A/N: Sorry about this one being kinda short, but it's just so I can move on the the really interesting bits sooner, including the Scarabs attacking the city on Harvest, Richard and Daniel's fate, and Covenant slaying action. Don't have too much fun reading this, because the story is about to get a whole lot better.

Private Joseph Clark looked down the corridor, and what he saw chilled him to the bone. A squad of Innies, all aiming at him and the other 2 Marines with MA5As. He doubted they were using stun rounds, and was certain they didn't want a peaceful solution. He rolled back into the cell as the other two did the same. Chris threw a flashbang grenade he had found on the Innie's body into the corridor. Joseph's hearing went, and he popped out into the corridor, knowing the flashbang had gone off. He aimed at the Innies and fired, the powerful rounds punching straight through their armour and sending them to the ground in one shot. One round hit one who was wearing normal clothes in the shoulder and his arm went flying away, everything from the elbow up torn apart by the impact. The Innie who survived Joseph's volley dropped his gun and ran, screaming. A burst of bullets tore apart his back and Joanne lowered her rifle.

"Did you need to do that?" Joseph asked.

"He could've gone for help." Joanne replied.

"There's cameras here anyway!" Joseph exclaimed.

"I didn't realise that." Joanne said; "But we need to move on."

"Our gear's at the end of the corridor on the left." Chris said.

"Huh?" Joanne asked.

"I synced this armour with the battlenet and used my normal helmet's view." Chris explained.

"Clever." Joanne said; "The others are all in these rooms, right?"

"Probably." Chris said.

"Alright. Joseph, go get geared up and defend the corridor entrance." Joanne said, taking command.

"Yes, ma'am!" Joseph barked, before hurrying off to the last room on the left.

He reached it and pulled the door open. Inside was all of their gear left on the floor in a disorganised heap. He quickly synced the HUD glasses with the UNSC battlenet that connected all Marines in the system, and looked through his helmet's camera. Using that, he found his armour and pulled it on over the Innie's clothes. He grabbed an MA5B and XGR1 from the floor and left the room. He aimed at the corridor entrance and waited. A few seconds later, the door burst open and three Innies swarmed in. He tore two of their legs apart and shifted his aim to the last but he was tackled. He threw the Innie off of him and scrambled to his feet. The Innie leapt in for a punch but Joseph's slightly augmented body and speed enhancing armour allowed him to dodge and slam a fist into the side of the Innie's face fairly easily. He glared at the Innie, who was wearing brown Marine armour except for on his head, which was bare. Joseph closed the distance between them and kicked the Innie in the chest, causing him to double over. He was about to follow up when the Innie slammed into him and sent him staggering back slightly. Near instantly the Innie was punching again.

Joseph blocked and retaliated with a double-fist punch. The Innie just dodged and kicked at Joseph's shins. Joseph didn't expect the move and didn't fully dodge the attack. He slammed into the ground and the Innie sent a stomp towards his chest. Joseph caught the armoured boot and pushed the Innie backwards and over. The two fighters got back to their feet at the same time and shot into an exchange of punches and blocks. After six or seven seconds Joseph landed a punch on the Innie's face and blood arced around his fist, teeth clattering to the ground. A second later he was thrown back a meter and a half by his furious foe. He tried to get back up but a kick threw him back. This time he managed to catch himself and got up in time to kick the charging Innie in the chest. The Innie stumbled backwards and Joseph delivered a fast, furious and fierce kick to his face. The Innie fell backwards and hit the ground. That second another trio of Innies rushed into the room.

"For fuck's sake!" he cursed as he readied his XGR1.

An Innie tried to leap him but a super-accelerated projectile tore straight through her body and the wall behind her. Bullets slammed into and dented Joseph's armour, and he just managed to get inside the room holding the team's gear. He saw asomething on the ground and smiled. He sprinted to the back of the room, rolled forwards, and snatched an M90 Shotgun from the ground. He aimed at the Innies coming into the room 15 meters away and fired. The shotgun adapted to the range perfectly in the split second before it fired, and both Innies hit the ground, either dead or unconscious. Joseph almost smiled. He was getting used to killing. After all, it wasn't people he was killing. It was Innies. He walked out into the corridor and slotted another shell he had grabbed from the ground into the Shotgun. 10 people in mismatched armour and clothes jogged into the room by him, and Joseph waited until they came back out into the corridor, armoured in Marine armour and wielding two weapons each. Except for Sergeant Titus.

