Sam held her breath, fighting a bought of nausea and nervousness. She had already lost her mother once, and she feared that their search would yield no results. The idea of setting off on a journey to find someone more hidden than the Master Chief was unimaginable, especially Sam knew well that few things could have ever broken her and her mother apart.

But Chief seemed certain in his assessment that her mother was alive. His unwavering determination in that concept was comforting in an almost familiar way, and Sam found herself trusting him. It was odd but appropriate, she thought. After all, her mother must have trusted him for some reason. That's why she had told her to go to him, right? And not to–

Her thoughts are cut off when the door is literally blasted open. Automatically, Chief grabs Sam, pulling her to the ground to protect her from the blast. Smoke fills the room, but the Chief chokes out, "Were you followed?"

Sam wheezes as she tries to answer, finding it difficult to breathe under the weight of Chief shielding her from more danger. The smoke begins to dissipate and red and gold boots crunch the wooden shrapnel littering the floor.

Chief grips Sam's shoulders, but apparently it only takes those boots to spur recognition in Sam's memories. Before he can get a hold on her, she wriggles out of his grip and bolts towards the armored figure through the haze. Chief is up and after her; she's running into a fight without thinking. Recklessness must be genetic. It all happens quickly, and he doesn't expect what happens next. In moment his door is being blasted in. In the next, Sam was… hugging the perpetrator?

The smoke clears, and finally Chief gets a good look at whoever blasted down his door. That red and gold armor was unmistakable. The faceplate flips up, confirming the stranger's identity. Chief growls, "Stark."

"Hey, Johnny." It was a nickname Stark had picked up from Samus and does well to make the Chief even more uncomfortable. The tension in the air hung thick between the two men. Sam does little to relieve it. She pulls away from Tony, but he keeps an armored arm slung around her shoulder protectively. She looks up and asks Tony, "Daddy, you know the Chief?"

Daddy?! He almost chokes again, but no from the smoke. His mouth falls slightly agape. It's not like Chief imagined that Sam had no father but… Tony Stark? Really?

"Yeah kiddo, we go way back." Both men opted not to clarify that it was in a feud for a certain bounty hunter's affections. One that the Chief had, apparently, ultimately lost.

"Sorry it took so long. You know how your mom was always cagey about letting me reverse engineer non-Earth spacecrafts." Sam nodded understandingly, clearly just enthused to be reunited with her father. Samus was incredibly secretive when it came to her technology, and at least that wasn't any different when it came to Tony Stark. Stark had no problems continuing though, "I managed to get out of the Sol System in once piece though. Parked out front."

Chief and Sam both peered through the new whole in the front of the house to gaze upon indeed, a space ship modeled after Samus' gunship though with Stark's trademark color scheme. It figures.

"Ready to go?" Sam nodded again. Tony turned to the Chief and clicked his tongue before adding (mockingly), "Thanks for babysitting, Johnny."

The Master Chief shook his head as the teenager walked out of his life as quickly as she walked in. What a weird day. He needed a beer to decompress (a habit he had unfortunately picked up from Samus). Maybe Captain Falcon was free. He'd certainly be interested in hearing where Samus Aran ended up…

He watched the two leave before turning to the fourth wall and saying, "Happy April Fool's Day."

There's a real chapter on the way. I promise.