Into the dark and forward unto dawn

by Ipods-and-buds-1239

His moment, come and gone, his life, turned meaningless. His friends, his family and the love of his life betrayed him for another. As his days slowly draw to a close, hope remains. But to earn a second chance and regain a new meaning, he must explore his ancestry and Reach for the stars. A Chaos story, Book 1 of a series.

10. Flight deck

Into the Dark and Forward unto dawn Ch 10

A.N. Not sure if anyone noticed, but I replaced the A.N. in the previous chapter with the actual chapter, so the extract is now a real chapter, the chapter that was set to post on Sunday is now up and ready to read, simply skip backwards to get that chapter. This chapter is a new chapter that I decided to update simply because I had time to type it. So anyway, Chapter 9 is fully updated and is ready to read, thanks for checking that out.

I've decided to post an extra chapter to make up for the time I was gone, I'm sorry for that, it wont happen again, I swear.

Reviews, Sadly, I don't think anyone noticed that I had replaced the A.N. with a real chapter, so no reviews!

Percy/Noble 6/ Shadows POV

I sat in the cargo bay of a pelican. The midnight air was solemn and so was the attitude of Noble team when they heard the news of Jorge. I think Carter and Kat took it the worst, Carter for not being there to take his place. Kat probably because she suggested the operation, step by step. I knew the rest of Noble were beating themselves up, but Kat had secluded herself to her bunk room, endlessly scanning the covenant radio waves and attempting to hack into the jammers to allow the U.N.S.C some decent form of communication. I guess that was her way of dealing with the grief.

Apparently Kat had decided that the jammers were too much of a problem and that they had to be destroyed. That was where I would come in. I was currently being ferried to a nearby landing pad, where a falcon currently waited. I was a certified pilot. I found it quite funny that I was flying a helicopter through Zeus's domain. What's worse was that I was operating outside of Zeus's control, on another planet, so essentially, I was flipping him off. I always found it ironic that I was actually a pretty good pilot; I had served a couple years in the air force division of the Marine Corps, flying close air support. While I preferred to be flying a Sparrow-hawk VTOL battle jet, a falcon wasn't too much of a transition.

Kat was a bit hesitant at asking me to take part in the operation, she though that I was afraid of her "Curse". Whenever Kat runs some sort of daring operation, a member of noble team usually dies. While the previous noble 6, Thomas, died on the battle for Fuchsia, an outer colony, Jorge's death basically confirmed it to every non-Noble member in the armed forces. I personally thought it was a load of bull, so did the rest of Noble team, even Emile, with all his weird superstitions, was the strongest supporter of Kat's innocence. Carter came a close second.

The pelican was flying at skyline level, over the tops off the buildings. We were so high up, clouds basically hung to the edges of the building, grouping around the tips like white ballet skirts. I couldn't see the ground. The covenant were bombarding their way into the ninth day of the siege, I knew that their troops were close to the breaking point. All civilians that remained in the city were told to enter the anti-glassing shelters underneath the main buildings. I rarely saw any other U.N.S.C soldiers, so I could tell the covenant were beginning their final preparations for the local "Cleansing". Glassing was essentially one planet wide decimation from orbit via massive plasma beams. It was a rite of passage for covenant naval commanders, a local glassing often occurred to help speed up the removal off any human survivors. It often happened on the tenth day of a siege if the city wasn't washed clean of human trace, no wonder the city had become a ghost town.

I watched as the pelican cruised by the remains of the city hall skyscraper, which could be described as a burning stub. The remains of falling buildings were adding up, soon all the streets would be choked with rubble to the point where nothing, covenant or human, would be able to navigate their way around. The battle had gradually shifted upwards, with covenant occupied buildings trading off against scattered, un-organized marines, this was quickly turning into a game of cat and mouse. As I neared the landing pad, I picked up a DMR strapped to the wall, stood up and slid the DMR onto my back. The pelican hovered above the landing pad before slowly descending and coming to a stop on the main hanger deck. Carter walked to greet me.

"It's good to have you back." Carter informed grimly. I nodded wearily. "I'm sorry I came alone." I said. Carter pulled me into a light man hug, "Make him proud." I nodded. Carter walked me over to a stationary falcon, which was full on fuel. The Cockpit was open, almost invitingly. I climbed in and started checking the individual systems, thrusters at full capacity, rotor blades at full speed, lift off initiating in ten seconds. I slowly lifted off the ground, not as smoothly as I could have if I was in a Sparrow hawk, but it wasn't too shabby. I hovered and looked down to see Carter wave farewell before boarding the pelican I came in on, likely to return to the Olympia tower. I gunned the engines and the Falcon smoothly floated forwards.

