(A/N) Man, it's the last full-length mission in the campaign. Feels long overdue, but at the same time, it's weird to finally be almost done with this fic.
Just as a forward, I always found it strange that Halsey gave Six that weird tube thing instead of an AI chip, and I actually was working off the assumption that there was an AI chip inside of the tube when I came up with an idea I used early on in the chapter. So yeah, just go with it.
With that out of the way, let's begin the final true mission of Halo: Reach!
Chapter Eight – Thermopylae in Asźod
"-wo five nine, you are alarming me." Dot said over comms as I approached the cockpit, bringing the blood-splattered windows into view.
"He's wounded." Blake observed. "How did that happen?"
"We were being pursued by Banshees for a while, a couple got some lucky shots into the cargo bay." I sighed.
"Is he going to be alright?" She asked.
I shook my head. "No, that's a plasma bolt straight through the chest. Honestly, its amazing he can still fly this thing."
"Not sure how long she's gonna stay together." Carter said, his voice raspy. "Skies are jammed up anyways, gotta get you off her, Lieutenant."
I leaned into the cockpit. "Carter, you're-"
"Don't wanna hear it." He interrupted. "Get the package to the Autumn."
I sighed. "Yes sir…"
He nodded. "Emile, go with her. It's a ground game now."
"Its been an honor, sir." He said.
"Likewise. I'll do what I can to draw their fire." I turned away, walking towards the ba- "Ruby." Carter called. Turning back to him, I saw an outstretched arm holding his dog tags. "That AI chose you, she made the right choice."
I nodded to him, taking his tags. "Give 'em hell, bossman." I said before taking the package off my back and clutching it to my chest, ready to jump.
"On my mark." He said, holding up three fingers.
Two.
One.
"Mark!" He shouted as he put his last finger down.
I turned to my partner. "Might wanna look away for a bit." I advised.
She nodded in appreciation and did just that.
Emile and I jumped and skidded down a slope. About a second too late, I realized I was going to run into a fairly large boulder. I let out a loud 'Oomph' as I hit the offending rock, a loud -CRACK- accompanying my natural noise.
I rolled to a stop a few moments later, groaning, I inspected the package for any damage…
…only to find the lower half completely missing…
"That can't be good." Blake observed.
"Heh, had a mini heart attack there, yeah."
She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't that woman make a big deal about how this was basically Humanity's last hope of survival?"
"Yeah, she did." I said. "Buuuut Halsey likes redundancies, so that was only an outer shell designed to protect the AI chip within." Blake let out a hum of acknowledgment as I turned to my partner. "You can look back at the screen now, by the way."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"Shit." I said in a semi-defeated tone. At that moment, I realized the blue glow was no longer present inside the now-ruined package. Glancing towards the ground, I found an AI chip right beside me laying in the dirt.
I gave it a visual inspection before brushing it off and gently inserting it into my helmet.
"Hmmm…" I heard a feminine voice 'say' inside my helmet.
"I suppose that's the AI you mentioned?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, she'll introduce herself in a minute."
"So you're the infamous Reaper of Draco." The voice said.
I shrugged as I got up. "Pretty much, yeah." I said. "Sorry for the rough landing, didn't really have the luxury of picking a better spot." I said as I drew my assault rifle.
"Well, it doesn't matter that much. Halsey always did love her redundancies." She said offhandedly. "Anyways, I am CTN 0452-9. But you'll probably want to call me 'Cortana' instead."
I nodded. "Spartan Ruby B-312, at your service." I said. "But anyways, there's a cruiser waiting for you, let's get moving."
"Agreed." She said. "The sooner we get off this rock, the better."
"Uhh, do people really use the word 'rock' to describe planets?" My sister asked. "I uhh… thought that was only a sci-fi thing."
I shrugged. "Eh, not everyone does it. But a lotta people do."
"You still with us, Commander?" Emile asked as we advanced through a narrow gorge.
"Stay low." He ordered. "Let me draw the heat, you deliver that package."
"Define 'low'." I cheekily asked.
"Eyes front, Ruby." Emile said as we rounded a corner. "Well, would you look at that…" He said. "The Pillar of Autumn."
"Gods…" Weiss let out. "Its massive."
I shrugged. "Well, it's almost two-and-a-half times as long as anything Remnant has made." I said. "Given that it's about a couple dozen meters short of twelve-hundred."
"…Why am I so surprised?" She asked herself. "You said it yourself. The UNSC has-"
"Had." I corrected.
"-Had hundreds of worlds, as opposed to our one."
