I'm starting to get used to breaking away from the cannon plot now, but it will still follow it, just by taking another road so-to-speak.

This chapter has been something I've been wanting to do for a while now, also this is two episodes in one, since I'm skipping the next episode since it would have been just a continuation.

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Louise's POV

I had another dream...

This time I wasn't in the body of my familiar... but observing him from an invisible third person type of view. The dream started a bit fuzzy and then finally the surroundings came into contrast and I could make out the silhouette of Alexander approaching my location, or at least from where I was watching... behind him was the wreckage of the destroyed Supercarrier in flames, purple and blue flames... he was somewhere in the mountains as I could tell due to the mountain ranges behind him. He finally made it to my dream location and knelt down, reaching just outside of my field of view, before grabbing it and moving his arm just center of my vision... he moved his other hand to the slider of the magnum before cocking the gun and standing back up... he started to walk away from me and looked around at the wreck... before limping away.

The scene shifted and what I assumed must have been hours later I saw Alexander approach a ridge... he limp-ran to the top of the ridge and looked out across a... City!? This must have been a city, but it was the largest and most grand city I've ever seen! Despite the fact that some buildings were in ruins and on fire! Towers rose sky-high above the clouds and the metropolis stretched on for kilometers and kilometers! (A/N: That doesn't sound right does it? Km and Km? Miles and miles sounds better... but meh...).Before he jumped down he let Jorge's dogtags hang off by his fingertips while he stood there in silence... He then jumped down the ridge and landed on the top of a low building with a grunt before standing up and raising his gun... wary of his surroundings... he snuck to the edge of the building and vaulted over a railing before jumping down another floor...

Then a voice came through his helmet. "Kilo to dispatch, how's the situation at the tower landing pad?" I recognized that as the voice of Sgt. Stacker, the western sounding man.

"Kilo this is dispatch, Tower landing is green and evac birds are on standby, let's move before that changes!"

"Rodger that dispatch, Kilo-two-three moving out, all able UNSC personnel in the area converging on the evac site."

Alex moved through a structure with it's lighting out and made his way up some stairs... encountering and dispatching three Skirmishers, picking up one of their Plasma Pistols and entering another dark building...

"This is Kilo-four to all UNSC ground forces in the area, keep an eye out, there have been sights of Grunt Suicide Squads in the area." Said a voice through the helmet.

Then another, more annoyed voice "Aww, you gotta be kidding me!"

"That's a negative, stay sharp..."

I didn't understand why it was such a big deal... then once Alex had entered the building I realized that every Grunt he encountered inside, lit up two Plasma Grenades and charged him, trying to blow him up... to no avail mind you as he just popped them in the head with his Magnum.

As he made his way through the dark halls and the ruined maintenance rooms and power rooms filled with suicide Grunts more voices spoke through his helmet.

"Kilo-two-three here, we gotta Covenant Corvette incoming at the evac site... requesting fire support."

"Affirmative Kilo-two-three, firing FPS-1... shot... out!"

*Ka-BAM*

"Target's still standing!"

"Copy that Kilo-two-three... firing FPS-2... shot!"

*KA-BAM!*

"DAMN! How do you stop that thing!" exclaimed Stacker

Alex ran up a set of maintenance stairs in the lower levels of the building before reaching behind a... Laundromat? And using a medkit on his injured leg... he then left the building to the left, picking up an MA37 from a fallen marine... once he stood back up from picking up the rifle, he looked over the railing and recoiled as a Covie Spirit Dropship rose from below the tower and a few Brutes started to shot at him, he returned fire, taking out two of the three Brutes before the Spirit flew away.

Alex headed down a ramp leading to a nearby firefight... there were Brutes everywhere! Somewhere slaughtering civilians while Marines shot at them, so bloodthirsty were they. Alex then used his Magnum to shoot a Brute in the head as it was about to crush the neck of a civilian.

Then one of the Marines noticed him. "We picked up a friendly!" he said

"Spartan!? Where the hell'd he come from!?" exclaimed a female marine.

"Who cares!" retorted the other Marine. "Spartan, assist! We need to secure civilians and escort them to the evac site!"

Alex nodded and just across from the ramp he'd gone down was a set of stairs leading to an overhang which overlooked the field of battle, giving him a good field of fire. It turns out that near the railing of the overhang was a fully loaded Sniper Rifle, which he gladly took from the looks of it. With the Sniper he picked off three more Brutes who were endangering civilians before using the last shot on an unworthy Jackal, reloading, then jumping down to clear out the grunts. He went up to a nearby food stand to pick up another medkit for later use... he glanced at the menu on the food stand, eyeing the Moa burgers which cost 7 cR... he sagged his shoulders before shaking his head... and I swear I heard him mutter.