Kats voice came over the radio, the U.N.S.C had to use lower grade radio batteries to keep up comms, the ones that the covenant didn't have a stranglehold on. "Noble 6, are you there?" Kat asked sadly. I responded, "Noble 2, this is Noble 6, give me a brief overview of mission parameters please." I requested. Kat responded, "Covenant techs have deployed jammers on top of the high-rises, we can't contact Holland or any other U.N.S.C troopers outside of the city, I'll give you coordinates to each of the jammers, remember, the jammers are often located inside the high-rises, you need to land the Falcon and proceed on foot to deal with the jammers."

I nodded, "Where are the jammers?" Kat responded immediately, "The covenant have placed them at each of the tallest buildings in the city, I don't have exact coordinates so I've deduced them by theory, your first stop is the Hospital, we had troopers inside who were evacuating patients, they were successful but we've lost contact." I sighed, "All right, I'm on my way." Something shot past me, blue plasma. "I'll get back to you Kat." I ascended, just in time. A banshee shot past where I was five seconds ago, obviously trying to ram me. I moved the joystick as I flipped on the targeting reticule. In addition to the two side mounted, crew manned machine guns, the falcon has a nose mounted seven round burst machinegun, shooting massive 0.75 caliber bullets. These make short work of banshees; even a phantom wouldn't last long under that kind of firepower. I lined up the offending banshee in my sights and pulled the trigger. The falcon shook and the bullets flew towards the banshee, ripping it apart. The remains cascaded downwards, into the abyss.

More banshees started closing in all around me, slowly trailing me, as if I was going to let them shoot me down. I smashed the throttle upwards, ascending so fast that I could barely hold my lunch. The banshees, this time I could see them, there were about three of them, shot past me. I thumbed the fire button; fire came out of the nose of the bird, smashing the banshees. One by one, the banshees spun out of control and slowly spun down into the bowels of the city.

I turned the bird around and saw an entire fleet of banshees slowly coming towards me. I got ready to thumb the trigger but they suddenly, as if they had rehearsed it, turned upwards and ascended, higher and higher, until I couldn't see them anymore. A covenant corvette came into view, around the outskirts of the city. A huge red circle slowly expanded under the main cockpit, turning pink, then white. It came down in a single beam, heat and shockwaves spiraled outwards. I watched as the corvette finished glassing the outskirts before moving around, slowly circling the outskirts. I was running out of time.

Something popped up on my HUD, a navigation marker showing the hospital. A caduceus glowed in bright red on the side of the building. I started towards it but something came on over the radio. "Someone, anyone, please respond, this in Charlie Romeo 9, we took out a short range jammer and have been awaiting evacuation, me and my team of three other marines are pinned down on the roof by jackal snipers, requesting gun run on those devils." I responded, "Charlie Romeo 9, this is Noble 6, inbound on gun run, lase the target over." A moment later, something caught my eye; a small red laser popped up and pointed towards a nearby building. 3 small energy beams, focus rifles, were bombarding a nearby rooftop. I hovered over the battered marines and leveled the jackal squadron, building support beams shattered causing part of the building section to collapse.

I hovered over the marines before landing on an open space. The marines scrambled to the helicopter. They piled in; the leader tapped my shoulder, "Thanks sir!" I nodded, "Boys, my missions to take out the main covenant jammers, I need some side gunners, feel up for it?" They nodded and I took off. Slowly the hospital came into view, green plasma fire slashed past us. A marine on the right side yelled, "Fuel rod turrets!" I swerved sideways, dodging inbound fire. Skirmishers ran out of the building and began taking potshots at my helicopter. I was not amused.

I ascended upwards, before turning so that both gunners could have a clear shot at the platform, "Open fire!" I yelled before squeezing the joystick. Three concentrated bursts of fire impacted the brightly lit landing pad, reducing the fuel rod turrets to charred, ash covered wrecks. I hovered closer, before turning so my left door gunner could finish off the skirmishers. A loud stream of fire collided with the bulk of the skirmisher forces, nothing remained. I slowly landed on the helicopter pad before hopping out. The marines looked at me in question. I turned to them, "The jammers inside, I need you guys to watch for covenant while I destroy it. The leader nodded before directing his two friends into a defensive position.

