1159 HOURS, NOVEMBER 14, 2554 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR)
HALO INSTALLATION: SIRCA--UKNOWN COORDINATES--FREELANCER L-BASE

Tysiac had already turned off the hidden camera when he realized Church was arriving and their pillow talk was getting heated. Still, it wasn't surprising when he heard Tex had thrown Church out of his room, leaving him with a bruise on his throat. He had gotten a dose of just how self-centered the Chupadore was during his reunion with Bethany in the med bay was. But it wasn't until after having a bit of bed activity with Bethany did Tysiac figure out just how bad his attitude was.

Having completed his report for ONI and storing it in the Last Word, Tysiac took time to prepare for an expected SecNet communication with another agent soon. ONI would want to have both updates and a small interview about the comings and goings of both Sirca and the Movement.

He started walking towards the mess hall once everything was done. Hearing sounds of conflict and shouting, Tysiac's pace quickened. As he began coming closer, the sounds didn't contain the chatter of bullets firing or the sounds of death... Now, Tysiac's expression turned sour as he had a good idea what the hell was happening.

Reaching around the corner, Tysiac saw something that did not impress the Spartan in the slightest. Under no circumstance was this a sight acceptable by anyone who even remotely called themselves soldiers.

Seeing thrown food, lunch trays being used as shields or weapons, even the chefs getting involved by pouring porridge straight from a cooking pot... Of all the times to be shown a live action food fight in the cafeteria, Tysiac would've preferred to see it on holovid shows...

What did not impress him the most was seeing Church and Wash fighting at the center of it all. Church was showing further how incapable he was in a fight, as Wash finished their brawl with a knee into the werewolf's jaw and neck before kicking him off of the Chupadore and onto the floor. Wash left Church wheezing on the floor while he picked himself up and nabbed a fallen apple.

The Reds and Blues... were somewhat involved. The Reds were slowly getting back to their table seats while Tysiac could see Caboose and Tucker taking shelter underneath the table, mostly keeping out of the way. Tucker was chuckling at how poorly Church had handled the fight. Seeing that things have gotten out of hand, Tysiac pulled his pistol out and looked where he could safely fire it.

Wash looked like he was about to say something before Tysiac interrupted him with the sound of his M6G2 magnum as he drew the attention of every Chupadore. Their training instincts at least made them quickly duck and turn towards the sound to see the Spartan.

Tysiac made it very clear how unimpressed and unhappy he was with finding the soldiers and militia. After a few moments of gaining silence, he clicked the safety and holstered the magnum. He sarcastically called out, making sure his voice was heard, "Congratulations to each and every man and woman Chupadore in this cafeteria. You have successfully provided important contribution to the phrase, 'Physical age does not match mental maturity'. I'll leave you all to consider that phrase as you clean this fucking mess."

The Chupadores grumbled and complained about the order as they gathered in the mess hall. The Spartan enforced the command, glaring at anyone who dared look at him, and no one dared challenge him.

Wash, after recovering from the Spartan's loud method of stopping the entire fight, began walking away and eating the apple in his claws. However, as he nearly passed by Tysiac, the Spartan's hand lashed out. Tysiac grabbed the Chupadore's shoulder, his fist collecting Wash's food splattered uniform. Wash came to an immediate stop with a painful flinch as Tysiac stated loudly, "Agent Washington, did I say you were exempt?"

Wash turned his head with an angry glare. "Back off, human. It doesn't matter or involve you, and you're not the leader here."

Tysiac responded with wide eyes and a sarcastic drawl, "No? Maybe you'd like to get Constance's or York's opinion on the matter? Because I've known you long enough, you being at the center of this childish game makes it look like you caused it." His eyes narrowed as he lowered his tone to a dangerous level. "Or perhaps we'll get Tex's opinion?"

The threat of Tex or his friends made Wash panic and pale a little. Tysiac gave a gentle jostle to the Chupadore's shoulder as he did, "I might not know what made you start it, and perhaps it doesn't involve me. But since you're the 'leader' of everyone here, you certain you want to keep digging yourself into a hole in front of them?"