"That would be my Shotgun, private." he said, looking straight at Joseph.

"Aww." Joseph moaned; "I like this gun."

"Private-" Sergeant Titus started.

"I know, I know." Joseph sighed; "Here you go."

A few of the Marines were sniggering.

"Shut it." he said into the comm.

"Focus, Marines." Sergeant Titus shouted; "I've called for backup to bust us out, but they're going to take roughly 10 minutes to arrive. We need to survive that long!"

"Preferably longer too." Frederic yelled.

"Ooh-rah!" came the reply from all of the Marines.

"We need to find a more defensible place." Joanne said.

"Agreed. On me!" shouted Sergeant Titus, heading out of the corridor and up the stairs it led to.

Joseph followed up the stairs, which funneled them into another corridor, full of more rooms. He looked into one with an open door and saw that it was a dormitory with 8 bunkbeds. He did some quick maths. In the corridor there was 8 rooms, each holding 16 Innies, so that was... 128 Innies? Joseph cursed silently. That was a lot of Innies. He quickly told the rest of the squad, earning a few curses. Eventually they came out into a room that looked like a command centre, with a heavy, sealed door at each end, and spiral staircase in the centre. Racks of weapons were scattered around the room and most had a few MA5As and old shotguns in them. A few ammo crates were scattered around, some missing lids. Big screens lined the walls, presumably to show the Innie Leader giving out orders. During his life.

"This looks as good a place as we'll get. Set up them crates around the stairs. We can watch for Innies coming down and fire on the other two entrances." Sergeant Titus said.

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm not sure that's the best plan." Joanne said; "I would suggest setting up in the corners, split into groups of 3, and one 2."

"I guess that will work... Ok, we'll go with that. You, you, you, there! You three there! You two with me! And you two, last corner!" Sergeant Titus said, gesturing as he spoke.

"Sir, yes sir!" the Marines yelled in unison, before scurrying off and dragging crates to the corners.

Within a minute Joseph, Frederic and Chris were all crouched behind a wall of ammo crates, built to contain a slit giving them full coverage of the room with their rifles. The room was completly bare of ammo boxes except for the 4 bunkers. The Marines waited. And then the Innies came. They poured out from the spiral staircase and both doors, firing in all directions, their bullets clattering onto the ground after hitting walls and ammo boxes. Bullets and super-accelerated Gauss projectiles tore them apart before they could start to properly aim at their targets. Another wave poured in, and started spraying and praying at the bunkers. A bullet got into Joseph's bunker and hit him in the shoulder. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem. But it was a sniper rifle round. Joseph was thrown backwards slightly into the wall and the bullet sunk into his skin and slightly further, into his shoulder bone. He screamed in pain as the firefight continued. Chris kept firing but Frederic pulled out his medical kit. Joseph's vision went dark.

His vision returned a second later, and he wished it hadn't. Frederic had pulled the bullet out and blood was cascading out of his shoulder. His vision went again, and when it came back his shoulder was sealed up with biofoam. Pain throbbed throughout his body regardless, but he managed to lift the Innie leader's pistol in his left hand. He dimly noticed the midnight black finish and silver highlights, in places like the trigger and clip. He aimed one handed and looked through the scope via his HUD. He fired and the gun barely shifted an inch as it tore through an Innie's kneecap. Joseph grunted in pain as a grenade went off nearby, sending a slight shockwave through his body. He stumbled back and fired again, blowing through an Innie's chest. A few seconds later the firing stopped, and the floor was filled with Innies, either dead or on their way there. Crimson blood stained the ground, and cough and moans of pain blended into one sound, the sound of suffering. Joseph felt slightly ill, a sensation barely different through his pain. It was disgusting.

"Squad, gather together!" shouted Sergeant Titus, walking to the center of the room, the other two Marines from his makeshift 'bunker' following him.

The Marines all gathered around Sergeant Titus. Almost all of them had slight dents and marks in their armour from stray and lucky shots, but Joseph's wounds were the worst of the lot.
A few seconds later the roof exploded into flame and a Pelican dropship flew into the room. The Marines boarded and got ready to leave.