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Heart Of Iron

Chapter 6: Surfacing Emotions

After the embarrassing entrance of his little rodent friend, Six began to slouch sullenly. Any coolness factor he had managed to build up between himself and Callie had been compromised by the silly diminutive squirrel. Still, he couldn't find it in his heart to remain mad at it. It possessed a remarkable ability to make him forgive, and tolerate its presence.

"Awe, is the big bad man upset at the little squirrelly whirly?" He heard Callie call out to him cutely, cradling the little monster in her fuzzy arms and scratching its ears, giving Six a wide eyed feline look. It seemed that the squirrel also contained the power to turn her into a pile of baby talking mush.

"I'm fine." He sullenly muttered back in reply from his place at the side of the desk. He was feeling left out of the equation. It was a stupid feeling, and he knew it, but he had it anyways.

Sensing that he was a little miffed, Callie let the squirrel go play around the desk and went to stand next to the spartan. She had a few questions that had been bothering her for awhile. "I never did ask you, but where are you from...Six?" It felt good to put a name to the man, even though it was a little strange. Why was his name a number?

Unbeknownst to her, but his posture ever so subtlety shifted to a forlorn one. A spartan would have been able to tell, but not her. "I hail from a place very far away, a dark one....one of war." His rough voice was contemplative, as he thought back to the past that was not so long ago. In fact, it had only been a few days, if even that.

"War?" The answer was a strange one to her, there had not been a war for many years, long before her time. It was an odd concept now a-days, almost unthinkable.

"Yes war, a long bloody and terrible one, the loss of civilian life was and still is terrible." He replied, the spartan started to feel horrible as he remembered his commitment to humanity, and he wasn't back there fighting, to save them. It's what he was raised to do, his purpose. But he understood that returning would most likely never be an option, he was stranded here on this feline filled world. Yet, he looked down to Callie, (and reluctantly to the squirrel), he was not alone. A very small and almost nonexistent part of him, hoped it was true.

"You fought in the war?" Callie inquired, curious of her saviors background. He had done allot for her and she hardly knew anything about him, a problem she sought to rectify now and in the future.

"Until very recently, just a few days ago to be precise. I'm still not sure how I got here. Some problem with a slipspace rupture I think." He muttered thoughtfully, making her even more confused. What was this slipspace?

"Were all the soldiers like you?" He certainly seemed like a different kind, a breed apart, but then again, maybe he was normal where he came from. It was a harrowing notion, that a society would need such men to defend it.

"I was a....special soldier, better then most." He explained to her. Six wasn't sure he wanted to tell her the story of his origin. He didn't know what he would do if she was so horrified by it, and in extent him, that she would never talk to him again. Usually he wouldn't give a damn if anyone would speak with him. But in her case, it would destroy the spartan if she did not, something he did not like the implications of.

Callie took notice of his reluctance to talk. She was starting to be able to pick up his feelings, it was a subtle shift, but one she could detect. Not to mention the long bridge of silence spoke for itself. She decided that pushing him to talk about it could wait for another day. "I understand, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She said soothingly, placing a out of proportion paw on his ebony armored back. She couldn't reach his shoulder, so it would have to do where it was.

"Thanks...Callie, maybe some day I will tell you." Six replied with gratitude, he would not have to worry about it today.

Suddenly there was a crash, they both turned to see what happened and saw that the squirrel had nocked over a pile of reference books and papers that had been on the desk. It looked to them innocently, sat down at the center of the wooden construct, and began nibbling it's own tail. Six sighed heavily, the little pest was quite a handful, it required almost constant supervision. He picked the squirrel back up and stuffed it back into it's containment pouch (a repurposed ration pocket), hopefully it would stay in their, he didn't have any more fruit to distract it so he wasn't so sure. Still, it was better then having it roam around the office causing mayhem.

Callie was reminded that she had papers to deal with, the shower of leaflets and books jumpstarting her memory. "I have some things to take care of, what are your plans? How long are you staying?" She was afraid that his answer would be sooner then she liked.

"I had not planned on leaving to soon, unless you want me to?" He replied, he found himself hanging on her response with an unspartan like nervousness.

"NO!...." Callie yelped out of the blue, almost tossing the papers she had been collecting back into the air and onto the floor. She calmed her sudden heavy breathing, "I mean no, you don't have to leave." She said, patting down her now frizzled fur. She had just got him back and she wouldn't let him slip through her paws quite yet.

