Chapter 5: Faithful Rescue

March 7, 2563; 1645 Hours

The Bridge of the UNSC Harvest

"Stand by, Lieutenant. We're receiving your transmission." Marshall informed Travis.

The Captain and his AI were overlooking the battlefield from their holotable in the middle of the bridge. Projecting from the surface of the holotable, the 3D battlefield had marked several small Banished outposts and encampments in red with advancing UNSC forces in green. Delta Company was assigned to the Northern Front while Echo was advancing towards the West. Each individual company of soldiers had made significant gains into enemy territory as they pushed onward with Expeditionary Firebases being deployed behind the battlefront from the Harvest, with even more UNSC ground forces deploying alongside them once they made planetside.

Apex brought up the message Travis and his team transmitted to them over a portion of the holotable displaying newly-gained territory and showed it to the Captain. "Message received from Lieutenant Travis and his team, Captain."

"Let's hear it, then." Marshall told him.

The Captain and his AI listened to the exact same message the Spartan and his team of ODSTs had just found at the Banished AA cannon. Hearing the conversation play out between a Brute and Elite, both Marshall and Apex knew this 'Atlesian Operative' was someone of high importance for the Banished to even consider taking prisoner. Normally the Banished would've just slaughtered everyone and called it a day with their pack brothers usually feeding on the deceased corpses after the battle concluded, but this was different. Captain Marshall knew that whoever this Atlesian soldier was, she could possibly help them establish contact between the UNSC and Atlas if they managed to save her, they were going to need all the allies they could get on this planet. Marshall turned to his right and looked at his AI, and nodded without saying a word, to which Apex returned the gesture.

The Captain then closed the transmission brought up from the holotable and contacted Lieutenant Travis and Fireteam Delta. "Lieutenant, what's the status of that Anti-Aircraft Cannon?" He asked.

"We've just finished setting up the last explosives, sir. We're making distance between us and the blast radius." the Spartan replied.

"Once you're done blowing that cannon sky-high, enemy forces from the nearest Banished base are going to notice it's destroyed. They're most definitely going to inspect what happened." Marshall told him.

"Roger that, sir." The Spartan paused before continuing. "But if I may, Captain? What should we do about this 'Operative' from Atlas the Banished have taken prisoner?"

"That's your next assignment, Spartan. While the Banished figure out what's happened to their little toy, your team is to rescue her and make your way back to friendly territory." the Captain replied.

"Don't you want us helping the rest of our forces on the frontlines instead, Sir?"

"Negative. Companies Delta and Echo have just received reinforcements from the Harvest and are making steady gains; they'll be fine without your assistance, Lieutenant." Marshall answered before a naval officer showed him some tactical information on a data pad he glanced over real quick and nodded at her, signaling the officer to leave.

"But right now, I need you and the rest of your team to rescue that Atlesian POW held by the Banished." Marshall gave the Spartan his new mission. "If we can rescue this Atlesian soldier and somehow manage to contact Atlas, we might have a good word put in for us and potentially gain an important ally on this planet. We're going to want the inhabitants of this planet to be friendly towards us if we're to gain the upper hand in this conflict."

"Understood, Sir." Travis complied with his new assignment.

"Apex will mark the origin of that transmission for you and the rest of your team on your TACMAPs." Marshall informed.

Surface of Remnant, Solitas, Banished Anti-Aircraft Cannon

Lieutenant Travis and Fireteam Delta

"Understood, Sir, we'll get it done." Travis said while he and the ODSTs approached the elevator the Banished had made along the cliffside.

The Spartan activated the controls which began to shift the elevator downward, and checked his HUD's updated TACMAP where Apex had marked the origin of the transmission they found. He scrolled his HUD's TACMAP marker over their position which marked him as a green arrow with the rest of Fireteam Delta being blue arrows, and moved it westward. Moving past the 3D terrain which was painted in a variety of cyan and blue colors, he saw where Apex had marked the origin of the transmission, a Banished Outpost with several buildings surrounding the base. The rest of his team checked their TACMAPs on their HUDs as well, making their newest objective half a klick North.

"Morgan, rendezvous with us at the front entrance." Matthews ordered over the radio.

"Roger that, I'm on the way." he responded.

The six of them proceeded to move out as soon as the elevator reached the bottom and headed towards their Warthogs with Morgan just arriving.

"Morgan, you're with me." Travis told him.

"Copy that." Morgan responded with the Spartan climbing into the passenger's seat.

"Anyone else want to volunteer and come with us?" Travis asked, with Alexander approaching.

"I'll go." Alexander mounted the Warthog's chaingun.

"I assume you've already come up with a plan, Sir?" Matthews guessed.

"I do." Travis replied before continuing. "With the Banished forces eventually coming here to find out what happened to their Anti-Aircraft Cannon, I'll be infiltrating their base with Morgan and Alexander providing sniper support. From there I'm going to rescue the prisoner and bust our way out. As for the rest of you, your job is to secure an LZ for Pelican extraction back to Alpha Base while the three of us are busy in the meantime."

