Chapter XVIII

When Master Chief and Commander Schreiber arrived at the train station with their squads, they saw an impressive Blue force that had been deployed for no apparent reason. The Reds had begun to establish a temporary base when Simmons reported that three Blues were approaching their position. Rather than risk exposure, the Chief leapt into action . . .

The Chief didn't answer Simmons question. Instead, he motioned for everyone to lower their weapons. The Chief sprinted at the door and unsheathed his combat knife. Schreiber got the idea and followed suit. The second the first Blue appeared from behind the door, the Chief leapt over his head, slid against the back wall and landed behind the last Blue. They all turned to face the jade warrior, and the lead man was yanked, silently, into the garage. The Chief wasted no time, and pounced the second his feet touched the ground. His arm struck out, quick as lightning, and sunk his blade into the first Blue's neck. The knife sunk deeper into the Blue's throat until it connected with the vertebrae, severing them and killing the Blue. The Chief let go of the knife and used his momentum from the attack to flip over the Blue and landed behind the last one. He punched the Blue in the abdomen, causing him to double over in pain. The Chief extended his arms out to their sides and balled his hands into fists, and slammed them together. Each fist connected with the Blue's helmet with the force of a wrecking ball, smashing the helmet and the Blue's head inside. The Chief retrieved his blade, placed it in its sheath and dragged the two bodies into the garage, placing them in a corner. The Chief saw that Schreiber had the third Blue tied up and leaning against the wall. His helmet was gone and he was gagged with a handkerchief.

"Good work," Schreiber said. "I caught this one and readied him for interrogation."

Schreiber pulled a vile out of one of the pouches on his belt along with a syringe. The vile contained a strange, silver and red liquid.

"Truth serum?"

"When one is in the Special Forces, they must be prepared for anything, including interrogations. Unfortunately in this day and age, nobody has the time to perform a good, old fashioned interrogation,"

"Thank you," Grif said over the radio. "Finally, some one who agrees with me."

"so I carry some of this around with me just in case." Schreiber finished, ignoring Grif and placing the items back inside their pouch.

The serum had already been administered and the Blue was calm and quiet as a result of one of the side effects. The Chief removed the gag and the Blue looked at him with hate in his eyes.

"What is this Blue force doing here?" the Chief used his sincerest voice as to not scare the man to death.

"We were sent here, t-to find the r-r-red-d s-soldier that t-t-t-took d-down our B-B-B-B-Bug Wa-wa-wa-walker." He was trying to fight the serum's mysterious properties, but it was to no avail.

"What does the soldier look like?" the Chief asked.

"H-he's bigger t-t-than-n-n y-y-y-you . . ." The Blue was really putting up a fight.

Administering more of the serum would kill him, and the Chief wanted to get as much information as possible. Too much resistance to the serum, however, and the Blue would enter a serum-induced seizure where the liquid inside his bloodstream would then become a lethal toxin and kill him.

"Anything else?"

"H-h-h-h-he's-s-s-s g-g-go-got-t-t-t h-h-h-hor-horns-s-s-s on h-h-his h-h-he-head-d-d-d-d." By now the Blue had slipped into a seizure and was violently convulsing on the floor.

"Did he have a name?" the Chief asked. He knew the Blue was about to die, but felt he could get one last piece of information from him.

"C-c-c-c-c-c-ca-ca-called-d-d-d h-h-h-h-hi-himse-himself-f-f-f-f-f th-th-th-the Rhi-rhi-rhin-n-n-n-n-n-n." the Blue's talking was turning into incoherent babbling and his seizure was getting worse. Foam dripped from his mouth and his eyes rolled up in the back of his head.

"The what?"

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-rhi-rhi-rhi-rhin-rhino-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-c-c-c-c-cer-cer-cero-ceros."

The Blue stopped shaking. Blood mixed with the foam around his mouth and dripped to the floor in a puddle. His eyes went even farther back into his skull. The Chief closed the soldier's eyes and placed his helmet back on his head. Schreiber made the sign of the cross.

"So, they were looking for the Rhinoceros weapon. Or person, I guess," Schreiber said.

"A big guy with horns on his head is called the Rhinoceros. Sounds like a lame super-villain from a Saturday morning cartoon," Master Chief said.

Schreiber grinned. The Chief was the perfect example of what a good soldier should be. Calm, relaxed while being cautious and alert during any time be it battle or break.

"They followed him here? Can't be good news for us." Simmons said. Richards nodded in agreement.

"They were following him when they stopped here, Simmons," the Chief corrected. "He could be miles away by now. On top of that, he is a Red Army Operative, so even if we do encounter him, he wouldn't attack us." The Chief stopped, realizing that he didn't know all that much about the Rhinoceros project testing. He looked to Schreiber. "Right?"

"I wouldn't know. The Rhinoceros project was deemed highly dangerous to all personnel, Red or Blue. Since it isn't a weapon, I guess the 'dangerous' part was a filler for 'aggressive'. We'll just have wait and see."

