BraK3R's A/N: What's up fools! This chapter took me a bit to update cause i've been dedicated with school recently (also, i'm sick). Please keep in mind, even though I am just re-editing the chapters, it is a very tiresome ordeal due to the fact that I have to reread through the chapters slowly, trying to comprehend errors and whatnot while also looking for inconsistencies in the lore. I know, the chapter is still not perfect, but I do the best I can with what I have. Enjoy people! And please Follow,Favorite, and Review! :D

DelVarO's A/N: Hello again! I decided to work harder this time and to give you this chapter as a new year present and as a token of my appreciation for the support this fic received. Also i wanted to apologise that it took me so much time to update. This took me some time to write and i hope that it turned out okay eventually. So without further time wasting, Here is the third chapter! Enjoy the fic and remember, reviews are always welcome.

Chapter 3 – What the fuck happened?

0604 Hours, February 7, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDAR) / Planet Venatio

The HEV pod was violently shaking, threatening to fall apart, though it never did. Damian looked down and saw how the ground came closer and closer, the tiny ant-sized trees growing in size as he dropped down. The COM though, was even louder than the rumble from the pod. Brass was singing some song, which everyone but him seemed to know, with Mary and Sean humming along too. It would've been a mighty fine song if none of them had forgotten the second half of the chorus.

"Brass, I swear to god... if you land near my pod when we get down there, I promise you i'm gonna shove my boot so far up into your ass that you'll squeal like a grunt for the next decade…" Leone growled. Brass immediately shut his mouth, drawing a chorus of laughs.

They were about to land, just a few more seconds and Damian could spot the ground, trying to spot his presumed landing spot. What he saw did not make him happy, not at all.

There was a thick jungle beneath them, a wavy sea of green and other colors sporting through random spots. But the jungle beneath him seemed to abruptly end with a very large drop. And the angle he was dropping into didn't do anything to ease his worries.

There was nothing to do now but wait; he embraced himself for the landing. The pod jerked upwards as the chute deployed, causing the "metal egg" to somewhat decelerate, before the metallic chute detached and once again sent the pod hurtling downwards at a slower pace. Damian felt his stomach drop to his boots as he was hit by the sudden drop of speed. He had the urge to vomit inside his helmet but decided to save it for later; maybe after the landing.

A moment later, he heard a crashing sound as violent vibrations resonated throughout the pod's hull. His field of view was being obscured by a cloud of dirt and stone as the pod skid on the ground.

Eventually the HEV stopped and the hatch was blown out, only it didn't land a few feet ahead of him. Instead it fell downwards another 300 feet. Damian allowed himself to release a heavy sigh of relief. He looked down. He'd landed right at the edge of a ridge but down there, the sea of green trees continued. As he watched the endless green ocean, he noticed several large dust clouds, probably raised from the landings of the rest of Echo squad. He decided it was time to move.

He grabbed his equipment and slowly climbed out of his pod. When he was out of it he saw the short trail of destruction his pod had left in its wake: a small canyon about a foot deep and a pair of broken trees.

"Echo squad report!" Leone's voice ordered.

"This is Echo four, all clear." Damian responded and a moment later he heard the others respond as well.

Damian looked down at where the rest of his team had landed.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice said. Damian looked at the source, noticing Akira coming to stand near him.

"I was thinking more about how the hell we're going to get down from here… but yeah, it looks nice." He answered the question once she stopped next to him. They both shared a moment of silence, just looking at the sight before them. The jungle had an aura of mysteriousness about it, which was only further enhanced by the traces of sunrise.

"Let's make sure we know where we need to go to first… what if our destination is up here?" She said, and Damian was sure she had a sardonic smile on her face. He nodded his agreement; he didn't want to climb down this godforsaken mountain if he could avoid it.

"Echo Leader, this is Echo four. Where is our destination?" He asked the squad leader.

"Lets see…" Leone said. A moment later a NAV marker appeared on their HUDs.

"Fuck…" He heard Akira whisper in defeat. They would have to climb down the mountain after all.

