Annoying Wildlife
#5 of Heart Of Iron
Heart Of Iron
Chapter 5: Annoying Wildlife
Six walked through the luscious green forest of this strange world. As the spartan plodded along he found himself subconsciously nitpicking over his weapons. It helped to pass the time, considering he wasn't trying to reach the city with any speed. His mind was troubled with many thoughts.
How exactly was he going to find that feline woman again? Six had not tracked her to her next abode, and in fact, didn't even know the layout of the city. Those were indeed thoughts worthy of concern. The spartan forayed deeper into the miasma of the forest, as he walked, he began to feel a deep seated unease. Something was very wrong here. Slowly, he drew his assault rifle and took another, more intense, view of his surroundings. His rifle swayed, on the prowl for a target. The once friendly and welcoming atmosphere of the woodland took on an ominous and hostile presence.
Six saw something flash in the corner of his vision, he whipped around to point his massive gun at a...squirrel. The tiny ball of brown and black fur froze in the gunsight and squeaked fearfully. The spartan sighed and lowered his gun, and returned it to its hold on his back. Feeling bad at frightening the innocent ball of fur, he reached into one of his many pouches and took out a dehydrated apple slice.
Six held his huge ebony gauntleted palm up and open with the dehydrated foodstuff, and slowly moved it to the stump the squirrel was stationed on. The tiny rodent scurried onto his palm and started to nibble on the fruit. The spartan watched as the minuscule furry creature sat happily on his hand and ate the treat. With care, Six cautiously brought his free hand to it and stroked its back gently with nimble fingers.
It had been a very long time since he saw any adorable little animals. The Covenant didn't bother to keep collateral damage to a minimum. More often then nought they destroyed entire ecosystems, driving whole species extinct with their wanton destruction. But now, here, he could see wildlife, in its undisturbed be-
Six suddenly was thrown off his feet and impacted a tree, his weight snapped the thick oak in half. Dazed he looked around for his enemy, where was it? The spartan was ripped of his feet again and dangled in the air, when he saw his attacker, he grunted. This particular specimen was not adorable. A huge olive green and red striped reptilian lay coiled on the ground in front of him. The giant snake even dwarfed the spartan. The thing was over thirty feet in length and its width was wider then the spartan body. Its head was at least as big as a ghost and twice as deadly. The damn thing must have been hiding, and his distraction with the squirrel gave it the opportunity to go in for the kill. But what the snake didn't know was that spartans were no easy prey.
The monster opened its maw, revealing a unbelievable network of swordlike fangs and hissed loud enough to scramble his audio sensors. Faster then even his spartan reflexes could detect or react, the snake chomped down on his chestplate, his shield winked out immediately under the extreme pressure. The sword-fangs scrabbled for purchase on his titanium armor. The MJLONIR was more then a match for the predators jaws. Nature and science clashed, and science prevailed.
Snarling, still in the snake's maw, Six delivered a furious uppercut to the underside of the beast's jaw, delivering all the power he could muster. It dropped him with an unearthly roar and tilted backwards. Like enamel rain, the remains of its once terrifying pearly whites cascaded out of its maw. The force of the spartan's fist had shattered the snake's fangs. It may have lost its piercing weapons, but its body was still dangerous. With a pain-filled hiss the beast slammed its steel cable like body into the spartan. This sent him soaring into the sky a good hundred and fifty feet. Six was somewhat impressed by the strength the creature possessed, it was no easy feat, throwing a spartan like a toy.
Still no matter how impressive it was, that wouldn't stop Six from eliminating the threat. Ironically the snake had provided the means of its own demise. He shifted his momentum to face downwards, and prepped a fist. The spartan flew, and smashed into the beast. Using all the force he built up, the spartan tore right through the unfortunate animal. His blow decapitated the giant beast. Six felt satisfaction at so thourghly destroying his foe, but what he didn't enjoy, was the impact of his body greeting the ground.
The thunderous boom and proceeding slam into the ground disorientated the spartan. He blacked out, that is, until he felt and heard a soft patter on his helmet. Six forced his eyes open and was met with a tiny pair of brown ones, they looked into his visor fearlessly. It seems that the little squirrel had climbed onto his helm and started to tap on it with its little paws, awakening him. Slowly Six rose up to a sitting position, the little fuzzy rodent shifted to a comfortable place on top of the spartans head. Six found himself inside a smoking spartan sized crater. Gingerly, he removed the little squirrel and set him down upon the heated dirt.
It looked up to him, Six swore that it looked sad. That didn't matter, where he had to go and where he went was no place for tiny mammals. He walked towards the carcass of the giant snake, he wanted to get a good look at the thing that had the audacity to try to make a snack out of a spartan. Six had to admit, it truly was an impressive specimen, he doubted any natural person could have slayed it. But the poor snake did not face any natural foe, it faced a spartan, and a spartan was the biggest predator around.
