Layla-B101

"One shudders to imagine what inhuman thoughts lie behind that visor..."

- Layla's ONI Handler, circa 2555

Layla-B101, also known by the callsign of BLUEBELL, was a SPARTAN-III Commando of, serving in the secretive unit for many years during the Human-Covenant War. Having survived the glassing of her planet, Layla was eventually recruited into the program at a young age and was noted for having exceptional qualities among the recruits for Beta Company. After completing more than two specially assigned training missions, she was taken away from her peers in Beta Company, along with several others, and placed into a special training facility on the far side of Onyx, where they underwent a rigorous physical and mental training regime that would see them broken into separate teams after three months.

After the selection process was completed, Layla was paired with Grantley-B130, whom she had gotten on with very well, being the highest matching pair within the 'Headhunter' Unit, which had been whittled down to just seventeen members. Following their augmentations in 2541, the Headhunters were put through another two years of supervised field exercises on Onyx until they were ready to be dispatched into combat, most of them being under ten years old. Layla and the other Headhunters were first deployed in early 2541, being assigned with Grantley on various deep-cover missions behind enemy lines.

In spite of several losses over the years, the Headhunters remained active throughout the war, Layla and Grantley being one of the best teams within the unit, with a knack for both infiltration and evasion while sabotaging Covenant structures behind enemy lines. It is for this reason that the Covenant began deploying Sangheili SpecOps teams to eliminate the Spartan threat, leading to several deaths amongst the unit, though the pair were able to defeat their would-be ambushers on more than one occasion. In 2546, however, while on a mission to sabotage a Covenant refuelling station, Layla was forced to stay behind after a thruster malfunction, urging her partner to escape while she faced certain death against a vastly superior foe.

Her supposed valiant last stand, however, was in vain, as she ended up being captured by the enemy. Rather than face execution, as any normal human would have done, Layla was spared by a Sangheili shipmaster, who brought her back to, as both a prize and a sort of pet. While on the planet, the young Spartan endured years of torture and humiliation at the hands of her captor, who would often speak of Covenant victories over humanity and the massacres that occurred in order to break her spirit. While she tried to remain strong, Layla became slightly unhinged by her ordeal, becoming consumed with revenge against the Sangheili, her captor in particular.

In 2551, while the Shipmaster was away fighting, Layla took her chance to escape from the Keep where she was held, with the help of a young Sangheili whom she had befriended while in captivity. With his help, she was able to stow away on a Covenant capital ship that was departing the planet with a small amount of food and water. Though her accomplice was discovered and almost killed, Layla was able to escape from Sangheilios alive, remaining hidden and emerging only to find food, though in the end she was forced to kill and eat a grunt to stay alive. When the ship arrived at it's destination, a human colony that it began to attack, Layla escaped via a Sangheili orbital insertion pod, killing it's original occupant and making it to the surface unharmed.

Landing in the wilderness of the colony world, she was eventually picked up by a squad of Marines. The Spartan, at this point highly mistrustful and almost feral in her mannerisms, overheard them planning to abandon or kill her. Upon hearing this, she butchered the entire team using a plasma pistol she had stowed away. Layla fled for some time, pursued by Covenant and Human alike, until she was finally caught by a group of ODST's, the leader of whom calmed the former Spartan down until she allowed herself to be handcuffed, and had Layla transported offworld. Once the Office of Naval Intelligence was informed that a SPARTAN-III that had been declared MIA had escaped from enemy captivity, Layla was interrogated extensively on what she knew about the Sangheili homeworld, though she had learned little, and was put through an intense psychiatric workup, the results of which declaring that she was mentally unstable and required rehabilitation.

Layla was finally cleared for active duty in July 2552 around the time of the. Though she did not participate in the battle, she remained within the Epsilon Eridani system on a stealthed prowler, until the order was given to assist the naval ships covering Tribute. Leading a squadron of modified Sabre fighters, Layla assaulted a Covenant CCS-Class battlecruiser, eventually boarding it and storming the bridge. To her surprise, the Shipmaster was the same one who had held her captive for five years. Killing everyone else, the Spartan exacted her revenge on her captor for some time before finally killing him and completing her mission by making the battlecruiser open fire on it's fellows, drawing Covenant attention away from the evacuation fleet while she escaped.