"You got it, Sir." Matthews nodded.

"You sure you'll be okay to handle that many enemies, Lt?" Makarovich asked.

"You Helljumpers don't need to worry about me, Corporal. I'll be just fine." Travis answered as the rest of Delta mounted up on their vehicles and got Gorski's attention. "Hey, Gorski."

"Yes, Sir?" She asked, looking to her right. Travis pulled out the detonator for the charges they set on the Anti-Aircraft Cannon and tossed it towards her.

"Go ahead and make some noise." the Spartan ordered her as she caught it.

"You got it, Sir!" Gorski was happy to follow his order and flipped the top of the detonator off, revealing the big red detonation button and pressed it.

Banished Outpost

Winter quietly waited in her cell as she heard an Elite's footsteps echo down the hallway. The Elite in question was the same one who had been torturing her and just finished speaking to his superior, Drarretius, on what to do with Winter. He walked down the hallway with two Grunts by his side armed with needlers on their way to Winter's cell. Right as they were about to deactivate the shield that held her, one of the Elite's subordinates interrupted them.

"Sir! Our Anti-Aircraft Cannon has been destroyed!" an Elite approached them.

"What? That means the UNSC is here!" The first Elite concluded. "Send out our forces ASAP and inspect the damage. They must have more units within our area."

"Yes, Sir!" The second Elite complied.

Winter heard their entire conversation while she layed on the floor pretending to be asleep. She had learned her captors were under attack inside their own territory from this 'UNSC' faction she had no idea about. With this new development, she knew that it was now or never to make her escape, and she was ready for it.

"What should we do with the prisoner, Sir?" the second Elite asked his superior.

"I'll be finishing her off. That is what Drarretius' ordered" the first Elite answered.

"I'm sure some of the Jiralhanae will be delighted once they hear fresh meat is available." the second Elite commented how they would love to feast upon her corpse.

"Eww, that's gross." one of the Grunts said in disgust.

The first Elite proceeded to deactivate the shield that held Winter in her cell. With the shield disappearing, he walked towards her body and filled something out with his right hand. He activated his energy sword as he towered over the Specialist's body.

Winter kept a firm grasp on the crystalline shard she kept in her pocket with her right hand as the Elite approached her. She felt her body being lifted upward with him grabbing her by the rear collar. With her body fully off the ground, the Elite readied his sword and was ready to strike her down.

Just then, Winter thrusted the shard into the Elite's right eye, making him lose his grip on her. Falling to the ground, she then grabbed the Elite's energy sword in his hand, still ignited, and shoved it through his chest, killing him. As the Elite's body fell to the ground, she grabbed the plasma rifle from his hip and opened fire on the two Grunts in front of her. The two Grunts fell with ease with Winter walking over to the Elite's body and pulling the shard out of his eye. She proceeded to exit her cell and made her escape. Winter then fired on and killed several more Grunts as she walked down the hallway to find where they kept her personal belongings, but more importantly her weapons.

Outside the Outpost's Perimeter

"Their Anti-Aircraft Cannon blowing up did the trick, they've sent their forces out to go investigate." Morgan told Alexander and Travis as he looked through his sniper's scope. They were on a hill's ledge across the base with their Warthog hidden at the treeline while they scouted the base's defenses.

"And security seems light so there shouldn't be any major problems." Alexander commented as he looked through his spotter's scope deployed next to Morgan's rifle.

"Alright, I'm heading inside the base. Feel free to take out anyone you please too, go ahead and break some stuff." Travis told them as he got up and prepared to jump down off the cliff.

"You got it, Sir. We've got you covered." Morgan said to him.

Travis proceeded to jump off the ledge and slid down the hill's snowy slope. He landed right behind an Elite with his armor's Sound-Dampening Soles activated, which reduced the sound of his impact in the snow. Pulling his combat knife out, he thrusted it into the back of the Elite's cranium, killing it instantly. The Spartan dragged the corpse behind a supply crate with Morgan taking out a Sniper Jackal from afar with his suppressed sniper rifle.

Next, Travis headed towards the Outpost itself with two Grunts on guard duty and prepared to take them out.

"Ugh! My methane tank is bothering me, and it's making me grumpy." the first Grunt said annoyingly, fidgeting with the tank on his back.

"Try refilling it when you get the chance. Feels great." the second Grunt told him.

"Yeah, I think that would be grea-" the Grunt was cut off as Travis emerged from behind him and snapped his neck.

"What the?!" Before the second Grunt had any time to react, Travis threw his knife at him which struck him right between the eyes. The Grunt's body fell to the ground, with the Spartan quickly retrieving his knife from the alien's head. He pulled his knife out of the now-dead Grunt's head, covered in thick, light blue blood as it stained the blade. Travis shook the blood off his knife and proceeded to enter the Outpost.

