[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara did felt pain from the AI´s headbutt, and her eyes flinched with the reaction, yet she took Cortana´s head as she touched the ground "That will work with most people, im not so fragile, but it hurts too" the bioroid said making a powerful double slap on Cortana´s ears with a good strength to atleast confuse the blue eyed woman´s senses

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana's head hurt from the headbutt. She couldn't believe that it would hurt so bad. She had seen John perform it many times with no perceivable indications of pain, yet here she was, wanting to grab at her aching forehead. Cortana was about to stop the fight until Mara slapped Cortana's ears with enough force to lessen her senses even more. Now that Cortana had little to no sensory input, she relied on the only tactic sure to keep her in the fight. In a split second, Cortana dashed into Mara, who was only inches away from her, and tackled her, sending Mara on her back with Cortana on top of her.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara lost her air as she was takled by Cortana and as she fell on her back, the AI got on top of her "Allright, your senses are failing at the moment and you relied on an instinct attack" she said now going for a palm strike directly to Cortana´s chin

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

The last thing Cortana heard before getting hit in the chin was "instinct attack". As the blow landed, the pain shot through Cortana's chin and head as the new nerve endings registered the blow. Cortana had her jaw clenched, but it still hurt. She couldn't think of an attack from this distance to Mara, until those two words that echoed in Cortana's head clicked. In the wild, the Boa Constrictor's instincts would dictate that it would wrap around its prey, and just as its name implied, constrict around its future meal. As it's prey would exhale, the Boa would constrict more and more until there would be no room to breathe. It would often break rib cages, but Cortana was not going to squeeze that hard. It would be just hard enough to remove Mara's ability to breathe. Doing just like a Boa Constrictor would do, Cortana wrapped her arms around Mara's torso and squeezed. Cortana didn't want to get hit in the face again, so what she did was bury her face in Mara's chest, ensuring that her face was protected as she continued to squeeze.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara was losing oxygen as her breath was getting blocked by the vice grip of Cortana "Acting in.. reaction.. but.." the white haired stopped and went for her own instinct attack. Inflict damage by any means. The bioroid used her mouth to either pull the AI´s hair with a strong pull or actually bite her head.

Meanwhile Mara´s arms started pushing Cortana´s gripping limbs trying to get free from the hold

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana felt Mara pull her hair and felt as her arms were slowly being pulled apart. Refusing to let go, Cortana gritted her teeth against the pain of her hair being pulled and squeezed her hands tighter together, hurting her hands, but strengthening her grip against Mara's resistance. Cortana could see that the fight quickly devolved into little more than hair pulling and squeezing. Of course, even if the fight did become less sophisticated, it didn't mean that it was any less of a fight. All Cortana had to do now was try and get Mara to stop pulling her hair, but unfortunately, her hands were currently occupied with another task. seeing that she would have to use her head agsain, Cortana moved her head back and slammed it into Mara's chest, hoping to make her lose her breath even more, or at least get her to stop pulling her hair.

[Kristia]

Helios System Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Resisting the headbutt on her chest, Mara was losing her air and waited for the next one. Releasing the AI's head, the bioroid rolled them and got on top of her adversary

Not hesitating, Mara used her hands to lift what she could if her body to finally get on her knees and make another palm strike on Cortana's stomach

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

The palm strike hit Cortana and knocked the wind out of her, but she continued to hold on for dear life. The pain was intense and Cortana felt dizzy from the skull-to-skull impact, the ear-clap, and this most recent attack. Her senses were dulled, so if she let go, then she would have little chance of lasting the fight. She knew that the chances of being defeated were somewhat high, but she was doing this to get better at fighting. Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't going to give up so easily. She may have had a good chance of losing, but she was still going to give Mara everything she had.

(This is just.. a simulation, the pain isn't real. The headache is fake. It's all done by data streaming through your brain, like a dream. Just hold on a little.. bit.. longer.), Cortana thought, fighting to stay in the fight.

As Cortana mentally fought against the pain, she continued to squeeze tighter, hoping that her efforts would be paid off soon. She didn't know how many more hits she could take, but she was ready to find out.

[Kristia]

Helios System Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara looked at the pained AI and took note of the damage she had done "You got determination and it is good, but know your limits" she bately said using her strength to get on one knee and struggled lifting both herself and Cortana

The bioroid focused on the arms that were taking her last breaths and usef her own to hold Cortana's back. In her effort the white haired woman lifted the black hairef one arching on her back to the floor to hit Cortana's head with the surface

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana felt her head hit the ground, and as she hit the ground, her arms jerked tighter. At this point, Cortana's vision was all but gone as her vision was replaced with blotches of red and purple, due to the blunt-force trauma to her head. She had a virtually indestructible skull, but her brain was still vulnerable. After a couple of seconds, Cortana's arms loosened, and she let go.

"I have yet to reach my limits.", Cortana said in determination as she forced herself to quickly stand.

As soon as she let go, Cortana quickly got back up on her feet and swung her fist down towards Mara's torso.

[Kristia]

Helios System Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara quikly rolled on her side to evade Cortana's punch and got in a standing form " Both your hearing and visual senses are dazing around, your body might be next ro indestructible, but your mind ia still human" she said going for quick punches towards Cortana's chest, stomach and face

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

(Minds are immune to punches.), Cortana thought as she felt the first punch connect.

Cortana felt the first punch hit her in the chest, but quickly swung her left arm and knocked away Mara's next punches. She then used her right arm to follow up with a quick punch of her own, towards Mara's stomach.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Mara felt the punch on her stomach and held her breath to resist the pain "Come on Cortana, show your emotions" she said evading the AI´s punchs

("She is strong and that body of hers is augmented to the point of being an armor of high defense, but we haven´t test her emotions") the bioroid thought now going for emotional attacks

While trying to connect side jabs and quick quicks, the golden eyed woman started her new tactic "I wonder how that spartan managed to deal with all those hordes of creatures. He must have faced horros to surpass. Then I wonder, what about you? what ahve you done while he faces impossible missions?"

[S121]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Cortana didn't really know what Mara was trying to do. They were in the middle of a sparring match, and she was asking Cortana what she had done while John fought against hordes of Insurrectionists, Covenant, Flood, and Prometheans. Was it small-talk, or was Mara trying to perform a type of psychological warfare? Wondering what Mara was up to, Cortana went on the defensive and spoke as each one of Mara's punches and kicks approached her.

"I have infiltrated countless electronic and energy-based systems and have given the UNSC countless invaluable documents that helped turn the tide of the war. I have scanned and sifted through countless files from the Halo arrays, infiltrated entire Covenant fleets and have bent their ships to my will. I withstood the tortures The Gravemind inflicted on me, controlled UNSC ships, fought against Rampancy, and even gave my life to save John from death.", Cortana said as her senses slowly came back to the point that she could block each one of Mara's punches and kicks.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur
Cortana's Custom Simulation

Between the combat theey were having, Mara continued with her speech "I see, you have done incredible feats in the war and survived a mental torture from that being, and yes I know about some history of powerful monsters like him. Then again that is the things your original body could do, but what if you were taken out of an electronic port and stood in that small card you lived before? John could fight without his armor and weapons, but what about an AI who has no conection to electronic devices? You even said that you were trapped in that High Charity ship until the soldier saved you. What if he couldn´t make it to get you?" she said with a calm tone

The bioroid was prepared for any reaction comming from Cortana and used her peripheral view to see their surroundings ("Good, no tools around and a clean room") she thought now moving forward risking being hit as she went for a sliding kick