"Yeah, pretty much." I said. "Though if Remnant were in UEG space, it'd be one of the bigger colonies considering most don't even have ten million people."
"Wait, then why even bother colonizing so many worlds?" Blake asked. "I mean, if it weren't for the Grimm, we would still have plenty of room to expand with our current population."
I blinked. "Huh, didn't think of it that way…" I hummed. "Come to think of it, Reach didn't even have two hundred million people on it, and it was the second most important planet in Human space!"
The Faunus raised an eyebrow. "Most important next to…?"
"Earth." I said. "Homeworld of Humanity, population about ten billion." I smirked at their shocked expressions. "Yeah, billion. With a 'B'."
"Gods…" My partner let out. "I suppose it is to be expected that a large population base exists, considering that you've been fighting a galactic-scale war for almost thirty years… But how do you even fit that many people on a single planet?"
I shrugged. "Earth is well on its way to becoming an ecuminopolis, that's for sure." They blinked. "A planet-wide city." I clarified.
"…How?!" She finally let out.
"When you've got resources coming in from just about every corner of Human Space, hundreds of years on your hands, and no Grimm to deal with, its not as big of an issue as you'd think." I said. "For example, the Greater Chicago Industrial Zone is a little shy of a hundred-n-sixty thousand square miles."
"What do they make there? Planets?"
"Heh, nope." I said, popping the 'P'. "Just about everything else under the sun, though." I blinked. "Actually, they probably make reactors there, so mini-suns too!"
"…I'm not even going to ask. Let's just continue."
I shrugged and resumed the video.
We approached a bluff and, peaking over, saw a small contingent of Covenant forces.
"They seem distracted." Cortana observed.
"Heh, their loss." I said, backing up for a running start.
Emile cocked his head. "Ruby, what are you doing?"
I remember smirking under my helmet. "Cortana, theoretically, would a half-ton projectile falling approximately one cliff-height be enough to flatten an Elite?"
"You cannot be serious…"
I gave my partner a smirk. "Why not? It is just theoretical, after all…"
"Depends on how high the cliff in que-" She cut herself off. "You're going to jump, aren't you?"
I shrugged. "You read my file. You tell me." I said as I took off running.
Just as I predicted, the unlucky Elite that ended up being my cushion did its best pancake impression startling its Grunt charges.
My partner facepalmed. "One of these days, you're going to land on something as stubborn as you are."
"Hey, I fell from orbit and I was fine." I shot back. "Just chill for a bit."
I immediately opened fire on the derpy aliens, not even taking a full magazine to drop the trio that were previously frozen in fear.
A pair of Jackals shuffled towards me, though a grenade dispatched them just as easily as the Grunts.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted several concussion rounds headed my way. I easily dodged them, causing the offending Elite Major to reveal itself.
I unloaded an entire fresh magazine into its form, dropping its shields, before it ran behind a truck for cover.
Suddenly, the front of the truck exploded as if hit with a concussion round, and a pained- "Blarg…" -escaped from behind the vehicle.
Quirking an eyebrow behind my helmet, I peeked around the corner…
…and found a one-armed Elite, its exposed face charred by plasma, sprawled out behind the abandoned truck…
"Did he just do what I think he did?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah." I giggled. "Covvies aren't known for their trigger discipline, guess that came back to bite this guy in the ass."
"Not that it would've lived either way." Blake observed, dryly.
"Heh, you're damn right it wouldn't've."
"Well, that was a first…" I noted.
Emile walked up next to me. "Huh." Was all he said.
"Are you two just gonna stand around looking at an Elite while the planet burns?" Cortana remarked, dryly.
"Oh, har de har…" I mocked. "But you have a point. Let's get goin', Knifey."
"Is it compulsory to use nicknames for everyone where you're from?" My partner asked, incredulously.
"Eh, nah. I just think it lightens the mood a bit."
"Well, would ya look at that…" I said after crossing the bridge that laid in front of us.
"Sure beets walkin', that's for sure."
I eyed the vehicle before realizing that it laid next to a UNSC outpost. "Make sure she works, I'm gonna check for anything useful in here."
I strode inside and found a weapons rack filled with DMR's and a- "Oh, fuck yeah…" I let out.
"And now she has high explosives…" Blake sighed. "What could possibly go wrong?"
"If by 'wrong', you mean 'right' and by 'what' you mean 'everything', then yes. Everything can possibly go right."
Weiss's eye twitched.
"I'm suddenly very worried for my own safety." Cortana stated.
"Even the AI is worried…" Weiss said.
"Eh, she's just being dramatic." I waved off.