As he entered the Outpost, the rest of outside security was quietly dealt with, being sniped by Morgan from far away. He approached a Brute and Jackal who walked towards a lift and prioritized the Brute as the immediate threat first. Travis ran and jumped on top of the Brute and thrusted his knife repeatedly into the beast's neck, killing him with ease.

The Jackal next to him realized what was happening and charged his plasma pistol at the Spartan. Before he had the chance to fire at Travis, the Spartan delivered a heavy kick at the Jackal, sending him backwards knocking him down onto the floor. Struggling to get up from the large amount of force dealt by his enemy's kick, the Jackal tried to scramble and search for his weapon on the floor. Just as he found and grabbed it, he heard heavy footsteps and turned around, the Spartan ran and jumped into the air with his combat knife in hand and headed towards him. He tried to raise his weapon at the supersoldier, but it was too late as Travis' blade punctured through his skull and he let out a small cry of pain.

Travis pulled his knife out of the Jackal's skull and stood up from the dead alien's body. He slid it back into its holster and headed towards the lift. Pressing the controls, the elevator shifted downward and took him further down into the base.

The Spartan then equipped his battle rifle and cocked it. He raised his rifle as the elevator slowly came to a half with his trigger finger ready. Upon reaching the bottom, he was greeted by some Grunts and two Brute Minors who approached the elevator. Without a split second to hesitate, he aimed his sights right on the first Brute and fired.

Further Inside the Base

Winter came to a door she opened and aimed her stolen plasma rifle. Checking the room, she found no hostiles present and saw where they kept her belongings. Setting her plasma rifle aside, she quickly strapped on her armor pieces and placed her swords on her hip. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the loudspeakers throughout the base alarm everyone.

"The prisoner has escaped! Hunt her down! Seal the exit!" a Brute on the loudspeakers spoke with the alarms going off.

So much for stealth. Winter told herself as she stepped outside of the room and continued forward.

As she rounded the corner, she came across a Grunt Squad with a Brute Minor leading them. They spotted her and opened fire on the Specialist. Taking cover behind a corner, Winter opened fire and killed several Grunts, as well as injuring their Brute leader. She tried to fire again before her plasma rifle overheated and almost burned her hand.

Winter felt her aura hit as a plasma bolt from a Grunt directly hit her, and hid behind cover aain. She ditched her plasma rifle for now, setting it to the side and equipped her swords with the Grunts and Brute ever coming closer to her. Summoning a glyph next to her, she ran from her cover and landed on it before using it to send her speeding towards the group of enemies. Equipping her swords, she sliced through the Grunts with ease and focused on the Brute.

Using her glyphs to gain an advantage on the massive alien, she used her speed to strike the alien several times as it tried to melee her. The Brute Minor couldn't keep up with her before she went in for her final strike. Landing in front of the Brute, she summoned another one of her glyphs and aimed her swords right at the alien's chest, and sped towards him. She stabbed through the Brute's heart with the alien letting out a grunt of pain before collapsing to the ground.

Winter breathed heavily after she pulled her swords out from the alien's corpse, and stood up. She hustled over and picked her plasma rifle off the ground, sheathing her swords. The Specialist walked over to the next hallway and saw a group of hostiles walking the other direction. She had the opportunity to shoot them and had the element of surprise, but she decided to stay low and avoid any unwanted attention. Sneaking by them, she stopped at another corner before hearing the loudspeakers go off again.

Travis

"We have an intruder present! All units, hunt them and the prisoner down!"

The Spartan finished snapping an Elite's neck as he heard the announcer on the loudspeakers alert everyone that he was present. Already knowing that more and more enemy troops would be hunting him and the prisoner down, he hurried his way throughout the base. He stopped at a corner before what seemed to be the Command Center, which had two Brute Minors guarding the entrance.

Pulling two flashbangs out, he pulled the pin on the first one and threw it at the pair of Jiralhanae right around the corner. Blinding them both, he then ran towards them and threw the next one into the Command Center itself and blinded everyone inside. Travis pulled both his SMGs out and gunned down the first Brute Minor before he fully recovered his eyesight. The Brute fell with a heavy thud before the Spartan engaged the second one.

The other Brute managed to regain his eyesight and readied his Ravager. He used the weapon's blade to slice the Spartan, but Travis managed to dodge the attack with his quick reflexes and delivered a solid, heavy punch to the Brute's face. Travis could hear the alien's skull fracture as he was knocked down and quickly finished him off with an SMG burst directly to the face

Busting his way through, the Spartan entered the Command Center and delivered a hail of bullets from his SMGs as he gunned down the multiple Grunts, Elites, and Brutes present. With his clips running out, the Spartan resorted to close quarters combat. He quickly dodged an Elite's strike with his energy sword, stepping to the side as the Elite struck the wall next to him. Travis elbowed the Sangheili in the face and broke his jawline, and threw him to the floor and stomped on his face with the end of his boot, killing him instantly. Next, a Brute tried to slam both his fists at the Spartan before he rolled out of the alien's way. Dodging the Brute's attack and equipping his combat knife, Travis jumped onto the Brute and repeatedly stabbed him in the skull numerous times. The Brute fell to the floor right as he retracted his knife from the alien's skull and jumped off.

