(CHAPTER 38) HONOR
The tunnel that led to the elevator that Veil spoke of was long and dark. Only small lights illuminated the path and minus the sound of Eric's Angel Pack, the hall was silent. He had to keep his wings folded to a small area so they wouldn't clip the edges of the walls. The flight wasn't very long; it only took about three minutes to reach the opposite end. With his helmets flashlight, he could see the end of this tunnel and his way back to the surface.
"That's the elevator," Veil announced, "it will take you to the central room and from there you can head back to the surface." Eric checked his mission timer; he still had a little less than two hours before this place would self destruct. That was more than enough time to make it out. He killed the thrusters on his Angel Pack and set back down on the metal floor. The elevator doors parted and he stepped inside.
He set Yuna down and walked over to a holo panel and tapped his finger on one of the symbols. The platform shuddered and instantly began to rise. Yuna walked over to Eric. She put her hand on the forearm plate of his armor and he looked down at her. She asked, "What am I going to do when we get to the surface? I don't want ONI locking me in one of their labs and running tests on me for the rest of my life." Her Spartan rested his hand on her shoulder. Under his golden visor he smiled and replied, "You don't have to worry; if I know Dr. Halsey, she won't want anyone getting near you to study you unless it's her. We both know that she won't lock you up as a test subject."
She seemed nervous. He had known Yuna for a long time and knew how she acted and when something was bothering her. He could tell by the way her face was that she was nervous about what lay ahead of her. He tried to change the subject to take her mind off of it. "So, how's your arm feel?" He asked. Yuna snapped from her trace and looked down at her blood covered sleeve. She ran her delicate fingers over it and replied, "It doesn't hurt anymore. It just feels numb." "That's good." He told her. "That means the Bio-Foam is working." Yuna sighed and said, "I still don't know how you can get shot and barely flinch. This hurt so bad." "I told you." He said as he pulled his Shotgun off of his back. "I feel those shots hitting me. I've just learned to ignore it." Eric paused for a moment and then said, "Except when the Theta bit me; that one I couldn't ignore." Yuna didn't reply. She remembered back in the glass fields when her Spartan almost died from the Theta attack, and she remembered how scared she was for his life.
A few moments later the elevator slowed down and what appeared to be the top of the shaft split open to reveal the round elevator platform immerging back in the center of the large domed room that he had been in shortly after he arrived in this underground world. Eric looked around and Yuna asked. "Veil, which way leads to the surface?" Almost instantly, she replied, "Head to the southern end of the room. That door leads to the exit." Knowing that there were Covenant in the underground, Eric took the lead while holding his Shotgun at the ready. He looked back at Yuna and said, "Stay close." She simply nodded and stayed near the safety of her Spartan.
Eric started in a quick pace but not fast enough for Yuna to fall behind. He had taken no more than ten steps when from behind he heard Yuna scream. He instantly froze and spun on his heel. He turned to find Yuna trapped inside what looked like a small bubble shield. "Yuna!" He called out. He instantly ran back to her and slid to a stop in front of the barrier that surrounded her. He held his hand out to try and reach through but found that it was impassable. "Stand back." He told her sternly as he pulled his fist back and brought it down on the barrier and also found that this too wouldn't do any good.
From behind him, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps land and the sound of a Plasma Sword flashing to life. Under his visor he frowned and slowly turned. Standing in front of him with its Plasma Sword drawn was the Elite Major that he had encountered from before when he had just entered the underground. Eric quickly pulled his Sniper Rifle off of the back of his suit and popped a round off. With lightning quick speed the Elite Major brought its sword up and deflected the bullet. Eric's eyes widened. "Impossible!" He thought.
The Elite Major seemed to be frowning and it said in its low voice, "You've treaded your filthy feet through the realm of the god's for too long, and now you're trying to escape with two very valuable icons of their creation." Eric frowned under his visor and replied, "I told you before, I'm very good and pissing your race off." The Elite Major scowled and reached in its long black robe and pulled out the unpowered hilt of another Plasma Sword. He tossed it in the air at Eric and without hesitation he grabbed it. Eric raised an eyebrow. He gripped the hilt in his glove and replied, "So, you wanna dance huh?" The Elite replied, "Not until you even the odds." Eric tilted his head and asked, "What do you mean?" The Elite replied, "The device on your back that grants you flight, remove it." "Don't do it, Eric!" Yuna called out, "It gives you an upper hand for defense!" Eric thought for a second and then came to the conclusion that if this Elite wanted a fair fight, then he would give it to him.