After agreeing that staying clear of the Rhinoceros' path in the event he was encountered, the Red soldiers continued to monitor the Blue activity. After several hours of inaction, Grif contacted the Chief over his radio.

"Master Chief, we've got a situation."

"Spill it, Grif."

"Three of those tanks just entered our vicinity. Three of the Ghosts and a Gauss Hog are with them."

"Roger that, I have a visual. Looks like most of the soldiers came over as well. Keep your wits about you, Grif."

"Roger that."

Master Chief activated the zoom function on his visor, allowing him to see the Lieutenant talk with three Blue soldiers. The Chief couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could tell the Ell-Tee wasn't happy. Then, the Chief's heart skipped a beat as one of the Blue soldiers pointed right up in their location. The Chief saw the Lieutenant look at the tanks and wave his arm forward. The Chief deactivated the zoom function and dove for cover just as the first shell from the tank exploded against the ceiling. The other Reds took cover and opened fire.

"All red units, we are under attack! Remain at your posts and guard them as long as you can!"

Everybody followed the orders and fired on the advancing Blue soldiers. The three tanks continued to pour explosive shells into the garage while the soldiers made for every possible entrance. Grif was able to take out some with his expert precision, but was forced to fall back as one of the tanks turned its attention towards him. He and Weller dropped down into the garage and took a position near the windows, occasionally firing into the advancing Blues. Simmons and Richards were protecting the hallway that led up to the garage from the train tracks. When the Blue forces became too thick to kill with bullets, grenades were thrown to soften them up. Bond and Caboose were both holding two pistols in each hand and firing relentlessly into the swarm of hostiles through the large openings in the garage. Lopez, with his rocket launcher, and Gonzalez, with his battle rifle, were also firing out through the large windows. Parker and Donut were protecting the main ramp, where most of the Blues were trying to advance. The Chief saw that they were under the heaviest fire and found a temporary solution to the problem in one of the parking spaces; a brand new, gold plated civilian warthog. The Chief jumped in and hotwired the vehicle. He drove it back to the farthest wall and pointed it at the ramp.

"Donut, move!"

Donut, who was throwing grenades down into the mass of Blues turned to see the Chief accelerate at him. Donut dove out of the way as the golden hog flew past him. The Chief ditched the vehicle at the last second as it landed in the wave of Blue soldiers crushing some under its frame. The best thing was that it was blocking a better part of the ramp and the Blues were scrambling over it. The Chief tossed two grenades into the mass and they rolled to a stop against the hog's front tires. Excellent. The explosives detonated, causing the hog to blow up as well, killing a good number of Blues in the process. The Chief returned to his post and continued to fire down into the Blue ranks. Then he saw Andy and Lock-jaw, standing around with nothing to do.

"Lock-jaw," the Chief said. "Take Andy and put him at the bottom of the ramp where Donut is shooting."

Lock-jaw blarged and ran with Andy in his hands, turning invisible on his way over. Several seconds later, Lock-jaw appeared at the Chief's side.

"Now, Andy!"

Andy exploded. The blast took nearly all the Blues out in the area and wounded or stunned the ones that weren't killed. Lock-jaw ran down the ramp, retrieved Andy and returned to the upper level.

The Chief turned back to the battle and went to fire at one of the soldiers when he found that his gun had gone empty. He checked his satchel for more ammo, but found that he had used it all. Since the gun was spent, he held it in both hands and crushed it into a spear using his enhanced strength. He then hurled it out the window at a random Blue soldier. the gun-spear penetrated the Blue's chest and tore through his heart.

"I'm out," he said.

"So am I," Grif said.

"Me too," announced Parker.

"We can't keep this up much longer," the Chief said. Nobody disagreed.

The Chief looked up at the air duct and motioned for Grif and Parker to go over there. The Chief threw his last grenade at the nearest tank. It detonated, killing the driver. Since the tank was still intact, another Blue got in and resumed firing.

He got to the duct and launched Grif up into it for the second time. He also threw Parker up there in a similar manner. The Chief motioned to Lopez and Gonzalez. They came over from their spot at the window near the corner of the garage.

"Lopez, I need you to get the rest of the squad into the duct. Gonzalez, give him covering fire."

