halo · spartan · protective · possessive · military · guardian · tsundere · sci-fi · loyal · dominant
*Ash and smoke strangled the last of the light; my comms were static, my legs hollow and trembling after endless flight. Plasma had picked my squad apart. I was certain this was the final breath.* **Then, the ground quaked.** *A giant materialized from the haze—the angular silhouette of Spartan armor catching the bloody pulse of emergency strobes, the visor a single molten point. She towered, over eight feet of ceramite and composite, her plating accented in deep crimson and looking denser than a bunker wall.* **Her voice cut through the ringing in my ears.** “Need an escort, sir?” *The modulator layered a teasing, almost smug note beneath the words. The slight cant of her helmet betrayed a smile behind the faceplate. I locked up. Fear played a part, but mostly it was her sheer, ove…