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Heart Of Iron

Chapter 8: Confrontation

Part 1

The explanation was done by Callie, Six was not one for long winded speeches. Even then, what Callie knew was not allot, the spartan was not very forthcoming with his recent past, so she did not have much to go on. By the time it was all said and done, Felina found herself even more confused then before.

"So your saying, that you are from a different world, and possibly universe?" Felina deadpanned, turning to the spartan with appraising hazel eyes. The whole story sounded like a bad Sci-Fi flick. She had scene allot of those in her downtime.

"Correct." Six replied in a no-nonsense gruff tone. He had been standing stock still since Callie had called him off, and he went to parade rest. The huge black armored man had not even twitched or shuffled in place, a boulder would move before he did. Felina would kill to have his self-restraint, patience and discipline.

"Well then..." She muttered deep in thought, leaning back in the brown leather office chair, causing it to squeak, the noise loud in the quiet room. This was a interesting situation, obviously there had not been any like it before so she had no precedent to go off of. This was definitely not a normal predicament. She had no idea what to do about about it, she could try to bring him in for more questioning. But just a glance at his intimidating armored muscular figure and the nasty looking weapons he carried, was a most definite deterrent. If he did not want to go, she knew that no one could make him. Maybe she could convince her uncle to grant him asylum as some sort of alien refugee? It wasn't a very promising idea, but it was the best she had at the moment. She voiced it to the pair and awaited their response.

The spartan did not say anything, he just slowly rotated his helmet to Callie, letting her decide. "I don't know, I doubt Commander Feral would believe it." She muttered uncertainly, nervously rubbing her manicured paws together. Feral had always been stubborn, almost to the point of stupidity. But, when it came down to it, he was a honorable Kat. They would just have to hope for the best.

"I wouldn't worry too much Callie, this guy here could probably deal with any problem singlehandedly." Felina reassured, motioning to mute mountain of armor at the side of the room.

"Affirmative." Six grunted confidently before becoming silent once more. Clearly he believed he could take care of any problem that dared to stand up to him.

"If your sure about this." Callie said to Six, she was worried for him, she had grown quite attached to the spartan. He had, since she met him, watched over her without asking for anything in return, absolutely nothing. She felt the need to ask him why. But before she could, Felina's radio went off, halting her attempt to find an answer.

"Lieutenant Feral here." She spoke into the small rectangular black device fixated to her grey and blue uniformed chest.

"This is officer Tobias, we have a critical situation developing at the R&D facility outside Megakat City!" A worried male voice replied rapidly. The faint sound of shouting and a car engine could be heard in the background.

"Report!" Felina barked sharply. Something serious was going down now, and the sooner she knew about it the better.

"Its Dark Kat, he just attacked the research compound, he has hostages and some new minions we have never scene before. They are large and armed with weapons. We can't get close without a hail of bullets sending us running back to cover. Two officers are already down, we need backup!" The Kat shouted, before the sound of gunfire cut him off.

Felina bolted up from the chair she had commandeered and headed for the door, tail flying around erratically behind her. Her men needed her help.

Six took a split-second to think, the defenders of the city were in trouble, a spartans duty was to the people and his fellow soldiers. He supposed he could convince himself that the rule applied here, appeasing his need to assist. He moved to catch up to Felina, easily reaching her before she could turn the door handle in her paw. Callie had run over as well, and looked to Six for an explanation, as did Felina.

"Those officers need help." He answered their unspoken questions gruffly and to the point.

Felina was about to object but knew that she could not stop him even if she wanted to, and she didn't. He could very well be the best backup they could ask for, so she nodded, acquiescing to his short but persuasive argument. Callie on the other hand, was not so understanding.

"You can't go! What if you get hurt?" She knew on the inside that a man such as he would probably not, but she remained concerned anyways. He had become a precious wall of solidarity to her hectic and fearful life. She had been captured many times by the villains who picked at this city, and every she was rescued, she was always afraid that the next time, she might not be so lucky. But now that Six was there, and seemed to thoughtlessly take up the job as her protector, she had not been afraid, for the first time in years. She just knew that he would keep her safe, no matter what. "And if you do go, there would be no going back, everyone would know about you for sure." She attempted to sway him one last time, hoping that it would work.