"Heh, you're fine," I said, hefting my brand-spanking-new rocket launcher onto my shoulders. ", It's the covvies that should be worried."
"Banshees overhead!" I heard Emile shout over the radio.
I remember smirking under my helmet. "Well, Emile, I just happened to find a solution to that problem…" I said, striding out of the base and immediately locking onto the nearest enemy craft.
I loosed a rocket and, while it was still in flight, started locking onto the next one. Just as the first exploded, my second one shot off.
"Nice shooting." Cortana commented.
"Eh, it was only two Banshees, not too big of a deal…" I said, replenishing my ammo before boarding the Mongoose and driving off, Emile hanging off the back.
We tore down the dirt roads going as fast as we could, the wind faintly registering on my helmet's mic as a dull roar.
Eventually, we came to a large, open area.
"Ruby! Scarabs incoming!" Emile warned, shortly before a duo of the machines in question fell from the sky.
"More of those things?!" Weiss practically shrieked. "How did you beat them?"
"Thanks for the heads up! We don't have time to engage them, I'm gonna run right through!"
"…Oh…" She let out. "Well that's… anticlimactic…"
"Is this usually how they deploy them?" Blake asked, bow twitching slightly in curiosity.
"Yeah." I said. "Just about the only things that actually carry them are assault carriers, though supercarriers do, too. Neither have the best maneuverability in atmo, so they just kinda drop 'em off."
"That's slightly disconcerting." She said. "But do you think they know about the package?"
"Oh, definitely." I said. "If they didn't, we'd probably be in the process of being glassed right about now."
Yang's face soured. "'Cuz that's a good thought…"
We dodged and weaved through the enemy formation, charging directly under one of their bellies at one point. Thankfully, though, we were unharmed and proceeded onwards.
After a minute or so, we reached a covvie blockade; the road ahead being sealed off by a barrier.
Both Emile and I dismounted and scoped out the area.
"Wraith on the right." I announced.
"Infantry on the left." He said.
"Mind keeping 'em distracted for me?" I asked in a sweet tone.
"Heh, go get 'em." He said, taking off.
I immediately started sneaking around the back, being careful to avoid the stray plasma mortar rounds it sent my way.
Finally getting close enough, I let off a pair of rockets before ducking back behind a rock.
After I'd reloaded and popped back out to re-engage the enemy, I found an odd sight before me.
The wraith lay disabled, a large crater where its cockpit and gunner positions used to be.
I whipped out my DMR – the one that I'd taken from the UNSC outpost – and ran up to the vehicle. Inside, I found the still-smoldering lower torso of the Brute that was driving the thing, but otherwise, the tank itself seemed fully-functional.
I grinned. "Taking control!" I shouted over comms as I hopped in, the Brute's body being roughly shoved out and unceremoniously dumped onto the ground.
"Of course you would do that…" Weiss sighed.
I shrugged. "Hey, why waste a perfectly good weapon when there's enemies around?"
"Roger, Ruby. Marking targets!" He said as several red dots started clogging my HUD.
I picked the largest concentration and opened fire, the plasma soaring over a rock and striking true.
"Targets down!" He said as I let off another round, this time towards a different group. "Good hits!" He said. "I can take it from here."
I nodded absentmindedly. "Roger, scuttling."
"Wait, what?" Blake let out. "I thought you just said that you shouldn't waste a perfectly good weapon."
"That applies when you can actually use said weapon." I countered. "The covvies have the road blocked and the caves are too small for the Wraith. Since we don't want the covvies to use the thing against us, the best option is to destroy it."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "By that logic, you should've destroyed the Scarabs back there."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we could've…" I started. "But it would take too long without the necessary equipment." I said. "Don't get me wrong, though. If we had MAC support, I'd've lazed those motherfuckers into next century."
"…Colorful choice of words aside, you've made your point. Let's continue." She said, causing me to nod.
I planted a grenade inside the Wraith's engine and ducked behind a rock. Moments later, it was consumed in a giant blue fireball.
"Wraith scuttled. How's the situation on your end?" I asked.
"Just finished up." He said, walking over to me while reloading his shotgun. "Thanks for the support, made it a hell of a lot easier."
"Heh, don't mention it. Let's get moving." I said.
We came upon the entrance the cave, though it was guarded by a team of Grunts with Jackal support.
Moments later, they all laid dead at our feet and we proceeded.
"Noble, you've got a… situation…" Carter suddenly said over comms.
Just as we rounded a rocky corner, a Scarab – likely one of those we'd encountered earlier – made its presence known.