I moved inside, DMR ready, listening to any hint of covenant forces. I heard gunfire, the plasma burning, the hiss of grenades. I needed to find the jammer. I came to a corner, walking slowly. I immediately retreated, seeing a covenant strike force moving towards me. A jackal team, obviously oblivious to my presence, were bragging and grinning like fools. The lead jackal gestured upwards, waving its clawed, mottled hands as if saying, "It will take care of it". Something bumped into the ceiling; I strained to get a closer look. Carefully concealed among the rafters of the building was an engineer, bumping into everything in sight. I remembered what the scientists said about covenant engineers, "They receive their names from their buoyancy, apparently, the engineers make their young like machines, naming them based on how well the gas sacks are filled, "Lighter then most," "Perfection" and "Density" were all popular.

A shrill cry came up in front of me; a keen eyed jackal had spotted me. The jackals flicked on their shields and the engineer started waving its tentacles like magic wands, purple light came down, covering the jackals, giving secondary shielding. I had to deal with the engineer if I was to have a chance at dealing with the jackals. I blindly shot, managing a lucky shot on the engineer. While this wouldn't have done much to a normal engineer, this one was so sensitive, a slight tap would send it spinning out of control. This wasn't a small tap, this was an armor-piercing bullet. I watched as the engineer slowly spun towards a shattered window. The engineer quickly ascended, twirling its tentacles in terror. The jackals watched it go in shock, carelessly lowering their shields. The purple shielding quickly flickered out, I took the opportunity to throw a grenade. It bumped against a jackal's foot. It looked down like, "I was watching something, why did you have to ruin the moment?" The jackals, realizing what it was, started to dive out of the way, but they were too late. A thick cloud of shrapnel had filled the air, tearing everything apart.

I walked forwards, scanning ahead for anything else. I watched as a door slid open on my right, an injured brute stumbled through, cursing. It turned to me and regarded me with a face like, "You really had to be here right now?" We stared at each other for a few seconds before I made the first move. I lunged forwards, my massive gloved hand smothering the brutes tiny face. I slammed the head into the wall, the brute's cumbersome body slowly following. I was hoping to knock the brute into unconsciousness, but sadly, brutes have rather thick skulls. It tried to move forwards but I repeated the process. The brute slowly slid to the floor, red blood slowly trickling out of its nose.

I dusted of my hands and kept walking forwards, looking around to see any other covenant troops. It seemed this place was teeming with them. Satisfied that I was not surrounded, at the moment of course, I pulled the door the brute came through open, causing it to be thrown of its hinges. I had walked into a firefight; two troopers were exchanging shots with about seven brutes, which were slowly advancing. I could already tell that one of the troops, a girl, was frequently checking behind her back, as if looking at something… or someone. She yelled, "Get back you dirty perverts!"

The brute closest to me turned and looked in my direction with a face full of loathing. It frowned and pulled out its spiker. I rushed forwards and kicked it out a window, shattering the glass pane, sending the unlucky creature screaming to its death. The brutes turned to me, wondering what had happened, so did the marines. One of the troopers, a man, yelled, "Picked up a friendly!" I started off the fight by throwing a grenade, causing the brutes to get over their stupor. They started running in circles, screaming like chickens. They didn't know which way to face, so they resolved to shot everywhere. I could already see some cases of friendly fire in their ranks. One by one the brutes fell, by my hand, by the marines or even by their own brethren.

I didn't see any more enemies; I rushed over to the marines. The male greeted me, "Sir, glad you showed up, we got left behind in the evacuation, we've got wounded." He ushered me behind them, I saw the girl kneeling over a boy with blonde hair, a faint tear falling down her face. I turned away, "I'll get you guys out of here but my primary objective is the covenant jammer stationed here." The marine nodded, "We were stranded on the top floor, eleven marines in total, we started working out way down the building, lost everyone. I'm afraid he won't make it. Jammers right behind us, we got between the brutes and their objective, they hammered us."

I nodded. I walked up to the jammer, pulling a set of C4 out of my thigh pocket. After it was firmly in place, I picked up the injured man like a sack of flour and, much to the surprise of the fellow marines, ran at a pace that the marines could barely match. The marines guarding the falcon watched as I ran outside, surprised that there were fellow marines right on my tail. I watched as a marine with a cross on his arm ran forwards, helping me take the wounded soldier. We loaded him on to the chopper, the girl marine close behind. I handed the detonator to the marine leader before hopping into the cockpit. Slowly, but surely, the twin propellers began to spin, the marines began to file onto the helicopter.

