CHAPTER THREE
John and Matthews quietly, yet swiftly moved down the underground passageway that was created by the Forerunners so long ago. No one seemed to step foot in this massive site; let alone find out about it, which was located miles beneath the African Continent. Together, the Master Chief and the marine fought their way through hordes of Covenant to get to Truth. A lot of the Covenant fleet were guarding the Forerunner site in small groups of four or more, spread out from each other every tunnel they walked into, and were getting bigger and tougher by the minute.
The Spartan slammed another full clip of ammo into his Assault Rifle, and checked to see how many extra clips he had until he would need to scavenged for any Covenant weapons lying around after killing them. He checked to see how many Private Matthews had before they arrived at the end of the tunnel were it went off in two other directions. Halting to a stop, the Chief peered carefully around a corner, finding nothing before walking over to the other corner to see what was down that end. He looked, and quickly removed himself from view of the enemy's eyes. He pressed his back against the wall, and paused there for a few moments as he thought up a plan.
"What's down there, Chief?" whispered the marine quietly.
"Six Jackals, and two are armed with snipers while the rest are armed with a shield and a plasma pistols," he explained quietly through his helmets speakers. "And Brutes."
"Damn," murmured Matthews, "I don't think we should fight them and find another way down to the control room."
John looked at him, and rested a hand on the man's shoulder. He could feel the marine tremble, and knew he was afraid. So was he, to be honest.
He tightened his grip around his rifle, wondering who he should take out without endangering himself and the marine. If they were to take out the Jackals, all six of them of what he counted, the Brutes would surely be a problem. Now, if they were to take out the three Brutes, the Jackals won't be much of a problem, but they were still dangerous with those Plasma Pistols and Particle Beam Rifles. Out of the three Brutes, one of them was a high-ranked one. He will definitely be a major pain in the ass.
There was a darkened area right across from him, and he could use that as an advantage while he shot the two Brutes with no helmets protecting their heads as Matthews works on the Jackals where they were standing at the moment. John would have plenty of time to ready himself when the last Brute goes berserk after he would kill his friends. One or two quick bursts of the weapon in their ugly heads, and then enough for the armoured Brute before switching over to his P6G pistol to avoid re-filling the AR with a fresh clip, or fight him when it would attack him hand-to-hand.
He switched to his radio and spoke to the marine. "I'm going to the corner across from here," he ordered, "Stay here and fire at the Jackals once I fire at the Brutes." The Private nodded silently in understanding.
SPARTAN-117 stepped away from the wall, held his Assault Rifle to his chest as he jumped toward the shadowy area and rolled across the floor, his armoured-suit made a short clang before he came up to a crouching position. He kept still as the Jackals looked over when they heard the noise, and searched for the source. He held his breath, watching as their bird-like heads twitched from side-to-side, chattering to each other in their own language while the Brutes were apparently unaware to what was going on.
When the group of Jackals finally gazed somewhere else, John gradually let out the breath he held, and peered through the down the site of his AR as he aimed at one of the Brutes. The Brute stood with the other two, not talking or anything while they guarded the area halfway down the tunnel. Upon closer examination, he noticed another hallway at the end, and wondered if it would finally lead to the Ark.
Without looking at the marine, he raised a hand, and then pointed down at their targets to tell him to fire in several seconds. He kept his index finger around the trigger, making sure his aim was steady, and then pulled it down to fire the bullets.
The force of the bullets threw back the beast's head, blood trickled from the wounds as the Brute dropped down with a loud cry of pain before dying.
The other two Brutes and the group of Jackals started to fire at him when they heard the sound of his rifle, but Matthews fired at the jackals to keep them busy. The Master Chief fired back, but at the other Brute's face, and the creature staggered back as the bullets made contact. Blood sprayed out as he fell onto the ground as the last shots of plasma were triggered; hitting the commanding Brute accidentally.
The Spartan's shields flickered lower and lower as the plasma from the Jackal's pistols struck him even though he was trying to avoid it; there were about six of them so how could he when there were no places to take any cover other than the corner? A couple of Jackals were taken out by the marine, which were the snipers, but the ones with the shields were harder to kill. The grenades from the Brute Shot were exploding around him while they bounced off the flat surface of the walls.
The remaining Brute realized his two comrades were dead, and he dropped the weapon as known when encountering these creatures from before.
"Bastard!" yelled the Brute. He stood, shoulders dropped as he growled in anger before charging for the attacker.
The Master Chief quickly moved down the corridor while he fired the remaining bullets in the rifle then dropped it to the side. He fired the fresh bullets from his handgun, shooting off the Brute's helmet. He didn't have enough time to fire another three bursts into its unprotected head when it blindly advanced with quick speed at him.