"Motherf-" Emile started. "We can get past it, sir."
"No, you can't." He said. "Not without help…"
"Sir, I have motherfucking superpowers if you remember!" I shouted.
"Negative, Ruby. It'll take too long." He responded.
"You don't have the firepower!" Emile objected as Carter flew over the mechanical monstrosity, chaingun blazing.
"…I've got the mass."
"Sir, I-"
"Solid copy." Emile interrupted.
I sighed. "Hit 'em hard, bossman…"
"You're on your own, Noble…" He said, his blazing Pelican circling around for another pass. "Carter out." He said as his bird slammed into the Scarab.
The beast let out a dying roar as the mangled Pelican exploded while embedded into its side, causing it to fall off the cliff moments later.
I sighed. "Really wish there was a MAC around right about then…"
My proclamation was met with concerned eyes all throughout the basement. "Are you… uhh… okay, sis?"
I sighed again. "Y- Yeah…" I half-lied. "I'm starting to get used to seeing everyone dying again…"
My sister enveloped me in another hug, one which I returned immediately.
After a few minutes, we broke and resumed the video.
"Crevice to the east," Emile said. "let's go."
I nodded absentmindedly and followed him into another cave. The moment we entered, we were greeted with the bodies of three UNSC Troopers.
Now on our guard, we continued further. "Buggers." I announced as an insectoid screech filled our ears.
We advanced, eventually coming face-to-face with the new threat. Their flying abilities made them fairly hard to hit, though every once in a while, one exploded from a 7.62mm round entering it.
Through a slow and methodical advance, we'd eventually wiped out all the Drones impeding our path, including a second group further up backed up by Skirmishers.
"Spartans!" We heard over comms as we exited the cave into a shipbreaking yard, a Paris-class frigate sat embedded in the ground half-deconstructed.
"I almost forgot that was a frigate…" Blake commented.
"Yeah, they're quite a bit bigger up close."
"Over here!" The female voice said. Peaking over the cliff, a massive firefight became apparent between some scattered UNSC Army Troopers and a much more numerous force of Covenant infantry.
"Emile, get down there! I'll provide support!" I said, braining a couple Jackals while I spoke.
"Got it!" He said, pumping his shotgun before leaping down onto an unfortunate Elite Minor.
"You seem to be somewhat of a bad influence." Cortana said.
"Heh, not my fault its an efficient way of dealing with covvies." I said as three Grunts fell.
"This is Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn." A male voice said over comms. "We're tracking you, Noble, and have begun our launch sequence. Proceed to drydock, platform D. I'll be on it myself to receive the package."
"Copy that, Captain." Cortana answered for me, seeing as I was currently in the middle of making sure a Trooper didn't die to the Elite Ultra he'd thought it would be a good idea to engage in melee.
"Is that man suicidal?" Blake asked, eyebrow raised.
"Nah," I said. ", he's just got biggest balls in the UNSC Army."
I continued to pluck away at the Ultra's shields, annoying and distracting it, while Keyes continued. "Good, because my countdown has no abort."
Soon, my distraction paid off, and the Trooper managed to get his knife into the Elite's throat, killing it.
My attention shifted to other targets as the alien dropped and, for a minute, I felt like the White Death of ancient Earth. Enemies dropped left and right, some stood out in the open, their heads swiveling from side-to-side in an effort to locate their assailant in time to save themselves.
That never happened, as the last enemy, an Elite Minor, was felled by Emile's shotgun before it could spot me.
I quickly skidded down the cliff, joining my fellow soldiers, before Emile and I continued into the main section of the frigate.
On the other side, a trio of Shades awaited us, their plasma cannons roaring.
I fired off my last few rockets, hitting the Shades but missing the Ghost that just appeared.
Fortunately for me, a Spartan Laser was sitting, abandoned, beside the wall.
I grabbed it and started hunting for that Ghost…
…only to find that the driver had been killed by the explosion…
"If you guys didn't figure it out already, know that knocking out a vehicle can be as simple as killing the driver." I said.
"Noted." Weiss said.
We then fought our way through the tight corridors of the facility, eventually coming across another pair of dead Troopers.
Weiss sighed. "I think I'm becoming desensitized to their deaths…" She said. "I'm… not quite sure how I feel about that…"
I gave the Heiress a pat on her back. "If it makes you feel better, they didn't die for nothing." I offered with a small smile.
"…Not really," She said. "but at least you're trying…"
I fought through even more Covenant infantry, eventually leading outside to a pair of Hunters. Thankfully, though, I had my Spartan Laser.