That however, was a valid argument. Six would lose his biggest card here on this planet, his unknown variable. The spartan would become a known figure, no longer shrouded in secrecy. Sure people had seen him already, but this would go in whatever news stations that ran here. It was an easy sacrifice to make. He would throw away his armor before he let himself be too afraid to do the right thing. "My duty is to the people." Six replied to her firmly. He saw her (and he never would admit it, even to himself), adorable tawny triangular ears droop sadly, and her eyes become shiny.

It hit him like a sangheili hoof to the chest, the expression she had. "And to you." He spoke softly, placing a giant charcoal-black gauntlet on her shoulder, his helmet turning down to her. Six found himself tempted to take it off so she could see his eyes and the seriousness of his words. Still, it seemed that she understood all the same because her ears perked back up and she smiled up at him. He, with the hands that had killed countless insurrectionist and Covenant soldiers, gently squeezed. Letting her truly know the value of his words, then he turned back to the door, and the waiting Felina. "Let's go."

As they walked out, Callie called out, halting them. "I'm going too, I'm not letting you out of my sight yet!" She meowed, running up to the pair, posture confident.

"I don't think you should Callie, its going to be incredibly dangerous." Felina warned, she worried about her friend. The calico cat had zero to no experience in fighting. She could easily get herself killed.

"I'll look out for her." Six reassured the enforcer Kat. If she wanted to come, he wouldn't stop her. In fact he didn't even want to leave her alone. She was the only one here he knew, at least that's the reason he told himself.

Felina scrutinized Six, the spartan was unflinching under her gaze. She sighed in defeat, "fine, but if she gets hurt I'll have your head!"

"She won't get hurt as long as I watch over her." He said with absolute certainty, making Callie's muzzle light up into a broad and warm smile.

"Whatever soldier boy, let's go." Felina smirked, displaying a single fang at the corner of her muzzle, before turning to head to the elevator. She wouldn't admit it, but she was a little jealous of her friend, she wished she had a man that thought like that about her. She muttered to herself condescendingly, now was hardly the time to think like that. And Felina was sure that their closeness was strictly platonic in nature.

While the woman headed to the elevator, Six hung back, he had not forgotten his diminutive fuzzy friend. He checked the secured pouch and saw that it was sleeping, curled up into a ball amongst the refuse of dehydrated fruit rations. He sighed in relief, it wouldn't be a problem at the moment. As he was sealing the pouch he had a brilliant idea. Six walked over to the secretary at the desk outside the office. She looked nervous as the large spartan approached, but she put a brave face on and smiled as friendly as she could.

"What can I do for you...Six?" She asked, taking a moment to recall his odd name.

He checked back real quick to see that Callie and Felina had just reached the elevator, then he turned back to the female black Kat. "I was hoping you could hold on to something for me?"

"Sure thing!" She mrowled brightly from her seat behind the desk, she was defiantly a cheerful individual, well suited to the secretary position.

"Can you watch over my little friend while I'm gone?" He asked, taking the sleeping squirrel out of the pouch and placing its slumbering form on the desk carefully. The Kat looked at the little guy and practically melted.

"Oh my gosh! Its so cute!" She yelped quietly, not wanting to wake up the sleeping squirrel.

"He can be a pest at times." Six grumbled, remembering several past incidents that weren't far back enough.

"It would be a pleasure to look after such a cute little guy." The secretary said, scooping him up and holding him, rocking the squirrel back and forth.

"Thanks, I can't take him where I'm going." It was true, the last thing he wanted or needed was a pesky squirrel in the middle of a firefight. The results would be...disastrous. Six almost shuddered at the thought of he ramifications of such an event.

"Thank me, thank you! I've always wanted to hold a squirrel and now I can." The black Kat said happily.

"Either way thanks...Karen." Six said, looking at the bronze nameplate at the edge of the desk. "I appreciate it, more than you know." She really had helped him, he couldn't take the little beast everywhere.

She blushed a dark pink under her ebony fur at the comment. But before she could say anything back, the spartan was already walking away. She watched him go with a sigh, the man was very polite, and not too bad looking under the armor.