Slowly, he reached his hands up and detached his angel pack from his suit. The heavy pack unclasped from his armor and fell to the floor of the large domed room. He again gripped the hilt of the blade tightly in his hand and activated it. The blade hissed to life in his hand and he said, "You Elites sure as hell aren't dirty fighters like those Brutes." The Elite Major replied, "Unlike those filthy creatures, we Sangheili believe in honor in battle." Eric's pose stiffened and he replied, "Good, this should be interesting then." With lightning quick speed, Eric sprinted forward and slashed the blade in the Elites direction. It was instantly blocked.
The Elite Major retaliated with a quick slash of its own blade. Quickly, the Spartan sprang backwards and dodged the slash. With the Elite's guard down, Eric made another quick slash. The blade headed for the Elite's back but in the blink of an eye, the alien quickly kicked its leg up and its hoofed boot impacted on the forearm plate of Eric's armor. He almost lost his grip on the blades hilt but quickly tightened his hand around it.
Both then stood back up regained their footing and continued slashing at each other. Every action happened so fast and every movement was almost equally matched by both opponents. Eric spun on his heel and delivered a hard slash of his blade towards the Elite. It too was instantly blocked. The impact was enough to send the Spartan off balance so he instantly regained his fighting stance and lunged forward and the two blades of plasma collided. They both hissed angrily as the blades were forced against one another and the two warriors clashed their weapons harder towards each other.
The Elite Major quickly pushed its weight forward and shoved the Spartan away from him. Eric felt himself slide back and saw sparks fly from underneath his boots as he slid. He again regained his fighting stance and held his blade out. Even from behind his golden visor, the two warriors met eyes and slowly began to circle one another. "You are indeed strong, Demon. But your strength will not save you." The Elite Major told him as they circled. Eric frowned under his visor and replied, "I could say the same for you, but I was never one for complimenting my enemy."
"Your bravado can only lead you so far." The Elite told him. "You will fall before the might of the Covenant and the two Icons that you possess will belong to me." He knew this Elite wanted Yuna and Veil. For what purpose he didn't know, only that it would be used against him and the UNSC. Still, he glanced over at Yuna who was watching the battle from in the safety of the energy barrier; he looked at the Elite and replied, "Yeah, like you could handle her! She may be small but damn she knows how to defend herself, if not physically then verbally!"
The Elite seemed to frown at him and replied harshly as it again lunged forward. "We shall see!" Instantly, Eric brought up his blade and blocked the attack. He quickly flicked his wrist and slid the Elites blade off of his and retaliated with his own slash. His eyes widened as he came close to a successful hit on the Elite Major but then realized that he had only managed to slash a large portion of the Elites black and gold robe. This was met with another instant retaliation from the Elites blade.
The two's duel had intensified so much that from inside her protective energy barrier, Yuna could only see two ghostly blue blurs of the two Plasma Swords swinging wildly and clashing loudly against one another. She could her Spartan fighting for his life and even she knew that this Elite might even be too strong for him. "Veil, can't you do something to help him!?" She desperately asked. She could hear Veil's voice reply. "I have already called for the Theta's to assist us but I'm afraid that most of them are fighting off the enemy forces. It may be a few minutes until they arrive." Yuna bit her lover lip and shot back, "He may not have a few minutes!" Again, Veil replied, "My apologies, but there is only so much I can do while away from the core." Yuna yelled out and punched her fists against the energy barrier to try and free herself, and help her Spartan. It did no good. There was no way through it. Veil had even attempted to hack through it but quickly realized that the only way for it to deactivate was through a device that the Elite Major possessed so until either Eric beat it, or the Elite itself deactivated it, they were stuck.
Eric yelled out as he again lunged for the Elite with his Plasma Sword held high above his head. With lightning quick speed, the Elite brought its massive hoof up and kicked Eric right in his abdomen. The Spartan felt himself again go sliding back from the force and nearly felt the wind get knocked out of him. He inhaled sharply and again sprinted forward and this time the two clashed. The two Plasma Swords sparked wildly with power as the blades forced against each other. Neither warrior backed down; both were pressing with all of their might to try and overpower their foe.
With his left hand, Eric quickly delivered several quick, but hard punched to the Elite Majors unarmored torso. The Elite grunted from the impacts and retaliated with a swift uppercut to the bottom of Eric's helmet. The punch was so hard that his armors shields instantly dropped and he could feel his helmet come loose and then watched as it completely detached from his suit and fell to the floor. He ignored it; there was nothing that he could do about it now. He grinned his teeth as he fought to keep his strength up and keep the Elite from cutting him in two. His long electric blue hair was draping over his face and he felt his arm beginning to weaken. Quickly, he brought his free hand up and gripped his hand onto his forearm plate of his armor. He saw his suits shields flash a quick flare of gold followed by the sound of a loud pop coming from his suits fusion pack. His shields then vanished. He knew what had just happened; his shield generator had once again overloaded and blew out.
