I do not own any of the franchises in this story.
Episode 7
With the help of the GPS, it didn't take them too long to find their destination. The city loomed in front of them, towering skyscrapers heavily contrasting against the backdrop of a vast empty desert. The Warthog had parked just outside the city limits on a paved road as the occupants marvelled at the sight.
"So this is where the coordinates have led us?" Mtan asked, but Philips was silent. "Hu- Philips?" No response. The ODST just stared at the skyline, jaw dropped and mind overworked as he tried to process the location in front of him.
This was the city he was born in and had grown up in. Before the Covenant had reduced it and the colony world to glass. Yet here it was, unmarked by any form of damage. There were some differences: Besides being completely deserted, the signs depicting the city's name (New Sanctuary) were blanked out, and the streets were far cleaner than what they had actually been, but other than that, this was his home.
"Philips? Are you alright?" Tapping on his shoulder broke the ODST out of his reverie.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a sense of deja vu." Philips replied, not ready to tell Mtan the whole truth.
"Deja what?"
"It means a sense of familiarity, like I've been here before." Philips said. The two of them were silent for a moment before they agreed that they should keep exploring.
The thrum of the Hog's engine echoed off the empty streets and buildings, which was unnerving enough, but what disturbed the ODST the most was the fact that the street names and locations were exactly the same as New Sanctuary.
Discreetly choosing a route that took them past his old apartment complex, Philips stopped the Hog and got out, as the Elite followed suit.
"Why have we stopped?" Mtan asked in a puzzled tone. "I-I just want to check something." Philips lied. "Wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes." He left without waiting for Mtan's reply, truthfully not caring if the Elite decided to press on without him.
One of the people in those flashes had mentioned his mother. Philips didn't know what he expected to find here, but he needed to look at his old home. For evidence, a clue, a sign, anything! Finally finding the old apartment, Philips inputted the password that was active when he was a kid and was surprised to find that it worked.
The door slid open... to a bare room, devoid of any furniture, pictures... really any sign that someone used to live here. Searching through the other rooms, Philips found that the entire apartment was barren. Sighing in frustration and sadness, Philips slumped against the wall and pulled his helmet off.
"This was your home, wasn't it?" Philips jumped when he heard the voice as he pulled out his battle rifle and aimed it at the source of the noise, only to find that it was Mtan standing in the doorway.
"Was it that obvious?" Philips huskily asked, lowering his weapon and picking up his helmet. The Elite nodded solemnly. "I am truly sorry." Mtan whispered. "Thanks." Philips genuinely replied, voice cracking as he did so. Gathering himself up, Philips resealed his helmet and turned to his comrade.
"You go ahead, I'll be right behind you." Mtan gave his acknowledgement and left to go to the Warthog. Philips gave one last look at what used to be old home, then he followed the Elite.
What he didn't know was that as he was walking out through the door, a figure in green armor appeared, standing in the middle of the room and watching the ODST leave. A second later, the figure disappeared as well.
Returning to their exploration, Philips took them by the town hall, where they found the first signs of some kind of struggle. Debris was scattered across the road, clearly from the buildings around the square and courtyard.
The two of them dismounted the Warthog and searched through the wreckage on foot, looking for any recording equipment, electronic device or anything that could tell them what happened here.
"I don't like this." Mtan said, "There should be some sort of evidence as to what happened here, and yet there's nothing." Right on cue, another flash occurred just as the Elite had finished speaking.
"Oh, shit." Philips whispered.
Soldiers were all over the place, moving objects throughout the courtyard. Realizing that the soldiers could spot them at any moment, Mtan grabbed Philips, then triggered his active camo. The cloaking field enshrouded them both, allowing them to observe unseen.
"What are you doing?" Philips asked, but the Elite shushed him before speaking.
"We should remain hidden until this ends." Mtan said. Philips looked at the Elite, and nodded his head in agreement, before turning back to observe the scene in front of them. Then the realization struck him with the force of a sledgehammer and he whipped his head around to look into Mtan's faceplate.
"Wait, you can see this?" The ODST whispered incredulously. Before Mtan could reply, someone in the middle of the courtyard started shouting.
"Get this stuff inside now!" A female commander yelled, as the soldiers began moving boxes into the town hall in a flurry of movement. "Faster!" The commander yelled, "We don't have much time before-" She was cut off by another soldier.
"INCOMING!" Someone shouted, before an artillery shell landed near one of the buildings, sending debris flying.
Mtan rolled the two of them out of the way of a large chunk of masonry, and the two of them recovered in time to see several more artillery shells smash chunks off of the nearby buildings. Screams of agony echoed around them as soldiers either lay bleeding from the shrapnel or crushed from the debris.
"Pull back! Everyone get inside!" Someone shouted as the soldiers took cover inside the town hall. One particularily lucky shell landed on a munitions crate, causing a massive explosion that killed everyone near it. The fireball also vaporized one particularly large crate, revealing the contents within. Despite the chaos around them, the two cloaked soldiers found their eyes drawn to the artifact inside.
The structure had glowing symbols carved on it that looked similar to the ones on the other alien artifact Philips had seen earlier. But that was where the similarities ended. This artifact colored in a dull red hue, and stood at 9 feet tall. The base seemed to be a solid structure, while the top of the artifact split off into two prongs that arced towards each other. Unlike the other device, this artifact appeared to made of solid stone, though considering it survived a massive explosion, it was obviously something much tougher.
The flash ended at that moment, causing Mtan to release Philips and deactivate his active camo. The two soldiers absorbed what they had seen, clearly wondering what that artifact had been. Looking around, Philips was the first to notice that the defensive positions in the city hall were still relatively intact.
"We should go inside. See what we can find." The ODST said. They entered into the city hall, and were surprised to find that this place was less like a government building and more like a military fortress.
"Is this the same layout as your old one?" Mtan asked, looking through doors in the process.
"No idea," Philips said, as he tried accessing the computers and searching through desks, "I've never actually been here before."
After half an hour of searching Philips found a biometric scanner while running his hand across a wall. "Access granted." A voice said, causing a hidden panel to open and reveal an elevator.
"Mtan, get over here!" Philips shouted, causing the Elite to run over to the ODST. Looking over the elevator, Mtan turned to look at Philips.
"Do you think that this is a wise course of action?"
"Well, if you have a better idea, I'm open to it." Philips said. After a moment, Mtan shook his head and the two went in. A short and cramped elevator ride later, and the two of them arrived in an observation booth overlooking a massive chamber.
A chamber filled with several alien artifacts, including the stone monolith.
The two of them found themselves gazing in awe at the alien devices, when suddenly the monolith and the several of the blue devices started glowing. A deep bass tone, and something that sounded like a massive foghorn filled the rooms, causing Mtan to howl in pain and Philips to clutch his head and fall to his knees.
As the two of them watched, an orange beam of energy erupted from between the two prongs on the monolith, and shot up into the air. Unnatural screaming caused the ODST and the Spec Ops Elite to search for the source of the noise.
And what they saw would haunt their nightmares.
To those who are wondering what happened to Shadow Team, fear not, they'll be returning in the next chapter.
Reviews are welcome.