"Okay....that good." Six answered neutrally, but inside he was glad she still wanted him around.

"I have some papers to sign, things dealing with the daily aspects of running this city, so you can wait till I'm done." She suggested, beginning to scribble away at the start of the daunting pile of repurposed lumber.

"I'm fine with that, I'm used to waiting...are you the mayor?" He asked, just registering what she had said. Callie certainly looked the part. She had a professional aura around her, one he appreciated, most likely it triggered his ingrained instinct to respect and follow authority figures.

He was surprised and concerned when she sighed heavily, had he offended her? "I'm sorry if I said something wrong."

"No no, it's not you, it's just that I'm not the mayor." She muttered with a mild touch of anger.

"Then why are you doing the mayor's work?" He was honestly confused as to why she would, it did not make sense to the spartan.

"The Mayor." She started, applying a not to friendly tone to the title, "is too busy with golf and other trivial matters to do his job. So that leaves me to take up the slack." Callie sounded distressed about it, and that made Six...upset, he did not like the sound of, nor look of, an unhappy Callie.

"Who is the Mayor?" He asked, she could not detect the dark undertone in his voice.

"His name is Manx, a small rotund Kat, more suited to a job at the bakery then running a city." She replied, interested in path this was heading down.

"Manx....hmmm I'll have a few words with him, if there is one thing I dislike, it is a neglectful and ineffective leader." The UNSC had a stiff policy on negligence, one involving severe corporal punishment and a harsh jail sentence. The fight for humanity had little time for inconsequential politicians and other ranking members of society to screw around.

"I would like to be there when it happens." Callie said with a grin,'displaying her sharp teeth, it would be something to remember.

"If that is your wish." He replied simply, and then pushed the slightly bulging pouch on his chest back down, restraining the little furry head that tried to emerge. And for an extra measure he buckled the top and buttoned it. "Perhaps I will let the squirrel loose on him?"

Callie burst into light hiccuping laughter at his joke, her tail flopping uncontrollably, but while she laughed, Six just stopped cold, his ever rotating mental gears grinding to a halt. 'Did I just tell a joke?' He wondered to himself in amazement. The last time he had told a joke, he had still been in camp, a long time before the augmentation procedure. He didn't know what to feel about that, was it a good thing? Or a bad thing? What did it mean for him?

Apparently, to Callie it was a good thing. The giggling feline was shuffling papers, having collected them and sat down at the desk. Yet she was still laughing, it must have amused her more then he thought. When he realized that he had made her laugh, he felt a...warmth emanate from his otherwise frigid core.

"Wow, your always so serious, I didn't know you could tell jokes." She stuttered in-between dying chuckles.

"Neither did I...not since..." He trailed off quietly, not wanting to go back to those days, even in memory. His time in the program had not been a happy one. He had made no friends and the instructors loved to torment him and the other trainees. Not every one made it to the end alive.

Callie stopped laughing completely when he went silent, cutting himself off. This man was not a normal one. Something happened to him, and it had changed whoever he would have been into what he was now, and one day she would find out. Before she could offer her apologies at bringing up unwanted memories the buzzer on her cluttered desk went off with a harsh grating tone.

"Yes?" She inquired, pressing the button and speaking through the receiver.

"Ms. Briggs, lieutenant Felina Feral is here to see you." The secretary explained over the device. That wasn't good, she had no idea what Felina would do if she discovered that Six was here with her.

The spartan acted quickly, he hugged the wall to the side of the door, making sure not to make a sound, where he drew his huge magnum and KA-BAR, holding them at the ready, roughly at the assumed chest height of the officer. He did not want to take any chances with anyone, police or not.

Callie watched him with apprehension, surely he wouldn't hurt Felina. In any case, not letting her in would only arouse her suspicion. "One moment." Callie said cooly, taking her paw off the buzzer and walking to the door, the only sound in the office was the clicking of her heels on the floor. She was the epitome of calm as she confidently opened the door, the only tell was her nervous twitching tail. She couldn't seem to get it under control. It probably also had to do with the fact that Six was right next to her, unmoving, a mountain of armor and muscle, ready to uncoil at the slightest wrong move.

Standing in the door way, she saw Felina turn from the desk and march over to the now opened entryway with purpose. She would have walked straight into the office if Callie hadn't been standing under the doorframe. "Hey Felina, what can I do for you?" Her voice was steady, not betraying how nervous she was at the moment.

