Chapter 2

beep…..beep….beep….beep…beep (auuughhh, what is that sound?) beep….beep….beep…beep…beep (wait…I'm in a hospital…again.) He slowly opened his eyes. Thankfully someone had enough common sense to have the lights set to low. He heard a sound to his left and slowly turned his head. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Cassy sitting in a chair next to his bed coloring. He then noticed a small card on the side of the bed with the words "get well" written on the front with crayon. He chuckled at this but that quickly turned to a sharp pain in his side. The sudden noise made Cassy look up. "Yay, your awake!" She happily cheered as she climbed onto the bed. Ryker was very unprepared for the sudden hug that Cassy gave him. He was hesitant but then gently gave an awkward return hug. She backed away and Ryker looked at his heavily bandaged chest. He gave a quiet disapproving "Humf". He looked back at Cassy. "Where is your brother?" She pointed to his right. He turned and there was Mark, fast asleep in a chair. He felt a small smile crawl on his face. " What happened while I was out?" Cassy tapped her chin thinking. "Well after you fell asleep a big ship came and picked us up, but when we got to the really big ship they took you away and took me and Mark to another place. I wanted to go with you but they wouldn't let me. You wouldn't wake up and...and there was so much blood…." She frowned and her eyes started to water. Ryker was surprised that she wanted to be with him and that she even cared. He lifted his hand and gently wiped away a tear from her cheek. "It's okay Cassy, I'm alright." She gave him a small smile. " humm… what?" Ryker turned to see Mark waking up. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. He looked at Ryker and smiled. "Your alive!" He said excitedly. "What can I say, I'm hard to keep down." He said grinning. The door on the right side of the room opened and a doctor walked through. "Glad to see that your awake now despite being out for a week." Ryker internally groaned that he was out of the fight that long. " Well doc how long till I'm free to go?" The doctor looked at his clip board. "I would say about another week but I find it hard to tell a spartan that he can't fight and expect them to listen.' He said dryly. "All in all that is not my decision." Ryker was about to ask a question but another figure walked into the room. "Hello Ryker." He sighed " Hello Dr. Halsey." Halsey took in Ryker's bandages and made a quiet tsk sound. Cassy and Mark looked at Halsey while she talked. She noticed the 'Get Well' card and that the two siblings that were standing in a rather protective manner by Ryker. "I see you've picked up a few friends on your last mission." She walked over to the siblings. "Now from what I understand you must be Mark and Cassy." The siblings nodded. She looked at Ryker and smiled, "I want to know why you two seem to have a velcro like attachment to my Spartan." Cassy and Mark looked at each other before Mark answered. " I am not really sure, its just that, we feel safe near him." Halsey nodded understanding. " I also heard that your parents died." Mark nodded sadly. "You both realize that you will be put into an orphanage and…." "No" Mark said cutting her off. She raised an eyebrow. "We want to fight. We want to fight with Ryker." He said boldly. Halsey gave a small smile. "I think we could work that out."

12 Years Later

"What are you, some kinda banana slug in the forest?! Move Faster! His breathing was heavy and labored as his boot pounded in the rhythmic beat of a full sprint. He could nearly see the rounds bitting at the dirt around his feet in his mind. The building was 100 yards dead ahead. If he could make it then he might stand a chance. He felt a round graze the shoulder pad on his ODST armor. That just motivated him to run faster. He suddenly had a feeling and leaped to the right just as a streak of violet accelerated plasma zipped past him. " Aww COME ON!" He yelled. He nearly reached the door way and just opted to dive through the already splintered door, tumbling in an explosion of wood. He quickly recovered and ran up the stairs but stopped to plant a mine on one of the steps. He reached the third floor by the time a muffled boom shock the building. He ran to a window and carefully looked outside. The roof of another building was a story below him. He checked his hud again for the coordinates of his evac. He groaned upon seeing that it was 4 blocks away. He turned around at the sound of loud barks and roars comping closer. "Time to go." He ran to the far wall and looked at the window in front of him. Just as the first brute rounded the corner he bolted, dropping the 2 primed grenades into the stairwell. He reached the window and jumped. He landed and rolled back into a run. He reached the end of that roof and jumped again, but the gap was too wide. He just had time to mutter a curse before landing in a dumpster.

