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 have realised after posting this chapter that whilst it is very common knowledge that Chief and his team are what make up Blue Team, not a lot of people know their designated callsigns off by heart and so below you will find the necessary information so that you are not confused in any way:

Master Chief - Blue Leader/Blue One

Kelly S-087 - Blue Two

Fred S-104 - Blue Three

Linda S-058 - Blue Four (Currently incapacitated)

The sun gleamed brightly as its rays bounced off the four immense figures that tentatively stalked the lands. They did not speak, their bodies making the only sounds audible as their metallic boots crushed the ground beneath them with each impression made upon the dirt. Eyes behind helmets scanned the environment ahead and around them over and over again without pause. Each armoured figure, a predator out on the hunt. They walked in single file, their destination only a short distance beyond.

As they reached the jagged hills of rock ahead of them, one could tell there used to be green here, so much green that had been turned to nothing but the coarse, hostile ground they now stood upon.

The front figure stopped and crouched as he used his HUD to zoom in on the nearby base they were sent to destroy. The courtyard was flooded with enemies and it was evident there would be more waiting within. This mission would require solid teamwork. "Chief?" Fred addressed over encrypted comms that to anyone or anything listening who didn't have the correct frequency code would sound like static. John was silent for a moment longer as he watched a group of Grunts waddle around the outer perimeter of the base. "We'll split into two teams: Fred and James, you two will take the barracks, cause chaos to give me and Kelly enough of a window to slip down to their command centre and self-destruct the base from there. Clear?" Chief finished his orders as he turned to his left to look at the three Spartans with him as they all gave unified nods and their verbal affirmations of the plan.

The base itself was built into a small mountain with the entrance leading deep into the natural structure, through and under it with many complex tunnels serving as the only way around the base. Luckily, Halsey had made a deep enough environmental scan that she was able to accurately map out the inside of the base meaning the Spartans had their path laid out for them. The mountain had a ridgeline that spiralled from the bottom and up as it reached around the cliff faces and eventually ended where the Covenant had built the entrance to their base. It was the only way in or out.

The four figures now armed with a plan made their way down the sharp cliffs they had positioned themselves on top of, each step as wary as the last to avoid being detected until it was necessary. They were up against a much larger force than them and thus the element of surprise was key for as long as they could keep it. James took point on command from Chief as he crept towards a sleeping Jackal who was supposed to be watching the perimeter. 'They're such ugly bastards.' Within seconds, James had grabbed the alien by its long, slender neck and dragged it to the ground before popping its neck and leaving it to die of soundless suffocation. Continuing, the four crept right up to the edge of the base perimeter, any closer and they'd be picked up on sensors. The only reason they hadn't so far was due to some recent upgrades to the Mjolnir's anti-detection systems.

"Engage," Chief delivered simply as the four collectively bounded over the short perimeter defences and opened fire upon their enemies. The fiery blasts from their guns sent bullets spiralling into the air and through their unaware targets as armour pieces, blood and guts splattered to the ground below, covering it in thick waves of blood. An Elite attempted to mount a nearby Shade turret but was swiftly shot down by Kelly as she made use of her slug rounds that sent her bullets flying at a much further range, as she watched the Elite collapse to the floor, one of its arms forever frozen in place as it reached for the turret.

Beside her, James let loose consecutive, precise shots from his DMR as his bullets caught their marks, dropping one enemy after another. Reloading his gun, James took note of a Grunt making a suicide charge for the Spartans, two charged Plasma grenades at the ready, however, James had other plans for the grunt: within seconds, James shot through the Grunt's right leg, dropping it as it blew to pieces too far from the Spartans. "Good kill," Fred spoke as he brought up the rear and sent out controlled bursts from his Assault rifle to cover James as he reloaded.

"Cover!" Chief ordered as the four, shot over to a nearby stack of crates just as three shade turrets on the mountain ridgeline opened fire on their position. James took a peek through a gap between two of the crates they hid behind and made a mental note of the turret positions. "Kelly! I want you and Fred to draw their fire to the left, over to those rocks. James, we take that ridgeline to reach the turrets and take them out." Chief decisively explained as the three Spartans nodded in unison before the group moved out.

