Kelly-087

Kelly-087 is one of the few remaining Spartan-II super soldiers. She is well known due to close friendships with John-117, Linda-058, Frederic-104 and Samuel-034. She was temporarily missing, but was later reunited with the remaining SPARTAN II soldiers (barring John-117) on Onyx. Currently, she and the other surviving Spartan II's and several Spartan III's are trapped in a Micro Dyson Sphere.

Personality and Description
Kelly is notoriously fast, even by Spartan standards. She is the fastest of the all the other Spartans, capable of running at bursts of up to 62 KPH (38.502 MPH), has quicker reflexes than all other Spartans and is even capable of accomplishing normal tasks quickly and more precisely than her fellow Spartans. Before a mission, she had to slow herself down considerably to spar with another Spartan. She has demonstrated an incredible tolerance for pain, as she has been injured quite gravely on several occasions and managed to recover fully each time. When she was younger, Kelly had her hair dyed blue and was taller than John. He eventually outgrew her and her hair colour returned to its natural brown colour. Kelly has a cynical sense of humour and often cracks jokes over her and her team's situation and mission. Her speed has led her to being termed the team's "Rabbit", acting as quick bait to draw enemies into traps laid by the other Spartans.

Early Childhood
Kelly-087 was conscripted into the Spartan-II program at age six in 2517 when she was singled out as a physically and intellectually superior child by Dr. Catherine Halsey. She was abducted from her home and replaced with a Flash Clone, then sent to Reach to begin her training.

Spartan-II Program
On her first day of Spartan training, Kelly was teamed up with John-117 and Sam-034 during a drill at Military Reservation 01478-B. Their team did poorly and finished in last place. They were not allowed to eat that night, but they learned a valuable lesson in teamwork that they would never forget. The next day Kelly showed her true speed by running for a pulley lift, which she reached twice as quickly as John and Sam. This was just the first of many times that her speed would be a key factor in strategies. The three of them became close friends that very same day.

Kelly participated in numerous missions with the Spartans from 2517 to 2525, including to Emerald Cove, Chiron, Military Wilderness Training Preserve and several in the Highland Mountains.

After her Spartan augmentation procedures at the ONI Medical Facility station, Kelly almost died. She was the slowest to recover from the operations, and many of her fellow Spartans were afraid that she would not make it. She did, and her already amazing speed was even further augmented. John-117 noted that she was "...almost uncatchable, no one could touch her if she didn't want them to."

Early Career
Kelly participated in the Spartans' first mission to Eridanus II. She, along with John, Fred, Sam and Linda-058 boarded the Laden and infiltrated Eridanus Secundus. They then captured Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the Eridanus Rebels.

In 2535, Kelly was present at Jericho VII. She was designated as Blue-Two and was at John's side during a mission to kill 1,000 Grunts to avenge the 105th Drop Jet Platoon. However, after 3 days of hard fighting, they were forced to retreat. They later watched the planet be glassed by the Covenant.

In 2552, Kelly was sent to Sigma Octanus IV during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV. She was designated to Blue-Two, which was part of John's team and carried a HAVOK Nuclear Warhead to the Covenant held city of Côte d'Azur. Successful, her team boarded a Pelican and docked with the and returned to Reach.

Reach
She was briefly aboard the in preparation for the Spartans' mission to capture a Covenant Prophet. Unfortunately, the Covenant found Reach first. During the Battle of Reach, she was designated as Red-Two, part of Fred's team. Their mission was to defend the generators for the orbital MAC guns. As their Pelican, Bravo 001, descended to the surface of Reach, it was shot down by plasma fire. The Spartans were then forced to jump from the crashing Pelican. Kelly was apparently injured in this fall though she made no indication of it.

They eventually rallied at ODG Facility A-331. After receiving a message from Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb, Fred assigned her to Team "Alpha", along with himself and Joshua-029. They piloted Banshee fliers to a Covenant landing zone where she threw a Fury Tactical Nuke into the Gravity Lift of a Covenant vessel. Though they successfully destroyed the Landing Zone, Joshua was shot down and later marked as MIA.

