Noble Six wasn't long for this world. That much was obvious. She didn't need the brains of Kat, Noble Two, to know this much. Even for a Spartan, a fight against an endless onslaught of aliens alone and coming out of it alive would be impossible. However, her current objective was to survive. Nothing more, nothing less. And Noble Six would give the Covenant hell before she failed her objective.
She slid behind a broken wall as a barrage of plasma rounds sizzled overhead. She looked down on the ammo counter on her rifle, an M392 DMR. Frowning at the two zeros that were displayed on the holographic screen, she reached down to her side for a new magazine, only to find that her magazine pouch was empty.
The DMR was tossed onto the ground. While there were some that had a personal attachment to their weapons, like Jorge to his customized M247H HMG, Emile to his kukri, and some pilots to their birds, Six was not one of them. Her history wouldn't allow her to keep a single weapon on her for more than two missions at a time.
Looking around her, she saw the fallen body of a Spartan in dark purple armor resting against the same wall she was crouching behind. Lying next on the ground next to the Spartan were two weapons that nearly brought a smile onto her face - an M45 Tactical Shotgun and an MA37 Assault Rifle. She quickly made her way over to the body.
"My thanks…" Six looked for the Spartan's tag. "Spartan 451. I'll see you in Hell."
After checking Spartan 451's body for any spare ammo and making sure that the shotgun was loaded, she slung it over her back. She then picked up the assault rifle and immediately noticed the ammo counter displaying the numbers "02". While ejecting the near empty magazine, she took out one of the two MA37 clips that she found on 451's body. With a fresh magazine in hand, she slapped it into her assault rifle with a satisfying clack.
Six took in a deep breath. She lost track of how much time passed since she delivered the Package to Captain Keyes. Of how much time passed since she watched Emile, Noble Four, get stabbed by a Zealot-class Elite. Of how much time since the Pillar of Autumn broke orbit, effectively making her one of the last, if not the last, human that was remaining on Reach.
This wasn't the first time that she was on a mission by herself - should anyone read her files, rather, should anyone be able to read what wasn't covered in black ink by ONI, they would know that she ran almost all of her missions solo. However, this was most definitely the first time that a "lone wolf" mission made her truly feel as if she was alone. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the bodies of fellow Spartans in MJOLNIR armor and UNSC Marines littered the battlefield.
Half a dozen red dots appeared on her motion tracker. Four were approaching from the other side of the wall she was crouched behind, while another two were coming from the opposite side in a flanking maneuver. Simple logic made Six want to go after the two flanking targets first, but her gut told her otherwise. At their current speed, the two would reach the other four Covenant in six seconds.
Trusting her gut like the countless times before, she peeked over her cover and quickly ducked back under as a burst of green plasma rounds flew by. In the short time that she peeked out of cover, she was able to spot three Grunts and the circular shield of a Jackal. Easy pickings.
Fix seconds.
Six kicked off the ground and vaulted over the broken wall.
Four seconds.
Her finger pressed down on the trigger twice. Two short bursts from her rifle before her feet touched the floor, and two of the Grunts fell to the ground with new holes in their skulls.
Three seconds.
She sprinted forward at the remaining Covenant as they desperately fired off their plasma pistols. Most of the shots missed, but a few lucky shots managed to hit the Spartan.
Two seconds.
Her shields dropped to half, as indicated by the transparent blue bar that was at the top of her HUD. She lunged forward, her fist slamming into the Jackal's shield with enough force for it to short circuit and fizzle out.
One second.
Grabbing onto its lengthy neck, she tore its plasma pistol from its claws and fired it at the terrified Grunt before snapping the Jackal's neck.
Zero seconds.
She wheeled around and brought up the Jackal's body in front of her, using it as a meat shield against the round of plasma shots that would've hit her. The putrid stench of the Jackal's hide burning from the plasma filled the air, and Six's helmet filters immediately started to cleanse the air that she was breathing.
Six threw the Jackal's burning corpse at approaching aliens. A strong wind blew through the area, kicking up a storm of dust. She used the rust-colored cloud to her advantage as she sprinted towards her left. Her eyes watched the motion tracker from her peripherals. Her targets were still moving towards the spot where she was originally, blinded by the dust cloud.
