That was all he could say to her before her body functions failed. She convulsed, straining against the straps. I… It… hurts… help me…She stared at Jack as she convulsed, his active camo off, as he tried to figure out a way to help her. It was too late. She cried tears at the pain, then suddenly went limp, her dying breath heard by both men. Jack opened his mouth for a second, then closed it, his own eyes slightly watering before drying up. He walked closer, looked around for her dog tags still on her throat, and pulled. He heard them snap off, and checked the name. Morgan, Fionna, Corporal, 107th company, 753-975-593. Jack closed her eyes, then gripped his rifle tighter. "Let's do this" He whispered. Garrett felt the same. Garrett pulled the security card from the hand of the dead guard and swiped it, then realized that there was an id pin number to enter. He cursed, and Jack pulled out a ICE-pick.
Garrett and Jack moved swiftly down some hallways, checking around corners with fiber optic cables and a few ball probes and sticky cameras. They mostly found guards that seemed to be changing shifts, a few were off duty and entering their quarters. The place was antiseptically clean, too clean, with white walls and white lights. Garrett and Jack rushed into a storage closet before settling in. Garrett clicked on his PDA and checked the schematics of the place that Ilana had managed to pilfer from the A.I. Intrusion software that tried to catch her. It was impressive that she could hold off some of the best anti intrusion software the human race could make. There was only one other A.I. That could attempt something like that and Spartan-117 carried her around. He located a server vault, found the lock pathways, and checked for any openings inside other than the front door. They found one, but it was a heat dispensing vent, that could turn both men into crispy critters if they didn't move quickly and keep their shields on. They winked their acknowledgement lights to each other, then moved towards the door. At that moment, the door to the closet opened, and an officer suddenly became shocked, as did Garrett and Jack. "What the… What are…" and Jack shot out a kick to his stomach, making the officerdouble over and Jack grabbed him and pulled him in. He then knocked the guy out and peeked outside to check if anyone saw the scene. No one was around. He closed the door, and both men checked the body for anything useful. The sidearm was an M6D, better than what Garrett and Jack were carrying, but more annoying to keep functional, not to mention it wasn't a hybrid. There were a few medals, nothing extraordinary, and an I.D. pass card. It was a Colonel that they had just clocked cold, and they had a pass card that could potentially let them into most areas.
Garrett and Jack moved out of the closet, making sure to lock the door afterward. They checked their motion trackers on their goggle HUDs, making damn sure that nothing was moving toward them. Garrett went so far as to activate a BRS, allowing him to check through walls for anything living, see what they were doing, and even check medical stats. They moved around a corner to come to a Garage entrance. They had to get to a vehicle, or at least hitch a ride on someone else's vehicle before they would be at the vault entrance. As they entered, an alarm system went off and the entire base went on alert. "Security on full alert! Security on full alert! The experiments have broken out! Security stations on L1 load out! Engage to contain and destroy!" Garrett and Jack ran behind a group of Warthogs, hiding where they could, using their active camo where they couldn't. The guards nearby readied their weapons and prepared for the flood. Some of the troops were equipped with MA5Bs, and others had flamethrowers. One of the doors was being broken open, bent in, arms with tentacles pushing out. The soldiers started to unload into the openings, tearing apart the doors that were actually keeping the flood at bay. Garrett and Jack didn't waste any time. They jumped into a Warthog with a chain gun and hauled, the keys actually left inside the vehicle. The soldiers around them didn't have time to check who it was, simply fired at the openings as the first flood jumped out. Garrett and Jack drove at full speed, Jack manning the turret as Garrett turned onto the road they wanted. The big wheels of the LRV rumbled over the rocks and onto the pavement, the engine pushed to full.
