Survivors of Reach

Enigma, also known as Noble Six and defended the Pillar of Autumn when Emile was killed. Left on Reach to die, Six fought as hard as she could and was thought to be killed by the Covenant, until a transmission was received. Mark, codenamed M-24 was cleaning off a old helmet that belonged to Kat, or as she was called Noble Two. Mark heard some scratching sounds and put the helmet on and heard this transmission. "This i- oble Six - stu-k at -an-t Fel-. Hu-ry, Cov-ant i- -re." Mark looked through records and found dozens of planets with the first three letters as "F.E.L". But only one was close to Reach, Planet Felop. Mark then rushed to deliver the news to his commander John, J-15. So Mark let John listen to the transmission for himself. "Jesus, it can't be her can it?" He said with clear surprise in his voice. "I ran voice recognition, it is." Mark responded. "Okay, inform M-13 and I'll get command on the horn, there's no way we won't take this ship to save Noble Six, we have to." So John convinced the command with the rescue mission.

Mark and Maria walked up the plank of the Pelican. John, Isaac, and Piper were waiting for them. "Alright, headcount for me J-15." The commander said over the video. "We got Brightner, I-67, P-51, M-13, and M-24." John responded. "Weapon and armor ability check please." Command asked impatiently. "J-15 with Assault Rifle and Jetpack, M-13 with DMR and Drop Shield, M-24 with Shotgun and Sprint, I-67 with Sniper Rifle and Active Camo, and P-51 with Energy Sword and Armor Lock." John stated.

That night Team Scorpio flew out on the course for Felop. Mark came and sat down next to Maria. "So, you think we'll find her?" Mark asked. "And you're so interested in this particular Spartan why?" Maria responded with a bit of hostility. "Because she saved all our lives, staying back and protected the Pillar of Autumn. Without her, we'd all be dust." Mark said coldly. "And it has nothing to do with her being your 'crush'?" Maria said turning to him with a smile. "No! And please don't say 'crush', it sounds so childish." "What do you want me to say? You're attracted to her?" "It's better than using the other phrase." "Whatever you say, Romeo." Maria then got up and left the room with a chuckle. Mark sighed realizing his sister is never gonna let up on that.

As they arrived upon Felop, there was five Phantoms covering the planet. "Okay, as of right now our first priority is to get to Six and get her back to base. Second priority will be destroying the Covenant forces. But we can't let the Covenant take any more Spartan lives, is that understood?" John said like a drill sergeant. "Yes sir!" The team responded. Brightner landed the Pelican outside a small military outpost. "Find yourself a hiding place, but keep it close, we'll probably need a quick evac." John told Brightner. "Yes sir." Brightner said before flying the Pelican away. Team Scorpio moved in to take a better look at their target. A Phantom hovered over the encampment dropping off the Grunts and Elites. They watched as a shape came up from behind a Elite and assassinated it. And took the plasma weapon from the corpse and went to town on a few Grunts and went back inside when the rest of the Elites came by. So Team Scorpio ran in to help out. Piper came up behind a Elite and stabbed it through the chest. While Mark rushed at the Grunts with his shotgun. The rest of the team picked off the Covenant forces before they could communicate with the Phantoms. After the last of the enemies were killed the figure stepped out of the shadows. With white armor and a Focus Rifle in hand, the figure approached them. "Drop your weapons!" The figure yelled at them with a voice disguiser. "Wait! We're here to help! We got your transmission." Mark said stepping forward. "You're Spartans? Not just some mercenaries?" The figure asked. "No, we're Team Scorpio of the House of Icarus, it's a UNSC carrier." Mark replied calmly. The figure reached up to their helmet and hit a switch. "Well thank God for that." She responded. The female Spartan stepped into the light and had the Noble team's logo on her shoulder armor piece. "Well let's get the introductions done on the Pelican, this is not exactly the best place for sentiment." She said nodding towards the landing Pelican. The Spartans got onboard. Enigma removed her helmet and placed it underneath her arm. "You don't even look battle scathed." Isaac said. There was no blood on her skin or anything darkening her blonde hair. "Well, when you got the time you gotta keep yourself presentable." She responded. "Well if you are all done back there, we got a skirmish going on the surface." Brightner yelled from the cockpit. The teams rushed forward to hear as Mark help back with Enigma. She looked towards him. "It's Mark right?" She asked him. "Uhh, y-yes, it is." He said with a bit of stutter in his voice. "What's wrong? Are you nervous or something?" She asked empathetically. "No, I'm totally fine." "You're a terrible liar." "If you two lovebirds are done back there, we have news." John said sternly. "We got another Spartan on the surface." "What? Who?" Enigma asked quickly. "We're not sure about that but he's a damn good fighter, he's been fighting more Covenant then you have all day every day." "Then let's get him!" Enigma said impatiently. "Fine, I'll send you, Mark, and Piper in on this one, be covert."