For the remainder of the Human-Covenant War, Layla remained on Earth, fighting against the Covenant when they invaded. Once peace had been officially declared, ONI decided to put the mentally unstable and Elite-hating Spartan to work, sending her in along against isolated enemy outposts. This had the dual purpose of both destroying enemies and disposing of a possibly volatile asset if she were to be killed. In 2556, she was taken to the UNSC Point of No Return, where she met up with Hank-136 and several other supposedly unstable soldiers, being told that they would be sent on deep-cover missions far behind enemy lines, something that Layla, recalling her Headhunter days, gladly accepted.

Early Life
Layla Farkas was born on the outer colony world of Prospect, on April 14th, 2533. The colony was known for it's great prosperity, Layla's parents being quite wealthy. As such, the first few years of her life were spent living in luxury, being given whatever she wished for. This was not to last, however, as in 2537, shortly after her fourth birthday, the Covenant attacked the Colony, alien infantry massacring civilians as they invaded the capital with little resistance. While heading to the spaceport, Layla's parents were gunned down by a Sangheili warrior, who was about to turn his attention to the little girl before a large metallic pod struck the city street metres away.

Once the doors had sprung off, a figure stepped out and, after a brief fight, was able to bring down the alien with multiple shotgun blasts. The man introduced himself to the little girl as an ODST, and offered to take her to safety. Still in shock over the sudden death of her parents, she accepted and travelled with him to the spaceport, the trooper defending her from enemies all the way. Once they had reached the relative safety of the port, which was still defended by UNSC forces, the man removed his helmet and introduced himself properly to Layla as Henry McNair, calming her down as she cried. Eventually, McNair placed Layla on an evacuation ship, waving her a goodbye before heading off into the fray. Though only four years old at the time, Layla never forgot the profound impact that day had on her, and resolved to be just as strong as the trooper who saved her.

Layla spent several months in an orphanage on an inner colony world, mourning the deaths of her parents and interacting with few others. While in the orphanage, she ended up getting into several fights, still being used to getting what she wanted and being perceived as rude and bossy by the other children. This came to a head when she ended up fighting with another girl,, who was a few years older than her. Though the fight was broken up, the two of them had beaten each other almost senseless. After being forced to spend several days in isolation to think about what they had done, Layla and Catherine apologised, and soon became good friends, the former seeing the latter as a sort of big sister.

In 2539, Layla and many others at the orphanage were given the opportunity to get their revenge on the Covenant, agents from the interviewing various children and encouraging them to join up. She accepted, and was brought to Onyx along with 417 others to begin the intense training that would forge them into Spartans.

SPARTAN-III Training
On Onyx, Layla strived to be the best, becoming heavily competitive with the other trainees and often acting alone in training exercises without the help of her team mates. Though it quickly became clear that she was more skilled than the others, her team would constantly do poorly as a whole, leading to a few heated arguments before Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose stepped in and spoke to Layla about the value of cooperation. As she had done with Catherine, Layla apologised to her team and they quickly began to get along better, their overall performance improving.

After half a year of training, Layla, along with nearly two dozen others who had been marked out for having exceptional skill were offered the chance to participate in 'advanced training missions' elsewhere on Onyx. However, this would separate them from the rest of Beta Company. Being given a single day to consider the offer, Layla asked Catherine, now better known as 'Kat' within the company, for advice, not wanting to be separated from her and the rest of Beta for the sake of being put into another unit. Rather than convince her to stay, Kat encouraged Layla to go for it, stating that such chances should never be passed up.

Layla joined the other candidates in these special missions, which were designed to be much more dangerous and difficult than even the regular SPARTAN-III training, leading to several injuries among the participants even on the first day. It was during these missions that Layla first met Grantley-B130, who saved her from a sentry gun's TTR rounds and pulled her into cover while several others flanked and destroyed the machine. Though initially annoyed at the other trainee for saving her out of some kind of personal pride, the two became friends over the next few days as they underwent more training missions, most of which ending in many trainees being 'killed'. It was after surviving two fiendishly difficult ones that washed out many applicants, Layla and the survivors were given the news that they would be transported to another training facility on Onyx for further training, being taken away from Beta Company for good.