For an odd reason he couldn't place, Six decided to take some fangs of the beast. (The few that weren't ruined by his fist), and stored them in a large rectangular cartridge on his armored belt. With that done the spartan left the body to the elements and once more took the path back to the city. As he walked along, he felt something scramble up his legs and all the way to his neck. With a sigh he removed the Invader with a gauntlet and was unsurprised to see the same rodent from earlier.
He lifted it up to his visor and growled, hoping to make it leave. The diminutive little creature just nuzzled the obsidian visor and chirped. "Stupid thing." Six muttered and shook it softly and let go. The stubborn little demon refused to let go of his hand, clinging tighter to the chinks in the armored glove. Six let out an explosive breath in defeat and stopped trying to rid himself of the relentless pest.
Sensing that the man was no longer trying to remove it, the squirrel scampered along his arm and curled up on his broad shoulder. The spartan muttered to himself grumpily as his unwelcome companion burrowed in the loose armor segments. Still, he found himself feeding it more scraps of fruit from his pouch. The stoic spartan blamed it on alien influence.
So with a new, and somewhat persistent companion, Six headed for the city. The usual silence was broken by the chirping and chittering of his tag along as it sojourned along the spartans massive body, scampering to and fro looking for places to play as it explored.
Callie woke up and looked to her pillow, it seemed she had drooled on it in her sleep. With a groan she pushed it away. On the bright side, she had the most pleasant dream. A knight in ebony armor had defended her from the nightmares that had plagued her since the rise of evil in the city.
All she wanted to do was lay in bed and rest but, there would be no rest for the mayor's aide. As she sat up she got a good look at her surroundings. The hotel room was nice, big enough for two people if need be and decorated modestly. Callie rolled of the bed and went to the mirror.
In the pane of glass was a tired looking tawny feline. Her blue eyes had bags under them and her clothes looked worn. She was forced to wear regular clothes to bed as her apartment was still under restoration. All she had was a pair of jeans and maroon t-shirt. At least she had managed to get a pair of shoes at a store on the way to the hotel. She didn't even have her glasses, having lost them somewhere she couldn't remember. In fact, where was the last place she had them? Oh well, she would just have to deal with it for now.
Making herself somewhat presentable, she left her temporary living space and took a cab to Megakat City Tower. Callie walked into the foyer and stopped, she looked to the entryway to the staircase. That was the last place she had seen her savior. The feline found herself going over and touching the door, brushing her paw against the metallic finish.
"Ms. Briggs!" A pompous voice exclaimed behind her tearing her way from the memories of the previous night.
"Yes Mayor Manx?" She sighed and turned to the pseudo leader of Megakat city. The short brown Kat was in charge of the city, but never did anything. Honestly, Callie didn't even know how he continued to get elected, it was a mystery that may never be solved.
"There are papers needing signing!" He harrumphed, and motioned for her to follow him. Callie muttered under her breath and headed after the opulently dressed Kat. He didn't even ask after her health, she though he would after the scuffle last night. She looked to the inside of the staircase as she left and watched as a baffled construction crew effected repairs. Surely that deserved some sort of mention? But it must not have, as the mayor ignored the desecrated stairway and went straight to the elevator.
Callie spent the next four hours shuffling through papers and taking care of the little details that are needed to run a city. Meanwhile, the mayor said something about important business and ran off. Callie scoffed, important business? He was down at the Megakat Golf course! No doubt he was playing as she did the real work. In frustration she tossed the papers onto the desk and leaned back with a sigh, putting her hindpaws on the desk and kicking off the heels she was wearing. Flexing her tired clawed toes letting them breathe, having them released from their prisons.
All this work was starting to drag her down. She needed a break, a stroll through the park would do her good. But first, a little Kat nap. Soon the only sound in the office was a faint but pleasant snoring, and the only movement was her triangular furred ears as they twitched in her sleep.
Six reached the edge of the forest, once more finding himself at the start of this feline-centric metropolis. He stood, majestically at the precept, staring forwards towards his goal. That is until something ruined it.....tap tap tap tap, he sighed.
The little rodent prodded the side of his head with a nut, several seconds later he heard a crack.....That just happened, a squirrel just cracked a nut on his helmet. The moment desecrated, Six muttered to himself sullenly and looked to his annoying and unremovable companion.
The infuriating little ball of fur gazed back innocently, as if not understanding what the problem was. But Six knew! Oh yes! He knew that the little monster was aware of its blasphemy. He stared at it fully intending to let his displeasure show, even through the polarized visor, but the damn thing simply chittered and vanished somewhere on his back. Giving up, Six ignored it and looked back to the town. He would need to find another way in. Perhaps he could go on the rooftops again? Maybe find a sewer entrance?
As he debated the squirrel moved to its favorite position on the spartan, his head. It curled up to nap on it, as he stood their unmoving, plotting his next plan.