"Ugh... when was the last time I've eaten?"

He then entered the building which was labelled as a train station of some sort, once he came out to the courtyard in the middle of the building he engaged with more Brutes and Covies... ahead was the tower they had to secure in order to get civilians to the evac site. Alex took cover with his DMR at the ready, sniper on his back and magnum at his side. He rolled out of cover shooting two Brutes in the head before running at the squad leader, jumping on top of a planter and kicking off it doing a aerial roundhouse kick delivered straight to the face of the Brute, making a nice *crack* sound. The Grunts the Brute was commanding fled in terror as they were gunned down by the UNSC. Soon enough the floor was secured... Alex pressed a button to open a door...

"What the hell is taking so long?" complained a Marine.

"Uhh..." said Stacker over the radio "We're evacuating a group of civilians from the floor beneath you, as soon as we're done I'll send the elevator right up."

"Great... and looks like we got more incoming!"

Sure enough two Phantom loads of Covies converged on the defending Marines and Spartan... the Spartan of whom I spoke, ran out to the landing site of the first Phantom, found an emplaced weapon and to my surprise, didn't use it from behind, but rather ripped it off its mount and gunned down all the Covie emerging from the Phantom, before exhausting it's ammo, dropping it and picking up a Gravity Hammer from one of the fallen Brutes...

He then ran back to the defending marines and slammed aside a wave of Grunts before taking on a Brute Chieftain in one on one combat, slamming his own Grav. Hammer into its skull.

"Daaaaaamn Lieutenant, glad you're on our side." Said an impressed Marine who called the elevator again, which opened this time with another Marine inside waiting for the Spartan.

Alex entered the elevator and was taken down a few floors to a group of waiting ODSTs who stood on the edge of section of ruined building... well... either it was ruined of in construction since there were still sections of metal scaffolding in the center of the open space... Alex looked down and all either he or I could see was grey cloud... I assumed it was a long way down...

"Hope you like jumping Sparta, radio's been buzzing about you. Welcome to the Bullfrogs!" said the ODST Sergeant, who threw a large metal backpack at Alex... he put in on and the backpack managed to shoot fire and allow him to fly for short distances! He used this item to traverse the scaffolding and avoiding falling to his death... (A/N: Yet, if he can survive a fall from space, why can't he survive a fall from a sky-scrapper? Mind answering that for me?)

Once he'd crossed over the gap and slaughtered more Covies on his advance to the landing pad he entered a building filled with Brutes and a Chieftain or two along with several Shade Turrets. Quickly dispatching the Brutes and making extra sure to avoid the incoming green missiles from the Fuel Rod Cannons that one of the Chieftains was wielding, and stay out of range of the other one's Gravity Hammer. He rolled out of the way of the Chieftain's hammer, grabbing it by its shaft, reeling forward, slamming the bladed side into the Chieftain's face, then yanking the hammer out of the corpse's hands and slamming aside a group of Jackals and Grunts before focusing on the last Chief with a well thrown Plasma Grenade stick. It roared briefly before exploding in a brilliant blue...

"Alright, LZ is clear, bring in the Evac birds!" said Stacker.

Three ships came in, a Pelican to pick up the Civilians and two Falcons, one for escort and another to take Alex to another location he was needed... on the way there he passed... several... distress calls... it was... horrifying... both he and I could only watch from a distance as a squad of cornered marines put up a desperate last stand against three Brute Chiefs, a group of Civilians and Marines were blasted by a passing Banshee, a building was blown to pieces from a shot from the Covie Corvette, three Warthogs were obliterated by several Wraiths... a few Marines being thrown from skyscrapers by bloodthirsty Brutes.

"This is Civilian Transport Echo-two-four, I've got six thousand souls onboard and Covies are just outside, I have to take off!"

"Negative Echo-Four-Two! Wait until that Corvette is gone!" said Stacker over the radio...

I heard the Pilot of the Transport scoff... as the Falcon turned a corner I saw the Civilian Transport... it had taken off already even against the UNSC military's orders. I watched to my horror as a barrage from the Corvette hit the ship and it crashed into the ocean.

"I'm hit! I'm hit! We're going down!" I heard over the radio...

"God no..." said a female marine "I can't watch this..." she sobbed

"Mayday, mayday- AHHHHH!" screamed the radio

"Turn that off, we don't need to hear this..." choked out Alex.

