Ever since the Winter's Edge had settled into orbit around Darkholm, Kane had felt a background frequency of fear settle over him like an icy mist. For the most part, it hadn't let up. He'd been stuck with it. But here, now, beneath the earth, in the dark, claustrophobic gloom of the mining operation, it felt so powerful it was almost choking. He had taken point, since he needed his flashlight to see, and Ross was right behind him, an immensely reassuring presence at his back. Kane was embarrassed to admit it, even to himself, but he couldn't imagine having to do this alone. He'd put up with a lot, pushed through a lot.

But this mission was too much for him.

No, he told himself. It wasn't. It wasn't too much. He could handle this, goddamnit. He'd push through it like he'd pushed through everything else in his life. To try and make himself feel better, Kane told himself what he often told himself in bad situations: soon, this will just be a memory. As he thought this, he suddenly wanted to see the sun again. The sun, even an alien sun that this ball of mud and rock orbited, was something he abruptly missed dearly, almost painfully. But he had to get through this, one step at a time.

The nav marker was about twenty meters away now.

To distract himself, or at least keep himself from flipping out, he thought about Mike Ross. When they were on the ground together, boot-deep in the shit, he was all business. But when they were on the ship, or enjoying some R and R, the guy was a party animal. He was one of the few people Kane had met that could match him drink for drink. He also knew that the man had a weakness for gambling, although he had yet to see him lose big. He was always laying bets on the ship. It had actually become a small game for Kane and the others.

What was the most ridiculous thing they could bet Ross to do?

So far, Kane had seen the man drink a bottle of BBQ sauce, attempt to eat a freaking five pound gummy bear, and eat a jar of ghost peppers.

Ross was a source of entertainment all his own.

But beneath it all, beneath the jokes and the drinking and the good times, Kane could sense a great pain in there, and, after several months, had learned the origin of that pain. It had been after a nasty firefight on a moon being overrun by the Covenant. They'd been evacing civilians, the moon was lost and they were pulling out. It seemed like one too many emergency transports had been shot down that day, and after they'd pulled out and made the jump to slipspace, he and Ross had ended up heading down into one of the hundreds of maintenance passageways buried beneath the deckplates, bringing a bottle of powerful booze with them.

They just sat there and passed it back and forth.

And then, without any apparent provocation, Ross started telling him about how his wife was killed in a Covenant raid ten years ago when he was offworld. He said nothing had ever been the same after that, and he'd gone through some pretty dark times. He'd gone a little crazy, and ended up disappearing one day when he was tasked with getting some Marines out of a Covenant occupied city. When he'd arrived, they'd all been dead, and he'd just...lost it. He said there was a gap in his memory. Apparently, for about a week and a half, he'd traveled all over that city, waging a one-man war on the Covenant.

He still didn't know how he'd survived.

After that, he'd come to a kind of realization: his wife wouldn't want him miserable and suffering, even if she was gone, and so he'd done his best to make peace with the hole in his heart, and did what he could to be happy.

Kane hadn't really been sure how to react.

But it helped explain a lot about the stocky demolitions expert.

"So what happened to Hux?" Ross asked. "I never really got a clear reading on that."

"Neither did I," Kane replied grimly. "One second he was there, the next he was gone. We were hurrying to get to Lara's position, she was under attack, and that slender man thing was chasing us through the woods. I'd thought we'd shaken him when we got to the clearing and I went to help her. By the time me and her had put down the Proxies, I turned back and Hux was just...gone. I didn't hear anything. And there was no sign of him, hasn't been since."

"You think something happened to him?" Ross asked quietly.

"I think it's more than a little suspicious that he suddenly pops back up right here, right now. And, I mean, you heard him. Something sounded..."

"Off."

"Yeah."

"Well, one way or the other, we'll figure it out. It's what we do."

"Isn't that the truth," Kane muttered.

The tunnel seemed to close in on them as they pressed ever onward. He began to hear water dripping somewhere nearby and figured the rain must be getting in somehow. The walls of dark rock crept by, shadows crawling across them like living things, and occasionally they would come upon a side tunnel and have to check it out. No sense in letting someone get behind them. Thankfully, they all seemed to dead-end before too long.

Distantly, he heard something smack into something else, like a rock falling onto the ground. They both hesitated, checking the area, then continued along. They were within ten meters of the nav marker now.

"Hux, are you there?" Ross asked over the comm. His voice sounded strangely anxious. It seemed alien to him. "Hux?"

Nothing. Dead silence.

The tension was stronger than ever as they finally came to the end of the tunnel, which opened into a rounded cavern. Kane's mouth was dry and his heart was hammering in his chest. He could feel sweat gathering on his body.

"Hux?" he asked, slowly playing his light across the right side of the cavern. There was evidence that the mining operation had been here, though not in any serious capacity. There were some basic tools in the dirt, a few crates, a foldout table covered in grit and rocks. But no sign of Hux. The nav marker was in the dead center of this cavern. He looked up, wondering where the man could be, if this was real or not.

"Hux, it's Ross and Kane, we're here to get you out of here," Ross said.

Still nothing.

