Disclaimer: I own no franchise mentioned in this work. Halo belongs to 343, Overwatch belongs to Blizzard.

I wrote this chapter in a single day, all 5k words of it. It was fun, though perhaps it should not have been after staying up so long. Sorry that it took a while to get out, been busy with life. Still rambling, though, no change there.

It was about half a second from the time that Beast had been hit to Yuna's realization that she was not going to survive this battle. Ejecting from the damaged mech next to the colossal omnic was certain suicide, as was staying in this fight without a shield. The decision ended up being made for her as the Gwishin hit Beast with a barrage of shots, causing a plethora of warnings to appear as shrapnel damaged multiple systems.

Even with her focus on the battle, Yuna was distinctly aware of how it became harder for her to breathe and how the seat under her seemed far more slick than usual. From prior experience, she knew that what had felt like punches to her body was actually shrapnel embedding itself in her organs.

Knowing that Beast had fought its last and that her wounds were most likely already fatal, Yuna attempted to eject from the mech before the omnic could destroy it entirely.

Nothing happened, however, leaving stuck inside as the machine approached the sea below.

Rather than panicking, the MEKA pilot began trying to stabilize her flight. Fortunately, Beast still had enough thrusters to at least slow its descent, if not stop it entirely. Once that was done and she could focus, Yuna opened her comms and stated, "Beast is hit, thrusters are out."

After taking a second to cough up some of the blood that was entering her lungs through one of her many injuries, she continued, "Everyone keep moving out. Fall back to the base, mission is a bust."

tried to argue with that course of action, but Yuna shut her down, "No. Fall back, that's an order, ." Looking down at her dashboard, picked up the photo of herself and Hana that she kept there as she finished, "Keep me with you."

Hana hesitated at that, but was finally convinced as Cortana continued counting down the seconds to whatever was coming. Yuna smiled softly as replied, "Always," before the comm connection cut off.

Tucking the picture into her MEKA pilot uniform, Yuna faced the quickly approaching water. She wouldn't deny the fear in her heart, but she was content in knowing that and the rest of the MEKA squad would be able to retreat from the battle. All Yuna could do now was hope for a quick death rather than a long, drawn out affair.

Hitting the surface of the sea was much too similar to crashing into a wall for 's liking. Yuna couldn't stop herself from screaming as the impact threw her forward, causing her wounds to flare up in pain. The addition of water flooding into Beast did not help the situation as the salt stung the open injuries on Yuna's body.

Any cries of pain that she might have made were quite literally drown out as 's head was submerged. Even knowing the inevitability of her demise, it was impossible for Yuna to resist the primal survival instinct that demanded her to try and find air to breathe.

Thrashing around in the rapidly filling cockpit, Yuna was able to bring her head up and take one last breath before the last vestiges of air escaped. While it may have pushed off the inevitable, it was not enough to allow her to try any escape as her body began to relax, her mind slipping towards darkness.

Nearly dead from the combination of injuries and asphyxiation, Yuna did not feel the sudden shift as her mech was lifted out of the sea. She was not awake to realize that she could breathe once again as the water drained out of the mech, to watch as the omnic that had terrorized herself, her teammates, and her entire country for years was reduced to nothing but a crater.

The first thing that registered as she unexpectedly returned to consciousness was the warmth on her face. This comfortable feeling quickly became somewhat unpleasant as the heat increased, causing Yuna to instinctually lean away from the source.

As her brain finally received enough oxygen to begin processing such things again, Yuna opened her eyes as she registered that she was still alive. What immediately caught her attention was the brilliant white light that was the source of the heat she had shied away from. As she looked around to try and figure out what the thing was, Yuna noted the lines cut into Beast's canopy, making it clear that someone was attempting to remove her from the mech.

Much as she might have wanted to be prepared in case her rescuers ended up to be captors, Yuna was prevented from moving as the pain of her injuries made itself known. Letting out a groan, she could do nothing but watch as the cutting tool finished its route around the canopy, though she was unable to see beyond due to the amount of light that the tool emitted. Without any connection to keep it in place, the window fell away, giving Yuna a view of those responsible.

Of all the things she expected to see staring back at her, an alien face covered in almost medieval armor was most certainly not among them. Yuna might have screamed had she the energy, but after her ordeal the only reaction she could give was a resigned stare as she waited for the thing to do what it would.