As soon as Fred and Kelly moved out from cover and made a rush for the rocks Chief had pointed out, the turrets took the bait as all three turned left and continued their fire on the two Spartans, completely forgetting about the remaining two. Whilst, Fred and Kelly played their part as they occasionally shot back, Chief and James moved off to the right to begin the ascent up the ridgeline. Both Spartans made use of the magnetic slots on their back to hold their weapons as Chief made a run for the wall and, after digging his right boot deep into the rock, he launched himself up, catching the ledge and successfully pulling himself up. Simultaneously, James hopped onto a rock and using his right leg, rebounded outwards towards a higher point of the ridgeline where he caught the ledge next to where Chief was currently climbing, as he continued his momentum to throw himself up. Looking to his side, Chief gave a nod to James signifying him to continue as the two snuck up on the turrets which were still firing on Fred and Kelly.

As the two moved up and around the mountain, they were spotted by a Grunt who had enough time to warn the other forces around him which inevitably caused two of the three turrets to turn and fire on the two Spartans. James moved so Chief could return fire while he grabbed the Grunt who spotted them and used it as meat-shield allowing him to reach the first turret and, after a quick hijacking, James turned the machine allowing his shields to take the incoming fire of the second turret and destroyed it with the first turret. By now though, they had drawn the attention of the third and final turret which turned and opened fire on them as two Elite Ultras dropped down on either side of them from a higher cliff.

James and Chief turned their backs to each other to take on their respective enemies and whilst Chief did this with a clear head, James' mood had switched from a cold calmness to growing anger as he blocked the Ultra's clawed left hand with the frame of his DMR before countering with a headbutt that broke the Elite's shields whilst also stunning the alien allowing for James to hit him with the butt of his gun twice, the second hit sending the Elite flailing to its death below. Without wasting a second Chief used this opportunity to grab a Plasma grenade from the belt of the Ultra he was fighting before connecting his boot against its chest and in one swift motion, he turned and launched the grenade to the turret a few metres ahead, blowing it and its operator to pieces. The Ultra was given a swift shot to the head from James whilst Chief dealt with the turret.

"Well... that was fun," Kelly spoke through their encrypted comms as she and Fred made their way up the ridgeline to re-join James and Chief above, who they had both watched work as a very effective pair to eliminate all the remaining enemies outside the base.

"They'll have this place locked down tight. Our best shot at success would be to find the security room first to shut down the anti-air turrets, in case the plan goes south and we can't destroy the entire base." James stated as he offered his advice to Chief while the four Spartans stacked up against the entrance. "Our new friends are probably waiting for us as well," Kelly added as they all checked their ammo and weapons before shifting their stances and readying themselves for round two. "This is about to get a whole lot more fun." Fred teased as he nudged Kelly lightly producing a light chuckle on her end in response. "Here we go, everyone stays frosty and we stick together until we can get a foothold in here." Chief relayed the plan, as each of them lined up single file, and breached.

James:

James couldn't recall what had happened in the past 20 minutes. The gunshots, explosions, screams and roars, the sound of heavy footsteps on metal mixed with blood. All of it stirred into a hellish cocktail of chaos. James tried desperately to think, anything that could alert him to where he was, to what he was doing... it was agonizing. There were so many bodies, all frozen in deaths embrace. the nearest one to him was the large frame of a Hunter, its head dented and bits of its armour broken. "... si... six... SIX!" Kelly's voice called out to him as James shook his head and took a quick second to allow his senses to fully return to him. Turning over onto his right side, James became sorely aware that he was lying down as a dull sensation circled its way around his ribs. Kelly and Fred were holding their position, though not for much longer from the looks of things; two more squadrons of different class Elite's made their entrance into the corridor they were currently caught in, behind them were some more Grunts chuckling away to themselves.

"Three... Chief... Where is he?" James coughed out, calling Kelly by her callsign whilst they were in enemy presence, as he stood and opened fire on the nearest enemy dropping them immediately so he could move back into cover. "He got trapped in the adjacent corridor," Kelly responded, puzzled since James was the one who notified them Chief was trapped.

"Death!"

The sudden war cry sent chills down James' spine as he recognised it came from directly above. "Death to you all!" the Elite cried out again as it pinned James onto his back, striving to stab him through the chest, only being delayed by James' quick response time giving him just enough of a window to catch the Elite's arm by the inside of his elbow, holding the energy blade on its outer-forearm inches from his chest. James took the combat knife sheathed on his right thigh and sliced open the Elite's stomach as he felt its intestines splatter onto his lower abdomen and legs, the Elite itself falling silent while it dropped onto James, forcing him to have to roll its carcass away.

