Author's Notes: Dear user general MB if your still reading this I have message for you at the end of this chapter.
Chapter 16 Rescue
Zen's NAV point on his HUD showed that they were only a few meters away from the Refugee Camp. He could see from far away that this particular band of Loyalist seemed to be well armed. They were shades that were posted a few meters ahead of them and a couple of Wraiths and Spectres. Zen activated his comlink and asked,
"Hey guys, why are they, like so prepared?" asked Zen.
"Zen, this isn't the first time these Loyalist attacked a refugee camp. They are a band of notorious pirates who disagree with the alliance of Sangheili with the Humans. They still believe in the Prophets even if they are dead." answered Rtas.
"Yeah Rtas is right, we have received reports of this behavior a few hours after we got of Halo." said Johnson in agreement.
"Well lets stop them shall we." said Zen.
They were now only 5 meters ahead when the loyalist attacked. They sent Ghosts at the group and the Wraiths started lobbing plasma bombs.
"Same tactic guys, I'll handle wraiths." said Zen. He then immediately swerved as a plasma bomb landed in front of him. His SML started locking onto the Wraiths as he approached them. As soon as it gave the signal he pressed the button and the missile launched into the air. The missile exploded and a rocket came out heading straight into the Wraiths. It struck with deadly accuracy and it exploded in a fireball.
A few moments later, the area was now littered with debris and shrapnel as the remains of the Wraiths burn in flames. Zen idled for a few moments and waited for he's teammates to arrive. The Warthogs arrived a few seconds later,
"Dang! Zen you never fail to impress me with you carnage!" said Johnson. The other marines and elite stared at the wreckage of the Wraiths then to Zen then to his motorcycle. Zen turned the engines of his motorcycle and stepped out.
"Guys we have to go on foot from here on out, the roads are filled with wreck cars and not enough space to fit the Warthogs." said Zen.
"Ok. Team you heard the man." said Johnson.
All of them disembarked on their vehicles and started trudging down the path of wrecked cars; the refugee camp was only a few blocks away now.
* * * * * *
He ran as fast as he could. His heart was pounding and was filled with adrenaline.
"The prisoners are escaping!" yelled one of the brutes.
Immediately a shower of plasma shots was fired in his direction and his friend. They jumped, ducked and weaved their way on the wreckage of the cars that littered the roads. They went into a building and hid into it.
"N'kev, I don't want to die." said the girl to his sangheili friend.
"Everything's going to be all right Jess, I heard that soldiers were coming in to rescue us." assured N'kev. He sat beside Jess who was sobbing now and she covered her face with her hands. N'kev placed a comforting hand over her and tried his best to comfort her. His mind was quickly going overdrive. A lot has happened that ended him up in this situation. He could clearly remember what his and her parents did in order to save the two of them.
He slump his head down and rested his mandible on her hair. The two of them were quite clearly exhausted from the running they did. He hoped that the brutes wouldn't find them in their hiding place or else they'll be dead. He couldn't remember dozing off but he must have as he was woken up by the sound of gunfire coming from the outside.
He quickly opened his eyes and found that Jess was still sleeping next to him. He gently woke her up and the two of them walked over to the doorway. The refugee camp was under attack but by whom? And then he remembered that rescue was coming. He saw that the brutes and the loyalist sangheili were being attacked by the humans; humans with guns. His heart suddenly was filled with joy as the thought of them of being safe was now at their grasp.
But then it quickly went down as he saw a brute hulking towards them carrying a gravity hammer. The brute must have seen them and was now heading for them. They immediately started scrambling and ran to hide. The brute walked into the doorway of the building and wielded his gravity hammer.
"I know you're in here! Come out, come out, wherever you are." said the brute.
N'kev held his breath as the brute came towards their hiding spot; they hid under a table, and stop in front of it. They were still for a few seconds then the brute suddenly grabbed the table, lifted it, and threw it into the wall. It smashed into smithereens.
"Gotcha!" shouted the brute. Jess screamed at the top of her lungs. The brute wielded his gravity hammer and raised it up. N'kev eyes widened as he saw this. They were going to die; he hoped to his head that death wasn't going to be that painful.
Then at the corner of his eyes he saw a blur at the doorway. Then he heard a gunshot then blood was splashed in his face. The brute fell backward, revealing the shooter and their rescuer. The man was wearing a weird type of armor that N'kev never saw before, its color was blue.
The soldier walked towards them and knelt. He was wearing a helmet so it obscured his face.
"Are you all right?" it asked him.
"Ye…Yes…" stammered N'kev; Jess just nodded stiffly.
* * * *
The Sangheili stammered as it answered Zen's question.
"Ye…Yes…" and the girl next to her just nodded stiffly. Zen stood up and turned on his radio.
"Guys I have civilians in here." said Zen.
"Zen, the loyalists are trying to escape on their ship. We are on pursuit. I'll radio a pelican to come pick you up and the rest of the hostages. Johnson out." then the radio crackled out.
"Ok, a pelican is coming to pick us up." said Zen as he placed a comforting hand on the elite's child shoulder. He flinched and tried to slowly back away. Zen pulled back his arms and raised it in sign of surrender,
"Its ok, I won't hurt you." said Zen to them. The 2 children just looked at him then to his surprise hugged him. Zen was taken aback by the action but just placed a comforting hand and patted them at the back.
