Chapter 15: Metropolis Assault

"Let's see what we've got…" Will said almost to himself as he moved through the armory. Most of the weapons had already been grabbed but a crate of BR55 Mk IIs as well as plenty of ammo for them. Grabbing them one at a time, he handed them to the Spartans who continued to look throughout the room for whatever they could find. Moving on, Will came across a stack of four load bearing vest which he passed out after keeping one for himself.
"Score." Turning around, Chris picked up a SAW variant BR55 and a few magazine drums. Will tossed him a now empty backpack and Chris stuffed the drums into it. Replacing his shoulder holster with a leg strap, he put his M6E into it. The last thing that he came across was a pair of goggles that he quickly pulled over his head, keeping them off of his eyes though. Looking back, the normally identical looking Spartans, all wearing their armor and having almost identical loadouts, were now a hodgepodge of civilian clothing and whatever gear they could find. Luckily most of them found what they were looking for, especially Linda who was already at work tweaking the different settings of the SRSB70 she had found.
"Alright, we've got room for five people on the LRV. We can probably fit one more onto it but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we had somebody keeping tabs on what's going on up there and around the city." He scanned the group and decided he would give Kayla that job considering she was unfortunate enough to be wearing a dress. Pointing at her, she showed disgust on her face at the position she was being assigned but brought her rifle over her head and nodded. "Matt, you stay here too, help Kayla and if they attack here, defend it. Got it?"
"Yes sir," they both responded before heading out of the armory.
"How many of you have radios with you?" he asked the remaining six. JJ was the only one who acknowledged that fact. "You take Kat and Karl with you alright? You're the new fireteam bravo. Chris, you're with me, Linda, you do your thing." Will zipped up his load bearing vest and taped a few grenades to it that JJ had passed out. Making one last sweep, Will noticed something that was surprising. Kneeling down next to a metal case, he popped the lid and found the reason for the warning symbols. Nestled in foam padding as well as cooling pack, a Fury tactical nuke, more or less a nuclear football, was lying in pristine condition, unarmed. "JJ, are there any extra backpacks lying around here?"
"Uh…yeah, here's one," he said, tossing a camo pack over to him. Picking up the nuke he placed it into the bag as well as the last of the ammo for his weapons. Even without his Mark VII, or Mark VI for that matter, the Fury was still relatively light and could be easily tossed, not far enough to throw it casually at enemies, but enough. They headed out of the armory and over to a hangar on the other side of the fort. Sitting in the back was a pristine Puma. Will designated seating arrangements and started the LRV. Doing a quick comm check with JJ and Kayla, they made sure they had everything and headed out.

Flying through the forest, straddling the yellow lines on the road, Will sped towards the city with a purpose. Darkness still enveloped them but the bright halogen lamps on the Puma easily lit up his entire field of vision as if the sun was out.
"I'm picking up multiple unregistered craft, they fit the silhouette of Longswords but they're moving pretty fast…" Kayla chatted in JJ and Will's ear.
"ETA for their arrival at the city?" he asked.
"About a minute or so, they should be right over you now." Sure enough, a loud scream filled the air as fighters roared overhead. Sticking his head out of the window, he caught the glimpse of two engines glowing a bright yellow, almost white color.
"I've got a visual on them, they look like ours." Will couldn't even hear what Kayla was saying as another squadron roared overhead. But once they had passed, Kayla was yelling out to him.
"Hostiles! Hostiles! I'm tracking at least…shit, at least thirty enemy fighters moving in behind this next wave!" One more squadron came overhead but these were flying differently. Obviously not going as fast, they were moving in and out of each other as they turned to face their attackers. The roar of theirs chainguns was almost as loud as their engines and the golden tracers began lighting up the night sky. Coming around a corner, Will was afforded an unobstructed view of the city, nestled up against a mountain chain at the bottom of a large valley floor. Up ahead, the fighters that had passed overhead were now heading back, their guns blazing along with missiles streaking through the clear air. Dark purple bolts of energy sizzled through the air from the still invisible attackers. One of the Longswords took one of the shots on it's wing and it immediately caught on fire. Orange flames trailed behind the wounded fighter as it quickly began descending to the ground. Two bright flashes lit up the cockpit as the pilots ejected before their fighter exploded in midair, the wreckage thrown away from the ball of fire in long arcing trails of flames and thick smoke. Going almost straight down from the large explosion was a burning hunk of metal that represented what was left of the deserted fuselage. Dark shapes continued to fly around each other, only distinguishable as they blocked out the stars and whenever their missiles and guns lit their hulls up in a strobe light like fashion. Will continued to drive, trying to ignore the showers of 110mm rounds that every so often would fall near them (luckily none hit them). Only a few miles out from the city, he glanced up at the clear sky and could faintly make out small flashes of light that were their only sign of the battle raging overhead. From his view, it seemed like the city had yet to be touched which meant that the flyboys up top had kept the perimeter secure. Driving into the same entrance that he had just went through hours earlier he could see the city was full of activity. It was obvious that the capital had become priority and that all of the nearby bases were sending their troops to it. Slowing down, squads of marines were moving through the streets as others were arriving on large transport trucks. Will gripped his pistol as lightning broke the sky over one of the mountains.
