OBT Forum

Chapter 3: Rise of HYDRA

Within the last hour the Master Chief had been made aware of an assassination attempt against Director Nick Fury. Volunteering his Pelican as transport for a security team the Chief now flew over Washington DC with two F22 aircraft escorting. "Sierra 117 to escort I see the crash-site" he said circling over the chaos below the chief saw several wrecked Police Cruisers and the Director's ruined SUV "we're going in." He said

"Good hunting Chief" the pilots said tipping their wings as they engaged their afterburners taking them out over the city. The Chief rolled and dove the Pelican down towards the street landing within ten feet of the Director's upturned vehicle. Opening the rear hatch the Chief allowed the recovery team to leave the Pelican then followed them out of the craft.

"Spread out, find as much evidence as you can" the Chief said approaching the Director's ruined vehicle he could see more than a hundred bullet holes torn into the craft. Looking around the craft the Chief guessed that explosives had been used to flip the vehicle over onto its roof while it appeared the Director himself had escaped by cutting a hole in the roof.

The techs moved quickly around the area while the Chief stood guard near the Pelican. Several more Police Cruisers were approaching their position. The Chief took several steps forward and pulled his Battle Rifle from its place on the back of his armour if these police officers were hostile they were about to regret ever coming here. The three cars stopped short of approaching completely instead their drivers climbed out maintaining their distance taking cover behind the cars. "I'm Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117, I'm with SHIELD, and we are no threat." He said keeping the Battle Rifle low. The troopers trained their weapons on the Chief for several more seconds but none of them fired instead they lowered their weapons taking several steps backwards. "That's right we're all friendly." He said stepping back towards the Pelican suddenly the Chief turned back towards members of the strike team he'd came with all with their weapons trained on him. "Cortana did we miss something?"

"Their communications are encrypted"

"Drop you weapon Chief" one of them said nervously "we don't want to harm you."

"What is going on" the Master Chief demanded looking from one weapon to the next suddenly a shot rang off his shield. "That was a mistake" the Chief said his motions were a blur as he ran at the troopers. Bullets impacted against his shields depleting them quickly but the Chief was too fast for that to be a concern instead of using his guns he kicked and punched his opponents shattering bones as he ran at them. Within a few moments the six man team was laying on the ground withering in pain while the tech team looked stunned. The Chief kicked the strike teams weapons away from them and turned towards the bemused looking police officers. "These men are under arrest." The Chief said addressing them "I am needed at the Triskelion." He said running into the Pelican rapidly lifting off. "Cortana can you raise the Operations Room?"

"Negative Chief" she said "wait I've got something on the low band" she said putting on the communication broadcast as they approached the Triskelion.

"…If you launch those Helicarriers today HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way." Steve Rodgers said "unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot but the price of freedom is high, it always has been and it's a price I'm willing to pay. If I'm the only one so be it but I'm willing to be I'm not." He said finishing the broadcast.

"HYDRA?" The Chief wondered knowing he'd heard of them somewhere before.

"A research and development branch of the Nazi's during World War II, they were thought destroyed" she said outside the Triskelion the hanger doors which hid the Helicarrier construction bay were opening the pools of water outside draining into the bay below "three distinct reactors powering up."

"Take control over the Pelican" the Chief ordered inserting her chip into the control panel. His original idea was to fly the Pelican straight into the Helicarrier but if there were three of them such a charge would be futile. "I need to get to the command centre. Get me close then take the ship out of the combat zone." He said moving into the back area of the dropship. From the weapon rack there he grabbed his Battle Rifle and a pair of sub-machine guns before heading to the back of the ship opening the hatch. Cortana moved the dropship past the building as she did the Chief began to run jumping off the edge of the loading ramp he began to fall like a stone but the thruster pack installed by Tony Stark in this new uniform lived up to its name. At just the right moment the Chief triggered the pack which catapulted his MJOLNIR suit through the building windows and into one of the offices.

Stepping up to the office door the Chief heard several snaps of weapons fire in the corridor and saw several downed agents. Checking his motion tracker the Chief saw three targets moving down the hall towards the downed agents he waited motionless for several moments allowing the attackers to approach before acting. Leaping out the open door the Chief kicked the first man almost straight through the wall catching the attackers by surprise. The elite members of the STRIKE team were not shocked for long moments later bullets ricocheted against his armour's shields. Turning quickly the Chief blasted one and then the other with his SMGs killing both instantly. "Cortana STRIKE ALPHA is hostile don't acknowledge any communications from them." He reported it seemed both his and Captain America's teams had been compromised by HYDRA which couldn't be good news.

