(3rd Pov)
E̶p̶s̶i̶l̶o̶n̶ ̶E̶r̶i̶d̶a̶n̶i̶ ̶I̶I̶,̶ ̶'̶R̶e̶a̶c̶h̶'̶
August 28, 2517,
1130 hours of Military time
On the fortress world of Reach positioned ten and a half light years away from humanity's home planet walked what appeared to be a young couple. Though the two aforementioned people would vehemently deny that being the status of their relationship and instead claim they were professional colleagues.
The couple strolled along a sidewalk beside the streets of New Alexandria, a metropolitan city built right beside the ocean. The city's skyscrapers stretched out into the sky far past the cloud layer with some structures, specifically the space elevators connecting to defense platforms in orbit around the large planet. Contrasting to the enterprise and military heights along the ground were multiple beachheads that had become a popular tourist destination since the colonization of Epsilon Eridani II in late 2362.
However, the couple was not focused on either of the two predominant features that catch the attention of nearly all other visitors. Instead, the man dressed in a formal gray suit that he appeared to be very uncomfortable in was following his female partner who wore a sundress paired with a matching straw hat. She led them both through the cityscape at a relaxed walking pace all while glancing back at her companion every now and then.
It had been a week since the couple had begun the observations of the Office of Naval Intelligence's scientific advisor Doctor Catherine Halsey's new Spartan-II initiative. They were already at the end of the observations and were on their way to hopefully 'acquire' said candidate. This was not knowledge known to Halsey's escort Jacob Keyes, a young budding Lieutenant in the UNSC Navy, who was mostly just along for the ride.
(Catherine Halsey)
(Jacob Keyes)
"Doctor, I thought we were done playing dress up. May I know what the objective of today's observation is?" asked the young black-haired man while pulling down on a tightly made tie.
"I am hurt, Jacob. Besides the fact that I have told you to call me Catherine, I figured you had begun to enjoy dressing up with me," a light brown-haired woman responded with an amused smile on her lips, "Seeing as our time together is coming to a close I believed that you would be savoring this opportunity, alas" she shook in fake lamenting.
Jacob decided to not feed into the Doctor's illusions, "Hardly," he replied quickly with a wry look on his face, "You didn't answer my question, Catherine. When we returned to Reach I thought our mission was concluded, that was until you dragged me out to this tourist resort of a city," Jacob spoke out to the woman whilst looking at the towering structures surrounding the sidewalk they were walking along.
The doctor sighed at her companion's comments before a glimmer filled her eye and a teasing grin marred her face, "Well Jacob if you must know, we are going to have a child,"
*crash*
*shatter*
The sounds of the Lieutenant's brain malfunctioning could nearly be heard by the doctor as she suppressed a laugh by raising her fist to her face just in front of her lips. Meanwhile, Jacob stopped walking for a second instead deciding to stare at the ground, all while contemplating both the true meaning of her words and his course of action if there was no 'true' meaning behind her words.
In the meantime, Halsey continued walking as Jacob stood still for a moment hatching the greatest escape plan known to mankind. However, before he could enact said plan the doctor called out to him informing him that it was a joke. The Lieutenant sighed in relief and moved to catch up to the woman he had been escorting for the past month.
They then began to continue their walk into the downtown portion of the city. The downtown like all other city's downtowns was an area infested with crime and unsavory characters. The sidewalk had become noticeably dirtier with all sorts of trash piled up from feces to packages of leftover drugs, all kinds of things littered downtown New Alexandria. And the entirety of the city's unspoken rough area was nearly completely hidden from the average citizen.
Due to the advancements of structural engineering in the late 23rd and early 24th centuries, cityscapes continuously expanded upward. With buildings and roads continuously being stacked on top of each other. Leading to the 'downtowns' of the past centuries becoming more or less 'underbellies'. Where the only light sources were street lamps placed as infrastructure and artificial light sources from the numerous red-light districts. Gone was the sunlight that was now considered a privilege afforded only to the lower-middle class and above due to the innumerable skyscrapers that only seemed to increase, blocking bits of the sun's rays.
The underbelly's colloquial name given by its inhabitants was 'The Shark Cage', due to the tendency of gangs and loan sharks always looking to give out money to those who were either so desperate for money and had no choice or some poor sucker thinking that he could hit it big if he kept playing the resorts rigged gambling machines.
The payments for these debts were rarely paid in full, but the gangs never planned to get their money but instead wanted another slave to be a constant source of income. Men were usually kept for manual labor in manufacturing drugs whereas women were employed in 'entertainment' and were rented out like cars. All in all the men and women would be working for the rest of their lives to pay back their debt which only seemed to grow due to the high-interest rates.
"Catherine you didn't tell me we would be visiting this part of the city," Jacob said as he continuously scanned his surroundings within his 180 degrees of vision simultaneously his body maintained a relaxed and unassuming posture. Though his hand did move closer to his M6A service pistol.
