Chapter 17

Launching Bay

"Alright ladies!" Johnson shouted out, an Assault Rifle in hand. "Those Abater sons-of-bitches have found us, and what are you gonna do?" He walked past the soldiers, standing side-by-side, all holding Assault Rifles, the Evas and Michel were in full armor now. The scientists and civilians could see the soldiers being given their speech as they were seated in Pelicans and ready to take off. 'Takimee and Grievous stood opposite of the soldiers, so they could stare every Helljumper, ODST, Marine, Spartan, Eva, Grunt, Hunter, and Elite in the eyes to show them that they were there to fight until the end. "Well I'm gonna tell ya what you're gonna do." Johnson stopped and looked a Helljumper in the face, shouting. "You're gonna blast their alien asses into Hell until you can't blast 'em no more, and then you're gonna break their bones with your bare hands!" He stopped at the end of the line, before turning quickly to face the whole line. "AM I RIGHT MEN??!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" Shouted every soldier there, echoing throughout the massive launch bay and catching the attention of all the civilians boarding their ships.

"Mmm-hmm, damn right I am, now move it out, double time!" Johnson shouted as he walked up to Grievous and 'Takimee, muttering to the Elite with a grin. "They're all yours." 'Takimee nodded and clacked his mandibles as he stepped forward, hands behind his back and looking into the eyes of each soldier, not by walking up to them, merely by looking at them.

"Grunts, Hunters, Elites, we made a pact with the humans not so long ago. We said with their leaders, we will fight with you until we cannot fight anymore, this, men, will not be the easiest mission any of you have ever come across, if you don't think quickly, and don't pull your head from the clouds, you will die." His words were powerful and gave each soldier inspiration. "You fight with bravery, you fight with honor, and together, we will win this fight!" And with his ending words, several soldiers raised their free fist up and hollered out in determination, only the Evas and Spartans didn't raise their fists and cry out.

"Now then." Grievous said as he stepped forward. "We presume they will be having heavy-duty weapons for this, Air Force Marines, take the Longswords and Shortswords, located in Launch Bay 2, Elite and Grunt troops will travel via Phantoms, and the others, the humans, will go in the remaining Pelicans, some in the Phantoms as well." And with that, the soldiers ran to their designated location, ready to go when ordered.

Holding his Assault Rifle in one hand by his side, the Master Chief watched the final civilian Pelican hover up and take off up into the morning sky, which was cloudy and dark.

"Now then, with the civilians leaving the Abaters will be right on top of them, let's move!" 'Takimee boomed as he, Johnson, Grievous, 'Zukamee, the Evas, and Michel took their seats in a Pelican, leaving Sven's seat open. "Wort, wort, wort!" The spec ops commander cried in his native tongue, probably toward the Elites present.

"Chief, ya coming?" Johnson asked. Without a reply, the Master Chief turned and ran up to the dropship, hopping up and taking his seat beside 'Zukamee at the end of the line of seats. Just before the pilot took off with the other ships flying up to face the Abater menace above, 'Takimee shouted.

"Wait for the Hunters!" The Pelican dropped back to the ground and the Spartan looked over to see none other than his bond brothers, Hettu and Kicilar, attached to the end of the ship. Now that they were ready, the Pelican hovered up, tilted up towards the opening hatch, and took off. Not a word was spoken as the dropship approached the battlefield, war torn Fair Oaks, the civilian dropships began to fade away in the distance and the sounds of plasma and weapon fire became louder, along with explosions, battle cries, and hollers of pain and shock. As the broken buildings came into view below them, the Master Chief leaned over a bit to get a better view of the cracked streets growing closer toward them, then finally, they landed, the Hunters dispatched and everyone took a moment to get ready mentally.

"Let's do it!" Johnson shouted as his boots landed on the streets, followed by the others. The Pelican began to hover back up into the sky, when a bright blue ball of plasma erupted from a massive Abater cannon atop of a building. The dropship exploded into a blue fiery inferno and pieces of metal and fireballs fell down on the streets, thankfully missing those who exited it.

