~Chapter 9: Through The Swamp~

Noble Six finished cleaning his Mark V helmet, placing it next to the rest of the cleaned armor pieces. He hasn't had time since Reach to actually give his armor a good cleaning. Covered in all the blood from the past battles he's fought, it was kind of hard to believe that his armor was blue. Noble Six gave a deap sigh as he threw the flithy rag over on the pile with the rest. "My first break, yet I'm not in need of a break." Noble Six walked out his room and down to the mess hall. He wasn't really hungry so he thought he'd talk to a couple of people.

Once Noble Six walked into the mess hall, the first person to notice was Sargeant Johnson. "Well well now, Noble Six in the flesh. No need for armor?"

Even without his armor on, Noble Six still was still taller than Johnson. "I only need my armor for combat situations, unless of course I have to fight my way through the food line?"

"Well, morale is high, so the men feel the need to fill up before taking on the Covenant again." Johnson himself was holding an MRE, eating casually. "Of course having two Spartans with us and a full unit of ODST personel, we're going to take this ring very easy, either make the Covenant retreat or killing everyone of them bastards to get them off."

"Well me personally, I could care less, I'm just ready for this fighting to end. Maybe it won't end until . . ." It wasn't the first time Noble Six thought about death. Every Spartan thinks about death and is willing to embrace it so that they may let others live longer. Noble Six saw four of his team members on Noble Six give their lives for this war. Carter, Jorge, Kat, Emille. "Anyways, you and I are on the same flight for awhile, guess we'll get to talk again later then."

"Yeah, maybe." Johnson looked towards the floor. "Hopefully this weapons cache isn't a trap." Johnson had a real look of concern on his face. "Otherwise we're all dead, then this ring will be in their hands. We can't let that happen."

Noble Six laid a hand on Johnson's shoulder. "We won't let it happen. My team gave their lives to protect Earth, to protect the human race. We'll not hand them Halo, I'll destroy this whole damn thing if I have to."

"Whatever happens, it's time to move out." Johnson stepped into the Pelican that just landed.

Noble Six waited for the squad of Marines to get on before he got on himself. The Pelican lifted from the ground carrying it's passengers into the sunset, on both sides of Noble Six's Pelican were two more of the air transports. He knew one was flown by Foehammer and the other had O'Reilly as a passenger. Even Master Chief was going into battle. A slight concern crossed him, most of the soldiers were leaving the base and leaving it undefended. Hopefully it will still be there when he got back.

Hours passed by slowly. Not long after leaving base Foehammer flew off in another direction. "Hey Chris? You there?" Noble Six tried to get in touch with his friend through his com link.

Static came through the headset followed by a gust of wind, finally Christopher's voice spoke up. "Hey Noble Six! Thought you might have fallen asleep over there. Heard you're taking the mission without armor?"

It was true Noble Six didn't have his MJOLNIR armor with him. "Yeah, I don't have it. While I was cleaning it I noticed some of the vital areas of the suit needed repairing."

"Right right. Guess you'll have to play it safer now, at least for the time being." Christopher started laughing. "At least you had a good dinner."

Noble Six's stomache growled fiercely. "Actually I was too busy cleaning my armor, didn't get any food."

Christopher started laughing again. "Well, we're about to split, see you back as base."

"Alright, stay safe." The two Pelicans went off in their own directions. Soon he'd be on his own again, like before he was in Noble Team. "All the lone wolf stuff stays behind." Noble Six quoted what Carter told him when they first met. "Sorry Carter, I've gotta go lone wolf again, at least one more time."

Suddenly music began to play. Old rock. Kind of catchy to Noble Six, he even started to tap his foot. One of the Marines spoke up. "Sarge! Why do we gotta listen to this old stuff anyways?"

"This 'Old Stuff' is your history, it should remind you what we're trying to protect." Johnson tilted his head back to enjoy the music.

The Marine spoke again. "Well, if the Covenant want to wipe out this particular part of my history, that's fine by me."

"Why don't you just ask them next time, I thing they'll be happy to ablige." Everyone on board started laughing.

Next to Noble Six was a nervous Marine. "Names Noble Six, you nervous about the mission?"

"Um, yeah a little, my first actual mission one this ring, name's Mendoza by the way."

"Mendoza huh? It's okay to be nervous, sometimes that's what get's us out alive." Noble Six patted Mendoza on the shoulder. "Just don't abandon your men when the fighting begins."

"Yes sir."

Static came over Noble Six's headset, "Noble Six, your drop is coming up, prepare your self for a hard landing."

"Hard landing?" Noble Six strapped his Assault Rifle to his back and grabbed a metal SHIELD. "Safety Health Insertion Energy Landing Device, could've came up with a better name for it but it, I think this is the only time it'll ever be used."

"Well they're exspensive to make, they protect you, give you health, give you food, anything needed to survive without your power armor." Johnson pointed out was the SHIELD was used for.

"Noble Six Jump!" The piolet commanded.

Noble Six jumped from the back of the Pelican placing the SHIELD underneath his feet. The impact of the ground would've thrown him far from his location had he not been holding onto the handle. Missing In Action cause a Spartan never dies. That's what they say anyways. it seems like Death had been more and more welcoming to Noble Six recently.

"This is Noble Six on the ground . . ." Noble Six looked around before briefing command on the rest, "In a swamp." Noble Six picked the SHIELD up off the ground and tied it to his back and readied his Assault Rifle.

"Noble Six, this is command, continue south until you come up to a tower, we want you to investigate this building." The com link was full of static but Noble Six understood every word.

"Roger."

Noble Six began walking south when he heard it. The sound of a crash followed by gunfire in the distance. He turned his head but couldn't see anything through the dark swamp. His mission was the tower, he had to get there alive.

After hours of walking, Noble Six made it to his destination. The gunfire ceased a few minutes ago which could be good or bad. Noble Six started to check out the tower for an entrance, but the only openning he could find was out of reach. Then a round pulsating orb flew out.

"Hi, I am Three Four Three Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation Zero Four." The orb looked as though it nodded at Noble Six.

Before Noble Six could respond his radio started going off.

A voice not recognized by Noble Six. "What Are These Things Sarge!"

Johnson's voice. "I Don't Know Open Fire!"

Mendoza's Voice. "There's Too Many Of Them!"

Johnson's Voice. "Don't You Start Private! Fire Your Weapon!"

It Cut off.

"It seems the others released them, just as I was being told." 343 Guilty Spark said.

"Released what? What am I dealing with?" Noble Six heard the panik over his radio and knew it was something terrible.

"It seems they have encountered the Flood."

A Note From Your Author: Hello to everyone who's reading my story. Thank you for reading it and thank you to ya'll who review it. It's been about a month since I've had internet access so I'm sorry for making you wait. Even now my internet service is still kind of crappy, but it's enough to continue writing. Also, I've began writing another story that's not fan-fiction, I repeat, Not Fan Fiction. Therefore it won't show up on this site, but I will put it on another site for those who'd like to read it. Thanks again for your patient, and drop a review if you have time!