NOCTURNE Base, Lumbar Mountains, Providence
November 30, 2557
"We need to talk." Marcus gestured outside the medical ward. His eyes were blazing with anger and Gabrielle could tell that when he saw her, any of his thoughts of himself being hurt or injured were thrust aside. She had never seen him this angry before, let alone expected to see him at all.
"Marcus?"
"Let's go." He snapped again.
"No."
In response, he suddenly seized her wrists and began to drag her out of the medical ward.
"Marcus let me go!" She protested, trying to free herself, but he maintained a steel grip with one hand and put the other one firmly over her mouth, preventing any further protests. He then walked her over to one of the vacant rooms nearby. They served as temporary quarters to soldiers garrisoned and refugees now in the base's care.
He ushered her inside and then shut the door with his foot. Taking a deep breath, Austal knew that spilling out all of his secrets right now would never end well.
"Now I'm going to release my grip on you and I'm only asking once, why are you here?"
As soon as he took his hand off her mouth, her expression changed to anger as well, "Marcus, how can you betray me like this? This is your work?! You're a Spartan?!"
"Yes I am a Spartan."
"Then why do you tell me all of this recon group bullshit?! It was all really a lie?"
Austal's voice began to rise, "Because I'm trying to protect you if anything goes wrong! This is not how I wanted to tell you what I do for a living!"
"What?" For someone who used to be afraid of men, especially tall ones, Gabrielle seemed to have nearly zero fear in his presence, it was instead filled by defiance. "That you're a soldier? That you take lives for a living of your own?"
"I do it to serve my damn country! When I was orphaned by Gustafson, the UNSC armed forces offered me a path through and I took it because I don't sit around! I'm a Spartan because I was asked to be one and in order to stay in my unit, I had to find someone and establish a relationship with them!"
"So that's why you asked me out on all those dates? All that you can stay in your unit?" Her face was pure confusion, definitely not taking in the revelations too well.
"No! I don't do that to people, especially those I care about! You are one of those people and I have to do whatever it takes to prevent-"
Austal was cut off by the sound of someone opening the door, "Marcus we need-" Fowler saw him and Gabrielle inside and he cleared his throat, "Um, we have to go. Now."
Austal nodded and finally let go of her. Part of him told her that this wasn't over. She rubbed her wrists, strained from being sore in his hands and strangely unable to shake the blooming feeling in her chest. That feeling was then shattered by one of his biggest lies.
When she looked back up, Marcus was already gone. There was no sign of him in the halls either.
"What the hell is she doing here?" Fowler asked. The two Spartans were walking towards the command center of the base where Bowman had called them up. Latest intel had stated that the Council of Chieftains were determined to come after Project Gaia and the prospect of slaughtering seventy UNSC soldiers and hundreds of civilians was too tempting to resist.
"Haven't asked her yet."
"So what were you two doing alone in the room then?" Fowler's expression remained stoic, but Austal could gleam a rather naughty look in his eyes.
"Gabrielle…she didn't take the news of me being a Spartan this whole time too well. She thought we were only together because the prerequisite of our team."
"First of all kid, I know I'm going to be blunt with you, but this is neither the time nor the place. We have an entire legion of Covenant breathing on the base's ass so you'll have to put a hold on mending your relationship with her. Second is; the prerequisite has been nullified. Wouldn't you have left her as soon as it was no longer necessary?"
"I don't do that to people. I'm not Tessa." Tessa had been Austal's high school girlfriend who had left him after he discovered she withheld a secret cheating from him. "That still doesn't explain why she's all the way over here instead of our apartment on Reach."
"Maybe you should go talk to her when this is all over."
"She's going to want answers and I don't think anyone else is going to get them out of her other than maybe the Captain." The two of them stepped inside the beehive of a command center and quickly located Bowman conversing with Captain Sunil, the ODST leader. "And trying to debrief my girlfriend is probably at the bottom of his list right now."
Bowman saw Fowler and Austal approach and gestured them over.
"Good news and bad news. Resources are scarce," He began, "We have limited ammo, food and medical supplies, probably enough of everything to last four days."
"Oh," Fowler said, "So what's the good news?"
"That was the good news."
"So what's the bad news?" Austal asked.
Captain Sunil stepped forward. He had a dark complexion and intense brown eyes that must've seen plenty of battle in his previous service, any doubt about his valor was erased thanks to a scar on his forehead and a plasma burn on his left hand. "Spartans, we have an entire Covenant legion heading down the highway to our position. They're being supported by an air force of banshees and phantom dropships."
"Can't we contact the Diablo?"
"We are already posting updates, however they are unable to assist because of the Covenant carrier that is holding position outside the city. They move any ship within our AO, that ship will not hesitate to take them out and we all know the capabilities of that ship class."
"Wonderful."
