A/N: So begins the final chapter in this story. I want to thank everyone who has read/reviewed it. I hope that you have enjoyed it!
Randomly fired bullet's flew past E'Las as he plotted his next course of action. Akon and Hajaf had split off from him to circle around the fortified position the downed dropship offered the humans.
Smoke continued to plume from the wreckage as lights from muzzled blinked in rapid succession and the Marines firing them tried in vain to hit the ghostly warrior.
E'Las quickly found refuge in the outcropping of rocks as his camouflage's power source drained and he once again became visible. The Sangheili cursed not having the advanced systems of the SpecOps warriors, but such things could not be contemplated on as a nearby rock shattered into dust and the sound of the bullet's ricochet filled the air.
"E'Las, we are in position. Engage the humans after we make initial contact." The comm link was broken as a soft indicator sounded to announce the recharge of the Elite's cloaking system. And I will be ready my brothers.
E'Las positioned himself so that he would be able to move quickly once fire was exchanged in the other Sangheili's direction, and stood at the ready to activate his active camouflage as one section of the human's fire slowed, the sign that one of the Marines was reloading.
Sudden shouting erupted from the Marine's line and was quickly overpowered by the sound of renewed weapons fire as Akon and Hajaf began their assault.
E'Las burst from the outcropping and switched on his cloaking as he sprinted toward the shattered hull of the Phantom. A smattering of human blood fell to the ground in front of E'Las as he got to the side of the Phantom. A lone Marine backpedaled around the side of the craft, trying to get away from the horror that was unfolding in front of him.
E'Las quickly sliced with his plasma blade, cutting the soldier's body in half as the top fell the ground first, the legs seemingly unaware anything had happened. E'Las shoved his hoof-like foot in the dying soldier's face and heard a satisfying crunch underneath as the sand quickly absorbed the free-flowing sanguine liquid.
Fewer shots came as the Marine's numbers continued to dwindle, those left desperately trying to hit something to stop the carnage.
E'Las rounded the blackened nose of the Phantom as one of its peeled layers scraped against his lower leg, causing his shield to drop insignificantly as his cloaking once again ran out of power and began to recharge.
E'Las looked down to see what had touched him, and as he looked back up the air in front of him seemed to shift quickly and the Sangheili warrior instinctively sidestepped, hearing the wind off of Amy's blade as it passed near his head.
Another quick motion shot pain through E'Las's arm as a fresh wound opened up and purple blood flowed down his arm and singed on the glowing blades of his plasma sword.
"Show yourself coward! Fight me with honor if you dare!" E'Las stilled his mind and listened to the surroundings, hoping to hear any sign of another incoming attack.
"You piece of shit. You dare call me a coward when you yourself attack while cloaked. Fine. I will give you what you haven't given these Marines. A chance to see your attacker before you die." Amy powered down her own cloaking, and stood at the ready as she stared down the Elite before her.
"Amy?" Josh's voice touched a nerve inside Amy's systems as she didn't look away from the hulking creature in front of her. Dammit. She didn't know how to respond, or even if she should.
Josh continued to study the soldier standing in between him and the Elite from his prone position. The body and hair certainly reminded him of his love, but something was off. The hair wasn't moving, flowing about her head as it used to.
Her stance was cold and calculating, as if she had no fear of the opponent in front of her. Amy's fatigue pants and black tanktop showed no indication of sweat, and long, thin blades ran the lengths of her forearms.
E'Las, sensing Amy's hesitation lunged at the Dragoon with his blade, slicing through air as Amy ducked and sliced at the creature's shins as it roared in pain. "You will not best me human."
The Elite gave a smirk Amy couldn't understand as Hajaf positioned himself to strike. Josh noticed the slight bending of light close to him as Hajaf stood on all fours a few meters from Amy's back. The small creature rocked onto its back legs and lunged toward Amy as the bark from Josh's assault rifle filled the air.
The Unggoy yelped in pain as the bullet entered its side and burst out its back, exploding flesh and bone from the hole it created.
Now uncloaked, Hajaf rolled lifelessly across the sand as Josh was suddenly lifted into mid-air by an unseen force. Josh grabbed the invisible hand holding his throat as his body ached for air and his vision began to blur.