I turned, "Is everybody on?" I got a bunch of curt nods. I slowly lifted off, just in time, multiple skirmishers burst out of the building, screeching as if to say, "Come back!" I pulled out of firing range and turned to the passenger bay, "Send it!" I yelled. The marine holding the detonator clicked it and watched as a massive explosion filled the building, multiple support beams, already weary from no maintenance, simply gave way, causing the building in all senses of the word, to fall apart, piece by piece.

I maneuvered the helicopter away from the crumbling ruins of the hospital, careful to avoid falling debris. The medic immediately began to perform emergency first aid on the injured trooper, filling his wounds with bio foam. A voice fizzled into existence on the radio, "Noble 6, Noble 2, reports say that the hospital had collapsed in on itself, your handiwork?" I responded, "Yes Noble 2, covenant jammer has been destroyed. Please begin transmitting secondary coordinates." Slowly, a navigational marker appeared on my HUD, almost on the other side of the city. "Noble 6, please confirm your received coordinates." I keyed in, "Noble 2, coordinates are updated, beginning approach."

I watched as the Navigation marker finally identified the distance, almost on the other side of the city. I wheeled around, turning to the building. Apparently, the second jammer was located inside the Sinoviet center complex, a technology manufacturer, the "Apple" of the 26th century. I started towards the building, kicking in thruster support to get there just a bit faster. I looked down to see a couple marines making there way into a small building, their urgency extremely apparent. I remembered hearing about a makeshift glassing shelter in the area; I hope they made it there in time. I hope I made it back to the Olympia tower bunker in time; I also had to worry about the five marines on board as well.

I started to near the Sinoviet tower when a voice came on, "Noble 2, this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck, 11th ODST, need assistance in the form of air support." Kat quickly cut in, "Buck, good to know your still around, what's the situation?" Buck keyed in, urgency in his voice, "My team was helping evacuate some trapped civilians in Aleiaho tower, roof caved in, my teams stuck, corvettes gonna glass the building in a couple minutes, I've got a pelican on standby for evacuation, need to get my team out."

I jumped in, "Buck, this is noble 6, I'll cover your transport, make it quick, I've got to take out the covenant jammers." Buck sent a confirmation light indicating he had gotten the message. A pelican flew right beneath us, I maneuvered to follow behind. I saw the remains of a massive high way, running straight through the city, right below us, a building that was literally caved in lay wasted in the middle of a roundabout. Covenant were coming in from all directions. The pelican landed on the front path way and Buck ran out, a large hulking man followed with a skull and cross bones on his chest, rocket launcher at the ready. I maneuvered over the parked pelican, turning towards an encroaching covenant patrol. They were screaming in glee at the parked falcon, ready to "Cleanse the universe."

My job of course was to make sure that didn't happen. I gunned them down, screams of pain and frustration followed. The gunners started to open up, the covenant were filling the streets. We literally fired non-stop. At this rate, the pelican was going to be overwhelmed. I saw movement from inside the building; Buck was helping a young woman with ginger hair out of the building, the girl holding a recon helmet exclusive to ONI. The other man was hauling a sniper in blue armor out, like a sack of flower. A final man ran out of the building, limping slowly, pistol blindly firing in the direction of the covenant. "Noble 6, all souls accounted for, lets get out of here." Buck said. I ascended and parked a safe distance, firing into the ever-growing covenant patrol. The pelican started to take off and began flying away, I followed in suit, making sure it cleared skyscraper height.

The pelican evened out and slowly flew away from the city, Buck thanked me over the radio, "Most appreciated Spartan… See you in hell." I sighed before turning back to the jammer. The Sinoviet building was extremely close now, looming in front of me, a massive pentagon glared in the night sky. I pulled over the landing pad, expecting resistance. Nothing, not a sound, came from the building. I hesitated before landing. I slowly climbed out and covered the marines as they filed out, setting up defensive positions around the helicopter. I walked up to the leader, "Stay frosty, something doesn't feel right. As soon as I come out, don't bother covering me, just get in." The leader nodded, "Yes sir."

I stalked inside, wondering what was going on, the eerie silence was starting to get to me. I didn't see anything, no humans or covenant. What shocked me the most was that, while there we plasma stains and bullet holes riddling the walls, there were no bodies. I heard, this was probably my imagination, a brief buzzing would occasionally fill the hallways. I reached an office bureau and saw a service elevator; I guessed I was going in the right direction. I flicked on the button, hoping it was in working order. The door slowly opened, I pressed the down button, the door closed slowly. My stomach lurched as the elevator went down. Slowly, the door opened and I saw one long corridor, the buzzing was much louder now.

