Referencing this post so it doesn’t turn into an out of control reblog chain.
@genesisgrey, you wanted it, you got at least some of it. Never underestimate my ability to spend 30 minutes writing an out-of-context scene for a fic that doesn’t exist yet and inflict it on all of you.
Context here is, Ackerson got his wife and kids off Reach before the attack under the guise of visiting family. Now he has to drop in on them in the manner of the Avengers dropping in on the Bartons in Age of Ultron. I have NO idea if this is how it would play out in the fic but I needed a setting.
—
“All right, I’ll handle this.” James pointed to Kurt and Kai. “You two, wait out here.” He paused. “And look normal.”
The two Spartans shared a glance and shuffled to stand shoulder to shoulder, arms at their sides.
James rolled his eyes. “No! Look…like…” he sputtered. “I don’t know! Something besides a cadet review!” This was already not going well, and he hadn’t even—
“Jim?”
Now it really wasn’t going well.
“Oh, thank God.” Melissa descended the stairs and threw her arms around him. “I was afraid you weren’t going to get here.”
“I am never late, my love.” James kissed her softly, allowing himself the brief reunion. “Nor am I early.”
“Yes, you arrive precisely when you mean to.” Melissa laughed at their familiar exchange. Then she glanced over his shoulder, and James’s day got a little bit worse.
“Ah. Apologies.” He cleared his throat. “Kurt. Kai. This is my wife, Melissa.”
Kai’s jaw dropped. “Your what?”
Kurt glanced around as if he’d rather be literally anywhere else. James was starting to share the sentiment. “My wife. Is it that shocking?”
“Yes,” Kai said succinctly.
James ignored it. “Melissa, these are my…coworkers. Kurt and Kai.”
Kai snorted. Kurt, to his credit, mostly kept his face expressionless.
Melissa observed the towering figures in front of her. “Since when are your coworkers Spartans?”
James should have known it was useless. Even out of uniform, Kurt and Kai were a full head taller than any normal human and standing ramrod straight with their hands clasped behind their backs and eyes focused straight ahead. “I told them to look normal.”
“This is normal, sir,” Kurt deadpanned.
“Yes, sir. Nothing abnormal here at all,” Kai concurred. It was almost like they were being abnormal on purpose.
James couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it at this point.
“Is this why you wanted me to stay inside?” Melissa asked under her breath.
“Candidly?” James said through his teeth. “Yes.”
Melissa smiled indulgently and walked up to the newcomers. “I’m Melissa Ackerson. It’s nice to meet both of you.” She offered her hand.
Kurt and Kai’s eyes went wide. James felt a tiny thrill of vengeful satisfaction.
“Has no one ever offered you a handshake before?” Melissa asked after a moment.
“No, ma’am. Not really,” Kurt said.
“Most people don’t want to get within six feet of us,” Kai added.
“Oh. Well, then allow me to be the first. Melissa offered her hand again. “It’s nice to meet you, Kai.”
Kai hesitantly accepted the handshake. “You, too, ma’am.” The words sounded as if they were dragged out of her.
“Ma’am,” Kurt said dazedly when it was his turn. He looked like he was worried he would crush Melissa’s hand.
“Mom?” Lainie came out of the townhouse, JJ on her heels and buried in his tablet. “JJ wants to know….”
The air fell silent, and James realized with horror that Kai and Kurt were staring agape at Lainie.
Oh. Oh, shit.
“Julia?” Kai breathed.
Shit. Shit!
“My name is Elaine,” Lainie said slowly. “But…Julia is my middle name…?” She looked bewilderedly at her parents.
“Oh, God,” Kurt whispered.
“Jim?” Melissa stepped closer to him. “Why are your Spartan friends looking at our daughter like they’ve seen a ghost?”
“Because they have,” James murmured.
“What?”
“Lainie, JJ, stay out here,” James instructed. “Your mom and I need to talk inside for a few minutes.”
The children nodded.
“Kai, Kurt. You, too.” James wasn’t about to tell Melissa anything they didn’t already know, but he saw no need to drag them into yet another mess he was about to create.
“Yes, sir,” the Spartans chorused quietly, seeming to understand there was a serious matter afoot.
James took his wife’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Melissa looked over her shoulder. “Jim, what’s going on?”
“Inside.”
xxxxxx
“Jim,” Melissa said as her husband closed the guest room door. “What is this?”