"No turning back now." Shinji muttered as he switched the safety on his Assault Rifle off. Now they could see that the Abaters were winning, badly. Bodies of Marines, Helljumpers, Grunts and Elites lay in the streets, with few Abaters, Brutes, and Jackals dead. Kicilar's fuel rod cannon glowed green for a moment before a blob of green plasma fired out and struck an Abater hover tank, destroying it, with a satisfactory explosion killing several other troops around it.

"Wort wort wort!!" 'Zukamee cried out, just like 'Takimee had, before he charged into the madness, firing from his plasma rifle. Suddenly something pink and needle-like fired from an Abate Snipe shot out and struck the Elite in the arm. Crying out, 'Zukamee dropped to a knee; however his fingers still wrapped around the trigger of his weapon.

"How…how did it pierce my shields?" He thought, waiting for death to claim him with another shot. However, the Evas, Elite, cyborg, Spartans, Hunters, and Marine ran past him. Johnson, 'Takimee, Ray, and the Master Chief stayed behind to aid the spec ops Elite, the Spartan helped 'Zukamee back to his feet by wrapped the Elite's arm around his shoulder.

"Where'd that round come from?" Sven asked. 'Zukamee looked up, spotting a familiar Abater in the second story window of a building; he pointed with his weapon up to him. Grievous, who had spotted the Abater as well, recognized him immediately and pounced onto the wall of the building, digging his clawed fingers and toes deep into the concrete and brick while crawling up the wall with speed. The Abater zoomed in, ready to fire another shot into 'Zukamee's skull, when the weapon was knocked from his clawed hands and onto the floor.

"Scar…we meet again." Grievous growled. Scar shook the dizziness from his vision and looked at the cyborg.

"Ah, General Grievous, I did not know you were still around. I thought you were killed with the rest of you kind." He gave a toothy smirk. Grievous laughed as he slowly pulled his cloak off and tossed it to the ground.

"You cannot get rid of me that easily." He said and prepared to fight hand-to-hand.

"Let me go." 'Zukamee muttered.

"What?" The Master Chief asked. Through the pain in his arm, the Elite pulled his arm away and back by his side.

"It's just my arm, I won't die, I still have this one." He said and held up the plasma rifle in his right hand.

"You heard the man, let's roll!" Johnson cried out as he dashed into the fight, unloading a full clip into the gut of a Brute he spotted. The Master Chief nodded to the Elite, brought his weapon back up, and ran to stand beside the Senior Chief, who was waiting for his shields to charge back up after some nasty blasts. 'Zukamee turned to 'Takimee, noticing his mentor didn't have a gun.

"Where's your weapon sir?" He asked. 'Takimee grinned.

"Right here." And with a flick of his wrist, the tube in his hand burst into life as powerful plasma sword, with two blades at the end of each end facing forward, a perfect weapon for impaling the enemy with. In the hands of a skilled warrior, the plasma sword definitely put an end to the term 'Never bring a knife to a gun fight'. As he walked past the Officer, 'Takimee paused, looked at the Elite and said. "Find some cover; don't fight anyone close up or hand-to-hand. Understood?" 'Zukamee clacked his mandibles and nodded.

"Yes sir!" And with that, he dashed up and stopped beside Michel and Sven, behind their rusted car for cover. He dropped to a knee, leaned over to the side of the car, spotting a Jackal whose shield was facing a Marine the opposite direction, and fired, burning through the alien's weak frame and killing it.

'Takimee bellowed out a roar as he charged out into the battle and swung his plasma sword at a Brute, the others who saw it were amazed when they saw how easily the sword sliced through the Brute's think hide, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.

"What are we going to do about that cannon?" Sven asked Michel. The Senior Chief looked up at the cannon as it fire and destroyed another Pelican trying to escape. He spotted two wide figures soar through the sky silently, and he smiled wider. Turning back to the Master Chief, he replied.

