[b]Scene Title: Hell of a Night

Characters: Split here into World Characters and Interferences:

World: Sergeant Major Avery J. Johnson, Captain Veronica Dare, Corporal Taylor H. "Dutch" Miles, Lance Corporal Kojo "Romeo" Agu, Private First Class Michael "Mickey" Crespo, "Vergil" the Huragok, and Lance Corporal "Rookie". Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck is referenced.
Interferences: Corporal/Sergeant Azumi Ian (promoted here), Private First Class Cetea T'Zumo (promoted here), Gregory Zivaku, Rose Remercyan, and Zero.

Context (Situation): As the epilogue to "Prepare to Drop" (also encompassing the epilogue cutscene of Halo 3: ODST itself), Cetea and Azumi are enlisted and promoted respectively in the UNSC Marine Corps, along with Vergil being interrogated. The entire scene is a month after "Prepare to Drop" in the orbital facility over Earth controlled by the Office of Naval Intelligence.[/b]

A man in green camouflage fatigues walked down a hall, flanked by two women in black combat armor. All three had no helmets, though the man had on a green cap.

The blonde one on his right, in her forties, spoke. "Lord Hood may have given you clearance, but it was my op, and it's my interrogation. We only captured one. It's very delicate."

The younger one, in her early twenties with short orange hair, rolled brown eyes. She had a helmet for her armor tucked under her left arm.

The new, specialized gear from Mission Conditional Requisition fit well, a new armor set in the "close quarters" variant, similar to the captain's demolitions expert, "Mickey" Crespo. The standard left pauldron was replaced with a longer two piece ballistic plate, which would aid in protecting the trooper's upper body while in a firing stance or against chest-aimed strikes, and also to reduce severe injury from plasma-based weaponry. The helmet was also issued with an optics device on the top right of the helmet that aided the user in relaying images and video to teammates or command. The added armor, unlike Crespo, however, was blue rather than red, to aid in stealth. Azumi reminded herself to ask Merlin for a new magically-enhanced rucksack when she was done here.

"Skipper, with all due respect, do you honestly think you can call that a capture? When he helped us make it out, and his entire species is most likely on our side, just prisoners of war and forced into service? And another thing. Why aren't you letting me know what's going on? I already got the work together to get that new species into our ranks without any problem, I thought." Azumi Ian just continued, though, nodding to the look from the man. No need to irritate a higher officer right now.

The man had dark skin, his dark hair under the cap. He tapped a few buttons on a panel next to a door. "Don't worry," said Sergeant Major Avery Johnson. "I know what the aliens like."

Azumi refrained from saying that that particular terminology....was not exactly stellar. Instead, she walked in as the hatch to the next, interrogation room opened...

Suddenly, a woman in black armor with a design unlike any UNSC issued armor pounces onto Vergil and hugs him tightly. Her distinguishing features would undoubtedly be her light blue skin and tentacle like hair.

"Who's an adorable Engineer? You are! You are!" Cetea T'Zumo coos, oblivious to the stares she earns from Buck's squad. She doesn't care at the moment, having finally decided that if she were to never see what she viewed as the most adorable creature ever again, she might as well do what she had been wanting to do since she first saw him. Vergil, however, doesn't seem to show any sign of acknowledging her surprise hug, and he merely continues to fiddle with the optics package of an F99 Osprey.

As she continued to hug Vergil, Cetea wondered how Rose was doing, and if she should check up on her again. She had made a visit to Rose in the infirmary part of her daily routine for the past few weeks, for she genuinely worried for the Black Tear Warrior, although she was showing signs of improvement in terms of her overall health.

Standing in the corner of the interrogation room was Zero, his cloak that covered the bottom portion of his face and almost all of his armor wrapped around his frame. The Maverick Hunter had stayed with the remaining of the group for just about a month, feeling that his business there was not quite finished, and to make sure no further battles took place that could endanger the lives of those he met in New Mombasa. He knew that the group were good people, and if they got hurt when he could have been able to help, it would only be upon his head.