Before leaving Camp Currahee, Layla bid farewell to Kat and her friends in Team Foxtrot, handing over command to. That night, she and the other trainees were transported across Onyx to a new training facility, where it was announced that they would be part of a new SPARTAN Operations group, codenamed 'Headhunter'. From there the candidates went through seven months of supervised field exercises, during which data was compiled in order to pair each person with someone suitable. Unsurprisingly, Layla ended up being paired with Grantley, having a match rating exceeding 95%. The next six months were spent in real-world wartime insertions, giving the young Spartans a taste of combat for the first time, albeit from behind enemy lines.

In 2541, along with the rest of the SPARTAN-III Beta Company, the seventeen Headhunters that made up the complete program underwent a that would transform them into Spartans, giving massive boosts to their speed, strength and dexterity. Barely a month after augmentation procedures were completed, the six Headhunter teams were dispatched to their first missions, with the intent of causing as much havoc behind enemy lines as possible.

Headhunter Years
After departing Onyx for the last time, Layla and the Headhunters were put to work for ONI, being given the latest and most advanced gear for their missions. Layla and Grantley became a nigh-unstoppable pair while on missions, inflicting extensive damage to various enemy installations and performing over a dozen successful assassination missions on enemy commanders in various theatres of war, all while remaining in the shadows. The two of them were able to turn the tide of many ground battles from behind the scenes, though like the rest of the SPARTAN-III Project, their actions were never officially documented and acknowledged publicly.

For several years, the Headhunter project proved to be a great success, even with only a handful of operators being active at one time. Layla and Grantley in particular were known to be some of the more lethal operators, both being known for their brutality against the enemy, which was excessive even by SPARTAN standards. While Grantley would cripple enemies before finishing them off, Layla had a penchant for using her combat knife in battle, on Elites in particular. This did not, however, impede their success on the battlefield, but gave the Spartans a reputation amongst the Covenant forces who found their supply lines and bases destroyed afterwards, leading to teams of Sangheili being formed for the specific task of hunting down the Spartans.



In 2545, Layla and Grantley encountered one of these teams while on a mission to destroy a Covenant hydro-processing facility. Layla would have been killed had it not been for Grantley, who had his newly developed VISR technology active, allowing him to take out the first enemy and warn Layla before the Spartans were surrounded. Realising that the poorly-guarded facility had been a trap, the pair managed to escape after a close encounter with Sur 'Ranakee, an Elite SpecOps leader. Though the facility was destroyed after they escaped, the fact that the Covenant were now laying traps for them disturbed Layla somewhat. Even more so when she found out that four other headhunters had been killed in similar ambushes while on missions, though one pair, and, had obliterated their attackers and the surrounding area at the cost of their own lives.

Following this, the remaining Headhunters were forced to act much more cautiously while on missions; while they were sent out on some of the most dangerous operations, each member was deemed more valuable than an average SPARTAN-III. Later that year, Layla received word of the pyrrhic victory during, which had led to the near-annihilation of Beta Company. This came as a shock to her, having seemingly lost her entire family again, including Kat (Layla being unaware of her transfer some time before the mission). During this time, Grantley comforted his grieving partner a great deal and helped her get over their deaths by making her focus her anger on the Covenant, the young woman becoming much more violent as a result.

By the age of thirteen, in 2546, Layla's kill count had amounted to more than that of a company of regular soldiers, with an exemplary service record to match, possible mental issues notwithstanding. Like many of the child soldiers recruited for the SPARTAN-III Program, Layla had an unnaturally high level of aggression and exhibited signs of antisocial behaviour while not speaking to her peers within the unit. This, however, was seen as nothing out of the ordinary by the ONI agents constantly updating and reviewing her file after each mission. The one person who seemed able to keep Layla in check was Grantley, whose calm nature counteracted his partner's violent one.

In July of that year, Layla would participate in her last mission as a Headhunter. She and Grantley were dispatched to a remote Covenant station with orders to destroy it, slowing down the enemy advance into the inner colonies. The pair were inserted via a, and managed to board the station successfully, having less than half an hour to infiltrate the station and destroy it before the oxygen supplies both in their SPI suits and tanks ran out. They would then have to exfiltrate to a nearby prowler using their thruster packs and leave the system after detonating the explosives before any Covenant ships could take notice.

