I stepped into the Armory, examining the surroundings.

There was a Marine, at the back, bleeding heavily. He looked to be out cold.

Behind some makeshift barriers of boxes and upturned tables, another ODST popped his head out.

"Good to see you, son," he said, lowering his rifle. Alongside him, the olive-green of a Marine helmet also appeared, while a groan from the right alerted me to a body lying prone on the floor.

The other members of my makeshift squad filed in behind me, while I walked over to the ODST and extended a hand. "Sergeant Kurt Powell, 127th ODST Batallion."

The other ODST nodded. "Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, 31st ODST Specialists. This here is Corporal Kevin Mobuto."

Johnson perked up at that name. "Mobuto...?"

The Marine looked up. "My father was a Staff Sergeant. Marvin Mobuto. Stationed on the Pillar of Autumn. He was at Reach. Died during the Battle of Alpha Halo..."

Buck turned towards me. "The rest of my squad left before the Brutes came into contact. I need to find them then regroup with them."

"Of course, sir," I responded, "But first, me and some of the troopers need to suit and arm up."

"Naturally," he said, sweeping his arm around the Armory. "Take what you need."

_______

"...And those're the finer points of the E-3." I finished, handing the rifle over to Johnson. "If you want to, there's a mini-firing range just in there. Go test the rifle out, get used to the recoil, power, adjustments, etc."

Johnson was standing in a brand-spanking-new ODST armour set, silver faceplate gleaming. "I see they retained VISR," he said. "Good thing, too. We'll need it." He trotted off, in the direction of the range.

I had lost nearly all my weapons during the last few mishaps I'd encountered. I hadn't armed myself since the initial drop, and it was showing. I still had my E-3 Power cartridges, but both of the Plasma Rifles I'd armed myself with when we'd landed on the surface were gone. The Beam Rifle had a deep gouge in it, and, from the looks of it, wouldn't be shooting again. Additionally, one Energy Sword hilt was missing. Thankfully, I still had the Hayabusa, clattering uselessly against my armour whenever I took a step.

"Why don't I just load out on E-3 ammo?" I asked myself, eyeing the stores of weapons. "It's pretty much the weapon to use in any situation..."

But a sense of bravado got the better of me. After seeing Hodge's Genesis work so well, I strapped one of those to my back plate. Might come in handy. Attaching more E-3 clips onto my armour, I grabbed a Spartan Laser, but hesitated. While people such as Hodge might have the strength to carry dual Heavy Weapons, I wasn't so sure whether It'd be a hindrance or not. Shrugging, I re-attached it to the charge socket. Just in case, I grabbed another E-3, switched into Shotgun mode, and attached it onto a leg plate.

Hodge was re-arming himself with all the heavies, the crazy bastard. He'd even managed to pilfer some Spike Grenades from God-knows-where.

Buck had a pair of M7S'. What was with all these people with archaic weapons?

He also had two strange pistols on his waist magnetized strip.

"What model of M6 is that?" I asked, pointing to the jet-black pistols. They looked infinitely menacing, a cross between an M6D and a 21st century Desert Eagle, with a laser sight mounted underneath the barrel.

He glanced at the pistols. "Nice, aren't they? M6/SOCOM varient. Remember the shitty little M6C's that we had during the First Battle of Earth, aboard the Defence Stations? Yeah, well this is a totally revamped edition. Ever wielded an M6D?"

I nodded. "They're quite the pistol to use."

"'Quite'?! They're the pistol you always want to have with you. That thing shot 12.7x40mm M225 SAPHE. On an unshielded target, it was the best thing ever invented. They'd go down one shot, no matter what. This baby," he said, patting a pistol, "fires the same rounds, much better than that damned M6C. However, It incorporates the fire rate of the M6C. As bad as it was, the thing shot like an Audi R-77; fucking fast. Plus, it has the good looks of the M6G." he winked. "Internal supressor reduces shots from 'Loud and bad-ass' to 'Barely distinguishable', and a muzzle brake also helps with accuracy."

I just stared. "Where d'you get one?"

He chuckled. "The guns're pretty special issue. These ones are the semi-prototype versions. Me and my squad were issued with them before the First Battle of Earth, which we participated in. My squad was there when Regret jumped within New Mombasa. That shit was really messed up."