One minute and two charred Hunter corpses later, we were advancing once more. We then fought through another building, a foundry this time, Keyes contacting us part-way through.
"Keyes to Noble Team," He started. "we're running out of time here, Spartans." He warned.
"We'll be there." I reassured before turning to Emile. "Final push, eh, Knifey?"
He gave me a blank stare. "Where do you get these nickname ideas?"
"See! Even he agrees!" Weiss shouted.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her comment.
We headed through another door and encountered some men fighting off a small contingent of Covenant. I quickly dispatched them.
"Is it just me, or do they look different than the other Troopers?" Blake asked.
"Oh, that's because they're Marines, not Army Troopers." I clarified.
"And the difference is…?"
I blinked before coming to a realization. "Oh, right. Remnant doesn't have Marines…" I paused. "They're a different branch of the military specializing in boarding and defending naval vessels. As a whole, they receive more training than Army Troopers and are often used as a rapid-reaction force. In fact, the ODSTs you saw earlier are a special forces branch of the Marines. Also, every one of them is trained in hard vacuum operations."
"Hmm, interesting…" She said before signaling me to continue with the video.
We strode out of the structure and, for the first time, were able to see the Autumn up close.
"Woah…" My sister let out.
"You can say that again." Blake echoed.
"And you said this was only a light cruiser…" Weiss finished.
"Look at it from my perspective." I said, deciding I'd had enough of the 'OMg uR sHipS r BiG' thing. "Remnan ships are just… fucking tiny."
Weiss's head immediately snapped to me. "You take that back." She half-ordered.
I smirked. "Nah."
She took a breath. "Let's just continue." She said through clenched teeth.
"Sitrep, Marines." I ordered.
"Rigged a mass driver up top." One of the Marines said. "We lose that, the Autumn'll have no covering fire, she'll never make orbit."
"Noble to Keyes," Cortana said. "we've arrived at the landing pad."
"Copy, Noble. My Pelican's ready. Clear an LZ and I'll meet you there."
"Will do, sir." Emile said. "I'll grab the big gun, Ruby, you just get yo ass on that pad."
"Sounds like a plan, Knifey." I said, charging out of the room and into a hail of plasmafire. My shields took several hits during my charge, but it was worth it, as all the peons accompanying my target, an Elite Ultra, lay dead at our feet; their skulls adorning one more hole than necessary.
My adversary roared a challenge, but it was cut short by a knife in its throat, delivered courtesy of my semblance. "I'm not in the mood for your shit." I growled out as I slammed a new mag into my DMR.
"Aaaand brutal Ruby is back…" Blake deadpanned.
I sighed. "Oh, no." I said. "This is just annoyed Ruby. Brutal Ruby will show up in about… eh… two or three hours."
She raised an eyebrow but chose not to say anything.
Weiss, however, filled the silence. "I'm sure how I feel about that." She tisked. "Scared. I'm going to go with scared."
I sighed before resuming the video.
I moved through the battlefield like my namesake; knives and bullets became my new scythe, and the Covenant, my wheat to reap.
All around me, Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, even Elites lay in various states of disassembly when the Brute Chieftains finally made their entrance.
There were three in all; a fuel rod gun, a grenade launcher, and, of course the hammer wielder.
The Grenade Launcher and Hammer Wielder ran after a group of Marines that had been holding out in the central structure, but the Fuel Rod Gun turned its sights completely on me.
It fired off several rounds, each being dodged as I charged, a Spiker in one hand and my knife in the other.
I magdumped onto the Brute as I neared, its shields flickering, but holding.
It tried to take a swipe at me with its meaty fist, but it only contacted the metal bulkhead behind me. It was then when its eyes widened in pain.
Chieftain armor may be the single most extensive set of armor in use by the Jiralhanae, but it has a very obvious weakness when you get to close range.
The insides of its arms are completely exposed.
That reason alone was why my foe currently had a multi-foot-long gash running down the entire length of its arm.
It roared in agony, enough of a distraction for me to slice open its neck and leave it for dead.
"Shouldn't you finish it off?" Blake asked.
"Do you know how much blood that thing is gonna lose? It was probably dead by the time I reached the Marines."
"If you say so…" She said.
I ran for the Marines' position, gunfire and Human screaming echoing in my ears.
The moment I arrived, I saw an opportunity and stuck my knife in the spine of the Hammer Wielder. It dropped to the floor, no longer in control of its own legs.
Though it was down, it was certainly not out, as evidenced by its frantic swinging of its hammer.
