"Frag out! Hit em where it hurts!" Despite his situation, Six smirked at the overeager AI cheering into his ear as he hurled the grenade through the blast-riddled doorway, his grin only deepening as the muffled 'boom' was followed by a chorus of high-pitched screams, the hapless grunts outside the door were sent flying by the small explosive. "How many are left, Cortana?" he asked, and felt, more than saw, his AI companion divert her attention from holding his damaged suit together and scan around for more of the Covenant strike force for Six to blast apart.
"Ten more outside the doorway...mostly grunts, not really worth the bullets...ooh! I see a squad of Elites on the walkway to your left, that might be more fun!"
Six shook his head slightly, drawing his trusty magnum out of its holster and flicking off the safety, advancing slowly to the doorway to his left. He winced slightly every time his damaged leg took weight – one of the luckier Brutes had landed a solid shot through his thigh before being swiftly despatched in the Spartan's opening salvo, and Cortana had been so busy patching and bypassing his suit's damaged systems she'd barely had time to stick on the healing unit before being overrun by a wave of Grunts. "You doing okay, partner?" Six cursed quietly – he'd forgotten about Cortana's ability to read him. "I'm fine," he replied tersely. "Just a flesh wound, it'll heal."
'Besides', he reasoned mentally, taking aim at the lead Elite as the squad rounded the walkway and into range, 'it's hardly the first time I've been shot. I'll just have to cope with it'.
Four shots, four hits, four very surprised Elites. The last one hit the deck with a satisfying 'thunk', a small, smoking hole burned through the middle of its head. Cortana whistled. "You know, you're pretty good at this." Six simply nodded in response to the praise, once again wishing silently that the experimental AI he'd been given by Halsey was a little more...combat aware. He was used to being alone for long stretches during combat missions, and having an AI constantly chirping in his ear was distracting at best, and annoying at worst. A barrage of plasma bolts hammered into the railing next to him, and he swore violently, diving behind a heavy packaging crate as the Brutes below him bellowed orders to their Grunt underlings, bringing their heavy weapons to bear on the lone Spartan.
"Cortana!" Six snarled angrily. "Sorry! Sorry – I was concentrating on your healing unit! Four Brutes and half a dozen Grunts on the lower walkway – one of them has a heavy plasma rifle so... well, keep your head down!" the AI replied tersely.
Six peeped around the edge of the box, quickly snapping his head back as a volley of bolts nearly took his head off. Spinning his pistol out, he took aim around the edge of the crate and loosed seven tight shots, a predatory grin forming on his face as the lead Brute fell with a howl, his chest plate riddled with bullet holes. The Grunts reacted exactly as he'd hoped – they panicked like only Grunts could. Running hell-for-leather, screaming and flailing their arms around, they were easy pickings for the veteran Spartan. The Brutes, unfortunately, had working brains in their heads and dove for the nearest cover, forcing him to roll out from behind his crate and crouch behind the flimsy walkway cover. Two fell to his precise pistol shots, sticking their heads out of cover to locate him and only finding holes to the head. The remaining Brute managed to get off another volley of bolts, fired wildly, and Six gasped in pain as one of the shots found its mark, searing through his already overtaxed shield and nicking his side. "Take him out – I've got you covered!" Cortana snapped, and Six obeyed, sinking half a clip into the unfortunate Brute. 'Wasteful...but satisfying. That hurt.' "How bad is it?" Six growled, clasping a hand over the smoking gash in his armour.
"Not bad." Cortana replied, her voice deliberately calm. "It's just a flesh wound – it'll hurt like hell, but it shouldn't slow you down."