Kyle's POV

I quietly cursed under my breath and turned around, heading towards the door. How does she do that?! I exited the room and walked back towards my quarters stiffly, ignoring everyone on the way and scaring a cleaning worker after turning a corner with a sour and angry look on my face. Won't anyone tell me what's going on? I threw myself on the bed, thinking Ugh!! This is so frustrating! I ran my hands through my hair and took a deep breath. Calm down Kyle, they will have to tell you eventually, I reassured myself. At the very least, I needed to go get my armor so that I would be ready for whatever they had in store for me. I got up and headed to the fitting rooms, walking up to who seemed to be the main person in charge. "Hello, I'm here to have my armor sized."

The woman looked up from a computer and stood up saying, "Ah yes, Spartan Kyle, if you will just step over here and hold your arms straight out and legs apart." She pointed to a small platform. I got on and there was a buzzing sound as she took my measurements. It stopped abruptly and she waved for me to get down. "All done, it should be ready in about ten to twenty minutes. You'll pick it up from the armory, but before that someone will deliver the under suit to your quarters to put on before-hand." she said. I nodded, "Thanks." She smiled and I walked out, heading back to my quarters and sitting on the bed again, subconsciously smoothing out the wrinkles from my little outburst earlier.

Having nothing to do, I peeked under my shirt again, the two pink scars prominent. Yep, those are going to stay for a long time. I poked one tentatively –and withdrew my hand quickly as there was a dull stinging pain as I did so. There was a cough at the door and I looked up, standing up so fast I hit my head on the ledge to my bed. For a brief moment stars danced across my vision before I saw the guy watching me with... Amusement? I rubbed the back of my head and cleared my throat. "Um.. Hello." I said, embarrassed. The amusement was gone and he stepped forwards and delivered a small chip and a Spartan armor under-suit to me. I had scarcely grabbed it and the under suit before he was off, his footsteps already fading down the hall as I grabbed the bottom of the suit to prevent it from touching the floor. I widened my eyes in surprise and resisted the urge to look after him, instead stepping towards my holographic computer and setting the under-suit on my bed. I put the chip in and sat down.

A video message came on with an Officer I didn't recognize. In a gravelly voice, he began. "This is Captain Del'Rio. If you are watching this video, that means you have been selected for a very important job. About a week ago we received a distress call from a remote planet on the very edge of UNSC-controlled space called Atrius. They have detected possible plans for a large-scale Covenant Invasion on their planet and are not properly equipped to deal with it. You and several other Spartans will be sent into slipspace for a year to answer that distress call for the UNSC. You're mission, eliminate all hostiles at all costs. If you fail, your secondary objective will be to escort a VIP off the planet at all costs. The information and identification of that subject has been classified and will not be revealed until you arrive for security reasons. Arrive at the Docking Bay at 1800 hours in full gear. Good luck Spartan. Del' Rio out." And the message ended. Coordinates appeared on the screen and I stored them in the chip.

Well, that was interesting. He called me Spartan, but I haven't had my augmentations, I physically can't as I am too young and haven't taken the appropriate classes yet. Was this a mistake? On the off-chance that it's not, all I know is that I need to get my armor, now. I guess with the newer Spartan armor my above-average strength would be enough to handle it, fortunately things weren’t the same as they were with the Spartan II armor where the wearer could be killed if they tried to wear it without augmentations. I quickly put on the heavy under-suit and headed to the armory. When I got there someone came up to me and put a hand up in front of me to stop my advances. "Only authorized personal are allowed in here." I took out the chip with Del'Rio's authorization on it and showed it to him which made the guy widen his eyes in surprise and step aside, letting me pass. I ignored all of the things going on in the room and quickly spotted my armor at the end. I walked quickly to where they were making adjustments. "I am Spartan Kyle 324, I need that armor now. My pelican leaves in an hour."

The guy who was checking things on his tablet looked up and said, "Affirmative, only a few adjustments need to be made, you can stand right there for fitting." He pointed to an elevated platform. I slowly walked over to the strange contraption. It was backed up against the wall and was a large circle that cut off on the back where it hit the wall. The top mirrored the bottom with the circle part and had a large, vertical halo in the middle, which had places to put your hands and feet in for a computerized equipment of the armor. Mine was being done manually since it was the first time I was doing it, ensuring a tight fit and no miscalculations or pinching. There were arms mounted to the top circle as well and a contraption mounted to the floor as well for the application of the armor by the computer. There were a few scientists surrounding it, waiting for me to step up.

I noted this and quickly stepped up on the platform. The scientists stepped around me and backed me up to where I should stand, having me step into the already-ready boots and helped me put on my gloves. Then they had me put my arms straight out and legs slightly apart. I complied, intrigued by the whole thing. They grabbed onto the arms hanging from the ceiling and did the next process relatively quick. Starting with the upper body, they put on my lower arm and upper arm pieces and my chest pieces, all of which came in two parts for front and back and then clasped together at the edges. At first I was afraid they would pinch me, but as they put on the chest piece I relaxed and let them do their job.