'Perfect', she thought.
She slung her assault rifle over her back and took out her combat knife. After she was behind her targets, she made a rush towards them. She was able to make out the hazy silhouettes of two Covenant Elites, their best of the best.
She leapt into the air, grabbing onto the Elite's back and plunging her knife into its neck before it could even react, and jumped back onto the ground. Unfortunately, at that very moment, the wind died down and the dust settled, and the second Elite saw her.
The Elite roared as it pulled out an Energy Sword. Six quickly backstepped to avoid a swing that would've sliced her in two, MJOLNIR armor and all.
Twirling her knife in her hands, Six ducked underneath another swing and elbowed the Elite in the chest. At least, that was her plan. Instead of her elbow hitting the Elite's unarmored waist, she took a heavy blow to the side of her helmet. Her shields took the brunt of the hit, but the blow still had enough force to break her shield and throw her off balance. The Elite's knee slammed into her faceplate, causing a large crack to split down her visor, and Six jumped backward, but was a little too late as the Elite swung its sword once more. The superheated blade easily burned through her chestplate, causing sparks to fly from her armor, but luckily enough, the blade didn't reach her skin.
Her back suddenly felt as if it was on fire. Six had gotten so caught up with the Elite that she didn't pay attention to her motion tracker, and she mentally chastised herself. Nine more red dots appeared all around her, three of which were behind her.
She heard the whine of a plasma rifle firing, and she rolled to the right. The plasma rounds harmlessly sailed past her, and as she got up, she threw her knife at the Elite that was holding onto the energy sword. The knife hit home, landing in the very center of its chest, and a second later, its chest was ripped apart from a single round from Six's shotgun.
Six pivoted on her foot to face the nearest threat, an Elite with elaborate silver armor, signifying its rank as what ONI classified as an Ultra. The Elite was running at her with an Energy Sword in hand, and Six quickly aimed her shotgun and fired. The Ultra's shields held. She fired again, and the Ultra's shields flared, then faded, but it continued its mad dash at Six.
More red dots appeared on her motion tracker. She didn't bother counting them since she had more pressing matters at the moment, mainly the Elite Ultra that was hellbent on killing her.
She fired off another round, but the Elite anticipated it and was able to bend its body forward at a near-impossible angle while continuing its rush. It swung its sword upwards, slicing off half of the shotgun and nearly cutting off Six's hand in the process.
Dropping the broken shotgun instantly, Six leapt backward and unslung her assault rifle, firing the moment she was able to place her sights on the Elite. Without the energy shield in the way, the bullets easily punctured the Elite's armor, and it collapsed onto the floor, dead.
There was a shower of plasma rounds from her right. While most of them missed, a couple bolts crashed into her shoulder. Her shoulder flared in pain, but she tossed the feeling into the depths of her mind as she did countless times before. Thinking of it would only slow her down, and she couldn't afford that at this moment.
She rolled to the side to avoid another hail of plasma. The moment she had both feet planted on the ground, she kicked forward with all her strength. The Grunt that was unfortunate to be in her way ended up with its skull-shattering from Six's elbow. She pulled down on her trigger once more, sending a wave of deadly metal at two Jackals. Unfortunately, they were smart enough to place their shields side by side, and Six's bullets harmlessly bounced off the shields. Not wanting to waste any more bullets on the Jackals, she pulled out a fragmentation grenade, the last one she had, and lobbed it at the aliens. The grenade landed behind the shield wall, detonated, and the Jackals' body parts were thrown about the air.
There was a brief moment of silence. Six took full use of that as she quickly ran behind a rock to let her shields recover. Seconds passed and Six realized something was wrong. The shield indicator on her HUD remained blank, and that infernal beeping noise in her helmet wasn't sounding. Then it dawned on her.
Her energy shield system was dead.
Six clicked her tongue in annoyance, a rare burst of emotion from the Spartan. Not having a shield wouldn't change much; she just had to be a little more careful, that's all.
She glanced at her ammunition counter display.