"Should we send search and rescue parties?" asked Stacker.

"No point..." sighed command.

The Falcon landed at a beachhead where a Marine Sergeant greeted him. "You're a sight for sore eyes Lieutenant, those Covie bastards are set up here and we need to get those missile batteries up and online, or else the rest of these transports aren't going anywhere."

"Affirmative" said Six

"Alright Marines!" yelled the Sergeant "Let get these Covie bastards off our beach!"

Alex jumped off the Falcon and onto a nearby Warthog, the Sergeant and another Marine boarded with him as he drove around the small inlet of water and next to a communications building which had been set up as a UNSC outpost... he drove past a Ghost, while the sergeant killed the driver. The hog flew off a small hill and across a walkway and overtop a passing Wraith... this was lucky since the gunner of the hog was able to turn and get an easy shot on the Wraith's exposed power core in the rear, destroying it. Alex pulled alongside a beach wall, where up top was an Anti-Air missile battery. He parked at the bottom and made his way up the wall stairs, gunning down Grunts and Brutes alike, stealing a Brute's Concussion Rifle to take out a Chieftain on a nearby overpass, which also happened to lead to the next battery.

After activating both batteries he was instructed to head back to the comms building. Covie had taken it over and killed the battery operators, not Alex would have to make it back there and fire the missiles. This was almost child's play from the looks of it as Alex ran up the stairs in front of the building, throwing a plasma grenade into the massed Brute Infantry, killing four of them, making the Grunts panic... he ignored the Grunts and ran into the building, headed to the viewport to the first door to the right and slammed his hand down on the big red button on a table in the center of the room.

He looked out the windows as a salvo of missiles flew out from the batteries and hit the Corvette over top of the city, disabling it's weapon systems.

"Civilian Transports are away!" cheered a pilot from over the radio "You saved allot of lives today Spartan!"

Alex, who had made his way to the edge of the beach, gazed out at the sunset... then a voice came over his radio, one that was familiar.

"Six? This is Kat, we picked up your transponder about an hour ago but were unable to contact you, still no sign of Jorge though."

"He didn't make it..." replied Six.

"I see..." sighed Kat. There was a long pause "Either way, your needed back here... we're sending a bird to pick you up..."

"Rodger that." Said Alex, who then popped a green flare and threw it on the ground in front of him...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Scorch's POV

I Rolled out of my cot in the UNSC base... it was abnormally quiet today... oh that's right, I'd sent off Fireteam Alpha and Charlie to the frontline to help out with Tristain's battles... they were only authorized for supportive roles and tactical insertions however and wouldn't be playing any roles in the main offensives until I got there... that is... if I ever got there... Fireteam Bravo was still here on garrison duty as was the one of the two remaining members of Fireteam Delta... Cpl. Bradley. Cpl Foley and Sgt. Dempsey were also at the front under Sgt. Stacker in the line of command.

I sighed... and headed to the mess hall to grab some food... I entered and threw a few of those dry, chocolate dog biscuits in my mouth and swirled it around with water to make it easier to chew. I swear, why they made MRE's so damned difficult to eat is beyond me. I shrugged at the thought as Pvt. Woods, Sgt. Montgomery, Cpl. Jones and Cpl. Bradley made their way over to me in their fatigues. They all sat down at the same mess table as me.

"We're getting lower and lower on personnel each day of this war." Said Jude. "Sgt. Paddocks of Fireteam Alpha said that they took four more casualties in the past week of the war... Charlie took one casualty, he's injured but Sgt. Stacker said he'd recover. Also we lost a Pelican to enemy fire yesterday along with their pilots... and I mean literal fire! Turns out that fire magic can cause the engines on a Pelican to overheat and explode... if a lucky shot is scored... which it was..."

"Damn... that means less and less people I can count on..." I said "Less and less people with experience.. at this rate we will need to recruit more of the locals... but we won't have enough people to take on the leading roles... to many Privates..."

"Haha..." sighed Bradley in childish humor.

"Shut your privates Sergeant!" I chuckled, full well getting his little humor, but finding it highly immature... I cleared my head... "Wait here..." I ran into the back of the base, in the HQ building and retrieved a few magnetic golden plated Chevrons from my desk before returning to the mess hall.

I handed one Chev to Jenny. "I think you've earned it Corporal Woods"

Jenny stood up and took her new rank. "Thank you sir!" she saluted

"Remind me to do the paper work for it later..." I said... I then glanced at the clock above the entranceway to the mess hall. "ah shit, look at the time, I gotta go... I'm supposed to help Anies with training."

