Chapter XXV

Master Chief and Red Squad decided to depart for the Lockout Fortress located ridiculously high up in the mountains while O'Malley sent his pet after the Rhinoceros. Braving icy cold temperatures, Red Squad set out towards the facility in hopes of locating Church and Tucker . . .

Master Chief stopped again and turned around. He checked to make sure everyone was following him and continued on his way. They would have reached the Fortress by now, but the path was slippery and cold winds blew snow in all directions. They were three fourths of the way there and had picked up the pace in order to reach the Fortress before they became human meat-sickles. At long last, the Chief made the final head count and gathered everyone around him.

"Alright, we're going in. Grif, you cover us from up here until everyone has made it to the Fortress, then get down there yourself. Everyone else; let's move."

Master Chief took out a stake. Normally, he would just slam into the ground, attach his rappelling wire to it and begin his descent, but this was ice, and different measures were needed. The stake in the Chief's hand was a new invention. It ran on battery power to heat up thermal coils inside the stake, allowing it to simply slide into an icy surface. The Chief stuck his into the ground and attached the wire to it. He made sure everyone else did the same and made sure Andy was secure on his belt.

"This is gay, Chief. You should just throw me down there and let me take care of everyone," the disgruntled explosive said.

"And let you have all the fun? Not a chance," the Chief replied.

Everyone began to descend the sheer, icy wall and made it to the Fortress without incident. After Grif arrived, the Chief began to assess where they were. They had arrived at some sort of platform that oversaw most of the upper level of the facility. There was a ramp behind them that broke off to the left and the right. There were also strange almost cylindrical crates that had blue, glowing centers. The Chief looked off the platform and saw no activity. Was everyone here killed, like at the facility under the Containment Fortress? Or were all the personnel on the lower levels of the facility? There was only one way to find out.

"Grif, get a silencer on that thing, take out anyone that so much as blinks in your direction. Simmons, you cover him. Everyone else, with me."

Grif got busy attaching his silencer to the long barrel of his sniper while Simmons surveyed the area, making sure nobody caught them off guard. Master Chief decided to go down the ramp on the right. He arrived at the bottom of the ramp and saw that he was in another room. There were no people in the area, so he fanned his team out. They covered doors and windows, looking for possible hostiles. After several minutes of uneventful surveillance, the Chief was summoned over to Lopez.

"What is it?" the Chief whispered.

Lopez simply pointed down. From his vantage point, he could see several scientists dressed in heavy lab coats. Some had earmuffs and gloves. They walked in pairs and went about, checking various panels on the wall. Those panels kept the entire Fortress at a nice seventy degrees, but the frigid cold made it so that only the facility itself was warm. The air around it was freezing. After watching for several moments, the Chief decided that, if there was anything of importance in the facility, it was down there. The Chief began to search for a ramp or stairwell that would take them to the lower levels. His search ended abruptly when he almost plummeted through an opening in the floor. The opening was against a wall and the hatch covering it had been opened. The Chief activated the squad-wide channel.

"Listen up; this hole leads to the lower section of the facility. There might be another way down, but this is the fastest way we have. Be careful, there are scientists down there and they're in pairs. If you need to shoot, be absolutely positive that it's a headshot. We can't have people screaming and give away our position. Let's move."

The Squad quickly dropped into the hole. As soon as the last Red dropped through the hole, the Chief saw two scientists exit a doorway. They were talking and didn't notice them at first. Of course, the Master Chief only acted on 'at firsts' and plugged both of them in the head with his silenced M6D. Since there was no place to hide the bodies, the Chief tossed them off the walkway and into the abyss. He didn't want to think about how far down it was to the bottom, but he knew that plenty more of the scientists under O'Malley would meet similar fates.

The Rhinoceros tried to push the monster back, but it was surprisingly strong and didn't give. The battle had been going on for almost an hour and both of the combatants were locked in a stalemate. Neither could seem to find a way to use their unique advantages to fell the other, and had resorted to using brute strength. Now, Ryan's hands were pushing against the creature's hands, or, against its one hand and the cannon. Both were trying to topple the other, but neither was going down. Ryan decided to do something unexpected. He fell back, still holding onto the creature's limbs and tossed it into a building behind him. He continued to roll backwards until he was on his feet again. Ryan turned and smiled as he saw the creature lying on the ground in a pool of orange blood. A piece of debris had fallen loose when the creature crashed into the building it was thrown into and it had landed in the soft orange spot on its back.