Akira walked to edge and looked down. Eventually she started climbing down and Damian soon followed her. As soon as Damian caught up to Akira, he realized that it would take some time to get down all the way. His hands gripped with all their might as one of his legs tried to find a foothold whilst he tried to avoid looking down. Akira on the other hand, had much more luck. She was now more than 20 feet beneath him, climbing down much more swiftly than her teammate. She stopped on a small rocky perch beneath and looked up at Damian, silently watching him.

"Fuck was that?" He heard Jimmy's voice say in surprise.

"What was what?" Brass answered.

"Something moved, right over there…" Jimmy whispered.

"There's nothing there, don't be such a pussy." Brass said, teasingly.

"Fuck off, I'm serious, I heard something" Jimmy said, his voice becoming more and more agitated.

"Oh yeah, like wha-" He attempted to say but he was interrupted by something that made him scream in surprise.

Damian stopped climbing and twisted his head so he could get a view of what was going on. There was a moment of silence but then he heard gunshots clearly vibrating through the COMS.

Damian increased his speed and started sliding and skidding down against the wall until he nearly fell off, which forced him to return to his previous pace.

Akira meanwhile, crouched down on another perch beneath Damian and took aim with her sniper rifle.

"Echo One, this is Echo six, I can't get a visual on you, what's going on?" She asked over the COM.

"We're getting attacked by fucking monkey people!" Brass screamed and the sound of continuous booming gunfire was heard.

"These are apes, you idiot…" Kyle yelled, as he fired his assault rifle. Brass was too busy to reply with something witty.

"They are everywhere! Don't let them surround us!" Sean warned.

"Get to the treeline; I'll cover your back!" AkIra suggested.

"Alright, boys and girls we're moving! Hold hands, we don't wanna lose anyone!" Leone cried.

Damian silently listened to the conversation as he climbed down. Apes… the only thing he could think of, were Brutes. He finally managed to get to Akira and crouched near her,

looking around for their squad. After a moment of waiting, he saw them; everyone was running toward the treeline with Leone, Brass, and Kyle covering their backs while shooting at what looked like... well...

"Apes." He mumbled in confusion. He hadn't really expected to be fighting apes today. He inspected them with his visor's zoom and as they got closer, more and more details were revealed. They stood around 9 feet tall, had shaggy gray fur, small heads with what looked like giant fangs coming out of their lower jaws, short legs and the longest, muscled arm Damian had ever seen in his life. He was amazed for a second as he saw one of the apes use his arms to catapult himself at least 15 feet into the air, landing right in front of Brass.

Brass didn't stop though; he just kept running forward, unleashing a hail of bullets at the creature. The ape cried in rage, pain and surprise and retreated, more than a dozen holes in his body leaking dark red blood. 'At least they feel pain in a normal way…' Thought Damian, remembering how many bullets it was needed to take out a brute, who would have rarely flinched when even a dozen bullets had hit him square in the face.

Only then, when the squad was almost at the stone wall, did he notice exactly how many of them were chasing after the ODST's. There were at least 50 of the beasts! Akira was shooting like crazy near him, and after each shot another creature would drop to the ground, writhing in its own blood.

A large stone boulder, about the size of Damian, crashed in the middle of the escaping ODST squad, clipping one of them. Damian recognized it to be Jimmy.

He tried climbing back to his feet but he would be too late; the bestial tidal wave was almost upon him. But before it could swallow him, Leone shot past them, scooping up Jimmy while he ran back. What none of beasts noticed was the small round object that Leone left in the place of Jimmy.

The tidal wave swept over the object and a moment later it exploded, sending dirt and pieces of apelike beasts flying into the air, but Leone was already far away from it.

Damian was amazed each and every time Leone displayed his physical condition and prowess. There was still much fight left in the old man.

Leone carried Jimmy all the way to the stone wall, much to his dismay, and then threw him against a stone so he could turn around and open fire at his 9 feet tall followers.

The last ones to arrive were Sean and Brass, followed by four of the beasts. Mary shot a full clip of an SMG into the small crowd, attempting to at least slow them down. She killed one of them but the others, a little wounded but still in the fight, kept on, almost on Brass and Sean.

