I’m doing?! I’m gonna find some answers from this guy so that I can put a stop to all of this bitching, and get back to how I got invited to the most badass academy out there because of my sheer awesomeness!” She smacked the Marine’s arm off and carried on marching toward the officer’s table.
A man sat alone on the comfy soft seat, appreciating his delicious vanilla milkshake with each sip. And right now, he was enjoying his solitude. Nobody to interact with and no one to disturb him, which was the only thing he wanted right now, just peace and quiet.
The officer’s table was truly the best place to ward off any nosy trainees. True, the officers themselves might barge in and toss him off the seat right onto the cold floor, but not after being discharged for insubordination. And the base commander’s order to all the officers in the camp not to touch him reinforced that as well, so there was not a lot to worry about.
Well, there was still a chance someone with a curiosity more than a month old kitten might turn up at the officer’s table and try to talk to him, but that was very unlikely. Whoever walked up to him right now was either extraordinarily brave or incredibly—
“Hey you, yeah that’s right, you!”
— Stupid.
The man took a quick glance at the direction of the shout. He sighed and went back to sipping his milkshake as the technicolor-haired woman marched toward him.
The woman soon found herself standing over the mysterious man. “Here’s the deal, I don’t usually do this and I’m sure as hell you don’t too, but I need to ask you some questions or else my friends over there won’t stop yapping.” She gestured to the table full of Marines staring at both of them.
The man took a short peek over where the woman gestured, only to go back to his ongoing drinking of his milkshake.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!” the woman bawled.
He just kept on sipping, completely ignoring the nuisance who was attempting to strike the foundations of his solace.
“Dude, are you even listening?!” she bawled again.
Frustrated, the woman attempted to grab hold of the man’s shoulder to gain his attention, only to have her wrist swiftly clutched by the man’s free hand. He looked up and fixed his eyes on her behind his silvery tactical glasses.
He let out a low growl before loosening his grip, allowing the woman to yank away her arm.
“Yesh, no need to make fuss about it.” She rubbed her wrist, “But this doesn’t mean I will stop before I get what I want!”
Again, the man ignored the woman and continued drinking.
“Alright fine, but I want those answers when I get back,” she mumbled.
She left the officer’s table, leaving the mystery man alone for now.
Meanwhile, the Marine had returned to the table. He turned to face the rest of the group who were observing Isabel’s actions.
“What the hell is she doing now?” a recruit asked.
“She’s queuing up at the counter,” Uteki replied.
“So that’s it, a minute with the guy and now she’s hungry?”
“When a girl’s gotta eat, a girl’s gotta eat I guess,” said Mel.
“Wait, does that mean she just quit?”
“No son, she hasn’t given up on him yet. I haven’t known her for too long but I know Isabel’s kind. She’s the type who has a shorter attention span than a four year old when it comes to things like puzzles or waiting in line,” –a tomboyish shout was heard somewhere between the lineup near the counter– “but she can wait for eons when people she cares are involved. Especially the ones who had saved her ass and helped her become an ODST,” the Marine said.
“So why is she at the counter getting some chow if and not with the new guy?”
“Just wait and see, kid.”
And so they did.
After an agonizing 3 minutes of waiting, Isabel finally got what she wanted and was now returning to the shadowy man’s table.
The woman placed her tray on her end of the table in front of the man, determination plastered on her face.
“Now then, you’re going to tell me what I want and you better make it quick.” She said as she sat at her end of the table.
And yet again he simply sat there, drinking his beverage.
“So that’s it, you’re gonna just sit still there like some jerkwad all day?”
The only reply she received was the man slurping his vanilla milkshake.
“Come on dude, I just want to get this over with.”
The woman’s efforts to make the man talk felt like trying to beat down the Great Pyramid with her bare fists.
“Geez fine, we’ll do it your way then.”
