Spartan Black and Spartan Orange took point, Maddock shortly behind, followed by S-110 Vas, Blue, The ODST's, the Marines, Green and Gray. Black and Orange both held M90 CAWS Shotguns, and Maddock an MA5B, Vas his Suppressors, the ODST's, Blue, and the Marines a variety of MA5 variants, M7 Subguns, and shotguns, two with SAW's, and bringing up the rear, Green and Grey, respectively, held an MA5D W/ Grenade Launcher, and an M395 DMR.

The group entered the first entrance to the base, littered with body parts, firearms, and discarded gear in the rush of the combined attacks from the UNSC, and the containment-breaching flood. Black and Orange stepped over a corpse, its chest breached open and all internal organs either destroyed or chewed into unrecognizable mush. The uniform identified itself as Insurrectionist. Probably one of Avoin's specialty anti-Spartans'.

Further into the passageway, several doors engaged in lockdown limited their options, and they funneled themselves down this hall, deeper into the facility. Minuted later, they emerged into a mess. Maddock recognized it as the location himself and Avoin took the fight to the Flood, only to be saved by Chantara and her small strike team.

The lot of them began spreading around the mess. The blood was covered in red, green, blue, and violet blood from the various races that had been infected from the flood, and brought here to be tested on by the Insurrectionists, Avoin's playtoys, per say.

Black held his hand up. "Hold. Movement, 25 meters. 4 targets," Orange positioned himself, shotgun forward and aiming down the blackened hallway. One of the ODST's stepped forward, in his hands an M7s. Black motioned his left hand forward. "Night Vision."

Through their neural interfaces, they activated the night vision within their helmets, boosted by the Spartan's already superb night vision. Four combat forms were hunched over a corpse, a large one by the looks of it; an unidentifiable mush of flesh and bone. Likely Jiralhanae or Sangheili. The ODST fired off a series of small bursts at the infection forms within the bodies of the combat forms, taking them all out quickly.

Orange spoke; "Good work" Black motioned forward again, and the small unit followed suit, entering the passageway the flood they just killed were located. Stepping over the series of bodies that followed; UNSC, Insurrectionist, Jackal, Elite, Brute, Grunt, there were several. Dead corpses from their infection forms being killed by ODST's, who later found themselves infected from the same foe.

After the continuous hallway of corpses passed, they came to a T, and in front of them was another hallway that split into two seperate corridors. To their right, an elevator shaft that only descended. Maddock stated; "This is it. Prepare climbing gear." The team followed Maddock in.

"Green, Orange, HAZOP 2 and 4, post to the rear. Everyone else, get ready to drop." ODST HAZOP 2 and 4 moved to the entrance with Spartans Greens and Orange, securing their backside as they attached rappelling cables to the interior of the elevator shaft.

Vas-110 stepped forward as the first cable was being assembled, tapping the Marines' shoulder. "I'll go first," Vas stated in a quick fashion. The marine moved aside, motioning the cable towards Vas. "All yours, Spartan."

Maddock lined up behind Vas, slapping his MA5B on his back. Vas set the two suppressors he carried onto his back, gripping the cable tightly. "Thanks." Vas stepped out into the elevator shaft, allowing the cable to slide through his hands. Slowly, he slid down, observing the other elevator doors as he descended to the last level, level 17.

Once down there, Vas pulled out his two Suppressors, speaking; "Decks fifteen and nine have their elevator doors open. There's also no sign of the actual elevator in the shaft. Meaning the flood must have taken it apart."

Maddock nodded with grunt. One of the marines groaned; "Oh, great, so they know how to take apart machinery now? Fuck." Black turned his head to the marine; "Can it. Don't freak out when we haven't even gotten our hands dirty."

The marine nodded.

Maddock descended a short moment later, and when down, he pulled his MA5B off his back and exited the shaft into an unlit, dirty white corridor. "Securing perimeter. Two ODST's, five marines, half of Catch, and reverse the method for the rest of them. Understood? Do it quietly."

The marines and ODST's all ushered into their microphones; "Sir, yes sir."

Minutes passed, and the tedious descent into the unknown territory of the lab had been well underway. Forces on the bottom deck grew, and the top lessened and lessened. Halfway through, as he Marine named Killgrove suddenly cursed into his microphone, sliding down quick to the bottom floor and pulling his MA5K off his back, aiming it up the shaft.

