Chapter 21: Turning the Tables
"Uh...sir, we've got a possible
situation here..." Will got up from tending to Linda and looked
at Chris who was standing straight up, staring at him. Watching the
Spartan turn back around, his eye went up the street, finally resting
on something off in the distance. Cocking his head slightly in
confusion, he instantly reacted when he saw a sudden flash of light
from it.
"GET DOWN!" An explosion rocked him
as the tank round impacted on the corner of the platform they had
taken refuge on. "Ugh...shit..." he grunted as debris rained down
onto him. Heading over to Linda, he picked her up and slowly walked
away from where she had just been sitting. Another round skimmed
right over the decorative ledge and impacted exploded in the building
to their right. Glass and metal erupted from the explosion, mixing
with the concrete and dirt from the first shot. Going down the stairs
as fast as possible, Will heard another shot impact to his left but
could only see some small debris flying out into the street. Over
their internal comm channel, Chris and JJ were arguing as to how they
were going to deal with the armor in light of their lack of anti-tank
weapons.
"You can't draw fire from a tank!
We need to pull back and try and bring it in closer to us."
"I want everyone
to fall back to my position right now. Drop smoke to mask our
movement." The Spartans complied, pulling out smoke grenades and
tossing them out into the street. Thick blue smoke began to pour out
of the small green canisters, slowly rising into the air, the smoke
finally caught the drafts that tore whipped around the buildings,
quickly swirling around in tornadoes of smoke. Once the cloud was
sufficiently thick enough, the Spartans pulled back and headed
towards Will. Looking around, he tried to visually find a new way to
get to their objective. "That street should bring us out about two
blocks away from the center," he said, pointing at the street
directly in front of them. "I want two of you to help get her back
to an aid station because, no offense, you'll slow us down too much."
Nodding her head, she easily conveyed her disappointment as he helped
her over towards Kayla and Matt. Looking back quickly he could see
the smoke was beginning to thin out. Pulling out his only smoke, he
hurled it down the street, a small trail of smoke falling to the
ground as the canister fell to the ground. Standing up he led the
remaining members of his squad, Chris and JJ, in the opposite
direction to head towards the downed Pelican. As they walked through
the streets, they continually looked to make sure the tank was
nowhere nearby. After walking a few blocks north, Will took a knee on
the sidewalk and looked through the thick haze that surrounded them,
their vision hampered even more by the red light from the fires.
Trying to make sure everything was clear, alarms started to blare in
his ears as radiation levels began to skyrocket. Moving up towards
the end of the sidewalk, he stopped when he saw what was happening.
Sitting in the middle of the street was a ball of writhing blue
energy. Bolts of energy would occasionally latch to another surface
and drag along it, completely destroying whatever it touched. Slowly
the radiation began to drop down as the energy began to coalesce in
the middle of the street. No longer a loose ball of energy, it came
into itself, the blots of energy keeping within itself until it was a
blinding orb of light. Standing up, Will was not in the mood to be
nearby if it started to do anything. But as he looked back, he could
see JJ and Chris staring at what appeared to be another orb forming
just a few blocks behind them. Shocked by the sudden blaring of
alarms again, a feeling began to wash over him as the peril of their
situation continued to become more and more apparent.
"Chris, get
FleetComm, there's no way we can move."
"Affirmative."
Moving back to the
corner, he watched the orb continue to boil in the air until in an
eruption it was no longer there. Blowing him backwards, Will skidded
across the street on his back, rifle between his legs. Looking at
what had happened, he wasn't exactly sure as to what he was looking
at. Replacing the orb was what almost seemed like a window that
spanned the entire street. Peering inside, he could see the dark
interiors of something large. Down at street level, something moved
and caught his eye. Putting his zoom onto his HUD in a picture in
picture display, he could clearly make out the shape of a Forerunner
soldier. Pressing down the trigger, rounds began to fly towards it,
impacting on his shielded helmet. Emptying out his clip, he got up as
fast as possible and ran towards JJ and Chris who were torn between
watching the second orb and what had just happened.
"Negative on
getting the channel, I'm not even getting static like all of the
other channels. It's completely dead."
"Get inside,
NOW!" he said, completely ignoring his report on the channel.
Dipping his shoulder, he charged through the glass, shattering it
into a million pieces. Heading towards the stairwell, another
shockwave rippled down the street as the second orb stabilized. At
that exact moment, radiation levels skyrocketed again as a bright
light came from a third street, directly across from the first
portal. Slamming open the door, his feet pounded into the concrete
steps, the three Spartans sprinting up the stairs.\
"If you don't
mind me noting, this isn't the smartest tactical move we could've
made," Chris noted only half sarcastically.