I got up and headed back to the barracks to grab my stuff, equip my armor and then I headed out into the Magic Academy.

I headed into the eastern courtyard where Anies was already up and practicing with her underlings, giving orders and correcting them on any mistakes they had made... she then noticed me and held up a hand.

"Hold up, that's enough for the moment, five minute break then back to it!" she yelled before walking over to meet me. "Hey, what's that expression for?" she asked

I then noticed I was frowning, I shook my head "Oh nothing... just... thinking..."

"About?"

"We've taken a few losses, the UNSC that is, and sure, new troops can be trained, but we are losing more and more of those with experience... losing leaders..." I said "That being said, those who are with me right now are going to be in higher demand due to their experience level... and..." I paused "Considering you have quite a bit of experience yourself..." I flipped a second Chevron in my hand "here." I held out the Chevron.

"A... Chevron?" she asked "What is this about?"

"Um... It's a promotion..." I said

"You're... promoting... me?" she asked like she didn't follow... which I assume she didn't.

"Like I said, in UNSC terms, you're just a Private, which is the lowest rank available... me giving you this Chevron... along with some extra paperwork I need to fill out" I groaned "means that you've risen in the ranks... congratulations on making it to the rank of Corporal."

"Do you have permission to do that?" she asked

"Well, I can only promote people as I see fit to the rank of Sergeant Major, which is the highest NCO rank, anything higher and I will need to run it through with command, but seeing as I can't contact command... I guess I can only officially make Sergeants..." I explained

"I see..."

"So, while your troops rest, want to practice a bit?" I asked

"Sure..." she changed to her ODST armor the same way myself or the other UNSC troops changed, with their own Nanite-Transformer... mine just happened to have a larger data capacity... allowing me to carry more.

Today I let her try out the Scorpion Tank, which was the only armed vehicle we had here at the moment, along with an unarmed Warthog and one Mongoose... I left it unloaded however since I didn't want her to accidently blow up the academy... however getting run over was still a concern...

I sat on the Scorpion next to the driver's seat, she had the bulletproof canopy pulled down but I could still talk to her easily.

"No! Left! Left!" she exclaimed and I face palmed. "Why are there six pedals if there are only four directions!?"

I took the mistake of letting her fire off a round at a few targets I had set up... I put three red targets to simulate enemies and two blues to simulate allies...

"OK... not shoot the group of reds there." I pointed.

"Firing main cannon" said the tank's super dumb-AI.

*Ka-boom!*

A blue target flew away in pieces, and I nick-named the target earlier today and I was shocked... "You shot Church you team-killing fucktard!" I exclaimed

"Soooorrryyy!"

"Remind me to never let you drive the tank after this..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Anies sighed...

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Later that night I was awoken by the sound of running, then someone tripping into the barracks...

"What now!?" I exclaimed then noticed it was a petite pink haired mage I knew very well... "Louise, why did you wake me?!" I focused on Louise, who I then noticed had tears streaming down her face.

"It's Tristania!" She exclaimed "It's under attack!"

This woke me up instantly, I ripped out of the sleeping bag I was in and equipped my armor before hitting the nearest alarm button... waking up the rest of Fireteam Bravo...

"Sir!" shouted Cpl. Bradley who ran out of the HQ building. "I just got a communication from command! The first element of the UNSC forces will be here in mere hours!"

"That's good" I said to the assembled troops "Because Tristania, the capital of Tristain is under attack! And we're responding!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" all the marines and ODST shouted before suiting up and locking and loading.

Then Anies and her troops rallied through the gates of the academy, reaching us as we loaded who we could onto the unarmed Warthog and Mongoose... we were able to fit four people on the flatbed of the Warthog making six in total and two on the Mongoose... the rest would take horses and one would take the tank and meet us in the town.

"I heard the news!" shouted Anies, "We're going ahead, meet us there!" and her troops rode off.

Colbert, Kirche, and Tabitha had also been awoken by the alarms... along with many of the students... when they realized what was going on, Kirche and Tabitha volunteered to join... and... to my surprise, Colbert said he'd join as well... this way they could get to the capital using Sylphid!

We loaded six marines onto the Warthog, three onto horses and one got into the Scorpion... Cpl. Bradley joined Tabitha, Colbert and Kirche on Sylphid... I bet he looked a bit green already...

Louise and I jumped onto the Mongoose... "Scatter!" I shouted "Just get there at all costs! Break formations if you need to!"