"I'll take that." Kiersten's voice sounded in Akon's mind as Josh suddenly dropped to the ground and was sprayed with blood from the stump that used to be Akon's arm. The Elite's camo vanished as the creature cradled its stump into its other arm.
"Akon! No!" E'Las watched as the other female soldier pirouetted playfully before stabbing her wrist blade into Akon's throat and then wrenching it free out the side. The Elite's head fell onto its left shoulder as it bathed in its own blood before falling lifelessly to the ground.
"You were saying?" Amy sneered as she continued to train her focus on the Elite, deciding the best way to take him down.
E'Las's mandibles emitted a grinding sound as the fury within him built. Letting out a ferocious roar, the overbearing creature began masterfully swinging his blade, cutting thin slices of air about Amy's form as she fluidly moved out of the sword's path.
The force of the strike stretched the sliced flesh on E'Las's shin, but the warrior pushed the pain out of his mind as he continued his barrage.
Josh watched in shock as he could barely follow the movements of the two warriors as they faced off, although it didn't seem as though Amy was trying to counter any of the Elite's moves.
E'Las gave a swinging slice which came up empty as Amy ducked under it and lunged forward as her blade sliced across the Elite's side, opening it up and causing more blood to flow. The creature fell under the weight of the pain it felt and landed on its hands and knees as tried to control the pain through breathing.
"Sorry big fella, you lose." Kiersten joined Amy as the two stood on either side of the creature and extended their blades away from their forearms. As if synchronized in their attack, the two brought all four of their blades to bear on E'Las's back, penetrating it and exiting out the front.
The sound of a struggled gasp escaped E'Las as he fell to the ground his movement ceased.
Amy and Kiersten looked to each other as Josh and two other Marines came running up to join them.
"Amy, how did y…" Amy turned to see the look of bewilderment on Josh's face, and knew if she had an ability to cry that she would have immediately broken down.
"Josh, I…" Amy struggled to find the words as her processors worked overtime, but human emotion and response was something AI still lagged behind in.
"This isn't your girlie Josh. She's one of our new beasts of burden. Meant to kill and kill until someone decides to take her offline." Kiersten's lack of tact didn't do much to impress Amy.
"Offline. I don't understand what you are talking about." Josh brushed his hands through his tattered hair as he tried to wrap his head around what he had seen and what he was hearing.
Amy gave out the best impression of a sigh that she could attempt. "Josh, I died while rescuing you back before New Mombasa was destroyed. My father…"
"Your father said you were dead." Josh's tone became immediately irate at the thought of being lied to.
"I know, and I was. I, like Kiersten and others were extracted and used to produce AI cores to run the host form. I am not Amy anymore Josh. Although I still have memories… memories of us."
"What the hell do you mean by form?" Not giving heed to Amy's pleas to remember the past, Josh and the two other Marines looked quizzical as they awaited a response to the query.
"Let's show them Amy, they won't understand any other way." Kiersten shut off her projection system as did Amy, revealing the blank black forms underneath. They reminded Josh of the posable art dolls he used to draw the human form in school, only sleeker and were one flowing body instead of jointed circles and cylinders.
Josh didn't know what to think. Josh didn't know if he could think. All his thoughts seemed jumbled in his mind, and thoughts of the life he and Amy used to share took over. Thoughts of lazy days spent slurping down shakes at Luna's or sneaking off to be alone on New Mombasa's coastline.
Simple times the two had had seemed so perfect, yet now seemed like it all happened to someone else Josh had watched on a screen somewhere. The thing before him wasn't Amy, and the bloody scene was all a bad dream Josh hoped he would suddenly awake from.
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Edgar typed a sequence of keystrokes over Christy's shoulder as she sat in the high-backed leather chair that seemed to wrap around her body. Throbs shot up her calves as she slipped her heels off under the desk, causing clicking echoes to reverberate softly around the room.
The chair provided as much comfort as it always did, and Dr. Wilkes's breath on her shoulder and neck brought about desires in Dr. O'Brian for a simpler time when the two of them could have given into the moment.
The search status indicator reached one-hundred percent and a list of choices were presented to the Persia keyword.
"Look at this one." Christy pressed her finger to the screen, pointing out the heading The battle of Thermopylae. Edgar relinquished control of the mouse and pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to fight back the exhaustion that seemed to fill his being.