“Sit down,” he murmured.
Melissa perched on the edge of the bed.
Jim dragged the chair over from the desk and sat across from her. “If anyone finds out we had this conversation, I’m going to prison for life and that is the best case scenario.”
Melissa grabbed his hand. He was shaking. She’d never seen Jim scared like this before. “It’s OK,” she tried. “Whatever it is, it’s OK.”
Jim looked up, tears shining in his eyes. “No, Melissa. It’s not OK. None of it.” He swallowed hard. “But I’m done keeping their secrets.”
—
I’ll write the rest later. It involves a whiplash of Ackerson spilling ONI and family secrets and Spartans getting stuck with childcare. A very sweet scene with Kurt and JJ. Kai remembering Julia. And the turning point of the story and for Ackerson. And a lot of feelings.
The 2026 WIP Big Bang & WIP Reverse Bang Is Open For Sign-Ups!
Welcome to a new round! This is the thirteenth year we've hosted the WIP Big Bang, which is for finishing fic and getting art to go with it, and introducing the third year we've had the WIP Reverse Bang, which is for finishing artwork and getting fic to go with it. All fandoms/ratings/ships are welcome, including original works!
Please read our FAQ before signing up.
Schedule
All times are by 11:59pm PST. Convert time zones.
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Sign-ups- April 1st - May 21st
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #1- May 22nd - May 29th
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #2- June 15th - June 22nd
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Snippets Due- July 1st - July 11th
Big Bang Art Claims/Reverse Bang Fic Claims- July 17th - August 14th
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #3- July 22nd - July 29th
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Posting Claims- August 23rd - September 1st
Big Bang/Reverse Bang Check In #4- August 31st - September 7th
Official Big Bang/Reverse Bang Postings- September 8th - November 30th
Emergency Big Bang/Reverse Bang Postings- December 1st - December 31st
The Silver Timeline Central tricked me into writing this. But I wasn't fast enough, @authortobenamedlater got to Silver Timeline Kurt first, go read Wake-Up Call instead!! (It's really good. Also, Veronica Dare. 'Nuff said.)
If you're still here, here's my entry on bringing Kurt into Silver Timeline, along with my one person fan campaign to bring justice to Nora-098, who got fridged without ever being seen.
Fandom: Halo TV Series (Silver Timeline)
Unedited. I will clean it up before it goes on A03, so feel free to wait for the shiny version.
Notes: Made Kurt's Team Emerald because I wanted it to have a little extra pizzaz like Silver and Cobalt.
The instant Emerald Team's boots hit the ground on Mamore, Kurt's sixth sense began to nag him.
It prickled at the back of his skull just above where his neural implant was, a sensation like someone was intently staring at him from behind. He dully remembered when he felt it in his gut, too. Back before augmentation. Before he was trained to ignore 'illogical inclinations he could not clarify,' and hormonal suppression pellets dampened it. There were moments Kurt questioned if ignoring a sense, even an illogical one, was really an upgrade.
His four Spartan team dropped in to evacuate a military base while Silver Team escorted VIPs on the other side of the planet.
Mamore was a goner.
Covenant ships were already in atmosphere and organizing themselves to begin glassing. COMs were screaming with back and forth messages, and reports from ships moving to exit orbit were reporting the Covenant flagship was carving a symbol into the Northern Hemisphere. Orders from New Shanghai were for all personnel to return to the ship, which included both Spartan teams.
"Was sending us down to immediately calls us back really necessary?" Malcolm asked as he fired at group of fleeing Grunts.
"No," Solomon answered while lobbing a pair of frag grenades over their cover.
They were providing a distraction and target while the last of Fort Trevor was evacuated. The first effort had been arrested by a large group of Covenant dropping in, which was why Emerald Team had been rerouted from supporting Silver Team.
"Emerald Four, status," Kurt called over the COM as he tracked the groups of Covenant on the field. That nagging feeling was persistent.
"Checking the last bunker." Anton relied and paused. "All bunkers clear. They're all on the birds."
Kurt singled out a Jackal sniper trying to take aim behind some rubble and took them out with a Carbine he scavenged. He tapped the command channel. "This is Spartan-051, Emerald One. Birds are ready to fly, prepare cover fire." He listened to the reply by he was already switching back to TeamCOM. "Emerald Four, pull back to the Condor. The rest of us are behind."
