Author's Note: This story was written without any knowledge of the books and comics; the only other Halo related media I have seen is Halo Legends. I am open to feedback so feel free to post what you think. Like the rest of my crossover stories, the events herein will be of a separate, non-canonish continuity from the non crossover tales... and I honestly have no idea why I even thought that this was a good idea.
Looking up to the cloudy red skies as a pair of Banshees flew overhead, Spartan B-312 watched as the enemy dropships made their descent. A slight fog of dust had descended upon the remains of the Aszod ship-breaking yard where the many bodies of his brothers and sisters lay, it mattered not whether they were fellow Spartans or the common soldiers of the UNSC Army for they were all comrades in arms, fighting to defend humanity from their alien foe. Bright lights flashed in the distance and the lone Spartan knew that his end was coming.
His once grey suit of MJOLNIR powered assault armor was now covered in dirt, grime and dried alien blood for he had not the time to properly perform maintenance and cleaning. B-312 personally had his armor modified to provide him with as much protection as physically possible without sacrificing speed and mobility for the Spartan often enjoyed getting in up close and personal. The symbol of the golden Fleur-de-lis which had been placed over his left collarbone was still visible under the patina of dirt, he did not know why he chose it, but the symbol seemed appropriate when he had received word that he would be transferred to a squad called Noble Team.
Strangely, the Spartan who was also called Noble Six did not feel any fear, despair or regret at his current situation. Rather, he felt contented and satisfied at what he had accomplished. The A.I. which Dr. Halsey had assigned him to deliver was now safely away from Reach, hopefully, the crew of the Pillar of Autumn would be heading towards Earth.
Emile's last defiant words echoed in the mind of Noble Six, "I am ready, How 'bout you?!"
In a way, Six was ready as well. He remembered the faces of his squad mates, Jorge, Kat, and Carter as well as the faces of all those men and women who had died fighting the Covenant. Anger and hate flared up inside the Spartan, all too familiar emotions which he had been keeping pent up and finally now, he had a release for it.
Tightening the grip on his designated marksman's rifle and watching as the alien forces deployed multiple infantry squads near his position, Noble Six vowed to make them pay for every inch of soil with their blood.
'Landing in five minutes' announced a Sangheili pilot who was busily operating the control console of a Spirit transport craft.
'Acknowledged' came the gruff response of a red armored Major who was currently located on the left transportation compartment of the Spirit.
A Demon had been spotted and ground forces were being deployed to slay it, a great honor it would be for the warrior who manages to land the killing blow. He did wonder though as of why high command would choose to send so many warriors to slay this one Demon, it was not his place to question orders or the plans of his superiors and so the pilot left it at that. He for one though was glad not be assigned to the ground operations, the Demons were mighty foes who were often quite capable of single-handedly laying waste to entire squadrons.
A sudden series of beeps and red flashing lights appeared on the control console of the transport craft and the pilot glanced down to see what it was. Placing his right hand on the flashing light, the pilot watched as the holographic display showed a new set of orders being issued. An unknown energy spike had been detected by the sensors of the ships in orbit and command needed the squad he was transporting to investigate for they were the closest to the site.
Relaying the change of plans to his passengers, the Major dutifully complied and the pilot set a new course. It was not far from the location where the Demon had been spotted, no doubt that when the Major's squad investigates whatever it was the fleet's sensors had picked up, they would resume with the mission to slay the Demon. After a few more, uneventful minutes, the pilot set the ship close to the ground and gave the signal to disembark.
'Good hunting' spoke the pilot over the communications to the leader of his passengers and the Major responded with a blessing in the name of the Gods.
Landing on the dusty ground with an audible grunt, an Unggoy Minor watched as his comrades landed near him. The screen of dust and grit stung the Grunt's eyes and he wished that he had brought some protective eyewear. Scanning their surroundings while breathing deeply, the Grunt was rather terrified for he had heard that there was a Demon nearby.
'Spread out into pairs and search for anything unusual!' came the voice of their Sangheili squad leader and the Grunts dutifully obeyed.
