Summary continued: only, it turned out, the alien hegemony known as the Covenant have discovered humanity's military stronghold, and have swiftly attacked with numerous warships and soldiers. This is the story detailing the events of what happened on Reach (glossed over, mostly, and my own interpretation), and what happens afterwards.
This is an Alternate Universe of my creating where all of Noble Team survive. Meaning the fact that they survived is a Thing. Please don't hate on me just for that fact alone. I didn't like the fact that all these new characters died after they were just introduced.
...I just hope I did everyone justice.
A/N: **Chapter title taken from Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin, part of Halo 2's soundtrack
Please note that this is HIGHLY CANON DIVERGENT. Meaning, a lot of things will either a) conflict with canon, or b) not be part of canon at all whatsoever.
Don't hate on me with reasons such as "oh, such-and-such didn't die" or "they couldn't POSSIBLY survive something like that", or "such-and-such wouldn't act like that". This is an AU, built up on a lot of headcanons, as well as the wild imaginings of my brain. Meaning that a lot of the time, the characters WILL BE OOC. Don't judge me on that, okay? It doesn't matter if they're OOC - these guys weren't exactly very developed characters in canon, and this is MY interpretation on how they think and how they act. If you don't like it, then don't read the story - simple as that! No need for any unnecessary hate.
Also, my Noble Six is female (which is already diverging from canon, as officially, Six is male), named Artemis Fox, and was created as a clone of the Master Chief by ONI. It's just my interpretation of how Six gained the same rating - hyper-lethal vector - as one of the greatest soldiers in history (well, for Halo, anyway). If you have a problem with it, fine. Just don't whine to me about it.
We good?
Cool!
So go ahead, read the story, leave a like if you enjoyed it, and feel free to leave a comment - just no hate, because that's mean, and I don't like dealing with mean people!
This is, in fact, a soft reboot of the original series (which I have left up, for those who have enjoyed it and would like to read it, or those who happen to come across it and read it for the first time! I'm not cruel, you know) From Team To Family, hence the almost-same title. I...have hit too many roadblocks with that first series (particularly the first story), and thus, I have decided on what I'm calling a "soft reboot". Not the same as a "hard reboot", where EVERYTHING changes...here, most of the ideas (such as everyone living, the team bonding as a family, escaping Reach and striking out on their own, etc. etc.) will remain the same, as well as the plotlines. A lot of OTHER things, however, will be rather different. I've noticed that my writing has improved a LOT since I started this entire series last year (nearly the same time of year, too!), and, well...I just couldn't continue it any more. Too many things didn't read well, or felt too clunky, or just downright "off"...and so, here is the soft reboot.
I...hope you guys enjoyed this as much as the original - perhaps more!
Olympic Tower (ONI HQ), City of New Alexandria, Eposz, Planet Reach, Epsilon Eridani system, August 23rd, 2552
Jorge was dead.
Artemis-B312 wasn't sure what to make of that. Jorge had been like an older brother of sorts to her, and she'd been quick to reciprocate, and now he was just...gone. He'd sacrificed himself for her to detonate the slipspace drive bomb, and he was gone. Mostly, she just felt numb.
The Covenant was glassing New Alexandria.
She'd seen it, flying on a mission for Kat, out the windshield of the Falcon. Battlecruisers, swinging into position overhead, before lances of fire poured out of their glassing ports, decimating whatever was in their path. Sometimes, it had been too close for comfort, and the Troopers sitting gunner made noises of alarm.
Green-blue orbs observed her teammates keenly, the dogtags of their fallen member clutched in the palm of her gauntleted right hand.
The Lieutenant Commander – Kat, second in command, cryptanalyst, her best friend – had her head down, working on getting a link to SATCOM up for Carter. There was grime on the older Beta Spartan's features, and she looked weary, but determined to finish what she was doing. Artemis noticed that she had her weight kept off the left leg as much as possible, and she'd guessed that that was when the Covies had burst into Olympic Tower, taking the Spartan by surprise.
