Jeff and Gary watched the ongoing battle, dodging into cover as another enemy Covenant Banshee swooped in from above. High as a kite, Gary lined up his scope, zooming in closer towards the escaping Banshee, and fired. Watching a smoketrail appear as the 14.5x114mm caliber round penetrated through the Banshee's wing and ricocheting off the cliff wall making fly straight into the winter moonlit sky.
"Nice shot, I see him smokin'." Jeff replied then quickly noticed the enemy Banshee turning around. "Uhh... crap he's coming back...Gary!?"
"Chill, it'll be here in a few seconds."
"We'll be gone in a few seconds!" Jeff yelled back, watching the incoming banshee unexpectedly explode in mid-air. As one 14.5x114mm round fell from the night sky, penetrating through the top hull of the bnashee, killing the pilot inside.
"And that's how you do a Tarkin Handshake. Damm, I'm good." Gary calmly said taking another puff from his pipe.
"Tarkin Handshake?" Jeff curiously asked.
"Low on ammo. Use the environment around you to destroy your target." Gary replied before he and Jeff flew away in their Banshees.
After stabbing and slicing the Sangheili Field Marshall in half with his lightsaber. The Doom Slayer proceeded to finish of any remaining Covenant forces in the area with his chaingun. Turning any surviving Grunts and Jackals into a pulping mess of blood and gore over the snowy monolith platform. He calmly walked toward the other side of the monolith to see one Covenant Wraith waiting patiently by the entrance of a nearby cavern he and the Chief travled through before. He took a few steps back and performed a sprinting jump over the monolith's edge, diving down into the canyon below.
Meanwhile... A Sangheili Elite minor is busy playing a arcade game on the Wraith's computer to pass the time. Seconds later, he heard a loud crash from above which alerted him. He paused his game by flipping a switch on the screen to see nothing. "Hmph. Figures." He sighed in annoyance as he returned back to his game of Super Yap-yap. Turning up the volume and pushed a button to turn off the Wraith's engine, ignoring the two ton super soldier who jumped off from on top of the tank. The Doom Slayer walked up toward the cavern entrance, looking down to see a large ongoing battle between the Covenant and the Flood. He changed to his BFG-9000, aiming downrange, charged, and fired. The Covenant, the Flood, and more reinforcements became mesmerized by the bright ball of green energy as it passed over them. Only to become vaporized by its streams of energy before being wiped out by its destructive blast. The Doom Slayer walked dramatically slowly, blowing smoke away from the red-orange hot barrel of his BFG-9000 while a slow moving and blurry green energy blasted out of the cavern behind him.
"Dude... that was badass." Gary said as he, Jeff, Master Chief and Cortana watched the extravigant show from the safety of their Warthog.
"Totally bro. I got it recorded, all I need is to add some rockin Mandalorian death metal and we got a badass music holo." Jeff agreed, playing with the recorded video on his datapad.
"There... I've located the Pillar of Autumn. She's put down twelve-hundred kilometers up spin. Energy readings show her fusion reactors are still powered up. The systems on the Pillar of Autumn have failsafes that I even can't override, without authorization from the Captain. We'll need to find him or his neural implants to start up the fusion core detonation. That tunnel he cleared out leads to the next section of the canyon. The final pulse generator we need to destroy is through there." Cortana explained as the Doom Slayer returned and hopped onto the back of the Warthog.
"Hey? Do you ever get the feeling that we're going backwards?" Jeff asked as they entered the large underground chasm. "Cause it feels like we've been here before." Jeff said again till he was hushed by Gary.
"There's that silence again. I've heard it before when we we're at the Silent Cartographer. Stop the Hog." Gary said and the Chief followed suit as he too heard the strange slience.
"We're gonna get ambushed at the other side. Chief. Take us in slowly." Gary said.
The Master Chief pushed slowly on the gas, slowly driving the Warthog across the silent bridge. Quickly noticing little blips of red popping onto his motion tracker while he drove closer toward the other side of the chasm. Jeff readied his plasma rifle once he noticed something moving from the corner of his eye. Doomguy noticed something off as well and he jumped off the side of the Hog, switching to his chaingun and tossed in a hologram grenade. Watching several Flood Combat & infection forms swarm upon the hologram. Notifying Gary to gun them down with the turret as the Chief floored it, running down several combat forms as he drove outside of the next canyon with the Doom Slayer sprinting behind them.
"There. The last pulse generator is up there. We just need to find a ride to get up there." Cortana said as the Chief drove up the steep hill out of the entrance of the cavern to see a large ongoing battle between the Covenant and the Flood.
"Tighten your seat belts." The Master Chief grumbled.
"Wait... What...?" Jeff and Gary questioned before screaming out loud as the Chief slammed on the gas.
Gary held on tightly to the gun turret unknowingly holding down on the trigger, firing the gun wildly and managing to kill many flood combat forms while the Jeff and the Doom Slayer provided additional support.
Doom Slayer's Revenge...
"How many are there, trooper?" Cortana asked.
