Chapter 4- Reach
-I need a weapon.
-You will receive a weapon, do not worry about that. Oh god, I almost forgot about one of the most important things of this mission. –says Lord Hood
-What did you forgot? –says Dutch
-When you find Chief, deliver her to him.
Lord Hood grab a disk and give to Buck. He is confused about what it is and asks to Lord Hood:
-What do you mean by "her"?
-She is an AI known as Cortana, one of the best AIs we have. Connect her to your communication system for now, she will be useful at Reach.
-Dad, why do we need to give Cortana to Chief? –asks Kenny
-That's confidential even for you, my son.
Buck connects Cortana to his communication system, in order to everyone in Buck's team can listen to her. She says in the communicator:
-I miss Chief's system architecture, it was so fun in there. The communication system's architecture is so boring and generic.
-Can we talk to her? –asks Romeo to Lord Hood
-Yes, you can. –replies Cortana
Suddenly, the station starts shaking and the lights start flashing. Dutch, scared, asks:
-What the hell is happening?
-It is a Covenant attack! Quickly, get to the cruiser's hangar and get in SS Normandy! –says Lord Hood
-Sir, yes sir! –says all the ODSTs, less the Rookie
They run to the cruiser's hangar and get in the cruiser as fast as they can. They hear a voice saying:
-WARNING! WARNING! Move to your defense positions. This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!
-Things are messy over there, thank god we won't be on this war! –says Kenny to the team
-What makes you think that things are better in Reach? –asks Buck
Kenny tries to say something, but he gives up and remain silent. They hear a loud noise coming from outside the cruiser. It shakes a little bit and gets out of the station. The ODST team goes to the control room to meet with the pilots. When they get there, they see Lord Hood and a lot of pilots. All the ODSTs are confused, Kenny asks to Lord Hood:
-Dad? What are you doing here? You're supposed to defend the station!
-Cairo Station is compromised, we're taking you to Reach.
Cortana says to Buck in the communication system:
-Ask him if he activated the cannons before he left the station.
-Sir, did you activate the station cannons before you left? –asks Buck to Lord Hood
-Oh no…I forgot about that.
-Damn! - shouts Cortana in the communication system- Maybe Johnson can be there, I have to make some calls.
Suddenly, the cruiser shakes a lot and they make a slip-space jump. When SS Normandy stops shaking, everyone look at the windows and see Reach. Lord Hood look to the ODSTs and say:
-Soldiers, it is time to act. Grab a pelican in the pelican hangar and get out of here. When you find Chief, Cortana will contact us immediately. Good luck, you will need it.
-Sir, yes sir! –shouts all the ODSTs less the Rookie
Buck starts hearing a phone ringing noise inside the communication system. Someone answers this call and say:
-What do you want, Cortana?
-How did you…whatever, I need you to do something. –says Cortana to this person.
-I'm trying to get my ass out of this station. What do you want?
-You need to activate the station's cannons. Lord Hood already left and forgot about the cannons. I'm not in the station, I'm in Reach with some ODSTs.
-You are making things worse for me, lady.
-If you don't activate those cannons, things will be worse to everyone in the planet.
The ODSTs enter in the pelican and start it up. Cortana starts loosing signal and say to this person that she is talking to in the communicator:
-If you don't activate those cannons, things will be worse to everyone in the planet. I'm losing my signal, Johnson.
-Cortana, I don't know, what if don't work?
-Just do it!
She loses complete signal of Johnson and says to Buck:
-I hope he do it, otherwise, the Covenant will take our planet.
They start driving the pelican to Reach, more precisely, to the exact place where the UNSC found Chief's signal. They enter the planet's atmosphere. Suddenly, a Wraith shot hits the pelican, making him fall in the ground. It crashes on the ground, making everyone inside of it pass out. When they wake up, the first thing they do is try to open the door. Everyone push the pelican's door and just open half of it. Mickey says to everyone:
-Hey everyone, don't forget to grab your weapons. I don't want to see anyone in the danger, alright?