With the Command Center cleared out, the Spartan sheathed his knife and reloaded his SMGs before arriving at one of the main consoles. Typing away, he looked through the security system to find where the Atlesian prisoner he was supposed to rescue was. Luckily, he managed to find her and zoom in on what was happening. He saw her behind some cover and fired her plasma rifle at several jackals with their shield gauntlets raised. Taking a moment to upload her location to his TACMAP, he marked a NAV Point on his HUD. She wasn't too far away from his location, and the Spartan moved out with his battle rifle raised.

Just before he could move towards her location. Reinforcements had arrived and opened fire on the Spartan. He dodged the incoming plasma and returned fire with his battle rifle. Scoring several headshots on the Grunts, he then loaded a fresh magazine into his rifle before engaging the Brute Minor. Jumping over the Brute, he continued to fire his SMGs until the Brute slammed his fists into the ground.

Dodging the attack, he pulled down on the alien's head and kneed him in the face, breaking his nose. Travis then slammed his body into the Brute and knocked him down onto the ground, and pulled his knife out. He got on top of the alien and jammed his knife into the Brute's eye repeatedly, killing him.

After that, more hostiles moved onto his location and he returned fire with his battle rifle.

Winter

The Specialist sliced a Jackal's throat open with her secondary sword, killing him with blood gushing out of his throat. Winter had just finished killing the group of Jackals thanks to using her semblance and getting behind them. She sliced her way through them and, using her glyphs for a speed boost, and managed to take them down with ease.

Winter stood over the dead Jackals and threw away her plasma rifle, as the battery was now depleted. She grabbed a needler from one of the dead Jackals and continued onwards. Just before she continued, she stopped as she heard gunfire not too far from her location.

She heard the sounds of automatic and burst-fire weapons in the distance along with plasma weaponry echoing throughout the hallways. Learning of this development, the Specialist knew that whoever this 'intruder' was, they were most likely here to rescue her. But of course, there was the off chance that this could've been one of Salem's minions sent to finish her off.

Knowing the latter was unlikely, Winter took her chances and ran towards the gunfire. Before she could proceed further, however, an Elite Ultra appeared out from nowhere and swung his energy sword at her. She dodged the Elite's attack, with the blade nearly scrapping her side and aimed her needler at the alien. Firing several rounds at him, the Elite dodged the attack and punched her back.

Winter got up from the floor as the Elite moved towards her with his sword raised. Producing a glyph of hers, she summoned an ice wall to separate the two of them. She got up and saw the Elite melting his way through the ice, slicing through it with his energy sword. Winter stepped backwards just as the ice wall she summoned completely broke from the heat of the Elite's energy sword.

The Elite walked past the broken ice and pulled out his plasma rifle, aiming it at the Specialist. Winter dodged the plasma bolts flying by her as they hit the hall behind her. She aimed and fired her needler at the Elite, with a shard hitting his left shoulder. The Elite was forced to pull the shard out of his shoulder as Winter retreated from him. She made it to the end of the hallway and peeked out behind the corner she stood at, seeing the Elite Ultra disappear with his active camo.

Holy shit, it just turned invisible! Winter told herself. She then saw the lights shut off in their area as an explosion in the distance was heard. Gripping the needler handle, she could faintly hear the invisible Elite's footsteps as he made his way towards her.

Taking a deep breath, Winter pulled out from her cover and fired her needler. But instead of hitting anything, the rounds flew through the air and disappeared without hitting a target. Confused by this, she checked her rear to not find her enemy there. Fear started to consume the Specialist as it was now a game of cat and mouse between the two.

Seen visibly shaking, Winter was honestly scared with bated breath for what was to come. She had no idea where her enemy was, not even the slightest thing that caught her eye. Aiming her needler around her, she eventually backed up towards the wall behind her.

Just then, the Elite Ultra came out of nowhere and ignited his energy sword. He swung his sword at the Specialist, slicing the needler she held in half after trying to fire it, only for the single round to hit the lights above them which broke upon impact and released sparks. Winter tried to pull out her swords, but not until the Elite violently kicked her into the wall.

Winter struggled to get back up on her feet after she crashed into the wall. She saw the Elite right in front of her as he grabbed her by the neck and raised the Specialist off the ground. With his grip tight around her neck, choking her, she desperately tried to force him to let go, punching his arm and kicking him. But it was of no use, as the Elite's grip remained tightly around her neck.