'Fifteen shots left, one spare mag,' Six thought to herself as she counted her assets. 'Magnum has a full clip. Nothing left after that.'
She threw herself from the rock when a bright ball of blue landed by her feet. A second later, the plasma grenade detonated, causing bits of rubble and dirt to pelt her armor. The electromagnetic detonation caused her HUD to flash momentarily with static, and her motion tracker flickered once, then faded from view.
More plasma rounds rained down on her, and Six immediately started to run while firing her assault rifles at her nearest aggressors. Her rifle clicked empty, and Six quickly ejected the magazine and slapped in a new cartridge. And then she heard the distinct roar of a Covenant Wraith's plasma mortar in the distance.
From her experience, those Wraith blasts were terrifyingly accurate, and the shooter would've no doubt aimed for where she would be had she continued forward. As such, she slammed her boots into the ground and jumped backward, away from where she anticipated the mortar shot to land.
And it worked. For the most part.
Six was able to dodge the mortar's point of impact, but was unable to escape the blast radius that accompanied it. She felt as if she was hit by one of the Brutes' gravity hammers as she was ragdolled through the air. Pain and heat washed over her in tandem, and her armor's internal heat levels spiked to dangerous temperatures. Her HUD blinked in and out of existence and she landed painfully on her back. Her body rolled across the ground until she finally came to a stop.
Six saw nothing but darkness. She tried blinking a few times in an attempt to restore her vision, but nothing happened.
Was she dead?
She tried moving her arm and winced when it flared in pain. But that was good. Pain meant that she was still alive.
She reached up and hit the safety switch on her helmet to manually disable her HUD. Her visor flickered a couple times, and then her vision returned. What greeted her was the belly of a Covenant cruiser, hanging in low orbit, and it was getting ready to glass the entire area beneath it.
Ignoring the agonizing screams from her body, Six managed to rise to her knees, ignoring the sinking feeling that was in her stomach. If and when that cruiser fired, her time on Reach would be up. But until then, she'd personally send as many Covenant ground forces to the grave.
With her HUD disabled and visor badly cracked, Six saw her helmet as a detriment more than anything. She reached up and pulled off her helmet and dropped it onto the floor. Only now did she realize how stifling it was underneath it. Her assault rifle was lying on the ground in front of her. It was miraculously still in working condition, and she picked it up as she stood to her feet. Plasma rounds were still being fired at her by the Covenant forces; insufferable little bastards as they are.
She saw an Elite approaching her as it continuously fired off round after round at her. Each round that hit her was almost unbearable, but Six grit her teeth and fired her own rifle. The Elite's energy flared under her bullets before it ultimately died, and the Elite followed soon after.
There was a guttural roar from behind her. A leathery hand, one that belonged to another Elite, clasped onto her shoulder, and Six quickly wheeled around. Her elbow managed to land a strike on its shark-like jaw, and disoriented, the Elite fell backwards onto the ground. Not giving the Elite any time to recover, she took out her magnum with her free hand and lodged a single round into its elongated skull, killing it instantly.
Six took in a deep breath. She was tired. Her muscles ached and burned. Her heartbeats sounded like thunder in her head. Her legs felt like lead, yet she refused to fall.
She heard the whine of more plasma rifle shots and her body's muscle memory kicked into action. She pivoted on her feet, dodging the initial burst of plasma rounds and she pulled down on the trigger on her assailant, an Elite with the grunt rank of a Minor. Before she was able to kill the Minor, another one appeared from her peripherals, and its plasma rounds hammered into her before she had a chance to react.
Pivoting once more, Six aimed her assault rifle at the new Elite while pulling out her magnum and shooting it at the first. Her assault rifle clicked empty just as both the second Elite and the Minor fell to the ground.
Then something hit her. Hard. She was thrown off her feet and onto her back, and both her assault rifle and magnum scattered onto the ground far from her reach. She saw two bright lights, one from the charging plasma from underneath the cruiser and the other from an energy sword. She instinctively kicked upwards, landing a solid hit on an Elite Ultra's chest, and she managed to kick it away from her.