"It looks under control." He and the Master Chief looked up at the cannon again, scanning for it's next victim, oblivious to the two Longsword fighters approaching it. Longswords were wide and thin for the best speeds, difficult to match by other military fighters and ships, and able to pack a powerful punch too. As the two Longswords swooped down, the two Spartans could just manage to spot an object from the bottom of each fighter. The objects fell down, landed perfectly onto the cannon, and exploded. The cannon was lit up in an eruption of blue plasma and red fire. The Longswords pulled up with a thundering whoosh as they returned to the heavens to fight the Abater ships there.

Being a few buildings over from the cannon and the explosion, Grievous and Scar were tossed into the wall from the aftershock, knocking the wind clean out of both of them. Grievous fell to his knees and began to cough madly, his lung causing him tormenting pain impossible to stop. Scar got to his feet, grinning, as he hovered over the cyborg.

"It seems even age can stop a droid dead in its tracks." He growled. Grievous's eyes flashed.

"Droid?! I am no droid!" He boomed as he jumped to his feet and threw a fist towards Scar's snout. Unfortunately, the Abater caught it without some much as a grunt. Grievous growled again and tossed his other fist, only to have that one caught as well.

"Seeing your stature Grievous, it's easy to tell you're designed for speed, not strength, which surprises me when you thought you could hit me with a punch, where I specialize in strength. I always thought you were one to surprise me." Scar made tsking sounds. "You disappoint me." He said. Grievous's eyes narrowed and he began to chuckle.

"Well then…do I disappoint now?" He asked. Scar's eyes narrowed, but quickly widened when the cyborg's arms split in half, revealing that he had four arms instead of two. Unable to block the next set of arms, Scar was helpless when Grievous wrapped his new set of hands around the Abater's throat and choked him, sticking the thumb of his three-fingered second set of arms deep into Scar throat, getting the coughs and gags the Kaleesh general had been shooting for. "Yes…this is for what you did to my kind." He growled as Scar began to fall limp and loose consciousness. "This is for my family." He snarled as he was able to pick the Abater up off his feet, thanks to strength from both pairs of hands. "And this is for everything else you hurt!" He boomed as he finally managed to snap Scar's neck. With all life signs gone from the Abater, Grievous dropped him carelessly onto the floor, where he landed with a thump.

Picking up his cloak and wrapping it around him once more, the Kaleesh cyborg put a clawed foot up on the window sill, just about to leap out and back into the battle, when he glared down on Scar's dead body one last time.

"Your kind disgust me." He thought and jumped out of the window, landing perfectly and ready to fight once more.

Amy sat beside Victoria on one of the civilian Pelicans, Caleb was sitting on his mother's lap, held tightly, and thankfully for him, had no idea what was going on, or the terror everyone else was going through. Dr. Winchester sat with his legs crossed, staring at the dead land below them. He looked across from him to his granddaughter, he smiled to her, then he noticed something.

"Amy, did the princess take another Pelican? I'm surprised she's not with you." He said. Amy looked up from her shoes to her grandfather, then she shrugged.

"I didn't see her get into one, maybe she left later or something, she and I ran in together…but she just vanished." She replied.

"Yes, I'm surprised she didn't decide to ride with you Amy," Victoria said. "Unless she…" Suddenly her eyes widened and terror griped the three of them. "Doctor, you…you don't think…?"

"I pray to God I hope not." Dr. Winchester unbuckled his seatbelt and walked into the cockpit, where two pilots were operating the dropship.

"Change of course Doctor?" One of them asked.

"No, nothing like that." Winchester replied as he set his hand on the main pilot's shoulder and bent down by him. "C-could you by chance call any of the other ships and check in if Princess Susan is in any of them?" He asked.

"Sure thing Doc." The pilot said and activated the COM link in his helmet. "Come in Echo 532, Echo 756, and Echo 139, we're looking for Princess Susan; do any of you have Princess Susan aboard your ship? Copy." He asked. A moment of silence passed them; obviously the pilots were checking their passengers.

