Laerd Outskirts, Utgard, Harvest, Epsilon Indi System
2529
"Be advised we have lost the Barri District! IHF's have taken out ninety percent of battalion two, our position is untenable! We are out of here. I repeat we are getting the FUCK OUT OF THAT SECTOR!"
"Mystic 2-1, Overlord has ordered all forces to evacuate and reinforce by the parliament building. Anybody still in the area will be left behind unless they follow the retreat. I am requesting artillery support on our position immediately!"
"Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, the CO's dead. What the fuck do I do? This is crazy… I can't! I can't! I can't do this!"
"THEY'RE CUTTING US TO PIECES; I WANT THAT PLASMA TURRET OBLITERATED!"
The comms went wild as Adrian stared at the desolate landscape, a new form of unfathomable uncertainty washing over him like a tidal wave of despair. The Harvest Campaign was a fucking meatgrinder, the tales told by the survivors were nightmares come to life, a veritable meatgrinder of human life. Calling it a pyrrhic victory doesn't even begin to describe how much of an understatement that is. Almost out of a newfound habit from his time at Overwatch, he reached to take his helmet off as his immediate area was as quiet as could be save for the screams of human lives being thrown away. His instincts immediately halted such a foolish action, the realization catching with reality that he wasn't just a spectator, but a participant. Bound by duty and perhaps more importantly by necessity to survive. Instead, he checked his helmet was secure as he slowly began to close off unnecessary UNSC channel, initially having them open when he'd first arrived on the other Earth to try and catch a sign of any familiar regiment. Obviously, such an act led nowhere until now, serving as a wakeup call for the unforgiving certainty that he was not only back in his universe, arrived like a gift on hell's front door.
The final necessary shock to snap his mind into action came through one of the last open comm channels, "All ground units be advised, authorization of an orbital MAC barrage has been granted for planeside artillery." Like a hard slap across the face Adrian blinked fervently before he stepped back, disbelief at the sheer desperation to authorize an attack that could wipe a city clean. His helmet went silent before a brief whisper crackled through, "May God have mercy on us all."
Looking up towards the sky, a dozen brilliant flashes of light could be seen far above the atmosphere. It was a stunning sight and were it any other period of time it would be a beautiful sight, a fireworks show in the cosmos, but as it stood it was stunning for a wholly different reason. It was terrifying. There were few things Adrian considered truly terrifying, something that went beyond fear but invoked an utter sense of dread. The Covenant did at first, though that had long sensed passed and morphed into a species wide fear of extinction. Seeing the news that Kholo had been wiped induced such a feeling, as did seeing Reach. Earth was different…when it happened Adrian felt little more than ambivalence that the time had finally arrived. Perhaps because there was an understanding that if Earth was found it was all over, nothing to be done but give it one last hurrah. The acceptance of death happened with Reach, humanity's own Earth two-point-oh located way out in the cosmos of the unknown, when the Covenant glassed it… that was when the dread settled, the understanding that it was the beginning of the end though he supposed that saying was true from the very start. People always used to say no matter how dire the situation, 'At least we still have Reach, at least we still have Earth', but when Reach fell everyone knew our final moments we're ticking.
Seeing those white streaks shattering the very air around them, the white vapor trails dissipating to reveal a dozen extraordinarily gargantuan bolts of pure mass and energy hurtling toward the ground at an incomprehensible speed once more filled Adrian with dread. This trepidation was for the first time in years, for himself. The MAC rounds screamed downwards seemingly in slow motion as he stared at them, his brain racing a mile a minute. What if he died here, on Harvest, separated from friend, comrade, or ally where his body wouldn't even make a tick in the death toll. It wasn't even the concept of death itself that scarred him, but the idea that he'd died failing to ever make it back, to say his last farewells to Angela, Hana, Liam, or anyone for that matter. Surviving this war had always been luck, skills are marginable and mean nothing when a focus rifle can scramble your brain before you have time to blink; and in a war where luck is everything, surviving Harvest is a fucking act of God.
