Quick lil' Halo: Reach oneshot for ya. Halo is a very defining part of my life. Reach and Halo 3 are my two favorite games. I remember playing this mission, Lone Wolf. Halo is inspirational, in a way. I'll let you read this.
Plasma flew through the dusty air, crackling and burning. The lone soldier dodged, firing his rifle. Crude, yet effective, bullets ripped into the advancing aliens, cutting them down. A blue plasma blade clicked on. Its owner charged. The alien weapon swung. The soldier brought up his arm to connect with the alien's. With a hiss, the sword turned off and fell. A burst of bullets shredded the alien's insides. A hail of plasma impacted the human's back. Energy shields absorbed them until they overloaded. Gunfire erupted, mowing through the horde of aliens.
The human knew he was outnumbered. Yet still he fought. His helmet filled with his breathing, speakers playing the sounds of wind, plasma, and gunfire. A brief pause gave him time to think on the past few days. An investigation led to a much more sinister plot. Reach. Humanity's last stronghold was being attacked. Noble Team was deployed to the front lines. And they did well. Until Jorge. After the gunner sacrificed himself to destroy the supercarrier, it was a drag on the team. Second was Kat. Sniped through the head. Their tech support would suffer, but they could manage. Third to go, Carter. Their leader. Driving a damaged Pelican into a Scarab to save countless more lives. The three remaining members went to their destination. They delivered the package successfully. Jun left to help the Marines fighting. His fate was never found out. Emile was the last to go. He went down in true fashion. The memory, still fresh, replayed itself.
The blue blade erupted from Emile's armor. Six heard his teammate gasp, the turn and stabbed the Elite. The alien fell, along with the Spartan.
"I'm ready! How 'bout you!" And he never came back up.
A tear rolled down Six's face. He steeled himself. Spartans do not cry. More plasma rained onto him. He roared his battle cry. More plasma melted into his armor. Pain ripped through his body. Elites, sensing the end of the skirmish, charged. They knocked into him and they fell. As Six died, he managed to grit out his final words.
"Remember Reach."
Much later, a Marine squad found his helmet. They took it back to their HQ. A memorial was built of all the Spartans killed at the Spartan training facility. Mementos included dogtags, weapons, and bits of armor. Only one helmet resided. Six's. A shadow of a SPARTAN-II fell over the memorial. SPARTAN-II Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. He touched a metal plaque that read:
Spartans never die. They're just missing in action.
Remember Noble. Remember Reach.