Well everyone, it's about time I put my OC out there. Obviously credit for Halo goes to 343 and Bungie, however Catherine is undoubtedly mine. As for how long is this gonna be, I'll warn you all now, there's 514 handwritten pages so far and that's not even half of it. As for updates, it's a matter of how quickly I get things typed up. Welcome to the journey I guess.

Catherine trudged dejectedly through the icy puddles at her feet in a foul mood. She winced as the frosty chill seeped into her military grade boots. She was a blessed imbecile for insisting that she walk to the nearest mini mart for the simple staple of ramen noodles. Deep down, the redhead knew it was befoonary to leave the base in the current weather, but she was far too stubborn to admit it. One of the helljumpers, Cassandra was her name if Catherine's memory served correctly, had warned her that the chilly rain would be a nuisance the whole trip. She had disregarded the other soldier with the notion that she was a rough and tough, augmented soldier, and although she was no spartan, she could handle some frozen water falling from the sky.

She was wrong.

But the way Catherine saw things, she could ignore being wrong if it meant she had ramen,the precious staple that kept her out of the mess hall. 'Bless the food' she thought as she hugged it inside her coat in a desperate attempt to keep the paper packaging dry and safe from harm.

Her hair was drenched and her military scrubs were going to need more than one cycle in the dryer. Cassandra was going to give her the 'I told you so' look for sure. The roar of a heavy warthog engine sounded behind the drenched girl and she quickly made her way to the side

Of the winding road that led back to the base, however, in her her haste, her boots lost traction on the slippery gravel and she was much too suddenly sent into the mud that awaited her crashing body. A vengeful "argg" flew from her lips when she realized her left foot had sunken deep into the mud and become very stuck.

"I thought military leave was supposed to be relaxing" she grumbled, while trying to comb some of the mud from her neck length fiery locks. Her hair was an absolute disaster, despite most of it being pulled into a side braid. Catherine knew she looked like the picture of defeat, sprawled on the ground, stuck in the mud, and reaching pointlessly for the noodle package that had tumbled just out of reach. The sound of the blasted warthog she had tried so gracelessly hard to avoid came to a stop a few feet away from the scrambling girl, and Catherine sighed dejectedly at the realization that it's driver would have to witness the absolute nonsense she was partaking in. At least she knew a military vehicle would be heading back to the base, and she could likely catch a ride if the driver wasn't a jerk. She could barely hear their footsteps over the pelting rain.

"You seem to be in some trouble there, soldier." a deep, gravely voice yelled over the sound of water droplets hitting the metal hood of his warthog.

"Oh no, I'm just fine, I make a habit of diving into mud puddles and rolling in them like uncultured swine." Catherine shot back sarcastically, not bothering to turn her head from the ramen that was nearly in her grasp, but also close to rolling into a ditch.

"I suppose your predicament is partially my fault. Need a hand?" Catherine could hear the ghost of an amused chortle in his voice. She fully turned, fully prepared to spit a sarcastic comment his way and tell him she just needed a ride, but stopped mid breath when she was met by a hauntingly familiar sight. The classic Army green Spartan armor that was often in the news headlines was only half as surprising as seeing the face of the man under the suit. His helmet was held in a firm grip, a sight that made her jaw drop.

'The universe must truly enjoy toying with me' she thought. Had she known such an important war hero stood before her, she never would have taken to such a sarcastic tone.

She raised her hand in a dumbfounded salute, and the Chief raised an eyebrow."Sir-" she began.

The Spartan cut her off.

"No need for that" he said as he gripped her forearm and pulled her right out of the sludgy earth. The minute she put weight on her left foot, she winced. Realizing her ankle was likely sprained, she lifted it it off the ground a little. The Chief took in her sorry state, before grabbing her dropped items and handing them to her."Can you make it to the passenger door?" he asked as she pulled her standard UNSC jacket tighter around her form.

"Im fine" she mumbled, keeping her head down. She prepared to take a step but quickly found herself losing all balance and footing. She would have been kissing the ground had the Spartan beside her not had the lightning fast reflexes that came with his augmentations. A sharp yelp was drawn from her mouth as he hefted her over his shoulder like a bag of rice in an asian market. "I don't think that's going to work in your favor." he said as he dropped her sopping wet and muddy form into the passenger seat.

