The Shadow Over Costa Del Sol (Open)

[Demetri Malius]

Demetri’s thoughts came back to his current situation. He needed to infiltrate this base in order to find out more information on the machines that Nealaphh was searching for. He still needed to find a way inside, he had a few idea, but he couldn’t be sure. One mistake could mean a bounty, or worse, death. He began to explain himself to the robot.


“I wish to attempt to infiltrate the fort that lies not too far from this vicinity. It is protected by a large sandstone wall, and is heavily guarded by a number of patrols. The wall is too high to climb alone without being caught.And the only area short of patrols are the towers at each corner." Demetri covered his mouth as he thought about a way in.


IRIS then floated out of the alley to see the base for itself. It paused and scanned from afar, then stayed in place for a while. Right as Demetri was about to poke it again to make sure it hadn't died or something, the robot turned to him and spoke. "Okay so... don’t poke me again. So from what I can tell, you can't reach the towers from the base, you are going to have to climb one of these buildings and jump to one of the towers from there. It would help if you had something like a rope though, or you may fall to your death..." The bot explained the option as it waved its arms around.


Demetri thought about it for a moment before reaching his arms out, summoning his chain kunai. "Perhaps like these?" The chains hung off his arms swinging in the breeze as they jingled.




"Perfect! Now for you to get up there and make a life or death jump!" The bot exclaimed as it floated up to scale the building next to them. Demetri took a deep breath before whipping his chain kunai at the a small decorative windowsill and tugging at the chain lightly to secure it. He pulled himself up and then began to swing side to side to give himself momentum before reaching his chain out for another windowsill. He would then swing upwards and retract his other chain, keeping his momentum as he repeated this process, moving up the building in a diagonal manner. As he pulled himself up, IRIS was waiting for him. "Ooh, that was tough, I was steaming as I watched you climb all the way up." The bot gave off some whirrs again. That was definitely laughter. IRIS then moved over to the edge of the building, which led to another before the base. Demetri jumped across and followed the bot to the edge, keeping low to avoid detection.


"Are you sure this is going to work?" Demetri questioned the robot.


"Of course, you have like a 34% chance of making it to the tower unseen and unscathed. Good odds." Demetri face turned to one of doubt.[/b] "Don't worry creator, you'll be fine, just relax its, its not like your life depends... oh wait is does. Well just don't miss, I'll be right behind you!"[/b] The bot joked once more as Demetri grimaced and rose from his position. He then backed up and took one last deep breath. "Okay go!" The bot shouted, cheering him on.


Demetri sprinted forward, timing each step with perfect precision as he approached the edge. He locked his eyes on the tower, aiming towards the stone roof. The edge rushed to him and he took one last step before leaping forward, his surroundings seeming to freeze as he floated in mid-air. Two stormtroopers stood in the tower, conversing with each other. Demetri quickly whipped his kunai forward, latching around the stone and watching as the kunai secured itself around the chain. Less than a second later, the two guards noticed him, one of them beginning to shout "What the hell is that? Get down!" Demetri aimed his landing and kicked one of the guards down as he landed in the tower, knocking him out as he rolled to a standing position. By the time Demetri turned around, the other stormtrooper already had his sights on him. "STOP RIGHT THERE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP."


For a moment Demetri thought his plan had failed already, until he saw a familiar blue light come up behind the grunt. IRIS extended its arms and grabbed a hold of the guards helmet. "I like your head armor, so I’ll be taking it."[b] The guard wrestled away as the robot tore off its helmet. [b]"Thank you very much." The robot mocked the trooper.


"Why you little bot..." As the grunt raised his rifle, a chain came from behind him, circling his neck as he was distracted by the machine. His eyes bulged out from their sockets as the rifle fell to the floor and he was pulled backwards towards Demetri. His body fell to the floor and his eyes fluttered as he fell unconscious. "Nice work creator, for a second I was sure that you were going to die. Good thing you have me here, an expert at infiltration." The bot spoke playfully while it giggled and shook. "I'm keeping this guy's helmet. You go ahead and take the suit of the other guy you hit."


