The old adage that a real soldier must be able to carry his own weapon and equipment in addition to a fallen comrade and his equipment wasn't entirely true or possible. Dempsey was attempting to do just this. With a wounded and unconsciousness Richtofen over his back, legs secured with his left hand and a 1911 pistol in his right. The marine corps would have pinned rows of medals on his chest for this act, had he still been with the USMC. But here he was, fighting through undead space monsters aboard a kilometer long spaceship. If only he could have seen himself now 3 years ago.
'Would I have just shot myself?' He asked himself.
Juggernog and Stamin' up helped Dempsey with his heavier than usual burden but he was still nowhere near as fast as The Chief and Takeo. Nikolai need not be mentioned as when not in battle he would just meander down the hallways at his own pace.
The door slid open. The few grunts jumped in surprise to see the five and were unable to run away fast enough to escape a death by impalement as Takeo stabbed them with his katana. Either in an effort to save ammo or just quenching his bloodlust. It was hard to tell sometimes.
One of the grunts was far out of melee range. Dempsey took a shot with his 1911 and was pleased to see the grunt fall without so much as a whimper. As had been the case so far with their journey down to the reactor chamber of the ship. The old .45 may not have been the greatest at stopping the undead, but against something as fragile as a grunt one bullet was all it took. If it landed of course.
'Max ammo!' Resonated throughout the hallway and Dempsey found his magazine pouches once more laden with ammunition. Never before did he feel so elated to be forced to carry another 170 lbs of copper coated lead wrapped in a brass casing.
Dempsey holstered his 1911 pistol and brought his SAW machine gun around to his shoulder. He jammed another drum of ammunition and pulled back on the charging handle to chamber a round and get the gun back into battery.
"Guess who's back in business?" Dempsey shouted as he took aim and sprayed lead into the mob of advancing flood zombies.
As though whoever was on the other side of the storage bay doors was waiting for them to finish with fighting the flood. They opened, no. They exploded off of their hinges as a pair of Hunters charged the group. Fuel rod cannons blazing, shields held ready to bludgeon war cries thundering out of their throats.
The charging Hunter on the right simply blew through Dempsey as though he wasn't an obstacle. Knocking him and Richthofen's unconscious body to the floor. Richtofen got up almost immediately, due to Dempsey breaking his fall.
Dempsey looked around at Richtofen. "You're awake!"
"Yeah for a while now."
"I've been carrying you!" Dempsey asserted.
"I thought you wanted to Mr. soldier man."
"What the fu-" Before Dempsey could launch into a short wave of profanity for Richtofen having mistaken Dempsey for a member of the Army as opposed the the Marine corps he took notice of Richtofen's voice. It wasn't his. And it was coming through his MK V's radio.
He flipped 'Richtofen' off his back and onto his feet and peered through the sliver of glass that was his helmet. Richtofen still appeared to be out like a rock. Yet the armor remained standing upright.
"Don't you recognize me?" The voice said again.
"Creepy girl... what's your name again?"
"Samantha." The animate MK V suit responded.
"DEMPSEY! You and Richtofen can make out later! Right now we've got big fucking aliens to kill." Nikolai screamed as he fired in retaliation to the Hunter's pursuit.
One of the titanic pair actually succumbed to it's various injuries dealt by the five. But that did not lessen the lethality of it's twin.
Dempsey pulled himself away from the suit that claimed it was Samantha and turned to face the remainder of the belligerent Hunters. Who was chasing the other three around what looked like a disused, alien hover tank.
Dempsey hosed down the first one with fire from his SAW. But wasn't pleased when he saw each of his bullets graze off the indigo armor of these two monsters in a shower of straw colored sparks.
"Jesus what are these thing's made out of?"
With that, the one turned towards Dempsey and fired it's assault cannon. The green burst of plasma hit the ground but ricocheted and bounced up, exploding on the ceiling instead.
The hunter was not deterred continuing it's barrage while Dempsey did the unthinkable and charged the 12 foot, 10,000 pound monster.
Dempsey slid on his knees between the hunter's legs. It swung it's shield down to crush him but missed. Dempsey emerged behind it and unloaded once more into the spiny back. It roared in pain before spinning around and bashing it's shield into Dempsey, sending him flying a good twenty feet into a wall.
Nikolai just so happened to be at the right place at the right time. As the hunter swung it's giant shield around to fight Dempsey he got an opening to the hunter's spiny, and more importantly, unarmored back. He fired once at point blank. The Hunter roared in pain. Nikolai pumped and fired again.
The armored juggernaut staggered for a moment before falling backwards, right on top of Nikolai.
"Help it is as heavy as 2nd wife!" Nikolai pleaded as he tried to push the hunter corpse off of himself.
