"So Mercedes, you better brush your teeth. You better put your pj's on. You better clean out the gutter, wash the car, and you better recaulk the tub. Because tomorrow night on Collision, mama's coming home."
“It took you long enough,” she says. It is the first mission. You have only just met. She has been expecting you.
You reflect on the lives you have taken and wonder whether any of them had families. Wives? Children? You wonder whether they could have done more with life…
You fail to revive your team member in time as a horde of enemies descends upon them and they die. You lament their loss and swear vengeance. You clear the room and take a moment to collect yourself, to process the loss, only to hear footsteps behind you. Your teammate’s body has disappeared, the bloodstain remains, yet they are standing behind you. They don’t say a word. You press on…
“She’s on Meridian,” you say, awakening from a dream. The others don’t ask how you know this. They don’t ask anything. You are sure they used to talk more. They may as well not be there.
Your HUD prompts you to “press RB to flip vehicle”. There are no buttons, you have no controller. Your hands do not even move. The vehicle rights its position of its own accord. You drive on, pushing these thoughts to the back of your mind.
You feel your mouth move and expel words that are unfamiliar to you. It speaks of things you are unfamiliar with - a ‘Domain’. You have not earned this knowledge, yet it spills from you as if you were born knowing it.
You love your sniper rife, and have named it Nornfang. You had to leave it behind on the Prowler when you arrived at Meridian. You are light years away now, standing on an alien world. You reach for the standard sniper rifle on your back that you took as a replacement, only to find that Nornfang has appeared in your hands.
You contemplate the immensity of the situation that is confronting four Spartan-IIs, your mind wandering towards the armour restraint you intend to use to complete your mission. You wonder why you only brought one…
The Swords of Sanghelios now have women fighting amongst their ranks. You hear them, but you do not see them. You wonder whether anything has really changed.
“The Reclamation has begun,” it is declared. But the Reclamation allegedly began 100,000 years ago. And it also began 8 months ago. It has apparently begun now. When did the Reclamation begin?
You remember a close friend who died to stop a megalomaniac from claiming the Mantle and subjugating the galaxy. You can recall the image of this person with perfect clarity, for 8 months have passed and you are fighting against a megalomaniac who seeks to claim the Mantle and subjugate the galaxy that wears her face.
You wonder what happened to the Janus Key. You wonder about the Absolute Record. You wonder about so many things - like why you are here, working with the people who spent the last 6 months trying to kill you. They don’t speak of it, like they don’t remember. You yourself can barely remember. How exactly did you end up here?