View source for Welcome Home SPARTANs (Jai-006)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2015/06/08
|Location=UNSC Base
|Synopsis=The Gray Team comes home, but ONI wants to be sure that they are the same Gray Team who left.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=806
|Tinyplot=
}}
The debrief was nothing special, the usual UNSC explanation of what had been going on since they'd gone dark. More extensive this time around, yes, but that's what happens when you find yourself in a Multiverse. What was strange was afterwards, when an ONI agent requested to talk with them one-on-one in succession. The usual ONI psyche evaluation, a silly game... wasn't it?

The soundproofed room was kept dark, a lamp overhead the only source of light. Hidden cameras at each upper corner of the room recorded both video and audio of the interviews. Though the ONI agent declined to submit a personal audio report after the evaluation of the three SPARTAN-IIs was completed, an edited video-log was submitted instead:

< Jai-006 enters the room, the very picture of a stereotypical SPARTAN-II with stiff posture and blank expression. He does not acknowledge the ONI agent across the table as he sits down in the chair. He leans the chair back, throwing his legs up on the table as they cross at the ankles in the very picture of indifference. His deep navy blue eyes peer at the agent, darkened by the shadows into black demonic eyes. "You rang?" >

< Adriana-111 enters, dipping her head respectfully to the ONI agent in acknowledgement. She is a tall woman that could intimidate any insecure man, almost like a living version of the She-Hulk without the green. She sits straight in the chair, resting her hands and forearms on the table and folding one hand on top of the other. She tilts her head to the side faintly before she speaks with her slight Slavic accent, "You called fur me, sir?" >

< Mike-120 enters, chewing gum and swaggering more like a hacker kid than a SPARTAN-II. Despite his apparent carelessness, his eyes roam around the small dark room before settling on the ONI agent. He spins the chair around, sitting down in it backwards with the backrest facing the table, and rests one arm across the back. He pops the gum in his mouth then pulls out a new stick and offers it to the agent. "Like some?" Momentary pause, then pulls the offered arm back. "You're probably not the gum type, huh?" >

The ONI agent maintains his silence. He pulls a thick folder out from under his chair and places it on the desk between himself and the SPARTAN-II before him.

< Jai ignores it, maintaining his indifference. >

< Adriana gives the folder a puzzled look before her brilliant blue eyes shoot the same look at the ONI Agent. >

< Mike leans forwards against the back of the chair, also ignoring the folder in favor of his one-sided conversation. "You are probably more of the drinking type." >

The agent places his hands on the table. "There is some concern about your last mission. It has been over three years since last contact, long after the war against the Covenant was won. As it is clear you had knowledge of this and yet you still did not return, there is a possibility you or one of your teammates could be a traitor to the UNSC."

< Jai furrows his brows to a tight knit before he takes his feet off of the table and sits up straight. "Pardon, sir? Are you seriously accusing us, any of us, of being traitors? After all we have done?" >

< Adriana shook her head softly, maintaining her calm demeanor. "None of us would ever help zose aliens. Zey are ze enemy and we gladly serve the UNSC." >

< Mike slowly chews his gum as he gets a deadpan look on his face. "Where do you people get this shit from anyways?" He at last blurts out. >

The Agent opens the folder, ignoring the SPARTAN-II response. "We have no records of any of your activities, and yet you return to us in near-perfect health. You were even able to make off with a Covenant ship, when your last assigned ship was a Prowler."

< Jai inhales a deep calming breath before he explains, "The Prowler eventually got wrecked as our assigned vehicles usually do. This stranded us behind enemy lines, therefore we stole an insurgent ship that had to be ditched to throw some pirates off our tail. We then encountered some Covenant idiots, so we took them out and commandeered their ship. End of story."

Jai then leans forward, the light casting the lines in his aging face into sharp relief. The light angle doesn't help those dark eyes look any more lively, either. "But that is what we do, sir. To infiltrate enemy territory and walk out without deepening that black eye would be an unwise decision, tactfully speaking." He narrows his eyes as he sneers, "So don't you dare accuse me or my men of treason... Sir. If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have that comfy little seat."

"Are you threatening me, Petty Officer?" The Agent asks Jai sharply.

Jai leans back slowly. "I don't threaten... sir. We /never/ threaten." >

< Adriana glances off to the side for a moment, then her gaze becomes more critical of the ONI Agent. "No offense, sir, but are you new? Perhaps you should re-evaluate Mike's record wiz your little toys." Adriana shrugs gently. "He can be... careless at times."

"Then why is he your engineer?" The Agent asks her.

Adriana smiles softly. "Because he is also ze best and we only deal wiz ze best." >

< Mike stops gum-chewing entirely and keeps that deadpan look on his face. Once the agent finishes, he slowly starts to smile. "Oh. Is that what this is about?" He leans back as he starts chewing again. "We are the Gray Team. We tend to lose things during our crazy missions. Besides, it wasn't my first choice of a ride, but she had to do or we would have never gotten home!"

"Lose things?" The ONI agent rechecks his notes. "Spartan dash one one one--"

Mike quickly interrupts with a pop of his gum, "Adriana."

"Pardon?" 

"Her name is Adriana dash Triple one. Get it right, man. Geesh." Mike pops the gum again.

"Right, well. She says that you tend to wreck things." The Agent continues.

Mike chuckles softly. "I do yes, but who doesn't? We're not perfect, despite all the stories and legacy and all that. Though me?" He points at himself. "I am perfect..." Then gets a deadpan look on his face as the jovial tone in his voice turns dead-serious. "Perfectly aware you are giving us this evaluation because someone in ONI has a stick up their ass. You want to know what we been doing, pal? Look it up. We're the wrecking balls. We sacrifice everything behind enemy lines for you morons."

Mike then takes the gum out of his mouth, checking the stickiness of it between his fingertips, before he leans it over and jams it into the data recording, causing it to short out in a flash of sparks and smoke. "So next time you try to give us trouble, don't accuse us of working with those damn aliens." Mike gives the agent a boyish grin as he stands up. "Hope you had back-ups. You're going to need them."

"That was federal property." The agent growls.

Mike looked back over his shoulder as he walks to the door, "And we're the Gray Team." He winks up at the recording camera before stepping out of the room. "See ya, ONI boy!" >