Keeping his eyes peeled opened, the Grunt saw another of his squad mates move towards him and he nodded with relief. Visibility was low in this place thought the Grunt with worry for if there were any foes about, there may be a good chance of them being ambushed. For several tense minutes, the Grunt and his comrade continued to survey the dusty plains and in the distance at the edge of his hearing, he heard the distant sounds of gunfire of human weaponry and the screams of fellow Unggoy as well as those of Elites.
The sharp sounds and green flashes of plasma pistol fire went off not far to the north of the Grunt and his companion and the two reluctantly went to investigate it. Moving towards where the shots were fired the Grunt noticed movements at the corner of his eyes and he frantically looked about to see with relief, the silhouettes of his fellow Unggoy and even their Elite leader. When they arrived at their destinations, the Grunt and his fellows were horrified to see two of their kin lying dead with blood gushing out from savage wounds which bled profusely.
'Did anyone see what happened?!' demanded the Elite and the Grunt looked to his fellow Unggoy as each of them gave an uncertain and terrified look to their squad leader.
The Elite gave them a disdainful grunt before going over to the corpses and kneeling down to inspect them. The Grunt nervously watched his squad's leader and he could hear his fellows fearfully whispering about the presence of the Demon. The Elite had then found something which drew his attention and soon he brought up an odd-looking tuft of black fur like those sometimes shed by the Jiralhanae.
Their squad leader then brought the tufts of fur close to his face and Grunt could hear him sniffing it. 'It does not smell of a Brute' muttered the Elite. As their squad leader further studied the tuft of fur, a loud screech of pain echoed from one of the other Unggoy and the Grunt saw with horror as his unfortunate kinsman fell with a massive black furred beast upon its back.
As far as the Grunt could tell, it had a long, sinuous body which was completely covered black fur; its teeth were bared at them with bright blue Unggoy blood covering its maw. The beast somewhat resembled the four-legged creatures which could often be found on human worlds and were kept by the humans as pets and guard beasts, a dog he thinks they are called. The dog-thing growled savagely at them, its eyes were black pits of pure darkness which seemed to glint with an unnatural intellect.
'Kill it!' roared the Elite and the grunts were quick to aim their plasma pistols at the creature.
Sporadic bright bolts of green plasma flew towards the black furred dog-thing which swiftly leapt away from the shots which struck the ground behind whereit had just been standing while other bolts struck the body of their fallen comrade. The dog-thing was incredibly fast, it evaded the plasma bolts and strafed towards the Elite who fired a volley of bright blue bolts from his plasma rifle. Each shot from the Elite the Grunts had missed their mark and before they knew it, the beast leapt towards the Elite and its jaws fastened around the neck of their squad leader.
A brief flash of blue energy flashed from the Elite as the dog-thing's jaws ripped through the shields of their squad leader and with single jerk of its head, the Elite's throat was torn out. Blue blood sprayed out in a gushing torrent with drops of it splattering on those Grunts closest to the Elite. Shaking his legs with fear, the Grunt's courage was shattered and he heard one of his comrades shout 'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'
Throwing his hands up and turning away from this monstrous creature, the Grunt ran away as fast as his legs could carry him. After two steps, he felt a great weight knock him face first to the ground and in less than a heartbeat, savage jaws clamped down around his skull, piercing flesh and bone. With a single tear, the dog-thing ripped the upper half of the grunt's head off from his body before loping towards another of the Unggoy.
Feeling the satisfying impact as the point of his knife slipped into the soft flesh of an Elite's neck, Noble Six swung his shotgun to his left using only one hand, the barrel of the gun was pointed at the face of another Elite and he squeezed the trigger. In a split second, the alien's head was pulverized into a shower of blue meat, bits of metal from its helmet and bone as it took the shotgun blast at point-blank range. Retracting his knife and sheathing it, Noble Six placed his right hand on the underside of his shotgun and he gave a it a strong pump.
Down to three more shells the Spartan thought grimly, better make them count then. Sprinting up towards a hill with a burned out bunker atop of it while evading bolts of plasma fire, he saw a red armored Elite rush him while firing a burst of bolts from a Plasma Repeater. Taking the energy bolts which impacted against his shields, Noble Six swung the stock of his shotgun into the alien knocking it back and damaging its shield with a bright flash.