Rather than stabbing her with what was now clearly an energy sword of some kind or shouting some unintelligible gibberish, the creature simply stared back with an unreadable expression. Slightly intimidated by the gaze of what was clearly a hardened warrior, Yuna glanced away to look around at the area.

The being was standing in a fairly spacious cargo bay that had seats along the sides. Between herself and apparent safety was a sizable gap through which she could see the sea rushing by far below. By the way the surface was moving around, the airship was obviously making some fairly tight maneuvers, yet Yuna did not feel the usual forces associated with such actions.

At this point it was obvious that this was the unknown ship that had joined the fight against the Gwishin, though how or why it had saved her was still a mystery. A movement from the thing drew her attention as it listened to something that Yuna could not hear, something that she could determine only because it replied a second later in English, much to her surprise. Distracted as she had been, Yuna missed whatever the creature said, but most certainly noticed as it turned back to her.

Regardless of the fact that she didn't have anywhere to go, Yuna couldn't help but shy away from the creature as it reached towards her. Alien the face may have been, but the deep sadness in its expression was unmistakable as it backed off slightly.

A jolt caused Yuna to cry out in pain and the creature looked at something behind her. Whatever had caused the motion seemed to concern the alien as it focused on her once again.

Feeling faint from pain and exhaustion, offered no resistance as it reached into Beast and grabbed her. Fortunately, her injuries prevented Yuna from thinking about how easily the thing could crush her as it effortlessly lifted her with a single hand. The creature was surprisingly gentle for its size and appearance, though it was most certainly not timid. Yuna felt every jostle as she was extracted from her mech, though it seemed that the creature was trying its best to minimize the pain.

Once Yuna had cleared the gap between mech and aircraft, the alien quickly turned and laid her out on a soft surface, likely a medical cot of some kind. After taking several seconds to secure Yuna to the bed, the creature disappeared from her view. Staring up at the featureless ceiling of the craft, she listened to the muffled voices of discussion that came from the cockpit.

Several seconds later, a loud clank echoed from the other direction, followed shortly thereafter by the sound of twisting metal. Assuming that the sound was the final contribution of Beast to their fight, Yuna gave a silent goodbye to her mech, grateful that she at least had the chance to rebuild it now.

It was peaceful for a time after that, letting try and relax as her body complained incessantly, though she still took the chance to reach into her MEKA suit and take out the picture of herself and . This short respite was interrupted by a rumble from the aircraft's hull and the sound of metal hitting metal, quickly followed by the heavy footsteps of the creature. It glanced down and met her eyes for a moment before continuing out of sight once again.

What sounded like a very one-sided struggle echoed in the transport just before several gunshots from a MEKA-issued pistol. Yuna tried to get a view of what was going on, but all she managed to see was the silvery back of the alien being.

Apparently being shot did not improve the creature's mood as it swiped at something in front of it, sending an object bouncing off the wall to land next to Yuna. Taking her eyes off the spectacle at the end of the transport, noted that the weapon was unapologetically 's, pink color scheme and bunny included.

The presence of her teammate was confirmed as the creature carelessly dropped the smaller girl beside Yuna before clomping back to the front of the craft, obviously slightly miffed at being shot. In her addled state, Yuna couldn't help but find it amusing that the thing was only annoyed at bullets rather than actually injured by them, though she knew that concern at such durability was far more appropriate.

She didn't spend long thinking about the unknown being, however, as her attention turned to Hana. Several injuries were visible even with a simple glance, though their severity didn't seem to merit the way she had passed out after being dropped to the floor.

Yuna was distracted from for a second as the back hatch of the craft started closing, leaving them in nearly total darkness once it had shut completely. Since these aliens, or whatever they were, apparently possessed the ability to counteract the standard forces that affected aircraft, it was impossible for to determine where they were heading. Wherever it was, she could only hope that they had some serious medical facilities as the growing wetness beneath her made it abundantly clear that her injuries could still prove to be fatal.

Ignoring her deteriorating condition since there was nothing she could do about it, Yuna looked back to Hana. As she spent some more time examining the MEKA pilot, she noticed that 's arm was twisted oddly. Several spots of blood on her uniform indicated other wounds, but none that were obviously life-threatening.

was distracted from her observation by soft footsteps that were distinctly different from those of the alien being. Of course, the source of these could not be something normal as yet another armored figure came up beside her. Just as large as the creature, this being wore distinctly different armor and seemed far more human in its movements. As it came up next to her, Yuna could not help but stare at her reflection in the golden visor that covered its face.

