Infinity Combat Training
Spartan Anderson ducked his head under the cover of the partially obliterated cement wall that he was hiding behind as glowing tracers whizzed by. "Need covering fire on this position!" Anderson yelled into his helmet's built in speaker, highlighting the position of the enemy machine gunner on the HUD of his squad mates. Clutching his M7 Submachinegun closely to his chest, he leaped across the room to a nearby piece of cover. He caught two rounds in his torso during the maneuver, deflected by his shields by causing them to deplete.
"Shit!" Anderson cursed. The simulated battle had been raging for the past half an hour, two teams of 80 Spartan IVs pitted against each other in a virtual urban environment, with the objective being the intel in the enemy team's base. Spartans were separated into squads of four, with each Spartan having four restarts, each time a Spartan successfully penetrated the shielding system of his target's armour and put a round through, his victim would be teleported back to their base, once all restarts are used up, the Spartan would be released from the simulation and allowed to spectate the remainder of the battle.
Both teams had been forced into a stalemate when both sides clashed in the center of the map, a large open area surrounded by small apartment complexes on either side; the perfect killzone for enemy snipers and machine gunners. The enemy team wore the colour red, and conversely Anderson's team was clad in blue MJOLNIR GEN 2 Power Armour. The simulation perfectly captured all the features of the armour system in real life, allowing for a whole suite of Heads Up Display icons that allowed electronic targeting systems to be intergrated with whatever weapon the user was carrying, shield power indicators, ammunition indicators, allied positions, etc. The armour also drastically increased the user's durability and stamina on the battlefield, the shielding system could take several 7.62mm armour piercing rounds before failing. Nanobots integrated into the suit's systems could repair the suit and heal non-fatal injuries over longer periods of time, though that feature wasn't of much usefulness amidst a heated firefight.
Anderson's opponent was a Red team Spartan holed up in an Apartment opposing his position, the building Anderson was in was nearly completely stripped of its walls due to a continuous barrage of gunfire and grenades from the opposing team. Peeking his head out of cover to return a barrage of lead from his SMG, Anderson saw the Spartan's amour explode in a flash of gold energy, indicating that his shields has depleted, a sniper's shot had found its mark on his adversary's visor, leaving a vapour trail along the trajectory the bullet took.
"Many thanks for the backup Rivera." Anderson murmured into his speaker. "You're welcome." the squad's sniper replied, Anderson sensed a smirk in her reply. "Perez I need you to meet me at this position," Anderson marked a point on the squad's map, "I'm going in to wreck their flat."
"Alright. I'll be there ASAP." Perez replied over the voice coms. Anderson made his way down to from the top floor to the first, jumping down all four stories and slowing his descent with the built in thruster packs in his suit. "Perez!" he shouted as his another blue Spartan ran up to him, the holographic display on his visor designating him as 'SPARTAN PEREZ'. The two bumped fists as Anderson briefed him on the plan. Anderson and the other infiltrators from Alpha, Charlie and Echo squad would go around through the enemy's block undetected, while support gunners filled the square in between the buildings and deploying hardlight shields to keep the attention away from the breachers. The Infiltrators would have to move quickly before the enemy completely vapourized the gunners out of cover and detected the infiltrators wandering within their base.
Infiltrators were equipped with a Suppressed M7 Caseless Submachinegun that could put out a monstrous 900 5mm caseless FMJ rounds per minute, however the small size of the weapon led to it having considerably recoil and being useless beyond close ranges. The bullets from an SMG were also rather poor at depleting enemy shields, usually requiring a third of its 60 round magazine to down an opponent. For sidearms, they were given standard issue Misriah Armoury M6H Handguns equipped with suppressors. It fired massive .50 Caliber Magnum rounds that obliterated enemy shields and easily shredded armour. It was even effective out to medium range due to integration with the suit's electronic visual magnification system, though the shortcoming of the weapon was its small magazine size of a pitiful 8 bullets. For equipment, Infiltrators were equipped with a standard 20 centimeter high carbon steel combat knife, EMP grenades, laser detector trip mines, an active camouflage unit and a decryption device that contained a dumb AI. VISR technology allowed the Spartans to make out their allies even when cloaked, allowing them to continue communication via gestures.