I walked towards the source of the buzzing, DMR raised. A door on my right slid open and I saw my goal, the jammer was still on, blinking and blurring away. I walked up and placed a C4 charge when the buzzing sound suddenly stopped. Everything around me froze. I heard small clicking come out of an acid corroded wall on my right. An insect, much like a cross between a bee and a dragonfly, crawled through the wall, four eyes regarding me. A drone. The covenant's most recent additions to their military were drones; a group of insect-like aliens that had worshiped hive gods of their own creation. When the covenant found out, well, they decided to enforce their own beliefs. They main hives were burned, forcing the drones themselves in chains. The only reason they managed to survive as a culture was that the queens had structured a peace treaty allowing them to become members of the covenant.

Drones are extremely dangerous, while one alone is easily dealt with; these things have been known to swarm over objects deemed important by their masters. Things like the covenant jammer. The drone gnashed its mandibles at me before releasing a terrible noise, not to different from a car-crash. I shot it with my DMR before taking off, back down the corridor, towards the elevator. The buzzing was now a massive collection of noise, enough to drive someone without ear protection deaf. I jammed the elevator button, causing it to open slowly. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the corridor full to the brim with drones, all of which were flying, buzzing and screaming towards me. The door fully opened and I dashed in before hitting the close button. The drones were almost at the elevator. I started shooting, not even bothering to aim, with this many drones it was impossible to miss.

The doors closed, the last thing I saw was the hideous face of a drone pressed up against the elevator doors. The elevator skyrocketed. I could here the drones buzzing grow faint. I finally reached the flight deck floor; I squeezed through the doors before they were fully open. I bolted towards the landing pad; the buzz of the drones was getting louder again. I dashed through the office bureau before slamming my way through a stationary door, blasting onto the flight deck. The marines followed my orders to the letter, I was grateful. I had the propeller blades spinning with everyone on board when the first drone appeared on the landing pad. It pointed; shrieking and the rest of its hive appeared quickly after. I lifted off and watched as the lead marine took a couple potshots with his pistol on some of the drones clinging to the helicopter. I pulled away and clicked the detonator. The drones were surrounded in an enveloping fire.

I pulled away, "That was to close for comfort." Kat appeared on the radio, "Noble 6, Noble 2, is the second covenant jammer dealt with?" I responded, "Noble 2, Noble 6, covenant jammer dealt with, requesting coordinates to final jammer." A final navigational marker appeared on my HUD. Nightclub Errera appeared in the distance, it would take a couple minutes to get there. I saw the corvette slowly finish glassing the city out skirts before making its way inwards. I hoped the local forces had made it to the glassing bunkers. The leader whistled, "Poor saps, hope they make it." The medic nodded, "Yeah… hey what'd you think of the Spartan. Walking into a bugger hive? That takes some serious balls." The girl nodded, "I hear that Spartans aren't actually humans, their actually unmanned vehicles used by ONI to do the dirty work."

Everyone nodded, already having their minds made up. I shook my head, how deluded can some people be? I finally reached club Errera, I saw a single trooper pinned down, exchanging shots with multiple hunters. The music from the nightclub was automatic, filling the air with lame dub step music. I hovered above the trooper and started to fire at the hunters. No matter how powerful a .75 caliber bullet is, punching through three feet of compacted titanium is not within its abilities. However, a hunter does have weak spots, getting swarmed in rapid fire, it would be almost certain that one of those weak spots would be hit. After that, it's only a certain amount of time until the entire creature collapses. Slowly, the hunters fell, with one barely managing to retreat into the nightclub. The marine waved to me as I landed, gratitude filling his face covered in crinkles, evidently he smiled quite a lot.

I nodded as the troopers took their final defensive positions. I walked up to the trooper, "I'm here for the jammer, you know where it is?" He nodded, "Its inside, behind the DJ stand, there's one hunter inside, me and my squad were doing well till those hunters showed up, I'm all that's left." I nodded, "Stay here, I'll take care of this." He nodded gratefully and wearily slumped in the final empty seat of the falcon. I couldn't fit anyone else. I stormed inside, DMR reloaded and ready for battle. The wounded hunter stood in the middle of the dance floor, gun wearily raised. I stormed forwards, the music blaring. The hunter raised its gun and shield, blasting everywhere. I spun from pillar to pillar. I ducked behind a snack vendor.