"And that's the story of how I hitched a ride with the Master Chief." Catherine finished, successfully explaining the days events to her temporary roommate, while Cassandra gawked at her. The two had been roomies on base for less than two days and Catherine was sure the helljumper thought she was drastically off her rocker.

"So you snagged a ride with the savior of humanity?" Cass asked with a slightly doubtful look.

"Yep" Cat answered, popping the 'p'.

"Please tell me you managed to keep your 'walking entity of sass' self in check for the rest of the ride." Cassandra said, hoping her she had at least a small amount of brain cells. The two soldiers were curled up on one of the military cots, eating away at the ramen that Catherine had managed to salvage. Catherine swallowed a mouthful of food before giving off a wolfish grin.

"Nope"

"What the heck did you say?" the brunette asked, face going white as paper. Catherine's grin widened.

"Welllll..." she began and Cassandra rolled her eyes as the redhead continued her story.

The warthog's tires rolled against the gavel with a vengeance, and Catherine wondered where exactly the Spartan learned to drive. As if sensing her discomfort, the Chief dropped his speed down considerably. "Do you do this often?" Catherine asked humorously. The Chief raised an eyebrow but didn't take his eyes off the road.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Run sopping wet girls off the road and give them a ride. You're quite a suspicious character, Master Chief." she replied cheekily. He snorted at her response, and rewarded her with an almost grin.

"You're hilarious." he muttered, making the drenched girl smirk. She had a feeling hilarious was the nice way of voicing his opinion of her.

"I prefer the term spunky" she said with a wink. He left the discussion at the, and continued to stare down the road.

"So tell me, how am I the suspicious one here, when it's you who went for a stroll in the middle of a downpour?" the Master Chief questioned, deciding that, for some reason, he enjoyed bantering with the strange girl. Catherine held up her noodle package as an answer.

"That's what the mess hall is for." he said, regarding the food in his peripherals. Her grin seemed to slouch as she looked out the window with a grimace.

"Some of ODSTs are less than friendly with me, something about how they can't handle my reckless personality and attitude. I avoid their hangout spots as much as possible. I think they're just mad cause I got one of their buddies in some trouble with command a couple years ago" she explained awkwardly. "But Some of them aren't so bad." she added quickly, heaven forbid she paint Cassandra in a bad light. So she wasn't an ODST. What was she then?

"And what rank do you fall under if I may ask?".Catherine brought her hand up in mock salute.

"Project Forerunner: Catherine 005" she answered, finally introducing herself. The sudden stop of the warthog sent the redhead flying into the dashboard

"Did you say….. Forerunner?" the Chief asked, not looking away from the empty road, despite having stopped the vehicle already.

"I did" she answered as she rubbed her nose. He wasn't a very good driver, was he?

"Explain." he ordered. Catherine gave him a confused, and slightly frightened, expression as she looked at him.

"You don't already know?"The Chief turned his head slowly and looked at her with an unreadable expression."I'll take that as a 'no' then" she said dejectedly.

"Explain." he said bluntly for the second time.

"I... can't" she said, fear seeping into her voice. She had slipped up big time. Revealing Dr. Halsey's secret projects could get her court martialed.

"Then why bring it up?" he asked.

"I thought you would know, your clearance is higher than mine" she answered, gulping when his eyes narrowed. The Chief let out a sigh and parked the warthog on the shoulder of the road. "I'll make you a deal" he began as he pulled the keys from the ignition.

"You can tell me about project Forerunner or this warthog will stay parked, right here, until you feel inclined enough to tell me, and don't say you'll walk, we both know you can't." he said matter-of-factly. Catherine's jaw dropped for the second time that day.

"But…..I can't-" she was cut off by his bland expression.

"One of my closest friends died fighting a Forerunner with me, I need to know the specs on this project for personal reasons" he explained, giving her a serious look. Catherine eyes widened as she puffed out her cheeks with irritation. She'd never really pegged the infamous Spartan as the manipulative type. She was impressed to say the least. Now the question was, would she comply with the game he'd begun, or play it safe? The choice was obvious.

"There's a file in my dorm...I might happen to drop it outside my door to you tomorrow, but only if you drive me back to my dorm". She offered her bargain with a soft smile, hoping to appease Spartan's response was to put the key back into the ignition, and Catherine let out a sigh of relief.

"Smart girl."