"Chief the Helicarriers are continuing to rise they seem to be a lot more heavily armed than standard." Cortana warned

"We'll be out of here before that's a problem" he promised charging quickly down the corridor towards the main operations centre, there was no-one on the doors which was against standard operating procedure, stepping cautiously into the room the Chief found a scene of chaos with multiple SHIELD Agents and Ops Centre Operatives nursing wounds as he entered several weapons turned on him. "Friendly to SHIELD" he said calmly not raising his paired SMGs a blonde haired agent approached him "what the hell is going on?" He demanded looking at her there was something about her which suggested she was in charge.

"HYDRA was hiding under SHIELD's noses all these years they've launched the Helicarriers and plan to use them to kill millions" she explained rapidly "Captain America and a few others are trying to stop them. The STRIKE team tried to take over the Ops Centre but we drove them off."

"You have wounded, we need to get out of here, follow me" he said turning to leave the Agent didn't argue instead she and sixteen other survivors followed him back into the corridor. Not content to follow him the blonde haired agent kept pace with his MJOLNIR suit he noticed her forearm was badly cut with blood seeping through a dressing.

"CHIEF!" Cortana shouted a warning gaining his attention "the Helicarriers have opened fire… on each other!" She warned.

"Come and get us on level twelve auxiliary landing pad four!" He said remembering the layout from his last visit. "Agents we need to move" he ordered quickening his pace outside the windows they could see the three Helicarriers opening fire on each other with every weapon they had.

"Chief that pad won't take the Pelican's weight for long"

"It won't have to" the Chief promised slamming a control panel extending the landing pad moments later the Pelican appeared in site. Above the building one of the Helicarriers was already falling from the sky while the other two were taking heavy damage. "Get on board now!" He shouted the agents quickly filed inside as one of the Helicarriers dived out of control towards the Triskelion. "Cortana punch it! Get us out of here" the Chief called out jumping onto the Pelican slapping the rear door closer the AI brought the Pelican rapidly away from the Triskelion just as the Helicarrier slammed into the building causing massive destruction. The Chief made his way through the Pelican to the cockpit "take us to Andrews Field" he said he knew the base was controlled by the United States Armed Forces and hoped that the madness that was consuming SHIELD would not affect them.

Approaching Andrews Field the Pelican's sensors registered a missile lock on them from the field "This is Sierra 117 to Andrews Field, I have agents in need of medical assistance, we mean no hostile intent permission to hand." He said turning the dropship over the landing field after several minutes a response came.

"Sierra 117 you are clear to land on the south landing strip. Medical Teams will be dispatched do not leave your ship until they arrive." The controller warned the Chief nodded diving the dropship down towards the landing strip bringing the craft into a soft landing. After several moments several trucks full of troops approached them, two helicopters took to the air, while an Iron Man suit approached. Looking at the suit the Master Chief knew that it wasn't Tony Stark from the outline of the suit moments later it flew straight over the top of the DropShip.

"The War Machine" Cortana said naming the variant of the suit. "This doesn't look good."

"Agreed" he said rising from the chair "close the cockpit behind me if things go wrong launch the Pelican and take these people somewhere safe." The Chief stepped out of the cockpit and stepped into the rear hold the blonde haired agent immediately rose to speak to him.

"Where are we?" She asked looking at the gold faceplate of the armour.

"Andrews Field" the Chief said reaching up onto a shelf pulling down a large chaingun. "If things go wrong Cortana will take you somewhere safe." He promised her walking towards the exit lowering the rear hatch and walking down onto the tarmac.

Behind the Pelican the War Machine stood its arms raised and its own over shoulder chaingun aimed at the Master Chief.

Chapter 5: Cortana

Master Chief meets the Avengers – Cortana

As parties went this one would have been rated as one of the biggest, and most exclusive, in New York City tonight all of the Avengers and those that had supported them were present enjoying their victory against the last remains of HYDRA. The Master Chief stood off at the side it felt strange being out of his MJOLNIR armour in the public eye and away from a weapon but according to almost everyone he knew that was here every person in this building could be trusted to keep the secrets that each of them held. For the Chief he stood apart from the others 'behaviour in a social setting' had never been high on the SPARTAN training program list in-fact it hadn't been on it at all. The original SPARTANs were built for the battlefield not parties. He wondered what Cortana would think about all of this he knew she was in the building's computer system and could project her hologram anywhere she wished but that was just one more thing that could be talked about.

