Out of the Frying Pan
Eddie and Mark had caught up to the Master Chief, who left a trail of death and destruction in his wake. The other marines he had with him were all but gone by now, fallen victims to the Covenant onslaught, leaving just Sierra 117 and his two comrades to stop Truth. The three soldiers stepped through a doorway and onto a platform that overlooked the city, a thin, almost fantastical mist blanketed the city below as scarred plasma fire and colourful explosions lit up up the once-peaceful holy city. A blistering loud crack and the roar of a set of highly-powerful engines suddenly obliterated the marines eardrums, and as Eddie went to open his mouth to make a joking remark about the situation, their radio was lit up. "Slipspace rupture.. it's In Amber Clad!" she exlaimed as the Master Chief slowly turned his head to look at the frigate approach. The two marines watched in awe as it passed over them, the sheer power and force of its movement almost sweeping them off their feet.
"I'm sorry- what the hell just happened?!" Eddie loudly exclaimed as he stared in shock at his marine comrade. "Why did-" he suddenly realised that they didn't have time to be standing around concerned over why it happened, and that securing a way out of High Charity should be their top priority. This, alongside sticking close to the big green killing machine that would keep them safe-
"Where.. is Chief?" Eddie snapped his head back to look at Mark and then scanned his surroundings. Mark was right, he wasn't anywhere to be seen, and better yet, the gravity conveyor simply did not work, it refused to carry them to the other platform. Cortana suddenly interrupted their momentary panic;
"Hailing... No response. She crashed into another tower ahead of our position. I'll keep trying to make contact, but I'm not registering any human vital signs." she stated with her typical clinical-yet-personality-filled tone. This was bad news, if the In Amber Clad wasn't here with reinforcements, which it definitely sounded like it wasn't, what is it actually doing here? Nevermind that, they had one goal, one single objective that they both needed to work towards, and that goal was to survive.
"The.. conveyor.. thing.. won't work," Eddie started, "and I doubt that the Covenant is going to put much emphasis on dealing with us. They clearly think the Master Chief is the bigger threat... which he is, but still, to them, we're so insignificant that they won't even-" he tried to finish his monologue but was crudely interrupted by his brash friend.
"I swear, if you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting, we might as well kill ourselves to save time." Mark smugly added "or better yet, why don-"
"Shut up, fuckass. Let me speak." Eddie waited a moment for Mark to stop rambling. "Good. Thank you. Atleast you can be cooperative sometimes. What I was saying is that we should hold up, wait here. This conveyor is a major thing and some Covenant will definitely pass through here, but if we stay low and quiet in the corners we could wait until-"
"Until what? Until the Chief comes back? Until a pelican randomly appears and picks us up?"
"It's better than your plan, dumbass. Chief is advancing on a horde of Covenant who will take special notice of his big greem demon ass. If we follow him, we're gonna die." Eddie took a deep breath, composing himself "The Covenant are fighting amongst eachother. If we wait, they will eventually thin out. The fighting will probably move down to the city either way." Finally, Mark gave in, nodding in defeat as the two slowly walked to the corner edge of the platform, sitting on the ledge overlooking the holy city, the battle raging dancing like fireworks across the sky. Eventually, the two rested their backs and heads against the wall and drifted to sleep.