The Pelican landed outside the fight, a Phantom just dropped off some troops which means they have time before it comes back to get the Spartan out of here. Without wasting time they went in destroying all the Covenant troops. They were rushing through them until two Elites with Concussion Rifles and a Grunt with a Fuel Rod Gun pinned them down. Enigma grabbed the Plasma Launcher off her back and started charging it. She waited for the break in the Covenants firing and fired, killing the three Covenant troops. Once the outside was clear they moved inside and saw a Engineer floating at the roof of the building. Mark grabbed a Plasma Pistol off the ground and aimed at the creature. He heard a click and the barrel of a pistol to the back of his head. "You fire the gun and you'll have a bullet in the back of your head." Mark set his gun down. Enigma walked in on this and aimed her rifle at the man. "Put the gun down!" She yelled at him. The man simply turned towards her. "Emily?" He asked in a far away voice. She lowered her gun. "Devon? Is that you?" The two approached each other in a hug. "Why are you here Devon?" She asked him. "Well as we got the last people on board me and team decided that someone needed to stay back here to back you up. Even though we all wanted to stay back Keyes would only let one." "So you volunteered? God you're such a moron." "I am, it's one of my strong suits." Mark blurted in. "Well, we don't have long here guys." Devon turned to him. "And who's this?" "Oh, that's Mark, he's part of the team that saved me, well saved us both actually." She said with her eyes focused on Mark. "And, who's your uh, friend?" She said pointing up to the Engineer which floated down to Devon. "That's Dusty, I found him deserted on Reach, he's good company." The Pelican landed right outside the building. "Let's get going!" John yelled from inside the Pelican. The three (plus Dusty) got inside the Pelican and made it out before the Phantoms returned. Little did they know of the "guest" that got on alongside them, unseen.

They arrived back aboard the House of Icarus where they were all debriefed. Mark was bringing Enigma a helmet exactly as the one she used to wear when he stopped seeing an Elite standing there. Mark dropped the helmet and raised his gun with a shout. Several Marines rounded the corners with DMRs raised ready to fire. The Elite slowly lowered its weapons to the ground. John and the captain walked down the stairs looking at the situation behind the Marines. "What would you like us to do captain?" John asked him. The captain stared at the Elite before ordering anything. "This one's different… Take it to the brig." He declared still staring at the alien. The Marines did as instructed, Mark startled picked up the dropped helmet and started back on his way. John stopped him. "You breathe a word of this and only be down there with it, we don't need panic and chaos, you copy?" John said with his arm on Mark's shoulder. "I copy." Mark said before going back on his way.

Mark found Enigma training in the shooting range, getting the targets in the middle every shot. He tapped her softly on the shoulder. She turned to him swiftly gun still raised. She immediately withdrawals after realizing what happened. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" He cut off her apology. "Don't worry, my fault, but I do have something for you here." He brang up the white helmet. She took it into her hands. "This… It brings back memories. Thank you." She pulled him into a hug, while he's speechless and gives a hug without any strength. She releases him. "Well I'm glad you enjoy it." He turns to leave. "Wait! I have a question for you." He spins back towards to. "Sure, anything." He answered quickly. "What happened to Jun? I know that everyone else but him died, what happened to him?" "Oh, well as you know he escorted Halsey but when the next team came along, Jun wasn't anywhere to be found." Mark said with no hesitation, as if he studied this for a while now. "So he went AWOL?" She asked coldly. "Records state he went MIA, but there was no evidence he was captured." He waited for a response but when he heard nothing he went to leave and heard the ship PA system. "Team Scorpio report to the briefing room, immediately." The captain said with his voice projecting across the ship. Mark turned to her and she waved him to go. Knowing what that meant he hurried to meet the team.