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

We reached the Capital... the central square was a disaster... I saw Anies soldiers... at least half of them already lay dead... the central square... it was burned to glass and the sky was colored a orangish-red haze, filled with smoke and weapon residue, both conventional and energy based... I instantly knew what was going on...

A Brute leapt out at me from a burning building... I stabbed it in the gut with my energy sword as it fell on me...

"Where are all the civilians?" I asked Anies who was hiding in cover, wearing her ODST armor along with a musket which looked a little strange.

"Evacuated, don't worry... it's only this small area here they are holding... since it's the only way up to the Royal palace..."

I paled... "Is Henrietta still here!?" I exclaimed

I got a solemn nod from Anies.

"Damnit!" I yelled. "here" I gave Anies a spare assault rifle."

"Is there anyone else on the way here?" Anies asked

"Six more troops en route... along with the tank, me and Louise made it here since the Mongoose is faster! Also Kirche, Colbert and Tabitha are here with Sylphid the Dragon."

Anies nodded. "We need to hold out until the Tank gets here, there is no way we can make it though the square without fire support, the Covies have automatic guns placed on either side! It's a killing zone! They obviously don't want anyone through there!"

"Where?" I asked, not seeing any Plasma Cannons.

"Oh trust me, they're there!" she assured me, pointed to the bodies of her fallen comrades who were all riddled with plasma burns. "They lured us out and cut down several of my troops before we could make it back to cover!"

"Don't worry..." I pulled out my sniper "That's what I'm here for!" I poked my head out of the cover and moved up, taking cover behind a stone bench. The fountain in the center of the square still shot water, which instantly turned to steam due to the intense heat from it being at the center of the blast which turned the square to mostly glass. I glanced to the right... a plasma cannon on the second floor of a fancy inn... the wall was blown out so it would be easy to take down with the right weapon... luckily... I had the right weapon...

I popped out of cover and killed the Grunt gunner with a head shot... then the other gun... which I hadn't seen on the left, on the third floor of a weapons shop opened fire on me... I ducked back into cover... I heard a loud roar and a blast of fire... I glanced up to see Sylphid blast the gunner with fire in an epic flyby! I held a thumb up in thanks...

"Move up!" I yelled and all the G.P soldiers got out of cover and moved through the square and up the road leading to the palace... I had specifically instructed them to move at a five meter spread since that was the casualty radius of a plasma mortar.

Thankfully we made it up to the palace gates without any incident.

I looked behind me to the sound of engine revving, the Warthog pulled up to us and all the six marines who were onboard piled out. Cpl. Jones pulled out a pair of bolt cutters from the back of the hog and clipped open the padlock on the iron bared gate, which were then easily swung open.

Small ponds were on either side of us along with a field of hedgerows leading up to the front steps of the palace.

*pew* *thuk*

A G.P Soldier fell dead with a Covie Carbine round through her skull.

"Sniper!" I yelled "Split up! Take the hedgerow mazes up and avoid the center walkway!"

We split up, three marines and three G.P Soldiers per side, making their ways through the hedgerows. At nearly every turn we had to deal with a squad of grunts before continuing, the hedges made for some fierce close-quarters fighting, some was even hand-to-hand with Brutes and Jackals.

At the last bend I heard another blast followed by a loud "Damnit!" from a marine from the other side... I peeked around the corner and my shields flared as a single round hit me before I ducked back into cover.

I timed my breathing... then rolled out of cover, firing shots from my DMR in the direction of the enemy shooter, hitting the Jackal sniper in the chest twice and once in the head causing him to fall off the roof of the palace.

"Move up!"

We moved towards the main doorway... Sgt. Montgomery opted to plant breaching charges and bust our way in... I stopped him with a wave of my hand. "No" I said "If Henrietta and her court is still in there then they could be in danger, we go in quiet... Anies, Montgomery, Woods, Jones, Bradley, Tabitha, Kirche, Julio, Colbert, Louise, on me. The rest of you, keep any incoming Covies out at all costs!"

"Yes sir!" replied the Marines and G.P soldiers.

I hand signaled for the others to follow me... we crept into the palace, with Louise right behind me, instructing me on which turns to take in order to get to the throne room... we had to skillfully dodge and eliminate several Covie patrols silently as we made our way to the throne room...

"This way" whispered Louise "We can take a shortcut through the kitchen, just don't knock over any pots or pans."

I nodded and headed towards the door to the room in question, then opened the door as slowly as possible as to avoid making sudden movements or reduce the chance of the door creaking.

The we heard voices... audible voices...