"There's nowhere
else for us to go, they're boxing us in." Continuing up the stairs,
they had reached the thirty-ninth floor before going onto it. Walking
into the deserted offices, they slowly moved about in the barren and
uninviting maze of cubicals and computer stations. Moving towards the
windows, Will looked through the haze and smoke to see a large group
of Forerunner moving around outside of the building. Intermingled
with the infantry were large tanks, hovering above the ground.
Sporting a single, flattened out cannon, they hovered on two blades,
the engines built into the rear. All the while, more infantry poured
out of the portals, some moving away from the buildings while most
began to situate themselves into the four large columns stretching
away from the intersection below. "Someone important is coming..."
Will said out loud, although to no one in particular. "Chris, do
you have mines?"
"Uhh...yeah, I've
got a few."
"Alright, put
them in the stairwell a few floors down. JJ, jerry rig some grenades
to be used as booby traps. Once Chris is back, put them right outside
of the door." Both of the Spartans physically acknowledged his
commands and sat about doing their work. Switching of all broadcasts
except for outside bands, he began hailing everyone and anyone. "This
is Spartan-Oh-Four-Three...Fallen Angel, I repeat, Fallen Angel."
Reluctantly, he enacted the protocol for soldiers in danger of being
over run. Desperately hoping for some kind of air support, he watched
all of the channels for some kind of response. "This is
Spartan-Oh-Four-Three. We are pinned down behind enemy lines with a
large concentration of at least four hundred troops in our immediate
vicinity, supported by heavy armor." Taking a deep breath, he
walked back towards JJ who suddenly stood up and threw something.
"Live grenade!"
ducking out of the way, the grenade exploded in a flash of brilliant
golden light, shattering panes of glass and shredding nearby desks.
Bolting up, he looked over at JJ.
"What the hell
happened!"
"I'm not sure,
the detonator just turned on when I was trying to remove it."
Walking back towards a spider webbed window, he looked down to a see
soldiers running into the building. "Shit... Chris, get up here
now, you're going to be having company soon."
"Almost
finished, I'll be there in a few seconds."
"Negative, that
was a direct order!" Chris didn't respond and Will knew it would be
no use trying to convince him to come up. Looking out, Will could see
a transport heading towards their position. Not recognizing it as one
of their own, he watched it fly by and make it's slow descent to the
ground. Similar to the ones he had scene on Thandon, Will felt
something tugging at his body and his soul.
"I'm done,
coming up...whoa, there are a lot of baddies heading our way." Bringing
up a picture in picture of what Chris was seeing, the helmet camera
was pointed down the stairwell, muzzle flashes illuminating the
stairwell silently. As the Forerunner came closer and closer, their
return fire grew heavier and heavier, blowing chunks of concrete off
as well as melting the metal railings. In complete disbelief, Will
rushed into the stairwell and could see Chris a few floors below him.
Looking down the dizzying space to the ground floor, he saw a
Forerunner down at the bottom of it, a large weapon in his hand. Only
reacting to the bright flash it emitted, Will dove against a wall as
it impacted below him. Rocking the ground he was standing on, his
vision was obscured by a cloud of concrete floating in the air.
Moving down the steps cautiously, he finally saw a large chunk of the
stairs and surrounding wall blown away, exposing the pipes and and
electrical work in between floors. Listening to the sound of pouring
water and footsteps, he tried to locate Chris from the farthest point
he could go. Bringing up his team's statuses, Chris's vitals were
almost non-existent. Swearing under his breath, he switched to his
thermal vision, always wary of the red dots on his motion tracker
growing steadily larger. Finally, in a pile of rubble, two floors
down, he spotted a warm object.
"Chris, what's
your status?" he said urgently. No response. Spotting a Forerunner
just a few floors below Chris, he let out a burst of gunfire, causing
it to duck for cover before firing off a burst of return fire.
