Halo: Before the
End
SECTION I
PRELIMINATION
Chapter 1
OCTOBER 21, 2552
SOL SYSTEM,
PLANET
EARTH \ LONDON EUROPE,
NEAR THE EMBASSY RUINS
The dark sky rained upon the ruins of the U.S. Embassy. The left over remains of what use to be London were now in pieces and the people captured if not already dead. What few remaining forces left on Earth were scattered about the planet unable to unite. The only thing to be heard were the distant cries of Banshees flying overhead on patrol for any human activity or out of order Grunts slacking off and of course the quite footsteps of a group of Spartans running through the streets into dark alleys. SPARTAN - 015 looked up into the dark sky as rain washed down and off his faceplate. He looked straight ahead and had to remember his mission. Repel Covenant forces and rescue any one captured...and if possible any one alive. He and his small group of what he thought to be the last Spartans alive were closing in on a covenant camp.
SPARTAN - 015 was tired, endless days of running through Europe looking for any survivors... so far none. He had been hit by plasma pistol bolts on both shoulders and received third-degree burns. He had inserted bio-foam to ease the pain. At last they reached the Covenant camp. He checked his TEAMBIO and saw all SPARTANS were a little over the edge. Blood pressure just slightly over average. None the less alive anyways.
As they peered over there cover they saw only the Covenant Brutes. Never has the team of SPARTANS seen such a beast. Standing 9' tall hairy and gorilla-like appearance...with immense strength they were no pushovers. Hardly seen on the battle field, SPARTAN - 015 knew this time the Covenant were serious. SPARTAN - 002 came to 015's side. 002 squinted and as his armor reacted by zooming five times magnification. "No Elites..." This surprised SPARTAN – 015, the Covenant attacking with full force, on a major city on Earth... and no Elites? Something wasn't right... and since when have the Covenant used the Brutes in ground combat? Weren't they only supposed to protect the Prophets in there ships and cities? There was no time to think of that right now, all that mattered was the mission and making sure he and his team got in and out, quite and fast, and with this time, survivors.
"Check all ammunition after we move in within two-hundred yards use hand signals" said 015. He checked his MA5B Assault Rifle, it read sixty. Next his M6C Pistol... it was heavy, a reliable feeling showing it was fully loaded. They were within one-hundred-fifty yards of the camp. He motioned 002 and 013 to the left, he would take the right. He froze; a Brute looked up and sniffed. It walked near 015's position. 002 steady his assault rifle, ready to give cover fire. The Brute was walking in the direction of 015's location. It stopped...four yards away, looked up into the raining sky and sneezed. Standing out in the rain must have given it a cold.
To the Brute it was an unlucky cold, to 015, a very lucky break. He relaxed... looked at his TEAMBIO and realized his heart rate was very high and slowly dropping. He looked at 002 and 013's proximity. They hand signaled that there were four Brutes on there side two unarmed and two with what seemed to be razor sharp bayonets. And two on his side with what appeared to be Plasma Rifles... but they were blood red... just like their eyes... 015 couldn't get more confused. Not only were there the Brutes and no Elites but new weapons as well? The small group of three Spartans was going to have to pull out all the stops.
He signaled back to 002 and 013 to take them out quick and silently. Two green acknowledgement lights winked on. 002 was smart, he saw a Brute move away from the other three and before it could set an alarm or scream it was silently on the ground, neck snapped. 013 was different, she was an ace in the sky. They didn't need anyone piloting there pelicans, she could drop them off, put the pelican in a secure camouflaged zone, and fly them out of there in one piece. She held her assault rifle steady and level aimed over 002's shoulder ready to give him any cover if necessary. 015 sighed... knowing one of the seven visual Brutes were down was good now only six left... and a whole Covenant camp left to go. 015 turned the corner and was face to face with a small five squad group of Grunts. They winked and he lifted his rifle. One of the Grunts squealed and fired. He quickly took cover and returned fire. All five were down. He heard a growl. Something he never heard before... something like... a Brute.
He looked over his cover and saw three charging at him, all armed with the blood red plasma rifle. He leveled his rifle finger on the trigger, and two Brutes fell. Looking surprised he looked to his left and saw 013 had been watching him as well and took two of the Brutes down before he or the Brutes could get a shot off. Something struck fear into his him. He remembered there were three charging... so where the third one? He looked ahead of his position and saw it in a furious rampage... with vengeance in its eyes.
015 pulled the trigger and emptied his clip into the beast's chest. It howled with pain but kept its momentum. He went into what Spartans had referred to as "Spartan Time" and got into a fighting stance. The Brute tackled 015 and he instinctively throw him off in a backwards roll. As the Brute hit the ground it shook. 015 checked his shield bar... half full. If he hadn't thrown the Brute it would have surely crushed him. The Brute got up steady its aim and fired. 015 was caught off guard, he knew that throw wouldn't take out the Brute, but he didn't expect it to recover so quickly.