"She isn't here Echo 612. Over." One pilot reported.

"She isn't here either. Over." Another said. Dr. Winchester crossed his fingers for the last one and bit his lower lip.

"…No sir, has she gone missing? Over." The last one asked.

"Yes Echo 756, Dr. Winchester cannot find her, maybe she slipped into one of the battle Pelicans, check one of them if you could. Over." The pilot said.

"Sorry sir, but we can't reach them, they're in too much heat, plus we don't want to risk any Abaters hearing in on our conversations. Over" Echo 756 replied.

"Alright, thank you. Over." The pilot signed off and looked over at Winchester, whose face was blank.

"Do…do you want us to go find her?" The pilot asked. Winchester sighed, knowing just exactly what Susan did, he was just about to say yes, when he looked back, at Amy, Victoria and her son, and the others.

"No, no, she's in the Chief's hands, she'll be safe." He said, not knowing if she was or not, and he returned to his seat.

Another Pelican touched down and joined the fight, with the Abater Cannon out; it was a lot safer on the battlefield, but that didn't mean the Abater forces didn't fight as hard as they could still. Helljumpers poured out of the hatch, all wearing the same brown armor and helmets, when a clumsy Helljumper almost fell when he jumped down, holding his Assault Rifle in a nonprofessional manner. When he looked up, and the Pelican left them, he realized what he had done. It couldn't be seen until he looked up that he wasn't a man at all, she was Susan! The princess was quite obviously the smallest out of the group she arrived with. She managed to take an extra set of armor from the weapons room and pulled her hair up inside of the helmet, so it didn't look obvious it was her, then she boarded one of the last Pelicans to leave.

Running past blue blasts of plasma darting past her and the rest of the group, Susan wasn't thinking of teamwork at all and ran from the group entirely, making herself a target to any enemy forces. Catching her breathe, the princess looked up and her eyes widened in terror when she saw a giant bug-like creature with massive humming wings dashing from the darkness of an abandoned building. The creature, a Drone as they were called in the Abater army, could fly about for only a certain amount of time, since Earth's gravity made them much heavier than their home world. Making a chatting sound and beating its wings, the Drone landed on its feet and approached the princess, who screamed out and fell backwards onto the ground.

Finally thinking, Susan picked up her Assault Rifle and fired. The Drone cried out as bullets tore it apart and green blood splattered everywhere. The princess sighed when the bug went limp and fell to the ground with a crunch of its exoskeleton. Suddenly she heard a low chuckle, something that frightened her and made her crawl backwards a bit, away from the laugh. From around the corner of a building, a Brute rode up on a Ghost. A Ghost was a type of hover bike the Abaters stole from the Covenant, much like the Banshees and Phantoms. Now Susan realized, this was no ordinary Brute, this one made her heart skip a beat. Tartarus leaped from the Ghost and landed in front of her, chuckling.

"So, you have killed a Drone." His red eyes narrowed. "Aren't you lucky?" He glared down on Susan, his burning red eyes meeting her frightened blue ones, then brought both of his fists up, yelling a battle cry, before crashing them back down. Susan rolled over and missed Tartarus's attack, though shards of concrete and a cloud of dust flew up. "Come here you human!" Tartarus boomed as he snatched Susan by the ankle and dragged her toward him. Picking her up by her chest plate, the Brute brought her up face-to-face with him. "Now that you're in my grasp, I will…Oh…" He grinned. "You're a female." He chuckled. Suddenly they heard the sound of a fresh clip being loaded and looked toward the street, seeing the Master Chief with his Assault Rifle ready.

"Put him Tartarus." He growled.

"Or what?" Tartarus snapped and tossed Susan to the ground. He faced the Spartan. "Your puny guns can't hurt me."

"We'll see." The Master Chief growled, aiming the weapon at the Brute. Tartarus crossed his arms.

"Or…we could make this interesting…" He said slyly. Sven lowered his weapon.

"What are you up to?" He asked.