Looking back at Chris with his thermal vision still on, he could see
a large stream of warm blood flowing away from his body. Firing off
another burst, Will frantically looked for some way to get to Chris
in some vain attempt at saving his life. But just as he was about to
jump down to him, an alarm began to blare in his ears as Chris's EKG
monitor flashed red as it flatlined. Clenching his jaw, Will turned
the alarm off and hurried back up the stairs. Just before he moved
into the office, an explosion rocked the stairwell as the mines went
off, his final contribution to Humanity. Looking over at JJ who had
the grenade traps ready to be set, he motioned for him to move. "Put
them randomly as we go up." The two Spartans ran up the stairs,
stopping every so often to place a trap. All the while, he used
Chris's camera to try and figure out what the Forerunners were doing
to avoid the obstacle they had created. After a few minutes his view
was obscured and he shut off the picture. It was only a matter of
time before they would get up and only a little longer until they
made their last stand. Finally reaching the top floor, the
eighty-third, they ran up through the maintenance ways till they made
it to the roof top. Opening up the door to the gravel top, they were
buffeted by the natural winds as well as those generated by the
firestorm that raged throughout the city. Adding an oddly beautiful
element to the hell they were in, fragile snowflakes whipped around
them before being lost to the black and red clouds that obscured the
ground below. "This is Spartan-Oh-Four-Three, we are severely
diminished in strength and are facing vastly superior numbers right
now. We request immediate assistance now!" Shaking his head at the
lack of response, he looked over at JJ who was rummaging through his
bag.
"Oh...you've
gotta be kidding me," he said, laughing. Raising his arm into the
air, Will had a hard time at first making out what he was holding.
Then, his eyes attracted to the whipping end, he could see a high
strength tether grasped in his hands like some kind of grand trophy.
Moving closer, he watched as JJ produced another one.
"Why do you have
these?"
"I had them from
Thandon. Didn't clean out my bag, just tossed more things in. Good
thing now..." Walking over to the edge, Will looked down the side
of the building in hopes of seeing some place they could repel to.
Turning around, JJ had already begun to tie them together. Moving
over the edge, Will kept his rifle and his attention focused on the
entrance to the rooftop as JJ anchored the rope down. Waiting for him
to begin heading down, he looked over to see JJ grabbing his rifle
again, then shouldering it.
"You go first, I
can hold them off if they come up. Without you, our squad will be
leaderless," Pausing for a second, he then spoke again. "Without
out...we won't survive at all." Like with Chris, there was no point
in arguing because it would be both of their deaths. Standing up, he
walked over to JJ and took his hand tightly, nodding ever so
slightly. Then going over to the tether he hooked himself onto it and
swung his legs over the side. Sliding down the rope, he kicked off of
the windows carefully so that he wouldn't break them. As he was going
down, JJ would give a progress report of the situation or would make
a short comment about something insignificant. Then, his attitude
shifted. "If I hadn't messed up with that grenade, they probably
never would've come after us, or at least not that soon. So if they
hadn't come after us, Chris would've had time to come back up and we
could've waited till help came," laughing as one does when
resigned to their fate, he continued on. "We wouldn't have to be
doing this either, me stuck up here, you dangling in the air.
Hmm, well, everything happens for a reason I guess. Beating of a
Butterfly's wings causing a typhoon shit?I just wish I could've
told-," cutting himself off, he snapped out of his reminiscing.
"They triggered the last grenade. I'd say I've got about thirty
seconds till they come through." Looking down below, Will could
see a sky bridge only thirty feet below him.
"Get on right now
and just slide all of the way down, I'm over an exit right now."
"Negative on
that, they'll know someone escaped. And seeing as they know of only
two Spartans, they'll never come looking for you." Releasing
his grip, Will planted his feet onto the glass ceiling with a thud.
"Alright, I made
it down...good luck up there."
"Mmm, will do.
Over and out." Listening to the comm channel crackle out was
like listening to a death sentence being read. Over head, gunshots
rang out, slowly echoing down towards him. Just then the rope slammed
into the sky bridge before sliding off the edge to the street. Moving
over towards the concrete joint on the bridge, he pressed his body
against it to try and stay as concealed as possible. Almost as fast
as the shooting started, it stopped. Listening to the sounds of the
battle from around the city, he was startled when his comm channel
fizzed for a few seconds. Adding to his surprise was the fact that it
was coming fro JJ.
"Been a long
time since we've spoken Will." The voice he heard, though,
pierced his body like a million frozen daggers. "Forty years,
no?"
"What do you
want?" he responded monotonously.
"What everyone
wants. Power. With each step I take, each breath I take, I move
closer and closer to exterminating humanity from the face of the
universe."
"You'll still be
left, going to turn your guns on yourself then?"
"Hahaha, you
wish. I think we'll speak very soon though so I'll let you get going,
wherever you are." With the sound of a gunshot, their
conversation was over. Standing frozen, he jerked back to awareness
when a body slammed onto the corner of sky bridge before falling into
the clouds again. Sliding down to the ground, he sat staring forward,
suddenly feeling completely alone and afraid for the first time in
his life.