-Alright. –says everyone less the Rookie
Buck checks how far they are from the place they were heading to. He says to everyone:
-We're not far from our objective. We will have to go through a city called Hope. Just stay down and don't make a noise, otherwise, it will be harder for us to get back home in piece.
When they leave the pelican, they see the fog covering everything up. They're in a swamp, full of trees. The team walk slowly and quietly, trying to hide from any hostiles. Suddenly, an Elite shows up next to the team and shouts in front of Mickey. He screams and fall on the ground, the rest of the team pull their guns out and aim at the Elite. He puts his hands in the air and say to the ODSTs:
-I surrender.
They keep aiming at him, waiting for his movement. Suddenly, he shouts and a lot of Jackals with shields appears behind the team. Everyone looks and aims their guns to the Jackals, in this moment, the Elite pulls his energy sword out and runs for Mickey. Buck, Dutch, Rookie and Kenny start shooting at the Jackals, while Romeo and Mickey deal with the Elite. Mickey shoots the Elite with his submachine-gun, but it doesn't make any effect. A Jackal charge his plasma pistol and shoots it at Dutch, paralyzing him. Kenny runs and kick this Jackal's face. Buck stands in front of Dutch, in order to protect him from any other plasma shots. The Elite stabs Mickey's left leg, making him unable to walk for now. While Mickey screams in pain, Romeo shoots the Elite's head with a sniper, killing him instantly. Buck, Kenny and Rookie kill what's left of the Jackals. After this insane moment, everyone takes a minute to breathe. Mickey starts screaming out loud and he falls on the ground. Romeo, Buck and Rookie helps Mickey, while Kenny helps Dutch. Mickey says to Buck:
-Oh my god! Why me? Why? Oh no! I can see the light! It is coming for me! I can see my mother and my father calling my name! Buck, I'm not going to make it, I'm dying! Goodbye, everyone.
-Mickey…shut up. –says Buck, while he grabs a dose of morphine.
-Should I be an actor? After this war is over.
-You already are. –says Romeo, sarcastically.
Buck injects a dose of morphine in his leg. He injects other kinds of medicine, put a bandage over his leg and asks:
-Can you stand up?
Mickey slowly stands up, he almost falls, but he can walk. They keep walking through this swamp. They start hearing the sounds of thunders and the fog starts getting lower. The finally get to this city called Hope. The city is in ruins, the buildings are half-destroyed and the skeletons are on the ground, untouched. The cars are rusty and destroyed, the thunders noise gets louder and closer, the wind gets stronger and the fog disappears. The team walks slowly and carefully, trying to make less noise as possible. A human gun noise can be heard, not far away from where the team is. Romeo says:
-What the hell was that? I just heard an assault rifle shot noise…maybe I'm crazy.
-No, you're not crazy. We all heard that noise. –says Dutch
-Who do you think that gave that shot?
-I don't know. Probably is some kind of Resistance or something like that.
-Resistance? In Reach? I don't think a Resistance would survive in Reach. It is obviously not a Resistance.
-Maybe it is Chief. –says Cortana
Mickey puts one of his hands in his left ear and say:
-Isn't there a mute button for you, robot?
-I'm not a robot, I'm an advanced AI.
-Yeah, whatever, it's the same thing.
-It isn't. Now can you shut up and follow your mission quietly? –says Buck
-Sir, yes sir. –says Mickey, sarcastically.
They see an Elite and a Brute arguing with each other, not far from where they are. Buck hides behind a broken car and makes a sign to the team to hide with him. Everyone looks to the two hostiles and Kenny says:
-Is that a Brute? They are way higher in real life!