"Just like the rest of you humans on this planet, you are weak and ill-disciplined." The Elite spoke with his deep, raspy voice. "There will be nothing left of your world once we take it over, and no one will be able to stop us. Not even your loved ones can."

Winter had genuine fear take over her as she heard the threat the alien made to her loved ones, with the most important one who came to her mind was Weiss. She continued to struggle against the Elite's grip on her throat as he choked her in place, with her attacks not doing anything to the alien. He raised his sword and brought it right to her face, and she felt the intense heat it produced. Her eyes widened as the blade was right up to her face, with her heart pounding heavily and breathed rapidly in panic.

Knowing this was probably the end for her, a tear ran across her cheek as the thoughts of her family passed by. Everything from her memory as a child to just recently seemed to fly by her as she was staring at death right in the eyes, most predominantly were the memories of her family and her sister, Weiss. The Elite pulled his energy sword back and laughed sinisterly at his prey in front of him. Winter closed her eyes with her teeth closed, and embraced the end.

That was, until she heard something. Opening her left eye, right as the Elite was about to shove his energy sword through her, a large knife held by an unknown figure implanted itself into the back of the Elite's head. The alien let out a cry of pain and agony and let go of Winter. She fell on her back as the Elite collapsed to the ground across from her with a loud thud. Shaking and breathing hastily, she looked up to see a giant armor-clad figure in front of her in white and dark gray who stood over the alien's corpse. The figure then looked at her and took a few steps forward as he towered over her, with the damaged lights releasing sparks behind him. Still breathing heavily and shaking, she stared into his gold visor and saw he had a letter and three numbers on his left breastplate inscribed in dark gray: "G090".

"We don't have much time, let's get out of here." Travis spoke to her. He then offered his hand after putting his knife away, which Winter reluctantly took. Grabbing his massive hand, the Spartan helped her get up on her feet as he made a call with Matthews.

"Sergeant, inform Command primary objective has been completed." He informed the ODST over the radio. "Order the rest of your team south and rendezvous at Evac Alpha for Pelican extraction."

"Roger that, Sir." Matthews replied. "Sniper team reports enemy convoy making course for the base. ETA - 5 minutes."

"Roger that, we'll meet you at the rendezvous. Out." the Spartan finished.

Looking to his left, he saw Winter still shaking in fear after her near-death experience and tried to calm her down. He grabbed her by the shoulders and straightened her body out in front of him. Winter looked up at his visor with her face reflecting off its surface and feared for the worst. She thought he was going to do something bad to her, until he spoke with a calm, relaxed tone of voice at her.

"Relax." He told her, calmly. "Take several deep breaths."

"O-okay…" Winter complied. She closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths as the Spartan's grip on her shoulders remained firmly in place, but not too tight to the point of hurting her. Relaxing after taking several of them, she eased herself up. She felt his grip loosen up as she began to stop shaking. Eventually, she opened her eyes to the sight of the Spartan's golden visor again, staring her down with his grip on her nearly gone.

"Good." Travis let go of her slowly, and took two steps back.

"Who are you? And h-how did you find me?" Winter asked, still scared of the giant supersoldier in front of her.

"Overheard enemy communications not too far from here, heard they were going to execute you. My superior ordered me and my team to come save you." He answered. "I know you have a lot of questions right now, but those will have to wait. What you need to know is this;" The Spartan raised a hand before her. "I am not your enemy. And both of us need to get out of here before they send an entire army to come kill us both."

Travis finished speaking as he and Winter heard hostiles closing in on their direction.

"Spread out! They were both last seen in this general area!" they heard a Brute not too far from them.

Looking back to the Specialist, Travis proceeded to ask her a question. "Are you good to shoot?"

"Y-yes." Winter replied, now knowing the supersoldier in front of her wasn't her enemy.

"Good, take these." He handed her a Mangler in one hand and several spare canisters in the other. Winter took the weapon and ammo from the Spartan's hands and placed the cylinders in one of her pouches. The Spartan pulled the battle rifle off his back and proceeded to head out with Winter behind him.

"Stick close to me, I'm your best chance at survival." Travis turned the opposite direction and raised his rifle. "Let's go!" He marched out with Winter following him.

The Spartan and Specialist moved throughout the hallways of the underground section of the base together. They had each other's back with Travis taking point and Winter watching their rear. Upon taking a left towards the lift the Spartan took, they came across a large group of enemies who were looking for them. With a Grunt spotting them, the Spartan and Specialist engaged the enemy together.

"It's them!" the Grunt alerted everyone before Travis fired a burst of his battle rifle at the alien, scoring a headshot and killing him instantly.

