rp help (![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rp_help) wrote in janitorscloset2017-07-12 05:06 pm
rp_help) wrote in janitorscloset2017-07-12 05:06 pm
Entry tags:
[meme] RvB & Halo AU Meme
Ever wonder what your Freelancer would do if they were able to fight in the war, or how the Spartans would behave if they were recruited as Freelancers? Here's your chance to find out!
How to play:
- Post a top-level with your RvB or Halo character
- List preferences and ideas, or write a starter
- Tag around! It doesn't have to be strictly characters from the other setting, either. Put two Freelancers in the ODST, or put Master Chief and Cortana in Project Freelancer. Let your imagination be your guide!
- Have fun!
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But Matt’s fresh take on the planet and the subtle peacefulness that seemed to slowly steal through him as he regarded Onyx with fresh eyes reminded Kurt of what he’d come to take for granted about the world.
“It really is.” He agreed with a fond looking smile and clapped Matt on the shoulder. Kurt was one of the few people tall enough to do that comfortably around here and standing there together, the two of them certainly looked like what they were even if they weren’t clad in the distinctive Spartan armor. But the matching scars that could be seen on their hands and peeking out from their uniform collars, the unusual heights and builds marked them for what they were. Kurt had never gone out of his way to confirm or deny his past as a II and his men respected him too much for the most part to pry but the easy familiarity that radiated between him and Matt definitely spoke of a shared past and acquaintanceship.
“I guess so, as close as any of are going to get. Come on, I’ll show you around.” Normally, it would be unheard of for the camp commander to take time out of his busy day to show a new DI around but Kurt was too excited to show Matt what they’d worked so hard to build and he trusted that Mendez along with Tom and Lucy could handle the final preparations for delivering Gamma safely home.
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"Mind if we start with my bunk?" Matt suggests. He had spent enough time switching between pairs of the Freelancer fatigues that had been recovered from his hospital room. Getting out of the gray and black and into proper military colors would be nice. Even Marine standard issue would be better, seeing as Spartans technically fell under that ops heading.
"And somewhere I can steal a piece of fruit."
'Fresh' produce hadn't been too common for the project. Not as common as it should have been. He could damn well eat a raw potato right now if it came to it.
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Even Tom and Lucy who could understand what it meant to be Spartan couldn’t fill that void inside of Kurt because at the end of the day, there were lines he could not cross. He’d already allowed himself to become too emotionally invested in his protégés and he knew it. But with Matt, it was different because this was his brother. And he’d so desperately missed him and the rest of his brothers and sisters.
And he suspected Matt understood that loneliness all too keenly as well.
“Of course, come on. DI’s are bunked down near the barracks of course so they can keep an eye on things. We’ve got enough space no one has to double up so you’ll have your privacy.” Kurt lead him over to the prefab cluster of buildings that had been erected around what was unmistakably a parade ground. “My quarters are over there. Office is up front, private quarters are in the rear. We’ll get you kitted out with a radio along with your dress which should hopefully all be waiting for you in your bunk. Mess hall is over there.” He pointed out the various buildings as they walked.
When Matt asked him about fresh fruit, he chuckled softly. “Ah, spoken like someone who has been on ship board food for too long. We’ve had some luck with both the local flora but also in getting some Terran food to grow here though we have to be careful to keep it in check so it doesn’t accidentally become an invasive species to the local fauna and flora.”
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His mind is still trying to run over the whole 'privacy' thing. "Never had my own space before."
What would he do with it? Probably nothing. Any free time would be spent with Kurt or reading. And there likely wouldn't be too much free time. But with it gestures to he steers them to the quarters. He wants to change into clothes meant to fit him. And without sleeves. He hated them, especially as the trip here had allowed him to start back on solid goods. Start rebuilding his weight. His muscle. The Freelancer uniform never really accounted for Spartan muscle.
"Imagine your schedule won't let you find much free time for me. But I could stand some sparring with someone I don't have to train up too."
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But moreso than that, it was just classic Kurt to a T. He’d always shown a very un-Spartan like interest in those around him even those who were not Spartans. Unsurprising then that it would transfer to him being a more understanding commanding officer and from what Matt had seen so far, it paid off in spades. Tom and Lucy looked at the man with a devotion that far surprised that a subordinate’s loyalty to their superior officer. Even Mendez didn’t seem immune to that ineffable charisma and approachability.