-I thought they were small King Kongs –says Mickey
-What do you think they are arguing about? –asks Romeo
-I don't know, but it is getting pretty ugly. –says Buck
The Brute and the Elite start pushing themselves, until the Elite pulls an energy sword out and threatens the Brute with it. Both stare at each other with anger. Buck makes a sign and everyone pulls out their weapons. The Rookie runs to the Elite and punch him, making him faint instantly. The Brute shouts, pulls out his plasma rifle and aims at Rookie. Everyone else open fire against the Brute, which dies quickly. Everyone stares Rookie, confused about what happened. Rookie looks to everyone and says:
-What are you looking at?
Mickey, Romeo and Dutch start celebrating and screaming, Mickey shouts:
-HE SAID HIS FIRST WORD! OH MY GOD! BUCK, DID YOU WROTE THOSE FIRST WORDS? THEY ARE IMPORTANT, YOU KNOW?
-HEY IDIOTS, SHUT UP! You're going to call unwanted attention. He said his first word, I know how impressive this is, but we celebrate it later, not now. –says Buck
Dutch, Mickey and Romeo stop screaming and celebrating. The team keeps walking through the devastated city of Hope. They finally get to the exact spot where Lord Hood received Master Chief's signal. It is a dead-end, a giant wall. Buck says:
-There is nothing here, that's it, let's go home.
-Are you giving up that quick? Hell no, we should wait. Maybe he will show up. –says Kenny
-I don't like him, but he has a point. –says Romeo
-No, he doesn't. –says Buck
When he turns around, he sees an ambush of Elites, waiting for them. They are holding their plasma rifles, aiming at the humans. When the rest of the team turns around, Buck says:
-Idiots. Your stupid celebration led to our death.
-We're not dying. We should attack them, we are in bigger number, and there is only five of them. –says Mickey
One of the Elites says to team:
-Drop your weapons or die!
Buck put his gun in the ground and look to the rest of the team, hoping they do the same. Suddenly, a grenade blows up in the exact spot where the Elites were. Buck quickly grab his weapon back. When the explosion fog gets lower, they see Master Chief with an assault rifle shooting the remaining Elites. The team gets closer to him and they ask:
-Master Chief, are you alright?
-Isn't that what I am supposed to ask? –replies Chief, while shooting some Elites
-I am sorry, we didn't introduce ourselves… -says Buck
-We don't have time to introductions! Quick, follow me.
Chief starts running through the city, dodging any kinds of plasma shots. The team follows him, but not as fast as him. Two hunters let Chief go, but blocks the team. One of the hunters hits Dutch with its shield, making him fly away. Kenny and Buck join their forces to kill one of the hunters. The other hunter shoots his plasma cannon directly in Romeo's chest, making him fall on the ground. Mickey grabs Romeo's sniper and shoot at one of the Hunter's face. With both hunters dead, the team get around Romeo's body. Mickey says, desperately:
-HELP HERE! Buck and Rookie, help me carry Romeo.
-What happened? –asks Kenny
-He got shot in the chest by one of those disgusting worms in armors. His lungs are compromised. If he doesn't get immediate medical assistance, he won't make it. Now, help me carrying him. –says Mickey.
Chief shows up, grab Romeo's body, starts carrying it and says:
-Let's go, I found a signal of a Resistance community near to Hope.
Everyone runs behind Chief, trying to ignore all the Covenant troops that are coming in their way. They run through a giant and burned forest, until they find some houses made with cardboard and burnt wood. There is a medium-sized wall made of bricks around this community and a gateway made of aluminum. Chief hits it with a strong punch. A voice can be heard behind it:
-Who is it?
-This is Spartan 117 aka Master Chief. We have an injured soldier, which needs immediate medical assistance.
-What do you think that will make us believe in you? You're probably an Elite or a Brute. –says the voice behind the gateway
-If I were an Elite or a Brute, I would have already taken down this gateway and tried to kill you.
This is followed by silence, they don't hear an answer or anything. Suddenly, they hear an unlocking padlock sound and the gateway opens. A woman holding an old assault rifle version. She looks to Chief and says:
-Come in, the medic is all the way across the community.