With knees bent, forearms resting loosely over them, seated on the floor, back braced against a riser behind him, the Warrant Officer – Emile, assault specialist, angry bastard – looked completely at ease. Casual, like he was simply relaxing off-duty, rather than awaiting fresh orders. His kukri knife was held loose in his right hand, and the grinning skull on the visor of his EVA helmet glowed eerily in the faint, murky light streaming in from the windows.
The other Warrant Officer – Jun, marksman and scout, too chatty – sat on the edge of a balustrade, pair of binoculars in his hands, watching the goings-on of the Covenant in the city high above them. He was, unusually silent, save for when he'd remarked Artemis' arrival with a, "Hey, you made it."
Of course, Emile had retorted sarcastically that it was a regular family reunion, and she'd heard a dry snort from Kat. He never knew just when to keep his mouth shut, and he was always masking his emotions with humour. Artemis idly wondered if he missed big ol' Jorge; she could never quite tell if he hated the man, or respected him, albeit grudgingly.
The redhead loosened her hand, allowing Jorge's dogtags to tangle down in full view, and Emile shook his head, sounding more subdued when he said, "Keep 'em. He gave 'em to you. I'll honour him my own way." He waved his kukri for emphasis, pointing it at himself, and shook his head again.
"Jorge always said he would never leave Reach." Jun chimed in with his own comment, gaze falling away from the window as he glanced over his shoulder to look at the rest of the team.
Emile then chuckled, and everyone's heads turned to him, wondering just what it was he had to say this time – and why he would dare laugh at such a melancholic statement.
"The big man was sentimental..." he uttered, shaking his head again.
Carter – Commander, team leader, hard to get a read on – frowned, blue eyes dulled by exhaustion sharpening at his subordinate. "He gave his life thinking he just saved the planet. We should all be so lucky." He pushed himself off the trashed Banshee he'd been leaning on, and wandered over to the window, one hand curling into a fist at his side.
There was silence yet again. It was like nobody knew how to hold a conversation, now that Jorge was gone. He had been the glue that had held them all together – at least, it seemed that way to Artemis, and she'd never been the best at reading people.
Of course, it was Jun, ever talkative, who broke the silence. "Sir, that true about Gauntlet, Red, and Echo Teams assigned to civilian evac ops?"
That made the Commander irritated. He whirled, rounding on Kat, features contorting into a scowl. He knew she'd been the one to leak such information, and it was quite clear that he wasn't very happy with his XO poking her nose into business that wasn't hers, nor relating to her or the others of Noble Team. "Those are senior-level communiqués..."
"I hear what I hear," Kat lifted one shoulder in a shrug, glancing at Carter. She obviously didn't care that she was getting into trouble for the umpteenth time. "Point is, why put Spartans on defensive deployments?"
Here we go again...
Artemis resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn't like the others could see her expression anyway. Instead, she settled for a quiet huff that would have carried through her helmet's external speakers, and crossed her arms over her chest, after stuffing Jorge's dogtags into one of the pouches on her chestplate.
"I need that link to SATCOM, Kat." Carter's jaw tightened, and he shifted his grip on the helmet tucked under his arm.
"Chasing it, but this console's got more shrapnel in it than transceivers..." Kat shrugged both shoulders this time, and the gesture was a lot more noticeable. She was evidently more focused on finding out why three teams of Spartan-IIIs were protecting civilians, rather than fighting the Covenant than they themselves were. "...You didn't answer my question."
"You wanna know if we're losin'?" the Alpha's gaze drifted back to his second-in-command. Perhaps he wanted to clarify just what it was that she was asking. After all, she could have meant a number of different things, any one of them requiring a different response.
"I know we're losing!" Kat shifted half her body around, hostility in every line of her armoured form. Her own temper was flaring, and to Artemis, it looked like she was holding back from saying more than that. More...colourful...things. "I want to know if we've lost."