"A lot. I've counted two purple tanks, three turrets, and a lot of soldiers. Although, I'm also picking up some movement behind a small rock ridge nearby. It could be nothing, but I wouldn't recommend for us to go charging at'em if it might be another Flood ambush." Gary replied as he observed at a few Grunts waddling around through the scope on his SR99.
"Agreed." Cortana replied then asked Jeff a question. After watching him applying a strange fluid onto the Chief's fresh wound.
"Stay here and give me cover fire... Ugh." Master Chief spoke, still feeling the plasma burn chaff in his shoulder while Jeff mended the Chief's wounds with a canister of Bacta.
"Chief. No. You're not in any condition to fight after that jump stunt you've pulled." Cortana replied with a concern tone.
"She's right. Stay here. I'll be back." The Doom Slayer grumbled, loading two fresh shells into his double barrel shotgun.
"Yeah! Kick their ass!" Gary yelled as he observed the Doom Slayer calmly walk toward the Covenant encampment.
"They've hurt the Master Chief. A fellow brother and a friend. I'll unleash my revenge upon them and they will know what Hell truly is." The Doom Slayer silently thought while switching to his rocket launcher.
He locked onto the unsuspecting Wraith and fired a salvo. Watching it explode into charred pieces and flames, catching the Covenant by surprise. The Covenant opened fire on the Doom Slayer as he switched back to his double barrel shotgun. Sprinting across the snowy landscape, jumping upon a group of Covenant soldiers. Blasting two shells into a Sangheili Major's chest, tossing a frag grenade under a Shade turret, ripping a Jackal's spine out from it's back, and tearing a Grunt's methane tank out from it's back along with the head still attached.
He dodged out of the way as another plasma motar was lobbed toward his position, killing a few unlucky Unggoy Minors in the process. He dodged another plasma motar while sprinting over towards the Wraith tank. The tank pilot knew his death was at hand once the hatch cover was ripped off. Feeling the rush of air as he was ripped out from his seat and thrown into a tree. The Doom Slayer tossed in a frag grenade into the seat and jumped off before it detonated, destroying the Wraith tank. Two Hunters rushing out from behind the rocks nearby, along with one sword-welding Sangheili General. He swapped to his rocket launcher, locking onto them, launching salvo after salvo of rockets at them. Turning one Hunter into orange slag and severly injuring the other. Giving him time to perform a glory kill by ripping off the Hunter's shield and impaling it into a boulder.
"Devil! I'll avenge my brothers by displaying your head over my fireplace!" The Sangheili General yelled, activating his energy sword.
Hearing the general's words, the Doom Slayer calmly turned and silently starred at the Sangheili General, cracking a few joints in his neck before activating his lightsaber. Taunting the Sangheili its red-crimson blade and showing off a few starting swings. The Sangheili swung first, Doomguy quickly rolled underneath, and blocked the Sangheili's energy sword with his lightsaber. Responding with a quick upward slice, evicerating the Sangheili's right arm holding the blade. The Sangheili roared out as he fell down to his knees then was silenced as the Doom Slayer unleashed the killing blow by severing the Sangheili's head clean off. With his injury healed by the lifesaving Bacta and the coast clear, the Master Chief, Gary, and Jeff sprinted towards over to Doomguy. Who is busy examining the bodies for any goodies they might be useful for him and his allies.
"Wow. You really did a number on these guys, Doomguy." Jeff said as he and Gary looked at the carnage surrounding them.
"Come on guys, saddle up. Let's shut down the last phase pulse generator."
Doom Squad flew their Banshees toward the marked location that Cortana had set up for them. Jeff fired his first rounds of plasma at the Setinels who were guarding the entrance of the last pulse generator. With the area cleared, the squad landed on the platform and entered inside the facility with Gary taking point. Reaching the next entrance, Gary heard noises of hovering Sentinels to his right and held up his fist, signalling the squad to halt.
"Crap. More droids and they have shields too. Switching to ion grenades." Gary whispered, pulling out a grenade and tossed it at two patrolling Sentinels.
The explosion of charged electromagnetic energy emitted from Gary's ion grenade moved outward. Frying the patrolling Sentinel's electronics inside, making them crash and burn towards the metal floor and attracting the last three sentinels to the disturbance. While they investigated, Gary and Jeff tossed in two more ion grenades to destroy them. "Area cleared. Let's move." Gary said, signalling the others to move foward.
The Master Chief slowly walked toward the last phase pulse generator while the others kept guard around the area. "Final target neutralized. Let's get out of here." Cortana said.
"Let's find a ride and get to the Captain." The Chief suggested.
"No, that'll take too long." Cortana replied.
"You have a better idea?" The Master Chief asked.
"There's a teleportation grid that runs throughout Halo. That's how the Monitor moves about so quickly. I learned how to tap into the grid when I was alone in the Control Center. Unfortunately, each jump requires a rather... consequential expenditure of energy." Explained Cortana.
"Something tells me I'm not gonna like this." The Master Chief complained as well hearing agreements from the stormtroopers.
"Luckly... with our freind here I can teleport everyone, but I'm pretty sure I can take the needed energy from your suit's shields without permanently damaging your shields. Needless to say, I think we should only try this once." Cortana explained.
"Do it." The Chief replied, letting Cortana help Doom Squad teleport out of the facility.