"You and Two keep these guys busy as planned. I'll find my way to Chief and then we continue with the objective. Clear?" Kelly desperately relayed as she and Fred rolled away from a few Plasma grenades thrown at their previous position. "Clear!" James replied as he chucked one of his grenades as payback taking out a group of Jackals. Kelly took a few seconds to ensure she had a straight run and as soon as Fred and James took most of the attention in the room, she darted for an open door that led away from their current position, her shields taking minimum damage before the doors shut behind her, too late to stop her from escaping.

"Two Spartans against countless reinforcements," Fred quipped as he ducked behind some cover just as the purple and orange beam from a Type-52 Covenant Beam Rifle shot over his head. "I like those odds," James grumbled out as they both reloaded and prepared to jump feetfirst into hell.

Chief:

The Team breached the entrance and were instantaneously met with masses of Covenant as they fired upon the Spartans, almost breaking their shields before they even had an opportunity to return fire. "COVER!" Chief yelled over the sound of laser fire as each of them split towards different walls and crates for cover. Chief stood near James as they both turned their heads to each other briefly before focusing back on the battle ahead. Kelly had split with Fred; the two of them had rolled away behind one of the cavern walls, their shields were lucky to have survived the onslaught that the Covenant had thrown at them. "Chief! We need to..." Fred stopped as he stared at a highly explosive energy barrel that was rolled down the corridor towards them. After a few seconds, the other three caught sight of it too after turning to see why Fred had suddenly stopped talking. "Hunter!" James warned as his eyes went wide with realisation of what was about to happen.

The explosion of combining a fully charged Hunter blast and an unstable energy barrel almost tripled the shockwaves and the explosion itself, as it launched Chief the furthest, sending him through some doors that led to an adjacent corridor, a shield turning on in the doorway afterwards, preventing his return to the others. "Chief has been separated," James informed as he struggled to stand for a few seconds before he raised himself and began firing at any weak spot in the Covenants formation. If only he had seen it coming... "Six, watch the Hunter!" Kelly alerted, as James swivelled his gun to the side, coming face on as the Hunter swung its massive arm, colliding with James' midsection as he was viciously flung into a wall, forcing him unconscious.

Chief awoke after a minute or so, his vision blurred and a dull throb in his right shoulder as he stood and immediately scanned the corridor he was now in. His team were still in the other corridor and from the looks of things, there was no way back to them. "Blue Team, if you read me, get out of there," Chief ordered over their comms. Huffing his shoulders, Chief inhaled deeply and after a few seconds, he exhaled sharply, readying himself as he moved on.

This Corridor was significantly quieter compared to the previous one. "Hmm... The Covenant didn't expect us to get past the main corridor, else they'd have placed some more troops here." Cortana observed as Chief kept his silence in his usual stoic way, his only focus was clearing the way and finding a way to his Spartans. They were his focus, his responsibility. He was their leader and he had to ensure their safety and survival of this mission. He had to.

Swinging a left, Chief determined that the corridor he was in was, for the moment, clear of hostiles, however, he refused to lower his weapon. "You know, I don't think it's because they're shy," Cortana joked as Chief moved over to a console and plugged her in without a word. She had come to learn that whenever John was worried or angry his speech became limited to only what was necessary and he had a tendency to become far more forceful. "Shut down their access to basic security. Doors, Shields, I want them open and locked in place to prevent further access." Chief ordered. Cortana made no argument or witty comment.

Cortana knew what the cause of his worry was and she wasn't going to add to his stress anymore right now. "Done." Chief nodded, retrieved her and made way for the shield that had previously blocked him from his team.

Chief abruptly dropped to his hands, his left leg bending to support his posture as his right leg naturally shot out behind him, sweeping across the legs of an Elite dropping it to the ground as the Spartan pivoted away and opened fire on the enemy. Despite his swift victory over the Elite, Chief was forced to drop both his gun and the new magazine in his hands mid-reload as a second Elite decloaked inches away from him, giving Chief no other option but to raise both his arms in front of his head to take the blunt force attack rushing toward him. "You will die here." the second Elite chortled as both it and a third Elite drew their Energy Swords.