"Hmm, looks like it's going to be a fuuun night tonight," Chris commented from one of the side seats. Will stopped at one of the cross streets as the vehicles moved ahead of them. The sounds of the air battle continued to rage on as the Longswords put up a good fight against an enemy that obviously had the upper hand in the situation. AA batteries suddenly lit up as red objects hurtled through the atmosphere, long trails of smoke floating lazily in the dark sky. Chunks of metal ripped off of the objects, creating smaller pieces that angled away from the original piece. Gold, red, and green tracers ripped through the sky at the debris before the gunners realized what the pieces were and held their fire. Driving through the streets became increasingly difficult as soldiers became more common and barriers more often. It finally got to the point that it was no longer safe to keep driving and they stopped near what appeared to be a command center. Large metal barriers had been set up all around the intersection multiple rows thick and two Vipers had been positioned so that they protected the two open roads that led deeper into the city. Rising high above them were the glistening skyscrapers, some were more traditional designs that were obviously built before the war with the Covenant while others were more organic looking with pearlescent windows and twisting designs. Most of the soldiers that they passed by had their helmets on and were looking up at the night sky that was beginning to cloud over as the battle raged evermore. A few others stood around what appeared to be serving as a forward command station and were looking over reports. Will walked over to one of the soldiers without his helmet on. A blue datapad illuminated is face in the darkness and he looked over at them as they headed his way.
"I had heard reports about some Spartans who weren't Spartans. I'm assuming that's you?"
"You'd be correct on that," Will said as he extended a hand.
"I'm Sergeant Tahoda, my squad is here with Sergeant Kaufman's. I'm sure you hear this a lot, but we're glad to have you here, I'm not sure how all of this is going to go down, but you can never have too many men."
"It looks like you've got the area pretty well secured. We've got one sniper with us as well as a SAW." Tahoda rubbed his neck and looked around the intersection.
"Really…I think you should do whatever you want to. We've got it pretty well covered here, about fifty guys along with two tanks. Frankly, I think you should work by yourselves, we'll be too much of a hindrance due to our orders." Will glanced around the city and was slowly noticing a feeling of desperation and wasn't sure why.
"Alright, we'll be in touch," he responded, tapping his earpiece. Echo squad moved away from the group of Marines and went to a less crowded area. Taking a knee, Will rubbed the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes shut, wrinkling his face up. His fellow Spartans surrounded him and waited for what he had to say. "Linda, you know what to do, find a good spot and keep this area covered as best you can. JJ, I want you to move parallel with Chris and I, you're there to help us back out and we'll do the same for you. Once we can find a staging area or a large LZ of theirs, I'm going to blow the Fury, hopefully that'll buy us enough time until we can get some more reinforcements."
"Got it," JJ responded, turning his head up towards the sky. More objects were falling and at first glance looked as if they were just more pieces of debris, but after watching their angle flatten out and the flames dissipate away, it was clear that it wasn't just debris. Tracers again jumped into the air, some of the rounds exploding below the cloud layer while others detonated inside the clouds, lighting them up with a golden hue. A few of the rounds hit their mark and blue shields flared up in large ovals.
"Let's move." The Spartans moved from their spot near an alleyway and headed in towards the city. It became painfully obvious that the command had decided they would rather, instead of reinforcing the entire city, create a ring around the center, hoping the Forerunners would land there and get caught in the crossfire. Even more obvious was the fact that they weren't adhering to the brass's plan and were coming down on the south side of the city hard. Purple lances of energy flew towards the ground and after a few seconds, the sound of their impacts reached their ears dully. Bright flashes of light lit up the darkened city as the Marines began to fight back. Will and his squad moved through the Marine command post and into the deserted city.
