[RP Log] Librarian

[one_one_se7en]

Characters: OPN!Master Chief | John (one_one_se7en), AU!Cortana (lightandreason), Guardian Mist (datastreams), OPN!Mizuno Ami | Mercury (waterfell).
Where: Requiem, Librarian's chamber, UNSC Infinity.
When: Some time after Mercury's arrival.
Summary: After Mercury's arrival, the UNSC Infinity is now under the objective to flee from the gravity well. However, the wife of the Didact awaits with a gift, and a warning: He is leaving Requiem.
Warnings: Violence, Blood. PG-13.

The Grunts and Jackals panicked after their leader's head disappeared. They let out screams in their alien language as they tried to reorganize, telling the stupid jackals to pick their beam rifles to aim before they were torn apart by a 14.5x114mm round. The Promethean Knights, guiders of their faith, are the ones that attempt to teleport around to try to spot the assailants -- before being shot and dissolving in a mist of light.

None of the group present knows what to do, or where to hide, as another round outright destroys another body.


"Hit."

Over a mile away, comfortably tucked above a plateau, there is a seven feet tall Spartan laying prone beside his companion, staring at the position below with a pair of binoculars. In spite of carrying another sniper rifle beside the one wielded by the tiny blue girl, he is instead calmly observing and guiding her along, more like a father bringing out his daughter to hunt ducks.

"Focus your breath. Take notice of gravity and wind. Soften your pulse."

Comments

[one_one_se7en]

The beam absorbs them.

Then, as the light dims, Mercury and John begin to see the same visage. Something that didn't feel too different from the dreams they would share. The lines of his HUD turn absent in this visage, and yet he raises his weapon when he sees something coming from the light.

Familiar.

His weapon lowers. As the figure lowers... she turns familiar.

"I am a personality imprint. All that remains, of the Forerunner once known... as 'The Librarian'."

John blinks from behind his visor as the tall Forerunner takes shape, much different from the Didact. Whereas the warrior-god was a grotesque figure with only hatred and domination in his mind, encased in dark armor with orange linings, this one...

Was different. Almost human. Gentle, solemn, and mournful, but kind.

She levitated, wearing a softer version of Forerunner armor, unlike the Didact whose cumbersome armor was meant to destroy. The similarities to all women John had known in his life become strikingly familiar, as if she had been an old person he had seen in his birth. For a split second, he could see Parisa, Halsey, Cortana, Ami, and even his first mother in her.

The Forerunner illusion looks down to him -- more like a mother watching over a child that had grown after years in absence.

"I have waited for you for a long time, Reclaimer. All plans that had been set in motion for this very moment... Have all come to pass."

At first, the Forerunner watches John. Then, her sight turns to the girl, puzzled. Curious. A new creature within her watch.

"But you, you are familiar... and yet so different. Like everything humans had, and could become if humans inherit the Mantle to shelter all living things."

She is fascinated. She accompanied this Reclaimer, had much more advanced technology... and yet it is reminiscent of everything she sought to protect, and accomplish, for humanity.

"Who are you?"

[waterfell]

The words, the benign presence, it all calls up something in the very back of Mercury’s mind. She has a sense of something like a half-remembered dream. She almost knows what it is, almost remembers the form of a queen stored in the computer systems as a safeguard against what, none of them knew until those final moments…

A queen she’s turned against. One who betrayed her loyalty, and so forfeited it. The similarities between the two personages make Mercury guarded, where the same warmth makes John welcomed. She shifts her posture, and her weapon is still at hand, though she makes no threat with it yet.

No threat, but she does not bow even to this Forerunner; she stands tall and proud at her full height. She presents her sword formally, “The soldier of Water and Intellect,” she announces herself to the Librarian, “Mercury.”

This does not go unsupported by Mist, a perfect miniature duplicate of her mistress as she hovers in the air and announces her further titles. “She is the soldier of the Water Planet,” Mist affirms, “but furthermore, she is the royal heiress to the Mercury Kingdom.”

In a world where humans still thrived on Earth, Mercury, too, must be known. Right now, in battle dress with her royal sigil hidden beneath the gem of the soldier’s tiara, the styled princess looks more ready than regal; but there is a certain innate poise that gives credence to the titles.