A pair of the beasts suddenly dropped down, both with gaping holes in their heads. Mary looked up and saw Damian and Akira shooting down on the creatures. Brass and Sean turned around in time and eliminated the remaining one.

Damian looked from his high perch as more of the Ape-like beasts charged out of the jungle into the fray, only to be met with a hail of bullets. Some died, some managed to flee but more and more came to replace them, but the ammo of the ODST's didn't. If Damian could describe it with a single word it would be chaos. Blood was everywhere; bodies of the raging beasts filled the ground, creating a circle around the human soldiers.

Leone was standing in the middle of all this. Shooting down the hostiles and shouting orders.

"Cover the left flank!" He screamed as he rushed to help secure the right flank.

"Throw some frags! Shoot them down once you fix it!" He screamed at Brass who had a problem with his weapon. Brass cursed aloud and threw his BR55 to the ground, taking out a frag and his M6S sidearm.

Then, something weird happened; the beasts suddenly retreated, most of them at least. The sound of battle ceased for a moment but then, a large boulder crashed just a few feet beneath Akira and Damian, sending rubble and pieces of stone raining down on the soldiers below.

"What the hell?!" Sean screamed as more stones rained down on their heads. Everyone jumped to hide behind any available cover they could find. Leone hid underneath a pile of the dead beasts.

"Looks like these shitheads are not so dumb after all." Brass said as another rock crashed near him and pieces of it rained on his head.

"I can't see any of the shooters. I think they're aware of my location and took precautions. I can't do anything." Akira said with anger.

She motioned Damian to follow, and they both climbed quickly, down to the rest of the squad. If they'd have stayed up there they would have become sitting ducks.

"We can't stay here. 10 more minutes like this and I'm out. I don't want to fight these freaks with my fists." Sean said. "I don't know, at least when we were fighting the covenant we could take their weapons... but this... this reaches new levels…" He added and looked at Leone, who stayed silent through the whole conversation. He sat with his back against an ape corpse, his helmet staring into a small PDA that was in his hand. When he noticed that everyone was looking at him, he returned his PDA to his belt and looked back at them.

"You won't believe this… I hope that you remember those files I told you to memorize." He told them.

"Yeah, I did. I don't remember any apes going batshit insane like this though." Brass said, moving his hand in a waving motion to indicate the mess around him. Leone sighed.

"I hope that at least the two of you remember the files…" Leone said when he saw Damian and Akira finally reach down. "Yeah, I remember these apes in the files… though they aren't exactly like I remember them." Akira said.

"Exactly. The files say that these are 'Passive creatures that will become hostile only if they feel threatened.' And that they move in large packs. The only thing correct is the part about the pack." Leone announced. A moment of silence ensued.

"Why the fuck are we talking about this when we're getting bombarded by rocks?" Kyle asked when a rock fell near by, breaking the silence.

"I feel safer when I know the enemy. But what I see here is… strange. Anyway, we can't stay here. We're soon going to be low on ammo." Leone said, taking a peek around his cover.

"So how are we going to do it? Where do we run to?" Brass asked while looking around for any signs of the animals while shouldering his retrieved BR55."They're territorial creatures, if we leave their territory maybe they will leave us." Akira said.

"So that's our plan? Run like hell and hope they don't catch us before they get tired?" Kyle said incredulously.

"Yes, we don't have any other option." Said Leone with seriousness and got up into a crouch.

"Alright, Brass, Sean, you cover our backs, Damian and I will clear the front, the rest of you cover our flanks. Don't waste ammo, shoot to kill." He gave the order and another peek at the jungle.

"On my mark..." He said, everyone preparing for a hell of a run. "Mark!" Leone barked and everyone broke into a swift run.

They ran as fast as they could, Leone leading the way. They kept running near the mountain, keeping at least one of their sides safe but eventually the path lead back into the jungle.

They didn't stop though, they just kept running. Damian heard a single shot come from behind him but he didn't look, he needed to concentrate on the front. He could hear the roars of the beasts behind them, many things moving through the bushes around them. They ran through the jungle, with Brass and Sean to keep their backs safe. They kept on running for a long time, Damian didn't count, his legs were aching and he was out of breath. They jumped or passed around every obstacle they met in their way until suddenly, Leone halted them to a stop.

