Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Halo Universe and all the Halo franchise is property of 343 industries. I take credit only for my own ideas that I bring to life in this story. This story is simply for entertainment purposes of the FanFiction audience.

Disclaimer: I do not own the cover image for this story. I have been granted permission to use it and this permission does not go to anyone else unless you contact the artist and speak to them yourselves. You'll find their Instagram name at the bottom of the chapter.

Side-Note: I would like to thank someone for leaving a guest review on this story as it helped me correct a few things that I had written down in the previous chapter so thank you for that. I'd also like to thank those of you who have favourited and followed this story. It means a lot that people are enjoying my works as much as I enjoy writing them.

Without Further ado, I give you chapter 3!

One week.

One week had passed since Noble six had been rescued. One week since he had become a burden to his fellow soldiers. And yet they were perfectly fine with helping him on the road to recovery and it was in those moments that they visited him, even those who didn't know him, that reminded him of the late Commander Carter's words, "…We're a team. That Lone Wolf stuff stays behind…" That's right. He was no longer a lone wolf, hadn't been for some time now and he wouldn't let the deaths of his teammates be in vain, wouldn't sully their memories by slinking away back into the shadows. This was something he had always struggled with and he had never had the resolve nor the conviction to do what was necessary, to make a tough decision and end his personal struggle. His team showed him he didn't need to be alone anymore, and their memories would continue to prove that to him for as long as he lived.

The door to Six's medical room hissed sharply as it slid open and in stepped Dr. Halsey and Kelly. Kelly standing next to Halsey looked like a god damned giant and even to someone like Noble six it was a humorous sight. Two equally strong women, one in her resilience to the losses around her and the other in her unwavering dedication to goals. The question was which would crumble first, the soldier or the creator? Dr. Halsey took a seat next to him silently as Kelly placed her helmet on a small table beside her before leaning against a nearby wall with a light thud from the forceful contact. "Noble Six. Not much is known about you and even I couldn't find much in my searches after meeting you at my lab." The labelled 'Hyper-Lethal Vector' man laid there silently, he knew what game she was playing and although he respected her for her cunning ways, he still understood the potential danger a woman like her posed and so he stayed deathly silent.

"Not much of a talker, are you? That's okay, John isn't either." Kelly suddenly chirped up in her unmistakeable British accent, it was… Soothing, to say the least. Then he noticed her words and began to think clearly on them. John… He knew of nobody by that name and yet she spoke of him with such familiarity as if she expected Six to share that sense of familiarity with her. Who were all these people he was meeting? In fact, now that he thought about it, Fred the other Spartan ll who had been checking in on him mentioned this John once or twice. "You remind me of John, a good friend of mine." Who was John? Another name he would more than likely forget. Looking back up to meet Dr. Halsey's eyes Six stared at her long and hard, his own gaze just as cold and penetrating as hers and for a moment it felt as though this would go on forever and then, surprisingly to Kelly, Halsey looked away and back down to the digital file she held in her hands. This was something Kelly had never seen before, and it had just changed her opinion on Noble Six drastically. "If you could tell me a little bit about yourself before I continue to check over your injuries, it would be most appreciated."

Six mulled the thought over quickly in his head and after a few seconds he mentally nodded deciding that some details could be shared without compromising too much of his past. He would just give her a few trivial things to get her off his back and then once he was up and walking, he'd simply avoid her at all costs. "James, my name is James." Six spoke proudly. He had forgotten many things over his years. He could no longer remember what his mother looked like and had long forgotten where he had come from. But his name… He would never forget his name; it was proof he was still human. "Okay James, you're a Spartan, but even though you have the genetical DNA to have been one of my Spartan ll's, you are too young, yet I have noticed that you are also augmented. So, this leaves me with one solution, you are part of the secretive Spartan lll program." Jun was the only explanation as to how she knew of the Spartan lll's, it was after all a secret project as she had mentioned that was created and executed by ONI. James nodded solemnly before opening his mouth again. "I am. The nature of the program was to bring together the Spartan ll's with more modern methods that trained us quicker whilst still providing us with the necessary augmentations. However, we were not immediately equipped with-"

"Kelly, we've got trouble!" Fred shouted as he burst into the room with his weapon drawn and his helmet on. His shoulders were tight, and his stance was rigid but still firm, this meant one thing and one thing only: Hostiles. As the hiss came from Kelly's helmet air sealing itself onto her head, she caught the shotgun Fred had chucked her and cocked it before stopping at the door, turning, and nodding once towards James. "You'll be safe here lieutenant." Halsey stated sharply before leaving and closing the door. 'She did not lock it.' Came the mental note in James' mind. Like hell he was going to sit in some blasted bed while his comrades fought off a threat. James didn't need Spartan armour to fight and he didn't need weeks of recovery to move either.