"Leonidas led his 300 Spartans against Xerxes and his army of ten-thousand soldiers. The Spartan-led forces fought the unstoppable Persian force to their deaths in order to block the pass long enough to keep Xerxes occupied while the rest of the Greek army escaped." Dr. O'Brian whispered the words as she brought her hand to her mouth and tapped out a slow rhythm on her lower lip as she and Dr. Wilkes contemplated whether this would have anything to do with the Persia algorithm
Dr. Wilkes stood erect in thought as he went over the text in his mind. "Oh dear God. Could it be that the Persia algorithm is meant to use the Dragoons to wipe out the Spartans? Why in the hell would Ackerson want to do such a thing?"
"You know as well as I do that Ackerson has always had a grudge against Halsey and her Spartans. They have been constantly been favored over approaches and ideas given by the Colonel. Despite the Spartan's resilience and victories on the ground, Ackerson has always viewed them as second-class soldiers not fit to share the battlefield." Dr. O'Brian pushed away from the monitor, looking quizzically at the Kiersten and Amy's schematics in a tiled horizontal layout.
"Edgar, I am noticing a discrepancy here. Pin twelve of Logix processor h-c-four-oh-two appears to not have been connected on Amy as it was on Kiersten." Christy looked upward from her sitting position as Dr. O'Brian tapped his lips as if in deep thought.
"Yes, Christy, I had hoped to keep this a secret for your well-being should the truth be found out, and I will not put you in peril now." Dr. O'Brian could only think of one reason to keep that circuit open, to stop the Persia program from being loaded, but did not speak her thoughts aloud.
"Do you think the Colonel will actually care what she does or doesn't know, Dr. Wilkes?" Jordan's image appeared on the pedestal next to the door looking rather annoyed. "You both were partakers in this project, and now in this blatant disregard for orders, will both now be removed from it."
The coldness in the AI's last statement sent a sense of panic through Edgar and Christy, neither of them wanting to give up what had essentially been the paramount of their lives' work. Both shot a glance at the Tungsten-colored door that opened to the hallway beyond banged loudly as mechanized locks slid in place.
"I'm sorry, but for the time being I can't let you leave. An escort will be provided to reassign you."
"Reassign us to what?" Edgar slammed his hand down on the pedestal as Jordan's image disappeared, leaving the two alone.
"What are we going to do Edgar?" Dr. Wilkes seemed to ignore the inquiry as he looked about the room for any obvious means to open the door.
"Dammit Jordan! You can't keep us in here!" Christy produced muffled thumps on the door as Edgar continued to scan the room.
"Let me see if we can do this electronically." Edgar plopped down in the high-backed leather chair and began accessing the facility's security interface. The normal security login popped up, with a blank box prompting the doctor for his password.
Dr. Wilkes began putting in the sixteen randomly assigned numbers, letters and symbols that made up the issued password, and breathed a slight sigh of relief when it was accepted.
An grid layout map of the labs and surrounding offices flashed on Edgar's screen, with his door being shown in red to indicate its locked status. A sudden frown overcame Dr. Wilkes' face when he noticed the two green dots just outside of the door. "They're here."
As if on cue the sounds of mechanized locks once again filled the room and the door promptly slid open. Beyond the opening were two large but relatively unarmed Marines, save for the pistols strapped to their sides.
"The Colonel wishes to see the both of you. Now." The larger tan Marine on the right motioned the pair out of the room and then fell in line with the paler but better built second guard.
"What is this all about?" Christy knew the play dumb routine wasn't going to cut it, but was hoping she might at least find out where they were going.
"That is for Colonel Ackerson to say. Take a left here." The foursome entered an opened elevator as its doors promptly hissed closed. The feeling of sudden downward acceleration gripped Edgar's body and quickly released him as the elevator came to a stop.
The doors parted and immediately the foursome's nostrils were filled with the stench of decaying flesh. The elevator had brought them into the storage room where the bodies for the possible AI donors were being kept.
A small utility truck fired up its engine and began to pull off with its grotesque cargo, taking them to the incinerator that would burn away their existence and budding disease. Edgar thought the whole process to be ghastly, although a necessary one.