The MAC rounds hit their target somewhere deep within the city with such devastation it would've killed anyone and anything within miles of its impact. Taking a few steps back Adrian spied the shockwave rippling towards him, tearing up the ground with impunity as it raced towards him. Without even a moment to act, the rolling tide of energy walloped him with a crack of force, sending him flying backwards and back towards the concrete tomb he'd only just dug himself from. Gasping as he laid on his back, the wind knocked out of him, he took a few seconds to calm himself and take deeper, longer breathes of air. Eventually he rolled himself off the ground, through the cleared cove of debris he could see a massive cloud of dust and smoke that seemed to rise a thousand miles into the air. Tearing his eyes away he focused on getting out of here and making physical contact with UNSC forces first and foremost.
Looking around the area where he'd initially awoken, he spied the majority of his original arsenal in less than workable order. The plasma rifle looked like a puddle of melted parts, his battle rifle was bent in half at a mind-bogglingly angle, though perhaps most disheartening of all was the fused barrel of his submachine gun. The only things that seemed intact were what was immediately on his person. In terms of defense, he had a SOCOM pistol and a knife – absolutely wonderful – the trip through slipspace had been a far more taxing journey than he thought.
At the mention of slipspace his mind immediately remembered that the whole reason he was here in the first place. Frankly looking around the cramped area he thought that the device was lost to him, perhaps destroyed in the travel or that it appeared some place devil knows where. To his immense luck, he could spot a glimpse of the iridescent blue frame poking through some fresh rubble. Dashing over he brushed off the rubble, relieved to see it looked mostly in tack given the circumstances though there was one immediate problem that posed a serious obstacle.
The prototype lacked any semblance of energy, and upon cracking the battery hatch, a burst of steam flowed outwards from the core. Carefully reaching his hand inside the device, he grasped the cylindrical plasma battery and pulled it out with all the necessary delicacy. Once the thing was fully exhumed his initial thoughts were proven right, the battery was as dead as could be. It's husk no longer glowed for the Covvie technology but laid dark and dormant, a husk of its former self.
Sighing to himself he sat down, thinking of his possible options now that everything had been laid out for him. He was stuck on Harvest during the wrong time with god knows who else also here, their one possible way of transportation was out of working order, the only possible way to use it would be to get a new battery, and to top it off, he was practically defenseless in a warzone he had no place being in.
"What a wonderful shitshow you've found yourself in." He looked back out through the cleared passageway, "Well first things first, have to actually fucking meet someone…anyone though preferably with the UNSC. I can leave the prototype here, maybe wrap it with a tarp or something if ones nearby, then mark the position on my TACPAD. Eventually if…when…I make contact with the UNSC, I can see about getting my hands on a second plasma battery. Until then, it'll be the luck of survival."
…
…
…
Adrian trekked eastwards through desolate ruins towards the center of the city, the sound of weapons firing grew louder with every passing minute though it became hard to tell how long he'd been walking. Utgard as with many UEG capitals was unbelievably immense size, not only reaching high into the clouds with massive twisting skyscrapers of glass and metal but clawing their expansion outwards, claiming as much land as possible. Major cities were thoroughly planned out, with urban expansion often mapped for decades in advance, sometimes even a century depending on the relative importance of the colony. For virtually every reason imaginable it was beneficial, except for this very instance as Adrian trudged up collapsed builds, across sprawling highways, and empty parks. In the grand scheme of things however it wasn't long until the sound of fighting became too close for comfort. He ducked behind burned-out car, a family of corpses laid inside, melted skin clung to charred muscle and smoldering bone.