With his teammates pulling the corpse off Nikolai, Tank pulled himself off of the wall and turned his attention back to 'Samantha.'
"You're Samantha? That creepy-as-hell girl that's been controlling the zombies and occasionally sending hell dogs after us?" He accused, inching closer to her, weapon leveled on her head.
"Yes." She stated matter of factually.
Dempsy shouldered his SAW and fixed his sights on the helmet of the animate MK-V armor suit.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now then?"
"Because that would be most dishonorable." Takeo spoke up.
"And what do you care?"
"Your foe is unarmed." Takeo said.
"I also have an interest in killing whatever took my throne of power away from me." Samantha said.
"Again, how can I trust you?" Tank persisted.
Samantha pulled a needler off of her hip holster. "I could just shoot the bad man wearing the armor. See?" She turned the Needler on herself. Muzzle pointed at the helmet which contained Richtofen's head.
Dempsey grabbed the needler and pointed it back in a safe direction. "No, you can't." He asserted.
"But whyyyyy?" Samantha whined.
"Because I want first dibs on that Nazi bastard. First chance we get to a place that has no zombies I'm kicking the shit out of him."
"Aww Dempshey I didn't know you cared so much." Richtofen said, apparently he had regained consciousness. "But you will find zat I am still top dog in this- Why can't I move my arms? Or anything else for that matter?
"Something the matter Eddy?" Samantha said before using her control over the MK. V to make a fist and nail itself in the groin. Richtofen howled in pain but he did not fall over due to the fact he was no longer in control of the power suit.
"Covenant numbers are dwindling. Consequently Flood are on the rise." Cortana announced now that the Hunters had been dealt with.
"We're going to need some heavy armaments to take on the kind of number's Cortana's talking about." Master Chief stated.
"That's good. Because I know of just the place that can give us just what we need."
"What are you talking about?" Chief tilted his head curiously.
The quintet stepped through to another chamber that was surprisingly not populated by flood zombies or covenant resistance.
"I hate you Dempsey." Nikolai growled as he reached around and pulled a bundle of pink crystalline needles out of his butt.
"Well here's a news flash. I hate you too." Tank replied. Though he was relatively uninjured he was covered in a green mucus like substance that was unmistakably derived from flood zombie bodies after one pumps several hundred rounds into a mob of them.
"Oh Vhat's with all this hating? Vhy can't we be friends?" Richtofen inquired as Samantha used his body and suit to reload a needler.
"Because you are the antithesis of honor." Takeo said.
"Shut the door I'm tired of fighting those things. I spend too much ammo and I get half the satisfaction." Tank ordered. Chief tapped the lock panel and the door slid shut.
The unmistakable whine of a room becoming pressurized prompted Nikolai to tear off his helmet and take a drink of what little vodka he had left. Tank did the same thing. Lifting his heavy helm, digging through his armor's ammunition pouches and finding a pack of cigarettes. Quickly lighting one and drawing from it.
"The room's pressurized. And you're smoking in it?" Cortana asked incredulously.
"I... don't... care." Was Dempsey's only reply before he took another long draw.
A short ramp lead up to what Master Chief thought was the bridge of the CCS class battlecruiser. And at the end of this ramp was a peculiar machine. Foreign to him but familiar to all the rest of his company.
Dempsey stamped out the butt of his cigarette and stepped towards the fabled machine along with his three other comrades. Long had he awaited seeing it, and at last he beheld the Pack-A-Punch machine.
What awaited himself and his brave allies was unknown. But one thing was certain. Whether they won or lost the upcoming battle. It was going to be loud.
Very... very... loud.
Dempsey took his enhanced weapon from the rolling wheels of the Pack a punch machine. Examining it's new chrome finish and custom aim reticle. The already generous magazine had been increased to hold a hundred rounds. It was the final upgrade of his party. The last fortification against the incoming onslaught that awaited them beyond the safe haven of the Battlecruiser's bridge.
Nikolai gagged. "Holy shit that's strong. Even for me." He gagged again. The Pack-A-Punch machine had increased the alcohol level of his vodka into 90% range. It was pretty much undrinkable, one swig and Nikolai decided it was enough for a while. It would most defiantly catch fire should it be lit for whatever reason.
"Okay if everyone's got everything together we need to keep moving. We've got our last line drive to the reactor core so form up and stay tight, it's gonna' get hot." Master Chief said in an effort to get his team set to go on their next objective.
"Sounds like what my first wife would say before going to bed." Was Nikolai's reply.
There was a pause.
"I really did not need that picture in my head." Dempsey said, shaking his head.
"The horror." Takeo mumbled. "Nikolai procreating."
A/N
I'M ALLLIIIIIIVVEEEE! 7 days a week. The clock is my master, I shall not rest. As always thanks for reading.