Zero also remembered the conflict with that Trinity boy, particularly from what Azumi had told him had happened when he had not been present. He definitely did not trust Matt, and agreed with the Corporal's decision to order his exit. The Reploid had a feeling that this person could be dangerous, and was to be kept an eye on.

He had managed to mostly address his shoulder injury as well, but the Reploid was no mechanic. His solution was little more than a band-aid was to a human, a temporary solution. It would hold for a good while, but his movement was still impaired, and neither would he get repairs from these people. He was unsure whether this military would be trustworthy with his technology. Zero reminded himself to get repairs from Cid when this was over, but shook away these thoughts when Azumi and the other two entered the room.

Zero took a few steps out from his shady corner, and nodded to Azumi, and acknowledged Dare and the dark-skinned man in the camouflage fatigues. Although he gave a bit of a reproachful frown at Cetea fawning over the Engineer, he could understand that the Asari had grown attached to it, and was most likely sad to leave it.

Zero then focused on the Sergeant Major. "I presume that you are the highest ranking member among us." He observed.

"Yeah..." the man said, reaching into a pocket of his green, Marine battle dress uniform, a little weirded out by Cetea's behavior. He had been warned of her appearance, but how she was acting...

Azumi put a hand to her face in embarrassment. "Sorry about this, Sergeant Major," she said, walking over to the asari. She was kind about it, but still pushed Cetea away, explaining the situation as best she could in hushed tones as the next arrival came.

Gregory Zivaku walked around a Warthog that was being repaired in the room at some point, putting a hand around Cetea's shoulders and leading her away, speaking softly still. He still had his weapons on him, but had attained clearance to make sure that Azumi could do alright. She'd been working out and doing paperwork every waking hour to avoid thought for a month.

At this point, Rose Remercyan walked in from another room. She was walking a little gingerly, still recovering from the effects of the Gravity Hammer strike she received around a month ago down in New Mombasa. The attack left her with numerous injuries that magic alone could not solve, and so she opted to receive medical attention from the UNSC. Still, she had her normal clothes and weapons back, and she was at least happy about that.

Rose leaned against one of the containers as she started to feel a little short of breath. The Gravity Hammer strike had forced one of her lungs to get punctured, and while she was able to breathe normally on her own now, she still had attacks where she was a little short of breath; the Black Tear Warrior hoped that they went away soon. She put a hand on her abdomen as she wheezed a little, trying to catch her breath. Johnson heard her and looked over.

"You alright, girl?" he asked her. "Might wanna get that looked at."

Rose looked directly at Johnson, still getting her breath back. After a second or two, she replied to him.

"Already did, just need to let it heal on its own," she told him. There was a comment she could've made to him about it, but she knew who Johnson was, knew of his reputation, and was aware of his rank. She had a great amount of respect for him, and as such, she kept the comment to herself.

Azumi rolled her eyes to the comment from the sergeant major. "Like you're exempt," she had to say, taking her seat on one of the crates near one of them at random, though Johnson just ignored her there.

Cetea flushed red as Greg explained to her that tackle hugging Vergil is not the proper way to act in a military area. "I-I apologize, my behavior was... Uncalled for. I will exercise restraint." She stammered, and she was glad when Rose came into the room, as it presented a distraction. Muttering a few words of thanks to Greg, she shrugged his hand off and approached Rose.

"It is good to see that you are recovering fast enough." She said, leaning on a container beside Rose, "Are you sure you will be okay?" She added, noting the extra breaths that Rose took, and the effort behind them.

Rose looked over to Cetea, mentally noting her concern. She inwardly smiled; Cetea was kind enough to visit her in the infirmary every day as she was recovering from the attack, and it was nice to see that she was still showing that concern. She smiled to the Asari.

"I'll be alright," Rose told her, dropping her voice enough so that only the two of them could hear each other. "Thanks for looking out for me. And thank you for visiting me in the infirmary all those times. It means a lot to me."

"Heya, sweetheart," came the voice of the ODST Azumi had decided to sit near.

A groan. "How's the lung, Agu?" she asked, not even looking at the other dark skinned one in the room. Lance Corporal Kojo Agu, but everyone called him Romeo. Given his behavior around her (not unlike those she had seen on the Spirit of Fire in some cases), she could see why. She'd heard of his philandering, but all that really mattered in the field was his aim.