The woman then grabbed a hold of a canned beverage off her tray and pressed a black button on the bottom surface of the can, causing a valve that extend through the base of the can to release high-pressured CO2 gas in a cylindrical chamber from the bottom of the can and into the air. The gas now expanded, it soon absorbed the heat from the surrounding liquid, lowering the temperature and causing the can to instantly cool itself.
After pulling the can’s tab, she gulped down the contents of the instant self-chilling drink, appreciating the wonders of today’s technology.
Multiple eyes were staring at Isabel and the proclaimed ONI Agent, wondering what would happen next.
The trainee yawned. “They’re just sitting there,” he exclaimed.
“Yup, this is getting boring, I’m going back to the barracks.”
“Same, just finished eating anyway, see you later guys.”
“Hey, wait up!”
Saying their goodbyes, the recruits picked up their trays and left the three occupants of the table, the heavily-built Marine, the outlandishly colored hair and eyes girl Uteki, and the unusually bizarre rookie Mel.
“Right, that’s my cue,” the armored Marine said, “need to train up those wimps at RMMA.”
“Wait, you work at the same academy Isabel is going?!” Uteki asked.
The Marine nodded.
“Why are you here instead of RMMA?”
“Officially, I’m here to supervise Camp Revolution’s officers. Unofficially, I’m here to keep my eyes on Kaleel if things go out of control.”
“Who?” Uteki raised an eyebrow.
The Marine then pointed at the man at the officer’s table nonchalantly.
“You know him? Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”
“He’s… complicated.”
Uteki glowered at the Marine. “Try me.”
“Look here missy, when I was assigned to the academy I was also told to look out for the boy. At first, I didn’t care why and they didn’t care how I protected him. As long he’s safe, he’s safe. But the longer I looked after him, the more protective he became of his agendas to the point he would avoid me whenever possible.”
“Why are you leaving if your job is to protect the guy?”
“He can take care of himself every now and then. Truth to be told, I’ve more stopped him from making trouble than stopping trouble coming to him. Even now, he thinks of me as dead weight.”
“Trouble, you mean like drunken brawls?”
“No, nothing like that, he isn’t that kind of person.”
“But you said trouble, right?”
The marine sighed. “Yes, whenever he gets the chance to leave the academy for… vacations, he lets himself loose and hunts down every criminal and insurrectionist scum he can find.”
“Alright, he’s a vigilante, so what? It can’t be that bad.”
“You heard about the crime rate suddenly dropping by twenty-four percent on the Atlas Moons, and the several Insurrectionist camps that were discovered and destroyed on the very same moons last week?”
“Yeah,” she nodded
“That was him.”
Astounded, she turned toward the man at the officer’s table. “This… Kaleel guy just blows up rebel bases, on his free time, all by himself?”
“That’s the problem, no one could have done it without some kind of help.”
“Your point?”
“He’s working for ONI.”
“Now you’re just talking like Mel over here.”
“Hey!” Mel protested, but the pair ignored him.
“Hold on there missy, unlike you I don’t fuck around with things I shouldn’t, but the boy… there’s something about him. Because the biggest question on my mind right now is: If he’s a Spook, then what does he need my protection for? He can already kill a man in a hundred different ways, and me… well, I’m just an old timer who’s seen one too many battles in his lifetime.”
There was stillness in the air. Neither the girl nor the flamboyant rookie replied to the old Marine’s words.
“I better leave,” the old veteran said, knowing that the two had heard enough.
And again there was silence. Well until the showoff Mel broke it that is. “So, it’s just you and me then, huh?”
“Nope, just you. Good luck on stalking those two.” And with that, Uteki left the table, leaving the poor trainee to his business.
A full minute went by as Mel sat there in utter silence. He was watching the pair at the Officer’s Table stare down at each other but he also had a bored look on his face, like he had already seen this happen nearly a thousand times. And with that he promptly left the scene, but not before he muttered something.
“Nah, I know what’s going to happen next.”
The cafeteria practically became a ghost town after nearly an hour had passed, leaving only the shadowy man and the tomboyish woman alone, with the exception of a janitor who was cleaning the cafeteria’s flooring.
