Chapter XIX

The Blue forces discovered the Reds' hiding spot and began to attack. After holding off the vastly superior numbers for nearly a half hour, the Reds' ammo supply depleted. The Reds made a hasty retreat to their transport hogs, only to find them destroyed, and just before they were about to be executed, the Rhinoceros project intervened . . .

The tank shells detonated against the armor of the Rhinoceros. The man was barely slowed by the four simultaneous explosions and continued his charge towards the tanks. He was right in between the first two and ducked his head. The horn pierced through a Blue who had decided to hold his ground. The Rhinoceros quickly whipped his head to the left and brought it up. The horn connected with a tank, sending it skyward. The body of the Blue was thrown loose. Still running, the Rhinoceros charged at another tank, which was slowly bringing its barrel quickly eliminate the inferior Red forces so there would be less problems to worry about. The Rhinoceros grabbed the barrel and tore it off of the rotating turret base. Using the barrel as a club, he brought it above his head and swung it down with lethal force upon the driver canopy. A scream emanated from the canopy as the barrel crushed the life out of the Blue's body. The Rhinoceros quickly turned around and, hefting the barrel like a javelin, hurled it at the next tank. It penetrated the heavy armor on the side and the force pushed it in until it entered the driver canopy. The Blue didn't even have time to scream as the barrel completely destroyed his cranium. The Rhinoceros turned to see the last tank making a hasty retreat. He grinned at the futile attempt and charged. The horns on his head stabbed into the rear of the tank, causing it to spark and catch fire. The Rhinoceros tried to remove his horns from the tank, but found that they were stuck. He grimaced. I hate it when this happens he thought. The Rhinoceros put each hand on one of the rear treads of the tank. He applied pressure to it, but it didn't budge, as expected. The man began to spin in circles. They were slow at first, but then he began to really pick up speed. He could feel the tank begin to slowly slide up his horn and pushed the treads with all his might. The tank flew free from the horns and sailed up into the air. The Rhinoceros steadied himself, barely feeling the effects of his spin and watched as the tank fell from the sky and landed right in front of the retreating Blues. He stomped up to them, each footstep making a distinct BOOM. He stopped right behind them and watched with satisfaction as they all slowly turned to face him.

"Looks like you just wasted your last lifeline. Sorry pal, try again next time."

The Rhinoceros picked up one of the Blues and stabbed his large cranial horn through the helpless soldier's back. His screams echoed throughout the train station.

"Who wants Blue-kabobs?"

The other Blues screamed and tried to run over the tank, but were stopped as the Rhino leapt over them and landed in front of them, blocking their only exit.

"Leaving so soon? I didn't even get to show you guys my skewers!"

The Rhinoceros brought his two fists to the chests of two Blue soldiers. They looked at each other in confusion until the blades shot out from the bulky forearm armor and pierced through their hearts. The confusion was replaced by pain and screams. The Rhinoceros held up his hands like a child feigning innocence, palms up and elbows at the waist.

"They got a little to close to the sharp, pointy, retractable objects, sorry."

The Rhinoceros looked absolutely terrifying with his blood drenched armor and the three half-dead Blues hanging from various horns. The remaining Blues were frozen to the ground with fear. The Rhinoceros lowered his head and let his hands hang at his sides. The Blues were curious as to why, but any question they had was quickly answered; the man tossed his head back and his arms up, sending the bodies of the Blues flying from the horns they had been so brutally stuck to. The Rhinoceros looked at the rest of the Blues.

"I'm getting bored. Let's finish this."

The Blues, who were still frozen with fear, said nothing as the Rhinoceros lifted the burning remains of the tank above his head and slammed it down on them. The Lieutenant was spared their fate and tried to crawl away.

"You don't think I forgot your present, did you Lieutenant?"

The Rhinoceros walked up to the man and picked him up by the back of his neck. He would be so easy to kill, but Red Command would find much use from this one. The Lieutenant looked at the Rhinoceros in fear as a massive hand was brought to the side of his head. The thumb and forefinger made a circular shape while the last three fingers pointed outward. The forefinger slipped from the thumb and collided with the Lieutenant's helmet. The Rhinoceros had flicked him in the head. The force from the miniscule attack sent the Lieutenant's head bouncing around inside his helmet. He blacked out.