He found everybody sitting down around John, Mark did the same. "Well I thought we'd have a break from excitement for while." John looked Mark straight dead in the eyes, Mark knew that there was more excitement just recently. John averted his gaze. "But it seems that we got another assignment." He turned to screen, which had a video ready to play. He clicked a button and it started up. It first showed UNSC video identifications than it showed a team of UNSC forces coming out of a Pelican. From one of the soldier's helmet cams they watched as the men entered a building clearing it swiftly. On the top right corner was the troops vitals, which one by one all flatlined unexpectedly. "Bricks, what's the situation down there?" His comms yelled out. "It's clear, nothing to report." The man was slammed to the ground and the video went dark, the video switched to the camera on the back of the Pelican. Two soldiers guarded the entrance to the building. A man wearing Spartan armor jumped down onto the unsuspecting soldiers with a metal blade protruding from his wrist armor into the necks of the soldiers. Than the one back at the Pelican aimed at him but the killer raised a fist towards him shooting his wrist mounted hand magnum. Then realizing what happened the pilot started the Pelican up but a shot went through the glass cockpit into the pilot's head, instantly killing him. The killer waited on the ground looking up higher at the building. The sniper that killed the pilot jumped down from the building using a jetpack, he also was wearing Spartan armor. The two then spoke too far away to be heard and once invisible complete black Pelican landed there to pick them up. It left and the video ended. "These are foes we have faced before but never beat, they call themselves the Assassin's of Honos. Honos was the Roman god of chivalry and military justice. They carry out justice against those they feel fit, case and point, the UNSC. The one with the metal wrist spikes is named Lucianus and the sniper is named Aestas, which are both Roman names." John said without emotion. "So it's our task to track them down I'm assuming?" Piper said quickly. "Yes, but not because of their killing, it's because they might possibly have a location for a rogue operative that even I don't have clearance to look at his file." John looked around the room before continuing. "With the captain's approval I have added Six and Delta to our roster and they will help with our fight." Isaac and Piper looked at each other with concerned expressions. "Whether you like the change or not you'll have to get over it. We have located the Assassins, so gear up." Everyone then left the room and got into the armory to suit up. They were greeted by the Elite who had been captured before. The captain was standing beside it. "Team Scorpio, meet Polynices, he's joining the team." The captain said patting the Elite on the shoulder. "Uhh, sir, are you sure about this decision?" John asked looking at his team and the Elite. The elite looked the team over and turned towards the captain. "Yes, he's joining you for your fight, anyone wanna say anything against it?" The captain said loudly looking around the room for any challenges. "Good, now get geared up and ready to bring those Assassins back."

Aboard the Pelican, Mark stood beside Maria as he loaded his shotgun. Maria looked over at Enigma. "So, you still have feelings for her huh?" She asked turning towards him. Mark didn't look up but gave a slight chuckle. "You do! How, after this long do you still like her?" She said with a laugh. "Come on, you're acting like a child." He said he with a grin. "But you need to admit it!" "And if I don't want to?" "I'll just tell her" "No!" Mark looked at her pleadingly. Maria turned to walk towards Enigma. "Fine, I admit it, I do." Mark said unenthusiastically. "You do what?" Maria asked wanting him to word it out fully. "I do, still have feelings for her, happy?" "You bet."

The Pelican sat down as close as it could to drop off the team. They approached the encampment to offer one last chance to the killers. As they came close the Assassins stopped their advance. Both the sniper and the fighter came out and halted the team with weapons drawn. "What do you want here?" Lucianus asked them. "We're here to give you a final chance of surrendering" John said to them. "And if we don't?" "Than we're forced to do anything in our power to stop you" "Stop us? Don't kid yourselves, you're only men" As the Assassin said that Polynices came over the hill from the Pelican. "Holy shit, it's a damn Elite!" The Assassin's opened fire, and the were met with Team Scorpio's full power. During the fight Polynices charged and knocked Lucianus to the ground. The Elite picked him up by the chest, the Assassin tried to kill him with his wrist spikes but Polynices smashed him into the ground and stomped on his head, knocking him out. Aestas was proving more of a problem, he kept shooting at anyone who came close. Than someone came up behind and held a knife up to the Assassins throat. A white and green Spartan was holding the weapon to Aestas' neck, while six UNSC Marines caught up. The Spartan nodded at the team apprehending Lucianus. "This one yours I'm guessing?" The female Spartan asked sarcastically. Enigma and Delta we're shocked to see the figure. Than the Spartan noticed them. "Emily? Devon? It's been too long".

Back aboard The House of Icarus, the Assassins were thrown in cells, while the team that was found on the planet was brought back. The Spartan who stopped Aestas was part of Enigma and Delta's old team, her name was Sigma (Sam). But after they returned, the team was taken off the ship and sent to military testing facility, extremely confidential stuff.

Mark walked down the stairs without his suit on, he nodded as he passed by Devon. It had been a month since they were placed here and it had been alright, at least not having to deal with the Covenant anyways. He passed Polynices who was being fitted with Zealot class armor. He was than hugged from behind, immediately realizing who it was he allowed it. "Come on Em, I got stuff to do today." Mark said to the person behind him." "I know, just thought it might cheer you up." She said before he turned around. "It did, I'll see you when I'm done, K?" Her answer was a peck on the cheek and letting him get to it.