"Well well soldier why are you standing all alone without a date?" A familiar voice asked the Chief quickly suppressed a smile as he thought that Cortana had been reading his mind then he remembered he wasn't wearing his armour and her data chip was nowhere near him. "Can't even look at me well this is depressing…" she said this time the Chief turned and for the first time that he could remember the Chief felt faint for standing right in front of him apparently in the flesh was a life sized human Cortana. "Oh I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" She asked playfully stepping closer he could smell her perfume.

"How?" He struggled out still looking at her

"Well you see when we agreed that I could do more good in this tower with Stark and Banner than with you in the field?" She said stepping one more step closer reaching out with her hand touching his shirt with her hand "I've waited so long to do that…" she whispered feeling his heart beat.

"Cortana, please explain some of this… what is happening here?" He struggled out

"Well John" she said taking his hand drawing him towards the dance floor "Stark and Banner have a friend named Dr Helen Cho she's a brilliant scientist who has created a synthetic flesh and body for me." She explained as they began to slowly dance the Chief marvelled at how she felt against him but was being ultra careful around her ensuring he didn't accident hurt the human form moving close to him.

"So you're human just like that?" He said almost to himself

"Not quite human and it's not permanent" she answered "I can transfer to this body for a short period each day otherwise my program needs to be held in stasis" she explained "but they are working on a solution."

"To rampancy" he said leaving out his last thought 'good luck'

"I know this isn't perfect but it's a start and this lets me live for a little" she said quietly as they moved to the music "I can't make memories the same way as before with this body. It's restricted to making memories in this body. I won't remember them when I return to the mainframe."

"So you won't remember tonight?" He asked as she spun away from him holding his hand lightly as she spun gentle and then returned to him the light reflecting off her blue dress and dark hair as she moved suddenly her back connecting with his chest for a moment before she turned again to dance with her.

"Oh I'll remember, John, I'll just have to wait until I'm in this form again." She said as they continued to dance as the party continued the two of them had eyes only for each other. After years fighting and working together it was strange to now be in actual contact Cortana knew more about the Master Chief, John, than anyone but now it seemed they were learning more about each other in one night than ever.

The night carried on for several more hours until most of the guests had left leaving the team of Avengers and those that were closest to them sat around a single table in the middle of the room. "It's a trick" Hawkeye said looking at Thor they were seated on opposite sides of the table Hawkeye sitting close to Maria Hill one time member of SHIELD and now one of Stark's main assistants.

"No, No, it's more than that" Thor said chinking a glass bottle with Captain America. To the side of the Asgardian Prince the Master Chief relaxed on a chair with Cortana sitting on his lap leaning over his chest her body felt good against his and though smaller than his augmented SPARTAN frame she seemed well proportioned. He'd decided as the night progressed that dancing was like combat no plan ever survived contact with the enemy but he was sure that no bones had been broken accidentally.

As the Chief thought about Cortana Hawkeye continued in a deep voice "For he is worthy should have the power!" And then in a more normal voice "whatever man it's a trick"

"Please be my guest" Thor confident that Hawkeye could not raise the hammer. The Chief looked at Thor carefully now dressed like any human male he looked perfectly normal, larger than the average man well toned muscles but perfectly normal, and he wondered 'do I look like that? Just bigger than normal'

"You okay?" Cortana whispered to him obviously seeing him look at Thor the Chief just nodded as Hawkeye jumped to his feet.

"Really?" Hawkeye surprised that Thor would allow it.

"You've had a tough, week we won't hold it against you if you can't get it up" Stark teased Hawkeye had only recently recovered from a serious injury taken when fighting HYDRA and Dr Cho had helped him like she had helped Cortana.

"I've seen this before" Hawkeye said knowingly to Thor as if there was a special way to pick it up he grabbed the hammer and tried to pick it up off the table "how do you do it?" He demanded then saw Tony Stark looking his way.

"Stare of silent judgement" Stark admitted

"Please! Stark by all means" Hawkeye said making way for the billionaire who had financed this whole building around them and no doubt put the tools in Dr Cho's hands for her to save Hawkeye and create this new form for Cortana. 'Another thing I owe' the Chief thought silently for all the attempts he had made to try and keep separate things continued to be intertwined with the people of Earth.