With the Spartan up in the front, Travis proceeded to take out a majority of the Grunts and Jackals present. Scoring several headshots on them, his rifle's magazine emptied and was forced to switch to his dual SMGs. He pulled the triggers and unleashed a hail of bullets at the remaining cannon fodder and their Brute leaders. Winter helped by finishing both Brutes off with her Mangler nnd shot them clear in the head. Their bodies fell to the ground just as Travis finished off the last remaining Jackal off. Looking to her right, Winter saw the Spartan rip the energy gauntlet off the Jackal's left arm and used his body's weight to slam the alien into the wall and threw his fist at him. She heard bones crack as the Spartan's fist collided, smashing the Jackal's skull.

Travis moved on with Wither as he reloaded both his battle rifle and SMGs. Nearing the lift, they noticed enemy resistance was getting stronger as they came upon more and more Banished soldiers. The duo made it to the entrance of the large room where the lift was guarded, looking through to see it guarded by several Brutes and Elites accompanied by Jackals and Heavy Grunts as support. Looking at Winter, Travis gave her hand signals which she understood and followed his lead.

First, the Spartan sneaked towards the first Heavy Grunt he saw and grabbed it by the head. He twisted the Grunt's neck and hid the body as Winter did the same on her side. Taking cover behind some Banished barricades, the two of them took out another pair of Heavy Grunts, with one of them carrying a fuel rod gun.

Next, knowing they wouldn't be able to proceed further without attracting any attention, Travis communicated with Winter via hand signals. Winter nodded and raised her weapon in preparation as the Spartan pulled out a plasma grenade off the dead Heavy Grunt next to him. Travis armed the grenade and emerged from his cover, throwing it at a group of Heavy Grunts and their Brute Captain. The grenade landed on a Brute Captain's chest with the Grunts freaking out and scrammed before it detonated.

The following explosion left half a dozen Heavy Grunts dead along with their Captain dead, giving away Travis and WInter's presence. Travis fired a few shots from his battle rifle at several Jackals and Elites before he took cover behind the Banished barricade next to Winter's, killing a few of them. Glancing over to his right, he saw the fuel rod gun the dead Heavy Grunt dropped and came up with an idea. Grabbing the heavy weapon, he placed his battle rifle on his back and readied his Grappleshot.

Travis fired his Grappleshot at the top of the ceiling and ascended forward into the air. Carrying the fuel rod cannon with his right hand, the Spartan retracted his Grappleshot's hook as he flew right above the enemy's position. He then aimed his weapon with both hands and fired, sending several fuel rods towards the group of enemies on the ground in front of him. Wiping out all the enemies in front of him, the Spartan turned around before he landed and fired his last remaining shot at the group of Grunts and Brutes that kept Winter pinned down with plasma fire. The following explosion killed all of them, and Travis ditched his fuel rod cannon as he landed. Combat rolling out of a Gravity Hammer's way before it could hit him, he now faced the last enemy blocking his and Winter's path to the lift; a Brute Chieftain.

He equipped both his SMGs with Winter approaching by his side with her swords drawn out. The Brute Chieftain readied his Gravity Hammer and let out a battle cry at the two. Running forward, the large Brute jumped and slammed his hammer down to the ground where the Spartan and Specialist were, only for them both to have dodged the attack by rolling to the sides. Winter looked towards Travis and both nodded at each other, with the Spartan opening fire on the Chieftain with Winter following him.

Travis ran forward toward the Brute as he fired his SMGs at him. The Brute's shields took damage and broke just as the clips for the Spartan's weapons emptied. Throwing his Gravity Hammer towards the ground where the Spartan was, Travis dodged the attack and equipped his knife. He then stabbed the alien with his blade, only for the Brute to grab him by the neck and punch him backwards, sending flying towards Winter's location.

Landing on his back next to the Specialist, Winter mo used this moment to produce a glyph around her and another one around the Chieftain, summon a swarm of dozens of miniature Nevermores from her glyph. She unleashed them unto the Chieftain who struggled to keep his stance with the little bastards swarming him. Travis then got up and saw the dozens of small Nevermores Winter used to attack the Chieftain. Although surprised by this power of hers, he set aside his reaction as didn't hesitate for a split second and ran forwards with his Grappleshot aimed at the Brute's chest.

The Spartan then fired his grappling hook at the Brute, sticking to his chest and flew towards him. Once he got close enough, he jumped over the Brute with his Grappleshot still attached to his chest and landed behind him. He wrapped the cord around the Chieftain's neck as tight as he could while the alien was being swarmed by Winter's Nevermores. And with all his strength, Travis pulled down on his Grappleshot's cord, pulling the large Brute to the ground.

Struggling, the Brute tried to free himself from the Spartan's grasp. But the Nevermores that Winter sent just kept coming. One even landed on his left arm and jabbed its beak in his hand, with the Brute letting out a cry of pain. Travis used all of his strength as he strangled the giant alien, and eventually heard his neck snap.

He let go of his Grappleshot's cable with the Brute's head falling to the ground. Travis retracted the cable after removing it from around the Brute's neck with Winter's Nevermores disappearing in the air around him. The Specialist walked towards him as he pulled his combat knife out of the Brute's body, and shook it off.