The four walked across the room as Christy and Edgar tried to steady themselves against the growing nausea. The floor was sticky with mixtures of pooled blood that had mostly coagulated.
Dr. Wilkes scanned the room and noticed a doorway to the far right that had been unnoticeable from his lab above, and began to steer toward it, assuming that was where the foursome was heading. The sudden sound of a gun being cocked, however, gave him pause.
The first shot rang out without warning, and without provocation or question. Dr. O'Brian was the first to fall, her peppered hair quickly turning red from the amount of blood that began to spill from the hole in the back of her head.
"No!" Edgar screamed before looking to the two Marines in terror as the tan-skinned man as he turned the smoking gun in Dr. Wilkes' direction.
"Looks like she got the Colonel's message." The Marine's quip would be the last words Edgar would ever hear as a bullet raced through his head, exacting a small hole in his forehead and exploding out the back, littering blood and gore onto Christy's quickly staining lab coat.
"The doctors have been taken care of Sir." The pale-skinned man tapped his comm system as the two began walking toward the door.
"Very well. Not a pleasant task, but it had to be done. We cannot have people in our midst that would conspire against us. Those two were nothing short of traitors. Good work."
Satisfied, the two Marines entered the door and it slid closed behind them as another truck pulled in to carry off bodies to be burned.
---------------
It had been days since Amy and Kiersten had heard from Dr. Wilkes, not that that was unusual as they had been sent on one mission after another and they both knew the good doctor had work to do. Still, Amy yearned to talk with him, someone to spill her non-existent guts to as Kiersten was never the type to care about feelings.
The Pelican they were in began to ascend rapidly as the skyline was replaced with patches of green from the dense forest below. Times had become more critical for humanity. A strange new ship had appeared and with it more Covenant ships than the UNSC and geosync platforms could hope to repel.
"We got Phantoms on approach, buckle up guys and gals, its about to get bumpy." Gravity shifted as the Pelican pilot performed a hard banking maneuver into a controlled dive in an attempt to evade the incoming enemy craft. The Pelican's rear gate closed to afford its occupants a false extra sense of protection, but a welcomed one anyway.
The Pelican executed a couple more banks and began skimming the tree line before a sudden explosion rocked the inside, jerking the Dragoons as well as the OSDT's and Josh accompanying them in their seats.
The forward view of the craft suddenly became clearer as the cockpit was ripped from the craft and the remaining section began to plummet toward the tree-covered ground below.
There was only a couple of seconds of silent reprieve before the smoking section of metal connected with the treetops, sending it into a wild horizontal rotation. Metal pounded and twisted as trees snapped and were uprooted.
The OSDT beside Amy jerked violently as another tree was impacted, his helmet smashing into his headrest and causing him to lose consciousness.
The hits were coming harder as more metal was torn away. The descending path the hull took punched through tree trunks and pulverized rocks as it touched down and began to roll along the ground.
Things that were once bolted down begin to come loose as one seat along with its occupant was torn loose and tossed outside. Amy managed to watch it smack into a nearby tree before her vision was obscured.
A final violent collision stopped the shattered remains of the once powerful dropship cold as the ODST's that had managed to stay conscious gave out grunts.
Amy and Kiersten immediately unhooked themselves and began checking over the others, as one of them, a short but dark headed man who had lost his helmet in the chaos, spat blood beside Kiersten's foot.
"Careful, you get that crap on me you'll have to lick it off."
"Tastes the same going in or out." The Trooper gave Kiersten a smile, showing off his freshly-removed tooth. Amy located the man's helmet just outside the battered hull and tossed it to him, which he caught and promptly put on.
"We got one missing." The female ODST's voice trembled a bit as she pointed to the place where a seat should have been.
"I saw him break loose, he is about a click south of us, I believe. I wouldn't hold out much hope though. He smacked a tree pretty hard."
Amy couldn't see the Trooper's face but the hesitation in the female told her that it had been someone she cared for.
"You alright?" Amy looked to Josh as he rotated his arm about the shoulder. A slight look of pain came across his face as he made the motion, but he otherwise looked alright to Amy.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." The group exited the hull and looked to the surroundings, which was covered in trees and underbrush, except where the downed ship had cleared a messy path.
"Let's go check on Jones." The female ODST's voice had steadied, but still carried a tone of worry with it.
