Author's Note: Ok, now time for MC vs. a Predator! YAY! This chapter will dispel the illusion I put in my first one; Preds aren't invincible. Though, if anyone's watched the Predator movies, they sure seem like it. I've only seen Predator 2: the main character had to kill the Predator with it's own weapon to defeat it. Special forces teams, automatic rifles, and Bill Paxton couldn't defeat it. So…yea. Xenos won't come until we get a little past Installation 04's remains; they'll be there. Everything will come together, don't worry! Thank you, all of you who have reviewed my story thus far!
Chapter III
Wrestling Match
The Marine raised his shotgun and fired.
The Master Chief flinched, preparing for death; his shields couldn't possibly take the shell point-blank range!
A low, gurgling, almost cackle emitted from behind the Chief. The Prophet wheeled around and screamed before he was decapitated.
NO! Without the Prophet, we will lose this war!
A shimmer in the air crouched low over the dead Prophet's body. The Marine fired shot after shot at the creature. Small bits of green ichor splattered the deck around it.
Three small pinpoints of light appeared right in the center of the Marine's chest. The Chief only watched in horror as what looked like a signal flare shot from the shimmer and lodged itself in the Marine's chest. The Marine was torn apart instantly; the explosion threw the rest of the Marine escorts to the ground.
The Chief jumped sideways, landing in a low crouch next to the fallen Marine's shotgun. Lifting the weapon, he unloaded shell after shell into the strange shimmer.
There was the sound of metal striking metal as the shells impacted the shimmer. Something was there to absorb the shells, and whatever it was, it was tough, because the shotgun shells did not seem to affect it at all.
And suddenly, with a crackle of electric circuits going dead, the Demon from the Forerunner ship appeared where the odd shimmer was.
Cloaking technology!
The Chief raised the shotgun; one of the shells must have scored a lucky hit against the thing's camoflauge generator. Pulling the trigger, he was dismayed when the shotgun cycled empty. Dropping the spent weapon, the Chief desperately searched for a weapon. Anything.
The creature's cannon fired again; a blinding flash of light struck the Chief in the chest. His shields read completely drained, the low, insistant beeping told him that much. The creature chuckled at the fallen Chief, and pulled out a small rod from it's belt. As soon as it cleared the thing's belt, it extended into a long, deadly looking spear-like weapon.
Slowly getting to his feet as his shields recharged, the Chief once again scanned his surroundings for a weapon. Anything. He needed a stand off weapon; the spear looked deadly, and the Chief knew what the wristblades of that creature could do.
Two marines were struggling to stand; the other three were knocked unconscious on the deck. One raised her Battle Rifle and fired a trio of shots into the creature's helmet, which simply bounced off. The creature turned towards the marine, and charged, with surprising speed, the spear raised high. The other Marine fired his archaic M5AB Assault Rifle in vain; the creature just continued it's angry charge.
Waiting for just the right moment, the Chief prepared to spring. As soon as the Demon was two steps away from impaling the Marine, the Chief tackled the creature, sending it toppling sideways. The spear rolled off to the side and out of their reach.
The Chief was on top of the creature; he raised an iron fist and began to slug the creature in the face. As his fist came around for a second punch, the creature blocked the Chief's attack, and slowly began to reverse the grip. The Chief struggled to regain dominance, but it was no use. The Demon was just too strong.
The Chief and the Demon continued to struggle, wrestling each other. Lieutenant Anna Cameron aimed her Battle Rifle at the creature, but could not hit it without hitting the Chief. It was no use anyway; her first shots had been dead on, right in the Demon's face, but it had kept coming at her, until the Chief tackled it. Anna snarled; this thing, whatever the hell it was, was going down. She fingered a grenade at her belt in agitation; she couldn't use it without hurting the Chief.
"Chief! Get clear, sir!" she yelled. Unfortunalty, the Demon seemed to be overpowering the Chief, and he couldn't disengage; the creature was almost on top of him now.
It was now or never. Dropping the rifle, Anna sprinted forwards, yelling a primeval battle roar. The creature, who had extended what looked like a long, painful set of wristblades, looked up in surprise as Anna leapt into the air.
Remembering her self-defense training, Anna chambered her leg high, and as the thing began to try and evade her, she jump kicked it in the head. It toppled off the Chief, momentarily stunned.
And that was enough. The Chief, knowing what Anna planned to do, rolled out of the way. She primed the grenade at her belt and clipped it to the creature's belt. She grinned an insane grin as the creature tried to rid itself of the grenade before she jumped out of the way.
The grenade exploded. The Chief jumped to his feet, preparing to fight. The other marine, Corporal Robert Hanks, held his archaic M5AB Assault Rifle high, aiming at the fallen Demon.
The Chief had appropriated Anna's discarded Battle Rifle, and was walking up to the creature. It's body smoked, and green blood pooled around it's body. Anna drew her pistol and approached the creature.