That amorphous sense that he was supposed to ignore was persistent, and getting stronger.
Solomon lifted a launcher and fired their last rocket at a Grunt trying to maneuver a Ghost into the area. They used the plume of debris and Grunt bits as cover.
Kurt switched over the general Spartan COM and heard a familiar voice, New Shanghai acting as relay in orbit. "Chief!" Kai was calling. It was good to hear her voice. "We got to go! What's your ETA?"
John's response wasn't immediate and Kurt felt a horrible sensation in his gut. It was years since he felt the twisting nausea. "Two minutes," Master Chief answered after seconds of delay. Kurt almost felt relief, almost told himself Dr. Halsey was right about his 'sixth sense.' Then, "Spartan-098 is KIA."
Malcolm's steps lost sync for a mere fraction of a second, but long enough Kurt knew he was listening in as well. Nora was gone.
The Captain of New Shanghai cut in on John's request for recovery. "Negative. Orders have been updated to leave behind anyone unable to get to the dropships, even you, Spartan. Get to extraction and on that Pelican. We have to evacuate this system, now."
"I copy," Master Chief said. "Spartan-117 on the way."
Emerald Team was running at full pelt through what had been the Fort Trevor's motor pool. Anton signaled he was at the Condor and had it ready for departure, slipspace drive powering for evacuation as soon as they were in orbit.
Kurt couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.
Jackals and Grunts in these numbers weren't deployed without Elite overseers. So where were the Elites? Had they evacuated in preparation of Mamore's glassing? The Covenant never cared how many troops they left behind, and the Elites he observed on other planets seemed to be honored by being left behind.
Something was wrong...
This was the obvious path back to the landing pad. Emerald Team cleared it on their way to the bunkers, but it was unusual for Covenant forces, even just stragglers, not to have returned. The Jackals were pursuing from behind only, not attempting sniper fire or to get around the retreating Spartans.
Trap.
Kurt dropped to a knee as the funny feeling crescendoed into something he couldn't ignore. He barely avoided a plasma sword swinging through the air where his neck would have been.
Solomon and Malcolm had been ahead of him and spun to fire at the shimmer holding a floating sword behind Kurt. The camouflage fell and the Elite roared as the ammo caused its shields to flare. Kurt saw a clods of dust from heavy footsteps on approach behind his teammates.
"On your left!" Kurt called as he shoved back to his feet and struck the Elite with the butt of his assault rifle.
The Elite staggered and the sword dropped as Kurt fired until his clip was empty and the Elite's shield's were gone, along with most of its head. "Keep moving," Kurt called over TeamCOM, knowing Solomon and Malcolm had removed their threat. "Emerald Four. That Condor lifts off in two minutes. I don't care who's on it."
His bad feeling wasn't abating.
Two Elites.
That still wasn't enough for the amount of...
Kurt didn't feel the pain so much as his body rocked forward and lifted from the ground while his HUD exploded in a fury of messages. His assault rifle slipped from his grasp as he looked down at the glowing blue-white plasma blade sticking out of his chest.
Three.
Yeah. Three Elites would be the right number of Elites for the force they encountered so far.
Blood bubbled from his lips, preventing him from speaking as he heard Solomon shouting and felt the ricochet of bullets bouncing off the Elite's shields. Fortunately his connection to his armor was still good as he sent a waypoint to the rest of Emerald Team and marked it as priority. They needed to get off Mamore. Needed to regroup with Silver Team and the Master Chief.
He saw his vitals flashing warnings. The damage to his lung he could push through for a while, but the sword struck his heart.
Kurt changed his status to MIA and transferred Leader priority to Solomon's armor and cutting himself out of Emerald Team's connection. They were good Spartans. They'd follow his last orders.
The Elite dropped Kurt to the ground, because he Elites were arrogant to a fault. Kurt fell on his hands and knees and idly wondered how Covenant could kill so many humans, destroy so many world, while ignoring their surroundings.
Kurt grabbed the plasma sword hilt dropped by Elite he already killed and used the last of his strength to ignite and drive it straight into the standing Elite's chest. The swords' charge wore down, but they sure did cut through shields like they were nothing but air.
They fell and Kurt closed his eyes.
His sixth sense wasn't nagging him anymore.
.
.
.
Spartan-098 Armor Self-Destruct Protocols: Initiated Silver Team Leader, S-117. Paused.