The redhead tuned them out, although she couldn't help her gaze shift between the pair when Carter moved closer, snatching a communicator out of the pile and moving back towards the window. She didn't know what was happening at this point, and she honestly didn't care. So long as it didn't directly involve her, then it was none of her business. It would only be her business if Colonel Holland was giving them new orders.
Until then, she would try to think, maybe take a minute to breathe—
"We got movement. Multiple Covenant vehicles vacating the area... and they're in a hurry." Jun sounded on edge, peering through the binoculars again, and leaning forwards.
Artemis' head snapped towards him, before she looked at Emile, seeing him bracing himself to get to his feet, as he muttered, "How often you see Covenant retreat for no reason?"
What the hell?
"Radiation flare! Big! Forty million roentgens!" Kat exclaimed, staring with a horrified expression at her datapad, which displayed a Geiger counter on the screen.
That couldn't have been right. Just how close were the alien bastards?
Carter turned to them, still grasping the communicator in one hand. "Just lost Holland. What's going on?" He wanted answers.
"Atomic excitement scrambled the signal. Ninety million now!" The Lieutenant Commander sounded frantic, anxious, her words coming out rushed.
The fuck- oh no, oh no...please don't let it be what I think it is-
"Source?" Carter demanded, snapping into Artemis' thought train.
"Airborne. Close!" Kat looked up at him, and there was raw fear in her azure eyes.
Fuck. Fuck!
"How close?" Sierra 259 wanted clarification.
The room lit up with a blinding flash, and a shockwave shattered the windows with explosive force, wind howling through the room. Jun was flung to the ground, binoculars forgotten, alarm on his face. Carter dove to the ground, his helmet discarded in the process, and Artemis shoved Kat to the floor beside her, because the cryptanalyst was too stunned to move.
The Covenant were all but right outside the building, and they were glassing the surrounding area.
"THAT CLOSE!" The Lieutenant Commander had to shout above the noise, and her ears must have been ringing, because she remained on her hands and knees while the others got to their feet, her head swinging from side to side.
Artemis scrambled to her feet, and hauled Kat up with her, lingering a moment so that the other Beta could grab her helmet, before they ran together for the second elevator. "C'mon, c'mon..." she muttered; it was the best she could muster for encouragement at this point in time. Everything was happening too suddenly, and she was struggling to process it all.
It took Kat a couple of tries to hit the elevator button, the doors finally closing and the capsule sliding down the tube. The anxiety had been infectious; it was as clear as day to Artemis, when her friend asked, "First glassing?"
"That, and it's my home city." the redhead answered quietly, her gaze unfocusing for just a few moments as the realization of that sunk in. It wasn't just that the Covenant had to raze it, oh no. They wanted to burn the place to the ground, and turn it into a hellscape, too. She couldn't help it when her hands curled into fists at the thought of the aliens up there in their ships, laughing and making noises of glee as they rained fire from above.
You damn bastards... first you take my teammate, and now you take my home town. You won't dare take Reach from us, too. We'll send you scampering, with your tails tucked between your legs.
...Not that you have tails, but...metaphor.
"Me too," Kat uttered. She kept talking rapidly, anxiety getting the better of her, and not knowing how to slow down. "Don't worry, I'm on it. Our best option is a fallout bunker on Sublevel 2, ninety-six metres northeast. We get orders from Holland, Sir?"
"We're being redeployed to SWORD Base." Even Carter was not quite as cool in the face of pressure as he'd always been since she'd first met him. The feelings of unease had infected the lot of them, and no wonder. Sure, they'd likely experienced glassings before, but this close? That was unlikely.
"SWORD?! Covenant own it now!" Jun sounded incredulous. She couldn't see the marksman's face, but she knew that his expression would be a mixture of bewildered and frustrated.
"Which is why they want us for a torch-and-burn op. Keep Doctor Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands." His voice faded somewhat with distance, and Artemis caught the thud of their elevator landing, followed by the hiss of the doors opening.