Wait a second; the orange stuff is a weak spot? Ryan looked at his chest where a ball of green plasma had hit him. It burnt through several layers of his armor and had charred the skin beneath. He had a chance to strike it then, but was unaware of that particular feature. He cursed himself for not being observant and charged towards the monster, this time knowing where to strike. The creature tried to stand, but shrieked in pain as Ryan's large cranial horn stabbed into the soft spot on its back. He flung his head up, dislodging the creature from his horn. It sailed up in the air and began to fall back to the ground. The creature's body smacked into the support beam that was suspended in the air by a crane on one of its sides, slowing its fall. Ryan wasted no time in attacking again and ran around to the other side of the support beam. He leapt in the air and grabbed the side that was elevated and pushed it down. Hard. The creature flew off the other side of the beam and crashed into the building next to it, knocking down a section of the wall. Ryan walked through the hole and saw the creature lying on the ground in a daze. He walked up to it and grabbed its armored head, pulling it past its natural limitations. He extended one of his forearm blades and held it to the creature's neck.

"Sorry I can't play longer, but I need to be heading out now," Ryan said as he decapitated the creature.

It gave one last cry of pain and its body fell to the ground. Ryan walked out of the building through the hole and began to make his way over to Schreiber and the others to see if they were Ok when he felt something hit him in the back of his neck. He ignored it, but then pain shot through his neck and spread to the rest of his body. Ryan fell to the ground, trying to fight the painful feeling. It subsided eventually, but was replaced by an inexplicable feeling of drowsiness. Ryan didn't object, as he was tired from the battle. He closed his eyes and drifted off.

The Chief surveyed the area. Grif had confirmed five kills from his position and the Chief and his team had counted ten. Master Chief was now in a room that was connected to the rest of the facility by two walkways. One went across into another room and the other one led out into the cold to a platform, which led even lower into the facility. Most of Red Squad was in the room with the last two scientists, who were tied up for questioning. The Chief looked them over.

"So, what is this place?" he asked, looking around and pretending to be interested.

"Why should we tell you?" one of the scientists asked.

"Let's just put it this way. You answer my questions, and you get to live. You don't answer my questions and you'll have wished you brought a parachute."

The two scientists looked at each other; the fear was obvious in their faces. They returned their gaze to the Master Chief.

"This place is a facility where we housed various genetic experiments O'Malley created or found and enhanced."

"What is here currently?"

"We have several parasite infection forms and a few hapless soldiers. O'Malley has an extra large holding cell, but we don't know what he's planning on putting there."

"What side are the soldiers on?"

"Blue."

"How many are there?"

"Two, why?"

"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here."

The Chief pondered the information he had received. Two Blues? The Chief had his suspicions and decided it was worth looking into.

"Where are they being held?"

"Just find a walkway that takes you down. The lowest level is where they're being kept."

"Thanks."

Red Squad turned and began to leave.

"Hey, wait!" the scientist called after the Chief. "What about us?"

"I said I'd let you live, not let you go."

The Reds were already making their way down into the lowest level of the base. Once they arrived there, they saw what appeared to be a large, light blue energy field. At first, the Chief thought it was a repulsor lift, but upon closer scrutiny, it was revealed to be a holding cell. It must have been the extra large one that was awaiting its occupant because it was empty. The Chief turned around and saw a room that was glowing green. Holding cells lined the walls. Several scientists were monitoring the cells, but never finished as Lock-jaw crept up behind them and snapped their necks. Everyone moved around the room to secure the area while the Chief, Doc and Caboose entered the green room. The Chief stopped and looked into the first cell on his left. What appeared to be a mass of living pumpkin innards was squirming around. He moved to the next cell where he could barely make out several small shapes swimming about. Another cell held more of the swimming shapes. The Chief was about to move on to the next cell when Caboose shouted.

"Transistor Reef!"

"Caboose, we need to have a serious talk about names and rank."

"I found them!"

"Found who?"

"Church and Tucker! I found Church and Tucker!"

To Be Continued