John had other problems. His energy shield was depleted and the warning system sounded constantly in his HUD. Somehow, the Chief had to take cover, and would only need a few seconds for his shields to regenerate.He side-stepped into the wall just when the Brute ran into him. The Master Chief winced when he felt the creature's broad shoulder hit him in his side when he did, and stood with his back against the wall; pressing his hand to his side. He watched the Brute stand at the corner of the hallway for a moment; while at the same time viewed the shields indicator in his HUD display gradually starting to restore.
Private Matthews kept still as he crouched low to the floor, his eyes wide in horror as he hoped to God that the alien didn't see him. Much to his surprise, the Brute turned to the Chief and laughed.
"I will kill you demon with my bare hands," he growled.
The Spartan stood up straight, ignoring the sharp pain in his side, but held a stern smile beneath his helmet. His shields were back, and if the Brute wanted to fight hand-to-hand, then he will get it. John was aware though of their incredible endurance and strength, but these beasts were far different than the ones he encountered on High Charity.
The brute let out a loud warning growl when he saw the remaining Jackals approach them. "Go back to your posts," he ordered. "I don't need any help."
John soon brought his tight fists up and stood in a fighting stance, silently waiting for the creature to attack him. The Brute laughed in amusement, but said nothing as he rapidly started toward him. John blocked the beast's strike to the head with his right, holding onto the large hairy wrist, and countered the Brute with two swift punches to the face. He stepped back, still holding the wrist as he grabbed with his other hand around it and sent the Covenant creature flying into the wall, cracking it behind him before it fell to the floor.
That didn't stop him when he immediately stood up and returned to the awaiting Spartan. The Brute rushed him, and the Master Chief caught the crazed beast with a sharp elbow to the jaw, sending him back with a painful growl. It spit out a broken tooth with blood, that was it. They really were strong aliens because that would've broke an Elite and a human's jawbone. It came to no surprise when the enemy shook off the pain as if it were nothing, and went at him again in a blind rage.
Next, the two combatants started battling relentlessly once again in the tunnel while the Jackals looked on curiously and the marine silently cheered the Spartan on. John's muscles tensed beneath his MJOLNIR battle armour, and his adrenaline pumped rapidly through his veins. His speed was quicker than the Brute's but the Brute's strength made up where its speed lacked. As the beast swung both arms, the Chief blocked every one of them, landing a hard counterstrike in return.
The Chief struck the creature's mouth and chin with pounding blows, breaking more of its sharp teeth. He also hammered the side of the Brute's exposed ribcage where he wasn't protected by the armour, and the side of the head. Bones were starting to crack on each impact, and everything looked like the fight with the Brute was going well. But on the verge of loosing, the beast snarled with rage, and suddenly attacked him with a formidable force.
The Brute wrapped its arms around John's waist as it lifted him off of the ground and tackled him into the wall; bringing his shields halfway down and cracking the wall behind him. Just like the Master Chief did when he threw the Covenant into the wall on the opposite side. John gritted his teeth when it smashed him into the wall again, and that brought the shields down to about twenty-five percent and the warning alarm went off once more. John started hammering the Brute's back, neck and skull with elbows and fists to free himself, which worked after many tries.
Spartan-117 then watched as it snapped it's head up, and opened its mouth to let out a loud angry growl; while staring at itself in the reflected visor of the super soldier's helmet. Quickly, the Master Chief pulled out a combat knife he had strapped around his other thigh, and stabbed the sharp blade into one of the Brute's eye and twisted it from right to left. The Brute let out a horrible howl of agony as it felt the weapon pierce through its eye and brain, and then let go of the human as it skittered back three times with the Spartan still holding onto the knife.
He followed the enemy down, and knelt beside the beast, and waited for a while before taking out the blade from the eye socket of the dying Brute. Blood quickly oozed out of the wound, and the hairy creature laid their motionlessly, but its limbs twitched every now and then. By this time, the remaining Jackals fled the scene before they were next. After making sure several times that the Brute was actually dead, the Master Chief stood up and shook the blood off of the knife before returning it in the leather sheath. Matthews gradually stood up and approached the other human while he gaped at the dead Brute.
"Whoa...!" he murmured in astonishment. "Wish I could do that. Makes me want to become a Spartan." He looked up at John and asked, "You think I'll like it?"
John faced him. "You won't," he said quietly before walking over to his Assault Rifle to put in a new clip into the receiver, and headed down the wall. The marine followed in wonder as they walked over to the end of the corridor and looked around the corner to see where those other Jackals were, and spotted them. The group of Jackals were looking up his way, and by the way they were standing nervously around , they knew they were in for it.