'They must have traumatized, like bad. Their parents must be very worried about them.' thought Zen to himself. Zen then stood up said to them,
"C'mon lets get out of here." and they left, the 2 following closely behind them.
Even though the loyalists were running away, Zen's motion tracker was registering that there were still a couple of enemies nearby.
"Stick close to me." said Zen to them as he looked around. The building in where he had found the children was one block away from the camp. He only managed to rescue the 2 from death is because he saw a brute enter the building and he heard the girl scream.
As they made there back to the camp, Zen asked,
"What are your names?"
"N'Kev 'Xem." said the elite child.
"Jessica Thompson." said the girl.
"I'm Zen Black, nice to meet you."
They slowly made there way when Zen's motion tracker showed a red dot was coming toward them and fast. He quickly turned around, only to be hit by the gravity hammer of the brute that ran for them. It hit square on the chest and he was sent flying through the air, hitting a wall of the building with a loud thud. Luckily though Zen's shield was very, very strong and it managed to absorb the force of the hammer and the wall. But his body wasn't, he was knocked out cold the moment his back hit the wall. The last he could remember was someone screaming his name.
* * * * * *
Jess screamed as the brute hit Zen with a gravity hammer on the chest. She screamed louder as the brute's head exploded as a sniper rifle bullet passed through it.
N'kev immediately went to Zen's side and tried to wake him up.
"Zen, wake up! Please wake up!" tears were now welling in his eyes. He didn't know why he was crying but he just sobbed as he felt responsible for the man's death in front of him. He then flinched as someone placed their hand on him. He looked up and saw it was a Sangheili for his relief. She had black armor. Tucked under her arms was Jess.
"Are you all right?" she asked. N'kev just nodded then said weakly, "Is he…" He couldn't finish his sentence. Nira knelt beside Zen and checked the vitals using her HUD. It showed that he was unconscious but otherwise fine and will live but will develop bruises on his chest. Then a voice came from behind the group,
"Nira! Is everything Ok?" N'kev saw that this one was the wearing the same armor as Zen but it was only yellow.
"Yeah, he's just knocked out. Can you carry him for me Stahn." answered Nira. Stahn approached and then he noticed the kids, "Hello, I'm Stahn Zeban." then he knelt beside Zen and did a walking assist on him. He slid his right arm over Zen's left and grabbed Zen's left arm.
"…Uh…" groaned Zen as he was lifted up.
"What are your names, children?" asked Nira.
"I'am Jessica Thompson." said Jess.
"I'm N'kev 'Xem, your excellence." Nira smiled and replied,
"Please do not use 'excellence' on me." then the group started walking down towards the camp. The pelican arrived the moment they got there so they easily managed to get on board. The group managed to get a pelican for themselves as they were transported back to the Shadow of Intent.
N'kev and Jess fell asleep along the way and they were awfully close to each other. Jess was resting on N'kev's chest and N'kev's arms enclosed Jess in a protective manner. Nira took note.
"There very close aren't they." acknowledged Stahn.
"Yeah." said Nira.
"Hey Nira how old is N'kev?" asked Stahn curiously. Nira studied the Sangheili child. The child was about 4'11 in height so that would mean…
"He is seven years old." Stahn nodded in agreement. Then Zen finally woke up in groaning.
"…Ugh… My chest." he grabbed his chest reflectively and sat up. He looked at his surroundings and saw that he was in a pelican. He saw that Jess, N'kev were sleeping and Nira and Stahn was staring at him.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Well." began Nira.
"You got hit by a gravity hammer, right smack on the chest. And you flew through the air and hit a brick wall." Zen just coughed and removed his helmet. It hissed as it depressurized. He then sat up and sat next to Nira.
"Have you seen their parents?" he asked to Nira. She shook her head.
"I feel bad for them. I wonder how they ended being so close to one another, like us." he muttered the last word as low as possible to avoid Stahn from hearing because Stahn still didn't know about their relationship.
"Well, we'll just have to ask them later when we get their wounds treated." then Nira placed her head on Zen's shoulder and closed her eyes. She was weary from all the fighting they did so she was practically exhausted. Zen placed his head on her head and they both slept. Both tired and exhausted.
This message is directed to the user: general MB if your still reading this fan fic.
I have read your review and after giving it some thought here is my reply:
Please man, do you understand the meaning of first fanfic. I have clearly stated that at the beginning of this fanfiction. We all know that first fanfics seldom come out good. So its quite understandable that this might have a lot of flaws (quite a lot).
But all I can say is this: This is my first fanfic. This only started as a hobby of mine and that means I'm not a professional. I am a fan of the Halo universe, but I am not that much of a fan to know every single freaking detail about the story. I have only played up to Halo: Combat Evolved. I only managed to make this story (because this story obviously begins in Halo 2) is because I managed to watch video walkthroughs of it on Youtube. The review you gave was pretty much downright harsh. I'm still a novice. The motorcycle license part, I accept that. I'm still a teenager, I don't know everything about the world. And lastly, why did you even read this fanfic if you didn't even like it. I know you read this up to Chapter 15 because of the Cortana part in the review.
Well, anyways since I started this Fanfic, I'm gonna see it to the end.
NOTE: This is my story and anything I say goes. If I say Cortana becomes a human, she will become human in one point in the story. If I say the flood joins the UNSC, they will join the UNSC (even though if that's very far fetched).
Note to general MB: You're really good at lowering a writer's morale to nothing.
This message is directed to future readers: If you don't like it, don't read it.
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