"What the hell are they doing?" someone said behind them as JJ's fireteam headed off to the left, getting onto the street just east of Will and Chris. Reaching a small statue at the bottom of a grand set of marble steps, Will pushed up against the pedestal and radioed JJ.
"We're in position, tell us when you're ready."
"Give me a few more seconds," footsteps punched through his comm channel as he ran. "Alright, we're good." Will and Chris moved up to the corner of the street and looked to their left. A head peeked out from around the corner and motioned ahead. The two fireteams got up and moved across to the next intersection. They went one more street before they stopped. A low thrumming began to shake the ground as they pressed up against the glass windows of a lobby. Small cracks appeared near the base of the panels and Will got off before more spiderwebs cut up through the glass. The sound continued to grow louder until it reached it's pinnacle. He felt pain inside all throughout his body as the sound vibrated his organs. Moving down through the streets, a large black ship slowly game to the ground as the sound quickly faded to a much more bearable level. Blue conduits lined the two pronged craft as it rested a few meters above the ground. Bright lights flashed on and swept the dark streets, dust beginning to swirl around it. Two turrets located on either side of a protruding cockpit swiveled back and forth, scanning the streets for any targets. It's two large engines illuminated the street behind it in a bright white light that flickered in intensity. Just below the cockpit, blue energy began to pulse and lick at the ground before it stabilized. Black silhouettes immediately dropped to the ground. For a few seconds, the ship waited as it unloaded it's cargo before rising up into the air. Two strips, in line with the turrets, powered on with the same blue energy that was present on it and the turrets slid from their position on top of the pronged hull to the bottom before it headed towards the command post. Flying over the streets, purple bolts of energy charred the ground around the Marines as a hail of gunfire erupted from them before abruptly stopping. Looking back at the soldiers that had just been dropped off, two blue laser beams flashed on and began to scan around the streets. Small lights on their armor moved around in the darkness as they breathed and shifted. Heavy footsteps echoed between the buildings as the two beams of lasers moved to the sides of the street as well as the lights on the armor. Noticing a pane of broken glass that had broken from the sound, Will and Chris headed inside, carefully dodging the shards that were all over the ground.
"JJ, get some cover fast, we've got tangos on the ground."
"Affirmative." The footsteps continued to echo in the streets as the soldiers made their way towards the glass lobby. Will felt his heart race as his palms began to get sweaty. Twisting his hand on the grip of his rifle, he positioned it into his shoulder just right. He was about to get up a little bit when the blue laser danced over the couch they had taken cover behind. As it moved back and forth over their position, he knew they had been spotted, the footsteps suddenly stopping, replaced by the sound of rifles being readied. He started to flash hand signals to Chris in the darkness. Move to the right, open fire, while Will went left and opened up as well. Just as he was about to give the go signal, a shot rang out through the streets. The sound flittered back and forth to their ears, cut off by the sound of a dull thud hitting the ground. Poking his head out, a dark shape lie still on the ground, one of the other enemies crouching over it, his rifle pointed into the air. Heavy footsteps moved into the same lobby that they were occupying and Will whirled around to see the shapes moving up against the glass, the body still lying near the broken pane, his laser pointing out towards another building. Slowly, Will moved his hand to chest and found the corner of a piece of tape holding one of his grenades in place. It seemed like forever before he was able to roll the grenade off of the strip. He slid his finger over the primer and pressed it down, getting his bearings; he pressed the trigger down with his thumb. A small LED winked on near the bottom of the detonating cap and he let go of the primer, throwing the grenade towards the Forerunners. The sound of the trigger popping off rang through the air as he ducked down below the couch. Before the enemies could even move out of the way, the grenade detonated, blowing out the remaining glass and letting out a deafening roar. Shrapnel embedded itself into the couch they were behind and took chunks out of the stone flooring. He stood up as fast as possible and started firing at where they had just been standing. The muzzle flashes from his rifle acted like a strobe light, doubling the effect when Chris opened fire. Flickers of blue energy licked at the ground as the powerful rounds impacted into them. One of the Forerunners fell to the ground under the hail of gunfire from the SAW variant. Across the street, purple rounds of energy flew into the lobby, obviously aimed at the muzzle flashes. Ducking down after the first few shots just missed them, Will and Chris waited as the bolts of energy shattered pieces of stone around them and burnt through the wall in front. Another shot rang out from somewhere and for a few seconds, the fire was abated. Taking advantage of this, the two soldiers scrambled out of the lobby and onto the street. Will led the way and got to a small maintenance doorway, but Chris wasn't so lucky. The Forerunners had obviously seen that their targets had moved and shifted their fire. Jumping behind a thick pillar, Chris leaned up against it and squatted down as rounds slammed into the area around him. He looked around him for a more secure position but it was no use, he was stuck.