“I thought you might appreciate not having to deal with people prying into your past or trying to explain the augmentation scars. I’ve never outright come out and admitted I was a II though I suspect it’s more of an open secret around camp by now but it’s your secret to keep or reveal as you will, Matt.” They reached a door with a temporary tag with the name GREENE printed on it along with Matt’s official rank.
“I will find a way of making time. You and I have a lot lost time to make up for and a lot to catch up on. During working hours of course we will have to maintain the chain of command but after hours, we can just be Kurt and Matt. And I would be delighted to spar with you. I’ve been trying to keep up my fighting trim but it’s definitely been a challenge at times.”
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Greene. The name had been played by the higher ups and Matt knew very few people were happy with it. Luckily the old Project wasn't his concern. Being there to support Kurt, not as his right and left hands because that was for his Bravos and Mendez, but to be his support, true person who would never judge or laud but who would be happy to bring him back to earth, Matt was okay with that.
"One moment," Matt says, excusing himself into the room. Once he is in he quickly hanged into his new uniform, smirking over the name tag. That was never going to stop being amusing. Once it was on he bundled up the Freelancer clothes and came out to Kurt.
"Should destroy these. Minimize future questions."
That done he nods to his superior to continue the tour. While Alison himself with thoughts of sparing with a Spartan. One that might be out of practice. Not that Matt had lived up to expectations in sparring in recent years either. The Director had not encouraged it.
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Kurt pointed out philosophically but there was a note of first hand personal experience there. “Of course, I like to think I’ve done a good enough job vetting my people that your fellow DI’s are smart enough to keep any rumor mongering to themselves. As for Gamma, you know how gossipy boots can be but I suspect you’ll be a larger than life figure for them. The scary new Spartan DI who can kick their asses from here till sundown if needs be.”
Yes, Matt would be a powerful figure for Gamma because he was one of the few who would be able to keep up with them in all things. So far, they’d only had Tom and Lucy to contend with and they were the most effective trainers he had because of it. Now, they would have this new unknown vector to contend with and Kurt was interested to see how it would play out.
Kurt waited patiently while Matt changed into his new uniform and the moment his brother stepped out, he looked him over with a pleased smile on his face.
“You look good.” His smile sort of dimmed however when Matt indicated his bundled up clothing and the final ties he had to his old assignment.
“Good idea, I’ll show you where to dispose of it.” He did just that and once the last incriminating evidence of Project Freelancer was gone, he continued the tour by showing Matt the barracks that Gamma would soon be occupying and then took him to the impressive obstacle course halfway hidden by the trees.
“Mendez and I worked together on this but if you have any further suggestions or ideas for additions, I’d love to hear it.”
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"Do you have separate for pre and post augmentation? Got to make them think and move differently."
As he walks slowly along the course he considers the potential. Other thjngs he wants to do.
"I want mock ups up Covvie swords. Run into a few. No armor we have will hold up. Got to teach them to evade it. Disarm. Not easy. Sangheili are strong. Probably take Sam in a no holds barred. They need to learn that. But want to start sparring first. Before they have a chance to hurt themselves or each other. Know you've made do so far, but no other DI but Tom or Lucy can do direct training for them now. Got to correct that."
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“We’ll start them back up on this to help them relearn how to move but honestly, they’ve advanced past the obstacle course. From here on out we’ll be working on them with more realistic combat simulations and how to survive out in the field while cut off from supply and help.” He said while indicating the forests beyond the edge of the compound. “The next year will be about refining their skill sets. They have the basic foundation down solid, now we just need to turn them into Spartans.”
When Matt expressed and interest in doing weapons drills with Covenant weaponry, the brunette smiled thinly. “We have some in our armory as well as just about every other Covie weapon the UNSC can get their hands on. Speaking of, let’s go there now. I want to show you our SPI armor and start to get you fitted for a set.”
There had been a briefing on the armor with the rest of the info dump Matt had gotten but Kurt wanted him to see it in action for himself.
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But Kurt clearly means for them to move on and Matt won't argue. He wants to see this armor. More than anything else he had focused on the capabilities of the armor. His time in Freelancer had taught him about focusing on the abilities of the armor he lived his life in. The stuff for these Spartans was... disappointing. Freelancer had better, but less people to equip. This stuff made the Spartans seem... almost disposable. It made him sick.
Not that he was going to criticize Kurt before he knew what the other man thought.