"I didn't know you were afraid of some thugs Jacob," replied Catherine teasing the man without turning around
"I am not afraid of some two-bit thug. What I am worried about is that there could have been slight insurrectionist activity. While I am glad our trip to Epsilon Eridani IV went off without any sightings of them I would still rather not push my luck," spoke the Lieutenant
The doctor knew that the Lieutenant had a point which was why she had ordered the shipboard AI Toran to skim through any and all reports of possible Insurrectionist activity on Reach. The AI had found none, and while that was usually not enough of a reason to allow her to relax, the combination of factors surrounding the current situation did.
First, they were on the UNSC fortress planet, a notorious no-go zone for any Insurrectionist movements for obvious reasons. Secondly, the mission of her and her escort was highly classified and no one knew of their immediate whereabouts as of now. Thirdly she had used Toran to hack and borrow the help of the superintendent class AI in control of the city, which would act as support and a failsafe should they run into trouble. Lastly, they were currently able to blend in with the general populace, while Jacob did show some traits of a trained soldier most would simply write him off as a husband on leave from the military and not the escort of one ONI's head of research. Thus as long as the two of them stayed relaxed and calm they would be able to walk in and out safely with the package she was hoping to acquire.
"Not to worry Jacob we are merely a block away from our destination, and I do have confidence in your ability to protect me should the situation arise," said Catherine
"Yeah I know, but a heads up would have been nice," whispered Jacob to himself, 'I would have then brought more ammo,' he silently thought to himself.
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"An Orphanage? I don't recall any of the candidates we visited being orphans," Jacob said aloud with a raised eyebrow while looking to the side at his companion.
In front of Jacob stood a dilapidated three-story building. The outer white walls had numerous marks and even some holes scattered around the front-facing wall. A fluorescent sign with 'Serenity Orphanage' was lit up giving light to the dark entrance though numerous letters had long blown out their bulbs and had gone dark.
Ignoring the words of her companion the doctor nodded at the fact she had successfully found their destination before walking towards the front entrance. Jacob sighed at his partner's behavior, shaking his head, and followed her inside.
Once inside they were greeted with a scene of complete chaos. Children screaming and running wild, some eating things they weren't supposed to, and others causing property damage were mostly the courses of action being taken by the many youngsters. All the while a middle-aged matron and her husband were attempting to wrangle and constrain some of the cracked-up kids.
"We will be with you in just one second!" cried the female caretaker as she chased a particularly hyper girl that was running with a butter knife in hand.
"This is where our candidate lives?" asked Jacob in slight disbelief. Though he and Catherine were unable to observe the candidates located in the outer colonies, so far all the ones he had seen showed a somewhat structured home environment.
(Author's note: There are some exceptions like Jai S-006 who was a street urchin turned orphan)
After a few minutes, the wife and husband duo were able to subdue the resistance of the Insurrectionist (hyper) children and gave them a heavy sentence (nap time). To which they had no choice but to accept after being thoroughly worn down. Eventually, the pair came back to the entrance where Jacob and Catherine had been standing while watching the entire scene unfold with matching amused smiles.
"Hi I am Jennifer Hawkins and this is my husband Howard Hawkins. We are the operators-er-owners?" She looked a little confused about the official title they had. She looked to her husband for an answer to which he just shrugged, "Well whatever we are we work here as caretakers. Now, how may we assist you?" she asked with a tired smile.
"Hello, I am Catherine and this is my husband Jacob, and we heard from one of my relatives that lives down here about a boy that we might be willing to adopt," Catherine decided to get straight to the point.
"Oh? That's a wonderful thing to hear! If you don't mind me asking what is the name of your relative?" excitedly asked Jennifer.
"You might know him, his name is Michael Parkoaz," said Catherine with an innocent expression.
Once hearing the name spoken by the doctor the matron's expression turned complex. She showed an array of motions from recognition to disgust to a sliver of gratefulness. She stood there and thought for a moment before speaking again, "Yes I know Mr. Parkoaz, but out here we tend to call him Big Mike," she took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, "If you have heard of a child from him then I can only guess that he was talking about a young caucasian six-year-old boy with short jet black hair?" she asked while rubbing the back of her head.
"Why yes! That is actually exactly how Michael described him. Though he didn't give a name for the boy," Catherine spoke with a moc expression pondering what her 'relative' had told her. While Jacob stood there nodding every now and then, even though he had little to no clue what was going on.
The caretaker sighed once again while her husband massaged his temples at the topic of the boy, "That's because he doesn't have one," she then motioned toward a table in the dining room, "He's not here as of now. He goes out early in the morning and returns late in the day, god knows what he does while he is out. I am sure you both must have many questions about the boy. Why don't we have a seat and discuss him?"
Catherine, maintaining her role, smiled and thanked the kind woman before pulling out a chair at the table and taking a seat. Jacob followed suit and sat next to her, Howard sat across while his wife went to bring refreshments. A couple of minutes went by before Jennifer walked into the dining room setting the tray of drinks down on the table.