The rainbow-haired woman who had an irritated expression long ago was too weary to preserve her appearance and now replaced it with an uninterested look, plastering it clearly across her entire face.
With her meal now consumed, her eyes began to stare at the empty can she had finished drinking long ago. She soon found herself toying with the canned beverage, directing the canister aimlessly around the table with her index finger.
“You are aware that you no longer need to stay here, correct?”
The woman nearly jolted up in surprise by the unexpected sound of a masculine voice, accidentally triggering the canister’s descent onto the table’s surface on its side. She then looked up to see the man in front of her had his hand holding his tactical glasses slightly down on his nose, revealing his golden eyes.
Regaining herself, she acted as if she had not been startled and proceeded to slouch down and cross her arms in an uncaring and lazy matter.
“Yeah but the guys will be in the barracks waiting for answers when I get back,” she responded back.
“Right.” He readjusted his glasses, covering his eyes from the world once again.
Another awkward silence fell upon the cafeteria, and especially between the two Marines, the overall stillness only being disturbed by the sound of the floor being swept by the janitor.
It nearly took a full minute before the man brought up another question.
“Have we met before?”
Upon hearing this, the woman replied, “You never heard about me? Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Isabel Miles, fastest runner in all of the colonies! You probably didn’t recognize me back at the Complex, which you should have, but I’ll let it slide this time.”
“Uh-huh,” he said while scratching his somewhat shaven chin.
“Oh, and thanks for the save back there, but really I totally could have handled it on my own.”
“No, I mean, had we ever seen each other before that?”
Isabel leaned in slightly to take a better look at the man.
At first glance he looked young, perhaps within his early 20s. He also had a slightly bigger than an average body build, but only just. His size was not something to be impressed or intimidated by, really. His skin tone, though, was quite fair, but they soon looked paler when it reached down the tips of his fingers but that was actually the lighting in the cafeteria causing it.
Even with his glasses on, Isabel could see his 5 o’clock shadow, causing one-third of his face with his re-growing beard to have a somewhat darker skin tone. Next was his chocolate brown hair which was simple really, it was cut short and shaggy but also had a clean look in a way.
Then there were his eyes. Well, Isabel couldn’t completely see them due to the gray-tinted tactical glasses he was wearing, but she distinctly remembered that his eyes were gold, and they were a rather nice kind of gold, because his iris pigment was much brighter than others. It was like those people with blue eyes, very bright and very beautiful. Somewhere within the confines of her mind, she wanted to see those eyes again. Something about his eyes made Isabel, for the most part, calm.
“You alright ma’am?”
Knocked out of her trance, Isabel replied, “Yeah, no. Haven’t seen you before.”
“O-kay, next question. Why are your eyes changing?”
“Uh, 'scuse me?”
“Your iris pigment, they’ve changed color. During the course your eyes were… crimson red I believe, and now they’re violet.”
“Oh that? Yeah they change on random at times. Mostly red, purple, or pink. But they usually jumble up and go all technicolor on me.”
“Interesting… but that’s not normal, is it?”
“Well no.” Isabel scratched her neck.
“Care to explain?”
“All right, have you heard about Voltech?”
“A bio-engineering corporation which was shut down in the year twenty-five-fifteen after an incident that left a large number of children in nearly all the colonies to develop genetic dysfunctions.”
“Egghead,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, could you reprise that?”
“Nothing,” she lied. “So, you heard about the accident?”
“Yes, but I like a refresher from someone else once in awhile.”
“Hmph, fine, but you better answer my questions after this,” she said in annoyance.
He only glared at her, waiting for her to continue.
“I’ll take that as a yes. So, when I was eight there was this big new thing about this reverse genetic engineering candy that can temporarily change your hair and eye color for a day.”
“The Sassafras,” the man pointed out the sweet’s alias.
“Right, the Sassafras. They were the hit with all the colonies, well until one day every kid who had taken the thing didn’t change back to what they were suppose to look, and even a couple of them had side effects. Some were good and others… not so.”