Both the Spartan and Specialist then boarded the lift ahead of them, passing by the several corpses that laid around them. Travis approached the elevator's controls and activated them. They felt the elevator come to life as it began taking them upward to the surface. The Spartan then looked to his right and asked Winter what she just did back there.

"What was that you just did back there?

"That was my Semblance, of course." Winter answered.

The Spartan was confused by her response. "Your what?"

"You... don't know what a Semblance is?" Winter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, but we can have this conversation later." Travis told her as he reloaded his battle rifle and raised it as they approached the first floor of the Outpost.

The two of them arrived on the first floor. On the floor laid the same Brute and Jackal Travis had killed earlier before he used the lift to move down into the lower levels of the base. They both moved slowly together with their weapons raised and were ready for any possible ambush or trap, but nothing came. Travis then looked behind him and signaled Winter to come up to him next to the front entrance, which Winter nodded and walked over. The duo then walked up the entrance, the massive door opening up for them as they approached near it.

Travis and Winter walked outside to find not only two dead Grunts next to the entrance, but a whole array of bodies and damaged vehicles lying on the ground across the base.

"What happened here?" Winter asked.

"Had our sniper team cover my exit while I went in to come help save you. They've before this base is blown to hell." Travis responded before trying to make contact with the Harvest.

Winter looked to her right at the Spartan "And how do you plan on doing that with no explosives?"

"I've got a small friend to help me out with that." Travis answered her question, and cracked a small smirk underneath his visor right before his connection with the Harvest was made. "Harvest Actual? This is G090."

"Apex here. Status?" the AI on the other end answered.

"Atlesian POW has been rescued and we've got hostiles inbound. Requesting orbital bombardment on my location, danger close." The Spartan told him with Winter's eyes widened, surprised that he was requesting danger close. "Commence on my signal."

"Copy that. We're on standby."

Travis looked back to the Specialist and pointed ahead of him. "You see that?"

"Yes." Winter saw what he pointed at. The Spartan pointed at the treeline for a large forest between two hills.

"We're going to make a run for the treeline on my signal." He told her. "You ready?"

"Ready." Winter nodded.

"Okay…" Travis held his hand up, checking one last time for any hostiles, and gave the signal to her. "Go!"

The Spartan and Specialist made a break for the treeline as enemy reinforcements now descended upon the base. Seeing them arrive over the horizon, both soldiers ran as fast as they could to their destination. Travis and Winter had only a quarter of the distance to go with the Spartan beginning to signal the UNSC Harvest in orbit. Within a single second, his request for orbital bombardment was accepted.

"We have your signal, Lieutenant. Beginning orbital bombardment, danger close." Apex informed him as the Harvest from orbit began firing several rounds from its main batteries.

Just as the Spartan and Specialist reached the treeline, Travis and Winter took cover in a ditch as they watched the Banished forces descend upon their base.

"I don't think they spotted us, so we should be good to go." Travis told her.

"Great. Then let's go." Winter started to stand up, only for the Spartan to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Not yet, keep low." Winter knelt back down by the Spartan's side. "Wait until the firework show is over."

"Firework show?" Winter asked.

They then both heard a loud, rumbling noise in the air above them. Looking up, they saw several massive rounds from the sky speed towards the ground with a high velocity. Then, the dozens of enemy troops and vehicles, along with the base present, were utterly annihilated as the rounds made contact with the ground. Several massive explosions followed, creating giant craters where the Banished were and destroyed them with ease.

Looking up from the ditch, Winter's eyes were wide open in shock after seeing the massive destruction that happened in front of her. She had nothing to say except for one word. "Woah…"

"Woah, indeed." Travis stood up and expanded his motion tracker on his HUD, detecting no hostiles around their location. "Let's go, the rendezvous isn't that far from here.

Winter stood up and followed the Spartan to the rendezvous which was on the other end of the forest. They ran past dozens of trees as their boots left their marks in the snow-covered terrain. Over in the distance behind them, the sun was starting to set with the snow reflecting its colors with the two passing through.

Eventually, they made it to near the end of the forest. They spotted Fireteam Delta and their three Warthogs present as they kept the rendezvous on lockdown. Up in the sky behind them, three Pelican dropships were on approach coming in fast to pick them up.

The two of them then ran towards the group of ODSTs. But unbeknownst to them, they were being followed by the Banished. Several Grunts and Jackals emerged from their cover and aimed their weapons at the two just as Travis realized they were in immediate danger.

"Get down!" Travis tried to shield Winter with his massive body and fired his battle rifle at the aliens. He shot several bursts from his rifle at them as his shields took several plasma bolts directly.

Winter was shielded by the Spartan's armor, but that didn't save her when a bunch of enemies approached her as well. Pulling out her Mangler, she aimed and fired at the Grunts and Jackals approaching her. She scored several headshots with her weapon before needing to reload, with Travis giving her covering fire.