Chief slipped a swing from the nearest Elite, pushing him away just in time for him to raise his right leg and kick away the second Elite by the arm. Nevertheless, Chiefs attempts were futile when faced against two high-ranking Shanghelli as they were both on him once more within seconds driving the Spartan to roll away from their blades and draw his combat knife, reversing his grip and standing, ready anew.

Seizing the offensive this time, Chief quickly walked towards his first opponent and caught the Elite's sword arm mid-swing, swiftly slicing through its shoulder tendons, just below its pauldron armour, forcing the Elite to drop its sword in pain. Pushing on without pause, Chief clenched his grip on the Elite and pulled it towards him, pushing his knife up through its mandibles. Unfortunately, Chief was forced to abandon his knife due to the interruption of the other Elite attempting to remove his limbs. Pulling his magnum promptly, Chief dumped the clip, finishing the Elite with a pair of hooks to the head and his recovered rifle.

"Chief, do you read me?" Kelly called over comms just as Chief had finished wiping his blade on his right leg, sheathing it and checking his weapon ammo as he responded briefly to Kelly, prompting her to continue. "We push on with the plan, Covenant should be busy with the amount of attention Two and Six are attracting. Our path should be relatively clear." Kelly informed as Chief stopped in his tracks back to the team's previous position. "Copy, we can meet up at the nearby junction just before the control room."

James:

"Left side, left side!" Fred warned as James turned and fired quick shots at the three grunts dashing in for a suicide bombing on the two Spartans. They were holding their line well and had a solid footing against the seemingly endless horde of Covenant. The bodies were slowly starting to pile and it was irrevocably causing a subconscious shift in James' mind as he took his last grenade and aimed it for a group of Jackals; his aim not to kill but to scatter as he then sent waves of bullets, permanently dropping them. It always came down to him and them: James always found himself as the last man standing no matter what the situation.

James noticed his mind drifting on its own, his body like a separate entity as it proceeded to fire at will, tearing down enemy after enemy. James saw moments from his training as a child, the bullet sounds ringing in his ears, his head throbbing as though he had been repeatedly battered with a hammer, his nose stung from the gunpowder and his hands and frame had long gone numb from the loss of feeling after repetitive vibration.

James was promised revenge and at first, that was all he ever cared about: revenge for the murder of his parents by Covenant hands. Yet, somewhere along the line, his drive for revenge faded along with the memories of his parents and James had come to realise he was no more human than the enemy he had sworn vengeance upon. How many children had he orphaned? How much destruction and death had he been the root cause of? His soul had become tainted by the corroding effects of war and he should have died with Noble... At least then he wouldn't have to think if his sacrifice was worth it. For all he knew, the A.I. his team died for was lost forever.

"James, they're pulling back. We need to pursue otherwise our plans risk discovery." Fred commanded as James dropped his empty DMR clip, reloaded and the two chased the retreating forces, his previous thoughts now gone from his mind once more, as the loud, violent instincts took their place and his cold demeanour returned the soldier to his focused self.

After turning a few corners and firing some single shots, the Spartan duo entered a room that was undoubtedly their demise as several Elites stood ready for the Demons and immediately ambushed the two. Engaging the enemy, Fred used the butt of his gun to put an Elite off balance before finishing it off with bullets, only for two more to attack him directly. James, on the other hand, made the sudden switch to the very skills and instincts that had allowed him to survive his numerous solo black ops missions; firing a few shots at the nearest Elite, James dropped to one knee and rolled left in one swift motion, giving him the split-second edge he required to kill the Elite and move on.

The two were insatiable in their fight against the death trap that was this room, their movements were fast and relentless as each used their skills and experience to remove every threat as it came. However, it turned out that this room was more than a sudden impulsive plan as more and more Elites streamed into the room, giving insight that this was a well-thought move to trap the Spartans. "James we need to leave, now!" Fred grunted as he took a punch to his liver side whilst grappling another Elite. James stabbed the current Elite he was fighting in the chest twice, violently pushing its corpse away and slicing against the neck of the subsequent Elite in swift succession. Seeing Fred's predicament, James threw his blade, stabbing it straight into the skull of the Elite striking Fred's open side, allowing the Spartan ll to finish his grapple and make his way back towards the way they came from.