"Do you have urban combat training grounds? Lot of what I saw was either forested areas like this before a planet got glassed, or a city. Nothing but ruins and rubble can really prep you for the chaos."
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He knew his personal limitations but that sort of engineering was beyond him and he didn’t know if anyone on his current roster would be up for the challenge.
Kurt led him across the obstacle course, towards the building he’d indicated as his own personal domain. Inside, Matt would discover a neat as a pin office though there were some small personal touches like a vase decorated in an ancient Greco-Roman design but perhaps the most remarkable thing about the office was the multitude of framed clippings on the wall showing photos of various Spartan-II’s and their accolades. The pride in which they were displayed was unmistakable and had taken Kurt a fair amount of time and painstaking hours spend digging up all information he could about his brothers and sisters.
Once ONI had released the knowledge of the II’s to the world, he’d been desperate for news about them. It was a bittersweet tribute because his Spartan-III’s would never grace the walls of this office. They were strictly relegated to the shadows like one of ONI’s dark secrets. The public could not handle the idea of the UNSC training up child soldiers just to use them as little more than over-glorified cannon-fodder. The II’s were adults, more palpable and people didn’t ask too many questions about their origins.
It wasn’t fair and he knew it just as he knew how unfair it was that his students should be treated as little more than disposable soldiers whose lives could be spent so easily. That was why he was willing to go to such illegal lengths to ensure Gamma would not be so easily destroyed.
Behind a locked door, Matt would find himself in a smaller room but one packed to the ceiling with all manner of weaponry, both UNSC and Covenant in origin.
“We do about one hundred clicks from the base. ONI doesn’t want there to be too many visible footprints on the planet just in case someone happens to stumble upon us. We typically tie it in with wilderness survival training and the boots travel by foot to reach it within an allotted timeframe. The DI’s come up with obstacles for them to face along the way. You remember that training exercise we did back on Reach with the maps? Where they dropped us off in the middle of nowhere with map fragments and told us to find our way to the extraction point? It’s sort of like that.”
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The very memory makes him shiver.
"Show me this armor of yours. Specs aren't really suitable to discuss," Matt suggests. He would rather not think about the cold. Hopefully his room would be warm.
The weapons, though, they give him pause. Was...
"Is that a grav-hammer?"
He wants that.
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Which was saying a lot considering how remote and hands off Linda had always been.
When Matt expressed an excited interest in the heavy looking Gravity-Hammer resting against one of the weapons racks, the brunette nodded and indicated he was welcome to inspect the weapon while he moved to a cabinet that housed a few suits SPI armor.
“We’re rolling out an upgraded version of the Mark-II armor. SPI armor isn’t MJOLNIR though…not by a long shot. But it’s a fraction of the cost to manufacture and ONI refuses to open up its purse strings to outfit the III’s with anything more advanced considering the nature of the program.” There was something dark and shadowed in Kurt’s eyes when he looked indicated a hanging set of SPI armor. “I’m sure you can do the math. As of Gamma there should be close to a thousand Spartan-III’s out in the field but instead, there is just Gamma and a handful of Spartans I managed to save from the chopping block.”
Kurt’s fingers had unconsciously curled into fists at his side, a true indication of his frustration and outrage at the senseless waste of his Spartans’ lives. “ONI uses them like a cudgel, as a highly trained force capable of doing things even ODST cannot accomplish. They are Spartans and accomplish the mission as is expected but their missions almost invariably end in a near one hundred percent loss.”
“That’s why I need your help, Matt. I need you to help me train them to survive the impossible. To give them every advantage they can possibly have to pull through whatever stupid suicide missions ONI can cook up for them.”
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"This armor doesn't help," he growls, turning away from the hammer to look at it. "Barely any more than what a marine has. The stealth capabilities aren't even too impressive. The UNSC has better tech, problem is the module is larger and requires an internalized power unit. The Sangheili active camp units you see in the field? We have adapted them. With power unit it would slow down a Spartan in an only minimal way. Get your hands on some and you can assign them to scout units, better prepare and the overwatch potential..."
Or they could try and work the Sangheili based tech down like the damn Elites had.
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“This is what they are made for unfortunately. ONI wanted a highly trained but disposable breed of Spartans who could accomplish the impossible missions even if it meant heavy losses. Alpha destroyed a Covenant shipyard that could have supplied them with enough ships they could have glassed every colony this side of Orion. Beta was assigned to Pegasi Delta to interrupt their ability to mine deuterium and tritium for their plasma reactors and it halted them from further incursions into UNSC space for months while they scrambled to adjust their supply lines. These missions were critical successes and as far as ONI is concerned, worth the price paid. But it’s not good enough for me. I need to train Gamma better so they can stand a chance against those impossible odds.”