Though this was a difficult mission, even by Headhunter standards, Layla and Grantley boarded the station with little difficulty, and after silently eliminating a nearby security team, set out for the main reactor room. As Grantley planted the C-12 charges, an alarm was inadvertently triggered by Layla. The two of them were able to flee for some distance before strike teams, exclusively made up of Sangheili, attacked the Spartans. During the brief melee, an energy sword sliced Layla's thruster pack, which she threw off before it exploded. Fleeing to their insertion point, the Headhunters faced the problem of Layla not being able to escape.



With only a brief moment of hesitation, Layla offered to stay behind while Grantley escaped to the Prowler. After he took off, the young SPARTAN-III attempted to take down as many elites as she could before dying. Though she did indeed kill over a dozen enemies, when their leader, a gold-clad Officer, knocked her down, he did not kill her, instead deciding to take the human warrrior prisoner. Though this surprised the troops under his command, they did not interfere as Layla was knocked unconscious and brought to his personal dropship. The charges that had been set on the reactors had been disarmed, leading to the mission being a failure for the Headhunters, prompting a full-blown assault several weeks later. When Layla awoke, she was being held in the prison block of a Covenant capital ship, which set a course for the Elite homeworld, Sanghelios.

Prisoner of War
Imprisoned within an enemy keep on an alien homeworld, Layla had very little chance of escaping. Her captor, Deyad 'Marekee, a lesser Kaidon, had decided to keep her alive as both a trophy and a pet while the galactic genocide of humanity continued. The SPARTAN-III was kept in ample conditions within the keep, as Marekee wished to keep her alive and well for the time being. As the only English-speaking Sangheili there, the Kaidon was the only person Layla spoke to for some time, his frequent returns to battle leaving her isolated and alone.

Years passed, Layla living out her existence within the confines of the Keep's dungeon. She never gave up hope, however. On more than one occasion, Sangheili from the keep had attempted to kill or cripple the Spartan, whom they saw as little more than a child. These attempts usually ended badly for her tormentors, there being several deaths on one occasion when she was able to grab the handle of an energy sword. Impressed by the tenacity of his prize, Marekee allowed Layla to spar with others on occasion, those defeated by the human in single combat being disgraced. It was on the fourth year of her imprisonment that Layla met Rora 'Marekee, a young and talented warrior within the keep. The two were evenly matched in sparring, neither one managing to get a vital hit, often fighting until both participants were exhausted and made to stop. He was the single Sangheili whom the Spartan could not beat in single combat.

As the months passed, frequent sparring sessions with Rora led to a mutual respect between the two, leading to many rumours spreading around the Keep that they had become friends. When the Kaidon returned, he was surprised to see how the young Spartan, once regarded as little more than a pet and plaything, had come to be regarded with some amount of respect and even fear by some of the Sangheili there. Enraged, he personally executed several who he saw as too friendly to Layla before almost killing her. She spent several months recuperating, all illusions of the near-normalcy that years in the Keep had given her gone. By the year 2551, Layla finally put a plan in motion to escape Sanghelios for good.

Escape
After weeks of meticulous planning, memorising patrol routes and possible breakout points, Layla made her final attempt at leaving her prison. During the night, she was able to slip out of her cell, having tricked the guard into leaving it unlocked. From there, she made it to the Keep's armoury, taking an energy sword and plasma rifle before coming face to face with Rora 'Marakee. The two clashed in silence for some time, unable to best each other. Eventually, he conceded that she was a worthy opponent, deciding to assist in her escape. While he acquired a, Layla would use a cluster of plasma grenades to destroy a section of the keep to divert attention away from them.

However, Rora was unaware of how badly Layla wished for revenge. Sneaking into the Keep's living quarters, she massacred dozens of Sangheili in minutes, including many women and children, before escaping. Rora was unaware of this as they escaped on the Revenant, fleeing far from the Keep towards a nearby port, where a CCS-Class Battlecruiser was currently docked. It wasn't long before the vengeful Marakee clan began to pursue the escapees, this time with the intent of killing the absent Kaidon's pet for her crimes.