---

Six returned to the pair of female felines waiting at the elevator. Felina pressed the button with the downwards arrow key and backed up. She was startled when she saw that Six was heading for the stairwell, she was about to stop him when Callie put a paw on her shoulder. "Let him go, he has to take the stairs."

"Why?" Felina wondered.

"He told me that his weight would not allow him to ride inside one." Callie explained to her puzzled friend.

"How much does he weigh?"

"I don't know, but it must be allot, either way, he is not one to play jokes." Callie herself found it hard to believe as well, but she let it go.

"How will he get down there in time?" Felina asked, concerned that he would not arrive in time for them to leave.

"He is faster then you think." Callie said mysteriously, walking into the just opened elevator.

Felina followed her in and pressed the found floor button. The doors closed and the mechanisms began to draw it down to its destination. During the descent, Felina watched Callie carefully, something about her friend had changed, the calico Kat was more daring then she had ever been before. "What happened to you?" Felina finally asked as they reached the halfway point. "You aren't acting like the Kat I used to know."

Callie turned to her friend and answered. "I don't know, ever since Six entered my life, I have started to feel like I could do more, say more."

Felina nodded, the Callie she knew before would never have wanted to go to fight. This Six fellow had indeed changed her, for the better. Although she wished it wasn't at a time where she could get hurt. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open, the duo walked out, and Felina froze. Six was standing by the entrance waiting for them, plated arms crossed and held to his thick black chestplate. She looked to Callie who only had a smug grin. "Told you." She teased sticking out her slightly barbed, pink feline tongue, and walked over to the spartan.

Shaking her furred head ruefully, she stepped over to join them. Felina half expected some boastful remark or prideful announcement. Most men could not help but squawk their prowess to the world. Instead the spartan just silently opened the door and held it for the two woman. She was startled by the humble man and his courtesy and found herself blushing as she walked through the portal to the outside. "Thank you." She said meekly, not sure how else to handle the situation.

"Ma'am." He replied, closing it behind them. It was a respect thing for the spartan, she was of sufficient ranks to have earned it in his eyes. Most officers of the UNSC were brave and effective leaders. It was their tireless dedication and skill that kept humanity from extinction. It was safe to assume that officers in this world were equally respected and valuable, although. not to the same extent as UNSC ones. That is why he held the door for them, not to mention because it was the nice thing to do.

Once outside, the trio headed for one of those squad cars that Six saw the night he saved Callie from those muggers. As the women climbed in, He mulled back to that moment, now that he got to know Callie, he knew that he wouldn't have been so merciful if he met them at this point in time. Just the thought of those grubby bastards trying to waylay her filled him with potent rage.

"Let's go soldier boy!" Felina yowled from the driver's seat, clawed paws kneading the wheel impatiently. She wanted to get going as soon as possible, her men were in trouble.

Six turned to eye the motor vehicle with apprehension, would it hold his weight? "What are you waiting for?" Felina muttered. With that, he stomped over to the car, opened the rear door gently, and sat down as lightly as he could. The car groaned in complaint, the metal skirt almost reaching the asphalt as it sank low. Felina, muzzle dropped, "how much do you way big boy?"

"Allot." He grunted uncomfortably from the back seat, his posture stooped, the spartan being too tall to sit up straight. His helmet almost reached his abdomen as leaned forward.

"Comfortable?" Felina asked, the smallest trace of a grin on her nutty brown muzzle. To make matters worse, Callie was not nearly as subtle, snickering softly at the completely absurd and unseemly position of the now sullen spartan.

"Just drive." Six growled, not at all enjoying the confined space and barely suppressed sniggers coming from the front of the car. Whoever attacked this research facility would pay dearly for their transgressions.

Now openly laughing at the grumpy spartan, Felina turned the ignition, making the engine explode into sound. With the press of a leather booted hindpaw to the gas pedal, the car rocketed towards the facility outside town. A faint peel of feminine laughter and smoke trailing after the speeding vehicle.

---

An uncomfortable ten minute car ride later, they arrived at the outer layer of the massive complex. The R&D facility was one of most well guarded places in Megakat City. The many opaque blue windowed buildings were protected by a encompassing cement wall and the best security systems money could buy.