Her only thought as she saw her sorry state was that she looked like crap.

The new figure focused on first, picking her up from the floor with deceptively gentle hands. Yuna idly noted that the control needed to restrain their considerable strength meant that these warriors had to be unbelievably accurate when it came to battle.

Dismissing that distraction, Yuna watched as Hana was set to the side so that their savior could pull another stretcher down from the top of the compartment. The figure gave her a passing glance as it moved her to the side to allow space for . Once that was done, the being quickly secured the pilot to the cot before setting her arm with precise motions, making it clear that this was not the first time the being had performed field aid.

With attended to for the moment at least, the figure turned towards Yuna and met her gaze. Opening her mouth with the intention of asking what would be done with herself and Hana, ended up coughing up a glob of blood.

Seeing the biomatter, the armored figure moved, disappearing from Yuna's sight way faster than it had any right to. She had barely even registered this before it reappeared, a medical kit of some kind in hand. It popped the capsule open and pulled out what Yuna assumed to be an anesthetic of some kind, at least going by how it quickly injected her with the substance.

Terrified as she may have been about what would happen to them, willpower was no match for chemical biology as Yuna rapidly slipped into darkness.

The moment that the Arbiter had stomped into the cockpit, Chief knew that he was not going to be pleased with the situation. While it was slightly amusing that a teenage girl had shot one of the most formidable warriors in the galaxy and survived, the synopsis of injuries that the Sangheili had reported was far more serious.

After handing off the controls to the Elite, John made his way to the blood tray to evaluate their options. As with the prisoners that they'd taken before, it would be preferable to save their supplies as much as possible. At the same time, these two had not been hostile to their presence, at least not until the one had charged at the Pelican at the end of the fight. Listening to the radio transmissions after Cortana broke the encryption helped cement them as neutrals, if perhaps not friendlies.

Considering that the collision hadn't really caused any significant damage to the UNSC craft, he was willing to forgive it as a case of mistaken identity rather than a blatantly hostile attack. It was entirely possible that it was simply protocol to prevent the capture of their squadmate as a prisoner, or that they had assumed hostile intent as he followed them after the destruction of the massive omnic. The reason that he had saved the first pilot was because it was a viable option for gathering information, while the second was so that they could understand whatever had prevented the Pelican's chain gun from turning the mech into shrapnel.

Entering into the troop bay, the first thing the Chief noted was the young girl splayed out on the floor. Sighing at the Arbiter's carelessness but also understanding why he was annoyed, the Spartan took a minute to arrange the girl on another medical cot. Seeing as most of the troops that had been on the Dawn did not make it back and neither himself nor the Arbiter could use the somewhat flimsy contraptions, he didn't feel too concerned with using a couple on potential friendlies considering the abnormally large number of them that they had compared to their other medical supplies.

Once that was done, he took a second to set the girl's broken arm. From a quick scan by MJOLNIR, Chief noted that it was a clean break about two-thirds down the humerus. There was some collateral damage from her movements after the injury occurred, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some time and attention. Since this was the one who had attacked them, Chief took one moment to ensure that she was immobilized on the cot before turning to the more seriously injured of the two.

It only took a glance for the Spartan to know that the mech pilot would succumb to her injuries without attention. As he debated between preserving medical supplies or using them on non-combat personnel, the girl looked up at him. After having served on the frontline for several decades, it was easy for the Master Chief to see the pain that she was in. The girl looked as if she was about to speak before a cough interrupted her, though what caught the Spartan's attention was the blood that covered her lips.

Knowing that internal bleeding was a slow way to go, especially with other injuries adding to the suffering, it was an easy decision to let her pass peacefully. Using a shot of anesthetic was hardly a problem since it was easy to replace and was not being used on a known hostile. Wasteful it may have been, but seeing someone so young pass away reminded him far too much of the Covenant War.

As the still unnamed girl slipped away, her body relaxed and went limp, allowing her arm to fall from its position on her chest. A piece of paper caught the Spartan's attention as it fell from her fingers and fluttered towards the floor of the blood tray.

With a quick snap of his arm, he snatched the item out of the air to examine it out of curiosity. Perhaps it was a mistake, a risk that Chief knew well after having seen many similar things during his time in the service, but he still felt obligated to show respect to her possessions.