Checking that his pistol magazine was at full capacity with a round loaded, he emerged from the wreck armed with the SOCOM in one hand and his knife in the other. Carefully treading the cracked city streets, he kept his eyes peeled for contacts. The gunfire was so clear he knew that it was originating in this very area. Opening his comm channels to receive local communications it was oddly silent; he wasn't kept in suspense much longer as he crested a small mound of rubble in front of him to reveal a few jackal marksmen camped out in the ruins of what was likely a towering office building. They we're focusing their attention on squad of marines trapped behind a thin wall of shattered concrete. Raising his SOCOM, his helmet automatically focusing in on the targets, the VISR system magnifying a virtual scope that gave him a clear shot of the one of three jackals. Depressing the trigger twice, his first shot hit the vulture like creature just below the neck, sending tis quaking in surprise and pain only to be silenced as the second round popped a small hole in its visage. The two other jackals squeaked in surprise at the death of their ally, taking cover before turning their attention to Adrian.
He tried to get another shot off but was forced to roll out of the way of the incoming beams of energy. Swearing to himself he stumbled down the pile of debris, narrowly finding cover with the marines as energy bolts flew overhead.
"An ODST? Fuck are we glad to see you, where's the rest of your squad?" One of the marines spoke, and by the looks of it the only one that could. As Adrian took stock of his recent allies, he noticed that most of the bodies he'd briefly skimmed from his vantage point were corpses. Three dead soldiers laid next to them, one seemed gravely wounded with a hastily wrapped bandage tied around her collarbone, leaving one to try and fend off the jackals.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Adrian replied, he couldn't make out the emotions as the marine had a thick yellow visor protruding downwards from his helmet and heavy mesh baclava covering everything below the eyes.
"Separated, we were doing a routine patrol of the outskirts until we stumbled into a god damn covvie ambush. I barely remember what happened it's all a blur, only that we scrambled out of there as fast as possible and into this shitshow."
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Adrian's training kicked in, months of repressed tactics resurfacing as he had to change his strategy. Peeking around corners wasn't an option with jackals, they're marksmen were frighteningly good and disgustingly bloodthirsty. They could probably hit a fly halfway across the city, but as mentioned, they were bloodthirsty. They lacked patience, always craving a fresh kill; it was both good and bad for UNSC troops. On one hand, it meant that they lacked patience, it was easy enough to force a jackal into the opening just by waiting until they got antsy. On the other, it meant zeroing their position was damn near impossible because any sign you were peeking out of cover, and you'd lose half your head.
A bolt of plasma landed a few feet away from them, throwing dust up into the air. Adrian clicked his tongue as he ran through options, the dust got caught in the wind, blowing itself over the marine's dead comrades. Biting his lip, he reached out for one of their rifles, sighing in disappointment as the round counter read 'zero' on the electronic display.
"Don't mean to disrespect your friends."
The marine snorted, "Don't fret, that was the first thing I tried, they must've used it up during out initial skirmish. Selfish bastards could've at least saved us a round."
"Got any ideas?"
"Me? Jesus I was hoping you'd have something; I've been stuck here for at least an hour."
Adrian looked around hoping something in the barren hellscape would magically appear, though the sounds of distant jet engines sparked an idea, "Have you tired radioing for air support?"
"Pfft, like they'd waste firepower on a couple grunts with a lot of dead."
"Eh that's fair enough… but I don't think we'll need them. How much you go left on that AR?"
"Half a mag."
"Alright, when I give the signal, draw their attention while I flank them."
The marine nodded as Adria inched down the crumbled wall, having to take his time as it was only a fraction of its usual height leaving both him and the marine crouched down to an uncomfortable level. Reaching the end of the available cover, Adrian pulled a small device from one of his pouches. Pressing a minuscule button on the back of the rounded device, a video feed appeared in the corner of his helmet projecting everything that the miniature camera in his hand captured. Extended the camera outwards on a thin pole, he nodded towards the marine whose name he still didn't know and waited until he heard the constant rattle of an MA5 or rather, given the time frame an earlier variant. Nudging the camera past the crumbled concrete barrier, he saw that both jackals had focused their attention on the lone marine but chances of a clean shot at this angle were slim. Briefly moving the camera, he spied a gaping hole at the base of the office building. Quickly snapping the handheld camera shot and stuffing it back in his pouch, he wasted no time in vaulting over the debris and rushing towards the opening.