Everyone stopped. Most of them were panting, Jimmy dropped to the ground and leaned against a tree, the only one who still had his composure was Leone, who stood as if he hadn't even sprinted during the last 15 minutes non-stop.

"Listen…" Leone said and turned around with his weapon raised. Damian listened closely and only then he noticed what Leone heard: Silence.

"Looks like they didn't follow…" Damian struggled to say with his lack of breath but as soon as he finished speaking a deafening roar was heard and the largest ape-beast Damian had seen so far, ran out of the nearest bush. It was at least 15 feet tall, with black fur some of which, was missing in certain spots, revealing scars.

Everyone raised their weapons but the beast didn't attack. Damian noticed the beast's bloodshot eyes looking at their weapons. These animals weren't dumb, Damian could see that and the fact that they had a slight insight on tactics showed it. The beast still, strangely didn't move. It just stood there, bearing its pointy teeth and sharp fangs and growling at them.

"Don't shoot… but if it moves one single step closer, fill him with lead." Leone said and slowly took a step back. Everyone did so as well. After a few more steps, the beast roared at them again, opening its massive and fang filled mouth, as if giving them a warning and then it sniffed the air. The creature oddly enough, stiffened and looked around for a moment.

None of the ODST's were sure about what to do, but the creature all of a sudden turned tail and fled.

"That was… weird." Sean said, answered by several nods.

"Why did it run away like that?" Kyle asked aloud.

"Who cares? We got away in one piece." Mary said cheerily.

"Lets go, we still have an objective to do." Leone said and motioned for them to follow.

They started moving in the general direction of the NAV marker Leone had placed. Damian thought about what had just happened. Something weird… something had spooked that creature… what if they were heading into a far greater danger than the previous one they'd just encountered? He shook it off, not wanting to worry himself too much. The squad moved silently, none of them having anything to say or some just simply wanting a moment of silence and peace. After a few more minutes, a curious sight was unfolded in front of them. In front of them, were about 20 cat-sized creatures.

He couldn't describe them in any way other than that they resembled a cross between a bird and a rat.

They had black fur all over their body, with a beak-like mouth and razor-sharp teeth. Their arms and legs ended with small claws.

"Scavengers. Not a danger for us." Leone said.

"Look…" Akira said. Damian saw that Akira was looking upwards as he followed her gaze.

Above them there were at least a dozen… things hanging from some sort of a rope. He should have immediately known what was hanging there, but it was completely covered by the scavenger creatures. It was obvious though that whatever it was, it had once been alive. He saw one of the creatures tear off a part of the flesh and swallow it as its claws were dug into what ever the thing was.

Leone drew his handgun and released a shot into the air. The creatures squealed, a high pitched shriek, and scattered all around, disappearing in the undergrowth around them. Just as the last of them disappeared from sight, Damian heard a startled gasp emanate from one of his teammates. He looked up and understood why.

Above them, hanging upside down from a rope of sorts, were twelve, half eaten and rotten human corpses. But there was something even more disturbing about the sight; some of the bodies had no skin, and all of them were headless.

"What...the fuck…" He heard Brass whisper. Kyle mumbled something about him not feeling well.

Damian inspected the bodies. They were not fresh ones, at least older than a couple of months.

Questions rose in his head, leading only to more and more questions.

"Who the fuck would skin someone?! Its not Covenant as far as I know… they've never even tried to pull shit like this before." Brass said with disgust creeping into his voice, expressing

Damian's exact thoughts.

What the fuck was going on here? First, these animals had attacked them without reason, and now… these bodies hanging upside down from a tree. He looked at the ropes that were tied to the feet of the bodies. The ropes had been tied to the high branches of a huge tree but… that looked like an awfully difficult job to do. The one or "ones" who did it must've climbed up the tree, while carrying the bodies. From there, they must have hung the corpses from the highest branch. But the fact that the branches were 25 feet above the ground and extremely slender… well whoever they were, they were very dedicated to whatever reason they had done this for.