The new version of the plasma rifle was fast. A bolt struck his chest depleting it to fifteen percent charge. And a second bolt struck his left shoulder burning through his shield and armor. He knew this feeling, the burning sensation of plasma melting through his armor. He took cover as 013 and 002 gave covering fire and took down the Brute. He let his shield recover, he couldn't move his arm. It was useless to try and do anything about it now. A squad of seven Brutes and a few Jackals were closing in on there location.
He realized he and his team were finished. But he had to fight, even if it only meant to live for just a few more minutes. He tossed two grenades, and both detonated before the Jackals could activate there arm mounted shields, that was a mistake that cost them their lives; it also took out two Brutes. Four went to 015's location while the other stayed and ran towards 002 and 013. "Go on I'll be okay!" said 013. 002 looked and nodded. He sprinted past the charging Brute. It stopped confused, wondering why it didn't challenge him. It looked ahead and saw 013 do the hand motion "Come on" and it smiled...if you could call what Brutes considered a smile, and charged.
002 was running low on options. Take on the Brutes with 015 or lead them away. He decided neither and came up with his own plan. He pulled out his M6C pistol and fired at one of the four Brutes. It fell. He was either really skilled...or just really lucky. Two of the Brutes, one a Brute Chieftain, turned and charged 002. He shot three more times. One hit the first Brute in the knee making it fall, and the other two shots were shot into the night sky as he was punched twenty-feet back by the Brutes large right fist. He got up, vision blurred and his shield read empty and slowly charging. His vision came into focus as two monstrous fist came down, he dodged, the concrete breaking behind him. He grabbed the Brutes head and attempted to twist. There was no snap. Unlike the first Brutes neck he snapped, this one was a Chieftain and aware of his capabilities and had seized his 002's hands.
It flung him over himself breaking through a concrete wall. His shields weren't up past fifty percent. He tasted blood...never a good sign. He picked up a fist sized chunk of concrete. His only weapon and hurled it towards the charging Brute... which had multiplied by five... it struck them all... and they all fell back. How had there been five Brutes? And how did one rock knock them all back? There wasn't five Brutes... there was still just one, his vision had become worse, and was seeing multiple Brutes. He was loosing blood and his vision. He looked at his feet... how much blood did he lose? Wait... this wasn't his blood... it was purple... he looked down and saw the wall he had crashed through also killed a pair of Jackals, they must have been sneaking around in order to finish him off.
He took their arm shields and plasma pistols, put one on each arm and activated both of them. He checked the battery of the plasma pistols, one read fifty-five percent and the other read sixty-seven percent charge. The Brute got up confused and saw the Spartan with the two yellow shield gauntlets and green glowing plasma pistols. It slammed its fist into its chest accepting the challenge, and it howled with much more rage than before. It must've been insulted being knocked down to the ground by nothing but a rock. It jumped higher than 002 thought something that heavy could jump and pounded it's fist into the left arm draining the are shield and rendering it useless. It then swung it's right forearm to the right to get a hit in. 002 was dazed not slow, he moved his right arm and blocked the attack, the arm shield crackled and failed now useless. He jumped back with a little help from the force of the Brutes attack and unleashed hell on the Brute with both plasma pistols firing till they over heated past the cooling point. His hands burned... he threw both pistols at the Brute and with such heat overload they blew up in its face blinding it.
002 then charged in and struck the monster on its throat with a chop of his hand, the Brute stepped back wide eyed, it was starting to choke; he broke its wind pipe finishing the job. He then collapsed not moving. Mean while 013 took out the Brute with ease. She didn't have to take on a Chieftain alone with out a weapon. She simply stepped left hit the Brute in the back with the butt of her rifle and shot it in the head, it was most likely an inexperienced Brute. And then of course took out the Brute that had been shot in the knee by 002.
015 had half a clip of M6C Pistol ammo and a useless left arm. He could take out a Brute he thought. He turned to find it on the ground. "Head shot..." he said and saw 013 with her rifle over her shoulder. They both moved to 002's location. They checked their TEAMBIO... he wasn't dead. They sighed with relief. Just out cold. Was this the whole Covenant camp? They didn't want to complain. They covered 002 in ruble to prevent any covenant from finding him while they looked for survivors. They reached the main stronghold of the camp. And inside were a dozen or so marines. All in cages like animals. Their IFF-TAG identified them as Delta Company... or at least what was left... "Are you all okay?" said 015. A marine replayed with a yell "Were oka- Look out behind you!" 002 and 013 turned to see a Brute with a razor blade bayonet raised over its head ready to slice them both into to two. It swung its weapon down, there was a gun shot in the rain and to 015, the world seemed to literally stand still.