Just as she pushed the Ultra off, a claw grabbed onto her chest. Her eyes landed on the maroon armor of a Zealot Class Elite with a tiny plasma dagger protruding from its wrist. She was immediately reminded of her first mission with Noble Team, where they were ambushed by the three Elites by the corpse of Professor Laszlo Sorvad. And just like then, this Zealot in front of her was about to gut her with its dagger.
"Like hell I'd let you!" Six seethed.
The Zealot swung, but Six was faster. She swung her fist and landed a strike on the Zealot's jaw with enough force to easily smash through a concrete wall. There was a satisfying crunch as bones were crushed from Six's blow, and the Zealot staggered backward before crumpling onto the ground.
Then there was a sizzling noise and she couldn't breathe. The Ultra that she kicked away was looking down on her with a feral grin on its face, or what Six thought to be a grin, given its four-pronged mouth. Its energy sword was lodged in her chest, and it slowly started to apply pressure onto it, causing the heated plasma to burn further into her body.
With one hand, Six grabbed onto the Elite's wrist. With the other, she grabbed onto one of pronged jaws. The Elite snarled, but before it could do anything else, Six yanked its head forward while bring hers upwards. Although she was no longer wearing her helmet, she was still a Spartan, and her reinforced skull and strength shattered the Elite's energy shield and cracked the armor underneath.
The Elite reeled back in pain and loosened its grip on the energy sword. The plasma blade dissipated, and in one swift movement, Six grabbed the hilt and swung her arm while reactivating the blade. The energy sword cleanly passed through the Elite's neck.
"That's what you get when you mess with a Spartan," Six rasped as her hand fell to the floor.
Straight above her, the Covenant cruiser only moments away from firing. The concentrated plasma grew in intensity as she heard multiple energy swords igniting around her, but those sounds seemed muffled, as if they were far away.
With a strained groan, Six struggled to stand. Her pride, despite having practically none of it, wouldn't allow her to die unless she was on her feet. Perhaps that was why she was still breathing even after being run through with an energy blade, a weapon that would literally melt the Titanium-A class plating of UNSC destroyers. Her insides were either burnt to cinders or were globs molten flesh - no doubt about that.
"Now then…" Six wryly smiled at the dozen Elites that surrounded her. With a flick of her wrist, she reignited the energy sword in her hand. "Which of us dies first, you or me? Or will that thing in the sky - " Six motioned up at the carrier. " - take away your chance of honor of taking the life of a Spartan?"
Honor was to Elites as lethality was to Spartans. It was their way of life, how they were bred. And if these Elites were on the ground beneath a carrier that was only moments away from glassing everything beneath it, they must've done something to have disgraced themselves to have been placed here. Whatever honor they lost would be restored upon killing a Spartan or dying in battle.
And every single one of these disgraced Elites wanted Six's head.
All of the Elites roared in that strange, guttural language of theirs and ran at Six. This was good, as Six could not find the strength to move her legs. She let them come, and as they approached, managed to prepare herself for one last attack.
There was the sound of a plasma explosion. It was similar to that of a Wraith's mortar, but only this was infinitely louder. A second later, Six's entire world turned white and her body felt weightless. There was a burning sensation, though she couldn't pinpoint where she was burning.
Then nothing. She felt nothing, saw nothing, weighed nothing. Just her and the darkness.
. . .
. . .
Six didn't know how long she was the dark before the voice came. Was only a few seconds? Minutes? Hours? Maybe even days, or weeks? …Years?
All she knew was that she was suspended in limbo for some amount of time before that voice spoke inside her head.
"Awaken, my warrior. Your tale does not end just yet."
A silver door appeared in front of Six. Unremarkable in every way, the only things that caught the Spartan's attention was the lack of a doorknob or a handle and the strange pull that she felt. It was as if the door was calling to her, to push it open and step through.
While a small part of her was against it, Six reached out and placed her fingertips on the door. Her instincts weren't screaming at her, but then again, what good were instincts and gut feeling when she was hit directly by a Covenant carrier's plasma bombardment? Nonetheless, she applied pressure to the door with her palm.