"Bodies are impossible to identify, the facial structures have been eaten and decomposed beyond my scanner's recognition software capabilities" Mary declared.

"I have a feeling we'll soon be finding out who's bodies these belong too..." Leone said.

Nichire was impressed. He had hunted Oomans before, and most of them had not been a difficult prey to hunt. The years before had been a great time to hunt the Oomans, what with their war going on against the Covenant. He realized that this puny species amazed him the more he thought about it. The Oomans fought an enemy who outmanned, outgunned, and outnumbered their own race, and yet they had still prevailed. The war had lasted a quarter of a decade and the humans had achieved bitter and utter victory. Against all odds, they'd survived. Nichire never quite understood what had happened in the end. The elders from different hunting parties had told of some galactic-scale event that had transpired and Nichire mused at the thought that one of the most ancient races in the galaxy had missed it. His mandibles formed a smile as he remembered those times, at least a decade Oomans and the other soft meat they fought were battle hardened warriors with their senses at their peak. They had been the ultimate prey at that time… the ultimate soft meat prey.

But that time had ended, the long war was over. The fighting had resumed in small skirmishes but not like it had been before.

These Oomans however, were different. They fought like true warriors and prevailed in dangerous odds. Even he would question himself before entering the territory of the furred beasts, and he'd have an even harder time getting out of there. That is, if he was alone.

He had followed them since they'd landed on the planet, right after he'd sent Nik'ah'kum to meet the others.

Nichire knew how a team worked; he had been taught and perfected the art since he was a suckling. These Oomans fared well against the animals, and worked as one body. When he watched them fighting near the mountain wall, he immediately found the Leader. The bulky Ooman was standing in the center of the battle, shouting orders in the tongue that Nichire couldn't understand. He could practically smell the stench of a hundred different battles reeking out of their Leader. He saw the aura of a warrior in his stance, in his stride, and in his voice. But there was something else in there: weariness and age, their Leader wasn't young, but with age, came experience. He would be a worthy opponent, even if he wouldn't stand much of a chance against Nichire.

He mused at the thought of hunting their Leader down and challenging him, but it was not meant to be. Not now at least. He had watched the Oomans long enough to know that they never came alone to a planet, and he certainly knew that one of their massive ships was in orbit now, with a small army inside.

He recounted an incident he had heard about some time ago. A Yautja hunting group had killed a pack of Ooman warriors, but there was a ship in orbit and more and more Oomans had come, searching for the Yautja. The hunting group had barely escaped in time and luckily, the Oomans had never found what had killed their comrades .

No, he wouldn't hunt them, and he wouldn't allow the others to either. Secrecy was their power, and he wasn't going to break it. The Yautja had hunted the Oomans and other countless races for centuries now and not once had they ever been discovered; not as far as he knew. He wasn't going to be the one who would cause their cloak of enigma to drop. If the Oomans found out about his race, the option to hunt them in the future would become entirely different.

He had always watched the Oomans whenever he could out of curiosity, but his curiosity was not matched with the same level of intensity that the Oomans had.

If the Oomans found them out, they would hunt them down, study them, and exterminate his race. Nichire was not going to be the cause of it. As long as the Oomans were unaware of them, everything would remain the same. Now, they only needed to ignore them for the time being, and as long as the Oomans didn't interfere, or more accurately, stumble into their hunt, everything would be fine.

He kept on watching them for some time as they encountered and inspected the dead bodies that the other Yautja had hung there. These ones had interfered, and so they had been removed.

A few more minutes passed as Nichire watched them, not understanding their conversation and what they planned to do. Eventually, their Leader motioned for them to follow and they went on their way to their destination, wherever that was.

Nichire gave them one last look and went in his own direction. He had to explain to the young ones what was at stake.

He was Leader. They had to listen to him. And if they didn't, he would kill them. The elders would approve.

DelVarO: Well, here it is, the end. It was rather short, but i hope that you liked it after all. Hopefully, the next chapter will be written soon and you wont have to wait for it too long. Well, that was me and the new chapter. Leave a review and, Happy new year!