I turned and saw the freezer door wide open, multiple hooks holding up a couple moa burgers, popular with tourists. "Choose. Choose. Choose." They whispered. I could debate my sanity later, I did as the creepy voices instructed. When your Dad is Chaos, you tend to do what commanding voices that have no traceable source tell you to. I grabbed a hook, something clicked inside me, like this seemed natural. The hunter walked up to the counter, I vaulted over, surprising the creature. I landed on top of it, hook dug deep in the tentacle creatures making up its neck. I pulled to the side and with a sickening rrriiippp the hook pulled cleanly out. The now mangled hanging hook was thrown aside, but it did the job. The hunter was huddled on the ground, slowly bleeding out.

I heard a huge noise coming from the center of the room; the jammer was sitting right behind the DJ stand. I walked up the flashy spiral staircase and set up the final piece of C4. I casually took one last look at the vendor booth, remembering something Chaos told me. I still didn't understand it because, just like everything Chaos told me, it was cryptic. He said, "You don't choose you symbol of power… it chooses you." While my Dad was probably just fooling around, I felt like the whispering had something to do with my Dads metaphor.

I finally reached the falcon and casually hopped in the cockpit. I turned to see the marine defending the club get off. "Sir, Thank you for the assistance, but my assigned orders are to protect the club." I shook my head, "Dude, U.N.S.C is pulling on your leg, right now, orders or not, everyone has been told to report to a local glassing bunker, that corvette," I gestured towards the corvette which was getting ever closer, "Is not going to wait until you get reassigned to evacuate, if superiors decide to court martial, it was a direct order for you to evacuate on my chopper issued by me. Now get on." The trooper sighed with relief and hopped on, the leader patting the battle-hardened veteran on the back.

I decided to contact Kat, "Noble 2, Noble 6, final covenant jammer has been destroyed, making my way back to baseplate with full party of evacuated marines." Kat keyed back, "Well done 6, extending landing pad." I looked forwards and saw the Olympia tower slowly coming into view. I gratefully landed and hopped out, patting the falcon as the marines shuffled inside. The leader stayed outside. "Thank you sir… for everything." I nodded, "It was nothing." The leader shook his head, "No sir, it wasn't nothing, you saved me and my fellow troopers lives. Thank you." I nodded, "The praise is appreciated, listen, I want you to report to the bunker under the tower, go by elevator. I've got a little bit of work to do with the rest of Noble." He nodded and walked away, I turned back to the falcon when a thought came to mind, "Hey, I never caught you name." He turned and managed a wistful smile, "Billy." I nodded and turned back to say good bye one last time to the falcon. This thing had served me well, but the scars of battle were starting to show.

I walked inside and saw June greet me. "You flew well tonight." I nodded and followed her inside. Carter and Kat had turned the upper floor into the ultimate command center, with half the room full of Kats communication equipment, I saw Kat fiddling away with her radio, now fully able to communicate with the rest of the city, warning troops to report to the glassing bunkers. I saw Emile perched in the corner, sharpening his black Kukri knife. Apparently he found some form of comfort in the action. Carter turned when I came in and stood to greet me, "Well done Shadow, you did well." I nodded and collapsed in a free chair. Kat had finally finished coordinating the glassing shelter orders and turned in her swivel chair, throwing her helmet on the ground. "Finally." All we had to do now was report to the shelter and wait out the glassing.

Carter sat, "… This needs to be discussed." He beckoned everyone over to the dining table in the middle of the room. June and Emile pulled out chairs and sat. "As you are all aware off, Jorge has been killed." Kat finally turned her chair to the table, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "We know that his passing has come at an unfortunate time. But we must remember, his sacrifice was not in vain, Reach is doomed. That much is certain, but we can still save its inhabitants. We must do everything we can to save civilians and stranded soldiers alike." Carter stood, "I want to make this clear, this entire debacle is not Kats fault. I've already been signed into court martial for beating up multiple people who have said otherwise. I don't mind doing it again, but I want to hear everyone's thoughts on this."