HAZOP 3 turned around, looking up into the shaft. "What's up?" Killgrove scanned the shaft, night vision on, breathing hard and fast; "Saw a combat form at deck nine. Was just standing in the door."

Up the shaft, Black sighed, turning to HazMarine 2. "See what's on Deck Nine. Understood?" He nodded; "Sir, yes sir!" Quickly, the marine gripped the cable, swinging into the shaft, and began the descent to the ninth deck. Once arrived, he swung into the corridor, pulling out his M90S on landing, scanning the area around him. "No targets. Sure you saw something?" The marine scoffed; "Tch, fuck yes I did."

HazMarine 2 didn't respond. "Hey, Jason, you there?" Killgrove asked. Another ten seconds passed. "Fuckin' A, they got him." Killgrove muttered. Maddock asked; "Blue, can you confirm?" She nodded, behind Maddock. "Unfortunately so. No vital signs. His armor isn't even online."

"God dammit," Black scoffed, turning behind him. "Orange, HAZOP 1, get down there. HAZOP 5, take his post." HAZOP 5 walked over to Orange, tapping him on the shoulder, who stood up and hustled to the elevator, nodding to HAZOP 1.

Orange placed his M90 CAWS on his back, stepping forward and grabbing the cable.

2 minutes later, they were both within the entrance to deck 9, Orange standing, and HAZOP 1 in the kneeling position. Orange motioned forward, and the two began walking forward down the corridor, no real hallways, doors, or anything in immediate sight. Everything was locked down. No emergency lights on, just darkness. Nothing.

They came to where a hallway went left, and the normal passageway continued straight. HAZOP 1 veered left, and Orange kept on going straight. Almost immediately, he heard a hushed, yet audible squelch echo down the hall.

On heel, Orange spun around, went to the hall, and turned right, aiming his M90 CAWS straight down the hall. He saw HAZOP 1 being dragged into a dark room, a bloodtrail laced with intestines following it. Once his corpse was in the door, it shut automatically. "Man down. Flood presence. Can't find anything on my sensors, yet."

Orange began to withdraw down to the elevator shaft. On his left foot, as soon as he turned, the lights of the ninth deck suddenly erupted with showering white light, followed directly by every single locked down door tearing open to reveal dozens of combat and infection forms piled to the brim, spilling out in fives and tens.

Immediately, Orange turned and bolted towards the elevator. "Flood are mounting an ambush up here! Contact, contact!"

Once near the door, he turned around, raising his shotgun to his shoulder as they rapidly increased his distance towards him. As sudden as the attack, through him, he heard a comm call. "You've got backup behind you, open fire!"

Orange pulled the trigger, ripping a whole right side off of one form. At nearly the same time, two SAW's opened fire behind him, 7.62MM rounds screaming down the hallway at rapid pace, piercing and ripping through the various creatures that were chasing Orange.

Orange began slam-firing his 8 Gauge shotgun, squeezing out twelve rounds incredibly fast, leaving clumps and mounds of flesh in its wake. Once out, Orange dropped it to the floor and pulled an MA5B off his back, switching off the safety and beginning to dump rounds into the oncoming horde.

Hundreds of spent shell casings later, the lights suddenly shut off, and the lockdown initiated again. In the corridor, hundreds of flood creatures lie dead and dismembered. The two marines behind Orange cheered; "Fuck yeah! Teach those parasite sons of bitches what it's like to die!" "Fuckin got that right, Ox!"

Black's thickly laced accent abruptly interrupted the cheering, stating; "We have hundreds of contacts moving in on our location. Teams, double-time it down to the seventeenth deck, NOW!"

Orange placed the MA5B on his back, picking up his shotgun, and stepping off the ledge to the ground below, landing with an audible thump. The two marines quickly descended down to the bottom deck. Black began ushering the remaining marines, ODST's, and Spartans down the elevator shaft, and to deck 17.

As the last one, Black turned around to the doorway, only to see it obstructed by dozens of misshapen creatures of the Flood. Pulling a grenade from his belt, he primed it and chucked it at them while dropping down into the Shaft.

With a similarly audible thud, he hit the ground, braced by his suit, and pulled his M90 CAWS to his shoulder.

In front stood Orange and Vas, and they nodded, immediately moving forward, the unit following directly behind them. On their radars, hundreds of little red dots began congregating around their positions, readying for an ambush.