Yuna felt her adrenaline spike. She knew that his strength was weakening and that this Elite wasn't backing down anytime soon. It was torture. She could only stand and watch as her Spartan fought for his life. Still, she had her own ways of aiding him. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts. Veil had given her the power to summon the Forerunner creations. She knew this from the time she was born. In her thoughts, she too tried to call out for the Theta's but it was just as Veil had said, she could tell that they were all fighting off Covenant forces. She was left with no other option but to watch and hope the best for her Spartan.
Suddenly, Eric's blade sparked and died as its power supply ran out. He inhaled sharply in shock and his eyes widened. In what felt like slow motion, he felt himself shift off balance and begin to topple forward. With its shockingly fast speed, the Elite Major saw its chance and quickly redirected his Plasma Sword and delivered a slash to the side of Eric's battle suit, easily cutting through the black layer and slicing into the side of his abdomen.
His eyes widened and in what seemed to be crawling time, he fell to his knees and out of instinct gripped his hand over the wound. His eyes slammed shut and he felt them water as he yelled out in pain. He could hear Yuna yelling out his name in a panic. He knew she had seen what had just happened.
Still on his knees, he slowly looked up and saw the Elite Major approach him. Eric grinned his teeth in pain and scowled at the Elite. "You bastard!" He groaned from the pain. "This isn't over!" The Elite let out a low laugh and replied, "It is over Demon, you have been defeated at the hands of the Covenant; and now, the Icons that you have stolen will rightfully be placed in the hands of the Prophet." The Elite then raised a strange, red colored Plasma Pistol. He pointed it directly at the wounded Spartan and began to charge it. The weapon glowed with a bright white light and hummed loudly as it charged. He knew what was coming; it was his moment to die. The Elite let go of the trigger and Eric inhaled his final breath as he felt the round slam into the chest plate of his armor.
He felt his body lock up and felt power surge through him and he again yelled out in pain and felt himself go limp on the ground. He had been hit by the Covenant version of a taser. The Elite looked at Eric and said, "My army will deal with you once I am gone." He then slowly turned to face Yuna. It said in its low voice as it approached her, "You may have stood by his side while he killed our warriors but he won't be here to save you from the power of the Covenant." Yuna backed herself against the rear of the energy barrier and yelled out Eric's name in fear. She could feel tears streaming down her china doll cheeks as she frantically called out for a rescue.
As the Elite approached her, from behind he heard the loud duel metallic clicks of a shotguns pump followed by a loud bang. The Elite's eyes widened as it felt the pain of the buckshot impact on its back. Yuna looked up to see her Spartan, kneeling on one knee with blood steadily dripping from his wounded abdomen. His face showed a mix of both pain and anger as he called out, "Don't you touch her you bastard!" The Elite quickly drew its Plasma Sword and readied to charge. Eric saw the Elite's plan and quickly aimed for its hand and squeezed the trigger. The close range shotgun blast mangled the Elite's hand its sword instantly fell loose from his grip. The Elite yelled out from the pain as Eric popped another shot of buckshot into the Elite's torso. He weakly got to his feet and pumped another round into the 8 gauge's chamber. He then shot that round into the Elite and yelled out, "How do you like the pain, bitch!" The Elite fought to get back to its feet but was instantly brought back down from the repeat shotgun blasts. It fought to catch its breath as its slick purple blood poured from its body.
Eric reached down and grabbed the aliens Plasma Sword. He flicked his wrist and the blade hissed to life. He slowly walked forward ignoring his own pain. The Elite looked up at him and said with its dying anger, "You may strike me down, but as we speak, wave after wave of my armies will descend upon you like a plague of death!" Eric forced a grin and he let out a small laugh that was filled with hate. He then quickly tossed the Plasma Sword up in the air. He then jumped up and grabbed the hilt of the weapon as it was in mid air and then forcefully brought it down into the Elite Major's torso. The Elite yelled out as the white hot blade sailed through its body and then impaled it to the floor. "Never leave a Shotgun near me." Eric said as it looked at the dying Elite. He held the blade in the alien and watched as it finally breathed its last breath.