"So, how long do you think we're gonna be stationed here? All I want is to get the job done then collect my pay." Said one baritone, but clearly human voice.

"Same here, these Ape men give me the creeps..." replied another voice.

I put a silencer on my assault rifle and opened the door fully.

"Who's there!?" asked the humans who raised staves, but not before I shot each of them in the gullet with a quick, silent burst from my Assault Rifle.

"What the hell?" I muttered "What are Albion forces doing here?"

"He mentioned something about Ape men..." said Louise "Maybe they were talking about the Brutes?"

"No shit" I replied "but why would the Covies be allying themselves with Albion?"

"I guess we will find that out later hmm?"

I nodded and we left the kitchen into the royal hall... it was a massive two story room with a balcony circling the perimeter of the room with small fancy looking support beams holding it up to the wall... with white wooden railing and peach colored walling with white crowning.

"Lets sneak up to the top" I said "We can get a better view and avoid anyone on the ground."

We found a set of stairs which lead up to the second floor... but to my surprise we heard even more voices... we all took cover behind some of the support beams or pushed ourselves to the ground and as far back to the wall as we could to avoid being seen.

"Do you have the shipment of Wind Crystals?" asked a loud and raspy voice.

"No, I'm a only a merc sent here to observe and burn along with you... the Governor herself will have the Crystals when we get back, but you will only get them if you prove yourself worthy." Said a baritone voice with an evilly scented accent to it.

I dared to peek over the edge to see what was going on... a large burly man with a red shirt and a scared face stood tall, talking to a white skinned and highly armored Brute, who to my surprise was speaking fluent French.

"You stupid humans... you don't even know when you've gotten your hands on forerunner artifacts! The only reason we haven't blasted your kingdom to smithereens is due to the risk of destroying the Crystals along with it!"

"Hey don't look at me... my only wish it to burn things..."

"You are very strange human..."

"No matter, we are nearly done with our mission here... bring out the prisoners!"

Then to the bottom left of the room, a line of Court officials were walked out into the center of the room and lined up as though they were to be executed via firing squad... then... at the head of the room, a flash of purple and a high pitched yelp confirmed my fears...

Henrietta was bound and forced into the center of the room, facing her captured subjects...

"You know what we are here for" said the Human "Withdraw your forces from Albion... of these men and women die..."

"no!" exclaimed Henrietta...

I noticed Anies and Louise getting twitchy... I patted Louise on the back and shook my head... not yet... then tapped Anies on the shoulder and repeated my motions. We were getting good info...

"Then how about we start with this fellow here!?" Shouted the Human who then pointed a bronze mace at the furthest Official on the left who wore a white shirt and black pants. A jet of fire shot out of the mace and immolated the Court official.

"NO!" yelled Henrietta, as if her shouts would stop them.

"Perhaps one more?" said the Brute "I Brakanus will deliver this one" The name sounded familiar... the Brute raised a Gravity Hammer, turned it off and crushed the head of the next Official in line... only five more officials remained.

"Don't give in your Majesty!" yelled another official. "Do not surrender!"

"Quiet you!" snarled Brakanus and grabbed the official by the neck and crushed it with his oversized hand... "Anyone else have any words of discouragement?"

There was no reply from the remaining officials...

"You stubborn queen!" shouted the Human "Do you wish to be burned so badly?" my blood then ran cold as the Human picked up Henrietta by the neck, her feet struggling under her... "Maybe we should try a different approach!" he yelled as he threw her to the floor, and struck her in the face at an angle with his mace, not killing thankfully... she gained a cut across her cheek from the edge of the mace.

"I can keep this up if you want!? I can have the Brute join in on the fun! Hahahahahah!"

*SMASH*

The Brute and his entourage looked towards my position... I knelt on the first floor after having jumped off the second one... I slowly looked up... filled with anger...

"Killed by Alien kind nearly a decade ago..." I snarled "Reborn as a clone" I reached to my side and drew a magnum "Transported to a world where nothing makes sense and everything I once believed is said to be false..." I also drew a combat knife "And now you DARE HURT MY FRIENDS!?" I shouted... my voice then lowered, but loud enough so that everyone in the room could hear my death threat...

"You are not prepared..." I hissed...

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX (Would it have been mean to cut it off here and wait for the next chapter to learn what happened, cuz that's what I had been thinking of doing... adding the rest of this chapter beyond here was a last minute decision so you guys are lucky.)

I looked up into the Brute, Brakanus's eyes... he stared back at my visor... full of an old, awakened rage...