"Never want to shrink from an honest challenge" Stark admitted rising from seat opening jacket. "It's physics" he stated "if I lift it I rule Asgard?"

"Yes of course" Thor joked

Stark moved to the hammer and mumbled something before trying to lift the hammer, before failing to "be right back." He said returning a moment later with one of his hands encased in Iron Man armour. Even with the enhanced strength he failed to move the hammer calling in Rhodes for assistance with his own War Machine gauntlet. The two men tried and failed to lift it the Chief became aware of Cortana looking at him.

"What?" He whispered

"I don't suppose your armour is stashed away anywhere?" She asked the Chief became aware of the others looking at him as well.

"Back at the base under lock and key" he promised her.

"Well com'on, Chief, feel free to give it a go" Maria Hill challenged the Chief who glanced around the group, then at Thor and finally the hammer. The Chief was almost certain he could make a better attempt at moving it than the others even with his MJOLNIR suit the enhancements his muscles and bones had gone through gave him an advantage the others did not have.

"It wouldn't really be fair" the Chief decided deflecting the challenge "I am not from this Earth, or this time, and Cortana is so comfortable." He noted not rising from his chair bringing laughter from around the room.

"We noticed" Dr Helen Cho teased seeing Cortana make herself even more comfortable on his lap. In the corner of his eyes he saw Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanov looking uncomfortable with the conversation and then Banner rising to his feet taking up the challenge. With a single roar he tried and instantly gave up on picking up the hammer raising his hands above his head pretending to be the Hulk more for laughs than anything around the group the other Avengers didn't look too impressed, they'd all seen Banner's other side in action.

Captain America rose to his feet and grabbed hold of the hammer trying to move it while Thor continued to drink confidently with Stark egging on the Captain. For a moment the hammer moved but then the he gave up returning to his seat. A relieved Thor watched as Steve Rodgers gave up and returned to his chair.

"Widow?" Banner asked Natasha Romanov who sat on the chair beside him. The red haired woman laughed off the suggestion she was interested in the contest and laid back in her chair.

"Honestly it is actually a trick" Stark said looking at Thor

"Bet your ass" Hawkeye agreed patting the other man on the shoulder.

"Steve he said a bad word" Hill teased looking at Steve Rodgers who had recently commented about the Avengers communications during battle.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" Rodgers asked Stark who shrugged his shoulders before turning back towards Thor again.

"They are technically correct it is a trick it's a very sophisticated security lock" Cortana said speaking up for the first time she'd looked into each of the Avengers in turn over the time she and John had been on Earth but Thor was a special case she knew all about the legends, at least they were legends where she and the Chief were from. "It's locked to your DNA" she said looking at Thor "for he who has the finger prints of Thor, son of Odin, Prince of Asgard should wield Mjolnir. The same approach was taken by those that developed the Chief's armour only a warrior augmented like a SPARTAN can wear it safely hence the name MJOLNIR." She said glancing at Stark realizing she had just cut him off from sounding smart.

"Yes that is a very interesting theory young lady" Thor said tipping his head to Cortana she liked the sound of that even if she wasn't a real human "I have a simpler one" he said flipping up the hammer simply into his hands "you're all not worthy." He said laughing as the others shouted their disagreements.

"No but then how could you be worthy you're all killers" a voice said off the side followed by groaning suddenly a figure appeared climbing the stairs. The others recognized it as one of the Iron Legion robots that assisted the Avengers.

"Stark" Steve Rodgers called out for him to shut down the malfunctioning robot. As Stark fiddled with a control panel trying to shut down the robot it continued to close on them shambling closer like a factious zombie from movies. As it closed Cortana rose from the chair as did the Master Chief sensing a fight.

"Sorry I was asleep… I was a dream… there was a terrible noise… and I was tangled in strings… had to kill the other guy… he was a good guy" the figure said as it moved closer to them they could see it was one of the broken robots from the fight with HYDRA.

"Killed someone?" Steve Rodgers said challenging the robot's words

"Wouldn't have been my first call but down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices"

"Who sent you" Thor demanded his hammer still in his hands flexing his muscles. But the robot did not speak instead it played a recording of Tony Stark's voice "I see a suit of armour around the world…"

"Ultron?" Banner said looking at Stark surprised Cortana closed her eyes thinking she had sensed that Banner and Stark were hiding things from her recently but she had thought it was Helen Cho's work on the body she now inhabited had they been studying her AI matrix to make this creature?