"How about hand-to-hand? That is, if you're up to it." Tartarus said with a grin. Knowing that he wanted to kill Tartarus with his bare hands since he struck him with his hammer weapon, the Master Chief couldn't resist and tossed his Assault Rifle away.

"Sven don't!" Susan cried as she got up to her knees. The Master Chief looked at her, realizing who it was.

"Susan?" He asked. Tartarus began to chuckle, slowly that chuckle grew up to an insane laugh. "Susan get away from him!!" Sven shouted. Before the princess could do so however, Tartarus pulled her helmet off, tossed it away, and grabbed Susan in his bulky, hairy arm, pinning her between his arm and his chest. She was helpless, unable to do anything but thrash her legs and jerk her head back and forth. He laughed again.

"How could I not tell this was your humans' precious Princess of England?" He said with a grin.

"Put her down Tartarus!" The Master Chief ordered and grabbed his Assault Rifle again, but when he aimed it at the Brute, he lowered it. Tartarus had his free hand on Susan's head.

"Do you know how easily I could snap her neck?" He asked. "Like a twig." He chuckled sinisterly. "Now…put the gun down."

Ramming the butt of his Assault Rifle into the jaw of an Abater, Shinji waited for the beast to fall to the ground before he placed a purple-booted foot on it and fired into it until it no longer moved. The Abater forces were dying down drastically.

"Shinji look out!" Alexis shouted as she grabbed Eva-01 and dived to the ground. A Brute had tried to sneak up behind the Eva with a Brute Shot, a weapon that shot grenades out, but when the blade on its bottom was used as a melee weapon, a deadly on at that. The street pole Shinji was standing beside earlier was caught in the blade's path and the two Evas witnessed as the metal was sliced and slid off from its resting place, crashing through buildings and landing with a boom.

"Die humans, die!!" The Brute boomed manically as he brought the blade up once more.

"Halt menace!" 'Takimee boomed. The Brute turned and blocked a swipe of the Elite's plasma sword. Both stumbling back, 'Takimee's eyes widened.

"How could your blade resist my sword?" He asked. The Brute gave a toothy grin.

"Best metal the Abaters could find, able to withstand plasma at any temperature." The beast chuckled. In a colossal match, the two different blades clashed once more, sparks from the blade and burning pieces of plasma flew everywhere as the Brute and Elite continued to fight.

"Sven, where are…" Michel began as he rushed up to the building, and he froze when he saw his friend, and the princess, caught in Tartarus's grip. "Tartarus." The Senior Chief said and rushed to his friend's side, raising his weapon at the Brute.

"Put it down." Sven muttered.

"What? But we cannot fight him with our hands. We have to…"

"Do it." The Master Chief ordered.

"…Alright." Michel replied and dropped his weapon.

"Now then, you have done your part." Tartarus set Susan back down on her feet. "Only proving even more what fools you are!" He boomed and with his massive backhand, struck Susan and sent her reeling into a wall, crashing into it with a boom that shook dust off the walls.

"SUSAN!!!" Sven cried out as he rushed to the princess and dropped to his knees beside her. Susan tried desperately to catch the wind that was pushed out of her. Gently Sven cradled her head in his arms, since he figured she'd do the same for him. Michel picked his Assault Rifle up again and fired blindly at Tartarus, who stumbled back from the fire. He laughed.

"Men, retreat." He said into a COM link of some sort, before he picked up a large rock, and with all of the strength his could muster (Which was a lot!) he chucked it at Michel, knocking the Spartan's shields out and distracting him long enough for the Brute chieftain to escape on his Ghost once more, fleeing back to his Phantom.

The Abaters stopped firing at Johnson and his men, at Grievous, Ray and 'Zukamee, and fled back to their Phantoms and Banshees. Men cheered at the victory.

"That's right you motha fuckers, run!" Johnson barked. Meanwhile, 'Takimee and the Brute's battle waged on. Not listening at all to his leader's words, one couldn't help but admire both fighters as they did not look away from any other distraction; instead they locked eyes, and fought blade to blade. The Brute brought his Brute Shot up, and tried to destroy 'Takimee by mere force of the blade. However, the Elite blocked the attack, and pushed it away, causing the Brute to have his downfall, stumbling back. In one more twirling move, 'Takimee sliced the Brute in half, ending the epic fight.