Travis helped Winter take down the remaining hostiles until it was all clear. The two of them managed to fend off the remaining attackers as the ODSTs came to help reinforce them. Just as the small skirmish ended, a single Jackal, although severely injured, aimed his needler at Winter and fired.

The crystalline shard flew through the air and hit the Specialist in the left shoulder. Winter let out a yell of immediate pain as the round struck her and fell backwards towards the Spartan. She let go of her weapon and fell into the Spartan's arms, dropping his battle rifle in order to catch her. Travis had Winter in his arms and quickly pulled an SMG out with his left hand and fired at the injured Jackal, finishing him off.

"Medic!" the Spartan yelled for Caleb.

Travis placed the SMG back on his hip and laid Winter on the ground. She clenched her teeth together in pain as her shoulder moved just slightly. Caleb soon arrived with the other ODSTs giving them cover and inspected the injury.

"It's not good, Sir." Caleb told the Spartan and then pointed at the round stuck in Winter's left shoulder. "I need you to pull that out if I want to use the biofoam on the wound."

"Got it." Travis replied, leaving Winter wide-eyed.

"What?!" Winter tried to move her right arm, but was pinned down by the Spartan's massive hand.

"Don't panic, we're trying to help you." Travis stared down at her face with his visor. "If you want this wound fixed, we have to pull the round out. The pain will only be present for a few seconds."

"I…" Winter started to breath heavily, afraid of the towering supersoldier.

"You have to trust me." the Spartan urged her.

Winter stared at the Spartan's visor, and reluctantly agreed to trust him on this. "Okay. Please… j-just get it done quickly."

"Won't be a problem." Travis held her upper torso down with his right hand and grabbed the needler round with his left. Caleb signaled Makarovich who was the closest nearby to help. The ODST kept her right arm pinned with Caleb keeping the other one down as well. The Spartan then gave the word.

"On three! One… Two… Three!" Travis used his full strength to pull the round out of Winter's left shoulder, releasing a trail of blood as it came out.

Never had Winter felt so much pain throughout a single moment of her life than just now. She let out a loud cry of pain as her teeth clenched harder together, and her fingers dug themselves into the ground. Caleb then pulled out the canister of biofoam and quickly applied it to the large hole present. The biofoam upon making contact with her exposed tissue delivered a heavy, jolting pain as Winter's body felt like a swarm of hundreds of fire ants were biting her all at once.

Winter let out heavy breaths as the pain quickly numbed with the biofoam settling down. The Spartan and ODSTs then had a pair of Marines bring them a stretcher to put her on as the Pelicans just arrived. Travis grabbed her upper body with Makarovich holding her legs and placed her on the stretcher.

Before they left, Travis eyed something on the ground and inspected it. It was an already damaged crystalline shard from a needler that Winter kept. He grabbed it and followed the two Marines then took her to a Pelican with the Spartan and Caleb following them into the aircraft before taking off.

Their Pelican then took off with one of the three Warthogs attached to the rear. The other Pelicans followed suit as everyone was aboard and they all headed back towards Alpha Base. Winter laid on the stretcher in the middle of the aircraft with a Marine medic and Caleb working on her. Travis accompanied them with the remaining fireteam of Marines in their seats at the rear.

Travis knelt down to Winter and spoke to her. "I think you dropped this before we left."

Winter looked toward her right and saw the Spartan pull out the same crystalline shard she found at Outpost Bravo, and used it to kill an Elite. She slowly reached out and grabbed it from the Spartan's hand. "Thanks."

"No problem." Travis paused before complimenting her. "You handle yourself pretty well. You're not so bad."

"Thanks, you too." Winter returned the compliment, and grabbed the Spartan's left arm before he got up and left to go sit down. "I'm sorry, but I never got your name."

The Spartan knelt down at her again and spoke. "The name's Travis, Lieutenant Travis."

"Specialist Winter Schnee." Winter introduced herself.

Winter's hand was then slowly moved by the supersoldier from his arm and formed into a light handshake with the Spartan. "Well Miss Schnee… it's nice to make your acquaintance."

AN: Hello ladies and gents, I just wanted to apologize real quick as I was originally going to post this on Friday 4/23, but I've had to delay it for a bit. I've had quite a lot of stuff that came up in my life when I was making this chapter. I felt like shit from my 2nd COVID Vaccination dose, some personal stuff with my family came up, my job has been a bit stressful lately, etc.

And when I tried to write while feeling like shit I made a bunch of errors and mistakes, along with some shit that made no sense at all and deleted a large chunk of this chapter and started over again, that was a really damn stupid move on my part, but I'm a lot better now. And hey, I got the chapter done and I'm feeling a lot better with my sleep schedule now fixed.

Again, sorry this chapter took longer than usual to make.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day/night and I hope you enjoyed!