Inquisitor Arnolis: Nice to see you like the story, it's only half-way
done ;-)
Gruntaro: Glad you liked it!
Tristan Hutchinson: Nice to see a faithful reviewer :-D Well,
it's long enough to be a novel.
SPECIALGUY: I based the names off the first parts of names of members
of my Halo 2 clan. (Wow, a lot of "of"s).
Concussion: I'm glad you enjoyed the Prologue. I'm a fan of the
Resident Evil series, and a huge fan of Halo. Watching the two movies
(my girlfriend at the time thought I'd like them, so she showed them to
me) really inspired me, and I loved playing Zombies on Halo 2, so that
was what compelled me to write this fanfic.
FanfictionFreakofnature: Wow, highest rating yet…I don't know if I'll
write a sequel, I have my own original novel to work on to. What
I do plan on doing is restarting Halo: First Strike: An Alternate View
;-)
Anyways, on with the show!
Resident Halo
Chapter Seven
Earth Calendar February 1, 2553.
Location unknown.
Secret "Organization" base, Earth.
The Pelican flew through the serene dark-blue sky, gracefully skimming the air currents as it flew over a series of islands. Cam had directed the Pelican towards the once inhabited Hawaiian Islands. During the Covenant invasion, all life on the surface of the once beautiful archipelago was wiped out.
Cam keyed a series of commands as the Pelican descended towards one of the smaller, and newer islands. The craft continued to descend, and a pair of massive armored doors opened. The Pelican descended down into the abyss below. The craft hovered slowly to the ground, and the armored doors closed shut. Darkness enveloped the Pelican.
Floodlights flickered on all around the Pelican, revealing a massive hanger bay filled with Pelicans, Longswords, and even a few Seraphs left over from the war. The Pelican ramp lowered, and Neo, Cam, and Reaver got off. Dozens of technicians, men in civilian clothes, and some in white military uniforms emerged from a pair of doors.
One of the uniformed men walked up to Cam, and saluted, who returned the salute. The man broke out into a grin, and hugged Cam, who hugged him back. After a few moments, they broke their embrace. "Good to see you back safe and sound, Cam. After we heard about New Mombassa, we thought you didn't make it."
Cam grinned. "I'm too good to die." And the two broke out into a laugh. The uniformed man turned to Reaver and Neo, looking them over.
"Mind introducing me to your friends?" he asked.
Cam nodded and with a gesture, motioned to each. "This is Captain Charles O'Neil, "Neo". And this is Lieutenant Niles Roberto, "Reaver." Both used to work for the Umbrella Corporation."
The man nodded at Neo, and a sign of recognition crossed his face when Reaver's name was mentioned. "Reaver?" the man asked. Reaver nodded. "Niles! I thought you bought it at the Hive. We haven't heard from you for a while."
Cam with a look of puzzlement, "You know him?"
The uniformed man nodded. "He isn't an Umbrella security agent, but rather one of our undercover operatives. I assume your fiancée didn't make it out?"
Reaver solemnly nodded. "A pity. And where'd you pick this one up? He's quite the looker." Cam blushed lightly.
"He was the leader of an ODST squad, and they got wiped out. I picked him up on my escape."
"I take it he isn't a big Umbrella lover. Ah! How rude! I haven't introduced myself. I am Colonel John Abrams, founder of the Organization." Abrams turned to Cam. "They've been some developments in the past few hours, you're needed in the conference room." He and Cam walked away, but Abrams paused, and spun around to Neo and Reaver. "Your welcome to come, of course." The two former ODSTs looked at each other, and nodded.
The four walked out of the docking bay into a crisp, white hallway connected to dozens of other corridors. Abrams lead them to the first corridor on the left, right, and continued down the complex web of metal and man. Dozens of white uniformed technicians and officers nodded and saluted at the four as they made their way to the conference room.
Neo spoke up during the long trek. "So, why did you found the Organization?" Abrams kept walking, his back to Neo.
"I had…inherited a large fortune from my wealthy parents, and their relatives. I was told they died of natural causes, but it turns out they were…they were assassinated by Umbrella. I swore to avenge their deaths, and sought to bring them down. I did some digging into the Corporation, and found that they had advanced bioweapons under-development. I was about to strike, but the Covenant War broke out, so I joined the UNSC." Abrams sighed. "You were on Alpha Halo, right son?"