The Elite countered by hurling a hook punch at the Spartan who swiftly ducked underneath the strike and he brought his shotgun up to it and fired another blast at point-blank range which sent a hail of buckshot into the alien's chest. The Elite fell back with a cry of pain as the front of its torso was obliterated by the shotgun blast, Noble Six did not have time to dwell on his latest kill for there were more aliens behind him. Heading back to the bunker, the Spartan took a few more plasma bolts to the back but was otherwise unharmed.
Quickly moving to the back of the bunker where he had earlier spotted an assault rifle, he dropped his DMR which was now emptied of all ammunition. The screaming voice of an alien Grunt rang out and the Spartan halted his movements before quickly hopping back. He saw a crazed Grunt emerge from the doorway at the back of the bunker with two active plasma grenades in hands, huffing in contempt for the alien, he blasted it without a second thought.
The Grunt flew back while dropping its two plasma grenades and the Spartan moved as quickly as he could away from the primed explosives. A bright flash of blue energy exploded behind him and before they dissipated, Noble Six went back to the door way to see if the assault rifle was still there. Plasma bolts struck the blackened wall to the left of the moving Spartan as he exited the bunker and to his delight, he saw that the rifle was still there.
Picking up the assault rifle and quickly shouldering it, he heard the steps of another alien to his right and he looked to see a red armored Elite charging him with a concussion rifle. Bright bolts of energy flew towards Noble Six and one struck a little too close to the Spartan who was knocked back by it while a flash of white light temporarily seared his retinas while the upper right section of his EOD helmet's visor cracked.
Landing with a grunt as his back struck the hard ground, Noble Six saw the Elite who had shot him leap up with an energy dagger now activated its right hand while the Concussion Rifle was still held in its left. Rolling to his left in time to avoid being stabbed in the gut, the Spartan brought up his shotgun and fired the last shell at the Elite's head. A new coat of blue splattered the wall of the bunker and Spartan dropped his shotgun in favor of the alien weapon.
Despite it all, the Spartan had yet to suffer a physical injury, let's see how long that lasts he thought as he got back up and the Lone Wolf resumed his hunt.
'What do you mean one squad has not reported in?!' demanded a golden armored Sangheili General as he spoke into his communications device.
At the moment, the General was upon a lookout tower not far from where his forces had cornered the Demon. The dust cloud which had descended upon them had nullified any ability to directly see what was going and the General was forced to rely on coordinating the efforts of the different squads involved in the operation.
'The squad sent to investigate the anomaly is not answering our hails sir!' came the reply of a communications officer.
'Do you have any idea on how many warriors the Demon has killed?!' shouted the General 'we need more reinforcements if we are to kill it'
'We are sending more your way sir!' the communications officer said before switching the feed to another unit.
Grunting with displeasure at the incompetence of those he had to work with, the General was getting more than he had bargained for. The Demon had already killed more than a dozen of his Elites with several more grunts now dead as well. It was supposed to be a swift kill an act akin to finishing off prey that was already cornered and wounded.
The General had to admit though that he was rather impressed by the skill of this Demon. There was honor in facing an overwhelmingly large number of foes, defiant to the very end, even when death was inevitable. Perhaps when this battle was over, he would keep a piece of the Demon's armor as a trophy.
'Squad Nine! Move in!' ordered the General towards a Major which led a unit of three other Elites. The General was answered with silence and he grew annoyed at this for if it was not equipment failure then this would be clear insubordination. Calling up the squad again and receiving no answer, he ordered another squad which had been near Squad Nine's position to investigate and was glad to hear an acknowledgement from their leader.
Garbled reports came in from the squads sent after the Demon and the General's frustration increased at the lack of skill his warriors displayed. Eventually, the leader of the previous squad he had contacted finally reported in.
'They are all dead sir!' came the surprised voice of the squad leader. 'Squad Nine has been wiped out, it looks like something... tore their throats out.'
'What do you mean tore their throats out?!' questioned the General in disbelief for he had now knowledge of any local wildlife which would be capable of killing an entire squad of Sangheili so quickly.