The moment the door cracked open, a white light flooded the entire area. Six shut her eyes from the brightness, felt a sense of vertigo, and then her feet touched solid ground. She opened her eyes.
She was standing on a lush field of complete green. A pleasant breeze swept through the area, causing the grass to sway in the wind. The blue sky was clear of clouds and the sun shone brilliantly high above her. There was no sign of any Covenant in the area, no signs of a battle.
It was a sight that Six thought she'd never see. It was peace. It was paradise.
That was all shattered in an instant by a distant scream. Six's training kicked in immediately. She looked down and was slightly surprised that she was in the same clothes she wore during training. A fitting black shirt, khakis, black combat boots, and a survival knife strapped to her thigh. Not exactly the best gear for fighting, but it'd be more than enough for now.
Another scream echoed in the distance. She turned towards the direction of the scream and ran.
Six ran for less than half a klick before she arrived at a village. Scattered fires could be seen from burning buildings and smoke was rising into the sky.
'Strange.' Six looked around at the burning buildings, which looked nothing like she was used to. 'They're all made of wood and stone. Maybe I'm on one of the outer colonies?'
Pushing her thoughts into the back of her mind, Six turned a corner and saw four humans, all dressed in poor clothing. One man was shirtless as he raised a crude looking blade over a woman and two children with the obvious intent to kill them. Six wouldn't allow that.
In a smooth motion, Six drew her knife and threw it at the man from almost ten meters away. The knife spun through the air and embedded itself into the side of the man's skull, and before the man could even drop to the floor, Six ran up to the man and pulled her knife out of his head.
She looked down at herself and nodded in satisfaction. Ten meters in less than two seconds. Her augmentations were still present even after her supposed death. Then, she noticed the woman and children staring at her in awe.
"Th-Thank you!" The woman fell to her knees as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Th-Thank you so much!"
"Our duty as soldiers is to protect humanity, no matter the cost," Six automatically said, flicking the blood off her knife and stowing it back in its sheath.
She looked down at the man. It wasn't the first time that she saw humans kill other humans. Many of her covert missions were to shut down insurrectionists and rebellions across the system, so perhaps this man was part of an insurrection. And if he was, then there was most definitely more in the area. A single man couldn't have set fire to an entire town.
"Where there others?" Six asked the woman.
"Th-The church." The woman pointed towards a tall building. "Please, I understand that I do not have the right to ask, but please, save my husband. The bandit leader and his men took many of the men and children there."
"Understood."
With a curt reply, Six started to run towards the church. Along the way, she pushed her senses as much as she could. She was not in possession of her MJOLNIR armor, so she had no access to a motion tracker. Given the state of her armor in what she originally thought to be her last moments and how her HUD was disabled, she counted it as a blessing.
She remembered one of the first lessons that was ingrained in her from Lieutenant Commander Ambrose, her trainer and a former Spartan II, during the initial training of Spartan III Beta Company's training: 'Machines break. Eyes don't.'
She ran by an open area, an open market, to be exact, where four men were stationed and quickly hid behind a shed before any of them saw her. Even if they did look in her direction, the speed in which she moved at would've made her practically invisible.
Peeking around the corner, she inspected their gear. Two held crude swords, not unlike the man from before, another held an axe, which raised a question. Was this insurrection so poor that the members resorted to using farming tools as weapons?
The fourth man caught her attention. He was dressed in long garbs and held a red book in his hands. Her instincts told her to be wary of that book, and she singled out the man as her first target.
Diving out of cover, she quickly ran from cover to cover until she was behind her target. Before she was able to attack, she took notice of two more groups. One was further into the village towards the church, all dressed just as poorly as the other insurrectionists. The second group she couldn't see very well, but since the four insurrectionists, including her target, seemed to engage the second group, she labeled the second group as friendlies. For now.
With the second group distracting the four in the market, Six turned her attention to the group by the church. They seemed to be completely unaware that their allies were fighting. If they were this unattentive, then they'd make easy kills. She wouldn't even have to use her knife.
She kicked off the ground and sprinted towards the church. Her eyes landed on the largest one in the group, who was barking around orders to the others. Clearly, he was the leader. Take him out, and in a group as undisciplined as this, the rest would fall shortly after.