"Soldiers are going to die in the next few days," Sunil said, "If we don't do our jobs, the casualty rate in this base is going to skyrocket."
"You know we can't let that happen." Fowler darkly replied.
The doors parted again and a younger ODST ran up to the Captain, "Sir, it's started. The Brutes are beginning their assault!"
The Spartans grabbed some new weapons and ammo before rushing out to the front gate. Sunil had remained in the command center to help coordinate the recources and provide insight to the hostile forces via the security cameras.
An explosion lit up the dawn sky as the stolen wraith and bus detonated with the aid of explosive charges. The blast wiped out the front waves of enemies, but they saw behind the wreckage that even more were coming to take their place.
All across the lower sections of the highway were the black armored ODSTs all wielding their weapons and firing at the first enemy that popped into sight. Up top several outcroppings were even more with DMRs and a couple of snipers to pick off the tougher brutes.
It was all shouting in complete chaos with them trying to keep the Covenant at bay for as long as possible, but were they delaying the inevitable?
"I need a medic!"
"We got a man down!"
"C'mon." Fowler gritted his teeth, "Let's go fuck some shit up."
They had been fighting nonstop for nearly an hour and it had only started to seem as if it was beginning to lighten up.
Bowman and Pine had taken the higher ground to help thin out hostile advances while Fowler and Austal dealt with whoever favored close combat.
It all went well until Bowman suddenly saw blue wisps arcing in the sky towards their position. Three of them to be exact.
"Wraiths!" He immediately stood, yanking the ODST right next to him and throwing him off his perch before diving off himself. One of the mortars crashed where Bowman had once been and vaporized all of the concrete within a ten foot radius, leaving just a charred hole as a reminder.
The other two mortars had claimed the lives of five of Sunil's men.
"Dammit," He spat, frustrated, "We got three wraiths bombarding our position with mortars!"
"We're taking heavy fire here!" One of the ODST squad leaders shouted over the gunfire rattle, "Can't last very long with those wraiths out there!"
"We'll deal with em!" Bowman gestured for Pine and Austal to join him. "We're going to take out all three wraiths. Limited heavy weapons, but I want to save them for the direst of situations. Everyone got explosives."
The Spartans nodded.
"Good. Use the car wrecks for cover and if a wraith spots one of us, let Fowler and the troopers here know to take the pressure off."
Ross Pine's camouflage kept the wraith just ninety feet in front from spotting him and vaporizing him on the spot. Overall, it was positioned in a small ring of destroyed vehicles with enough room to maneuver around for more flexible shots.
It remained still and he could hear soft chatter in the brute language as it conversed, likely with its commander.
Enemy squads had passed him by, but they were too focused on trying to assault the base to notice his presence.
Circling around the rear, he spotted the back exhaust vent the tank used to assist in its propulsion. A red clothed shaman armed with a brute shot stood nearby, yelling in its shrilly voice to direct lesser troops.
Ross felt a chill creep down his spine. He'd encountered plenty of shamans so far and their screams never left his ears. To civilians, it all but meant their inevitable doom.
Time to change that.
Slowly, he crept up behind the shaman and lashed out with the butt of his DMR. The brute's spine broke and he slumped forward.
Not giving the wraith any time to discover its dead comrade, he flicked the pin off the grenade before jamming it into the port.
"Fire in the hole!"
The frag detonated, sending a column of flame out the rear. With the blast killing both occupants, the wraith's mortar had also been hit, mangled beyond any salvaging.
"Got one."
"That's two." Austal replied. In the distance, Pine heard a loud boom with the second wraith down.
"Three?"
"Negative!" Bowman shouted, "I've been compromised!"
"On our way!"
Bowman had taken the wraith on the left, Austal took the center and Pine had the right one. Through the lanes, he saw Austal double timing it over. The wrecked cars made him mantle over their hoods and they ran past a few groups of startled grunts.
Bowman was pinned behind a trailer with the wraith's gunner hammering at the side to keep him there. The two of them also saw a pair of captains and another shaman moving to the second side of the trailer.
"They're going to flush him out." Ross knew the plan.
"Okay, I'll distract that wraith," Austal pointed towards the trio, "Take care of them."
The brutes had just spotted Bowman, brandishing T-51 carbines and a brute shot, letting out a snarl of approval before quickly taking cover and firing at the Spartan's exposed position.
Pine centered the shaman's head in his DMR and pulled the trigger. The rifle kicked in his hands, placing a bullet directly at the back of its head. With a fountain of dark red blood pumping from the wound, the shaman fell to his knees before dying.
He shifted his aim, just as one of the captains moved out of his line of sight. The second one felt his mask knocked off by a second DMR shot and hit Pine back with another carbine.
Seeing his shields partly down, he kept the pressure, drilling two more bullets into the brute's neck before finally hitting a successful shot in its thick skull.