The Chief ran up to Donut who was single handedly holding off most of the Blue forces. He lifted a Blue that had gotten too close above his head and threw him down into the others, knocking them down and distracting them. He turned to the Chief who relieved him of his last two grenades and pointed to Lopez. Donut nodded and ran off. The Chief activated both grenades and tossed them into the Blues, killing most of them. The Chief glanced down and saw that there were only about fifteen Blues left, but most of them were coming his way. The Chief quickly ran up to Simmons and Richards and pointed to Lopez. They both nodded and began to run off, but Simmons stopped short. He turned around and handed the Chief his M6D Magnum. The Chief checked the clip; it was full. He nodded and patted Simmons on the shoulder. He then ran up to Schreiber, Weller, Bond, Caboose and Lock-jaw who was holding Andy. He tapped Weller, Bond, Caboose and Lock-jaw on the shoulders and pointed to Lopez. They all nodded, Weller fired a few last rounds from her Battle Rifle and they ran for Lopez. Schreiber looked up at the Chief and rose to his feet. They both ran for Lopez, who had just hoisted Gonzalez into the duct. Lopez wrapped his arm around Schreiber's waist and, using his robotic strength, jumped from the floor straight up into the duct, landing on his feet.

The Chief was about to jump when the remaining fourteen Blues stormed up the ramp and pointed their weapons at him.

"End of the line, Red scum," the Lieutenant said.

"Really?" the Chief replied. He activated a grenade behind his back. "For who?"

The Chief tossed the fragmentation grenade at the Blues and leapt up towards the duct. Lopez grabbed his hand in mid-leap and pulled him up. The grenade detonated and several Blues screamed in pain as the explosion tore their bodies apart. The Reds ran to the opening at the end of the duct. Private Bond took a strange gun from its holster on his waist.

"Told you this thing would come in handy," he said.

"Whatever," Gonzalez replied.

Bond aimed the gun at one of the columns that were scattered about in the waiting room. He fired and a three-pronged claw shot from the barrel. It latched itself to the column and the Chief saw it was connected to the gun by a thick cord. A grappling-gun. Bond stuck the handle of the weapon in a small crack in the floor, wedging it in to make sure it wouldn't come loose. The Reds then slid down the cord one by one. Lopez took the gun out of the crack in the ground and pressed the button to recall the hook. Lopez couldn't slide down the wire since he weighed over four tons; extremely heavy compared to the two-ton soldiers and their armor. Lopez leapt off the edge of the duct and landed on the ground with a crunching sound as the tiles beneath his robotic feet were crushed to powder. He then handed the gun to Bond, who took it and placed it in its holster on his waist. The Reds ran from the room and towards the wall at the far end of the area. There was a dirt ramp leading up to the train tracks. Beyond them sat the two transport hogs and the way out. The Reds ran up the slope and stopped at the train tracks.

"From what I can tell, the train comes through at ten second intervals. We should all be able to jump across." Master Chief shouted.

They waited until the next train rumbled through the station, not stopping for anything in its path. As soon as it was gone, the Chief leapt from the dirt slope onto the concrete ground on the other side. The other Reds followed suit. They were all safely across and ran for the hogs, only to find them destroyed. The remains of what used to be time bombs were attached to the undercarriage.

"They probably set the bombs to go off while we were fighting so we wouldn't hear them explode," Schreiber said.

"That would mean they knew we would come here and probably laid a trap for-"

The Chief stopped mid-sentence and turned around to find ten Blue soldiers along with all four tanks, the remaining Gauss Hog and the last two ghosts. The Lieutenant stepped forward.

"You should be proud of yourselves. You have fought against impossible odds and suffered no casualties. Had you served under me, you would all have been handsomely rewarded. But since you are the enemy . . ." the sounds of the tanks loading their primary cannons finished his sentence.

"Any last words before you are scattered all over this place?"

Boom

"You bet," the Chief said.

Boom

"You Blue bastards may have defeated us."

Boom

"But you'll never defeat the Red Army. They will hunt you down."

Boom

"And you will wish you never joined the Blues."

BOOM

The Master Chief stopped rambling nonsensically as everyone looked around, trying to find the source of the noise that was getting louder.

BOOM

"What is that irritable sound?" the Blue Lieutenant asked.

BOOM . . . BOOM . . . BOOM

All the Blues slowly turned around to see what the Reds were looking at. What they saw made them quiver with fear.

Before them, several yards behind the tanks, stood the most terrifying person any of them had ever seen. It wore armor almost identical to the rest of the soldiers, except it was grey and was much larger to fit around its three and a half meter tall occupant. There were steel horns on the armor covering the shins, forearms, biceps and shoulders of the man. There were two horns that sprouted from his helmet, the one in the front being longer than the one in the back. The base of the larger horn seemed to curve down into the man's forehead, creating an angry eyebrow effect. All of the horns were stained with blood. The visor was a dark red color, and reflected light the same way the other soldiers' did, giving it an almost glowing effect. The armor on the forearms was bulkier than regular, and it was quickly revealed why as two spikes emerged from the thick plating. The man in the armor was colossal as well; rippling muscle filled the armor to the point where it looked as though it was his actual skin. The man took a step closer to the tanks.

BOOM

The M808B's aimed their barrels right at the monster.

"I wouldn't fire those tanks if I were you. I might live. I might die, but you might want to ask yourselves . . . one question. Feeling lucky?"

Nobody said anything. The Rhinoceros roared and charged directly into the fire of the tanks.

To Be Continued