I was about to ask him all about it, but Johnson came up from behind. "D'you really need to get all close to him just now? We've got a job to do, soldier!" he said, deactivating the silver sheen on his faceplate.

Buck smiled. "Don't worry, sir, we'll be on our way soon." He shook his head and chucked. "Avery Johnson. Never thought I'd get to meet you in person. D'you know how much of a legend you were to the Marines back then? Only superseded by the Chief." He extended his hand, which Johnson took and shook.

"No, but maybe after all this chaos is over, you could tell me about it over a good old beer," he suggested, smiling. Suddenly, his reflective tint re-activated. "Now get your asses into gear! We've got a squad to find, Brutes to kill and crewmembers to save!

"What about these two, sir?" Mobuto piped up, standing up next to the two wounded Marines. The one with the superficial bleeding had been patched up, but both were unconscious.

"We'll lock them up within here," Buck said, after thinking about it for a second. "They should be fine."

"Marines!" I said. "Lock and load."

_______

We found them after fifteen minutes of flitting through rooms, corridors, encountering Brute after Brute after Brute. We blasted our way through them all, our team of six weathering the storm, eyes still staring straight and unwavering down our respective sights.

They were holed up in the middle of the corridor, having dragged a couple of concrete barriers around them. Brute bodies surrounded the barricade.

There were four; one in a set of armour that, suprisingly, had a Recon helmet, one in ODST Close Quarters armour, one in ODST Ranged armour, and one in what seemed like ordinary armour.

"That's them!" Buck yelled, blazing down the hall in a rain of laserfire. We moved behind him, in phalanx, guns up and firing.

One of the ODST's turned around for a second. "Sarge!" he said, giving us a thumbs up. Turning around, he promptly shot three Brutes in the head, and disabled another one's shields, it being shredded by one of Buck's SOCOM's.

"Genesis, out!" yelled Hodge, jumping up and shooting two rockets in mid-air. They impacted on the floor near the Brutes, sending them flying through the air.

We piled around their little encampment.

Buck was talking to the squad. They faced him and called off.

"Captain Dare, here and accounted for, Sergeant."

"Dutch, ready to move."

"Romeo, at your service, Sarge."

"Mickey, ready to blow some shit up!"

Buck looked around. "Where's Rookie?"

The one in the red, Dutch, piped up. "Sorry sir, but we lost him along the way in one of the side corridors. Don't worry, kid's tough as nuts."

"Kid survived New Mombasa, right? He should be fine." said the Recon helmet Captain, Dare.

Buck turned around. "Thanks for getting me to my squad, Sergeant. If you don't mind, I'll take them from here. I need to find the missing Lance Corporal; he's relatively new to this ship..."

"No problems," I said. He gave me a nod, and his squad set off. "Godspeed," I whispered.

"Alright," I said, turning back around. "Long range comms is down, so we're going to have to do this the good old way." I bought up a small holographic map on my VISR. "To all units able to hear us, this is Sergeant Kurt Powell. Does anyone read me, over?"

There was a reply from Buck, and a lot of static, until finally, a deep, calm voice came on over the line.

"Roger that, Sergeant. This is Command Sergeant Major Andrew Kowlaski. What is your position?"

"We're located on Deck E, near the mess hall designated 'Zulu-Five'".

"Recieved, Sergeant. I'm running a command post, designated 'Rally Point Alpha', on your level. According to your current position, you shouldn't be too far from this outpost. I'm uploading the waypoint to your VISR now. We've got an organised resistance happening here, and would be glad to incorporate you into our teams. We're having a bit of trouble with the comms, the Brutes have some kind of jamming active, but if you're relatively close, you should be fine."

"Waypoint received, sir. Be there shortly."

"No problems, Sergeant. Kowlaski, out."

I brought up the line to Buck again. "Sir, I've just located an operations outpost on this deck level. Routing the waypoint to you."

Gunfire echoed through my headset. "Copy that, Sergeant! We'll find our missing man first, extract him the meet up with you at that outpo- oh shit, that one has a Grav Hammer! MOV-"

The distinctive whump of a Gravity Hammer sending out a field of altered gravity ended the transmission.

"Ladies and Gentlemen; let's move," I said motioning with my hand. We set off again, travelling through the Brute-infested halls...