The jackals were so set on killing the other soldier, only one of them noticed Adrian when it was far too late, as in he'd snuck up behind them and one vulture-like alien came face to face with the barrel of a human pistol. Adrian splattered it's brains with a single shot, then swiftly spinning to face the second marksman, he raised his leg and kicked the beam rifle from its clawed hand. Stunned at the loss of its weapon, it had no time to react when Adrian jammed the knife deep into its stomach and ripped upwards with the serrated edge. Its alien tongue howled in agony as it wrapped it's arms around itself as steaming intestines poured out from it, eventually falling to the ground in a heap of blood and gore. Checking the magazine in his pistol, he saw he was down to ten rounds. Grimacing, he eyed the now dead Jackal's beam rifle lying next on the ground not far from them. Holstering his pistol, he picked up the foreign weaponry and after briefly getting himself acquainted with the usual design made his way back down to meet up with the lone marine.
On his way down Adrian picked up a second beam rifle, upon offering it to the soldier, the man shook his head, "I uhm – don't know how to use one of those but of you can all the better, guess that's why you're an ODST. Besides, I have to carry Casey, wouldn't be able to use a two-handed weapon anyway."
Tossing the second beam rifle, Adrian tilted his head, "Casey the wounded one?" At the nod of the marine Adrian questioned more, "So who are you?"
"Private First-class Williams sir."
"Lance corporal Kasporov." Replied in kind, Adrian decided to leave out any specifics, better to keep his existence as vague as possible. "For now, the plan is simple, move into the city until we can rendezvous with UNSC forces."
"What about my platoon?"
"They'll be doing the same thing if they're still alive. What about Casey, is she stable?" Adrian
"She should be, Shepard, our field medic, did what they could before well…" Williams shrugged towards a partially decapitated body marked with the red cross for medical personnel, the head laid awkwardly off to the side attached to the neck by only by a few strands of tendons and muscle. Like every other victim of plasma weaponry, the wound was sizzling with bits of smoldering skin practically bubbling as it fused with the melted helmet adorned upon the dead medic's head.
"We'll head northeast, with luck will hit a UNSC patrol. Try to keep Casey stable, that wound's in a bad place and I don't think there's much I can do if it reopens."
"Alright." Williams agreed as he gently hefted the unconscious body of Casey onto his shoulders as Adrian took point, the trio began their trek through the flaming city.
The two conscious soldiers treaded in mostly silence, their focus almost entirely on staying alive. Occasionally Adrian would bring up a question to try and gain a better understanding of the situation without completely revealing he hadn't a damn clue what was going on. In this berths of silence however, Adrian took note of their surroundings, a now abandoned battlefield still filled with the horrors of this war. Hundreds if not thousands of half-rotting corpses, humans, and Covenant alike, filled the streets, laid splayed across the ruined city block, hung out of windows or off building roofs. Williams faint gagging made Adrian thankful that his suit was airtight, though it also brought to mind that this was only one of a thousand sites on this planet alone. Where the corpses of friend and foe alike would lay for eternity, their eviscerated bodies smoldering under the hot sun in areas brought to dust but months or sometimes even years of nonstop fighting. This particular area was barely recognizable as having been a human settlement, the humanity having long been stripped from it by a constant haze of bullets, blood, and death. Eventually they came upon a row of toppled apartment buildings that must have reached a mile into the sky before, magnificent creations of glass and steel that were a testaments to mankind's' ingenuity. Now they laid against the earth, representations of how far humanity would fall in the years to come, though in the present they wrapped around the ground, blocking most of the way forward leaving them with one very funneled path through the carcass of one of those former glimmering giants.
"If there's not an ambush waiting for in there the debris will probably crush us anyway." Williams muttered.
"Well, I didn't think backtracking would be a pleasant option." Adrian waved out towards the thirty-minute trek they made through decaying battlefield. "Besides what life without a little excitement."
"You and me have different ideas of fun." The masked marine sighed.