She and Fred were then forced to retreat back to Team "Delta"'s position after it appeared that all the Spartans of team "Beta" were killed at the ODG Facility. They were then forced to land, contend with a pair of Hunters, and commandeer Wraith tanks in order to get to CASTLE Base where team "Delta" was hidden. They met up with William-043, Vinh-030, and Isaac-039. The five Spartans were unable to enter the facility until Kelly thought to whisper Oly Oly Oxen Free into the speaker, which opened the door, and it turned out that Dr. Halsey was in the facility.

Kelly's injuries turned out to be life threatening; she had a fever and low blood pressure due to moderate bleeding in her liver, and one of her lungs was completely collapsed. Dr. Halsey noted that it was amazing Kelly was still alive despite these two fatal conditions. "That the woman was still on her feet, let alone fighting, was tantamount to an act of God."

The Covenant attacked immediately and Dr. Halsey was forced to activate Operation: WHITE GLOVE. In addition, she gave the Spartans new MJOLNIR parts which were being field-tested, but had not yet been certified. "Kelly received an improvement to her neural induction circuits, giving her twitch response time a speed boost." The Spartans were then trapped beneath the base for several days until Fred found some Forerunner caves. The five Spartans and Dr. Halsey then discovered the Forerunner Crystal artefact. It sent a spike of radiation that allowed the Covenant to triangulate on the Spartans position and a gravity lift immediately appeared. The group was forced to retreat, but Vinh and Isaac disappeared after their Satchel Charges exploded. Kelly, Fred, Will and Dr. Halsey were then trapped in a cavern for several days until they were rescued by John-117, Anton-044, and Admiral Whitcomb. During the operation though, Kelly was hit by the Fuel Rod Gun of two Hunters as she tried to protect Dr. Halsey. Once again, she was critically wounded. With burns on seventy two percent of her body, she required Dermacortic Steroids to recover.

Kelly was whisked aboard a Spirit and taken to the captured Ascendant Justice/Gettysburg. It took some time for her to heal and while she was sedated, Dr. Halsey brought her aboard the private vessel of Governor Jacob Jiles, the Beatrice(without anyone else's knowledge or permission), which entered Slipspace heading for Onyx.

Onyx
In Halo:Ghosts of Onyx, Halsey and Kelly eventually make it to Onyx, while reuniting with her old teacher SCPO Mendez and eventually some of the remaining SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III soldiers. Kelly, as the fastest Spartan, was bait for the Onyx Sentinels. After the arrival of Linda-058, Will-043 and Frederic-104, the Spartans went on the offensive and destroyed a Sentinel Factory. They then teleported to the Core Room. At this point, a Covenant Army under the command of Fleet Master Voro Nar 'Mantakree arrived. The Spartans held off the army, but Holly-G003 is killed while saving Kelly and Will-043 is also slain saving Kelly from a Hunter pair. Kelly then retreats through a slipspace portal alongside Linda, Dr. Catherine Halsey, Fred and the rest of the surviving Spartan-III's. Kurt stays behind and detonates two FENRIS nuclear warheads to stop the massive Covenant Army. Kelly is then trapped with her fellow Spartans in a Micro Dyson Sphere. .

Possible relationship with John-117
It was been speculated by some fans that Kelly-087 had some sort of romantic relationship with Master Chief. However, evidence is limited to a few facts. On page 78 of The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund, Master Chief thought that Kelly had a "rough, angular beauty". In addition, Kelly and Master Chief had a close bond (the other person the Master Chief was extremely close to was Sam-034, a male). Furthermore, Kelly is said to have "clung" to Chief following Sam's death in Fall of Reach, hinting that Kelly relies on John for emotional support, but she was also close to Sam, and may have had a relationship with him. In addition during their reunion in the aftermath of the invasion of Reach, Kelly immediately reaches out and draws a smile on John's faceplate rather than her own as a Spartan-II would regularly have done, which would suggest feelings of a longing for him over the other Spartans. Lastly, the Starry Night trailer showed that John-117 still remembers clearly what Kelly said when they were children despite over three decades and many battles passing, which shows an unusual importance being placed on Kelly in John's memory.

However, considering that Spartans are likely trained to have such emotions rendered null and void, this love may be more similar to the kind shared between a brother and sister, not romantic in nature.