As a reward for its persistence in living, I stuck two Plasma Grenades to its face. Moments later, the paralyzed Chieftain was replaced with a headless one.
I quickly grabbed the Brute's Gravity Hammer and ran towards the last Chieftain, who was currently chasing the last Marine around the central structure.
I leapt over the scared Marine and swung my hammer down onto its face, killing it.
I sighed in relief. "Keyes, Six here. Pad is clear." I announced.
"Copy, Noble. On my way." He said.
"Ruby…" Emile said. "Its time for you to leave. Get to the pad and catch that boat."
"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Blake asked.
I sighed. "Yeah…"
"Emile, you know what that means." I said, sternly.
"One of us has to stay behind to cover the Autumn." He stated. "And you're the one with super powers. You should live."
My weapon fell from a low-ready to completely at my side. "That's what Jorge said, you know…" I said.
"Heh, guess I'm just as sentimental as he was…" He remarked as the Pelican approached. "Guess you're gonna be one tag short of a full set there, Ruby."
"This is Keyes on hot approach to platform Delta." He said as his craft spun around, dropping its bay door.
"Give 'em hell, Knifey." I said, giving him a nod before turning towards the Pelican. "Ready, Cortana?"
"Yep, yank me." She said as the Captain disembarked.
"Good to see you, Spartan." He said as I handed him the AI chip. He gave it a curious glance before shrugging. "Halsey said I could count on you."
I gave a head nod to Emile behind me. "Not just me, sir…" I said, darkly.
He gave a grim nod. "They'll be remembered." He turns back to the Pelican, but in the process spots something in the clouds. "Cruiser, adjusting heading for the Autumn!" He shouts into comms.
"Why can't anything ever go according to plan?" Weiss asks.
"Ask the fucking aliens that, Weiss." I sighed. "Let's just get this over with…" I muttered.
"Noble Four, I need fire on that ship or we're not getting outta here!"
"You'll have your window, sir." Came his reply.
The Captain and his Marines boarded their Pelican, but I heard a Phantom on approach and drew my DMR, keeping it at a low ready.
Moments later, the engines of the escorting Pelican exploded as plasma impacted them. The craft went belly-up and careened into the landing pad, with me narrowly dodging it.
I flipped over onto my back and took aim at the offending Phantom, squeezing off a few rounds before I had to take cover from its turret.
I heard a shotgun blast come from the MAC. Looking to see its cause, I saw Emile standing over the corpse of an Elite Zealot.
"Who's next?!" He shouted…
…before being impaled from behind with an energy sword.
"Gods above!" Weiss shouted.
Yang and Blake merely looked on in abject horror, unable to form words.
I breathed a deep sigh, running my hair through my fingers, before my head settled in my palms. I sat there for… honestly, I don't know how long. Could've been seconds, or maybe minutes.
Eventually, I let out an- "I'm tired…" I said. "I'm just… tired of losing everyone…"
I didn't feel anything for a long time, but eventually, someone started to rub circles on my back. I sighed, liking the comforting sensation but still not looking up.
Evidently, my sigh triggered someone to hug me.
Then another someone.
Followed by the last member of our team.
I don't know who started it, but I was very glad that I had such supportive teammates.
We stayed like that for another unknown amount of time, but we eventually broke and resumed the feed.
"Emile!" I yelled.
Still impaled, he drew his knife and turned around. "I'm ready!" He announced. "How 'bout you?!" He messily shoved his kukri into the Elite's throat before ripping it out. "Ahh…! ahhh…" He trailed off, the life leaving his body with his last breath.
Behind me, Keyes's Pelican reappeared.
"Lieutenant!" One of the Marines shouted, beckoning me forward. "Get aboard! We've gotta get the hell outta here!"
"Negative." I growled out. "Some asshole just killed my friend." I sighed as chambered a new round in my DMR. "I've got the gun, Captain. Good luck."
The Marines, who looked like they'd just shit themselves at my anger, stood silently. Keyes, however, merely nodded. "Good luck, Spartan." He said before flying off.
I started towards the gun platform, a few Grunts dying along the way. Soon enough, I was confronted by a sizable force of Elites; three Zealots and a Field Marshal.
Unfortunately for them, I still had the Brute's Gravity Hammer. They didn't even last a minute.
"Cruiser's too far away for the Mass Driver to crack the shields." Keyes announced as I climbed into the MAC's cockpit.
Several Phantoms and Banshees, however, were very much in range, and I took the liberty of thinning out their numbers.
As the enemy aircraft started to thin out, the underside of the cruiser began glowing blood red, signifying that it was readying its glassing beam.