"Maybe it was a glitch," Kane murmured. "Maybe he meant to send us elsewhere."

"Maybe..." Ross replied softly. "I think-"

Brilliant yellow staccato flashes flared as gunfire exploded into existence. Silenced rounds ricocheted off the rocks all around them.

"Hux! Stop firing!" Kane screamed as he broke right, away from the fire, immediately recognizing the silenced weapon.

No response, just more bullets. Kane caught a flash of dark armor ahead, half-hidden behind a pillar. Crap. He switched to his SMG, aimed and fired, going low, trying to get the man's knee. Was he a Proxy? Or just freaked out, or confused? Kane missed, his rounds sparking off the pillar, and then Hux was reloading. Kane barely managed to catch a glimpse of Ross breaking around for the other side of the pillar. Okay, he was going to take him down from behind. Kane just had to keep him occupied. He fired off a few shots, then ducked down behind a crate.

"Hux! We're here to help! Stop firing, goddamnit!"

Still nothing, but then he heard a grunt and the sound of bodies slamming to the ground. Immediately, he sprang up, letting his SMG hang by its sling, wanting his hands free. He saw Ross wrestling with Hux on the ground, having tackled him and forced him out from the pillar. Suddenly, Hux pushed the man up, got his feet under him and straight up sent Ross flying through the air, right into Kane.

They both grunted in pain as they went sprawling. Goddamn, how strong was he!? Probably stronger than any of the other Proxies they'd encountered so far, because on top of being a damned ODST, the man had that suit of armor. Both men struggled to their feet, Kane gasping, as the wind had been knocked out of him. Ross was built like a damned rock. Hurting and dazed, Kane groped for his SMG, but realized it had been crushed by the two men, the barrel pinched, useless. He tossed it away, and as Hux let out an inhuman shriek and began coming for them, he lost all doubt that the man was a Proxy.

They were going to have to kill him.

Provided that was a thing they could even do.

Hux ran straight for them, barreling at them like a force of nature, and he punched Kane hard enough in the chest that he was picked up and thrown backwards several feet, and felt his chestplate crack a little bit. He heard Ross throw himself at the man once more as he got back to his feet. Groping for his shotgun, wanting to end it quick, Kane saw Ross deliver a punch to Hux's face, protected by his helmet, hard enough that Hux stumbled backwards, his head snapping back and a spray of glass flying as his visor shattered.

When he regained his footing and stared at them through the fragmented remains of his visor, it was like looking at a demon, a thing of psychosis. Kane found his shotgun and raised it. Hux screamed and threw his hands up as the flashlight's beam hit him right in the eyes. Kane fired, but Hux had already dodged out of the way. Ross brought his SMG into play and stitched a line of bullets across the area, a few of them landing, but Hux was fast. He howled in what sounded like pained fury and threw his SMG at Kane, who barely managed to duck it. Kane decided they needed to end this, and fast, and bolted forward.

He pulled out his pistol and snapped it up, barely taking the time to aim before squeezing the trigger three times in quick succession. He saw Hux's face, twisted into a snarl, before it disappeared in a cloud of dark gore, obliterating him from existence. He'd been in the process of coming towards him, so when his life, or what passed for life in a Proxy, was blasted out of him, he crashed forward, collapsing with a startling speed.

Kane never really got over that weird feeling of unreality that dosed his psyche each time he saw a once living being become a corpse, even if it was a Covenant, and he'd killed a fair amount of them. He thought it had something to do with how fast they slammed to the ground, and how, just a split second before, they had been full of life.

"Damn," Ross whispered, coming to stand beside Kane. "Damn," he repeated.

"I killed him," Kane muttered.

"You had to."

"I know...I hate that."

"So do I..." Ross sighed and activated his radio. "Sergeant Goll, this is Ross, over."

"I hear you, Ross. What's going on over there? I heard shots. Over."

"We found Hux. He was a Proxy. He's dead...over."

A beat of silence. "Shit. Well, we have the data core. Get back to the entrance, bring Hux. Out," Goll replied.

"I'll do it," Ross said.

Kane felt like arguing, like it was his responsibility, but no words came, and he simply watched Ross walk over and retrieve the corpse. He felt a mute numbness settle over him as the two of them walked back through the tunnel, retracing their steps. Before he knew it, they were back at the entrance, reunited with Thompson, Diaz, Goll and Lara.

"Dammit," Goll whispered when he saw Hux's corpse. "I hate this place. Come on, we're going back to the outpost and we're going to call the Winter's Edge."

Kane nodded, still feeling despondent and disconnected, knowing he was going to have to get over this, and fast, because it wasn't over yet-

As they stepped out into the quarry, a dozen spotlights suddenly burst into existence, and all at once Kane realized that there were at least a few dozen huge figures around them. Not Proxies, not the slender man, something far more familiar…

Elites.

And they were all armed.

All of the ODSTs raised their weapons.

"Drop your weapons, Imps!" a deep voice called out. "Now!"

"Sergeant?" Kane asked.

"Shit...stand down," Goll muttered, slowly lowering his weapon. "Can't win this one."

Kane lowered his own weapon, then dropped it, as he saw the huge group of Elites move silently towards them.