He laid there for a couple of seconds testing to see if anything was broken. He was about to hop out when he hear a scuffling sound in the dumpster. He froze and pulled out his magnum. He aimed at a small pile of papers. It shuffled and a small tabby kitten popped its head out. He let out a sigh of relief and holstered the magnum. He checked if his motion tracker was clear before popping his head out to look. His comms crackled nearly making him jump out of the dumpster. "Mark where are you?" He smiled at the familiar voice. "Well I decided to go for a run and then try some parkour but I don't think I at pro level yet." He heard a groan through the comms " Har Har, how far out are you?" He was about to reply when he felt something tugging on his fatigues. He looked down and there was that tabby kitten again. It looked at him and mewed quietly as it purred. He reached down and gave it a pat on the head before picking it up. "Well my dear Cas I am about 3 block from you guys. I may be coming in hot and bearing gifts." He could nearly see Cassy rolling her eyes. "We will be ready and waiting." She replied. He clicked off his coms and looked around again to make sure it was still safe. The kitten in his hands purred. He held it up at eye level. "Listen you, be quiet or you gonna get us both killed." He only got a quiet mew in reply. He carefully tucked the kitten between the chest plate and his fatigues. Certain that it wasn't going to fall out he grabbed the silenced SMG from his back and proceeded quietly and carefully through the destroyed city.

Cassy shook her head in annoyance at her brothers joking antics. She turned to her squad. Two of the ODSTs were checking gear and weapons. Their sniper was sitting crosslegged on a shop providing look out and discourager for the enemy. Since the split in the covenant they now had two spec ops elites. Despite some hostilities at the beginning, they soon became welcomed members of the squad. In fact the two ODSTs checking the gear always bantered and even played poker with the elites. They had all come to trust on another. They were sent to pick up Mark after he had gone on a stealth mission to gather enemy intel. From what she heard during their last update is that he has the intel and the enemy wants it back. "Alright our V.I.P is on his way and he is going to be bringing company. Let get ready to welcome them." The ODST gave a thumbs up and grabbed a box of mines to prepare the welcome mat. The elites loaded and checked their carbines and wrist blades. She keyed her comm to the ODST on the shop roof. "Hawk, if anyone comes through those alleys and doesn't look like Mark…. blow their head off." "With pleasure ma'm." He replied.

Within a short while the "welcome mat was ready to roll out for their "guests". They only had to wait a few minutes before the sound of gun fire reached their ears. "Alright people, watch your areas and kill all hostiles!" Cassy yelled. A second later, Mark came sliding around the corner of a building, firing behind him as he ran. Cassy contacted the Pelican pilot to begin his approach to the LZ. Mark started running towards them as the first Brute rounded the corner. It didn't get far before a .50 caliber round tore its head from its body. Hawk kept firing at the oncoming hoard till he ran out of bullets. That at least gave Mark enough time to get past the mines before they went off. Brutes, jackals and grunts were shredded by the mines. The remaining covenant and Mark were knocked off their feet by the blast. Mark slowly picked himself of the ground shaking his head to clear the disorientation. The pelican dropped into the courtyard and opened fire with its chin mounted gun. Mark stood up and quickly glanced in the space between his chest plate. The small kitten's eyes were wide with fear but unharmed. He suddenly felt a lot of pain and fell back to his knees. Cassy ran to him and threw one of his arms over her shoulder and helped him to the pelican. The squad quickly jumped in. Once they were safely away from the city everyone relaxed. Cassy looked at Mark and gave him a light smack on the back of his helmet. He smiled but the pain nearly made him fall out of his seat. The Demolitions ODST "Pyro" caught him before he hit the floor. "Whoa there." Pyro said. Cassy looked at Marks back. A metal rod was sticking out of his back! "How bad?" Mark asked tiredly. "Well its not good, we have to remove a metal rod thats in your back." Pyro said bluntly. "Just do it." Mark said as he removed his helmet and pulled out a piece of cloth to bite down on. Pyro waved over on of the elites. It grabbed the rod and looked at Mark. He nodded and the elite yanked out the rod. Mark let out a muffled scream of agony. Pyro quickly injected biofoam into the hole sealing it. Mark let out a sigh as he felt the drugs start to numb the pain. He eased himself onto floor till he was laying down. He looked at Cassy and reached for the kitten. He pulled it out and put it into her hands where it nuzzled into her armor. "Told you I would had a present for you." He said with a smile. She looked at the kitten then at him with raised eyebrows. "I couldn't leave him." Mark said. Cassy gave him a small smile. He chuckled and then promptly fell asleep.