The two moved towards the apartment, entering through a mostly intact entrance and into a large lobby with tiled floors that clicked underneath their heavy armored boots. At one point it was likely a very spacious area, he could almost envision the freshly waxed floors shining with potted plants lining the walls and people bustling about their daily lives. Since the Covenant arrived the people were gone, dead or evacuated save for the military, the plants had long since wilted from dehydration, and the once spacious room was now mostly filled with the collapsed rooms from the upper floors and neighboring buildings. Finding a mostly intact stairwell in the corner they began to make their way up the emergency stairwell, it laid cold, and barren built in simple grey stone. Their reached an end point as the set of stairs up to the next floor were utterly destroyed, leaving them to move through the apartment itself.
Cracking open the door to the hallway, Adrian peered through, "Be prepared to fight, you gonna be alright if you keep carrying Casey?"
"I'll live but the sooner we find help the better." Williams huffed with a bit of exhaustion, the mask muffling his voice just a tad.
Pushing the door open fully, it's creaky hinges echoed throughout the claustrophobic hallway causing Adrian to tense up. Slowly placing the beam rifle onto the magnetic strips on the back of his armor, he reluctantly drew his SOCOM and knife. The covvie marksmen rifle would be unwieldy in such close quarters, he'd just have to be smart with his ammunition usage if they encountered anything not human.
The foyer was what you'd expect, a long narrow path with richly adorned carpets, faux wood, and doors lining both sides of the hall. Some were open, others were closed, it made it easy to tell which rooms were occupied when the planet-wide evacuation order went out. At the far end of the hallway a singularly large window with a second stairwell placed directly next to it. The window filled the empty space along the wall allowing a healthy ray of sunshine into the building that reach all the way to Adrian, Williams, and Casey. The line of warmth felt oddly comforting, a bit of life in the otherwise haunting building. The soldiers made their way down the hallway, the planks beneath their feet creaking under their weighty gear, each step made Adrian nervous that they were easily broadcasting their position to whatever enemy lied in wait.
Though another part of his brain was telling him he was just being paranoid, just as the sane side was about to win over, he stopped dead in his tracks. Raising his hand, Williams immediately ducked into one of the open side rooms and laid Casey down. Other than Williams peeking back out, the two stood in complete silence and soon enough it could faintly be heard that there was something else near them. To the untrained ear it might've just sounded like gibberish or perhaps some wild animal that had made its home inside the shelter of humanity's remains. To Adrian however, it was instantly recognizable as a conversation, specifically two grunts engaged in a debate. He couldn't understand what they were saying for the most part, but he'd spent enough Ime skulking around their camps to pick up general inflections and tones, but more importantly to differentiate what species was talking, how many there were, and their mood.
Moving back into his own open room, Adrian signed to Williams, 'two grunts, coming close, quiet' to which the other marine nodded and drew his own combat knife. Adrian put away his pistol, freeing up a hand to grab ahold of the grunt and stop it from slipping away. It was only a couple minutes, but the waiting felt like an eternity as the grunt's vices grew louder, eventually the sound of their uneven foot pattern became clear as they trudged on down the hall.
As the two short aliens walked pasted the open doors, oblivious as ever, Adrian and Williams stepped out, using one hand to get a strong hold on the grunt's head as the other hand, armed with the knife, quickly drew across the methane-breathers neck as well as making sure to sever the methane tubes. Both grunt's died in a matter of seconds and were promptly dragged into the respective rooms of their killers.
Stepping back out into the hallway, flicking the blood of his knife, Adrian spoke, "It's unusual for grunts to be alone, there's usually…" A spine-tingling roar brought their attention to an elite standing in front of the glass window at the far end of the hall, it raised its arm, plasma rifle in hand and begun to fire as it moved closer to the two under-armed troops.
"And there's momma – just had to open my fucking mouth."
"Great time for self-reflection but uhh, the fucking huge alien I think is a bigger priority."