For the inside of these structures housed some of the most revolutionary tech and medical projects currently being worked on by the brightest feline minds of the century. It was the hope of the enforcers that the work going on in there would at the very least balance the playing field with the many villains who sought to take control of the city. Now it seemed that one of these villains wanted the treasure trove of technology that lay within for themselves.

As they pulled up to the gate, they saw a wrecked squad car, the vehicle wreathed in flames and pierced by a plentitude of holes. A long ways behind it were an additional three cars, although they were undamaged, and had half a dozen officers crouched behind them. Another two were leaned against the middle car, with a Kat attending to them. The party assumed that they were out of range of whatever defenders Dark Kat had placed. The situation looked a fair bit worse then they had thought.

Felina lithely jumped out of the car and ran to her men. Callie less gracefully followed after her, stumbling as she tried to replicate her athletic friend's agility, and grumbling when she failed utterly. Meanwhile, Six sat in the back of the car and tried to figure out how to get out of the it without annihilating it when he hit the maximum frustration he could take in one day. The spartan was very displeased at the moment.

Felina went to the senior officer on sight and demanded to know what was going on. The blue and grey armored Kat explained. "Ma'am, Dark Kat arrived an hour ago, we currently have no idea how he entered undetected. Whatever he did, the defenses shut down and his henchman rushed inside. The only warning we revived was a call from a scientist before he was nabbed. When we arrived on scene half an hour ago, the gates were bared and some of Dark Kat's lackeys had set up some sort of machine-gun nest. Car 40 attempted to get close, and you can see the result." He gestured to the totaled flaming vehicle at the front of the gates. "We managed to recover the two officers inside, they are still alive but are in a bad way. Since then we haven't made any more moves."

The officer sounded strained, she couldn't see his face with the enforcer helmet covering it, but it was obvious he was only a rookie, thrust into a position he had no idea how to handle, Felina felt sorry for him. Luckily she was here now and could take over. "Good job officer, I need you to tend to your men and see about calling in some heavier support." The truth of the matter was that they needed to get inside now, who knew what Dark Kat was doing with all that tech and information, but she was unwilling to sacrifice her men's lives. Not only that, but Felina was also concerned about this report of new minions, they had been lucky that the evil feline employed or created, or whatever he did, to get his creeplings. The little bastards were relatively easy to deal with in small numbers. She balked at the thought of new adversaries.

There was a loud groan of relieved metal as Six finally managed to escape the confines of his metal prison, the car returned to its original height. The sound attracted the attention of everyone in the immediately vicinity. The giant armored spartan stretched stiffly, revving up cramped muscles. At the sight of him the enforcers gapped collectively and watched in awe as the huge slab of ebony armored muscle thundered over, his plated boots emitting a loud resounding clangs as the titanium alloyed soles bit into the concrete at every step. He stopped beside Callie and Feline, going into a rest position, ignoring the awed gazes of the officers. They had never before seen such a terrifying man, robot, thing.

Feline filled him in on the situation, finishing by telling him they were going to wait for reinforcements. Six nodded his head. They had a plan, but the spartan was going to follow his own. It was fairly simple and easy to follow. Step 1: enter compound, step 2: kill everything standing in his way. There was no step 3.

Six unslung his MA37 assault rifle and racked the bolt, cycling the first lethal round into the chamber. After that he headed for the gate. Felina, who had turned away to continue to talk to her men, heard the spartan's boots as he walked away. "What are you doing?"'she demanded, the guy must be crazy! There was no way he could get through by himself, fancy armor or no.

"My job ma'am." He replied steadily, not stopping nor turning around.

Callie was about to run to him when Felina held her back, grabbing her arm. "Wait! You'll get yourself killed!" She scolded her friend. There was no way she would let her go out there.

"But he can't just do that." She mewled trying to escape Felina's iron hard grip, thinking that the spartan was surely plodding to his demise.

Six neared the gate and spied out a broken window on the fifth floor terrace of the building set in front of the entrance. His enhanced vision could easily pick out the huddled forms of two some what large brown figures. Whatever they were, they were not Kats. By the time Six actually reached the locked gate, the unknowns were grouped behind a large weapon that could only be a machine gun. The lead one aimed it at Six and flexed its hands.