[one_one_se7en]

The Forerunner entity looks at the new A.I. in awe, clearly speaking through the mind of the Reclaimer. This ancilla, Mist, was of a familiar weave, but different in its execution. More woven into the fabric of reality itself.

And this visitor. From the ancilla's memories, he understood what she meant. The goddess Mercury, of the human Parthenon after the sacrifice of their race.

"It's amazing." The Librarian whispers. "You are not from our universe. You are something else completely different from this world... and you came through their engines. For the Reclaimer."

The Spartan turns to the Librarian.

"This... was beyond our wildest dreams, for the thousands of generations of planning for the ascent of humanity. Beyond what the seeds we implanted in mankind would achieve." She turns to John, for a moment envying human ability to smile freely as she caressed the human's armor. "Your mutations... your combat skin... even your ancilla, Cortana. While different, there is so much in common between the two of you, like the branches of a flower giving way to different flora."

Then, her expression almost returns to sadness.

"You two... could restore humanity, and let it ascend, to what it was before my husband, the Didact, wrathfully committed against mankind."

[waterfell]

"I'm not here to help humans ascend," the Senshi tells the Librarian plainly, naming them as though she sees herself as separate from them. Perhaps once, long ago, she had believed all that rhetoric about supporting humanity's growth and guiding their evolution and development, bringing them to what they should be. It had ended in suspicion, mistrust, and war. It had ended by the very hand of the one who was supposed to be destined to protect it. Ideals do poorly in that type of soil. So now, if she is offering aid at all, it's for the sake of the man standing beside her. And it's a very different, harder, type of help. "We're in the middle of a battle."

It would still be easy to lose herself in investigating all the implications of this parallel evolution, and for a moment, she has a keen understanding of the Librarian's interest. It softens her only enough to relax her posture. She almost, almost thinks of suggesting that she might return, for both of them to discuss this, to share their worlds with each other, to have the deep, unfathomable pleasure of conversation with someone who understands that same drive and impulse, to breathe in the possibilities of what might be...

She shuts her mind to that. If it happens, it will be later; here and now, she is still not entirely at her ease. "You led us here for a reason," the senshi prompts the Librarian. "What do you want?"

[one_one_se7en]

The Librarian's expression slowly drops, as she closes her eyes. So like what the Didact was before his descent into madness, before he turned into the monster even the rest of the Forerunner condemned.

She is helping the Reclaimer. If not to help humans ascend, to protect him, and let him achieve that.

"The Didact is leaving Requiem. He is on his way to reactivate his ship, the Mantle's Approach. Neither of you must allow it."

The Spartan raises his head. Leaving? Forerunner were paranoid enough not to leave tools... but this world was different from any of the rings. There was a reason these warriors -these Promethean Knights- were not present, either.

"He seeks an artifact the Forerunner hid from his reach, the Composer." From behind them, a representation of the mechanism appears. A behemoth almost the size of the UNSC Infinity. It makes John wonder how big would have Forerunner ships really been. "It was an artifact first meant to erase the line between digital and biological entities. It was meant to make us immortal, immune to the Flood..."

The expression of the woman turns regretful.

"But its results soured. Personalities were fragmented, even the ancillas were vulnerable to the corruption of the disease. When we tried to return the minds to their original forms... All it did was create abominations."

John stepped back. The environment began to change. Little by little... he saw visions -- not so much being set loose into his mind, but unlocked. Of an empire the humans ruled that defied even the might of the Forerunner, of the Flood, of their defeat and the last war of the Forerunners.

And of the Didact's desperation, and revenge.

"And yet, in the Didact's madness... he sought it. Against his own children... and my own..."

The Librarian's expression almost cracks. John comes to not remember, but feel her grief when another visage arrives.

Of the Composer firing. Of the men, women, and children consumed.

[waterfell]

This is not the time for pity, but the sight cannot fail to unnerve even Mercury. It shows in the tension of her shoulders, the way her hand grips itself tighter. She may have refused to be their benefactress, but the humans in this simulation are no enemy of hers; she finds she dislikes the sudden, abrupt, wanton destruction unleashed among them.

She is not so silent as the man beside her, not so accepting. She listens as sharply as she speaks, and she already imagines this artifact in other hands.