Pictured were two young girls, obviously civilian by their attire and attitude. Glancing over at the other guest in the troop bay, Chief confirmed that it was the person in the photo. Looking back to the picture, the Spartan could not deny that they were human, regardless of whatever the situation was. Using a common Spartan trick for hiding such items, he slid the photo into the slight gap between the magazines for his MA5, wedging it there to keep it from moving. If the owner survived, it would be simple enough to return the possession or pass it on to her partner if she did not make it.

Working with the limited supplies available as well as keeping in mind their critical shortage of irreplaceable products, the Spartan aimed to do what little he could to help the girl.

As he worked, the Chief inquired, "Cortana, options?"

"So you do have a heart," the AI teased. John didn't have a chance to berate her as she quickly continued, "She has multiple internal injuries, as you've already noticed I'm sure, too many to treat without the use of biofoam. Best you can do with what's on hand is delay the inevitable, hopefully long enough for actual medical professionals to assist. As for options, there are only really two that are viable, at least in the sense that they don't end up with us needing to shoot our way out."

"The first, obviously, is that we use the medical facilities on the Foward Unto Dawn to save her. While almost certainly guaranteed to work physically, we'll be the only ones around to deal with mental issues as well, we will be using supplies that we can't exactly acquire on this planet, and most importantly, we would have two teenage girls wandering around the ship. Due to their knowledge of our capabilities as well as their exposure to your unique brand of stoicism, releasing them once they've recovered would be considered a security breach, though an admittedly minor one. Second choice, and the one I must admit I prefer for a multitude of reasons, is to take both of them back to Overwatch and have an actual doctor help them recover."

As the Spartan watched the girl's vitals stabilize on his HUD, he allowed himself a small smile at Cortana's humor. With the most dangerous time past and some supplies that wouldn't be sorely missed still left in the medikit, Chief humored his companion as he stated, "Inform the Arbiter. Why Overwatch again?"

"We do seem to be visiting them quite often," Cortana remarked. "They have good intentions, so it's easy to get them to help with various probably-not-legal missions. More notably, their enemies decided to make enemies of us, enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. As amusing as it would be to watch you deal with two kids who are intimately familiar with current popular culture, I think there are people more appreciative of their efforts in an illegal group of hero wannabes. Most importantly, though, they're the foremost experts of slipstream and artificial intelligence, or at least they were before the Fall. Having Ascending Light around to promise an easy ride home is great, but when talking about a Forerunner Monitor, I like to keep backup plans. Building a good relationship with them doesn't cost us anything critical, and while more capable organizations exist, they would almost certainly demand far more than even I would allow."

Chief let out a nearly silent snort at that, knowing that it was partly a jab at his strict adherence to UNSC protocol that was perhaps not written with their situation in mind. All of her points were valid nonetheless, as was the case with many of the arguments that she made. Just the idea of dealing with two young people unaffected by the death and destruction of the Covenant War seemed daunting, though certainly not impossible. Willing as the Chief was to adjust to a reality where extinction was not on the horizon, that change would come gradually, preferably once he was back in contact with the UNSC.

For the moment, however, he still had hostiles to deal with, an unfortunate fact of life that he was reminded of as he turned back to the smaller girl. Considering her stature as well as the wounds abe had obtained during the battle, he had to admit a begrudging respect for her determination to avoid capture. He would be sure to impress upon her the restraint that the Arbiter had shown by only slapping away her weapon rather than removing her head.

After consulting MJOLNIR's analysis of her condition, Chief determined that she would survive the trip to the Watchpoint. Even if her state wasn't exactly good, it was stable enough that the short ride wouldn't noticeably detract from her odds.

With both unwarranted guests now settled for the time being, the Spartan set about securing the area in case they somehow managed to get loose. The first order of business was securing their weapons, which was rather straightforward since they weren't exactly what he would consider heavily armed. A quick patdown and subsequent scan by Cortana confirmed this, with the only weapon being the one that had been fired at the Arbiter.

Picking up the weapon felt like holding a toy to the Chief, but his instinct for handling such tools told him that the abhorrently colored abomination was most certainly capable of killing someone. After dealing with Cortana's amusement at the idea of a Spartan going into battle armed with such a firearm, he messed with the weapon for a bit to figure out how it worked. Once he had a passable understanding of its simple operations such as reloading and disassembly, the Chief relieved its owner of any ammunition she was carrying and added it to his own. Seeing as no marine in the history of the UNSC would be caught dead wielding such a weapon without a very good reason as to why, there was no doubt in the Spartan's mind as to what to do with the gun.