James, though, was not finished. Taking an Elite's Plasma Rifle, the Spartan used his current target as a meat-shield while he fired on the next nearest enemy, breaking its shields and tearing through the alien like paper before placing the rifle directly against the skull of the Elite he was holding and blowing its brains to oblivion. Fred, for a few seconds, watched as the man before him beat an Elite to its death with few strikes before ducking under some Plasma fire as he backed away towards Fred. The sight was... sickening. That a man would willingly place himself at risk of death simply to have the chance of taking down a few more insignificant enemies. After everything he had seen, he had never seen such painful, silent rage from one individual.

Not even from John.

"We're gonna need some weapons if we want to stand a chance at continuing our distraction, although at this point I think we can be considered a full-on Assault team." Fred joked lightly, pushing his previous thoughts from his head as both Spartans began to pick their fancy of Covenant weapons. Fred picked up a Needle rifle, a Plasma pistol and an Energy Sword, securing both the pistol and sword against his outer thighs, standing, waiting for James. The man in question, elected for a more personal approach with short-range Needlers and a new Plasma Repeater as he walked over to Fred who was acting as sentry until the two were ready. "I've still got fight in me," James said, his voice warmer in regards to who he was speaking to and Fred appreciated the crisp shift in personality as he nodded in response, the two moving on.

Chief:

Chief pivoted left whilst simultaneously ducking as he came upon the vulnerable side of a Brute Chieftan and drove his combat knife into its rib cage, dragging the blade down, opening up the entirety of the Brute's side, releasing its guts and bone shards to the floor. Sheathing his knife, Chief brought his gun up to fire at an enemy Jackal only for the blast of a shotgun to send the small alien flying into a nearby wall, revealing Kelly as the shooter. "Chief." Kelly greeted as the two nodded to each other and continued towards the main security room.

"We won't' have many confrontations here whilst James and Fred and busy making friends," Kelly stated as she and Chief checked the two corners on another upcoming junction before moving on. "How are they doing?" Chief briefly asked, however, both Spartans had to take cover from an oncoming squadron made up of Grunts, Jackals and Elites, with some insectoid alien species known as drones flying behind them. "Our main defence has been broken! The two demons attacking us are fearsome and have killed nearly a full battalion of 200" One of the Elites spoke, but thanks to language developments, the Spartans were equipped with translators so that they could understand most of the Covenant speech. "I guess that answers your question." Cortana absentmindedly stated as she continued monitoring for any significant dangers whilst also listening in on Covenant comm chatter.

Chief and Kelly took their steps carefully as they gradually approached the security room which, thanks to Cortana's efforts in infiltrating the Covenant system earlier on, was now unlocked for them to access freely. Chief was still concerned though, his thoughts slightly lingering on Fred and now also on James. He was a Spartan of a different program, of different training and different ideals, and this meant he had different drives for being a soldier. Yet he was still a Spartan. He was still with Blue team here and now and that was all Chief needed to accept him as his responsibility.

"Ready Chief?" Kelly asked as she loaded two more shells into her M45 Tactical shotgun, her tone was light yet still stern and it was something Chief had always appreciated from the sister-like soldier next to him.

"Breach."

The two Spartans immediately engaged enemy forces inside the security room as Kelly rolled straight inside and blasted an Elite in the lower abdomen, opening him up before he fell to the floor, resigned to a quick and by all means merciful death. Chief dodged an incoming strike from a Ranger-class Elite as he wrapped his left arm around its neck and choked it whilst using his right arm to fire upon a group of Grunts who were previously typing away at their stations.

"Well, we just lose our element of surprise. That would've been reported." Kelly sighed as Chief snapped the neck of the Elite he was choking. "Shut down the anti-air turrets and any other base defences. We'll make our move on the command centre then." Chief commanded as he stood on sentry duty at the doorway, spotting a group of Elites coming down the hall. "We've got company." Chief relayed as he plugged Cortana into the mainframe, knowing she didn't need to be told what to do.

James:

James and Fred both stood leaning against either side of a doorway as Plasma fire shot past them continuously from down the hall. "Keep them busy for me," Fred spoke as he turned to leave, most likely flanking them James thought as he turned and fired down the hall, managing to take out a few Grunts and once more prompting the enemy to continue their heavy firing.

Fred paced himself quickly as he turned the corner, bringing himself to a junction of corridors as he then made his way left, which would bring him side on with the enemy forces that had James pinned down. "Having fun?" Fred taunted over comms, receiving a nice 'fuck you' in return which served to make him smile, only for it to die down once the enemy came into sight. Fred chucked a Plasma grenade straight into the middle of them all, which successfully broke their formation, furthermore killing a few of them.