"JJ, get you ass over here! We're taking fire from multiple hostiles and are pinned down!" Amidst the sound of gunfire, footsteps broke through and he realized that they were being flanked from the area that the enemy had originally inserted at. Reinforcing this, shots began to come from a new angle, just missing Chris's legs and impacting on the corner of the wall that Will was up against. Chunks of concrete exploded around him and he felt shooting pain all around his face as the somewhat large pieces cut the right side of it up. "JJ! Where the fuck are you?" No answer. More shots hit around him and he had to jump out of the way to dodge a stray bolt that almost took his foot off. Catching himself before he exposed his head, he leaned up against the metal door and tried to force it open. Tempted to shoot the lock off, he wasn't sure if the shots were aimed at him or Chris and decided to not give his position away. Scooting up to the very extreme of his cover, he peeked out to see Chris standing in an awkward position to stay in what was left of the pillar he was at. "Hold on!" he yelled out, slapping a new clip into his rifle, tossing the quarter full mag near the door to make sure he didn't grab it thinking it was full. "Slide your gun over so I can use it for cover fire!" Chris nodded and unslung the BR55 variant. Getting down on a knee, he pushed it with full force, sliding it right to Will. He flipped his own rifle onto his back and got the SAW into firing position. "Get low to the next pillar and then sprint in over here!"
"If you say so!" Will gave himself a three count before popping out around cover. Chris was down as low as possible and took off running once the first round popped off. Staying below his cone of fire, he came back up and scrambled into the little alcove as Will continued firing.
"Kayla! Get anyone up on the radio, we need immediate assistance south of Sergeant Tahoda and Sergeant Kaufmann's position."
"Affirmative Will, the battlenet is pretty blocked up right now. The two squads got strafed hard by a drop ship, one of their tanks was taken out and the other took severe damage. Wait! I've got an idle Longsword squadron a few miles from your position." It was music to his ears as he heard her say that. Waiting for a few seconds, she came back on. "Stay behind whatever you can, they're going to be doing strafing runs from North to South, ETA twenty seconds."
"You're a lifesaver, oh-four-three out." Turning to Chris, he explained the news. Just as he finished, the sound of jets roared off in the distance, quickly followed by the sound of machine guns and rockets. The golden rounds flew into the road, kicking up sprays of rock two feet into the air just as the rockets impacted behind them. Concussions rocked their bodies as the explosions pounded the air around them. Lasting for almost ten seconds, the strafing run finally ended with the sound of afterburners kicking in. Almost a full minute went by before he dared moving, realizing that someone was speaking to him.
"Will! Can you hear me?" He thought it was Kayla yelling but he recognized the female voice as someone different. Out across the street, three shapes were crouching near a row of blown out glass. Yelling as loud as he could, Will responded.
"WE'RE FINE, EVERYTHING IS FINE OVER HERE!" One of them raised their arm and he assumed they were giving him a thumbs up.
"Maybe you should try keeping your voice down a little bit?" someone called out, just barely reaching Will's ears.
"WHAT!"
"Sir, shut the hell up, sir!" JJ called out. Finally regaining his senses, Will rubbed his ears, blood coming back off on his fingers. Dizziness quickly set in and he leant up against the wall for support. The three shapes moved across the street as fast as possible and came up to Chris and Will, both of whom were suffering from perforated eardrums. Kat came up to Will and looked him over quickly. Blood and dirt covered the entire right side of his face and down onto his vest and shirt. Despite his ordeal, Chris was in relatively good condition; his only major wound was a slightly burned shin from a grazing shot.
"Let's just wait here for a second," Will said much quieter.

A/N: Normally I don't do this, but could you please R & R? I've got no real idea how my story is in terms of writing without very much feedback. Thanks.