Felina looked at her with an odd expression on her muzzle. "I have been hearing very strange reports Callie, from what I have heard, you either have a giant robot guardian or a piece of prototype enforcer tech. What's going on?" She asked worriedly.

The two women were incredibly close friends, having been so since Felina first joined the core. They both had common interests and complaints, having to deal with bureaucracy on a daily basis. It was an odd friendship, a woman in politics and the other in the military, but it workered surprisingly well.

Callie was certain that she could trust her friend. The only problem would be how to get Six to understand without causing the situation to skew out of control.

"Callie?" Felina asked voice laces with concern, she had been quiet for a long time.

"One second." She replied, ducking her head back in to look at Six. She gave him a look that she could only hope he took as a signal to relax, luckily it worked. Very slowly, the spartan mag-locked his pistol and sheathed his short sword of a knife. Then he stepped away from the door to the side of the room.

With the crisis averted, Callie turned back to her friend. "Do you trust me?" She asked seriously, making Felina to get taken aback a little.

"Of course, why?" The cinnamon dust colored Kat asked curiously. The strange behavior of her friend worrying her.

"Just come inside, and don't freak out." Callie replied, saying the last part with a faint cringe.

Felina just shook her head, confused, and stepped inside, she looked around and did not see any reason to freak out. That is at least until she made out the hulking armored figure to the side of the door, shrouded in the dimly lit portion of the office ceiling lights. Reflexively she reached for her sidearm, but never even touched the grip with her lightning fast clawed digits.

The figure burst into movement, faster then a cheetah and plucked her off the ground like a child, grabbing her collard uniform shirt with a huge ebony gauntlet, so that her booted hindpaws hung a foot off the floor. She dangled there in the things unmoving hold and would have truly panicked if it had not been for the calm voice of Callie.

"Six, put her down." The tawny feline ordered firmly, and seconds later, the giant set her down softly onto the floor, and backed away, but kept itself close enough to nab her again if she did anything.

Not realizing she was shaking. Felina flipped back to look at her friend. "What is that thing!?" She hissed, bringing a clawed thumb to point at the behemoth.

"It's not thing, it's a he." Callie scolded, not appreciating Felina's yowl.

Felina looked back to the thing and took a second longer glance, judging from the muscular masculine appearance, Callie was right, it was a he. In fact, the man seemed to be sculpted like a professional bodybuilder, all she could see was well defined muscle outlined by the strange black cables that could be seen where the thick armor plates were nonexistent. Felina blushed suddenly and fiercely as she noticed what train of though she was going down, she swung away from him quickly and focused back on her friend. "Fine, who is HE!?"

Callie took a moment to try to phrase her answer. "He is a...visitor from a far away place, and the one who saved me before." She added the last part, hoping that Felina would take it into consideration for when she decided what to do.

Felina turned to the strange armored man, who had not said a single word up to this point. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my friend." Even though she was thoroughly trounced by the man, she prided herself on her honor and respect. He had earned her grudging respect for his efficient takedown, being in the militant police, she prided herself on her own, she had been the best since the academy, so it was a little upsetting to meet someone who was her better.

"Just doing my job ma'am." The man replied humbly, his deep voice resonating in the now crowded office room. His tone was enchanting, she could listen to it all day.

Befuddled, Felina shook of that embarrassing thought and replied. "What exactly is your job?"

"I'm a soldier ma'am, UNSC Navy, Special Warfare, Group Three, SPARTAN-III Beta Company." He replied mechanically, his voice held a certain honest pride to it, he stood up a little bit straighter and went into parade rest.

"What's your name?" She asked, she would be lying if she said that he wasn't an impressive figure at he moment. Callie also was surprised to see this side of the man she had come to know, he didn't act at all like she had seen before.

"Spartan B312, Noble Six." He responded without hesitation, the presence of an officer, even of symmetric rank, switched him into professional mode.

"Your name....is Noble Six?" She wondered, it sounded more like a call-sign then a name.

He went quiet for a moment, and his reply was...soft and pained. "....It is ma'am."

Seeing the upset glare of Callie, Felina figured out that it was a sore subject for the man, and apologized thusly.

"No harm done ma'am." He said, his tone was back to normal, clearly he was a master at locking down his emotions. Now that all the pleasantries were over,

Felina sighed and sat down, massaging the bridge of her muzzle, not caring that she was taking the only chair in the room. Frankly she deserved it, these two were quickly becoming a handful. She had no idea what she would do about this. "Someone please explain this, from the beginning."