“Let me guess, you took the dangerous gene-manipulating drug when it was hip and trendy.”
“Kinda. A kid gave me his coupon code to a contest to win a one of a kind Rainbow Sassafras after I saved his life, which was of course awesome of me. By now I’m sure you know who won the prize.”
“Oh gee, I don’t know, your boyfriend perhaps?” he said sarcastically but retained his blank appearance.
She returned the favor by letting out a sarcastic laugh of her own. “Ha, very funny.”
“Okay, as you were saying,” He said, wanting to continue with the subject.
“Right, so, after taking the Sassafras, it took a whole hour to completely change my hair to what you see today.” She showed the man her perfectly vertical rainbow striped hair by gently tugging a strand of it down with her two fingers.
“And I suppose those multicolored irises came from the Sassafras’ side effects.”
“Yup, it’s pretty awesome actually. And if I focus hard enough I can change it to any color I want. How lucky was I?!”
“Yeah, lucky you,” he said again with an expressionless face but this time with a slight angered tone.
“Ugh, sorry man, did something happen to you?”
“No, not to me, my cousin.”
“What happened to your cousin?”
“She bought a Sassafras, ate the damn thing, and became wall-eyed after an hour!”
“Whoa, that’s-” Was all she could say before the man interrupted her.
“Then we brought her to the nearest hospital only to be told that it was permanent for life!”
“I-”
“All because she wanted to have golden eyes just like mine.” He ended his sudden outburst with a sigh.
There was a moment of silence before Isabel whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Again there was stillness in the air, the two only replied in silence to one another.
“So, that friend of yours with the tiffany blue hair. She took the drug as well?” He said, breaking the awkward silence.
“You mean Uteki? Yeah, she did. Her eyes changed color too.”
“Hmm, that’s an interesting name. Uteki, Japanese for Raindrops.”
“Ack, freaking eggheads.” Isabel grunted upon hearing the man’s vibrant intellect.
Upon hearing the woman’s gabble, the man raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure we haven’t met?” he said, intrigued by Isabel’s choice of words. They sounded rather familiar to him but he simply could not determine where he had heard it before.
“Okay, stop!” She slammed the table with her palm, causing the man to lift his already raised eyebrow even higher. “Can we just answer my questions now?”
“Technically, I did not agree to answer your questions.”
Isabel was dumbfounded, had he just played her?
“Oh you got to be kid-”
“But okay, shoot.”
“What?”
“You gained my complete and ample attention, ma’am. I will answer to any requests for information you desire. So I will say this again: Shoot.”
Regaining her senses, Isabel began shifting her head left to right, making sure nobody was tuning in. She gave herself the all clear, with the exception of the janitor, and began her first question.
“Alright, first thing I want to know is: are you a spy?”
“Hmm, what kind of spy?” The man enquired.
“Come on, you know what I’m talking about!”
“Do you?”
“For crying out loud,” she roared. “Are you working for ONI?”
“You mean the Office of Naval Intelligence? The intelligence service division of the UNSC that conducts counter-espionage and propaganda across United Earth Government controlled space?”
“Stop stalling and tell me already!”
“Yes,” he said with a completely straight-face.
Isabel at this point was stunned. He had just said what she wanted to hear, but she was having difficulty accepting the man’s straightforward answer.
“Or at least used to,” He continued.
“You’re bluffing…”
“Well, I did eradicate sixteen Insurrectionist bases on the Atlas Moons last week, which did require some assistance from ONI, and I also eliminated a dozen crime lords while I was at it, but that was because I felt like it.”
“You destroyed sixteen insurrection bases because you felt like it?”
“Mmhmm,” he confirmed his statement.
Then the silence once again returned to the cafeteria. She simply could not believe it, a spook was sitting right there, having a conversation with her of all people! This was unbelievable, and coming from the hard-to-impress daredevil herself, this was truly awesome.
But then a thought came to Isabel’s mind, explaining to her what was really happening in front of her.