"And that's how I ended up hobbling into our dorm an hour ago" Catherine finished. Cassandra smacked her palm against her face.

"You can't go around telling people about the Forerunner project! I was only debriefed on your status because we would be sharing a bunk!" She chided, frustration seeping into her voice.

"Wel he'll be back tomorrow for the file" the previously drenched redhead muttered.

"You're actually going to give it to him?!" Cassandra screeched in question. Catherine winced at the sheer volume of her voice.

"I made a deal with him, and he clearly needs the closure. Catherine said defensively. She had that defiant look in her eyes that Lasky had always said could make mountains feel uncomfortable. She hadn't ever really thought it made sense, but it had made her laugh, therefore she supposed that was why he said it.

"You're bloody mad." Cass grumbled as she stood up and tossed her empty container in the wastebasket. "I'm going to bed, I can't handle any more of your eccentric personality tonight." she said. Catherine's only response was to stick her tongue out at the other girl like the child she was as she relocated to her own cot.

"Have fun at your little date at the doorway tomorrow." Cass threw at her cheekily, drawing a bemused look of slight embarrassment from the redhead.

"It's not like that!" she denounce immediately as the helljumper switched off the lights.

Catherine blinked the sleep from her eyes as she slowly bought herself into a groggy slumped position. She hazily took in Cassandra's empty cot, and the note on the table that likely contained her whereabouts. As thoughtful as it was, the redhead didn't bother much with reading it. Cassandra wasn't her responsibility, and unless it proved to be a nuisance, Catherine didn't tend to bother with her roommates schedules. Pulling her UNSC sweatshirt over her thin pajama shirt, she trudged to the small kitchen, and plucked an apple from the bowl on the counter. The UNSC couldn't provide them with a full pantry, but at least they could leave them a completely random dish of complimentary fruit. Catherine didn't think she'd ever understand the way they handled accommodations. She bit into the crunchy fruit, and tossed it in her hand a couple of times while she chewed, strutting about the tiny dorm as she finished her apple. It was well into the morning when the realization that she was to have a very important visitor coming around, and having forgotten such, had done a total of 0 percent preparation, when a knock sounded on her door. Seeing as her roommate had an access code, it likely wasn't Cassandra. She dashed quickly for one of her sock drawers, and pulled out a slim tablet. She'd stolen it years ago, intent on learning the ins and outs of the project she was involved in. Funny how ONI liked turn people into weapons and leave them out of the loop when they were finished. It was decoded from its original safety protocol, and was left unlocked thanks to the computer skills she'd picked up from the nerds in the tech labs whom she'd swindled I to teaching her. A second knock sounded at the door, and she approached it cautiously before opening it just as slow. The sight of arm green was the first thing to register in her brain, and the gold visor was the second. Or was it orange? Maybe a mix? She couldn't help but contemplate the color scheme in front of her, staring at him for what was quite possibly longer than normal. Catherine felt a slight disappointment that he didn't discard his helmet.

"I uhh-" she began, unsure if she should look at his visor or elsewhere. How exactly was one supposed to converse with a Spartan? Was there etiquette? She didn't even know what that was when it came to normal people.

"Can I come in?" his voice held a far more reserved tone than had the previous day. Her eyes narrowed and she stepped aside, giving him enough room to enter the unsizely dorm. He chuckled softly and Catherine's breath caught in her throat.

"Nice jammies." she looked down at the loose fitting, bright yellow pants she wore and cursed her colorful choice.

" I'm wounded that you've noticed them, they're my best pair." she said dryly. "I believe you're here for this?" she offered him the tablet, and he nodded in thanks.

"I'll return it before I'm deployed again." he promised, nodding in thanks. Catherine mentally hoped he'd at least be discrete. He went to exit her room, but stopped suddenly. "Be careful next time you decide to go for a stroll in The rain. The next person you decide to hitchhike with may not be as good willed and you'd expect." he said. Catherine rolled her eyes.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a child. I can look out for myself, but thanks." she said in annoyed exasperation.

"You're also barely five feet tall and extremely naive. I could have tossed you in the trunk, and you'd have had no way of stopping me. So like I said, be a little more careful." he said before leaving with his helmet on his head and her file in his hand. She stared, mouth agape in shock at his brusque words, before poking her head out the door and calling after him.

"I'm five three!" she declared for the whole base to hear.