As his adrenaline level dropped, his pain returned. He breathed in a sharp breath and looked at Yuna. She was still in a panic and had tears streaming down her face. He uneasily shuffled his way over towards her while his blood continued to pour from his body. He called out, "Hang on; I'm going to get… you…out…" He couldn't finish the sentence. He was too weak from blood loss and he again fell to his knees. "Eric!" Yuna called out. He weakly looked up at her and said, "I'm alright." He then heard Veil's voice call out, "The release for this barrier is on that dead Elite. Find the device so we can get out of here."
He slowly turned his head towards the dead Elite Major and then forced himself to go towards its dead body. He fought so hard to fight off the pain but even all of his years of military training weren't helping him right now. As he neared its body he heard Veil say with worry in her voice, "Oh no! It spoke the truth." "What do you mean?" Yuna asked. Veil continued, "I'm detecting movement heading towards this location, and it's not from anything I summoned." Eric heard a loud explosion coming from the opposite end of the room. He looked up and saw the large armored door being blown from its mounting and falling to the floor. He then saw wave after wave of Elite's pouring into the room.
With his long electric blue hair draping over his face, he saw the threat that was approaching. Fighting off his own pain he raised his Shotgun and took aim. The device to deactivate the energy barrier would have to wait until he dealt with these Elites. When one of the Elite's was in range, he squeezed the trigger and his Shotgun kicked hard against his shoulder. He felt the unusually hard kick shake his body. He grunted in pain from the wound on his side and then realized that his shields never recharged. "Dammit!" He cursed. His shield generator had in fact blown.
His shotgun again made another loud bang as he fired a second round into another oncoming Elite. Yuna couldn't speak. Fear was the only thing that she could feel. Her Spartan was wounded, running low on ammo, and he was dangerously outnumbered. An Elite clad in scarlet armor approached him. Eric frowned and squeezed the trigger of his Shotgun. All he heard was a metallic click and no bang. His eyes widened and he realized that he was out of ammo. All he could do was stand and slowly back himself up as the Elite approached him. When it was in range, he quickly swung the butt of his Shotgun at the alien and try to stun it. In his weakened state, he didn't even come close to a full swing. The Elite grabbed the Shotgun as it was in mid swing and he stopped it. Eric gasped as the Elite snatched the weapon from his grip and then deliver a swift kick from its large hoofed boot to his wounded abdomen.
He yelled out loudly in pain and toppled over. "Eric!" Yuna screamed. With blood still dripping steadily from his wound he looked up at the Elite and frowned. "You bastard!" He spat. "You're lucky I don't have any ammo left or I'd kill you ten times before you hit the ground!" The Elite reached down and wrapped its long hand around the Spartan's neck and then lifted him up off of the floor. He couldn't breathe and he fought off his urge to panic. He brought his hands onto the Elite's forearm and tried to hold the weight of his battle suit up to keep it off of his body. The Elite held him at eye level and said, "To think, that this is the mighty warrior that the humans spoke so highly of. If only they could see you now." Eric didn't respond. Fighting off his pain, he yelled out and swung his fist at the Elite's helmet. He was too weak to deliver a full punch; he only managed to jerk the aliens head slightly.
The Elite gave a low laugh as other Covenant forces gathered around the two. He looked around. Elite's all wearing different colored armor, most in blue and scarlet, and others in the higher ranking gold and black; all were staring at him and all were waiting for the final blow to be dealt.
Eric's emerald green eyes narrowed and he gasped out, "If you think killing me is going to end all of your problems, than damn are you in for a shock!" The Elite grabbed the Plasma Sword hilt from the mount on Eric's armors leg plate. He gripped the hilt and flicked its wrist as the blade flashed to life. Yuna screamed out in fear. Her pleas for his life echoed off of the room's walls and she felt her tears streaming down her face as she openly cried out. The Elite brought the blade up to Eric's throat and prepared to make the cut. "I will enjoy this, Demon." It said with hate as it readied to end his life.
The floor of the room seemed to tremble slightly and all of the Elite's looked around. The scarlet armored Elite holding Eric also lowered its blade and looked. From the far tunnel came an ear piercing shriek. All of the Elite's raised their weapons and stood at firing position. And in what seemed like an instant, a large number of Theta's sprinted into the room. The Elite instantly dropped Eric to the ground and he grunted out from the impact. He slowly raised his head up and saw all of the Elite's fighting off the Theta's. He then saw something that caught his eye, on the back of one of the Theta's was Devon. He was holding onto one of its large scales with one hand and firing his Sniper Rifle with the other.