Mark entered a testing room, he got into his armor like instructed. Except he was equipped with a brand new helmet, a Operator CNM. "You know Mark, normally the type of relationship you and Emily have would not be tolerated, but since we're different here, we will allow you to to be together." Project leader Sean Spencer told Mark. "I appreciate it sir." Sean led him to a briefing room where Delta and Polynices sat waiting. "Looking good P!" Mark said coming in. Polynices just grunted turning towards the screen. Sean turned on the screen showing a bulky Spartan wielding a machine gun. "This is Perses, he's outfitted with a nearly indestructible armor. The armor is made with some alloys and materials found in the structures found frozen under ONI's Sword Base. And his armor can recharge any plasma or energy weapon. Such as a Energy Sword, Plasma Rifle, or even a Spartan Laser. He is distinguishable by his armor mostly. He has a JFO UA helmet, Gungnir shoulder plates, Collar/Grenadier chest plate, Tactical/Tacpad wrist attachment, UA/NxRA utility case, a black visor, and Grenadier knee guards. His armor is black with yellow." Sean said clicking through the slides. "And you want us, to bring him back?" Mark asked Sean bluntly. "If you'd be so kind, yes." Sean replied.

Delta, Mark, and Polynices sat aboard the Falcon readying their weapons. They flew in while troops and vehicles lined a perimeter where somewhere inside the monster of a man lay waiting. They were dropped off and as soon as their feet touched the ground the Falcon took off. Mark hopped off the bluff and led the way with his Shotgun ready and primed and with Polynices coming behind covering his back with a Plasma Turret. Delta sat up on a rock face with his Sniper, waiting for the best to show his face. They found a dropped Plasma Grenade which had to mean they were getting close. They heard it before they saw it, the charging of a Plasma Launcher. Mark and Polynices dove before they could be tagged. He came over the hill with a Gravity Hammer. Delta took a shot and hit him in the knees, it didn't seem to faze him. "Team Foxtrot, conventional weapons won't work against him, use explosives." Command said watching their live feed. Mark grabbed out a grenade from his belt and chucked it over by Perses. It knocked him off balance. Polynices used the diversion to slam the Spartan into the ground and keep him pinned. Mark came over and helped the Elite to drag the man onto his feet and get him cuffed. Delta also had to help get him into a transport as he screamed. "No! You can't let them take me! Not back there!" The three didn't pay him and attention until Perses focused on them. "You! You know what they'll do to you next?! There gonna experiment on you! Run while you can!" He continued screaming as the Marines hauled him off on a Warthog.

On the flight "home" Delta decided to start up a conversation with Mark. "So you and Emily, are you guys official?" He asked staring him down. "Yeah, yeah we're official." Mark asked not knowing what was happening. "Well then listen to me right now, you hurt her, and I will destroy you, you hear me?" Delta said putting the fear of God into Mark. "Yeah, I hear you." Mark said just not wanting to be pulverized. "Good, now go make her happy." He said this just as the back of the Pelican opened up, Mark hadn't even realized they had landed.

As he walked off the realized a Pelican wasn't there, other than the one they just came back with. So he just guessed it was another quick mission so he went to the armory and unarmored. Went he went around to Emily's room it was empty, no lights on, no music. So he decided to check with their leader, James Wilson. "She's gone man, just shipped out." He told Mark coldly. "Why wasn't I told about this!?" "Because it's a distraction from your mission, and it's not like you could've done anything about it." "When is she coming back than?" "That is by how fast they accomplish their mission." "What is their mission?" "You know I can't tell you that." "Than what can you tell me?" "I can tell you to calm down, and go blow off some steam." Mark walked out of their pissed as Hell.

Mark and the others were lined up for some new experimental armor equipment. One by one they were led into a different room. In a span of five to fifteen minutes they're modifications were over. They're armor was placed with experimental AI units, one for each person. Along with the AI all Spartan units were given code names. Mark was designated Agent Canada. All the names were Agent and a country name from Earth. So Devon ended up as Agent Russia, Maria as Agent America, Sam as Agent Brazil, John as Agent Germany, Piper as Agent Ireland, Isaac as Agent Portugal, and Polynices as Agent Peru. The AI also had names but they were just a name of a mythical animal in the country of the Spartan's designated name. So Mark got the AI, Wendigo.

The head of Project PHUSION told the Spartans himself what was gonna happen. "You all have been given designated names and AIs, now you will be released to UNSC for support if they're needed. So you will need to be ready to be deployed." Mark (now Agent Canada) walked with the group as a few scientists led Russia aside, away from the deployment Pelicans.

So Canada was deployed to a UNSC outpost with a few other Spartans. They were there to make sure any rebels wouldn't be able to steal the supplies going to and from colonies on the planet. His first day of watching he decided to start up a conversation with Wendigo. "Hey W, what do you suppose they brought us out here for?" Canada asked waiting for the AIs response. "Probably because these troops are inexperienced and the rebels are beating them badly." Wendigo answered coldly. "So why do they call you Wendigo anyways?" Canada asked curiously. "Because I'm always ready and eager to kill, they called me that due to my blood thirsty nature." The AI said still with no expression. "Well, I can see why they didn't pair you with Polynices." The AI companion went silent after that. Suddenly without warning Wendigo said just one word. "Duck!" Canada quickly crouched down avoiding a spray of bullets. "To the left behind the barrel." Wendigo told him without Canada having to look. So the Spartan grabbed his sniper and did a very quick shot eliminating the enemy. Canada jumped down and using AI assisted aiming he got two more rebels in close range with his DMR. He left the few other rebels for the other Spartans to get, might as well give them some practice. "PHUSION deployment is on comms, ready to receive?" Wendigo asked Canada already knowing the answer. "Patch them through." "Canada, you taken care of the rebels?" "As of the moment anyways, where do you need me?" "We have lost contact with Brazil, we're afraid she might have been taken hostage. So we need you to go get her, and complete her mission, you'll be briefed in the details when you get there." "Alright, I'm ready for pickup now." Canada said before switching off comms. "Well boys, it's been a pleasure working with you." Canada said while a Falcon touched down behind him. "I'll see you all on the other side." He said grabbing onto the aircraft as it started ascending again. The Spartans saluted him as he flew off towards a ship to take him off planet.

Command gave Canada a little more information before he got there, that he'd have have some fellows agents back him up. He looked out the landing Pelican to see two Spartans waiting for him. The worst part, the knew exactly who they were. These were the old Assassins, They had some updates to their armor but you could still tell it was them. The sniper talked first. "Canada right? I'm Costa Rica, (he pointed to the fighter) and that's Papua New Guinea." He said politely. "Whatever, let's just find Brazil and get this over with." Canada said walking past them. To aid their trek, they got a Warthog. So naturally Canada took the wheel and New Guinea got the gun while Costa Rica sat shotgun. They drove until they got to the spot where Brazil's tracker shut off. Canada parked it and got out with Costa Rica while New Guinea stayed on the gun just in case. Canada looked down finding smashed bits of mechanics. "Hey, does this look like a tracker to you?" Canada said to Costa Rica. "Yeah, whoever this guy is, he's good." The sniper said. "Canada, look over towards the bushes, I see something." Wendigo told Canada. So naturally Canada looked over finding a Spartan helmet, Brazil's helmet. He looked up to see New Guinea on the ground and Costa Rica held at gunpoint. Before he could look at his captor he was hit from behind this knocked out.

Canada woke up without his armor strung up with his arms tied to the ceiling and his feet not reaching the floor. He looked over and saw the rest of the agents strung up just like him. Everybody was there, from those he was best in the field with, to those he hadn't seen in a long while, every agent was there, except Russia. "Well well well, everybody's awake now, time for an explanation of sorts." Said a voice from the center of the room. Canada moved his head to see Russia standing in the center of the room with all the other agents armor behind him. "What the hell is this?!" Ireland yelled at him. "Well, this is your end everyone, I have decided that none of you are gonna even live. Because none of you even tried to help me! When they experimented on me none of you helped me!" He yelled as he swung his arm into the nearby hanging Germany. "We didn't know!" America yelled at the unreasonable Russia. "It doesn't matter anymore, you'll all die, I won't make you suffer I'll just give you a quick death." He said pulling out his pistol and placing it against Canada's head. "Stop! Don't do this please!" Screamed Greenland (Emily) to no avail, because despite all those who yelled against this course of action, Russia pulled the trigger leaving a body dangling there, and he went person to person. Point blank, bullet to the head, even himself in the end after he realized what he did.

Ten days later PHUSION teams arrived at the scene. "Sir, we have a mass murder suicide, what do you want us to do?" Asked a soldier over the comms. "Alright, you got it." He said receiving orders. "Let's bag the armor and stage the scene and leave it for the authorities to clean up, it's not our job." Said the same soldier allowing his squad to get to work.