Chief runs inside the community, while the team walks through it, analyzing the place. It is a poor community, it is really big, but poor. A black man with a dragon tattoo in his face and a giant Mohawk, looks to the ODSTs and make a comment:
-What are those filthy UNSC soldiers doing in such a nice place like this? You aren't welcome here! Who let you in?
Dutch stops walking, stare the black man and says:
-It is not of your business, asshole.
The man pulls out a crowbar, gets closer to Dutch and says:
-It is of my business, and if you're not telling me the easy way, then I'll have to make you say in the hard way.
The man hits Dutch with his crowbar. Dutch falls on the ground and tries to grab his weapon, but the man won't let him. He starts hitting Dutch with his crowbar several times, until Mickey shows up and starts punching the man's face. He tries to attack Mickey, but he holds the man's hand and gives him a header. He falls on the ground, unconscious, and Mickey helps Dutch to get on his feet and keep walking. Chief stops in front of a little house with a big sign written "Medical clinic". Chief opens this house's door and puts Romeo's body in a medical bed. The medic shows up behind Chief, he is an Indian-American man with a white coat. He looks to Chief and ask:
-Welcome to the community, stranger. Could you tell me what happened to your friend there?
-A hunter used his plasma cannon against his chest.
-Oh god…he is breathing hardly and heavily, that could mean that his lungs are compromised. I can fix him, but this will take a while, some days maybe. As this is your first time in the community, this medical assistance will be for free.
-Isn't there a faster way?
-There is, but if it goes wrong, your friend's lungs will be destroyed and he will die. Are you sure you want to try it?
-Yes, I'm sure.
-Then you're free to go. I will warn you when he is better and ready to go. Have a nice day.
The medic pulls out a purple syringe and inserts it in Romeo's chest. He falls asleep in the medical bed. Chief gets out of the medical clinic and see a lot of people gathering around. He follows everyone and see Mickey and Dutch fighting everyone from the community. Chief gets close to them and stop the fight. An elder woman wearing a white military uniform shows up and says:
-ODSTs, follow me.
She walks to a bigger house with a large sign written "town hall". There is some guards with old versions of the assault rifle guarding this house. Chief and the team get inside this house, it is a big room, with red lights, a desk in the middle of it and a chair where this woman is sitting at. She starts talking:
-Gentleman, what are you doing in here?
-We needed medical assistance for our friend and we found this community. –says Buck
-So why are you attacking our people?
-We weren't attacking those idiots, they attacked us! –says Mickey
-Do you even know who we are?
-A group of jerks? –says Mickey
-We are the Raiders of Reach. We are former rebels against the UNSC dictatorship that survived the Fall of Reach. We were friendly to the point of letting you in this community, but now you started to attack our people and even worse…you have an UNSC AI with you.
-What is she talking about, boy? –asks Chief to Buck
-We brought Cortana, to you.
-This is considered treason and sabotage, the sentence to this is death.
-Try to. –says Chief, which pulls out an assault rifle.
-NOW! –shouts the elder woman.
Coming from behind of them, a female Spartan shows up and aim an assault rifle to his head. She drops her weapon and say, surprised:
-Chief? Is that you?
He looks behind and he also gets surprised. He drops his weapon and stare in this Spartan's face. The elder woman, confused and angry, says:
-What are you waiting for! KILL HIM!
Dutch punches this woman's face, knocking her out. After a moment looking to each other, Chief and the Spartan hug each other. Chief asks:
-How?
-I don't know, I just survived. It didn't kill me.
-Can someone explain what is happening? –asks Buck
-She survived…-says Chief
-Who is she? –asks Kenny
-Linda. She survived.
Everyone leaves the house, less Rookie, which stays inside and makes a call to a stranger. This stranger answers the call and says:
-So?
-We found him. When the time is right, I'll do it.
-Great. Don't screw this up.
-I won't.
