DAD!!!

He heard her anguished cry for him as he fell. He knew that this was the only way they were going to complete the mission. His only regret was that he knew he was going to break her heart.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the brute leader slammed into him as they fell. Barrock let out a roar of fury before punching Ryker and sending him bouncing off the wall of the chasm. Ryker quickly recovered from his brief collision with the wall.

"kalis, How deep is this hole?" Ryker demanded as Barrock attempted to grab him again.

The AI paused for a few seconds before answering.

" Based on the information I gathered during our fall we have about a mile before we hit the bottom."

Ryker frowned. "What's at the bottom?"

Kalis quickly replied " It can be one of two options. It's going to be rocks or water."

Ryker sent a punch into the rib age of the brute as the grappled. " let's hope it's the later." He snarled out as the brute struck him in the chest sending him bouncing off the wall again.

"I would recommend bracing for impact." Kalis stated as Ryker retrieved his combat knife from the brutes shoulder. He pushed himself away from the brute and maxed his suits gel layer.

He saw unfortunately that the floor was a mix of pools and rocks as the ground rushed toward him. He gritted his teeth as his body clipped a large rock and sent him tumbling into one of the pools. Spots swam in his vision as he fought to remain conscious while his suit was giving off multiple alarms and warnings.

He could faintly hear Kalis yelling at him about something.

He took a deep breath but felt his ribs light up like they were on fire. The pain cleared his vision a bit for him to realize he was sinking. He stretched out an arm and felt along the wall for a handhold. He finally found one and stopped his decend.

He look at his hub to see a warning displaying a leak in his suit that was slowly filling with water. He turned the alarm off and started climbing back to the surface.

He slowly brought his head above the water and looked around. Seeing the immediate vicinity around him had no threats he pulled himself out of the water and flopped on to his back gasping as his injuries voiced their pain.

He was about to ask Kalis what the extend of his injuries were when a spray of water erupted from a pool 15 yards away from him. He quickly got to his feet as a bloody Barrock dragged himself from the pool he landed in. The brute shook its head and snarled as it saw him.

He torn the mangled armor from his chest as he roared at Ryker. " I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR BODY!"

The massive brute charged at Ryker swinging what was left if its gravity hammer. Ryker sidestepped the brute as it charged and used his blade to slice it's shoulder open. With surprising speed it whipped its arm backwards and backhanded the Spartan sending him 10ft onto his back.

Ryker looked up and roll to the side as the damaged gravity hammer slammed into the ground. He shot his left leg out and kicked the brute in the hip. An audible crack was heard as the brutes hip was shattered. Barrock roared again in pain and swung his hammer again.

This time Ryker was a millisecond to slow. The hammer caught him in the left shoulder, slamming the Spartan into the rocks. His shoulder was in agony. The hud readout said that it was broken and had massive trauma to the muscle and nerves. The pain started to fade as the suit injected painkillers and biofoam into his wounds.

Ryker got to his feet and took a combat stance again. Barrock hadn't moved too far due to his broken hip. But seeing the Spartan standing again made him lose what control he had over his mind sending him into a blood rage. Clumsily he charged at the demon determined to kill it.

Ryker waited till the brute was nearly on him and then jumped. The world slowed to almost a crawl as he entered Spartan time. During this he was able to see all the damage and blood that Barrock had taken. At the peak of his jump he rotated his body so that his boots were now about to land in the middle of the brutes back.

He could see Barrock eyes widen as the brute realized what was about to happen to him. As Ryker landed the crack of Barrock spine snapping in half echoed on the walls of the chasm. The brute let out a scream of pain as he was paralyzed from the waist down.

Ryker stepped off the brute and walked around to its head. He raised his boot again to stomp on the brutes skull but stopped when he heard the brute chuckle.

It coughed up blood before speaking.

" You think you've won demon? You think my death will stop us?"

Ryker paused. "What do you mean?" He asked angrily.

Barrock chuckled again. "I am not the greater evil Spartan. I am just one of the enforcers."

Ryker picked up his knife and grabbed the brutes head tilting up and pressing his knife against its throat. "Your going to tell me who is in charge or I will make your last minutes alive agonizing." He said with malice in his voice.

Barrock bared his teeth in a sadistic smile.

"Prepare Spartan, when he comes he will burn every world and finish what Truth started."

Before Ryker could ask Barrock what he meant the brute opened his hand that was tucked under his chest and dropped the cooked plasma grenade. Ryker didn't have time to get away as the blast consumed the brute and sent him into the air.

He landed 20ft away with a dull thump. His armor was smoking and his chest plate was shredded. Ryker could only lay there and stare through his cracked visor as his vision swam in and out of focus. Kalis urged him to stay awake.

" Ryker, you need to find somewhere to hide. I'm picking up a covenant patrol descending down the chasm."

Ryker blinked a few times and slowly got on his knees.

"Where?" He said with a struggling gasp.

" On your left about 50ft looks like a cave entrance. We may be able to conceal ourselves there." The AI quickly replied.

Ryker got to his feet but fell to his knees once again. He took a ragged breath and stood once more. Kalis could only watch as the Spartan limped and staggered his way to the mouth of the cave. It was smaller than he though but it went back about 50ft and opened into a small cavern.

Ryker found a rock pile that was large enough to conceal him from view if an enemy walked into the cave and finally collapsed behind it. His breathing was ragged and uneven. Kalis went over Ryker bio feed and frowned. He had broken ribs, a partially collapsed lung, multiple lacerations on this torso and legs on top of the nearly destroyed shoulder. Luckily his biofoam injectors were still working. Rykers breathing steadied as the foam did its job but still didn't move from where he collapsed. The injuries the Spartan took finally did its number and took Ryker into the dark depths of unconsciousness.

Kalis waited a few minutes to make sure that Ryker was breathing and not dying before creating an encrypted duress beacon for the UNSC to find.

If Kalis knew anything from his short time with Ryker is that his family will go through Hell and back to bring him home.