"No sir, nothing but glass on the surface." A black cat said into his earpiece "Yes sir, we'll keep looking."

The cat took a deep breath as he knelt down to feel the ground. "Certainly glass-like..." he said as a man dressed in black approached.

"So what now, Carlos?" he asked as the cat stood up

"We keep looking."

The two walked into a ruined city, the tops of some buildings were still burning. Carlos took point as he drew a M7/Caseless SMG with a suppressor. "So, you think they'll go through with another batch of SPARTAN-IIs?" he asked, giving the all-clear.

"I'll be surprised if they did, you know how expansive it is."

The two went down into a metro station, footsteps could be heard in the distance. The human drew a 99C-S2 sniper rifle looking down one of the long tunnels.

"They might, I already took a look at the roster. Some notable people on there." Carlos jumped down to the platforms "By the way, see anything yet Sam?"

"Nothing yet, just a lot of noise. Sounds like a small group if you ask me."

Carlos crouched down and approached one of the four long tunnels as Sam looked down another. The cat drew a flashlight, looking around the corner. Nothing. He exhaled upon realizing he was holding his breath, and moved to the next one. Sam clicked on the thermal vision of his scope. The tunnel he looked down lit up with heat signatures.

"Carlos, over here. I make out at least 5-6 of them. Two jackals, three of the short ones and one of those split-faced aliens..I think."

"There is no 'I think' Sam, either there is or isn't an enemy patrol down there." Carlos ran quietly to the edge of the tunnel. He curved a fiber optic probe around the corner.

He looked at a small PDA, the screen showed exactly what Sam indicated. The patrol party had been walking in their direction, unaware of their presence. Carlos stood there not moving an inch as his fur and suit blended in very well with the shadows. He clicked on a personal comm to his partner.

"Okay, so you were right. Don't fire, yet. Wait until they pass by. Attach a silencer to that thing."

Sam did as told, and waited for Carlos' signal. The aliens passed the cat, one of the jackals paused for a second. It looked directly at Carlos for ten seconds, finally deciding that there was nothing there and moving on. The party stopped in the center of the large room, looking around. Carlos primed a grenade and chucked it at the aliens.

"NOW!" he yelled to his partner

The grenade detonated, taking out the grunts. Small 'pfft' noises could be heard as bullets erupted from the SMG. The jackals were down in seconds, the Elite's shield flared and faded. It roared as it withdrew an energy sword and charged at its feline attacker. Carlos' M7 was sliced in half as he was tackled to the ground. He grabbed onto the wrist that held the blade, barely keeping it away from his neck. The elite 'smiled' as it bared down on the cat.

"Sam, take the shot!" he called out to his ally

Sam had hesitated, knowing that he'd hit Carlos if he shot the elite. The sword got closer to its target with every passing second. Beads of sweat populated Sam's forehead as his breathing became heavier. The blade was now mere inches from Carlos' neck.

"SAM! IT'S NOW OR NEVER! TAKE THE SHOT!" the cat screamed, feeling the heated plasma scorch his fur.

The elite jerked forward, then collapsed on top of the cat. Carlos felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He rolled the elites' carcass off of himself, laying on the concrete. Sam soon appeared in front of him, extending a hand.

"Don't do that again, okay? That was way to close." Carlos commented

They began to search the bodies, not finding much. The elites' body however, yielded a strange crystal fragment.

"Well, what do we have here?" Sam said as he picked it up

"Something ONI and the SS would be interested in." Carlos commented, looking at it. "Well we better get what we can, and run before more show up."

"Captain Greene, this is recon 2. We found something we believe important to the enemy." Carlos said into his comm link

"Copy that, a pelican is inbound to your location. Report topside on the double." the comm became silent after that

"So, who were on Halsey's list this time?" Sam asked as they backtracked through the building

"Some of Mobius' greatest heroes, including one Miles Prower." Carlos said, as he stepped out of the building and onto the dropship.

"Can't wait to see what results Section Three can get out of them." Sam commented, taking one last look at the burning planet

I don't think the original quite cut it for the story, and i was going to replace it eventually. So, hopefully this is a better version.