"Fuck you," James replied to Fred as he leaned back into cover, letting his Plasma Repeater cooldown from the constant firing, when not too long after, he heard an explosion. Turning away from cover, the Spartan lll sprinted down the corridor whilst firing on the enemy. 'Shields at 65 percent' James noted as his Plasma Repeater suddenly stopped firing at the same time as a Grunt began firing on him. Dropping the Plasma Repeater, James quickly drew a Needler from his hip and let a full set of Needles loose, blowing the Grunt to pieces after enough hit him.

As the silence ensued, James and Fred both took the opportunity to survey their handiwork as several Elites and Grunts lay dead of numerous causes from the duo's teamwork. James swapped his almost empty weapons out.

"Blue two, Six, come in," Kelly called over comms as Fred and James stopped in their tracks, surveying their surroundings. "Go ahead three." James thought to the way Blue team had been using his Noble callsign and couldn't help but feel both saddened and proud by it. "Chief and I are en route to the command centre now, meet us there," Kelly informed as Fred gave his affirmation and clapped James on the back as the two nodded to each other before picking up a light jogging pace towards the nearest elevator.

"So, what's the plan?" Fred asked Chief as he and Fred slowed to a walking pace. Kelly had purple blood spread across her chest and the left side of her helmet as she pivoted to check the rear. Chief stood, back straight and shoulders raised as always, as he moved over to the closed doors that would lead into the command room. "There's going to be a final line in here, whatever awaits us, we hit them hard and fast." Fred nodded in response as James checked the nearest corner for contacts... Just an empty, cold corridor. "Here we go."

Blue team blew the doors and... "So, apparently we've killed them all," Cortana spoke, though only Chief heard the remark as they looked upon an empty room giving them instant access to the controls. The room was a large circular room that had been carved into the mountain and had two main areas. The first was the large control panel that took up most of the centre. The second major part of this room was the two walkways that led left and right into two separate, smaller control areas. The back wall was made up of large windows that looked out onto the courtyard which Blue team had originally cleared of enemies.

"Covvies wouldn't just leave the command room undefended like this. Even they aren't that dumb." Fred remarked as he looked to cover the left side, whilst Kelly mirrored his actions on the right side. Chief had taken point and was covering the majority of the room as James brought up the rear. It was a basic formation they had subconsciously fallen into.

"Kelly get on the controls," Chief ordered as Kelly broke out of the formation and James replaced her as the trio formed a triangle around Kelly. Chief knew something was bound to happen, he could feel their eyes on him, could almost sense their occupancy within this room just waiting to entrap them.

"Chief, self-destruct has been set, we've got 10 minutes to leave." Chief nodded as he looked to the exit and ordered his team out. "Base this is Blue Lead, we require immediate evac from Covenant base over," Whilst Chief called in their evac, James took note of something on their way out of the command room. It was shifting and weaving slightly, immediately warning James as though he had a sixth sense.

James raised his gun, however, just as he was about open fire on what he had seen, a Zealot class Elite came into visibility and activated its Energy Sword upon being discovered. "Hostiles!" James shouted as he let the Plasma Repeater loose on the Elite, Blue team repeating after him. Once the first Elite had made its presence known, four more broke from hiding and lunged themselves at the Spartans, driving a wedge between Blue team and James as he was shoved back into the Command Centre.

"Six!" Kelly exclaimed, letting her gun get sliced in half to prevent the same thing from happening to her head.

Now that the trap had been sprung, the final Covenant forces within this base had flooded down the corridors in a last-ditch effort to eliminate the Spartan demons that had attacked them. Blue team was indefinitely cut off from reaching James and it was all they could do to hold off the Covenant from surrounding them. Kelly looked into the Command Centre after crushing a Grunts brains under her boot and saw James holding off three of the five Zealots that sprung the ambush. "Go! Get out of here!" James commanded as he threw his gun, hitting one of the Zealots in the face, before kicking another square in the chest to give himself some space.

"Six, get out of there!" Chief worriedly shouted over comms, a rare thing to ever hear from the usually controlled super-soldier. Blue team moved back, firing on the enemy until they had enough room to turn and run towards their pickup spot, each of them cursing themselves for letting this happen. James was the one to spot the Elites, James was the one to draw attention to himself first to give Blue team enough time to make it away from the Zealots. And now, they were heading for their evac without him. "Once the Pelican picks us up, we're swinging back around for him," Chief remarked though Kelly and Fred did not voice their negative thoughts, all hope was riding on James finding a way out of that Command Centre.