“I get it now.”
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re hilarious, you know that?!” She laughed. “And to think you’re some kind of super spy.”
“I don’t quite follow, ma’am.”
“You were being sarcastic, weren’t you?”
He kept his mouth zipped, but retained his emotionless expression.
“I knew it! You’re just like the rest of them. Bah, you guys and your need to impress me. Well sorry buddy but this girl isn’t for sale.”
“Whatever you say ma’am.”
“Don’t pretend you’re not interested in me, and especially these.”
She then pointed down at her chest right in front of the man’s eyes. The man then did something Isabel had not expected.
He cringed.
During the entire exchange between the pair the man never smiled, frowned or showed any reaction for that matter, but the mere suggestion of Isabel’s breasts had caught him off guard.
“I think I better go, ma’am.” He then stood up and started walking away from the woman.
She could have let him leave and end their conversation there, but there was an aching feeling in her heart, a feeling that she was about to lose something once again which she had lost long ago.
Almost like she had been possessed, Isabel began rising up from her side of the table and moved toward the man.
“No, wait!”
He stopped and turned towards Isabel standing in front of him, “What?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“… Go on.”
“I sorta, maybe, perhaps, ugh… overacted there. And I’d just like to say sorry.”
“Hmm, I see. I accept your apology. I suppose there was some kind of misunderstanding there.”
“Yeah, let’s try this again, what do ya say?”
“Hmm, seems fair enough.” He shrugged.
“Okay. Hi there, the name’s Isabel Miles, fastest runner in all the colonies and soon to be Helljumper! Have I ever told you that?”
“Heh, well my name is Deen Kaleel, full-blown genius and ODST officer in training.”
“Let’s just hope I don’t get to be under your command one day.”
Isabel gave out a hearty laugh at her own joke while Deen simply smiled.
After Isabel let a mouthful of air return into her lungs once she had halted her laughing, she noticed that Deen looked rather pleased with himself.
“Hey Deen.”
“Hmm?”
“Back at The Complex when we were at the doors, you patted me on the back and smiled, why?”
“You were under pressure, ma’am. The most effective course to remove the liability was to provide you with reinsurance.”
She scratched behind her head. “Ugh, right, thanks I guess.”
“You’re welcome ma’am.”
“Deen, another thing I gotta ask you.”
“Yes ma’am?”
“Can you stop calling me ma’am? You’re making me sound old.”
“Yes ma- yes Miss Miles.”
“Cool man. Mind if I ask you something else?”
“Sure.”
“That biofoam you had in your pack when we were at the Complex, it wasn’t normal biofoam was it?”
“Sorry, that’s classified.”
“And the invisible woman?”
“Classified.”
Isabel paused.
“Wait, are you playing games with me again?!”
“No Miss Miles, all the things of interest you have just said are top secret and I’m not allowed to disclose them in any way.”
“Dude, stop it! I thought we agreed not to do this!”
“Yes we did Miss Miles.”
“Hell, even your sarcasm is getting lame!”
“Miles, are you by any chance in denial of my former occupation?”
“No!”
“If you are not in denial then you wouldn’t be shouting.”
“What?!” she shouted. “Forget it, I shouldn’t be wasting my time with you! I got better things to do, like getting ready for Reach’s Marine Military Academy!”
Angered by the man’s persistence, she pushed Deen away and marched toward the exit. But as she walked away, she could hear the man returning to the officer’s table, and strangely enough she also heard the footsteps of another person walking toward the table as well.
After a few more steps she took a short glance just out of curiosity, Isabel then saw the janitor had seated on the other side of the table facing Deen.
“What the hell was that?” the janitor asked Deen.
“Well-placed words, sister.”
Upon hearing this, Isabel quickly left the premises and went for the barracks. Later on as she packed for the academy, she would tell her friends in the barracks that the reason why she was in a hurry was because she was enthusiastic to go to RMMA, but she would never admit the real reason was the rush of fear of being devoured by the shadows of ONI’s wrath.