"In the flesh, or not yet not this Christmas, but soon after I deal with my mission." He said as several others moved slowly to grab concealed or makeshift weapons.

"What mission?" Natasha Romanov questioned

"Peace in our time" Ultron said finally as several robots burst through the wall behind it attacking the Avengers group. In an instant the Master Chief reacted in two ways the first was to push Cortana out the way the second was to draw the Sangheili energy sword hilt from the small of his back hidden under the shirt the whole night. When Cortana had realized he was carrying it she had teased him about being in a perfectly safe place but now he had the last laugh activating the blade with one swing he cut one of the enemies in half and turned towards another. Maria Hill, Natasha Romanov and Rhodes had sourced hidden handguns and were firing at the enemy. Thor was smashing opponents with his hammer and Rodgers had grabbed his shield while Stark and Hawkeye were using makeshift weapons. Banner, Cho and Cortana were doing their best to stay out of the fight of the Avengers Banner was the best one to stay out of a fight given that Hulk would be as much a danger to them as they were their opponents.

Several repulsor blasts flew past the Chief he felt the heat pass him and missed his armour as he marched up to one of the final robots and cut it in half with the blade. Thor finished off the final figure with a throw of his hammer smashing it into the wall. Even as the robot continued to make a noise the Chief heard a scream from Dr Helen Cho turning he saw Cho and Romanov were knelt over Cortana's fallen form. Stepping forward he extinguished the blade and knelt down beside her "I'm not used to having to duck myself, you made it look so easy in the past, John."

"I had a lot of practice"

"You need to transfer to the mainframe if you die in this body then I can't bring you back." Helen Cho warned as Cortana's body began to fail

"I will miss tonight" she said quietly her eyes closing.

"Cortana!" the Chief snapped it took a few moments but Cortana's hologram appeared at the far end of the room. The Chief rose from the now offline body avatar of Cortana and he moved across the room as the others filed out giving them a little privacy.

"What happened here?" She asked seeing the sword blade hilt in his hands and the destruction all around "I'm guessing tonight did not go to plan?"

"Not quite" he admitted

"its okay, John, Dr Cho will solve this little problem" Cortana promised him "assuming you want her to?" He nodded now barely able to look at the Hologram without thinking about the fallen body behind him. "I need to go away a while. She said I need to be shutdown until they find a solution to this…" she said Rampancy was taking over her program more every minute she needed to end this while she was in control "the others they will need you. I'll miss you Chief." She said reaching out to him but unable to touch him before disappearing leaving him alone once more.

Chapter 7: Rebirth and Change

"What's going on down there Sam?" The control room called to Falcon who was on patrol around the Avengers facility. In his room the Chief glanced over at the radio and listened in.

"I had a sensor trip, but I'm not seeing anything" Falcon replied the Master Chief took a step towards his MJOLNIR suit "wait a second" the Falcon reported "I've located the breach bringing him in" "breach is an adult male who has some sort of shrinking tech…"

"Sierra 117 to Falcon do you need assistance."

"Negative, enjoy your day off" Sam Wilson replied he sounded out of breath but the man knew how to handle himself in a fight "aren't you supposed to be in the research wing?" He asked the Master Chief wasn't interested in the little project that Vision and Scarlett Witch had come up with. "Go on now I'm going to sort out this little tick-tack." He promised the Chief nodded and decided to to leave him to it heading through the facility towards the research wing.

He entered the lab to find Vision and Scarlett Witch with Dr Helen Cho looking at a new Cradle inside there was a figure. "Master Chief welcome" Vision said nodding slightly as he entered the others turned facing him.

"John, this is incredible" Helen Cho said welcoming him he looked at her strangely "they have taken my research and the work that Ultron did with Vision to an entirely new level." She said excited looking at Vision.

"We have simply created a sustainable body for your AI companion." Vision explained the Chief was glad to hear they had not abandoned hope of creating a body for Cortana but had not expected something so soon especially with the recent ban on research into artificial intelligences.

"Sustainable?" He asked carefully glancing between them.

"A body like Visions but lacking in the powers of the mind stone" Scarlett Witch said opening the cradle revealing a twenty something looking woman wearing a skin tight blue jumpsuit. Unlike the previous avatar of Cortana this one had short hair like her original holographic image. "It will be faster, stronger; it will be more durable and retain the ability to hold Cortana's intelligence."