Wash gave a stutter, "B-but Church was who-"

Tysiac smacked the Chupadore over the head with his free hand, giving a clear sign he was not interested in hearing excuses out of him, "You egged him. That lands the responsibility on you, Wash." He lowered his voice and warned the Chupadore, "Unless you want me to leave you to clean this up alone, which I'm quite certain everyone would be happy to leave you to it, I suggest looking for a mop and bucket."

Using his greater strength on the shorter Chupadore, Tysiac turned Wash around and back into the cafeteria. Seeing the Chupadore move slowly, Tysaic slammed his fist into the nearby brick wall. His strength giving enough force to crack the brick and mortar easily as the Spartan glared unflinchingly at the now hurrying ‘leader' of the Movement. The nearby Chupadore militia gave a quick jump and hurried to clean up the mess hall, the sight of Tysiac unphased that he punched solid brick giving enough incentives.

Satisfied in chastising the troops, Tysiac left with a huff. He looked down at his fist to inspect how much he injured it. Thankfully, it seemed he merely bruised his fist, something he could ignore.

What was impossible to ignore, was Bethany. She had been itching for another fight with him ever since her first trip to space, and had been asking him since he had dropped hints about ONI's ability to cure or solve the Werewolves and their augmentation problems. Hence why his path took him across the halls of the third level on L-Base and towards the gym for another round with her.

Despite proving almost daily that she was not Allison, Bethany was on his mind more than he'd like. That relentless drive of hers had been nearly desperate to get an actual win against him. It didn't make her an inferior fighter; it was actually getting Tysiac to enjoy himself. She may not be on the same fighting level as Spartan-IIIs like Jun-A266, and certainly wasn't like it was with Spartan-IVs on the Laconia Station. But if one had to ask Tysiac, she'd certainly give the IVs a hard fight and would actually make the IIIs feel a bit of sweat. It's possible that having someone be above her has brought her back into pushing herself, and honestly, it's refreshing and reminding of his times during training as a Spartan.

Another thing that couldn't be ignored was his nerves... Something was up. Something happened. It wasn't something here in L-Base, and it wasn't any of the troops acting suspicious to make him know there was spies among them, but something had occurred during his stay here... That prickling unease had been settling into his body, yet there wasn't anything wrong health-wise.

Jun's voice came through the back of his head. Memories of that calm, yet firm voice etching into him, "Keep that gut close to your ear. Sure, it'll make you jitter. But it's smarter than your brain at times. Something feels off? It probably is. Analyze and act on it. Surviving and winning isn't just all skill and high tech-it's when to listen to yourself."

Part of that lesson had been something Tysiac learned the hard way a few times before becoming a Spartan, but he didn't ignore it or wave it off, saying he knew. Right now, the puzzle pieces weren't coming together, and the important parts were missing.

Walking into the gym, seeing Bethany stretching her limbs with her back towards him, Tysiac's jaw slightly clenched. He couldn't stay in L-Base. He needed answers, and he needed the Monitor of this damn Installation. Leaving behind also left a bad feeling in his gut. As much as he didn't want to share his ghosts with York, figure out Constance's intentions with the Spartan, deal with Wash's immaturity, and help Bethany keep up that fire in her...

Tysiac could not remain idle anymore.

Bethany turned to find Tysiac approaching and gave a smirk, "Was getting worried, Tys."

The Spartan gave a chuckle, "For what? Beating you into giving up? Since when would you?"

She gave a chuckle as she stepped into the sparring mat and waited for Tysiac to be ready. "Since never."

With a few quick warmups, Tysiac readied himself into a patient boxer stance as he watched Bethany took a similar stance to accommodate for her digitigrade legs.

Tysaic planned out his engagement with Bethany. She certainly seemed to do the same instead of what she tried the first time they sparred. In their first spar, Bethany tried using her impressive agility to close in as she tried to overwhelm him and hit him where he couldn't react. Tysiac certainly hadn't met such agile fighters like her, and the Covenant insect Drones didn't count.