Swinging his legs over the bed in an instant James keeled over as he felt his side open up again as he felt the immediate rush of blood on his right hand as it shot instinctively to his bleeding side. "They never tell you when the turning point is from a civilian to a soldier. Sure, they tell you what makes a soldier, but they never do prepare you for the moment when it happens, when your brain switches." James whispered as he raised his hand and looked at the deep crimson colour that forced his brain clear of any chaotic thoughts as his pupils dilated, and his adrenaline spiked. Grabbing the Biofoam that was on the table Kelly had placed her helmet he closed up his wounded side and stood without a seconds hesitation as he tore the patients gown off revealing his reflection in a nearby mirror. He was muscular, toned and extremely well built. But it was his scars that caught his eyes, each one a reminder of a close encounter with death, each one a sweet kiss from her cold lips. "They never do prepare you for that moment." James wrapped the gown around his lower half as tight as he could without ripping it and exited the lab eager for a fight, eager for something to kill.

Jun sniped an incoming suicide grunt before it could get close enough to kill the group of marines it was headed for. He knew they'd find them eventually, but it had only been a week, the covenant clearly wasn't letting up even though the planet was undefended now. Taking a couple more snapshots against some incoming jackals he signalled down to Kelly and Fred who had just arrived on sight. Kelly waving her finger in the air to signal a group up pushed out to the front line of the defence force, whilst Fred took up a defensive position with his DMR and helped cover the flanks. They had sent such a relenting force for such a small outpost; it was a good thing that the frigate had moved off to hide in a canyon area near to their position.

"Fred, watch your three o'clock!" Fred reacted a little late however and was throw to the side by a nearby explosion, they usually left him unfazed, but this one was different. Marines had been caught in it and even above all the gunfire and shouting, all he could hear was their erratic screams for help as they burned to death. It always had been a horrifying sight, their eyes pleaded so much and all he could do was watch until they died out. Spartans are said to be emotionless beings, their augmentations and enhancements are said to dull their emotions out, but it couldn't be further from the truth, they just learned to keep them buried. Fred in this instance was visibly shook with anger as he turned and took three quick shots dropping some advancing Jackals, when his radar pinged an enemy very close to his positions before it disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. Rotating quickly, he ducked under a sudden energy sword before tackling the Spec Ops class Elite and crushing its head under his boot. "Jun, we need to do something about those LZ markers out ahead or we're gonna' have one hell of a reinforcement drop soon!" Fred Shouted over comms as he popped another grunt.

"Spartan, need backup over here!" a marine screamed as he fell back just narrowly missing a decapitation from a Zealot who had managed to slip in through the break in defence from the earlier explosion. Fred pushed quickly into a full sprint over to the endangered marines, but he knew he wouldn't make it, that doubt in his mind that told him by the average skill and speed of a Zealot, those marines would be dead long before he made it over to them.

One of the marines bashed the butt of his MA37 rifle into the back of the Zealots right knee dropping it lower as he hopped on its back and attempted to drag it down with a choke hold. The 7 ft alien merely laughed at the desperate attempt of an attack and grabbed the marine by his arm, held him in front of his comrades and impaled him through the chest. It scared the marines, some cried in horror as they watched their friend get tossed aside. It angered James who had just arrived, it angered him to the point of rage and twisted what he saw. "EMILE!" the Spartan screamed as he used the wall next to him as support whilst he emptied a full clip of a magnum pistol into the beast. It caught the Elites attention as it gave an animalistic grin before charging at James. 'I'm injured, can barely stand and I'm already out of ammo. But fuck you if you think I'll just roll over and die.'

James slipped right and, using his empty gun, jabbed the Elite in its ribs twice before uppercutting it which gave the Spartan a split-second chance to out manoeuvre his opponent. Moving around the Elite James attempted to climb onto its back just as the marine had tried before him however, James was much slower than he usually was right now and that heavily impacted his ability to fight as the Elite shook its head to reduce dizziness before pivoting around and backhanding James, knocking him into a wall as his head violently collided with a piece of metal. 'I couldn't save him in the end again. If I had just been there. If I was the one on that damn gun!' the Elite stood over its prey and kneeled down as it ejected its mini energy blade from its right wrist as it grabbed James by the neck with its left hand. "Weak!" it growled in barely recognizable English. "Maybe, but I can still kill you." James quickly grabbed both the Elite's head and right wrist and, in an instant, brought them together like a jigsaw puzzle. It only gurgled in response to its own blade being used against itself.

James pushed the Elite off himself before sitting up as he tried to regain control of his breathing. It was then he felt two marines come over to him, placing their hands on his shoulders and reassuring him he was safe. James looked into the eyes of one of them, a young woman, no older than twenty-five, as she cried out her gratitude for saving her, and her friends. James merely nodded softly before slinking into unconsciousness. The last thing he heard was the cheering of nearby marines.