'As I said sir there…' said the squad leader before several sharp discharges of plasma weapons were heard from the other side of the communications line. 'Hold your fire!' roared the squad leader and the sounds of more plasma weapons being discharged could be heard.
'By the Prophets! Who is shooting at you?!' demanded the General and he heard the high-pitched squeals and chatter of grunts.
'Something scared the Grunts sir, I didn't see what it…' said the squad leader as his voice trailed off and the General heard the squad leader speak in an unsure tone 'what is that?'
'What is what? What do you see?' impatiently asked the General for there was something going on here.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence and then the General heard the sounds of shots being fired again. A loud savage bark was heard from the squad leader's end of the communications line and the terrified screams of Grunts were heard. Just what in the Prophet's name was going on out there? Thought the General.
Quickly reaching for his Plasma Sword, the General activated the weapon and heard the hiss of air being ionized as the energy blade formed its deadly edge. Descending from the tower, the General landed gracefully upon the ground and he opened up a link to the communications officer again.
'I need the coordinates to the last location of Squads Nine and Eleven' demanded the General and he immediately saw on his HUD an arrow which was pointing towards location to the west. Moving as quickly as he could, the Elite General began to have a rather strange, gut feeling that his forces were not the only things out here on this plain.
You just had to go jinx it up didn't you? Thought Noble Six as he heavily breathed with his back to the wall of the bunker with a dead Elite lying at his feet. The Spartan had acquired a new Plasma Sword after shooting an Elite with a charged up plasma pistol shot and shooting its ugly face with a well placed Magnum round. Upon Noble Six's back, he still had the assault rifle and his Magnum had been holstered to the side of his right waist, the concussion rifle had been discarded after he used up all of its ammo and temporarily switched to the unorthodox tactic of wielding two pistols.
Pain coursed through his body as he had taken several plasma bolts which had breached his shield and armor. His visor was now severely cracked around the edges and he no longer had access to his radar, and his ammo counter. At the least, though, the damned noise from the Wraith tank had been silenced after he destroyed it with a Spartan Laser which had been lying around, now the only noise he had to worry about was the voices of the aliens and their guns.
As his shields recharged, Noble Six felt a plasma bolt strike him and the meter showed that it was not even fully restored. Muttering a curse and sprinting away from his position, he saw several more of the aliens open fire at him with bolts of plasma flying past him, more than a few had come a little too close for comfort. A blue armored Elite with a plasma rifle charged out from behind some rocks while shouting an alien battle cry.
The Elite thrust its foot at him in forwards a kick, the Spartan barely managed to dodge it by side stepping to his right. Thrusting the plasma sword upwards at the Elite, Noble Six impaled the alien's chest before bringing the blade down and passing through its groin. The Elite fell back with the meat inside its body charred by the sword.
Sprinting ahead once more and doing his best to avoid the alien weapons fire, Noble Six felt a searing pain explode across his back as he heard and felt the loud blast of a focus rifle's energy beam. Stumbling to the ground and feeling more tired than he had ever been in his entire life; it took all of the Spartan's willpower to keep on going. Getting back up to his feet and taking a left turn, Noble Six saw another Elite coming towards him with a dagger charged and ready while firing a plasma rifle one handed.
Two of the bolts struck Noble Six who hissed in pain as he felt the searing heat burn his skin underneath the armor. Running towards the alien with his plasma sword which he hoped, still had a lot of power, the alien suddenly then deactivated its dagger and it swiftly brought out a plasma grenade which in a blink of an eye, primed and threw at him. Loudly cursing, Noble Six leapt to his left, barely in time to avoid being stuck by the grenade and he saw the shadow of the Elite fall upon him.
Pain exploded across the head of Noble Six as the Elite managed to smash its weapon on his helmet. His shield was the only thing which fully prevented the strike from outright killing him but his helmet's visor was shattered by the strike and he saw his opponent through its cracks. Acting on instincts alone, Noble Six swung the sword at the Elite and was rewarded by a surprised shout of pain from the alien as the plasma grenade exploded nearby, unfortunately though, he saw that his Swords' power had run out.