"But…" The Chief added knowing there would be one coming along.

"But it will be her only host, there will be no room for back-ups, it will retain all of her essence in one form. So you need to be sure it is this or her AI remains in its present state until someone can figure out a way to bring her back online."

"I believe that she would prefer to live one life" the Chief said after a moment's thought he had protected her for years and would continue to whatever for she was in. With his words they began the transfer process and slowly the new host came to life opening her blue eyes "Cortana?" He said stepping forward to face her.

"I am UNSC Smart AI CTN 0452-9" she said raising her arms looking at her new arms "this body is not regulation UNSC property." She said she sounded like a new born AI completely devoid of the personality that the Master Chief had known.

"Give her time, this is a lot for the host body to assimilate, John" Dr Helen Cho suggested

"John?" Cortana asked looking at him up and down "Spartan 117, what is our assignment here?"

"To keep the peace and protect those that need it." The Chief replied "and if we are able to find a way back to the UNSC."

"I understand" she said she said looking around the room and then at their three companions finishing looking at Vision and the mind stone imbedded in his forehead.

"Perhaps you could show her around our facility; it will perhaps help with the change." Vision suggested the Master Chief nodded and indicated towards the door. Cortana's new host body took her first step out of the cradle and then her next slowly becoming used to walking around. As they moved around the facility the Master Chief explained what each section of the base was used for while Cortana appeared to be taking everything in.

They reached one of the external doors and found Sam "Falcon" Wilson and a couple of maintenance techs inspecting some damage that had been done to one of the cargo bay doors during the intrusion. "You could handle this tick-tack?" the Chief said smirking looking at the damage as they walked passed.

"You had to be there Chief" Falcon said defensively watching the Chief and Cortana continue their tour "just don't tell the Capt, when he gets back all of this will be good as new." He promised

Heading through the facility they finally reached the bay that the Master Chief's Pelican was stored in. "Standard D77H-TCI Pelican Dropship Tail number 437 assigned to Forward Unto Dawn commanded by Commander Miranda Keyes daughter of Captain Jacob Keyes both are listed as KIA." She said walking around the ship feeling the nicks in the armour "you used this to escape the wreck of the Forward Unto Dawn and come to Earth."

"We did use this ship" the Chief said remaining at a distance.

"I don't know if I'm the same…" she whispered looking at the Pelican once more "I'm like this ship it was built with hundreds of others to serve a purpose but now each of them is different. The Cortana I was before is not the same as the Cortana I am now, we are the same but we have seen things differently." She tried to explain "do you understand Chief?" She asked looking over at the Spartan.

"You're still the same Cortana to me" he said ignoring her claims that she was different. "This way" he said leading her away from the battered Dropship through the cooridor into his workshop/room the walls held various pieces of equipment that he'd taken from the Forward Unto Dawn's armory and put into the Pelican before entering cryosleep shortly after the destruction of the Halo ring at the Arc. It seemed like a lifetime ago but in the middle of the room was the main attraction to any visitor the Chief's MJOLNIR suits. The closest one to the door was the newest variant of the suit with Tony Stark's modifications while behind it was his original older suit which had been battered over the sustained fighting against the Covenant, Sentinels and Flood. Cortana walked straight up to the old piece of armour and reached out to touch the cold green coloured metal.

"I waited so long to do that." She whispered looking right up at the suit's golden visor seeing her reflection. The Chief remembered when Dr Cho's original host body had touched his chest and felt his heart beat she looked over at him and their eyes met and an unspoken message was passed between them he knew she was remembering more all the time and soon she would be the Cortana he knew once more despite her claims.

"Master Chief to the Common Room, Master Chief to the Common Room." An announcement came over the intercom system interrupting their moment. The Chief silently indicated for her to come with him, he didn't want to leave her out of his sight for a moment. They headed up onto the higher levels of the facility and saw an angry looking Steve Rodgers standing waiting for them immediately the Chief's guard was up.

"What the hell is this?" He demanded looking at the Chief and at Cortana.