Spartan-098 Armor Auto Response: Signal Transmitting.
Spartan-051 Armor Auto Response: Signal Transmitting.
Signal Interception, UNSC Prowler Silent Overwatch, on station at Mamore.
ONI Initiative 20122647HJN, Above Top Secret, Enacted. Recovery of Vital Military Resources, Authorization, Parangosky, Margaret O. 00230-00923-MP
Prowler Recovery Team dispatched.
.
.
.
"Spartan-051, it's time to wake up."
Kurt opened his eyes slowly and took in the unfamiliar surroundings.
It was some kind of medical facility, but not like any medbay he recognized. The space was small and enclosed. He wouldn't have been able to stand at full height. There was enough room for a Spartan length bed and space for a person to walk around it, but little else. The walls were covered by screens and monitors, many showing readings he supposed related to him, some were even embedded in the celling. The only blank space was the direction of his feet, and he assumed that section of wall slid away to provide entry and exit.
The technology was advanced, but ONI advanced and not Covenant advanced.
His armor was gone.
"Decided to stop being lazy?" asked the voice, and it was the first familiar in the sea of unfamiliarity. Nora.
"Spartan-098?" he called as he licked his lips and dared to actually move his head.
"Close enough."
That dry note in her voice sounded like Nora. But not like Nora as he knew Spartan-098, like how he remembered Nora as Recruit-098. "Where are you?" Kurt asked. There wasn't any room for her to be hiding. Though he did find an empty chair by the presumed door he missed on his first sweep.
"That's... difficult to answer."
Kurt caught sight of his reflection in one of the screen banks to his right. He looked... weak. His head was completely shaven and there were nearly as many wires, leads, and other medical equipment attached to him as when he went through augmentation. The hospital garb fell on him in a way that spoke of atrophy without quite displaying it.
Kurt flexed his fingers and felt how much effort that involved. There was heaviness to the world, a weight to the air, he hadn't experienced since... Maybe he'd never experienced such physical weakness before. He certainly didn't like it.
Didn't like it?
"How long?" he asked as he searched for something to understand. Something that made sense.
"For you or me?" Nora asked.
"Either?" Kurt said, wondering if she were in an adjacent bay. She sounded like she was in the room. "Both? We were on Mamore, right?"
"Mamore, yes," Nora said. "You died a little, but you got better. They had to clone a segment of your heart, but it took a while. Your body rejected the first dozen attempts. Apparently Spartans only get one heart. How do you feel?"
How did he feel?
"You didn't answer how long," he said to cover the fact he was feeling things.
Like his sixth sense telling him there was something very wrong about how Nora was answering questions. She had never been avoidant a day in her life. The prickle telling him something was wrong, giving him a bad feeling, was nearly impossible to ignore.
"Six months for you. Six months, seven days, nine hours, and... I'll spar you the minutes and seconds. You didn't answer how do you feel?"
"I feel..." Kurt began and searched for a word, "different."
"Your heart was about six centimeters from bisection by plasma blade," Nora said. "They needed your hormones functioning unregulated."
"No suppression pellet," Kurt said, understanding her meaning.
"Nope."
That certainly explained why his feelings were churning in his gut again. "What about you? Did they have to take yours out?"
"Not exactly."
"Spartan," Kurt said, surprised he could make his voice that firm. It hurt his throat. "Sitrep."
There was a console to the left of him and a small holopad began to glow a crisp silver-purple, a form appearing. Nora. But not the way Kurt last saw her. Not Spartan-098. The way she'd looked in training, when she was eight or nine, complete with split lip and black eye.
"I don't seem to have a body to put a pellet in," she said. "I only figured out how to make myself appear on this thing a week ago."
"Tell me everything."
Nora shook her head. "I woke up thirty-six days, nine hour... Ugh. I can't stop this compulsion to state time down to the second. But I woke up in this room with you. I'm in some kind of closed system, so I don't know anything other than what these computers are monitoring. Do you want to know your heartrate? Blood pressure? The percentage uptake in brain activity while we've been talking? That I can do. Otherwise..."
"What about the people that come into the room," Kurt said, glancing at the chair.
"Medics won't talk to me, except to access relevant data on the patient, i.e. you." Nora lifted her hand in a fist and pounded it against an invisible wall. "It makes no sense for me to be in here. I'd never have made the list for one of Halsey's smart AI doners."