Cursing again for it seemed that his luck had run out, Noble Six discarded the plasma sword hilt and he placed his hands around his helmet. Removing his head gear and feeling the warm air kiss his skin while the smell of burnt flesh and alien blood filled his nostrils. He then dropped his helmet to the ground and noticed that his assault rifle had also fallen but at least it was within his reach.
Grabbing the assault rifle, he was glad to see the ammo counter upon it indicated that there were still thirty two rounds inside it. This was it he thought, it was time to face the music.
'By the Prophets…' muttered the Elite General as he looked upon the charnel scene which lay before him.
The bodies of Elites and Grunts were strewn across the ground, their bodies had been savagely ripped to gruesome shreds as pieces of bloody flesh, bone and armor were scattered. It was as if a pack of crazed Brutes had gone on a feeding frenzy. Quickly establishing a link with the main communications channel of the fleet, the General began calling for extra back up to be sent.
'Sir, we have cornered the Demon, we have it wounded!' came the excited voice of one of his Ultras.
'Kill the demon and be done with it!' commanded the General 'there is something out there, in the dust cloud'
'Sir?' asked the confused voice of the Ultra.
'Just keep your eyes open, we are not alone out here' the General quickly replied.
'Yes General' was the response of the Ultra who cut the feed.
Looking to the ground and searching for any possible signs of what had killed the two squads, the General found a set of prints upon the ground and a trail of blue blood. Following the direction of the trail, the General saw that it was leading to the hill, where the Demon had been cornered.
Searing pain exploded across the chest of Noble Six as a series of plasma bolts struck him. His vision swam as his head became light from blood-loss and it took all of his willpower to remain standing. Seeing three Elites coming at him, Noble Six brought up his assault rifle in his right hand while in his left, he held his pistol and proceeded to unload the full contents of both guns. He managed to kill two of the aliens but the third got close enough to swing a punch at him with enough force to knock him off of his feet.
For a brief moment of vertigo, Noble Six felt a sense of weightlessness and then suddenly, pain exploded across the back of his head as he crashed upon the ground. The Elite who had knocked him down was now coming at him with an active energy dagger in its right hand. The alien then leapt up and brought its blade down upon the Spartan who swiftly brought his right leg up to kick it in the chest and push the alien away.
At the corner of his eye, Noble Six saw another elite come at him with a plasma sword. Looking towards the alien whose blade blazed with a deadly energy, his entire world seemed to slow down in what he knew would be his last moments. With perfect clarity, Noble Six saw every detail of the Elite which was coming right at him, the design of its armor, the particles of dust which were swept away by its charge and its eyes which balefully glared at him.
This was it he thought, at least he had done his duty and he had made sure to kill a whole lot of the bastards before they take him down. He wished that he still had a grenade so that perhaps he could blow himself up while taking the aliens with him. As the Elite raised its sword arm, ready to strike the killing blow, Noble Six heard and saw something which he never would have expected in million years.
A massive black furred wolf knocked down the Elite from its side, the wolf then lunged its jaws towards the throat of the alien and tore it out. The black wolf then turned towards the Elite he had kicked and it sprinted towards the alien with an incredible speed. The Elite swung its foot towards the wolf, attempting to kick its chin but the beast avoided it by moving its head to the side before leaping up and clamping its jaws upon the Elite's throat.
Just as with the first one, the black wolf tore out the alien's neck in a gushing torrent of blood, its teeth had ripped through both the alien's shield and armor as easily as his knife would. There was a final, sword-wielding Elite which had sought to slay the Spartan but now its gaze was focused upon the wolf, its coat was matted blue with alien blood. The Elite stood there, transfixed by the gaze of the black wolf which pawed its way closer and much to Noble Six's surprise, the alien did nothing to resist before the beast tore the alien's throat out as well.
The wolf then turned its gaze to Noble Six and he saw two obsidian orbs studying him, in its eyes, he saw a keen intellect which went beyond the any normal animal understanding. His vision then swam as he felt light-headed and the several wounds he had sustained began to overwhelm him with pain and darkness began to cloud his sight. His eyes rolled up to the back of his head, and the Spartan known as Noble Six knew only the sweet bliss of oblivion.