However, despite her training, Tysiac's enduring fighting style, honed in the face of overwhelming odds, surpassed hers. Their first bout ended in a draw, as she never expected the slightly shorter and thin-yet-built human to shrug and endure her so effectively.

It took the next bout of sparring for her to learn her lesson, as Tysiac learned, adapted and won repeatedly since.

Beth was the first to lunge. She dashed ahead, using her legs to close in before giving a quick feint swipe of her claw to his left before aiming to the right. Tysiac stepped backwards smoothly, letting her slice through empty air. He countered with a sharp elbow towards her shoulder to unbalance her.

Bethany twisted around, nearly avoiding the blow, but the exchange unbalanced her, as she had to use her hand to not fall to the ground.

She gave a snarl, a grin flashing across her face as she sprang forward again. Bethany threw a low kick at him. Tysiac responded instantly, his enhanced reflexes and experience kicking in. His left arm shot to block the kick while his right swung in an arc. Bethany tried to block the strike, however, he had moved too fast and caught her mid-leap and nicked her elbow before sending her sprawling across the mat.

"Good," Tysiac commented, stepping back and letting her get some distance, "But predictable."

She panted, but that fierce grin didn't disappear. Bethany began using erratic movements and quicker aggression. She lunged with a claw, aiming for his midsection, making him move backwards before she lashed out with another kick. It was low and meant to sweep his feet from under him. Tysaic merely moved his feet up and down, turning her attempt akin to rope skipping as he made her chase after him. Her aggression was more energy consuming. Eventually, she would tire out in frustration, allowing him to move in and deliver a more calculated offense.

Bethany's next assault was a flurry of strikes. She relied more on her claws and clawed feet to reach the still retreating Tysiac. Some strikes came dangerously close to his neck, and even landed one kick squarely on his thigh, which made him take a step back.

Realizing that the Chupadore woman was getting better and closer and catching him, Tysiac changed tactics. She's improving, Tysiac thought.

Once her wheel kick passed him by, Tysiac turned the tables on her and began rapidly closing on her, aiming to neutralize her reach. The sudden change made Bethany slightly panic. She tried to step backwards, only to realize that her outstretched leg was still coming in to land on the mat, leaving her other foot. That foot tried to move, only to lose her balance and send her crumpling to the ground.

Tysiac paused in his advance as he looked down at her with a questioning look. Never had he seen Beth panic and end up falling over like that. And from the looks of it, she didn't expect herself to do it either.

Bethany gave a groan in frustration as she looked up at him. Tysaic offered an amused smile and a hand as she muttered, "You're enjoying this more than you should."

He kept the smile and hand as he said, "You make it sound like I'm York."

She brought a claw through her sweat-filled hair and fur as she chuckled, "What's wrong? You fought a girl to the ground, not gonna do anything evil?"

Tysiac rolled his eyes and gave a noise of exasperation, "Now you sound like York. Should detain that damn wolf until his hormones quits influencing everyone of you."

"And you sound like a prude." Bethany jabbed before finally accepting his offered hand and letting herself be pulled up, "Lighten up some, Tys! It's fun, even helps with a few muscles and relieves stress." She gave a small flirt, "Hell, I'm happy to be your first."

Tysiac gave a weak shove to her shoulder, which didn't make her smirk fade away, "First, I've already had that experience. Second, I'm still leery of reaching across the alien aisle, Beth."

"Oh really? Who was it?" Bethany challenged.

His exasperated smirk faded away as he recalled, "Sweet girl, was back when we hit our twenties. Didn't really hook up, but... Then the Covenant showed up, never heard from her since."

Bethany's smirk quickly faded as her tail drooped, sadly realizing she hit a poor memory.

If only for a few moments before she perked up and asked, "How good was she?"

This time, Tysiac's shove was more forceful when Beth had leaned in on his shoulder, threatening her, "Should throw you in a jail for the sexually hyperactive."

"I'd just make it better!" Beth joked as they ventured off to the showers.

Red vs Blue © Rooster Teeth. Halo © 343 Industries. Concept by Myshu, assisted by The Department of Chupapology.