[Center][Color=maroon][h1][u]Spartan Rex-G124[/u][/h1][/color][/center]

Another Pelican made its way through Sydney's skies,touching down outside of UNSC HIGHCOM. As soon as the dropship's ramp touched the ground, a tall, armored figure stepped out into the sunshine, flanked by a single, unaugmented soldier. He immediately felt eyes on him. Spartans always caught people's attention, it was a fact that he had come to accept. He didn't like it, but he accepted it. However…

[I]Why the gaudy paint scheme?[/I] he thought. The Spartan's armor had either been a plain, olive green, or black. [I]I look like a damn hingehead.[/I]

"That's the point," came a feminine voice, partly through his helmet's internal speakers, partly through his neural interface. "Though, minus the slur. You'll have to bite your tongue and watch your language. The last thing we need is you angering a teammate during a firefight." The Spartan sighed, keeping his external speakers off.

"I know, I know, Suiko," he said. "Don't know why you even argued I should be part of this team." The AI's avatar, a young woman dressed in a simple kimono and a red and white fox mask, popped up in the corner of his HUD.

"My sole purpose right now is monitoring your mental state, and trying to prevent any violent outbursts. Consider this part of your therapy." The dumb AI's tone had the typical calculated tone of others of her kind, but there were hints of emotions in her tones at times. "But, yes, the reason we changed your armor's color scheme is to help with relations between the Swords of Sanghelios. Wear their colors, and maybe they'll be a bit friendlier."

"Last I checked, the Covvies have more subtle armor color schemes."

"Refer to them as 'Swords' when speaking about them. And speaking of…"

Suiko set a waypoint, and Rex turned his head. He was more than a little shocked to see, of all things, a [I]Hunter[/I] walking around Sydney. Given its armor scheme and the ODSTs around it, it was safe.

Hopefully.

He could also see a Grunt and an Elite, but Rex had expected that. "Your heart rate and adrenaline just spiked," Suiko said. "They're blues."

"Reds."

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor."