Well now that the first chapter is done I might as well get on with the second. If you have any ideas for the story the please comment and share them and I will happily take them into consideration. I realize that the last chapter ended really abruptly so I will fix that in this chapter forward. So I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

Trial by Fire

[Anthony's POV]

I was scared. I was scared of the Locust. What if I was killed? I don't know what my Ma would do. Obviously she would be devastated and combined with the fact that Benjamin was going to basic soon would scare here even more. At least my last mission might be with Marcus Fenix. I looked up at him. He was big and looked pretty pissed off. I would be too if I was incarcerated for forty years and then left to rot in prison while rapists, serial killers, and all the other shitty people that stayed in Jacinto Maximum Security Prison were pardoned. I looked up at Sam who was asleep again. He always seemed to be sleeping on the Raven ride to a mission.

"Will someone wake him up we're almost there" The Lieutenant said. He was a good man. Maybe a little rough sometimes but overall he was a good leader.

"Yo I'm not waking him up again. You mind Carmine?"

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even hear Dom talking to me.

"YO CARMINE!"

I then turned sharply as Dom woke me from my thoughts. Dom sighed at me and then repeated.

"You mind waking Sam up Carmine?"

"Oh yeah sure"

I reached over and shook Sam, he woke up easy.

"We're almost there Sam okay, better get ready to kick some grub ass" Dom said.

"Yeah sure that sounds great" Sam said with his voice muffled from the helmet.

I looked up at Marcus Fenix. This man was my idol, well other than my brother Clay. I wouldn't make any stupid mistakes around him I promised myself that I wouldn't. I just wish I could get reloading down before this mission started.

[Marcus POV]

Wow. I was free and now I'm back in the army. My luck just seems to get better and better. At least Dom was in my squad. I knew I could trust him. I looked over at Lieutenant Kim who was looking at me with a scowl on his face. What was his problem? Then the Lieutenant reached down and grabbed his canteen. He reached out and offered it to me, I took it and took a sip. I hadn't had water that wasn't slimy and dirty in a long time. I looked down at the energetic Gear who was shooting out of the Raven. I doubt he was going to hit anything, not with us this high up or the Raven moving like this. Then the damn Lieutenant had to open his mouth and ruin the silence.

"Welcome to Delta Squad."

Oh great so just like that I'm back in a squad.

"Where are we going?" I said hoping to get a quick answer from the Lieutenant and shut him up.

"Embry Square. Colonel Hoffman's waiting for us."

"Hoffman? Ah shit." I did not need to ever hear that name again. It belonged to the man who hated me the most.

Then Dom opened his mouth and said something that bothered me.

"This is gonna be awesome."

"Hey, are you really the Marcus Fenix? The one who fought at Aspho Fields?" The gear that was shooting out of the Raven asked me. What was his name again? Anthony Carmine I think. He had a weird tone in his voice. My guess was one thing. Fear.

"Yep."

Then he got really excited and his fear became excitement. "Wow! Cool!"

"Not really"

If only he knew.

[Sam's POV]

The Raven was just about to land and I had just been woken up so I was still a little groggy. I had to get control before this mission or I might screw up and someone might get killed. The Raven finally landed, I wasn't expecting Hoffman to show up in person. We all got out of the Raven and walked towards the older man. Then the fight everyone was expecting to happen did happen.

"You! A traitor like you doesn't deserve to wear the uniform."

"Looks to me like you need all the help you can get."

"Step aside"

I was kind of hoping that they would have an all out fight. I surveyed the area. I didn't look like their were any Locust around. Then I looked over to see a pretty blonde woman exiting a Raven.

"Sensors are picking up enemy movement, sir. Close by."

I finally had to say something.

"Well this is just great. We are less then five minutes into this mission and we already have grubs."

Marcus looked over at the woman. He knew her. I just didn't know from where. Then we heard a loud scream and bullets began hitting the ground next to us.

"Locust!"

"Take cover!"

I ran into some cover and began to blind fire my Lancer. I tried to reload but my gun got stuck and I jammed it.

"You've got to be kidding me"

I threw down my Lancer and took out my Longshot. I fired and got a head shot off one of them. I watched his headless body crumple to the ground. Then Marcus got up and took down two with some really well placed Lancer shots. I looked over at the Lieutenant and Hoffman. Yeah thanks for the help Kim. I finally fixed my Lancer and began to fire again. This time I took down a Drone before I had to reload again, this time I did it with ease. Dom blind fired and actually got one of them. Then Marcus got up and nearly took all of them down. I got another headshot off with my Longhshot. Marcus stood up and took the last two Drones down

"That was satisfying"

Then the Colonel walked over to Marcus and said "I expect you to give me one hundred ten percent, Fenix"

"I'm not doing this for you"

I looked over at Anthony confused and he just shrugged. I looked over at Dom.

"What did he mean?"

Dom just smirked and answered with a simple. "You don't need to know"

"Okay then. C'mon let's go Anthony."

We walked up the steps right into another Locust ambush. Then the King Raven above us opened fire on the Drones.

"That one was on the house good luck Delta." The KR pilot said to us in a hopeful voice

"Wish we had air support like that for the whole mission"

Anthony looked up at me "Yeah I wish we did too"

"But we won't and we have good men waiting for us so let's get up those stairs, Alpha's waiting."

"Yes Lieutenant" Anthony and I said in unison

We ran into a building which lead to a court yard. More Drones came out so I quickly got into cover. We began to open fire and Marcus put a good half a clip into one but it wasn't enough to take it down. A drone tried to rush me but I got up and quickly put it down with a few Lancer shots. Someone threw a grenade and bits of Drone flesh went flying threw the air. Then Dom rushed a Drone, revved his chainsaw and cut the Drone in two little pieces. We ran up the stairs.

"Ah shit more Drones"

I looked over at Anthony who rarely said anything on these missions.

"Marcus, Sam flank em we'll lay suppressing fire" Kim ordered.

"Got it" I complied and opened fire on a Drone and killed him with a few shots from my Lancer. We jumped over to the next pillar and scanned for Drones. Marcus took one down with a Lancer shot to the head. Anthony rolled towards a Drone with his Gnasher out and blew the Drone in two. Then a big hole began forming in the ground and Drones started to pour out.

"E Hole!" I cried out so the others would be prepared for a possibly long fight.

I opened fire on an emerging Drone and killed him. His body fell back down into the hole he came from. A Drone rushed me and I had to fall back. I took down another Drone with some more shots from my Lancer. I heard Kim in the distance chainsawing a Drone in half. Then another Drone rushed me and Dom saved me with a shot to the head of the Drone.

"That was pretty easy." I said cheerfully under my helmet.

"Yeah it was pretty fun too" Dom replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah well it looks like we aren't done yet"

I turned to see Dom and Anthony firing at some Drones. Kim was firing but a Drone rushed him and took him down with a shot in the shoulder. Another Drone opened fire on Dom and took him down with a shot to the leg. Marcus ran over and helped Dom up while Anthony got Kim up. I had just ran out of Lancer ammo so I reached for my Snub and took the Drone down with a shot to the head. Dom threw me three clips. Then we headed towards the bridge.

[Dom's POV]

As we got on the bridge the Lieutenant pointed at the ground below us and we looked at the bodies below us.

"Control, this is Delta. We have visuals on Alpha. Possible KIA. No sign of resonator."

We ran over to a giant door. "I'll open the door I've got the code"

Then an E-Hole opened up in the ground I was taken down with a shot right into my shoulder. Sam ran over to get some ammo but a Drone stopped him halfway through so he opened fire and got him in the face. Then he ran over and helped me up.

"Thanks man"

Another Drone was taken down by Kim. But he was smacked in the face with the Drones Hammerburst. Marcus ran over and chainsawed the Drone in half. Then Kim got up.

"You okay Lieutenant?" Anthony Carmine asked in concern for his superior.

"I'm fine Carmine let's go"

"Another E-Hole!" Sam screamed.

I got into cover and threw a frag. It blew up a Drone and stunned the one next to him. I opened fire on two Drones and I took them down easily.

"Nice job Dom" Marcus congratulated.

I turned around and looked at Marcus "Yeah thanks man"

"Yeah sure"

[Anthony's POV]

We ran down the stairs to find the bodies of Alpha.

"I hope that not Rojas down there" Dom said sadly. "His little boy turned two last week."

We finally reached Alpha and looked at the bodies.

"Well it could be Alpha" The Lieutenant said not sure what to think.

"COG tags are gone" Marcus was right, it is weird that the tags are gone.

I looked on the ground and picked up and small device. Then Kim walked over to me while Dom and Marcus walked towards each other and began to talk.

"Is that the resonator"

"Nah"

I played around with the device until Kim talked again.

"Our next target is House of Sovereigns. Straight ahead. Move."

I threw the device into the hole, picked up my Lancer, and got up. I would be ready for anything.

That ends chapter 2. I was going to do a part in Kim's POV but I can't really get into the character. I can get into Marcus and Anthony way easier than I can get into Kim with. I will try and get a Kim's POV in the next chapter, but I'm gonna try to also get as much Anthony as possible. I know I ended the chapter with the beginning of Fish in a Barrel but I didn't want to end it with them finding Alpha's bodies. I also plan on doing a backstory of Sam's time in Echo squad but I don't plan on doing that until I at least reach Act 3 or 4. But I will put the apps up for characters soon. It'll be more of a side project than a main story. I really hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.