"The Composer should also be destroyed," she says simply. Her advice would be different if this world were her own, and if she could have the opportunity to examine and study it herself. But if that cannot happen, she has no intention of seeing it with someone else.

Of course, this sends them precisely where the Librarian wants them to go anyway. "Tell us where this ship is located, and about its defenses."

[one_one_se7en]

The Prometheans. They're human.

The realization strikes John. It was not the Elite Guard of the Didact. They were victims of the Composer and trapped in those bodies. Enslaved. Corrupted.

If he is not stopped, more would follow. More slaves.

Did the Didact not realize his own hypocrisy? That he was unleashing the same horror as the Flood?

"The Didact is resting beyond your ship's reach. It is trying to connect with the rest of Requiem to awaken his vessel. If that happens..."

[magistermilitum]

Even in death, she continues to meddle.

[one_one_se7en]

"He has found us."

"Reclaimer, World-Crosser. Among the gifts I left for mankind during indexation, one of them was an immunity to the Composer. It should protect you, but..." The Librarian turns to Mercury, looking sad. "You do not have the genesong I placed in mankind. What I can offer at best is a small imitation of the process, but without my life and study, I cannot know what will happen."

John's visor bolts to the Librarian as he speaks it, then to Mercury. Almost begging her to accept. Whatever was about to happen... anything for her safety would be necessary.

"It is your choice, World-Crosser.

[1/2]

[datastreams]

Mist speaks up first, quick to protect her mistress in any way.

"Give me access to the relevant information," she tells the Librarian. She should be able to find some reasonable algorithm to develop a simulation for predicting whether this is a fool's errand, or worth the attempt.

While she waits, she already begins calling up every bit of physical data on Mercury's body. In its current state, it's always been somewhat unpredictable; but she allows for that, too.

[2/2]

[waterfell]

Mercury knows, by instinct before thought catches up, that Kunzite would be furious and forbid it. He does not risk her lightly; and he expects her to be equally careful.

It's an argument they've had too many times for it to make her choice now. She waits for the results of Mist's calculations, but her mind is largely made up. The calculated risk, she thinks, falls on the side of acceptance.

[one_one_se7en]

The Librarian's geas begins to transmit. Much in the way the Forerunner engine of the UNSC Infinity showed a mastery of slipspace yet untouched, the information is filled with genetic engineering and precision not known anywhere else.

In spite of John's mutated physiology caused by his years in supernatural environments, and the telepathic pan-dimensional dreams and thoughts that would follow him even in this world... it's almost like the missing pieces of a puzzle, with parts that were meant to appear someday in humanity. Like the bits of a long key on a lock meant to open in time.

For someone of Mercury's body, it's like a key working on a lock that is already opened. Powers already reached and used, in many ways similar to what the Librarian had planned.

But there were the smallest parts not present in the senshi's body, either.

Either it would grant her an immunity to the composer... or it would do nothing at all.

[magistermilitum]

Reliquish your contact, essence!

[one_one_se7en]

"We don't have much time."

In his mind, John has already accepted. Whatever the Composer was, whatever this being had planned with humanity, he needed it.

Humanity would be in danger again, once again by fanatic enemies. He would have to be stronger to stop them.

[waterfell]

There are those in Mercury's world who consider the body of no particular importance at all: easily changed, easily restored, easily broken, easily revived - if you are the bearer of a true star seed, a sailor senshi. She is not entirely afraid of the physical changes the Composer could bring if this fails.

The Didact only spurs her to reach the same conclusion more quickly. She agrees. And in some part of her, she agrees joyously, eager to learn what comes next, what revelations this might bring.

[one_one_se7en]

The Librarian's figure begins to fade as the systems of the Didact attempt to fight her off. When both the newcomer and the Reclaimer, she closes her eyes.

With her intervention finished in their quest, now it would be their turn to stop her husband.

"Prepare."


Their bodies go through a transformation. Still levitating above the beam, the light brightens as changes are brought in -- some unlocked from the human's own body, waiting thousands of years to be unlocked by either generations or the actions of the Librarian; in the world-crosser's case, improved, given to her as a blessing from the guardian of mankind.