Everyone turned to June, "I do not fault Catherine in the least, she had nothing to do with a casualty of war." We turned to Emile, he shrugged, "I'm with June, Kat, and Carter for that matter, you can't keep blaming yourself for every fatality Noble experiences, Jorge wouldn't like that… Thom wouldn't like that." The room froze; the mention of the previous "Noble 6" had that effect. Everyone slowly turned to me, I sighed, "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine, Jorge chose to sacrifice himself… I wanted to take his place. Kat… I don't blame you." I said slowly making eye contact with everyone.

Kat sighed, "Thank you… I'm sorry." Carter pulled Kat into an embrace, followed by Emile, then June. I stood awkwardly in the corner; obviously this was an old tradition. Carter looked over at me, "Oh, you think you're to cool for a hug, get you butt over here, being part of Noble means being part of group hugs." I shook my head but nonetheless walked over and joined everyone. We stood in silence for a few seconds before something pinged over the radio on loudspeaker. Kat sighed, "Really?!" She pulled away and thumbed the radio. "It's Holland. He's asking for you Carter." He sighed and caught the phone Kat tossed him. "Yes sir… understood sir."

He turned to us, "We've been redeployed to-" That was as far as he got, a massive explosion filled the air to our right. Kat yelled, "They've begun their glassing!" She ran and grabbed her helmet. Everyone ran to the twin elevators, I stayed and grabbed Kat by the arm, pulling her to the elevator. She fumbled with her helmet as I shoved her in and hit the close button. Kat threw on her helmet, "Their right outside, we need to get to the bunker right now!" Carter's elevator arrived first, Carter, June and Emile raced to the elevator. Our door opened close behind. Our shielding slowly flickered out; I barely gave it a second thought as we raced towards the blast doors, six meters of reinforced titanium alloy. I saw Carter inside the bunker, gesturing frantically. Billy was practically pushing June and Emile inside. We were running when I heard the familiar whirr of a covenant phantom.

A loud crack filled the air. Kat collapsed onto the ground, a gaping hole through the middle of her now useless helmet. I caught her as she slumped lifelessly to the floor. I pulled her pistol out of its holster and shot at the Elite officer taking potshots at me. I managed to hit it in the face, Carter roared in anger and whipped out his assault file, quickly followed by June and Emile. As one we fired on the drop ship, ripping it apart, the ruined ship hovered away, smoking. I picked up Kat bridal style and rushed through the doors that were slowly closing, everyone else close behind. I placed Kat's lifeless body on an empty table and, much to the astonishment of the marines I had rescued, Carter ran up, tossing his helmet to the side. He placed his ear on top of her chest, checking for something, anything that would indicate her survival. "They really are human." The girl whispered. The marine medic walked up, he did the same as Carter, "She's dead." He pronounced.

Emile smacked his fist into the wall in anger, June stood still as a stone. I slowly slid down to the floor, back against the wall. I barely held back my tears. Carter wailed loudly, screaming in agony.

Over the next six days, we stayed in the bunker, everyone slowly coming to terms with Kats death. Carter was filled with some form an angry determination, like he was going to kill everything in his path. On the seventh day, the bunker doors slowly slid open, revealing a city full of flames. No building higher then two stories remained, the Olympia tower crumpled all around us. I shook my head. Carter silently walked out with Kats body in his hand. He wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. I looked over at June who lit a signal flare. A pair of pelicans slowly came into view, one for the marines and Kat's body, the other for us.

My last glimpse of Kat was her helmet being removed, her marred face staring at me.

Bianca/ Kat's/ Noble 2 POV

I was wondering if would be sent back to the underworld, if the Chaos thing was just a dream. The needle from the needle rifle killed me instantly, as if I had simply closed my eyes. I wondered if I opened my eyes, I would be back with Noble team. I was meet with a much more different scene. Chaos's throne room, reading spire in the middle of the room enveloped every corner of my field of vision. I could pick out four figures, a tall man, stood closest to me, covered in black robes and shadows, eyes twinkling with the stars and the planets. Chaos. The man behind him was extremely familiar, a man with a black hat and a long, flowing beard started walking towards me. He enveloped me in a fatherly hug, "Hello my little Bianca." I cried in delight, "Uncle Da Vinci!" He released me and I finally saw the last two people in the room.

One stood in a black, hot pink highlighted, skintight one-piece body suit; she had blonde hair with cherry blossom lips, much like super model. She looked familiar. The other ran forwards and enveloped me in a hug, he was a mountain of a man, 6 feet 11 inches at least, covered in yellow E.O.D. armor with a five on it, with a helmet fully encased in a blast shield that was on a nearby table, revealing an African American complexion with a mass of messy dreadlocks. Jorge. I started to tear up, "Jorge… I-my-I'm so sorry." He held a finger to my lips; "I don't blame you for anything "Kat". Although, while we both stayed at camp Half-blood for a while, I don't believe we've meet formally, can I have a name please?" He stepped away and wrapped his hand around the girl's waist. I turned to Chaos, who nodded.