"Now, where should we begin?" asked Jennifer to Catherine
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{Scene Change}
"Well that was… informative," spoke Jacob first as they stepped back out of the Orphanage's front door. They had finished their conversation with the caretakers and were proceeding to a common location the candidate frequented after being informed by one of the children who had seen him entering alleyways while she was out playing with the others.
"Yes, it was. Wasn't it?" spoke Catherine with a knowing smile on her face as she glanced over at her companion.
"Yet I feel as though what she spoke was only half the truth of the situation, and you know the other half," said Jacob with a look pointed at Halsey
"Well you would be correct in that statement," she confirmed his belief, "Since you have been accompanying me so far I will fill you in on the specifics later. But for now, our destination is just around this corner," Jacob nodded and was thankful for her trust, but little did he know that this was just one of the series of tests that Halsey had secretly given him to decide whether he would continue to work on the program or be reassigned.
As the pair began to make their way towards the designated alleyway they began to take notice of details out of place. Specifically, this alley had less light shining upon it than all the others on the street. It also had many dark stains that were unable to be identified due to the low light level. The detail that stood out the most was the sound of banging coming from the alley along with the low cries of what sounded like a wounded animal.
Jacob decided that situation might go sideways and made his way in front of Catherine motioning for her to stay behind him as he withdrew his sidearm. Catherine was still relaxed because she already had an idea of what was going on in the alley based on superintendent surveillance that had been occurring for the past month or two on the candidate.
They slowly approached the edge of the alley with their bodies hugging the wall and in close proximity to each other yet neither noticed or at least they didn't say anything. They then peaked around the corner at the same instant and caught sight of the scene unfolding.
In the alley lit up by just one barely lit pole was a large metal dumpster with trash bags scattered throughout the outside hall. Amongst the trash and near the dumpster were two teenage boys lying down one on his face and the other on his back. Both looked like they had been bludgeoned if the small stream of blood flowing from their scalp was any indicator. They also were covered in cuts and bruises which the Lieutenant was certain was caused by a brawl of sorts with a particularly ruthless opponent.
Besides the right wall of the dumpster, however, was the goal of this entire recon mission. A third teenager was lying with his back against the metal wall of a building with his legs stretched out straight. Crouched down in front of the teen was the candidate, a short black-haired, green-eyed, and caucasian male. He was currently smashing the teen's side of his face into the metal wall of the dumpster which was the source of the bangs.
The boy himself was wearing a pair of sports shorts with a long sleeve shirt over the top. The sleeves of said shirt were now dyed read up to the forearms with traces of blood being found on the rest of the shirt. The kid had a circular purple bruise high on his cheekbone and a small cut on his left shin. He also seemed abnormally calm as he continued to give the young man CTE and had the glare of a lion staring down at his prey as he did the action.
After a couple more powerful bangs he let go of the head of his victim and instead gripped the collar of his shirt with his left hand while pointing in his target's face with the other, "You owe big Mike money. This is the last chance for you and your friends, where is the money," he spoke in a rage-filled tone through his teeth. His face displayed a cold and calm fury that spoke to the seriousness of his query.
The teenage boys had seemingly been beaten up by a mere six-year-old. Something that would often be referred to as a joke and something that was impossible to happen. But the glimmer in Catherine's eyes showed that this was not some fictional reality. This was something that her candidate was capable of. It wasn't something that completely blew the other candidate's actions out of the water but it did show that this one was showing extreme promise.
The young male shivered in front of the kid in what appeared to be a ridiculous scene. He told him the location of the stashed money. The boys had planned to use the money to fund their own start-up and hopefully in time become a rival gang to Big Mike. That was until they met this little demon who had stomped on their plans and scattered it into the wind. Thankfully, he was just a debt collector, otherwise as a possible hitman… the teen boy thought it best not to think anymore about what the monster would be like when he was older.
The boy, having got what he needed, stood up, brushed himself off, and began making his way toward the entrance of the alley. He stopped at the sight of Jacob and Catherine who were now in plain view of the alley, "Who are you?" he spoke with suspicion laced in his voice. The two in front of him looked clean and wore decent clothes, something not often found in 'The Shark Cage'. He stood on guard in case their apparel was simply a tactic to let down his guard, but little did he know his meeting with the two in question would change his life forever and the lives of many others.
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{Word Count: 3125}
First Chapter Hope you enjoyed.
Here is just a little tasting of what is to come. I already said that I would be gone for like another week and a half so consider this something I snuck out of the mess.
Before anyone starts saying 'a SiX yEaR OlD bEaTiNg Up TeEnAgErS iS uNbElIeVaBlE'. All I have to say is that some Spartan-II candidates did crazier shit. Kelly ran away from the Section 4: Kidnapping team for 6 hours and was only caught because she willingly came out believing it to be some elaborate Birthday Prank. Linda (I think) engineered a intelligence network to spy on her teachers. Plus or Mc is special just wait...
Be sure to drop any questions you may have because the Lore...is deep to say the least.
This time I shall keep an auxillary of the songs of the day so today we shall begin with a personal favorite, "Overture" from Halo: Reach.
Anyway that's about it I hope you all have a Blessed Day and I will See You Star Side