He spotted where the dead Jackals that were using the sniper rifles were and went to retrieve one of them. He walked out into their view with the rifle raised at shoulder-level. John pulled the trigger once he had a clear shot on one. When the first Jackal dropped dead, the others tucked further behind their shields. He smirked.
Nipnap carefully continued down, and heard a gun battle finish ending near his location. He hurried over, paused and slowly peeked around the corner. Enjoying his active camouflage, he spotted the dead Jackal that was sniped in the head moments before he arrived At first, he was overjoyed by the fact that a stupid Jackal was killed, but when he looked down further, he noticed a couple of shadowy figures. He couldn't tell who or what they were, but the bigger one sniped the last Jackals with such skill. Other Sangheili? He thought, but when he started to move down the corridor Matthews and John were in, the corridor leading to the Ark across from him echoed a growl from a low ranking Brute. He froze, thinking he was spotted by the beast, and momentarily forgetting his camouflage was still on to not worry about being spotted. He quickly turned when the Brute stood behind him, held in a yelp, and stared fearfully at the tall furry alien that would kill him in seconds.
The Brute stared down the corridor, looking at the dead bodies of his fallen brothers, and then at the Jackals. He raised his Brute Shot, and aimed it at the Chief and the marine, but Nipnap thought the Brute was aiming at him.
"Die!" shouted Nipnap, getting the alien's attention.
"What?!" roared the angry Brute when he looked down and noticed the oddly distorted shape near the wall. He growled.
Nipnap fired once with his plasma pistol at the same time as the Spartan down the corridor sniped an exposed part in the Brute's head. The Brute dropped down to the ground with a hole going right through its skull.
The Unngoy stared at the dead Brute, and then down at his pistol in amazement. He suddenly felt proud, and looked down at the two figures approaching him, and realized they weren't Sangheili, but humans instead. He noticed the Demon coming out of the shadows. His pride of thinking he killed a Brute with one plasma bolt fell as quickly as it arrived, and was quickly taken over with fear.
Nipnap jumped, barked in horror, fling his arms, and raced down the corridor toward the hatch that led toward the Ark, and where he thought 'Medomee would be.
"Did you see that?" asked Matthews.
"Yeah, I did. " answered the Spartan calmly as they headed down the corridor quickly. He looked around, and heard the hatch closer by close, and glanced toward his left. He pointed toward that direction. "That way."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure, Private."
"I certainly hope so." Thought the marine out loud as he followed him into the hatch, which led them into another corridor that spread into four more corridors..
John paused suddenly after walking down a yard from the hatch. Matthews was paying too much attention behind them, thinking the worst, that he bumped into the Chief. In his HUD, John glanced up at his shield indicator when he heard it sound when something depletes it a little. He frowned a little, but said nothing when he raised his free hand silently while holding his AR in the other. The Chief glanced down all four hallways, wondering where each of them went, and what was beyond them, as well as the number of enemy they will be facing.
He sighed and said, "Check out the first two tunnels, while I check out the rest," he ordered, "If you see Truth and that he's surrounded by guards. Evade and tell me you found the control room and I'll hurry over to you."
"Y-yes, sir," replied Matthews. "But..." He gazed straight ahead, nearly petrified as he watched the two large figures slowly move toward them.
John noticed the two large blobs on his threat indicator, and quickly aimed his weapon where the private was staring at.
Hunters. SPARTAN-117 cursed under his breath, and gradually backed up toward the hatch. "Go back through the hatch." he said through clench teeth.
Private Matthews barely budged.
"Matthews! Move your ass!" repeated John. This time more desperately.
The narrow hallway was big enough for two Hunters to walk side-by-side, but there weren't anywhere to take cover from their fuel rod cannons, shields, and deadly spines. It was a death trap just waiting to happen, and they had to get out into a wider area, such as a large enough room.
Matthews turned around and ran back, and the Master Chief cautiously backed up, and did a back roll into the hatch when one of the Hunters triggered the large green stream of energy that would knock his shields down to zero. The hatched open as he landed, and finished the roll with a crouching position. When the hatch closed, the area trembled when another blast shot where he was seconds ago.
"Hurry." John urged and they went down the other corridor that was to his right when he was looking for the camouflaged figure.
The hatch parted again, and the bond brothers walked out one at a time, and looked down the hallway as the two humans moved away from them. The other hatch they were headed to open, and a Brute appeared with a surprised look.
"Huh?" It quickly aimed it's plasma rifle gun at either of them, but John was quicker and filled the alien with nearly a full clip of his ammo of his AR into its chest. It staggered over and fell into the wall, and Kurotus saw it.
Kurotus turned to another Brute by him. "Go tell Cerberus. Now!" He demanded. "The Demon is here." He smiled.