Descent into Darkness
The blistering sounds of self-contained explosions and plasma fire broke through the dull throb that had kept Eddie Salim company for the last day in this godforsaken cell. He dragged himself to his feet, rubbing his temple as his eyes focused on his surroundings, the blurry and sporadic fighting outside his cell fading in almost an instant as a gargantuan green figure slowly began to walk out of view. "What the hell?.." he murmured as he staggered out of his holding pen, immediately catching his foot on a poorly-placed carbine and passionately kissing the floor with his face. For a moment he considered remaining there, on the ground, and just accepting his death. Afterall, he was deep within the Covenant's holy city with no possible way out. But no, that wasn't the Salim way, he was going to get out of this no matter what stood on his way.
"Shit.. that looked like it hurt, man." a sharp and loud voice derailed his train of thought.
Eddie was lifted off the ground and placed firmly on his feet. "Yeah, that wasn't a nice fall." he smirked awkwardly, embarrassed by his idiocy.
"We've all done it at some point, mate." the man who had helped him handed him the carbine that had defeated him only a few moments prior. "Let's get a move on, Eddie Hearn. The big green fella' isn't going to wait for us."
"Eddie Hear- oh.. it's you." Eddie scanned the man infront of him. "Mark, I don't even LOOK like that guy." he pushed past him frustratedly and headed for the exit. The other marine simply smirked and followed him, seemingly amused by the thought that he had annoyed Eddie, a fact that only pissed Eddie off more as he glanced back at the guy's dumb, smug expression. An oddly satisfying chime sounded off as he approached the large door at the entrance, with the door retreating and revealing the chamber in which his and other holding pens were. The sound of plasma fire rang out from the top chamber as the Master Chief and a number of other marines made short work of Covenant reinforcements that were stupidly funneling down the central gravlift in a straight line.
"We'll follow the Chief. If there's anyone who'll get us out of here, it's got to be him." Mark tapped Eddie's shoulder as he advanced on the gravlift pad at the rear of the chamber. Eddie followed him and the two rose to the top floor using the series of poorly-designed gravlifts.
"Looks like they've already gone up. If we can move fast enough, we can catch up." Salim began to run towards the lift as Mark stopped with a slightly worried expression plastered across his formerly smug face, staring blankly at the abyss below. "What's wrong, smugass? Scared of heights?"
The man cleared his throat and looked directly at Eddie. "Shut up and listen.." the two fell completely silent, and somewhere in the deepest recesses of their hearing they could hear something.. a dull buzzing-like noise that was slowly gaining in intensity.
"Drones! Get in the gravlift!" Eddie grabbed Mark and pulled him into the central gravlift, the two beginning to rise up as a seemingly endless swarm of drones flooded the chamber below. He breathed a sigh of relief, that was too close for comfort, but atleast they got out alive. Annnd then he remembered he was in a Covenant metropolis patrolled by potentially millions of bloodthirsty, merciless alien bastards. This was going to be a long night.
Their feet met with the floor as the gravlift came to an abrupt end. The bodies of fallen elites and drones littered the ground, a clear sign of the direction that the alien-killing badass had went in. "Let's move." Eddie and Mark immediately began rushing down the hallway, their boots quickly becoming covered in the innards and blood of various alien creatures. If this is what the Chief is capable of, Eddie thought, they were in capable hands.