"Yes, sir."
'I thought I recognized your name. My condolences. I was on the Marathon with Admiral Huff when I heard about the hit. I'm sorry."
Neo remembered the sounds from scarcely a few months ago. Jack looked at Neo, grinning, saluted. His smirk was lost in the field of battle and death, as an armored alien jumped from it's hiding spot in the trees, with energy sword activated, sliced the Marine in two. The others turned, brought their assault rifles to bear, and fired.
The alien miraculously dodged the fire, cloaked, and leapt towards the Marines. Jones lost an arm, and fell to the dirt, screaming. An armored foot stepped on his head, silencing him forever. It sprinted forward, and sliced the men and women of Charlie Company to pieces. It turned towards Neo; his ammo depleted, and prepared to charge.
It didn't. Instead it cloaked, and leapt into the trees.
Neo never forgot that day. "They died with honor, sir."
Abrams nodded. Cam and Reaver were silent. The four arrived at the conference room, though conference room wasn't an appropriate name for the room. It was as large as a football stadium, and round in shape. Dozens of rows of chairs lined the walls of the room, and a massive, 3D theatre sized screen with a podium in front of it was in the center of the room.
Abrams motioned for Reaver, Cam, and Neo to take a seat. They did so, with Cam sitting next to Neo, and Reaver at his right. Neo stared at Abrams unnerving, as Abrams walked to the podium. Neo appeared calm, but in his eyes, Cam could tell something was wrong. She reached out and squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.
Hundreds of white uniformed men and women of the Organization stood in front of each of the chairs in the "conference room". Heavy two-meter thick doors slammed shut at the two entrances in the back of the room. Two guards stood at each one.
"Please be seated," said Abrams. They did so. He activated a laser pointer, and turned pressed a button. The 3D screen activated, humming as it did. On the screen was an air shot of a classical, mid-western American city.
"This," Abrams said, pointing with the laser, "is Raccoon City. The very place that Umbrella started." There was some wincing and flinching in the room, even a few boos, at the mentioning of Umbrella. "When we received reports of a outbreak in Tokyo and New Mombassa, we were waiting for the largest outbreak in history to occur in Raccoon. No such thing happened, however." The image changed to a team of ODSTs with rifles at ready, running through ruined streets. "We sent a team in to inspect the city. At 0600, their Pelican entered the city limits. Ten minutes later, we lost contact with them. Orbital probes show temporal disturbances in the city, and we believe that a prototype Forerunner artifact has been activated in the city.
As you may ore may not know, New Mombassa has been destroyed, but valuable information has been brought back by our best, Agent Cam, and two ODSTs, Reaver and Neo."
He indicated the trio, and everyone in the room, turned to face them. "Since this mission is dangerous, and probably the most important one we have, I'm asking you. Cam, Reaver, and Neo. Will you go in to Raccoon, find out whatever you can from Umbrella, and rescue any survivors? It's very dangerous, we don't know what else might be in the city, and the odds of your survival are minimal. Will you do it?"
The three nodded, without hesitation. Everyone in the room broke out into a series of applause. Abrams joined them.
"Good! Your sacrifice will not be in vain. We'll be sending you to the ex-UNSC Alliance, one of our frigates in orbit. You'll do an Orbital Drop into Raccoon. We won't be giving you any additional support; you're on your own. If we don't hear from you in five days, we'll assume you've been killed, send in a preliminary team, and then nuke the city. Understood?"
The three nodded again. "Good! This concludes are meeting. Dismissed." The heavy doors opened, and the hundreds of people marched out of the room, chatting amongst themselves. Abrams walked to Neo, Reaver, and Cam when the room was empty. "I'll see to it you get the finest equipment we have. I hope you guys make it. Your transport leaves in thirty minutes, so you might want to get your affairs in order." And he walked out of the room.
Alice blinked as the blinding bright lights overhead penetrated the not-so-serene darkness of Raccoon City. It was scarcely a few hours since she had wondered out of the Raccoon City Hospital, past the wrecked cars and few bodies that scattered the city. Now she was on a mission to find Doctor Ashford's daughter and get the hell out of the city.