"More than good enough, thanks for caring." That smug tone...

"Never actually seen you make a shot," she said, slipping forward slightly and sliding down the crate to sit on the ground. "I take it you're good? Quick shot, good aim?"

"Dunno if the entire Corps's got one faster and straighter," he said, still not looked at.

"Exactly." As Romeo was struck dumb for a moment, she stood, walking over to the dark brown haired pilot/explosives expert, Mickey Crespo, as he snickered a bit at the marksman's misfortune. She would watch from here.

"It has access to the Covenant battle-net?" the Sergeant Major asked Dare.

A nod. "Limited, but yes. We're not entirely sure how it manages a remote connection to the w-"

Mid-sentence, Johnson threw a lighter to the Huragok. Weapons were raised in alarm by all of the ODSTs but Dare, armed.

Zero took a moment to look at Rose. Despite her near-fatal injury, she seemed to be recovering incredibly fast, for a human. These Interferences never ceased to surprise him. When Johnson threw the lighter, Zero's forearm immediately reonfigured into the Z-Buster, the laser cannon pointed at the Sergeant Major. Not looking away from Johnson, Zero's other arm shot out to catch the lighter, but was surprised when one of the Engineer's tentacles slapped his hand out of the way.

Startled out of her conversation by the multitude of weapons drawn, Cetea was instantly worried that Vergil would be harmed. "Do not shoot!" She shouted, raising her arms in what she soon realized was a vain attempt to shield Vergil.

Rose just watched the proceedings from a distance. She would have done something about it herself, but that would have put her at risk for another shortness of breath attack, which she obviously wanted to avoid. As such, she just kept her distance, letting everything play out.

Luckily, Vergil's tentacle caught it in mid-air, and it wasn't active besides. Buck was audible from around a corner nearby. "Whoa, whoa! Stand down! Stand down!"

Azumi released the tension on her handgun, glaring at the Sergeant Major. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Dare was more cautious and openly subordinate in this case. "Sergeant Major, please! It's extremely flammable!"

The sergeant major walked right up to Vergil, beginning to speak to him, and him only.

Dare walked around, nervous about the interrogator for now, but over to Azumi, motioning for her to step away from the rest. As the ODST Interference did so. "Pulled strings in ONI," she said. "The T'Zumo's in, and I saw you're doing pretty well at command." As Azumi opened her mouth, she shook her head to the younger woman. "No, didn't fix one thing, though. You're not on official rosters. You were on the Spirit of Fire, you say?" A nod. "Well.... it sounds from your service number like you're legally dead."

Azumi rolled her eyes. "I'm getting that everywhere. It's a pain in the a**."

"I think it's best for everyone that we keep it that way. Easier to sneak you in and out, sergeant."

Azumi finally spoke. "Sergeant? I'm getting promoted?"

"Pretty good for a dead woman, don't you think?" she asked back. "Not doing the whole ceremony because of the technicality."

"What's the catch?" she retorted.

"Smart, too. Just want to see to it that we can get information on this whole 'Interference' thing. Heard a few stopped in earlier in the invasion of Earth. One said his name was Greg Zivaku too. Maybe the same guy."

"... We'll see." And she looked back to the interrogation.

"The Brutes. The ba*****s who put bombs on your buddies and killed millions of my people..." Johnson sat down on a nearby crate, grunting. "...they're digging a mighty big hole." He put a cigar in his mouth. "You're gonna tell me exactly what they're looking for. And then, you're gonna help me stop 'em."

The lighter ignited, and Vergil lit the cigar, which began to heat and smoke.

Johnson smiled. This was gonna be a nice little arrangement.

With that, Vergil clicked it off, as Greg walked over to his former subordinate officer, who was walking away from Dare, leading him away from the majority, but not saying that any of the others could not join them. She just wanted things away from the Corps for a bit, but she would tell the rest of the others about her new position, and Cetea about hers. The Interferences deserved to know before they went back out into the hell that sometimes was the rest of the multiverses. But she knew as well as anyone how she would go out there.

Feet first.