Deal With The Devil

Date: Januray 14th 2552
Location: UNSC Army Base, Acton, California, Earth

Well isn't she a bottle of sunshine, thought Simmons. “That's nice,” he replied, “You here, Lucy?”

The holographic projector lit up and an image of a medieval lady bathed in green light appeared. “I'm right here, sir,” she said in a warm voice.

Maybe now I can get some answers, thought Simmons. “Why exactly did you ask me to come down and see little miss psycho here?” he asked.

“Actually sir, she's improved significantly,” Lucy answered, “When she first arrived here, she was yelling, screaming, and burning everything and everyone. The fact that she didn't burn you outright is a sure sign of her regained stability.”

For whatever reason, Azula shot a stream of fire at Simmons's feet as soon as Lucy finished speaking. Simmons jumped back just in time and fell over as Reyes pulled out his pistol.

Aiming at Azula, Reyes said, “Unless you got healing powers too, cool it!”

Azula snarled at Reyes, keeping her eyes on the gun.

Well this isn't helping, thought Simmons as he got himself back up. “Reyes, lower the gun. That's an order,”  Reluctantly, Reyes lowered the pistol, though Azula still eyed him with intent. The lieutenant colonel pointed at Azula and asked Lucy, “This is better?”

“She still has some...issues...to work through,” said an embarrassed Lucy, “By the way, I just got the results of her blood work from the lab. She's human alright. The lab found nothing that would indicate that's she belongs to a subgroup of humans, a new breed of humans, or some sort of alien/human hybrid.”

That's a start...of some sort, thought Simmons.“Then how is it that she's able to shoot out fire?” he asked.

“That's...still a mystery,sir,” admitted Lucy, “But I can tell you that she might be telling the truth.”

Eyebrow arched, Simmons asked, “You mean that she is a princess?”

“It sounds crazy, I know,” answered Lucy, “But I've been keeping a watch on her for over a week, studying and gathering what little information I can grab. Given what she's told me, I believe that she is from an alternative Earth.”

Now I've heard everything, Simmons thought. “Are you sure you didn't download some cheap sci-fi books by mistake, Lucy?” he asked.

“Please bear with me, sir.” replied an annoyed Lucy, “At first, I thought that she was a civilian who saw too much fighting and developed a new persona to help handle the horrors that she saw. But she had no form of identification when Charlie Team grabbed her. Nor could I find any sort of information on her on the net. I looked everywhere, from public files to missing people and even recently departed. But there was no match to her anywhere, as if she just appeared out of thin air. And even if I did found a file for her, there's still the issue of her producing fire and lighting.” Lucy's voice got quieter as she said, “Then I found something from the police reports. Something I felt I could only tell you in person.”

Simmons motioned her to continue on.

“The police forwarded to me files and paperwork they found at the library, saying that it looked like military property,” Lucy said, “I've analyzed the data: it looks like ONI was experimenting in the creation of inter-dimensional portals.”

Damn it, thought Simmons, I should have known they would have something to do with this. “Go on.”

“From what I gathered, it looks like they were planning on using a portal to evac the population to different worlds,” said Lucy, “But the only way to make the plan plausible is if they open either numerous portals around the world or one big portal and evac everyone via spaceships.”

“I'm going to assume that they weren't able to do either of those things,” said Simmons.

“Correct,” continued Lucy, “The most they could accomplish was open one portal, about two meters in diameter, using Forerunner artifacts that they found. However, in order for a portal to remind stable, two artifacts must be active on both sides of the portal. Otherwise, the portal collapses too soon.”

“So if I wanted to create a portal that goes from here to Rome,” inquired Simmons, “I need to have two portal openers online. One here and one in Rome.”

“Correct,” the AI answered.

“But if that's true,” continued Simmons, “Then that means the Forerunners must have left an online portal opener in her dimension as well.”

“The Forerunners were a high advanced species, more so then the Covenant,” Lucy stated, “Traveling to other dimensions would have been well within their capabilities.”

Pacing, Simmons said, “Alright, suppose ONI did forget to turn off the portal opener and the aliens left something in her dimension. That still leaves a rather large question,” He looked at Azula and asked, “Why did you enter the portal in the first place?”

Azula merely glared and said nothing.

Exasperated, Simmons retorted, “Look, either you tell me or Lucy does.”

There was a long pause before Azula finally answered. “Fine,” she said in a low voice, “I was the rightful heir to the throne, till my brother launched a coup against me. I would have won, had it not been for the traitors. Once he gained power, he locked me away. For several years I rotted in prison, plotting to regain my rightfully place. Finally, I made my escape. Wanting to elude my brother's minions, I ran to the nearest cave I saw. However, there was a cave-in and I was trapped. Eventually, I found my way to a large chamber with a glowing crystal at the end of it.” eyes glaring, she finished her tale by adding, “I don't remember what happened there, but the next thing I know, I'm stuck in your world with your men attacking me!”

“In my world, people get defensive when fireballs are hurled at them,” responded Simmons

“I don't care! Let me out of here!” yelled Azula.

Unnerved, Simmons spoke his mind. “I think what we have here is an impasse,” he said, “As much as I would like to return you to your brother, you've damaged the portal opener, meaning we can't send you back. The guys who made the portal having more pressing matters then sending your sorry ass back home. I'm not going to let you lose on my world and have you barbecue some poor kid. Keeping you here is a waste of resources and killing you would be a waste of bullets. So the question remains, what are we going to do with you?”

“Enlist her,sir,” answered Lucy, gaining Simmons and Azula's attention, “You want to keep an eye on her,” she said to Simmons, “And you want out of the cage,” she said to Azula, “Solution: You join us. We get to keep an eye on you and you get of this cell. That is, if the Colonel agrees to it.”

Simmons mulled the idea in his head, not sure what to make of it. Realizing that it was the better then  the alternatives, he relented. “I see no problem with the offer,” he said, “What do you say, Azula?”

“Anything is better then being kept in here,” Azula reluctantly answered, “What are your terms?”

Straightening his shirt, Simmons answered, “You will become a trained member of the United Nations Space Command Army, with the same duties and privileges of all the other soldiers. You will be assigned missions that will help ensure the survival of my people. In exchange for your service, I pledge to do everything in my power to return you to your world once the war is over.”

Azula eyed Simmons with suspicion. “How do I know you won't just kill me when I'm no longer useful?

“You don't,” Simmons said bluntly, “But considering the alternatives, I say that enlistment is the best deal you got.”

Azula remained silent as Simmons waited for her response. “Alright,”she said as Simmons began to walk away, “For now, I agree to your terms.”

Smiling, Simmons extended his hand to her. “Let's try to not kill each other too soon,” he said, “Welcome to the Army.”

They shook on it.