"There is one here... I didn't know..." he turned to his Grunts and Jackals and Brute allies... "Kill him! Kill the Demon!" he shouted, recognizing my armor... I suppose he was a survivor of the Halo events...

I heard Louise and the others draw a few gasps as the mention of demon, the marines on the other hand were indifferent. I was outnumbered one to thirty, but I didn't care, I was pissed! No one hurt Henrietta and got away with it... erm... I mean... my friends... I ran to the right as all the Brutes fired their Spikers at me, I managed to outrun their pacing of shot however, the spikes from the guns always at my heels in the place I had just been... I then leaped towards one of the support columns and kicked off it towards a Brute, plunging my knife into its neck then ripping it's trachea out with the jagged blade, its blood spurting out it's ripped neck. I pushed off the body and fired off a few rounds from my Magnum, killing a Jackal who left his side exposed. As I rolled to my feet I sliced a Brute's legs, severing his Achilles' tendon before bringing the blade down on its chest. Then without hesitation I threw the blade at the Brute standing next to Henrietta, hitting it square between the eyes. I drew dual magnums and ran circles around the remaining Covies and Albion Humans, gunning them down while their fire could not match my speed...

I dropped three more grunts while the last one fled in terror, squealing "Demon to powerful, run away! Run away!" before I shot his methane tank on his back, making him fly into the roof before exploding in a light blue mist.

I rolled a frag grenade under the shields of a Jackal, which upon detonation killed the remaining Jackals. It was then just me and the four remaining Brutes and the leader of the Albion Humans...

One of the Brutes made the mistake of taunting me, he laughed and said "Do you take comfort in knowing the death of your friend will feed our hungry bellies? Her flesh is warm and soft, easy to swallow!" he laughed again but didn't finish. "GAK!" he squirmed with my hands around his neck... I'd never strangled a Brute before... so this was a first for me too! Once I'd squeezed the life out of him, I went a bit over kill, punching his dead face in, caving in the skull. I struck again, this time taking the body's head clean off. I noticed the hesitation of the remaining Brutes...

"You want me to rip you to shreds like him!?" I hissed and drew Derflinger for the first time in a long while... "I'd be happy to oblige...!" I charged and took the head off another Brute and ran through the last one... the leader Brakanus jumped back as I tried to slay him... I took another swing but he was faster than he looked, kicking my helmet off and knocking me on my back in a counter attack. I rolled to the side and to my feet to avoid being stomped on. I swiped at his feet but he just slightly hopped over the low swinging blade before trying to kick me back down. He failed and I jumped back, ready to strike back.

"Hey, Demon!" shouted the Human "Say goodbye to your princess!" he aimed the Mace at Henrietta who was still laying in shock at what was happening...

"Shiiiit!" I yelled and dove in front of Henrietta, closing my eyes and holding my hands out in front of me... ready to be immolated... but the heat never came... in fact... it felt colder...

"A-Alex!?" exclaimed Henrietta... I dared to open my eyes. I gasped at what I was doing... in fact... I don't think anyone expected what I saw... blocking the jet of fire was a shield of water, like a water fall, just... materialized in front of me...

"What... the?" I muttered

"I thought you couldn't cast magic!" she exclaimed...

"I couldn't... unless..." I thought about when I'd been injured... "We will talk about it later... for now I want to try something... I kicked the Human down after he exhausted his flames... then turned to the Brute... I held out my hand and focused all my willpower on one location on his body... if this worked I would be mind-blown... I cupped my hand into a C and envisioned him dangling in the air... I started to hear muffled choking sounds... I opened my eyes and smirked as the Brute was held mid-air... clawing at his neck for air as I choked the life out of him... with magic...

Then just to rub it in even more... "You were not prepared..." I said and finished him off by fully closing my hand, crushing his windpipe... I turned around to face Henrietta, and helped her up.

"What was that?" she asked

I knew what happened, and I would not lose my sense of humor over it either... "I'll tell you what happened! I fucking became Darth Vader! That's what happened!" I cheered.

"Huh?"

I heard the clanking of a mace on the ground... "I'm not quite finished yet" said the Albion human, who's name I still didn't know... with my adrenaline out, he caught me off guard and blasted me back, but before the fire could breach my shields another blue fire cut him off...

"Step away from my students and her Highness!" shouted Colbert, who had made his way down from the balcony.

"You!" said the Human "I know you! You are the one I've been searching for!"

"huh?" asked Anies who joined next to him.

"This guy, this guy's the Flame Snake! He's the captain of my old strike team! At last I've found you!"