Yuna also looked up and saw the sight unfold. She watched as the massive, jet black creatures, tore and mauled the Elite's. She counted at least twenty of them. She watched the killing begin and saw all of the death unfold before her. She began to feel strange; something new that she had never felt before. She felt light headed and then felt herself falling to the floor and finally blacking out. Everything that was happening around her was to sudden and her new body couldn't handle it and Yuna was left unconscious. Eric's vision began to blur as he watched and out of instinct, he held his hand tightly over his wound on his side. The battle took no longer than thirty seconds. Devon looked around and could see Eric lying on his back in a pool of his own blood. "Shit! Eric!" He called out. He quickly maneuvered his Theta over to Eric and then hopped off and went to his fellow Spartan's aid. He knelt down and saw Eric laying with his helmet off and blood flowing from a large wound on his side.
"Jesus Eric, what happened!?" Eric held his hand up at Devon and called out, "Get Yuna. Get her out of here." Devon looked around, "Where's her chip?" He asked. Eric shook his head and again said, "Get her out of here. She's more valuable than I am to this war now. Get her back to Halsey!" Devon reached to the back of Eric head to try and feel for Yuna's chip in his neural implant. He didn't feel anything. "Where's her chip?" Devon asked. "She's not in it anymore." Eric replied weakly. Devon again looked at the large wound on Eric's abdomen and replied as he took Dokuro's chip out. "Have Dokuro patch you up with Nanites and then I'll help you look for Yuna's chip." Eric instantly stopped Devon's hand and said, "My implant is fried, it won't do any good. Just get Yuna and leave me!" Eric was getting weaker and Devon just assumed his rambling about Yuna was just a side effect of his injury.
He quickly pulled out a small med pack and pulled out a can of Bio-Foam. He held the nozzle over the wound and said, "Sorry dude, but this is gonna suck for you." Eric felt the foam spray into his wound and he instantly yelled out in pain. "That's gonna have to hold you until we get back to the surface." Devon told him as he tossed the can aside. He weakly lifted his head and held his hand out and pointed to the energy barrier. "Listen to me, god dammit!" Eric yelled as he fought to get to his feet. "Whoa! Take it easy!" Devon told him. "You shouldn't be moving that much when you've lost that much blood. You're going to go into shock." Eric ignored him and headed for the dead Elite Major. He quickly found the device that controlled the energy barrier. It was a black wrist band with a single red button on it. He then headed over to what Devon had assumed was just a stray Bubble Shield.
Eric weakly pressed the red button as his hand trembled. The barrier then deactivated and Devon's eyes widened at the sight before him. Lying on the ground in a pure white and silver robe was a girl. A girl that he recognized with her long, ankle length, sky blue hair and her pure china doll face. Eric sluggishly knelt down in front of her and picked up her unconscious body into his arms. He instantly heard Veil say, "She's alright, only unconscious; she was just overwhelmed from the battle. She will be fine."
Eric slowly turned and faced Devon. "Eric…" Devon uttered out. "Is that…?" "It can't be." Devon heard Dokuro add in. Eric slowly walked towards his friend and replied, "We need to get her out of here. I'll explain all of this later. I don't even understand completely how it happened but she's alive." Devon didn't know what to say. He simply nodded and said, "Then let's get moving." He then quickly picked up Eric's helmet and handed it to him. With one hand, Eric reattached his helmet to his armor and held Yuna in the other. Devon then helped him get his Angel Pack back on and his visors HUD once again displayed its settings. Finally, Eric knelt down and reattached his Shotgun to the back of his suit and then looked at the Theta's that were surrounding them.
"They work for us now I'm guessing?" Eric asked. Devon walked over to the larger sized one that he had been riding on. He patted the creature on its sleek, jet black scales and replied, "Yep, Thatius here got me to you before that Elite skewered you; if that's not a partnership I don't know what is." Eric looked at the massive creatures and replied, "…Thatius?" Devon nodded and said, "Yeah, he treats me like I'm his master, and every master needs to give his pet a name." "Oh my god…" Eric uttered. "Let's just hope it stays that way and he doesn't decide to turn on us." He then powered up his Angel Packs thrusters and slowly lifted off of the ground. He was too weak to walk from the loss of blood so this was his only way back to the surface.
The Theta's changed direction back towards the tunnel that would lead Devon and Eric to the surface. Eric again checked his mission timer. He still had nearly an hour and a half before this place came down; more than enough time to escape to the surface and clear the UNSC ground troops out of the danger zone before this place came down. As the two Spartan's flew back into the tunnel, Devon looked over at Eric who was cradling Yuna's tiny, unconscious body in his arms. He said, "You know, if she was a handful for you when she was only a program, I can't imagine what she'll be like now that she's alive." Eric shook his head, "I've known her long enough, you learn to tune her out."