"This is Cortana" the Chief said giving Captain America a moment to assimilate the information

"You just had to rope Vision and Wanda into this didn't you?" He said angrily "so not only you are breaking the law into AI research but so are they!" He snapped

"They didn't research anything, they only created a body for Cortana…"

"Developing a body for an AI does actually break the law you know?" Rodgers said wearily "the Avengers are supposed to uphold the peace, how can I go out there and say we are better than anyone else when we break the laws we agreed to protect?" He asked as co-leader of the Avengers it often came down to Rodgers to come up with responses for anything the Avengers did, how he'd explain this one he didn't know.

"Afternoon everyone how are we on this beautiful day?" Tony Stark asked breaking the tension as he entered the room and threw his business suit jacket onto a nearby chair "talking about beautiful hello" he said moving over to Cortana "they have you walking and talking I see good work too."

"Tony you know about this?" Rodgers asked wearily realizing that the man the world knew as Iron Man was also in on this little scheme to see a rebirth of the Master Chief's AI sidekick.

"This little argument you are having?" Stark asked looking around before heading over to the kitchen to pour what smelled like over brewed coffee into a large mug with Iron Man pictures on it "that not a clue." He said "that beautiful creation there and I don't mean just the body your brain is absolutely gorgeous" he said looking at Cortana "almost wish I had designed it myself." He admitted before looking at Rodgers "well yeah I might have known about it. I might have also poured some money and resources into it, like the building of this base, the Iron Legion, the Quinjets, the equipment inside all of that, the food, water, power etc etc."

"TONY!" Rodgers snapped

"WHAT!" The man replied snapping back taking a drink from his steaming mug "this guy helped us in New York, he has helped us around the world against HYDRA and against Ultron and we can't pay him back a little?" He said looking at the Chief.

"Developing AI technology is banned you of all people should know that."

"I do know that" Stark said finally "but I also know that this AI wasn't developed by anyone here all we did was release it from the cage that we created for it."

"We need to shut it down" Rodgers said looking at the Chief "until we can understand its abilities."

"Not going to happen!" the Chief said stepping in front of Cortana ready for a fist fight if needs be he would pit his 26th Century enhancements over Rodgers 19th Century science. "We volunteered to help you in New York and we have helped you since because we wanted to not because there was any requirement of it." He said stepping up to Captain America he was taller than the man but the Master Chief knew it would be a tough fight if things broke out here. "I do not need to be here… WE can leave at anytime." He said emphasising the point that he and Cortana would be together if they stayed or left.

"No-one is saying that" Stark said quickly before looking at an irritated Rodgers "well no-one but doom and gloom there is saying that. You know for a poster boy you can be quite grumpy I'm sure your winning personality didn't do anything for the troops." He said trying to annoy the Captain by teasing him about the original job the US Army thought he was good for as a recruiter and morale booster. Stark moved around a nearby sofa and flopped down on the comfortable chair.

"Tony, you're not helping here…" Rodgers said looking at him then back at the Chief just as Natasha Romanov appeared at the door.

"Steve! We have a lead on Rumlow" she said looking right at him and then to the two others "did I interrupt something?"

"We're not done" Rodgers said pointing at the Chief's chest "we'll pick this up later, Wanda you're with me. Nat, get Sam ready we're leaving as soon as possible." He said looking at Tony Stark who remained on the sofa drinking coffee.

"Don't look at me" he said looking at the Captain "I'm due to give a talk at MIT in an hour and a half, you can go avenge something I'll be around." He said refusing to move. The Captain turned towards the exit leaving the room with Wanda close behind.

"Well I should be going to" Stark said rising from the sofa to look at the Master Chief and Cortana "Capt will come round trust me he just needs a little time." He said leaving the room with Vision leaving Cortana and the Chief alone.

"Chief…" Cortana began just as another tech entered.

"Where is the Captain?" He asked looking at the Chief recognizing him.

"He is preparing to mobilize against Rumlow." The Chief answered naming the former SHIELD operative that had avoided capture and prosecution for months. The Master Chief noticed the tech was wavering for a moment "what is it?"

"Sir, it's been reported that all communication with Mombasa in Kenya has been lost and there is strange energy readings coming from the city." The tech reported

"Mombasa" the Chief repeated looking at Cortana they knew the city in the future. "I will investigate if you can give me a support squad?" He asked looking at the tech.

"We will need a support squad" Cortana corrected him "we're in this together."

"I will need to clear it with Agent Hill"

"Do it quickly I'll prepare the Pelican" the Chief said moving to the exit with Cortana leaving the bewildered tech behind, the Chief would prove their worth to Captain America and the others.