Fortunately, she was not alone. A former Umbrella Corporation operative, Carlos Olivera, an ex-S.T.A.R.S. member, Jill Valentine, and a civilian a black guy named Lloyd Jefferson Wayne, or L.J. were the only help she had. And it's not like she needed help anyway. Umbrella did something to her, and she was going to kick their sorry asses for it.
The lights dimmed down, but Alice swore she could see a film surrounding the city. She shrugged, they were still alive and that's all that mattered. Carlos held up a hand to his forehead, looking into the sky. "Quiet a fireworks show, no? Come on, we need to get moving." Alice nodded, and continued on. Not noticing the three fiery streaks soaring through the night.
Neo gritted his teeth through the rough ride. Abrams suggested that the trio take Orbital Drop Pods, and Neo agreed. Now he was regretting it. It was a long time since Neo made a drop. The pod shook as it broke through the atmosphere, and the temperature inside the pod rose dramatically.
The breaking thrusters fired, and a metal parachute fired, slowing the pod down. A few seconds later, it detached, and the final thrusters fired. The craft halted for a second, and Neo noticed a fine filament surround him and the pod. It disappeared in a second, and the craft resumed its descent.
Thud! And the pod's single hatch blew off. "Could we possibly make any more noise!" shouted Cam through her suits radio. She had ditched her comfy, and exposing, civilian clothes for the ODST armor. Reaver's pod smashed down a second later. "Guess so…" she muttered.
Dozens of smaller weapons canisters dropped after the three drop pods, and landed with a resounding thud. Neo gave Cam an S2 AM Sniper Rifle, and Reaver hefted a Rocket Launcher. Neo took a Shotgun, Battle Rifle, Pistol, and SMG, and a double handful of ammo. The others did the same.
"If we get into any hairy situations, we'll retreat to here. Let's move out."
Alice had some how gotten separated from the group. They encountered a pack of Lickers after the blinding light. One of them jumped on her, and pushed her off a ledge, down into a pile of destroyed cars. The creature scratched her, but her wound had already healed rapidly.
Alice found she could think faster, hear and see things she never noticed before, and lift things she couldn't before. Whatever they did, they made me into some freak Supergirl.
A pair of zombies walked by her, and she pulled her pistols out, ready to shoot them….
...And they just walked on past her, not noticing that she existed. She lowered her gun. Odd…I guess I'm not appetizing anymore. She kept on walking down a deserted ally when three loud thumps and a dozen smaller ones sounded. She turned in the direction of the sound.
A few kilometers away… Alice thought. Wait! How do I know that? A smaller voice in her head told her she could make it there in a few minutes at a full run. And she did.
Neo, Cam, and Reaver walked away from the LZ in a triangle formation, ready to blast anything not friendly into many tiny pieces. A few zombies were on the roads of the destroyed and bleak Raccoon City. Neo couldn't help but notice that the architecture was significantly different from New Mombassa, and not just culturally, but age-wise.
Neo recalled seeing pictures of some of these buildings in history books, old ones. Yeah, undead monsters, deadly plagues, destroyed cities, and fucking old buildings. Doesn't get any weirder than this. Neo pulled out his pistol, and shot the zombies munching over the corpse of a young lady. They fell quickly to Neo's marksmanship.
A cloud of dust and dirt was forming a few hundred meters ahead, and closing fast. "What the hell?" asked Reaver, taking the words right out of Neo's mouth. Cam raised her sniper rifle to see what it was…
…And in an instant, it was taken away from her, hitting the ground, and Cam was thrown into the ruined road. Reaver turned to see what happened to Cam, and in an instant was taken down. Neo flipped back, and lowered his shotgun. "Hold it!" he yelled. The cloud listened, and disappeared, revealing not a cloud, but an attractive European woman, with brownish hair, and blonde streaks running through. She had bright blue eyes. She was also hefting a nasty armament of ancient guns.
Neo gulped, but spoke in an commanding voice. "Who are you?" She looked over him in an instant.
"Your not an Umbrella soldier, are you?" she asked.
"Umbrella? Hell no, we're trying to take down Umbrella. One question: what is the year?"
She blinked, confused at a silly question as that. "2004, why?" Neo shrugged.
"That's what I thought. We come from 2553. We got a lot of explaining to do."