A metal facemask adorned it's face. It appeared to be resistant to most attacks, though three scratchmarks and a large dent showed it wasn't invulnerable to attack. Curious as to why this thing wore a face mask, Anna lowered her pistol and reached for the creature's helmet. Grasping it, she began to tug at it. A low hiss, almost like steam, resounded as the mask came off. Anna was instantly reminded of an archaic movie her father had once shown her when she was a child; it had been a hit 500 years ago. The movie had been called Star Wars, and the unmasking of this creature reminded her of the scene where Luke Skywalker had unmasked Darth Vader, to reveal the scarred man underneath.
This was even worse. The creature underneath the mask reminded her somewhat of a cross between the pictures of the Flood the Chief had recovered from the first Halo, and a Covenant Elite; it had four mandibles, like the Elites, and it's skin was a tan color, like the Flood. It's eyes were shut, and a large, green bruise on the side of the face showed where the Chief had punched it.
"Wow. You are one ugly mo-" Hanks began, before his head exploded. The creature's shoulder cannon had fired; it had targeted Hanks and blew his head off. As Anna began to raise her pistol, a huge, stabbing pain filled her gut; looking down, she saw one of the creature's wristblades embedded in her gut. Her face turned white as she fainted.
The Master Chief backed up. This thing had dispatched the two Marines in a blink of an eye; it was stronger and faster than he was, too. The female Marine was tossed aside, still breathing, as the thing stood up and glared at the Chief.
"Shit happens" it growled in perfect English. Even though it's helmet was gone and the targeting system of the cannon was useless, it could still manually be fired. The Chief sidestepped one of the odd flares as it shot by his head. He fired the Battle Rifle in vain; the shots hit the creature square in the chest, but it didn't hurt it at all.
The rifle cycled empty. The Chief was running out of options; weapons didn't' seem to affect it, and this thing could easily overpower him in a wrestling match.
Unless…the Chief spotted the Demon's fallen spear, laying where it had fallen after he tackled it. Lunging sideways, the Chief began to sprint after the spear, knowing full well the creature probably had one more trick up it's sleeve.
And it did. A whistling noise sounded behind the Chief; he quickly hit the dirt. A large, disc like object flew past his head and embedded itself in the wall of the hangar. It glowed with a strange light; it looked very ominous, pulsating and glowing with an eerie light.
The Chief snatched up the spear. Turning, he realized the creature was almost on top of him. It lunged forwards, preparing to strike with it's deadly wristblades…
And was met with the tip of it's own spear. The Chief rammed the head of the spear right through the Demon's midsection. Green blood spurted out of the wound; the Demon screamed, a gurgling, death howl, before slumping to the ground, dead.
Dropping the spear just as another Marine reaction team descended from a lift in the back of the hangar, a Marine wielding a new, prototype flamethrower stepped forward. The Chief recognized him as Sergeant Stacker; his brother was on the Pillar of Autumn when it went down over Halo. Stacker did not blame the Chief for his brother's demise, however; in fact, he admired the Chief for surviving what his brother could not. He stepped up to the Chief and peered down at the fallen Demon with a mix of confusion and disgust.
"If you don't mind me askin' Chief…what the hell is that thing?"
The Chief paused, unsure of what to say. Behind him, two other marines hoisted the wounded marine onto a stretcher. She managed to weakly salute the Chief and Stacker as the two marines carried her into the lift.
"I don't know. When I was aboard the Forerunner ship, three of these Demons came out of three caskets. They attacked and dispatched many of the Covenant's best warriors…including the Prophet of Truth" the Chief began, gesturing towards the Prophet's dead body.
"Wait, Chief. There's…two more of these things?" he asked.
"There might even be more beyond that" the Chief replied gravely.
"Well, when it comes, we'll watch your back. Just like good old times, Chief" said a voice. The Chief wheeled; four other SPARTANS had appeared behind the other Marines. The Master Chief recognized them as Fred, Will, Linda, and to his surprise, Kelly, who had disappeared months before with the SPARTAN project's leader; Dr. Halsey.
"Kelly! You're alive! Is Dr. Halsey…?" the Chief asked. Kelly nodded.
"Yes. I don't remember much; talk to her for details. Everything is fuzzy; I don't remember much" she said honestly. She carried two human Magnums; Linda her customized sniper rifle, Fred a Battle Rifle, and Will an SMG and a Rocket Launcher slung over his back.
"The crew's all here" the Chief said.
"Except for us!"
Two more SPARTANS appeared; the Chief barely recognized them.
"John 117. You don't remember us? We were stationed on distant planets for many years; we only just arrived" said the lead SPARTAN. He carried a human M6D HE pistol at his belt, and a plasma pistol alongside it. The other SPARTAN had a pair of SMG's slung across her hips.
"I doubt you remember us; we were united with our MJLONIR armor away from Reach. I'm SPARTAN –049, Rebecca, and this is SPARTAN –153, Luke" she said. The Master Chief shook both their hands, and they began to walk towards the lift, while the Marines puzzled over the dead body of the creature.
"Dr. Halsey wants to see you, Chief. She says she has something to show you" Kelly said as the SPARTANS boarded the elevator. The Chief hit the "Ascend" button, and the lift doors closed and the lift whooshed upwards.