Something slammed into the last brute, causing it to stumble back. Bowman followed his blow by slamming the butt of his assault rifle into its head. The brute let out an aggravated snarl, spitting out a mixture of saliva, blood and teeth shards.
Ross put him down with the final rounds from his rifle.
Austal was face to face with the wraith and knew that he was too close for the main gun to eliminate him. It moved forward, causing him to instinctively shift backwards. The gunner quickly spotted him, opening fire.
He managed to dodge most of the shots, but found himself getting clipped a few times. It washed over his shield, rapidly reducing its strength.
The wraith accelerated forward as the driver hit the boosters, intent on squishing him. Looking back, Marcus quickly devised a plan in his head.
Just as the hull was about to splatter him, he leapt into the air, leaning backwards. The wraith came impossibly close with the gunner having stopped firing, stunned at what his partner was thinking.
The wraith hit the side door of a car just as Austal landed on the hood. He had his rifle aimed squarely at the brute gunner, squeezing the trigger.
At such a close range, the brute was mercilessly shredded to death, slumping down in his seat. Austal wasted no time in rolling onto the wraith's hull. He pulled another frag grenade from his belt and casually opened the hatch.
A surprised brute driver greeted him and he triggered it before casually lobbing the green pineapple into the hatch.
Bowman and Pine came out of cover just as the final wraith had exploded from Austal's grenade. The whining of engines had attracted their attention as they saw a half dozen phantoms fleeing their position. From their area, the Spartans heard the ODSTs letting out a loud cheer. They had been bearing the brunt of the attack and this was a welcome sign, at least for now.
Why would the brutes retreat though?
"How often do you see Covenant retreat for no reason?" Austal asked.
"You don't." Pine finished, "Unless they'll be back."
Bowman held up his hand, "No doubt about it. Get the wounded to the medical ward. I'm going to talk with Sunil on what our next move is going to be."
Gabrielle Addison was lying down with the last strands of sleep fading when there was a gentle knock on her door.
Swinging it open, she saw Marcus on the other side. For a second, she thought he had lost weight but then realized that he was only dressed in a sleek black suit with multiple sockets attached for armor components.
"Hi Marcus." She greeted without emotion.
"Hi." He looked past her, "Mind if I come in?"
Wordlessly, she moved to the side, allowing him entry. He silently shut the door behind them.
"This is about you being a Spartan right?"
"That depends if you're willing to listen to me."
"I'll be the one to judge." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Gabrielle, I only lied to you because it was for your protection. If anything happens, god forbid and someone tries to come after us through our families or homes, you would be targeted! I don't want you to get hurt because of me!" She looked closer at him, tears beginning to glisten in both of his eyes, "You have to believe me! I will always do what is best for the people I care about." His hand slid over hers, "You are one of those people."
Over the time they had been together, neither of them would admit it to their friends, but it was so easy to tell that the two of them were falling in love with each other.
"Listen." Marcus' face was inches away from Gabrielle's, "I have to do this. We're doing everything we can to keep these monsters on our doorstep from getting to any of you. In order to do this, I have to risk my life out there and it will be worth it if you and every civilian here walks away from this alive."
She smelled the scent of sweat, burnt metal. He was calm, perfectly composed and the attitude carried everywhere he went. He was trying to fix the rift he had made between them and here she was rejecting any possibility it could work. Her stomach fluttered again, "What if you get killed? What am I supposed to do?"
Rather than reply, Marcus leaned forward, his lips touched hers for just a fraction of a second. It seemed as if an electric shock had transferred between them. Gabrielle's eyes slid shut before quickly opening again at a familiar disturbance. He had heard it too.
Someone was knocking at the door. Then a low rumble came from the direction of the barricade. The Covenant were at it again two hours after they retreated from their last attack.
Quickly, Austal took a step back as she moved over to open the door.
"Miss Addison." Meredith Adrian smiled before addressing him, "Spartan Austal."
"Agent Adrian." Austal stepped towards her, "What's going on?"
"Captain ordered you up to the command center. If we can't survive this wave, then we need to explore future options. I'm here with Miss Addison on another matter."
"Okay." He looked back at her before he was about to leave, "I'm sorry for everything I did wrong. I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."
"Don't apologize," Gabrielle threw her arms around his neck, burying her face, "Just come back alive."
She smiled up at him, traces of tears soaked into his undersuit, "I'll take a rain check on that though."
Knowing what she meant, he nodded before his expression changed. Gone was the Austal who she had seen as a façade and it was replaced by his true self; a cold, focused Spartan with a warm heart to defend the innocent.
The Spartans and ODSTs of NOCTURNE are out to repel yet another attack by the brutes, but very soon, they will be relieved!
This should have been out a week ago, but I had a reference guide I was using to start on the Blades' 5th volume. It'll be well worth the wait. I promise with plenty of action and laughs!
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.