The man didn't even see her coming. She ran up behind him, twisted his neck, moved onto her next target, did the same, and proceeded to the third before the leader's body even fell to the floor. By the time it did, three of the original five were already dead, and Six was already snapping the neck of the fourth.
By this time, the fifth insurrectionist noticed the dead bodies of his allies. A pitiful shriek escaped his throat as he scampered away from the bodies, only to bump into Six. He turned around just in time for Six to slam her palm into his chest, shattering his ribs and sending him crashing into the church wall.
Hurried footsteps approached Six from behind. She whirled around with her knife in hand and placed it under the neck of the one who approached. Six would've sliced the woman's neck were it not for the clothes she wore: a blue shirt made of quality material that was missing its right sleeve. A white cape that was attached to a lone pauldron that hung over her left shoulder. An elaborate sword in her right hand. What stuck out the most was the woman's hair, which was rich blue in color.
It took the woman a second before she realized that Six had her knife at her throat.
"Woah there," the woman said, slowly raising her hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not your enemy." Seeing Six's stoic face, she added, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? You helped kill these bandits that my group and I were after, so I mean no harm to you."
At this point, the rest of the woman's group caught up, who all froze at the sight of Six holding a knife to the woman's throat.
The first was a man in thick metal armor and spear in hand. He reminded Six of the ancient knights that her instructor showed her during training. His face twisted in rage and fury upon seeing the woman in danger. The second was a young girl in a yellow dress. Her eyes widened in fear and worry, unlike the knight.
The last two caught Six's eye. They were dressed in identical robes and had the same white hair. Their faces were similar enough to tell Six that they were siblings, if not twins, and the only major difference was that one was male and the other female. However, unlike the girl in yellow and the knight, their eyes held the spark of intelligence.
Six looked back at the blue dressed woman, who still had her hands in the air. She gave her a small smile, one that Six didn't return. Finally, she lowered her knife.
"Thank you." The woman let out a small sigh of relief.
Six wondered if the woman was a soldier. Her appearance marked her as such, but she was far too expressive. Her emotions were laid bare for all to see, and her guard was lowered in front of a stranger.
"Who are you?" Six asked warily, her knife still in her hand.
"Right, I suppose introductions are in order," the blue haired woman weakly chuckled. She motioned over to the knight, who looked like he wanted to spear Six where she stood. "The knight over there is Frederick, my loyal guard."
As if to prove the woman's point, the man readjusted his hold on his spear.
"The delicate looking one is my younger sister, Lissa."
"Hey! I'm not delicate!" Lissa cried out, glaring at her older sister.
"I don't know, Lissa," one of the twins, the male, said. "You seemed to be quite delicate back there in the market."
"Bwuh - Robin!" Lissa punched the twin, Robin, on the arm. "You weren't supposed to say that!"
"I'm just repeating what Reina said, so blame her!" Robin laughed.
At this, the female twin glared at Robin. "Did you seriously just throw me under the carriage?"
The blue haired woman looked at Six with a smile. "The twins are Robin and Reina, as I'm sure you've already heard."
Six only nodded as she continued to stare at the twins and Lissa. Every fiber her being screamed at the disorderly behavior, and she forced herself to look at the woman.
"And you are?"
"My name is Chrom. Second princess of Ylisse and captain of the Shepherds."
. . .
. . .
Why did I make this story?
Cause I played Halo: Reach again and this idea popped into my head.
Will I continue this?
Doubt it. It'd just be another story of FE:A with a ridiculously physically overpowered character. Even without MJOLNIR armor, Spartan III's are no joke. Just Google some Spartans from Halo, and you'll see what I'm talking about. I already have a story in FE:A with two practically OP characters (Robin and Reina from "Another Awakening" ), and making another doesn't seem that appealing to me.
What's with Spartan 451? And why purple armor?
A play on my username. And I like purple.
Why's Chrom genderbent / Why's Chrom a girl?
I felt like making Chrom a girl. That's all.
Are the names 'Robin' and 'Reina' a play on 'Another Awakening'?
Obviously.
Ok, done now. Peace.