"Fire now, Lieutenant! Hit her in the gut!"
With a smirk, I did so, causing the entire belly of the ship to erupt in blue flames. Its lights flickered for a minute while the cruiser sailed over our heads, finally giving out a few miles downrange and crashing into a nearby mountain.
"Good guns, Spartan." Keyes said over comms. "All hands: Brace for cast-off."
The massive UNSC cruiser shuddered as it rose from its cradle, its ascent boosted by several engines haphazardly strapped to its underside.
The ship swung to the left as I climbed down from my perch on the MAC emplacement, all engines firing as it slowly started accelerating towards space.
Suddenly, it lurched forward, gaining speed at an almost unbelievable rate for its size, its booster engines falling away as it sped off into the distance.
"This is the Pillar of Autumn, we're away…" Keyes said. "…and the package is with us."
I sighed, thinking that my last chance to leave this hellhole alive had just left without me.
"Sierra B-312?" I heard a familiar feminine voice ask over comms.
"Cortana?" I let out. "I thought Keyes said you were away."
"We are, due in no small part to you and your team's efforts." She said. "I just wanted to thank you before we left, is all."
"Heh, well… anyone else make it?" I asked. "Spartans, I mean."
"Two, though one is clinically dead." She said. "That one is Linda-058, the other's an old friend of yours…" She said. "John-117."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "A friend of yours?"
"Yeah, John-117." I said, earning a raised eyebrow from my partner. I turned to Blake. "You remember how I said I was one of two Hyper Lethal Spartans?" I asked, receiving a nod. "Well, he's the other one."
"Woah, he's as good as you?" Yang asked.
I shook my head. "Nah, he's much better." I said, causing them to gape in astonishment. "He's much better because I achieved the same rating as him, but I had to use aura to do it."
"Implying he doesn't have it." Weiss concluded.
"Got it in one." I said. "In a fight, I'd probably win, but that's only because of my aura. Even with that, it'd be a very hard fight."
"If he doesn't have aura, what makes him so good?" Blake asked.
"Well, for one, he's a Spartan-II."
"Meaning...?"
"They got harsher training," I held up a finger. "better augments," Another finger went up. "are more experienced," Yet another. "And, lastly, they were chosen from the best of the best, genetically speaking." I put my fingers down. "I mean, sure, what I went through during training was easily several times more difficult than even ODST school, but the two's? Nah, that's just a tuesday for 'em."
"The way you sound, you're making them out to be the saviors of Humanity." Blake commented.
I shrugged. "Well, if anyone could do it, its John."
I blinked before a smile crawled its way onto my face. "Chief, eh? Guess his luck is still holding out." I said. "Tell him we're even after Skopje."
"What happened there?" Weiss asked.
"He kinda pulled my ass outta the fire there." I said.
"Uhh, how?" My sister asked.
"It was just after I'd unlocked my aura and gotten my set of MJOLNIR MkIV. I was feeling just a bit overconfident. Basically, I thought it'd be a good idea to take on a few hundred covvies at once." I sighed. "Naturally, I was on my last legs when he arrived with a Pelican. I passed out in the troop bay and woke up on a hospital ship with a few new scars than I'd been used to at the time."
"That seems reckless, even for you." Weiss said.
I shrugged. "You're not wrong..."
"Can do, Ruby." She said. "Cortana out."
I let out a sigh before looking to Emile's body, still clutching the kukri that killed his assailant. I knelt down to him. "Guess I'll get the full set after all, Emile." I said, grimly, as I removed his dog tags. "I'll take as many down with me as I can, Knifey." I promised before walking away from the battlegrounds.
"So… that's it?" My sister asked. "Uhh… how'd you get to Remnant?"
I sighed. "Remember how I said that 'Brutal Ruby' comes out for a bit?" I asked, receiving a nod. "Yeah, its not pretty…" I announced as I began fast-forwarding to the last part of my time on Reach.
(A/N) Concerning the warning about 'Brutal Ruby' showing up… yeah… let's just say that Ruby won't be a happy camper next chapter, and her level of violence will very much reflect that fact. I mean, in V1C1 of Ruby B-312, its stated that she literally starts out in a field of Covenant corpses. She killed so many of them that they literally gave up sending men out to kill her. So even though I haven't written the actual battle yet, it's pretty safe to say that it'll be the most violent one in the story.
I just wanna say that the Chicago Industrial Zone is actually canon in Halo, covering the (implied) entirety of the modern-day US States of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, the total area of which is, as Ruby said, just under 160k sqmi (~414k sqkm). For reference, that's still about 10k sqkm larger than modern-day Poland, the Czech Republic, and Russian East Prussia combined.
