Chapter 20: Parallel Paths

Boots slamming into the frozen water, Will sprinted across the open ground to take cover on the concrete wall opposite of where he was just at. Staring up, he could see rounds from both sides flashing back and forth illuminating the scene in bright flashes of gold as tracer rounds arced overhead. Back on the other side the rest of his squad dropped drown to the river and came across, taking up positions to his left, rifles at the ready. Splitting them into two teams, he kept Matt and Kayla with him, sending Chris, JJ, and Linda to the other side of the bridge. Taking his back off of the concrete, he primed a grenade and just barely lobbed it over the wall. Two seconds went by before it exploded, showering them with debris from up above. In front of him landed what looked like the shredded arm of a Forerunner, small wisps of smoke trailing into the air from the point at which it was torn away. Preparing to jump up, he crouched down a little before thrusting himself into the air, getting a hold of the newly formed ledge from the grenade. Pulling himself up with one arm he kicked the body of the Forerunner who's arm he had seen. Looking to his right, the creatures were focused on the entrance to the bridge, taking little notice to the Spartan. Putting his arm over the ledge he helped Kayla get up with him. Taking aim, she fired off a grenade from the underslung grenade launcher, hitting one of them dead on and shredding it's torso. The others, alerted by the sudden attack, turned around, all the while being peppered by rounds from their rifles until the creatures fell to the ground in a puddle of their own blood. Over to their left a little, more Forerunners were coming to reinforce the bridge.
"Is your team up?" Will radioed to Chris.
"We're all here, tangos down."
"Good, get to the buildings, we need to try and stay out of sight." Sprinting across the street, the Forerunners missed them completely as they sent a hail of fire back down towards the Marines. Taking cover in a the remains of a lobby that was a shell of it's former glamor, they waited in darkness. Sliding in a new clip for his rifle as silently as possible, Will kept his eyes on the enemy, doing everything by instinct. Satisfied no more were coming, he radioed Chris.
"Move out, stay low and watch our backs in case the Marines are too good and force a retreat." An acknowledgment light winked onto his HUD and Will moved his squad out of the lobby. Heading down the blown out streets his head was constantly swinging back and forth, always on the look out. Checking his maps again, he was finally able to get a decent idea as to where they were at based on buildings that were appearing on both maps after being cross-referenced. Stopping at an intersection, he motioned for Chris to cut across and start heading perpendicular to their original direction. JJ ran across first, taking cover in a stairwell that led up to another building's lobby. Chris then went across as Linda aimed her sniper rifle down range looking for targets.
"Go, we've got you covered." Lowering her rifle she ran full sprint into the street. About halfway across, a stream of anti-matter started to fly all around Linda. At first it was inaccurate but it quickly zeroed in on her, flaring her shields up blue before they blew off. Heading over towards Chris's squad's former position, Will saw that a squad of Forerunner had come around the corner but were in their blind spot. Opening up full auto, his rounds impacted caused the shields their shields to flare up as they ducked behind the cover of the abandoned vehicles. Turning around he saw that Linda was lying the street unmoving. Glancing back for a split second, he ran back towards her position, waving Kayla off and then pointing to where he had just been. Coming up to her, he could see that she had been hit at least twice, once on the inside of her left thigh and a second on her right shoulder. It was also obvious, from looking at the burn marks and portions where the active camouflaging had malfunctioned, returning to the default white metal, that she had been hit more than once. Positioning himself so that he could face the Forerunners, he brought up her vitals on his HUD and saw that, despite her wounds, nothing serious had happened. "Chris, JJ, I want you to move up and help them out, I'll take care of her." Two acknowledgment lights winked on and the two Spartans ran past him, taking cover behind an empty truck on the opposite corner. Moving Linda into a better position to lift, he finally had to sit down and drag her up and over him before he could easily get her onto his shoulder. Grunting loudly as he got onto his knees and then stood up, one leg at a time, he walked slowly towards the stairs and walked up to a large open area above the street. Setting her down gently, Will removed her helmet to let her breathe a little better. Flirting with unconsciousness, her eyes rolled back and forth as they lazily scanned the area. "Hey, hey, stay with me alright?" Reaching down to her leg he undid the armor that covered her thigh revealing the black under armor, gel from the crystalline layer oozing out. Gingerly reaching up at the top of her leg, he tore a large section of the layer away just as a few small geysers of blood sprayed across his armor before falling to a steady, but manageable rate. Pushing down with his arm, he kept the bleeding contained as he grabbed a can of biofoam. Sliding the nozzle into the wound, he injected the chemical, withdrawing the nozzle as the foam expanded and stopped the bleeding. Moving to her shoulder, he removed the armor plate and peeled away a little more of the undersuit before inserting the nozzle and sealing up the wound. "You alright?" he asked her.
"Yeah, can I have a gun?" she asked, still weak sounding. Unsure as to where her sniper rifle was, he handed her his rifle, pulling out his pistol and moving towards the other set of stairs. Looking out into the street, a fierce gun battle had developed with both sides firing small bursts before taking cover. The Forerunners were ducking down behind cars, that, when shot with JJ's SAW caused a shower of sparks to spray all over the place. Noticing one of the enemy seemed to be lacking shields, he took aim with his pistol and fired off four shots, two of them connecting with his exposed head, two clouds of purple blood spraying out onto the road.
"Grenade out!" Someone yelled. A few seconds later a golden explosion flashed in the street, pushing one of the cars a few feet away before it's hydrogen cell exploded in a brief burst of flames, tearing the rear of the car apart and sending even more shrapnel out. Out of the smoke and flame, Will could easily spot the remnants of some of the Forerunners while the last two moved away from their dangerous cover and headed towards somewhere a little safer, finally using an information kiosk. Running down the stairs, he watched as Chris and JJ repositioned so that they had a better view of the kiosk, moving ever closer until they were fired on, then pulling back a little and waiting. Coming up next to them, Will put a new magazine into the pistol before grabbing a grenade. Pulling the pin, he held the safety trigger.
"Once they come out, open up on them." Chris and JJ nodded as Will stood up and lobbed the grenade next to the kiosk. The explosion ripped the small building apart and sent the Forerunners flying into the wall and out onto the street. The two Spartans were already waiting and unloaded full automatic, Chris with his rifle and JJ with the SAW. Once they were finished, both of the bodies had been almost completely ripped open, portions of their bodies sprayed across the road.
"All clear," Will reported.