"If it hasn't already." Kat responded. Now it was their turn; the second the doors slid open, Artemis sprinted towards cover across the room, giving her teammate a nudge to get her to move faster.
Something didn't feel right. That open space above their heads...the damaged roof... even if Jun had stated all of the Covenant vehicles had retreated, what if one had been left behind? What if there was a lone sniper up there, ready to take out any humans scrambling for cover?
Carter didn't dismiss her concerns, but acknowledged them. "Maybe, but according to Holland, the Covenant are still hunting for something." He and the other two turned, waving the lagging Betas to join them under cover. To safety, a hiding place for who-knows-how-long.
The faint hum of a Phantom's engines were picked up by the audio receptors in Artemis' helmet, faintly heard above the roaring from the Battlecruisers overhead.
Shit!
"Where does he get off calling a demolition op Priority One-?" Kat stopped talking the moment Artemis gave her a shove towards the floor, a splitsecond before a needle sliced through the air where she'd been just moments before. A second shot rang out, and it punched through the back of Artemis' thigh, but she didn't take notice at that moment, instead drawing her Magnum and firing up at the Field Marshal that hung out the side of the dropship high above them.
Springing into action, their teammates came out of cover, and opened fire on the bulbous purple craft with their MA37s. Apparently, the pilot of that ship decided that they weren't worth the effort, and the ship drifted off, the Elite's shields flaring as they recovered.
Jun stepped forwards and helped Kat to her feet, backing towards the doors of the fallout bunker. Emile followed them, assault rifle still pointed to the gap in the roof, and Carter crouched before Artemis, helping her to her feet. "Up you get, Spartan, come on."
The Beta attempted to take a step forward, but her leg gave out from under her, and she crumpled to the ground in an unceremonious heap, biting back a cry of pain. That was when it became apparent to her that she'd taken a hit from the Elite, and she growled in frustration, before allowing Carter to wrap his arm under her armpits and help her limp into the bunker, the door sliding shut behind them.
"Let me take a look." The bigger Spartan eased her to the ground, and crouched in front of her, taking his helmet off so that it wouldn't obstruct him in viewing the wound. "Kat, flashlight? This place is too dark to see properly." There was a flurry of movement, followed by a thin, powerful beam of light that glanced off her visor for just a second, before it was directed downwards. Artemis had to force herself to remain still when Carter gently probed at the wound; she gritted her teeth, and rumbled a quiet warning growl when he got too much into her personal space, which caused him to lean back, muttering an apology.
The Beta waved him off. "Sorry. Just – proximity alarm went off in my head, and I'm kind of...stressed. How does it look?"
"Well," the flashlight clicked off, and Carter moved away further, though still close by, and seated himself on the concrete. "It went clean in and out, I'd say, because there's Biofoam on either side of your leg. And a hole in both sides of your thigh armour plating. Not gonna lie, Lieutenant – it isn't pretty. I don't think anything's detonated in there, although a couple of slivers of blamite might have rubbed off as the needle passed through."
"Just what I needed." Artemis muttered, taking off her helmet and settling it onto the ground nearby. If it was a wound bad enough to have needed that much Biofoam... well... no wonder she was starting to get drowsy. Sometimes it messed with her body's systems and caused her to fall asleep; she wasn't one hundred percent sure why, but she had a feeling it had to do with the fact that her biology wasn't entirely...normal. She ran a hand through her unruly hair, and blew out a whooshing sigh, her eyelids already beginning to droop.
Stupid split-lip...
She crawled over to Carter, since he was the closest Spartan to her, and almost as soon as she dropped her head to rest on his shoulder, she was fast asleep. She couldn't have fought it – she was already exhausted from going non-stop since Operation: UPPER CUT, and the injuries she'd sustained falling from space had taken their toll, as well as the new wound now. She'd kept her head up for long enough, and now that the chance to sleep had finally been granted, she took it, and latched on as tight as she could.
She would wake when it was time for the fighting to continue.