"Yeah yeah." Adrian mumbled as he pulled the beam rifle off his back, it's unwieldy form struggling in his human hands. Taking a deep breath, he popped around the corner and fired blindly, the shot went wide but got a startled yell out of the elite, forcing it into cover. Swearing under his breath, he saw Williams firing what little assault rifle ammo he had before similarly swearing as it clicked after only a few seconds. Peeking out once more, he tried to settle his aim for a second longer but wasn't given much of a chance to as the elite immediately opened fire. Firing once more with little aim, he ducked behind cover again but grinned as he heard a frustrated scream from the elite.
"Did I get it?"
"I think you just pissed it off."
Confused, Adrian turned the corner only to see the massive alien charging at them, a ruined plasma rifle laying on the ground a few meters back. He'd hit the gun but not the enemy itself, wonderful. He tried to get a third shot off, but the elite moved quicker than he thought and he only skimmed the shoulder pauldron of the alien, it's shields taking the brunt of the damage. The alien charged into Adrian, sending him flying backwards and slamming into the other half of the doorframe behind him. The wood cracking under the force of his collision, before he could regain his senses, he felt himself lifted up by the foot and swung like a toy into the hallway. Another crack resounded but he couldn't tell if that was the wall or his body. Groaning he nevertheless drew his pistol and emptied the clip into the elite, most of the shots were deflected by the shields but enough damage was taken to break it's barrier. The last two rounds pierced it's armor, stumbling the creature in shock, seemingly surprised that it could be hurt. Pushing himself up, Williams bashed the back of the elite's head with his assault rifle causing it to crash to the floor. As it struggled to get up off the ground, Adrian pulled its head up by its helmet and dug his serrated knife into its throat before ripping it out. It gurgled on blood before slumping to the ground, Adrian rolled off the alien and onto the ground, taking a few deep breaths he closed his eyes for a couple moments to allow his body a moment of respite. When he opened them, he saw William's reaching his hand out to pull him off the ground, before he could grab the marine's hand two prongs of raw energy pierced the man's chest and raised him off the ground.
"Williams!" Adrian shouted as he started to scramble backwards. William's body was flicked off the sword to the ground like a piece of trash revealing an Elite Major in detailed gold armor. It snarled at Adrian as it stomped closer towards him, the energy sword crackling with raw power.
"You absolute motherfucker, god damn you're ugly as sin."
Maybe it smirked at that, it was hard to tell with its ugly god damn mug. Still despite his words Adrian kept retreating, the energy sword was one hell of a frightening tool and eventually Adrian found himself backed up against the window. Briefly sparing a glance out of it he saw it would be a drop of at least three stories, not a fall he was eager to test out willingly. Turning back to the gold elite, he felt himself moving from foot to foot until an idea came to mind.
"Not very honorable to fight me with that sword." He raised his hands to show he wasn't armed, "Fists only." He punched the air a couple times to further his point. It stared at him a while before culling it's sword, he wasn't sure whether it understood his words or simply his actions, but Adrian welcomed it regardless. Still, that was only part one of a plan he was making up as he went along, he had no illusions about how shitty of a situation this was especially since there could be anywhere from two to a dozen other elites waiting nearby. The two of them, stared at each other for a few seconds, with Adrian pacing back and forth, his fists raised. Eventually lacking any other option, he charged it with a roar and delivered it a solid right hook…that hurt himself more than the alien. It slightly moved its jaw in annoyance, but Adrian's hand felt like it was about to fall off. Despite his own calls to honor, Adrian wasn't much to care for it. Drawing his knife, he went to charge the elite only to be swatted away with a powerful blow that sent the blade flying out of his hands. It narrowed its eyes in anger or perhaps disappointment before making its first offensive move, it's pick Adrian up by the neck and stared deep into his own eyes. As it's mandibles twitched a reckless thought entered Adrian's mind that he did without giving it a second thought, with one hand trying to pry himself from the elite's vice grip the other hand went to his hip and pulled a frag grenade from its place. Flicking the pin off with one finger, he poked one of the elite's eyes with the same finger. It roared in pain, it's mandibles gapping wide allowing Adrian to shove the grenade down its wide gullet with unmatched force. The elite let go of Adrian as choked, it's eyes now wide in astonishment as it seemed to understand what was about to happen.