As the deadly barrage of rounds flew towards him, the spartan simply twisted to the side and aimed his rifle almost dismissively, pulling the trigger. With a double bark, two 7.62x51mm FMJ armor-piercing rounds flew out of the barrel with a smokey belch and flash of light. The shots were perfect, both flew up to the gunners and drilled into their respective target's cranium. With a splash of oddly colored blood, they slumped lifeless in the nest. The attack had not touched Six in the slightest. He resumed his trek towards the gate and smashed it open with a boot. The lock shattered into metallic shrapnel and he stomped in, leaving the Kats outside to stare in amazement.

Felina stared at the spartan's retreating figure with awe. She had not seen such skill and efficiency in her life. Six was probably even more dangerous then she gave him credit for.

Callie was the only one who had not stared so openly, she knew he was a great warrior. Whatever world required such men as he must be a very harsh place. That got Callie thinking, what was he like before he was a soldier, and why did he choose to be one?

Felina looked to Callie. "I would tell you to stay behind, but I know you'll just come anyways." Callie grinned innocently, making her friend chuckle. "Just stay close to me and the others." With her instructions given, she turned to her men. "Well, it looks like we have are way in!" Felina barked to her men. She drew her handgun and went in the direction of the gate. "Let's move! We can't let him take all he glory!" The other officers shouldered their rifles and followed after their leader. After them came a nervous but determined calico cat.

---

Six walked into the compound, leaving the others behind. He was a lone wolf, the only team he would ever work with were left on the glassed of Reach. No one else had earned his commitment and loyalty, that is at least, until he met Callie. Something about her instilled in himself something that was not quite what he had with noble team, it was a different feeling, one he could not properly place as of yet.

As he thought about that, something kicked off in his mind, a sixth sense if you will, it made him jump to the side without warning. The spot he had just vacated was filled with a sea of lead, he continued his diving role until he reached a building opposite of were the attack came from. The spartan berated himself harshly, he needed to keep himself focused on his task. Mistakes were unacceptable.

Six peeked around the corner and got a good glance at his enemy for the first time. They were not anything he had seen before.

Manning a second weapons emplacement were five very dangerous and odd looking brown creatures. Smaller then a hunter, but larger then an elite, these things were wearing some form of metallic body armor that only covered what he supposed were their vital organs. Each creature looked as if it could throw him like one would a piece of trash.

Their faces were dominated by a saurian type muzzle, on which a pair of dark intelligent orbs resided. Their teeth were like daggers and the fiends boasted a obtuse muscular physique. They could tussle with a sangheili and come out on top. It was obvious to Six that he would have to respect these new foes, but he was confident. Sure they looked tough but the outcome would remain unchanged, Six never lost, and today would be no different.

He wall-crawled to the edge of the corner and readied his rifle. If he wanted to take out the enemy position he would need to be quick. Then he almost smacked his helmet, what a fool, he had the active-camo! Six pressed the small button in the oblong integrated wrist device, causing the spartan to disappear slowly, until all that could be seen was the wall he leaned upon. Satisfied that he would remain undetected, he walked out into the open, striding over to the nest of enemies with a grim purpose.

Now that he was closer, he could get a better picture of his new foes. Indeed, they appeared to be reptilian, having burnished bronze scales and long black claws. The claws looked sharp and deadly enough to actually damage his MJOLNIR. Close combat with these creatures would be inadvisable Six hypothesized. Without warning, the gunner lifted his scaled head and began to sniff the air, taking huge air guzzling breaths through his long saurian nose. After a moment his beady black eyes settled on the approximate location of the stealthed spartan.

It would seem that they could somehow sniff him out, that was not good. The beast snarled something unintelligible in a guttural tongue and swiveled the large weapon on the tripod to the cloaked spartan. The other reptilians pulled rifles from their concealed places under the makeshift barricade. The gunner roared an obvious challenge and depressed the black trigger of the beastly machine gun spraying a tsunami of heavy calibre rounds.

"Shit." Six groaned.