The bot began to try to fit its body into the stormtrooper helmet, struggling to fit the armor over its round figure until there was a sudden pop, locking it into place. Demetri stripped the guard of his armor and began dressing himself as well. It was surprisingly lightweight in his opinion, but felt sturdy. He looked up to see ISIS, who looked comical to say the least, as a floating helmet. "Okay creator, I can keep track of all the radio signals with their communicator, ooh, and the visor comes with its own HUD! Although, it does overlap with my preprogrammed HUD. Oh well, onward! This way!" The floating helmet hovered down a hall, with Demetri following close behind. As the began to round the corner, Demetri felt a presence. He quickly grabbed the robot and hid a bit away from the corner of the hallway.


"HEY I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO-" The robot began to scold him again for touching it.


"SHH." Demetri hushed the robot as footsteps echoed through the hall. Two guards were walking down, talking about something.They were quite vulgar.


"Oh man, these fucking primes are really starting trouble."


"Tell me about it, have you heard of the guy that moves shit with his mind?"


"Yeah, supposedly he's like a shadow, and he can block bullets and shit too."


"Shit man. If we were to go up against a fucker like that, we would have no chance."


"Fuck that, I would be outta there, we don't get paid enough for that shit..."


The two guards passed by the hall as Demetri and IRIS stared in their direction, holding their breath and voice communicators as the two were oblivious to their presence. Demetri gave a sigh of relief as the continued down the hall. "I'm certain that I shall be the one to lead us now, IRIS." The stormtrooper helmet nodded and they continued down the hall. It was quite the ways down but they were nearing the control room. Then another few presences. Two more guards. They would have to sneak past their room. Demetri motioned for IRIS to stick behind him. He focused on the presence of the guards, getting a mental image of their positions facing the door. It reeked of alcohol, and he could hear the guards joking around. He would just need them to look away for a second. He waited in anticipation. They would glance back a few times, but he needed something longer than that. Then he sensed his chance. "Now." Demetri whispered to IRIS. They two guards were laughing at a joke, too occupied to notice as they slipped passed them. One had his helmet off and was drinking a beer.


"That was funny as hell, man."


"Thanks," the helmetless one chuckled. "I've been saving that one for the perfect time." Suddenly he saw something in the corner of his eye. Was that a floating helmet?


"Hey Jim what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."


"Oh, uh, nothing man. I think I'm going to take it easy on the drinks though, feeling a bit tipsy."


The other trooper bellowed "Whatever man, such a lightweight."


Demetri and IRIS continued until they finally reached a surveillance room. There was a single guard inside sleeping. Demetri silently crept up behind him and pulled his chair out into the hallway. "Now that we are clear, we must check the logged transfers to see if they have the machine that Nealaphh is searching for. Check documentation and everything else as well, maybe we can see if someone higher up knows anything."


"Alrighty then, creator!" The two then frantically searched the databases on the computers, IRIS was uploading everything into its mainframe, and Demetri was focusing on any relevant information. Although he had never seen any computers or equipment like this before. The layout of everything was rather simple, and he had no trouble clicking buttons to look through each file, though it would take him a few seconds to glance over them. As for IRIS, every file that it uploaded ended with the machine emitting a ding noise upon completion. At the rate that IRIS was uploading files, it was ringing at a constant. Demetri was having trouble concentrating.


"IRIS, CAN YOU PLEASE STOP THAT WRETCHED-" Demetri whispered harshly at his companion before stopping. "Wait, I believe I discovered something. It states some information about a UNSC Pelican Pilot. Joseph Gustav. He may know the whereabouts of our machine. He was last seen in the Nexus, heading to a place called the Ashen Steppes..."


IRIS glanced towards him. "The Ashen Steppes? I hear it's really hot there. I don't want my processes to overheat."


Demetri allowed IRIS to download the file as the began to walk back out. "I'm certain you will be functional." They retraced their steps back from which they came, avoiding more guards. They eventually found themselves back to where they started. The two guards were still out cold. Demetri quickly stripped off his armor, as walking with it at night was sure to attract too much attention, especially since he was about to rappel down the tower. IRIS began to try taking off the helmet that it put on, but it seemed locked into place. "Um.... I think I'll keep this on for a while."


Demetri gave the machine a questioning look. "Do you wish for me to assist you in removing the helmet?"


The helmet shook side to side as IRIS spoke. "Oh, nonono, I'm fine, perfectly fine, just want to wear it is all, a little keepsake." Demetri gave the bit a questioning look before taking off in a run. He leaped once more before hooking his chain to the building they had been on before and seung low to the ground before breaking off into a roll. IRIS followed right behind him. "Well, I guess it's off to the Ashen Steppes we go..." The robot seemed to sigh as they headed off towards the Nexus