Scrambling to his feet, Adrian didn't have any time to act before an explosion erupted, only bolstered by the force of the elite's own plasma grenades it sent him rocketing out of the glass window in a blackened daze. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he regained consciousness, it couldn't have been long as he could see the freshly smoking crater in the side of the apartment still giving out a healthy bellowing of smoke. He didn't have much chance to take in the rest his environment however as half a dozen red dots appeared on his radar, one immediately made itself known as it peered into his visor from above. An elegantly adorned white armor with overly elaborate helmet easily showed it as a Zealot. It walked around to stand in front of him, giving Adrian a full view of its imposing height and stature. The zealot flicked an energy dagger from its wrist as Adrian didn't even try to move his body, it felt like everything inside him was in shambles.
"Well shit…at least I got back…sort of." He sighed before glaring at the Zealot though he knew it wouldn't be able to see his face, "I got on thing for you though buddy, why don't you get on a ship, head back home, and honorably FUCK YOURSELF, because I swear to god if I survive this, I will fucking obliterate your entire god damn race.
The zealot chuckled at Adrian's outburst, again Adrian wasn't sure if it was laughing at his words or simply seeing an agitated human. Still, he meant his words though he knew it wouldn't come true. Dying on Harvest sent shivers down his spine though if anything he felt more pity for Casey who would slowly die alone in her comatose state. Just as he was about to lean his head back and accept his fate, a new contact appeared on his radar…this time yellow…as in an ally, and it was…right next to him?
Before he could organize the new information, a blur dashed in front of him, grabbing the zealots arm, snapping the limb with practiced ease and jamming the energy dagger into the zealot's head before moving onto the next target. Eyes wide in shock, he labored to push himself onto his elbows still in disbelief at the turn of events. Around him the sounds of weapons fire and screams barely registered, in fact he didn't even realize when the fighting had stopped simply continued to stare straight ahead in confusion until the original figure blocked his vision casting a massive shadow that covered the entirety of his body.
"Are you alright trooper?" A female voice rang out with a hand reaching down just like Williams. Unlike the dead marine's hand however, this one practically wrapped around the entirety of his own. His hand was dwarfed in the embrace in the new ally who pulled him to his feet was practically no input from his own body. Finally spending some time to look at his savior he immediately understood why. Dark green armor contrasted heavily against the dusty brown ruins of the city, their visor a deep golden-orange that reflected the sun like a gem, and their designation imprinted in bold white on the upper corner of their chest plate, 054.
It was a Spartan; he owed his life to a Spartan.
The True Skull: I've toyed with the idea of a sequel but honestly there's other stories I'd like to explore. Not that it's at all off the table but my initial plan is to at the least do a small, couple chapter sort of epilogue/sequel down the line that but maybe that will expand if I get any ideas on how to expand the story past that.
Rook435: I am hoping to continue the idea of Adrian being a smaller part of a larger battle, especially now back on Harvest I want to really dive into that sort of grounded, muddy, brutal fighting where Adrian as an ODST is an important but small part in a much larger war. There's also definitely going to be some more surprises down the road in the next set of chapters that hopefully you'll enjoy.
cchazyboy: Glad you're enjoying, I'm definitely aiming to portray a stark difference in the worlds of Halo versus Overwatch especially from a character level.
Sm0keyPanda: Honestly a meeting between Cutter, Forge and the rest with Adrian was one of the first ideas when I planned this arc out probably close to half a year ago. I'm struggling to reconcile the ideas of wanting Adrian to just be another soldier in the pits and also trying to have a reasltic enough reason to have him meet with such high ranking figures. Anyway I definitely want to keep up the feeling of 'oh fuck' throughout this arc and maybe ther est of teh story till it ends.