The beam dims. Both Spartan and senshi are left on the ground. It feels like ending a meditative trance and seeing the whole of reality in a new light,

This gift is your birthright, Reclaimer. It will lead humanity to its new mantle.

[lightandreason]

"You three, over here!"

Rounds of hard light began to fly over their heads. Crawlers, Knights, and Watchers assaulted the area searching for the meddlers, while on top of a platform Cortana called over for them.

The Spartan nods Mercury forward.

"What... just happened? I was told by that thing, the Librarian, what was happening, but you..."

[waterfell]

A trance, or like waking up after anesthesia: that slight disorientation, the moment it takes to realize where she is now and what she's been doing, the feeling of not just being conscious again, but more conscious somehow.

She nods quickly as she comes back to herself, and moves at John's signal. Mist comes forward, and she takes her double in her hands.

"It's alright," she says, but she offers no specifics. How to put that encounter with the Librarian into words? After a moment, she adds brief words to suggest the finding of an ally: "We aren't the only ones who want to take him out."

[one_one_se7en]

More like the rest of the Forerunner.

John slides Cortana's chip back into his helmet, once again having two A.I. in synchrony before rising to fire -- and plowing his way forward the moment they act in synchrony.

"Find us a way out of here."

They had to tell the Infinity what happened out there. The Master Chief couldn't bring himself to think about all of these Prometheans, as victims of the Composer, much in the way of the Flood, just do his job. If the Librarian--

[lightandreason]

"What I want to know is what she did to John! His readings are all over the place! He's even more changed than what the multiverse did to him!"

The request for a nav point goes ignored as her desire to protect John takes over -- not of the Infinity, not of Mercury or Mist, but the terror of the augmentations happening all over again. That this entity could have endangered him, even if it was John's will.

She was meant to protect him. She promised long ago she wouldn't let anything like that happen again.

[datastreams]

Mist quickly provides the nav point, judging this to be the more urgent task before attempting to bring Cortana back to some measure of rationality. She calculates the better path for both speed and the likelihood of less resistance. John is right, after all: they can’t afford to waste any time now.

She melds with his suit’s systems easily and begins exploring the possibilities of the changes for herself, checking his body's readings. She has more direct access to them than to Mercury’s at the moment, though she notes subtle changes to Mercury’s energy signature as well - nothing alarming, she is pleased to realize.

[waterfell]

"It was his choice, and mine," comes Mercury's verdict, firmly, directed at Cortana. "For the time being, she's given us an advantage." She says for the time being, because she leaves open the possibility that the Librarian will not always be an ally.

She runs alongside John, perhaps a little slower but with some effort, she keeps up well enough. Her breath comes more quickly, but she’s in no danger of losing it. She has no other choice, letting him set their pace.

[one_one_se7en]

"--We need it now."

He flings out a grenade before taking cover and bolting back after the explosion. The Spartan screeches to a stop in front of the gate for a lift, before he fires away at Mercury's enemies to cover her for the two of them to move up -- once again in a feeling of weightlessness before they reach a portal.

"Whatever the Didact has, we're going to need as much help as we can."

[lightandreason]

"That's what worries me. The 'For the Time Being'." By Mist and John's guidance, her rampancy is kept in check. She can still synchronize with the Spartan's movements in the fight, but the medical file is continuously reviewed as her own sensors still revise the body. It has changed too much.

She was supposed to protect him.


A bright light accompanies the Master Chief and Mercury when they venture out of the teleporter, seeing in the distance the colossal sections of the crumbling gravity well flying away from the blast of a MAC round, by the UNSC Infinity. Having finished a skirmish against Covenant armory, the men stand baffled to see both heroes having come out, quite literally, from thin air.

"--identities confirmed. It's the Master Chief and Mercury. Their readings just came back."

"This is Lasky. Send a Pelican over them. Chief, Mercury, think this might be a good time to ask what just happened."

[waterfell]

"This isn't the time for that," Mercury tells Cortana sharply. She knows Cortana's caution is right - of course she knows that. But right now, in the thick of battle and action, with no other choices, even Mercury doesn't have the luxury of overthinking her moves.

She glances at John as soon as the message comes from Lasky. She lets him decide how much - and what - to tell. It strikes her that the man beside her is a rarity: she normally wouldn't give that much consideration to another's preferences, doing whatever she felt best.