"I don't take kindly to poachers."

The Rhinoceros placed his large hand around the Lieutenant's waist and was about to call Command when he remembered his radio had been damaged during his fight against the Bug Walker. He spied the Reds, who were rooted to the ground in amazement at the spectacle they had just seen. The Rhinoceros walked over to them.

"Hi there, did you all enjoy the show? I hope so, anyway, listen, my radio's kinda busted up a bit, so if you guys have a spare, I'd really appreciate it if you let me use it."

Nobody responded immediately and the Rhinoceros began to get angry. People were often too amazed by his size to answer his questions, and it had been useful at first. Now it made him angry and many a Red had been crushed to the ground out of blind fury. The Rhinoceros was about to reiterate his question, but he could tell that the man in the jade armor was not as stupefied as he was curious.

"So, you're the Rhinoceros project?" he inquired. Not a drop of fear was on his voice.

"That'd be me, yes. Impressed?" The man was glad someone had spoken up; he was tired of trampling his fellow Reds to death.

"Very. So, you need a new radio? My men can fix you up with one back at our base."

"Excellent. Glad to finally be able to talk to someone without them passing out."

"It takes some getting used to," the Chief said. He remembered back when his division of super-soldiers was first implemented within the UNSC. Inferior ranking officers could barely get out a coherent sentence, especially when a Spartan was wearing their armor.

"I guess. So, you guys have a base. I'm not that great at making my own, so that is very welcome news."

"We need to find a mode of transportation, though. The Blue bastards blew up our hogs.

"Not to worry. The Blues were working on several transport vehicles in a garage, should be enough room to hold all of you."

"What about you?"

"I can run. This suit allows me to do all kinds of stuff without even breaking a sweat."

"Fascinating," said the Chief. He turned to the rest of the Reds and saw that all of them were still awestruck. Commander Schreiber was trying to snap some of his men out of it. "Alright, Red Team!" the Chief shouted. His unexpected demand for attention surprised the Reds, as they had never heard him use that tone of voice and they finally tore their gaze away from the three and a half meter tall being. "Enough gawking at the man, he found something to help us get back to base with. Now, get it together, we're done at the rhino exhibit. Next stop is the wild pigs, now MOVE IT!"

All the Reds flinched at the last two words and began to gather the weapons they dropped when the Rhinoceros first appeared. After a few seconds of walking, all fourteen of the soldiers arrived at the garage. Inside, three transport hogs sat, ready to go. There were also several lockers filled to the hinges with extra weapons and ammunition. The Reds split up the hogs. Commander Schreiber and Master Chief took the first hog and loaded the passenger section with rocket launchers and ammo. Simmons and Richards took the second hog and were accompanied by Caboose and Bond. Their hog was filled with the smaller weapons and ammo for them. Everyone else rode in the third hog, and Andy even got his own seat, which was 'freaking awesome'. The hogs drove off and the Rhinoceros kept pace with them. After several hours of driving and running, they all finally arrived at the construction site. Everyone filed out, checking weapons and making sure every last clip was accounted for. After the weapons and ammo were distributed, Red Squad and Schreiber's men formed up in their original teams and began their patrols of the area. Master Chief, Schreiber, Lock-jaw, Andy and the Rhinoceros, who was still carrying the Blue Lieutenant, entered the Special Forces' temporary HQ. After the Chief and Schreiber explained everything to the Rhinoceros about their travels, he told them his story about his deployment, how he took down the BBW and how he ended up at the train station. The three discussed what their next move would be for hours, coming up with several possible options. Then, Donut came in over the radio; his voice was filled with trepidation.

"Master Chief? Sir, I have some very, very, very bad news."

"What is it, Donut?"

"Parker just had a visual, and you're not going to like what she saw."

"What was it?"

"I even had her double check, just to make sure. I couldn't believe what she said until I saw it for myself-"

"Private Donut, just tell me what you saw."

". . . It's Tex, sir. Tex is here."

To Be Continued