It was not until they reached the port that Layla revealed her actions to Rora, leading to another fight. This time, however, the SPARTAN-III was able to gain the upper hand, wounding but not killing her accomplice and escaping onto a cargo container bound for the ship. When the others did arrive, they confronted Rora, who in a fit of rage killed a dozen members of his own clan before making his escape, being branded as a heretic and traitor for helping Layla. Shortly after, the ship departed Sanghelios with their human stowaway hidden in the cargo hold. Layla was able to break out of her container with ease, ready to do anything to survive the trip home.

Return
On board the supercarrier, Layla quickly expended the meagre supplies she had packed, forcing her to venture out to forage for food. The Spartan, in an almost feral state, killed and ate several Unggoy to survive, keeping to the lower decks of the ship where she would not be discovered. It was around this time that she encountered a group of Huragok, or Engineers, who were responsible for most of the upkeep around the ship. Establishing some form of communication, Layla was able to obtain edible food from the creatures, who also hid her from passing patrols searching for the lost Unggoy.

After some time, the Battlecruiser arrived alongside a small Covenant fleet above Yusaris II, an inner colony world that soon came under attack. While a fleet of UNSC ships engaged the Covenant, Layla saw this as a perfect opportunity to escape, gaining access to the upper decks while searching for a way out. Using a stolen plasma rifle, she was able to shoot her way past any resistance until she came across the launch bay, which dozens of were located. After taking down a Sangheili warrior, Layla stole his pod and, despite the unfamiliar controls, was able to launch, heading straight for the besieged planet's surface.

Layla's pod hit the ground in the middle of one of the planet's jungles, not far from the frontlines. Wearing only basic garments, she got away as fast as she could, before spotting a Covenant patrol heading her way. Not possessing the armour and physical fitness that she had as a Headhunter, Layla evaded them, hiding in a tree for some time before giving a pursuit, a half-charged rifle as her only weapon. Eventually, she caught up to the alien soldiers, who were engaged in a vicious firefight with a Marine fireteam. Sneaking up behind the distracted lance, Layla mowed several down in a stream of plasma fire before attacking, much to the bewilderment of the Marines. As they moved up, they discovered the SPARTAN-III repeatedly stabbing a Sangheili Officer in the neck with it's own energy dagger.

Believing her to be little more than a civilian, the Marines took Layla back to an outpost, where they discussed what to do with her, being so far from the nearest spaceport or refugee camp. Layla, who had been given a spare pair of fatigues to wear, overheard one suggesting that they abandon her and regroup with their company. Frightened and wary, the near-rabid Spartan slipped outside, and stabbed one of the Marines on guard to death. Then, taking his weapon, she proceeded to gun down each and every member of the fireteam, hijacking their warthog and heading in the direction of a besieged human city.

Upon arriving in the city, which had become a warzone, Layla abandoned the warthog and began to creep through enemy lines, avoiding UNSC and Covenant troops alike. Managing to reach the top of a building, she spied Marine Pelicans heading in from what she assumed was the spaceport, and began to make her way over there. Using the escape and evasion skills that she had learned years before, Layla was able to go unspotted for some time, until she eventually reached the UNSC staging area by the Spaceport. While making a dash for cover, however, she was spotted by a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, who pursued her for some time, falling back slightly when she fired at them.

Taking up a position in a bombed-out building, Layla prepared to ambush the advancing troopers, until she herself was caught off-guard by one. A struggle ensued, the unusually strong girl in combat fatigues being able to match the armoured ODST in close combat until his squad arrived, surrounding her. Seeing no way out, Layla, who had not spoken to another human being in five years, finally broke down, sobbing before her captors. Their leader waved the others off, and removed his helmet, introducing himself as Gunnery Sergeant Ash Mitchell. The trooper's general friendly nature reminded her of McNair, who had saved her life after her parents had been killed. The two spoke for some time before Layla allowed herself to be handcuffed, and brought back to the UNSC outpost.

After some basic DNA and service record testing, the Office of Naval Intelligence was informed that one of their top-secret SPARTAN-III's had turned up after years of being presumed as Killed in Action. Layla was taken offworld as a new UNSC Battlegroup arrived, pushing forward and decimating the Covenant fleet. After some time, she was taken to Reach for questioning over her ordeal, and possible reinstatement as a soldier.

Battle of Tribute
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Battle of Earth
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Personality
"I'm having so much FUN! Are you having fun? I am!"

- Layla to Hank-136 in 2561, while butchering a rebel stronghold