Moving into the enemy's stronghold, Anderson's suit flickered and turned translucent, mimicking his surroundings and he signaled to the other three cloaked Spartans that the room was clear. Moving down the corridor, he slowly pushed another door open, revealing two red Spartans who were busy restocking ammunition from a storage locker. Anderson stepped slowly to the nearest Spartan, he pulled out his knife and grabbed the Spartan by the helmet, slamming him to the ground and pushing twenty centimeters of steel through his shields and armour and into his chest. The Spartan stopped struggling, his body dissolving into blue particles that in turn dissipated. The second Spartan whipped around, assault rifle at the ready, blindly unleashing a spray of 7.62 rounds that pinged off of Anderson's armour, deactivating his camouflage. Echo fired two shots from his side arm, both connecting with the red Spartan's helmet, killing him.
"Clear." Anderson said, reactivating the suit's cloaking device, once again disappearing from view. "We should move fast Bravo. They will have heard the gun fire from the unsuppressed weapon." Alpha whispered over the com channel. Anderson nodded in reply. Placing trip mines on both exits to the room, the Spartans continued through the building. Exiting from the back door, they strode into the sunlight.
"BZZZTT!" arcs of electricity enveloped the Spartans, Anderson's HUD flashed momentarily being fizzling out into static, his camouflage overloaded and deactivated, as did his suit's shielding. "SHIT!" Echo shouted, they were surrounded by half a dozen red team Spartans that immediately opened fire with Assault rifles. Rolling aside, Anderson felt a dull pain as the simulation registered a round catching him in the shoulder. He leaped from the ground and pounced onto the nearest red Spartan, emptying an SMG magazine into his opponent's chest, he sidestepped as the other Spartans turned to direct a hail of projectiles at his position. Armour piercing rounds riddled the spot he occupied just a split second ago.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Echo charged forward, planting his fist into the face of an enemy. The Spartan's visor cracked and shattered has the force of Echo's punch knocked him off his feet, taking him out of the fight in brilliant flash of blue light. Anderson wrenched the weapon out of his attacker's arms, raising it high into the air and bringing the butt of the rifle down on his enemy's skull, smashing through the thick layer of shielding and armour before unleashing a torrent of bullets that tore into the remaining two Spartans, taking them out. Anderson's team had taken two casualties, meaning he and Echo would have to make a dash for the enemy base.
"Attention. Ten minutes remaining. Drawing will result in the lowest five squads on each team being eliminated from this season of War Games." the simulation AI announced. "Fuck. We've gotta get there soon or this isn't gonna end well." Anderson cursed into his helmet. Echo looked towards the building in the distance that had a holographic projection of a red flag above its roof. "Well we aren't far now are we?"
Both Spartans sprinted off for the objective, their armoured boots digging into the concrete ground, leaving small craters in their wake. As Anderson approached the building, he heard the all too familiar hiss of tracer rounds hissing past his helmet. Letting his shields take the brunt of the attack, he continued onward, smashing down the door of the building. His HUD highlighted the room containing the objective. Kicking the door open, he released his sidearm's clip into the face of the Spartan guarding the intel. Shoving the decryption device he shoved the AI decryption device into the enemy team's computer in triumph.
"Error, upload signal jammed." the AI in his suit replied to his actions. "What the fuck?" Echo shouted, before the crack of a pistol shot filled the room. Anderson spun around to see the barrel of an unsuppressed magnum pressed up against his visor, with two other red team Spartans aiming their assault rifles at him.
"Well shit." Anderson sighed before his enemy's sidearm flashed and the simulation faded to blackness.