"Bianca Di'Angelo. If I give a name, I expect some in return." The man smiled, "Di'Angelo… sounds like Nico's last name, good kid. Well, seems fair, names Charles, Charles Beckendorf, call me Beckendorf. This is my wife, Silena." The girl walked forwards and grasped my hand, shaking it lightly. "Pleasure." Beckendorf nodded. A though occurred to me, "Speaking of Nico, how is he?" Everyone turned to Chaos, he sighed, "Bianca, Nico has died on Earth." I choked up, "I-I…" He walked over to the reading spire, "Watch." Everyone crowded around the spire of liquid that slowly warped to reveal a black cabin with green torches and a skull over the front door. It was shot from what could be described as an "Ants" POV. A foot stepped right next to us. An armored foot.

The scene flashed to inside the cabin, where Nico was brushing his teeth. He gurgled and spat the water into the sink before throwing on a shirt and hopping on his bed. A knock on the door pulled the annoyed boy out of bed. He slowly opened the door and saw Annabeth, who stood in full battle armor, knife in hand. Her eyes were puffy, but her body remained stiff, as if she didn't have a say in what she did. Nico hesitated and pulled a strained smile, "He-hey Annabeth, ah, why are you in armor, don't tell me you sleep in that stuff?" He joked, his nervousness apparent. A boy, acne scarring his overly tanned face that was obviously artificial, sneered, "Thank you Annabeth, this will be the final straw for "Golden boy."

Nico frowned, "Wesbrook, why are you here, don't tell me you're here to snog your stolen girlfriend?" He growled, his obviously tiny brain cells struggling to register Nico's words, "You're about to pay for everything you've done to my plans, all the spying, this is my life, I will have it and no brother of mine will take it from me." He pulled out his sword. Nico shrugged and slowly walked into his cabin, grabbing his sword subtly, Wesbrook stumbled forwards, as if he were drunk on his own vanity, he swung his sword in a downward arc. Nico whipped out his sword and countered, easily outmatching the pompous brat, he pushed him to the ground and held his sword to the 15-year-old boys throat.

Suddenly, multiple campers burst into the room, cornering Nico. Almost in sync they leveled spears at him, he stood his ground. Wesbrook slowly got up, "Kill him." He slurred. As one the spears were jabbed but Nico wasn't done yet, he spun and knocked aside every blow. One by one he engaged the campers until they all lay on the ground, unconscious. Nico grinned and turned to Wesbrook, "In the morning, everyone will know that you are a power hungry slug, tainting the reputations good people like Percy. He's been disowned because of your ideals, but after tonight you will be thrown away to the darkest depths of Tartarus and Percy will be welcomed back and be given the respect he deserves." His stopped and suddenly went slack before slowly crumpling to the floor. Annabeth stood shaking her head like she couldn't believe she had done this heinous act when Wesbrook grabbed her by the arm, "Let's get out of here!" He yelled.

Nico had a gaping hole in his heart, the knife long since removed, speeding up the blood loss. A figure burst into the cabin, bronze sword held high. That sword was thrown aside as the figure knelt to the floor. Cries of surprise and anger quickly gave way to sobs that shook the figure, turning the once proud warrior into a wreck. "Percy." Nico whispered before collapsing in Percy's arms, wails filled the air.

The reading spire slowly shifted to show the rest of Noble team; Emile sat at the back of the pelican, angrily sharpening his knife. Chaos walked forwards, "It would appear that like you, Nico has been given a second chance, now, off with you, your Uncle wants to get you reacquainted with workshop." I shuffled silently out of the building, following Uncle Da Vinci's waving hand. Beckendorf turned and followed, Silena bringing up the rear. As I left I heard Chaos muttering to himself, "The second council leader has arrived, I must prepare for the rest, we don't have much time left."

A.N. Thanks for being so patient for this chapter, I'm happy to say that I am extremely pumped about the ending of this book. I made a ton of references to my next book, "Into the dark and forward unto dawn 2, The Great Divide." I am so excited; I think you guys are going to love this series. Nearing the end of book 1, please review!

I'll update in about 1-2 weeks, see you all later

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