Without a hint of hesitation, the socially inept walking tank attached the tiny pink pistol to his thigh, opposite of the much larger M5D service weapon that he usually used. Whenever the owner proved that she was not about to shoot him or his allies given the chance, it would be returned to her. Until then, it joined the multitude of other weapons that the Spartan carried around in his ongoing mission to become the world's first walking armory. Or at least that was how Cortan put it as she laughed at John's utterly predictable choice.

That humor quickly disappeared as the Master Chief made his way back to the front of the Pelican. The Arbiter turned slightly as the Spartan asked, "Status?"

"I am not unwell, Spartan. Their reactions brought memories of the Prophet's lies to my mind and I reacted poorly in turn. A period of rest to settle my thoughts would be appreciated," the Sangheili responded, obviously distracted by those same thoughts.

Cortan was the one to reply as she said, "Our next target for getting home will require some preparations, so that is no issue. Dealing with the two hitchhikers on the Dawn might give you something to do if you want."

"Trouble?" Chief questioned. He knew that the two were on board the warship, but knew that Cortana would have spoken if they caused problems.

"Nothing major," the AI reassured him. " One of them tried to cook BBQ on one of the stoves and ended up destroying it, but since you subsist off of MREs anyways, I didn't think it bore mention."

Neither of the two warriors knew what BBQ was nor the inherent issue of it being made on a stovetop, so the Sangheili took the opportunity to ask, "Why was the engagement earlier so badly coordinated?"

"Funny that you should ask," Cortana stated exuberantly, causing John to roll his eyes ever so slightly. "Don't give me that," the AI admonished him, though it was obviously in jest. "That entire fight was a bungled mess and you know it."

"Their communication was extremely poor," Thel commented. "They worked as two forces, sometimes so badly as to oppose each other."

"That is far more accurate than you know," Cortana responded. "It surprised me to the point that I looked up those aircraft on the local network and found absolutely no connection to Korean forces. A little bit of snooping around showed no mention of those ships as a state secret or hired muscle or anything close to something approaching legal."

Chief grunted as he slid into the copilot's seat in preparation for the flight ahead as Cortana continued, "What I did find in both searches, however, was a large number of references to the group known as Talon."

"Humans and their secretive sneaking around," the Arbiter grumbled.

"It does have its place, but in this case I do have to agree with you. Unfortunately for these boogeymen, they are not nearly as clever as they think they are. I wasn't able to get much, to their credit, but I was able to extrapolate that they have agents high up in the Korean military that misdirected orders so that they could send their own fighters to try and take us out. I found multiple instances of interference with senior government officials across the world as well as deliberate attempts to provoke war between factions. Their more lucrative systems were not immediately available for me to access, but this still puts them as our primary adversary if not an enemy of a peaceful humanity," the AI explained.

The first one to speak was Thel as he stated, "I will not apologize for defending myself from weapons fire."

"Of course not," Cortana scoffed. "Not only did you not know this at the time but the girl also shot you in the face with a pistol. We appreciate your restraint in not smashing her head in."

"She was scared, not hostile. I respect her attempt to die fighting and avoid capture," the Sangheili admitted. "I have spilled enough innocent blood, if an enemy wishes to throw themselves against my blade, then that is their decision."

Chief understood that sentiment, could sympathize with it even. Both the Sangheili and Human warrior had killed billions of the other, and reconciling that with the unexpected alliance on the Ark was one of the most difficult things the Spartan had ever done.

"Well, anyways, my point was that this was the second overtly hostile action that this Talon group has initiated against us. Expect them to keep appearing with their reach and the blows we've dealt to them. For now, let's focus on our approach to the Watchpoint," Cortana said.

Neither of the two had any issue with that as they let their attention drift towards more immediate problems. Their strength lay in shooting things until the mission was completed, not in confronting a crisis of identity as the world around them changed.

Could not resist shipping and , blame Blizzard. Two teammates who stay together through all the battles against the Gwishin, deal with each others insecurities and doubts? Irresistible.

Sorry to those who don't like the ship, but so be it. This is an almost incoherent mess anyways, but hope you enjoyed!

-evevee