"Thank you Commander." Shinji said as he and Alexis stood up.

"I think they're falling back." 'Takimee said, watching a Phantom dart over them, followed by another. He smiled. "We won." He ran to speak with the others.

"You tell anyone I saved you Shinji and you're dead." Alexis growled as she slung her Assault Rifle over her shoulder and walked away, leaving a confused Shinji. The young Japanese man grinned under his helmet.

"Thank you." He said warmly. Alexis stopped, then slowly turned around, glaring with cruel eyes under her quad-eyes.

"What...was that?" She asked through gritted teeth. Shinji smiled wider under his helmet again.

"I said thank you." He repeated. Alexis's hand formed a fist.

"You are so dead..." She mumbled loud enough for Eva-01 to hear. Just before she was going to pounce, she felt someone's presence. She looked over her shoulder to spot Eva-00, looking at them with her helmet's one eye. Alexis looked back to Shinji. "You're so lucky." The redhead growled before she and Shinji joined Ray with the others.

His helmet off and laying on the ground beside them, Sven sobbed over Susan, who was still alive, but barely. Michel appeared over them, and snapped his helmet off as well, putting it at his side. Susan looked up, expecting a comforting smile from Michel, but instead, she was given a solemn frown, it was obvious Michel was hurt by this just like Sven was. Smiling weakly, she brought a soft hand up and stroked the Master Chief's cheek, who looked up with watery-eyes.

"Don't be sad…" She whispered. Sniffling, Sven looked down in shame, one more tear running down his cheek.

"But it was my fault you're hurt." He replied. Susan leaned forward and gently kissed him on the forehead.

"It wasn't your…fault…" Her voice slowly became softer and softer, and Sven could suddenly feel that her grip on him was lessening. He looked at her, her eyes slowly closing.

"Susan please, don't die." He pleaded. Susan smiled faintly, she was about to say something, but she was too weak, and her eyes closed. "Susan? Susan?" The Master Chief asked. "Susan…?" But still, no answer, she was gone. Suddenly Sven felt alone again, like no one was ever going to be with him again. With one hand, he put his helmet back on and picked the princess up, holding her in both arms, and he approached the incoming Pelican dropship, Michel walking right beside him.

"Brother Sven, we have done it, we've…" Kicilar said joyfully as he and Hettu ran up to the Master Chief. However, their joy came to an abrupt halt when they saw the princess, motionless in their brother's arms and the Spartan not paying any attention to anything but the path he was walking. Several more Pelicans and Phantoms dropped in and the remaining soldiers rushed to them. The Evas had their helmets off and were speaking with Johnson, 'Takimee, 'Zukamee and Grievous when Shinji looked forward and saw a golden haired beauty in the Master Chief's arms.

"Hey, who's that?" The young man asked. Suddenly his eyes widened, knowing who it was now, along with 'Takimee's, the others didn't know who it was yet.

"No…" 'Takimee muttered and rushed to the Master Chief. "Sven, what happened?" He asked. Sven jumped up into the Pelican, Susan still in his arms, and he turned around.

"Tartarus." He muttered and sat down, staring with his blank visor at Susan.

"That damn Brute will pay." 'Takimee growled as he stamped a booted foot on the ground. Michel hopped into the Pelican next and took a seat beside the Master Chief, pained to see his friend in such sadness. 'Takimee climbed in next, sitting opposite of the Master Chief in the back of the hatch. When everyone else came to the hatch of the Pelican, they froze when they saw the princess in Sven's arms.

"Is…is that…Susan?" Alexis asked. Silently they all climbed aboard, and when the last one, Grievous, got in, 'Takimee pounded on the door to the cockpit, a sign to the pilots to take off. They had won yes, but at a dire cost.