Kurt had deliberately waited until they were inside this locked, secure bunker to fill Matt in on the truly grim and bleak history of the Spartan-III branch and his own personal failures as a commander. It didn’t take an ONI head shrink to realize how this sort of thing would drive someone like Kurt-051 mad. He was a Spartan-II and failure was never an option for them but more so than that, he’d spent years training and becoming attached to these troops only to have to make the hardest necessary choice a military leader ever had to make.
“I know it’s not good enough but unfortunately, it’s what we have to work with. We can’t afford to outfit them in MJOLNIR, even some of the newer stuff they’ve been working on which is supposed to be cheaper to fabricate. Our sheer amount of numbers makes it impractical. So they’ve prioritized stealth over brawn for the main companies. I have managed to safe a handful of Spartans from each class which have been reassigned to different divisions including the Headhunters. They get a more advanced version of SPI armor for their missions which tend to be two or three man fireteam missions of high value targets. There’s also a mixed Spartan team based out of Reach…NOBLE. They comprise some of the best and brightest III’s I’ve trained. I managed to twist ONI’s arm into outfitting them with MJOLNIR but they won’t expand our budget beyond that.”
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"If you have a good AI... I would not suggest trying to get them into the files of my former company. That would be illegal. Even if the project has access to reduced size active camoflaugr units. Which might be adapted to even smaller units of only using small bursts of time. Bad thing to do, even with their less secure systems given the strangeness of their ship AI."
Maine understood some about AI. He knows there was no good way to keep the things away from their crew. The fact that whatever AI ran the ship hadn't seemed to have flipped out over the loss of AI many Freelancers was... worrying.
""I also wouldn't recommend looking into the Charon Corporation with whatever contacts they have, given I am certain they horde Covvie tech for R&D purposes and would likely enjoy ONI contracting to them for fear even if it was at a minor loss."
Just because he had never gotten into the politics of his project didn't mean he hadn't known a bit of what was going on. He had recognized the company's logo in the building, as well as the training of their 'Insurrectionists'. Those were UNSC troops no doubt, possibly even loaners.
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He heard what the other Spartan was saying and more importantly...what he wasn't saying. They had dumb AI who served a variety of capacities around the camp but what Matt was describing would need the abilities of a smart AI. Kurt spared a moment of regret for the loss of Deep Winter recently. It had been very accommodating and showed a great amount of concern for the Spartans who resisted at Currahee. It had used the last pieces of it's lifespan in an attempt to warn Kurt of the illegal cocktail of drugs incorporated into Gamma's augmentation procedures, never realizing Kurt had been the one who had them placed there.
Now, he was stuck with this unknown new AI who had been installed in Deep Winter's place. The info dump he'd received on the AI hadn't exactly filled him with a lot of hope. This new AI, Endless Summer seemed very standoffish and he had a feeling it might end up being difficult like Eternal Spring had been. He would have to wait and see.
"I will see what I can do. ONI has it's own smart AI that is housed on the planet but that might be a can of worms left undisturbed." He strongly suspected Matt had just been telling him a round about way who he needed to look into but if his brother wanted to skirt around it in hopes of maintaining some level of plausible deniability, he wouldn't rob him of that.
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"I want to look over the specs deeper. Learned a lot about armor with my last gig. So I might be able to come up with more. I will do my best to that end actually."
Perhaps that might be the best arrangement. He frowns though at the situation. "Okay. So we need... we are going to have to wake them up soon. Be officially introduced. Schedules to be made while they adjust."
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"You'll have full access to everything we have. And...if this will help in any way, this as well." Kurt had to enter a completely different code in order to access the locker containing his MJOLRNIR armor. It was in pristine condition even after all these years because he'd spent countless hours learning the ins and outs of the armor even if he didn't wear it anymore. The power plant was still online and functioning smoothly to keep it ready and on standby for whenever he decided to take it up again.
"I expect there will be some grogginess so Mendez will only put them through some light paces today to help them loosen up and shake off the cob-webs from being in stasis. Tomorrow is when the real work will begin. Have you decided how you want to address the elephant in the room? Will you tell them you're Spartan?"