James ducked under a wild swing and raised his forearms whilst simultaneously scrunching his body together, blocking the next swing that came for him. "Your death approaches Demon!" one of the Zealots taunted as James drew Emile's Kukri from the right side of his chest and brought it down in an overhead slice, catching one of the Zealots by the neck and tearing it open with the curved blade, killing it instantly.

Continuing to fend off the Elites, James rolled away as the remaining two attempted to slice open both his sides at the same time and sheathed the blade and picked up two Plasma grenades from the dead Zealot, arming both of them. Readying himself, James backed up closer to the windows and threw one of the grenades on the main command console and the second just in front of him, forcing the two Zealots to dive away from him. 'This is gonna hurt.' James leapt towards one of the windows and brought his body as close together as possible as the second explosion went off, the shockwave throwing him through the window and down the mountainside. 'Shields at 23 percent.' James took mental note as he crashed against the ridge that he and Chief assaulted when they ambushed the courtyard, as the momentum took him to the bottom, his shields depleted and his ribs in agony.

Blue team made it to the extraction point which was a designated point on their HUD's that the Pelican pilot had marked as the weakest part of the base since it was the only part of the base, apart from the Command Centre, that wasn't covered by the mountain. After only a few more seconds of waiting, the wall that Blue team had their backs to was blown open as the Pelican spun around and lowered its ramp, giving the Spartans a clear path to their exit. "Move Blue team!" Chief ordered as the three Spartans leapt into the Pelican, easily clearing the drop below them. Whilst Fred and Kelly threw their weapons out of the Pelican and were handed some UNSC weaponry from the squad of the marines sat around them, Chief moved over to the pilots. "Swing us over to the Command Centre on the base, one of my team is still trapped in there," Chief commanded as both pilots gave thumbs up and proceeded to fly the Pelican over to the midway point of the mountain where the Command Centre was located.

As the Pelican reached the opposite side of the mountain, coming into the clear view of the Command Centre, Blue team looked out of the cockpit windows only to see a blue explosion and James flying out one of the windows as he rocketed towards the ground. "Spartans fly faster than us." One of the pilots joked over comms as he took the Pelican down to the courtyard whilst the marines fired back at Covenant forces who had broken all of the windows and were attempting to bring the Pelican down.

"Lieutenant, get on board we gotta get the hell out of here!" one of the marines shouted at James as he groaned whilst getting up and making his way over to the Pelican ramp. "Affirmative." Kelly moved over to James as he sat down and started checking on him, laughing at his dramatic exit from the Covenant base. "Spartan on board and we're away." the co-pilot informed over comms as the Pelican soared away, the ever-growing explosions from the Covenant base visible just as the ramp closed.

"Commander, Blue team are safely onboard and the Covenant base has been destroyed." one of the deck officers announced receiving a nod from the Frigates Commander in response. "Well Commander, shall we finally get off this planet?" Dr Halsey asked, her tone a little lighter than usual as the Commander smiled in response.

"Gladly Doctor."

Authors Note: And there we have it, the first major chapter for Act two of this story. I hope you guys have enjoyed this one, I certainly enjoyed writing it, since it was James' first appearance with Blue team as well as being an action packed chapter. Although believe me it wasn't easy coming up with ideas and writing about multiple combat scenarios, so hopefully this chapter wasn't too repetitive for you all. However, and as always, my PM's and the review section is always open should any of you have any suggestions you would like for me to take into account.

Mythic Imagination, thank you for the nice review you left, I am glad you are enjoying this story and hopefully this was the chapter you were eagerly awaiting. Hope it didn't disappoint.

I was asked about Cooper a few chapters ago which honestly surprised me that people if anyone had taken to him. For those of you who have taken a liking to him, don't worry he will be featured within the next chapter as we move on to the events of Halo 2.

I have recently started playing Halo again on the Xbox, so if any of you are down to play some games with me then just hit me up. My online name is WizardLizard336, which I know is quite possibly the worst name going, but I honestly refuse to pay just to change it. So if any of you want to hit up some classic campaign missions with me or maybe want to show me how its done on multiplayer then I would enjoy that quite a bit.

With all that out of the way I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I shall see you next time.

Walk Tall Spartans.

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.