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Then they put on the thigh and lower-leg pieces, and finally, my helmet. One of the scientist stepped on a stool-thing and slowly lowered it over my head. There was a click and he stepped back. "How do you feel?" A scientist asked, poised over a tablet. I looked at myself and flexed, feeling the armor working with my body. I looked up, "I'm ready."

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I walked into the scanning room and they completed the mapping of my body quickly, using a strange-looking machine. I didn't pay much attention to it but instead kept all the details of what happened in the last 12 hours running through my head, gripping the knife Silas gave me. I quietly requested the camouflage option on my armor despite a bit of complaining by the techs. My brain was in overdrive, focusing on only the essentials of preparation and evaluation. The attack could happen any day and I needed to focus and the state I was in right now was something my friends had dubbed my 'game mode'.

Whenever I got into my game mode. All joking and feeling was over, I became deadly serious and my mind was all on tactics and preparation. When everyone who knew me saw me get my battle face, they got serious and began planning with me. Especially Scott, Selina and Kade. I momentarily paused my thoughts and experienced an odd bit of... homesickness? It snapped me out of my game mode almost immediately. I hadn't seen them in weeks, and hoped they were still ok. Communication between this station and the ground was limited and the worst could have happened without me even knowing. I really didn't want to lose any more team members.

I finished discussing the details of my armor with the techs and completed the things they needed me to do and quickly made my way back to my quarters. I absentmindedly looked out the window that I passed, into space and at Atrius, wondering about my team. Th–I was grabbed from a side hallway, large hands pulling me roughly and angrily. The glint of brass knuckles caught the light in the corner of my eye, and immediately I went on the defense and offense. This was a hostile and whoever they were, they did not intend to have a friendly chat. Everything sped up and slowed down at the same time. The doctors had told me this would happen every time I experienced a major adrenaline rush. I saw everything with startling clarity and speed and I evaluated my situation. Even without seeing their faces, there were three of them, that I knew off the bat. The ODST'S then. The farthest had the brass knuckles, not a danger yet. The one who had a hold of me was pulling back his hand to hit me in the gut. The second was preparing to punch me in the face.

I moved lightning fast, grabbing the first's fist and twisting his arm, breaking it, causing him to cry out as I kicked him against the wall. Then I kneed the second, and when he bent over I delivered a nasty blow to his jaw with my fist, a crack! sounding and him stumbling back a few feet before I moved onto the third, who I had watched come closer until he was almost behind me. He swung with the hand that had the brass knuckles at my head. I moved to one side so it passed near my face and grabbed his arm, flipping him on his back and punching him in the face twice before sweeping my right leg in a half circle, knocking the first ODST down again who was trying to use his good arm to hit me in the face and pushing off the ODST with the brass knuckles to spin and do a roundhouse kick in the face to the second ODST. He had advanced after shaking off my previous blow. He went down, his head hitting the ground hard with a loud crack!, and stopped moving. The first ODST had passed out after landing on his broken arm. The third was nursing his nose, which had started bleeding, and started to stand up, adjusting the brass knuckles. I got a small running start and delivered a flying kick to his stomach, landing in a crouch as he fell backwards.

I quickly positioned myself above him and brought both hands up, preparing to knock him out when someone shouted "Stop!"

I felt hands quickly wrap around my arms from behind, dragging me off of him. I shrugged off their grip and turned to see Silas walking towards me. "Sir," I said, saluting. "At ease Steele." He said, shifting his gaze to the two unmoving ODSTS. "They attacked me." I explained briefly, looking over as well. There were medics crowding around them, and the third was being walked to a stretcher. The brass knuckles were lying on the floor so I picked them up and handed them to Silas. "He was going to use these on me, Sir." I said. Silas looked them over, They were bronze-colored and had little spikes that were blunted but could obviously cause serious damage. He pressed his lips into a thin line and then handed them off to someone else. "Good job Steele, but wait in your quarters for your armor for now. I'm assigning you an escort to avoid further... Contentions. Dismissed." I frowned, "But sir, I can take care–" "I said you are to report to your quarters, that is an order Spartan 118." I closed my mouth. "Yes Sir." I walked away, taking a last glance at the ODSTs on the floor before picking up the knife Silas gave me from where I dropped it in the beginning of the fight. I walked away, not looking back.

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Silas's POV

I watched him pick up the knife and walk away, and then I turned back towards the alley and took in the damage to the ODSTs. One of the medics came up to me and said, "Sir, the one with the broken arm is dead, and the other one may have long term memory loss and might have lost his ability to speak. The third suffered a fractured skull and 5 broken ribs, along with a broken nose." I sighed. ODSTs and Spartans would be driven farther apart if this ever reached their ears. "Move them to a secure place, pronto. I don't want this to get out to the others." He nodded and went back to the other medics. I looked at the figure down the hall who was turning into the barracks. What am I going to do with you? I thought. I pinched the bridge of my nose and called an assistant over. "Tell a pilot to prepare a pelican to leave at 2100 hours. Spartan 118 is being transferred to the surface." I looked back down the empty hallway. "And tell the Sergeant Major to Prepare 118's team. I want them ready." The assistant nodded and went off down the hall. It's time for you to go home Steele.