John shot up in an instant. His eyes scanning the pod and checking for any hostiles or survivors of the crash. There weren't any of either category. "How long?" John asked with a groan as he stood and rolled his neck and shoulders. "A few hours. The others… They died on impact there was nothing you could have done for them." John didn't respond to this. However, he appreciated that whilst she was a clone of Halsey's brain, she wasn't Halsey herself in the sense that she showed empathy and respect for the dead. Grabbing an MA37 and a Magnum off a dead marine, John then proceeded to make sure he had enough ammo before proceeding towards the exit of the pod. Pulling on an emergency handle the door hissed before popping open and flying off its hinges where it crashed into a nearby shallow river. "Where are we?" it was only half a question however, Cortana for all her genius clearly hadn't caught onto this. "I thought you knew. We're on the ring-like structure we had come across. But never mind that, we've got an incoming dropship!". Chief didn't waste any time asking again as he ran over to some nearby trees and rocks before sliding into a crouched stance, and it was good timing too as a phantom dropped over a small recon squad. They weren't cautious and simply opened fire into the pod as soon as they came around to the entrance/exit of it. If those marines weren't dead before, then they were now.

"I recommend we don't engage until we have a grasp on the situation, we're in. Right now, we need to get oriented as to where exactly on the ring we are. I'm reading a lifeboat nearby on the other side of the small canyon over there." Chief didn't need telling twice as he began his short hike towards the canyon. As he was walking however he began to notice some strange things: For starters, the type of plant life and flora around him was more vibrant than he had ever seen and even Cortana commented on how this ecosystem was incredibly sophisticated. Just what was this ring?

As Chief came to the other side of the canyon, he saw the smoke from another crashed lifeboat and quickly broke into a light jog towards it. As he came closer, he saw a small group of marines and Staff Sergeant Johnson who was as usual barking orders at the trembling soldiers, it made chief smirk a little to see he wouldn't let the overwhelming odds of defeat sway him. One of the marines interrupted Johnson to notify him of Chiefs arrival from behind him, just his presence alone put most of the marines at ease. "Good to see you, sir! Welcome to the party!" one of the marines cheered as he saluted to the chief followed by the rest of the marines as Johnson nodded to the chief before approaching him. "It's good to see you Chief! But, you'll have to forgive me if I get straight to the bad shit. We're scattered all over this valley and to be frank, until you showed up, I thought were cooked." Chief nodded in response before noticing some covenant dropships hovering behind the structure, they were close to. "Sergeant, protect that pod, if the beacon gets snuffed out, we really are cooked." Cortana said, emphasising on the last word as Chief moved behind the structure to deal with enemy forces.

There weren't too many hostiles dropping from the phantom, but this time Chief had marines to worry about and so he took to taking them out as efficiently as possible. It wasn't the quickest firefight he had taken part in, but it was one of them, at least it was meant to be. "Reinforcements! Chief could use some back up." Chief decided to go over the structure instead of around it as he ran towards the wall and with little effort he took two steps up the wall and on the second step, launched himself up to the nearby ledge as he pulled himself up and over it. As soon as he came into sight of the marines he leapt off the structure and opened fire on the Elite as it was the biggest threat, and after breaking its shields, Chief landed on top of it essentially killing it right there and then but he decided to fill it with a few more bullets before moving on. Flanking a group of jackals, Chief made quick work of them as the marines finished off any remaining enemies.

"This is Pelican Echo 419. Can anybody read me? Calling out to any nearby UNSC forces." Came the comms as each of the marines visibly relaxed before Chief ordered them back into formation. After a minute or so Johnson came over to Chief as the Pelican began to land nearby. "Here's the situation Chief: We're gonna' take the Warthog and drive out to rescue some other shit scared marines, and we'll call in Foehammer here," Johnson pointed behind him at the Pelican with his thumb "and have them sent off to the Pillar. Once we're done, we'll be joining em'." Johnson explained with a wide grin. Chief looked out to the horizon noticing some more orange smoke from a couple more sites, whilst Johnson turned to face the marines. "Okay you lot! One of you is coming with me and the Chief to go on a little rescue mission, and I didn't train you to be bitches so one of you best be stepping forward!" it took a moment for the marines to look amongst each other and just as Johnson was about to start screaming some more the youngest marine in his squad stepped forward, his head held high and his gun held valiantly against his chest. The Chief noticed this and smirked once more, he remembered when he was young and ambitious, he mentally applauded the young man for his courage. "Atta' boy marine!" Johnson smirked as he clapped the young man on the back before signalling for the rest to get on the pelican.

The marine loaded onto the turret at the back of the Warthog as Johnson hopped into the driver's seat and finally, Chief climbed into the passenger seat as he checked his magazine before loading his gun and nodding to Johnson.

"Let's go kick some ass Chief!"

Author's Note: I once again hope you enjoyed this chapter; things are obviously getting a little deeper into the story now. I plan to have Noble Six meet the Chief in this story and it will happen when Chief circles back around to Reach to pick up the others as it happens in canon. It's planned to happen around chapter 5 or 6 however, I don't want to have too many time skips in this story as it does break the flow of things if there are too many of them, so it may be a little later in the story when they meet. Please hang in there it will happen.

Once again I ask that you please leave a review as even though you may be enjoying this story I really don't know what you think of it or what you would like to see in future updates. As well as this, it really does help keep me motivated to continue working on this, so I implore you to please leave a review even if it is just a guest review :)

I'll see you next time fellow soldiers.

Cover Artist: Instagram - anjum_faiz please make sure to give them a follow. They are incredibly nice and have some beautiful art on their page.