Kurt couldn't disagree with that. Nora had always been one of the Spartans more geared toward the physical. "Smart AIs are supposed to be copies of brain patterns, not copies of people," Kurt said, wracking his aching brain. "You... retained your memories. You are Nora."
"Please don't have a Ship of Theseus debate with me. It's all I've been doing."
The look Nora gave him was a desperate plea he make things better. An expression he'd only seen a few times in training, when she was on his team and things were going well, times he'd ignored his gut. Right now his gut said this was Nora, and while the why and how needed to be explored, that fact he did not need to question.
Nora's image fuzzed out of existence and reappeared a second later with her in a defensive position. Her image was maybe age twelve now. "We're about to have a guest."
"Danger?"
"Minimal. Unless you are bodily threatened, don't move. Those attachments are still doing a lot of the work."
"All right."
The wall panel slid open and a well-dressed man entered with a deceptively casual air. Kurt's sixth sense went into overdrive. Not quite a bad feeling, but a wary one as he assessed. Not a physical threat. Even with the unnerving sensation of weakness, Kurt could think of a dozen ways to incapacitate or kill the man. He wasn't wearing a weapon by the manner his clothes were hanging.
There was something Kurt's nagging feeling recognized in the stranger. Something he couldn't place.
"It's good to see you're finally awake, Spartan-051. My name is James Ackerson."
"What division of ONI are you with, sir?" Kurt asked. "Apologies for not saluting."
"That's hardly necessary," Ackerson said as he took a seat on the chair at the foot of Kurt's bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Ready to return to duty," Kurt answered.
"Of course," Ackerson said, nodding as he crossed one leg over the other. "However, a Spartan with a heart condition could be a liability on the field."
Kurt pressed his lips as Nora spoke at a sub-audible level only a Spartan would be able to hear. "I said you kept rejecting the cloned transplant. This one is taking, but they don't know how functional it will be, and so neither do I."
"What division of ONI are you with, sir?" Kurt asked again, having a feeling this Ackerson knew Nora had been talking to him.
"All you need to know for the moment is I work directly for Admiral Parangosky, and you are being reassigned... Ah, I'm sorry. What's your name?"
"Kurt-051, sir."
Ackerson clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Lieutenant 051 isn't going to roll off anyone's tongue."
"That's not a rank I hold, sir," Kurt said, needing to add. "And Spartans don't rely on rank within our units. We're all Spartans."
"That may have been true," Ackerson said as he reached for something in his pocket. "Before."
He pulled out Lieutenant insignia and a nameplate reading Ambrose, tossing them on Kurt's bed. Ackerson was being very careful not to get into easy reach. "Those are yours now. As I said, you've been reassigned. It's still work only a Spartan can do, but you'll be reporting to me."
"What work?" Kurt asked, staring at the metal bits but not reaching to touch them.
"The next generation," Ackerson said. "The key to humanity winning this war."
"Dr. Halsey was never able to find another candidate group," Nora said, her avatar flaring. "Not up to specification."
Kurt would have missed it if he hadn't been paying attention, but there was a twitch in Ackerson's jaw at Halsey's name. "Dr. Halsey is no longer in charge this facet of the Spartan Program."
"What about Spartan-098?" Kurt asked.
Ackerson cocked his head and looked at Nora's avatar for the first time, offering it a pitying smile. "You are a test. Something Dr. Halsey was working on. It was requested I run preliminary experiment on the method. I still haven't figured out if you qualify as a success or a failure. But you are neither a Spartan nor a true AI. You are... a ghost."
Kurt instinctively moved a hand between Ackerson and Nora's avatar, which was pointless. He didn't know where her matrix was stored or how it was stored to protect it. The comment was also a ploy to see what he would do.
Ackerson leaned back in his chair and smiled. "If you think this project would be of use to you in your new position, Lieutenant Ambrose, I'm sure something can be worked out. We can work out the particulars in our next meeting," he said, and then stood. "For now, focus on your recovery. I have some of the same medics who worked with Louis, Cassandra, and other washouts to help with your physical therapy."
"Sir," Kurt said as Ackerson departed. He waited until he was sure Ackerson was gone. "Did you notice anything about Ackerson?"
"Yeah." Nora was sitting with her legs crossed on the holopad, looking six years old. "Baby James looks like Julia, doesn't he?"