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"Beautiful," he says softly. Envy I clearly there in his voice. Seeing it only reminds him, though, and Matt turns away.
"Might as well. They don't need to know I wasn't good enough for the armor. Knocking me down some might even build confidence."
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But he wasn't prepared to his hear brother speak of himself in such a self-deprecating manner and was shocked to find just how much it troubled him.
"Matt...it wasn't that you weren't good enough. You just had a bad reaction to the augmentations just like half the other people in our class did. That was not on you." Kurt being the person he was, the person he had become learning how to care for war-scarred orphans automatically sought to try and boost Matt's confidence and to try and make him see that he was not lacking just because he could not wear MJOLNIR. "You're still a Spartan even without this overpriced piece of tin. That is something you've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt because you have been fighting in this war just like the rest of us and you're still alive which is more than way too many of our brothers and sisters can claim. That's why I'm trusting you to help me train Gamma so that they can survive as well."
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So many positions, no advancement, and nothing lasting. Too many instances where he was the last surviving member of a team. Plenty of time in the service in recovery until it had gotten to the point where he could feel the difference between a hairline fracture, a fracture, a break, or just a sprain. He knew it all. He was a mess of scars and he'd probably broken more bones than many other Spartans.
"You were wanted, Kurt. I wasn't because my hands shook a bit. Could have handled that. But no, can't give me a chance to deal with it. Can't see if there is a way to deal with my hearing. A far lesser man managed it. Our program didn't think it was worth it."
He hasn't been a Spartan for a very long time. If he can steal the title back now he will take it.
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But then, that was at its core, his major issues with Catherine Halsey summed up neatly. Her wastefulness and willingness to write off those who didn't meet her strident criteria out of hand.
"That is Catherine Halsey's short-sightedness. She is the one with the obsession with perfection, not me. You might not meet her exacting standards of what a Spartan is supposed to be but she's a civilian living in a perfect, self-created bubble. You and I have seen this war in all of its gruesome messiness. Yes, I think it's a complete waste that you've spent the past twenty years not being used to your fullest potential but the fact that you spent twenty years on the front lines and are still alive and kicking while plenty of our brothers and sisters have died says more about your skills than you give yourself credit for."
Kurt said with a deadly serious look on his face. "That armor does not make a Spartan. My III's have as much guts and heart as we ever did. Maybe even more so because they volunteered for this rather than being hijacked into this life. But they have given everything including their lives to stand between humanity and the Covenant. Which is what Spartan is at its core. And it hurts me to hear you dismiss your value so easily because you're just as much of a Spartan as me or any of my III's. Fancy equipment and perfect genes don't make us who we are, Matt and twenty years ago, if I'd been in the position I am now I would have snatched you up in a heartbeat because you have all the same training and ability as any of the other II's even if your hands shake a little and your hearing wasn't as good as it should have been."
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Matt was a mystery to himself, and Spartan had been everything. The men and women he grew up with had been his family. Kurt and Linda practically real siblings in his mind given they had been set up day one as a unit.
No records would ever show that the young man, deemed unfit for Halsey's project, had wondered if his dead brothers and sisters weren't luckier. If the crippled ones weren't luckier. Whether he should cease. After his first deployment he wished he could become a real soldier, but even that hadn't really worked out. Nowhere seemed to last. He had no home like Spartan had been to him growing up.
And none of it could be said. Not even now. After all this time apart he still wasn't sure he could trust even Kurt to know how close he was to just giving up. How he saw this as his second chance to prove himself. To belong. To find a family.
There was only one thing he could think of to say, only one thing he could say despite his almost clenched teeth and his tightly balled fists giving away how wound up he really was.
"They don't shake much anymore. Almost never unless I'm tired. The last job, they. I don't know how read in you are. They helped. I would pass her standards now."
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He hadn’t known the sting of rejection, hadn’t been labeled as unfit for duty because of a side-effect he had zero control over. Of course, Kurt would argue that Matt didn’t know his story either or the trials he’d faced. For the first time, he became aware of a gulf of distance between them. And it unnerved him because there had never been one there before.
It made him want to overcompensate, to prove to his brother that despite the time and distance, their relationship would not change. But it already had in a multitude of ways.
"I got the broad strokes. Something about lending you out to one of those magic bullet programs trying to figure out how to win the war. Never heard of the guy in charge but the briefing said he's a civilian scientist contracted through ONI and that he was doing something with some experimental armor and AI integration."
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