Menagerie's Falling Star

Part Thirteen: Drinks Between Worlds

Stepping out of the warehouse, Frost turned to Runt. "About the bar, I think there's one not too far from here when I was passing by. Give me a moment to find it." The ODST then started to go through his VISR. That's the neat thing about VISR, or Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance. Proprietary integrated data management incorporated into an ODST's helmet to get the lay of the land in a warzone. In Frost's case, the layout of a city.

Runt looked at him as he stood there, before the ODST randomly said. "This way."

"How could I trust that?" Runt asked.

"How could you not?" Frost started walking off. As Frost walked away, Runt decided on whether or not he could follow the man. After a moment of deliberation, Runt groaned and hopped up to a nearby wall. Activating the jump kit attached to his back to keep himself against the wall, Runt simply ran against it. It didn't take long for Runt to catch up to Frost.

   However, noticing that someone is running up to him from behind, the ODST turned around and was amazed by the wall running pilot. Echo jumped off the wall and slid the remaining distance between the two before coming to a stop in front of Frost. The ODST clapped as he walked backwards . "Wow," he said. "That's quite an impressive gadget you got there."

Dusting himself off, Runt replied. "Yep. Thank God a jump kit can get me around places much quicker. Especially when I'm in a city that has ample enough walls to be used as flanking routes."

"Huh...." The ODST thought, as he turned around to keep on walking. "Good to know.... Basically, y'all are kinda mobile infantry that have some sort of propulsion systems and y'all can control walking robots of death?"

"Add in our augmentations, that make us strong enough to claim a life in one punch or one kick, then you would've been spot on." Runt straightens up, following the ODST close behind as they take a right turn.

"Highly mobile Spartans, then." Frost remarked, before continuing with sarcasm. "Very wonderful."

"Spartans?" The Pilot tilted his head. "Like the ancient Greek warriors?"

Frost groaned. "Not those guys, and I don't wish that."

"Jeez, man." Echo looked around. "What's your deal?"

"Well, you see." Frost kept on walking. "Where I'm from, the United Nations Space Command- or the UNSC- is Mankind's operating military overseer as we faced off against a religiously genocidal alliance of various alien races that called themselves 'The Covenant'."

"Sounds awesome," Runt mocked a yawn. "Yet, I don't see where it connects to you having a stick up your ass."

"We're losing the war." Frost nonchalantly replied, like it's something so normal to say. "Billions are dead, planets gone, and the Covenant kept on wiping us all out. Planet by planet. Day by day."

"Oh..." Runt trailed off. "I see...."

"So, we started getting desperate."

"How desperate?" Runt asked.

"To tie in the earlier subject we got desperate to the point of kidnapping and replacing children with clones of themselves to erase suspicion, and then put them in some labs to become genetically engineered freaks of nature."

The Pilot's eyes widened. "W-What?"

"Thus, the Spartans came about." Frost bitterly said. "We Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, or ODSTs, are Humanity's Best of the Best. We drop in when shit gets hot, and we make the Covenant bleed. Yet, these lab experiments are doing the job better. Way damn better, and I kinda hate it since they just get willy nilly augmented strength while we ODSTs get the job done with just plain, normal muscles."