A tank suddenly pulled out in front of the warthog, completely oblivious to the small vehicle's shape as it started to unload onto another tank, which happened to be in control of the flood. Garrett fishtailed, got the back wheel to grip at the last second and swerved around the tank as it fired off another deafening shot. Jack was actually afraid. The fact that the flood experiments could break out and infest the area so quickly was worrying him. Some flood infection forms started to crawl along the ground nearby, Garrett either running them over or Jack letting loose with the high caliber jungle mower, ripping holes into the road along with popping the little zits.
Garrett turned onto a large bridge, reminiscent of the golden gate bridge on Earth. He gunned the gas pedal, pushing the four wheeled vehicle to its maximum speed, weaving around destroyed tanks and turrets as the fights broke out.
Garrett was halfway across the bridge when a distinct sound was heard nearby. Duel engines were heard as multiple sky hawks and long swords flew in, getting ready for an air strike. Jack watched in horror as three missiles from each fighter lanced out and streaked toward the bridge. Garrett was suddenly jumped by a combat form, the tentacled arms grappling him and pulling his arms on the wheel. The warthog turned sharply, rolled the vehicle in a 360 barrel roll, then had the wheels catch again and the movement slow as the warthog started toward the side. Garrett punched at the combat form, having it do little good, and was attacked in return. The personal shield helped, but he still felt the pushing effects of the arms. The combat form got close, in a way screaming its repulsive face at him. He hit it again, knocking the thing back enough for Jack to swivel the turret around and knock the combat form off, allowing Garrett to regain control. The missiles streaked in, two seconds away from making contact with their target. Garrett turned the wheel sharply again, the warthog swerving, and rolling yet again, this time very close to the edge of the bridge. Down below, 150 feet, was a river, rushing with heavy rapids and rocks. The missiles hit, fire and destruction washing across the flat man made connection between the two pieces of land.
"NO!" Ilana screamed as she watched the view screen. The missiles destroyed the bridge, blowing parts off as the critical spots they hit allowed structural damage, making the bridge collapse on itself. The ensuing fireball devastated most things around it. She fell back into a chair, watching the scene. Maya watched her, sympathy starting to appear. "Area contained. The experiments are being pushed back. Sterilize the area" was heard over the tapped com channels. Ilana didn't move for a little while. Maya walked up to her, Ilana's face hidden under her bangs. "Ilana… I… He new the risks…" She was cut off by Ilana. "No… words… No words… gone… pain… so much pain… I will show pain!" She looked up, a fire in her eyes. Maya tried to settle her down, but a force field suddenly separated them and Maya was forced back by the field to the bridge transporter, and transported down into the rest of the ship. Ilana decloaked the ship. "What the… sir! There's a ship that just decloaked nearby! It's the forerunner ship! Their…" And the transmission was cut with a Tri-focus plasma beam destroying the cruiser sending out the signal. "Holy Shit! All ships! Open-" and the second ship was torn apart. The fleet tried to attack, but all the weapons at their disposal, including three orbital MAC guns, were ignored by the defenses of the ship. The Nexus annihilated every single ship there was, cutting apart the flagship, the Executor, in two. Pelicans and life pods launched from most of the ships that could still launch them, and those were systematically destroyed by the point defense weapons. A NOVA, still in prototype phase was suddenly launched at the ship. Ilana was too busy destroying the surroundings that she didn't notice the missile launched at her, or maybe she didn't care. The missile hit, somewhat close to the planet, and pulsated out, waving through the atmosphere and causing weather reactions all around the side of the planet she was near. They weren't even that close. The main force as in actuality near the two moons, but the blast was large enough to cause effects that tore apart pieces of the second moon. When the blast finished, the fire fell away, the forerunner ship… was still there. The shields and armor on board scanned the blast and it's effects the microsecond it detonated, and adapted to compensate for its effects. The ship's shields were heavily lowered, and the armor groaned under the blast, but otherwise it was unharmed. Ilana seethed with anger, tears falling down her cheeks. She would never see Garrett again, never hear his voice, never help him achieve the things which he believed were right, and never, never, be able to tell him about her feelings for him…