John paced back and forth impatiently, his eyes focused on whatever was immediately in front of him. Off to his right he could hear someone enter through the large stone doors into his private chambers. Looking up, he pivoted on his heels and put his arms behind his back.
"Our fleet has just arrived at Testerossa. First reports are saying that the orbital defenses were easily overwhelmed and troops are now making their way to the planet's surface." John grunted in approval as he stood contemplating his next move.
"Is there an estimate to the amount of ships jumping towards the planet?"
"Yes, we have discovered twenty-three individual jump vectors towards the planet. Most are coming from nearby systems, one from Thandon. I'll return when we have a more comprehensive report."
"Thank-you." Look out a window as the soldier left, his mind focused on everything that was happening, constantly analyzing it from different angles to try and determine what the outcome would be.
"Oh...sir, I almost forgot to inform you. You told us to tag any communications that had the word "Spartan" in it. There were a few that got picked up that had requests for air support as well as a Slipspace jump. The others were for evacuation orders, but the group referred to in those communiques was killed on their ship." Looking down at a data pad, the Forerunner quickly read more of the report. "It was determined that the ship that the surviving Spartans were on board was the UNSC Tigre, the same ship that jumped to Testerossa." Suddenly alert to this piece if news, John stepped forward slowly.
"You're sure of this?" he asked, his voice low.
"The information seems accurate, although I have not verified-"
"It's good enough for me. Prepare a ship for Testerossa." The soldier nodded and began jogging away. "One more thing...find an unused communications channel so I can have a little chat."

A/N: I know some of you wanted me to move away from the paragraph format but it causes problems when there are splits in the story (as there is here) and so I'm just going to stick with this format, sorry.