Yes, the incident with the Elite killing itself with a Concussion Rifle actually happened. Laughed pretty hard at that.
Another thing that happened was the Trooper engaging the Elite Ultra in sorta-melee. I say 'sorta' because in actuality, it was a Trooper with an MA37 standing approximately two feet from said Elite and unloading into it while it was punching the two-inch-wide fence that separated them, saving the Trooper. Idk if he survived the rest of the battle, because after I'd saved his ass I moved onto other targets, but I like to think he did.
Anyways, that's all I had for this one, so review time!
TheFishKing said – "Cortana needs to speak to Ruby. Also you now how you can see 117 in a pod in the boarding of the Pillar of Autumn cutscene you should include that instead of having Cortana telling Ruby who she was being delivered to"
Cool idea. Come to think of it, that would've been pretty cool to just have Jen Taylor say a few lines at the end of Reach. Could've even been the Legendary Ending.
Shadow Walker of Fire said – "Great chapter. When WBY see the Scarabs, their jaws are going to drop. I recently replayed Halo Reach but on my Xbox One and I got the achievements for completing the missions, did you think about using the achievement names as chapter names?"
In my initial response, I agreed about the Scarabs, buuuut then I realized that they'd already seen one in the opening of 'Long Night of Solace'. Also, I didn't think of using the achievement names for the chapter names, no.
Dovah117 said – "now its time to see the final deaths of noble team, the sacrifice of commander carter and the badass death of emile, he knew that he was going to die and he welcomed killing his killer, for me Reach is one of the best Halo, they manage to transfer the feelings of noble team, when kat died in the game, i didnt expected, it was so sudden, but the dead that really make cry a man was Jorge dead, he sacrified beliving that he saved Reach, and after that they show you that his death had no meaning, more covenant appeared, and all hope was lost... at least in the end we give humanity the final key to finish this war, but sacrifing ourselves for that, waiting for the end of hiatus of the main story, i want to see what will be the consecuences of the pressence of the unsc/covenant and the destruction of atlas"
Fun fact, Reach was the first game that I played where the entire main cast died :D. You can imagine how hard that hit… shit, how old was I? 14… goddamn, I was not ready for that back then. Anyways, yeah, Reach does it really well, considering the only other game I'd played at that point with even one main character death was Guild Wars: Prophecies, but Rurik getting crushed under an avalanche and dying in a cut-to-black-screen juuust doesn't have the same effect as Emile getting run through with an energy sword and hearing him die.
Guest 001 said – "Whatever happened to Jun in canon anyways!?"
In canon, he made it to Castle Base with Halsey and got rescued by Chief and his merry band before heading back to Earth. Idk where he spent the rest of the war, but afterwards he became a recruiter for the Spartan-IV program. The only member of Noble Team to canonically survive Reach. Buuut Ruby doesn't know that.
Felrik said – "My feeling when UNSC Army troopers, or UNSC Airmen, are called 'marines', especially when considering they would have fought on just about every world (but we don't see it because the Chief is typically with Naval Vessels and expeditionary forces). Although you started calling them troopers eventually. Interestingly, Noble Team was apart of SPECWARCOM, the special forces of the UNSC Army. Also, if I recall correctly, Ruby wouldn't have worn SPI armour as she was pulled out of the rest of Beta Company, being equipped with better equipment due to being deemed too valuable to lose in a suicide mission.
In anycase, lore stuff aside, I'll be looking forward to the next chapter, and I'll look into your other fanfic as well, it sounds interesting."
Yeah, I genuinely thought they were Marines until I started going off the transcripts in… I think the level 'Exodus'? Yeah, that sounds about right. Needless to say, I feel stupid, considering its stated multiple times in-game that they're Troopers. Not Marines.
Canon Noble Six was pulled out of Beta Company before Torpedo, not Ruby though. At first, I pretty much wanted to copy Six's backstory exactly and just superimpose Ruby's identity onto him, but then I realized that Six was a very unique kind of Spartan, and that wouldn't fly. I'll actually address Torpedo in V2C1 of the main series, though.
Anyways, that's all for now, guys. Originally, I'd planned on there being the 'Lone Wolf' chapter and then an epilogue, but I've since decided to roll them into one chapter. Thus, 'Burned and Turned to Glass' is next up. It'll either release with V2C1 and 'Paradise Lost' of ASH, or those two will wait another week, it just depends on how far I get.