"Strike team? Flame Snake? What the hell are you-" a realization hit Anies "No... no, no, no, no, no..." she stuttered...

"This guy, he was the most merciless of them all be it men, women of children he burnt them all! And at last, captain sir! My level of flame has surpassed that of your own! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

"You are like you always were before... cocky..." and Colbert waved his staff at the old student and immolated him with a scream... which then turned to laughter... as the flame was absorbed by the Albion agent.

Something inside Anies snapped as she backed away from Colbert... and to my surprise... drew her sword from her ODST belt and swung at Colbert. "I'll kill you! You bastard!" she screamed

"Anies! Back down!" I yelled "That's an order!"

"NO!"

"Back off commoner! This doesn't concern you!" said the Agent and threw the absorbed fire at Anies...

"No!" shouted Colbert and shoved Anies out of the way, taking the blast himself... screaming in pain as the flame engulfed him...

"Hahahahah!" laughed the Agent "How does it feel to be burnt to death, Flame Snake?" The Anies seemed to notice something on Colbert's back... due to his charred and scarred clothing after the fire...

"Now... goodbye... old captain..." said the Agent and raised his mace, ready to deliver the final blow... not on my watch... I aimed my Magnum at his head... but before I could get a shot off, a whisk of black and silver, and a blade was driven right through the torso of the Agent... courtesy of Anies... the Agent fell dead against her as she pulled the sword out and dropped the body...

Anies walked back to Colbert, her sword hanging at her side...

"Are you alright?" he asked, and in getting no response looked up to see her standing there. "Good" he muttered... then collapsed forward...

"Why did you save me?" asked Anies "on the day my hometown burned..."

"Because... I realized.. I had made a grave mistake..."

I took the Queen outside while the others ran down to tend to Colbert... we stepped outside to the far right of the courtyard... out of view of the other Marines who had been standing guard...

"Ma'am" I said "You are lucky to be alive now... but... don't worry, I'm sure that the UNSC can help re-build what was lost... sadly... people can never be replaced" I finished solemnly...

I didn't get a reply from the purpled haired and garbed queen who avoided my gaze...

"What's wrong?" I asked

"You used magic..." she said

"I think... I think it had something to do with the blood you gave me... the magic energies that resided within your bloodstream must have transferred over after the filtering process... I guess the blood filter didn't pick up on it... and now I can use magic as well..."

"It makes sense I guess... but..." Henrietta started to cry... "I was... I was... so scared..." she sobbed... "I could have made a decision and saved the others... but... but..." she cried

"Don't fret Milady, they will be mourned but your determination is what will lead Tristain to victory against Albion... and with UNSC support, I'm sure you will emerge nothing but victorious!" I cheered

"T-thank you..." there was an awkward silence for a while... "Alex... I... I wish to see your face..."

I raised an eyebrow at the request, but took my helmet off and showed my face to her.

"You looked so... different when you fought those Brutes..." she said "Like another person... older, angrier... like an enraged bear... but now... with you looking at me now... you look so calm... and... sweet..."

"Well" I replied "I don't like people hurting my friends of course... so naturally."

I was caught off guard as Henrietta, despite her shorter height managed to reach up and kiss me. "T-thank you..." she stuttered and headed off in a general direction away from me...

I shook my head in confusion before heading to the other Marines who stood guard...

"Sir!" shouted one of the Marines. "Reinforcements arrived, I sent them inside"

"Good man" I said "How many?"

"Five sir!"

"Only companies?" I asked

"No sir, just five... five men..."

"WHAT!? You gotta be fucking kidding me, I thought we were getting a whole division!" I exclaimed before storming back into the main hallway... and I don't know what I was more in shock of... the body of Colbert being taken away while the students cried for him... or the ones carrying the body... five super soldiers I once knew very well... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

The largest man in orangeish armor with a heavy Reach accent spoke. "It's been a while eh Six? Glad to be back..." he said

"Yeah, it's been a while..." chuckled the one in blue armor with a commanding voice "But like I said on day one... now I'm just happy to have Noble back up to full strength..."

The others nodded...

"Jorge, Kat, Carter, Emile, Jun... you guys... your all here..." I gasped...

"The rest of the UNSC forces will be here in time Six" said Kat "They were just loading them up and finalizing preparations when we left... they'll be bringing in the UNSC Reclaimer, an Infinity-Class dreadnought and research vessle"

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Alas, I'm too tired to make a witty outro comment... D:

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Anyways... I shall sign out now, as per usual with my normal saying.

WTYL guys :D

-Rogue