The group came upon Jones' exit point and surveyed the grim scene. The top of the Pelican's metal seat had implanted itself into the massive tree, pinning the Trooper's face between the hard metal and wood.
Long tendrils of blood hand down off remained of Jones' face as the crash had managed to remove his left eye and tear off the left side of his face from mouth to ear.
The female ODST turned quickly from the sight and began to walk away from the group.
"Hey where are you going?" Kiersten tried to sound sympathetic to the situation, but failed.
"Just leave me the hell alone." Amy started after the Trooper as a glowing orb suddenly sprang from nearby undergrowth and stuck itself onto the female ODST's armor.
The Trooper didn't have time to react as the orb ignited and sent chunks of her flying in opposite directions. Amy and Kiersten disappeared into the scene as Josh and the remaining ODST's began firing into the forest on the other side of the downed-tree laden path, splintering wood and causing smaller saplings to fall to the ground.
A violent roar filled the scene as the barrage of bullets connected with a cloaked Elite, dropping its shield and collapsing it to the ground as another fired his plasma rifle into the group, hitting an ODST in the chest and burning its way into his vitals.
More fire was directed at the second Elite and dropped it quickly as Amy and Kiersten dealt with excited Grunts who were trying to run away.
"This is Private First Class Josh Dunson to any available UNSC." We are in need of a pickup at coordinates one-nine-five east by seven-two south. Anyone out there?"
"We here you Private Dunson. This is Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Waisse of the sixty-seventh battalion. Unfortunately we have no available birds. Get out of there as best you can and head to the southern peninsula." The comm clicked off looked to each other with mild amounts of disbelief painted across their faces.
"Wonder what's going on down south?" Kiersten asked to herself as she and the others in her group looked in the general direction.
Several large plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, signaling a large battle that was taking place as a seemingly limitless number of Covenant Phantoms continued to descend toward the general area.
"By the looks of it the battle will be over before we get there." The situation was quickly creating a dilemma for the Dragoons. Amy and Kiersten could make it to the battle in short time, but would have to leave the ODST's, and Josh, behind.
"Then we better get going if we want to have anyone left to kill." Kiersten and Amy carefully regulated their pace to match with the ODST's as the group moved through the wooded area.
Muffled explosions could be heard in the distance, and there was a slight celebration amongst the group as several Phantoms were blown out of the sky.
"Do you think there will be anyone left to save?" Kiersten's words in Amy's internal comm system shocked Amy, the question seemed so much like something she would have asked.
"It looks like they are putting up a good fight. I see the clearing ahead." As if the ground's fertility had ended, the tree line disappeared into an open peninsula as the small group filed out and then set up flanks on each side of the Dragoons.
"My God." Josh's words resounded in each of them as they viewed the scene before them. Plasma arcs from what could have been hundreds of Wraiths lobbed lazily into the sky before splashing down on the peninsula, pounding ground forces a few clicks from Amy's position.
Even from that distance the group could see that death and destruction reigned over the battlefield as broken vehicles sat burning and lifeless bodies hung off of them.
"Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Waisse to Private First Class Josh Dunson, do you copy over?"
"Yes sir, we have just cleared the tree line into the peninsula and are a couple of clicks north of you."
"Good, listen up, we have Spartan one-seventeen en route that will cross your path. Load up and get your asses down here. We are taking a hell of a pounding. Waisse out."
"The Master Chief is still alive? How the heck did he make it here?" Josh talked into his comm's static as the drone of a Warthog's engine began to drone in the background.
Heat rolled off of the peninsula floor as the image of the Spartan's Warthog came into focus. The vehicle was in good shape from what Amy could tell, she just hoped they would all be able to fit.
A swirl of dust temporarily engulfed the group as the Warthog skidded to a stop and the super-soldier flipped on his Comm. "Get in."
---------------
Scanning…
Target confirmed. ID is Spartan class number one one seven
Initializing Persia.muX…
Firmware upgraded
Verifying Checksum…OK
Target Acquired. Persia directive confirmed. Neutralize Spartan class number one one seven
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Scanning…
Target confirmed. ID is Spartan class number one one seven
Initializing Persia.MuX…
Error: No connection to firmware ESPROM
Error: Directive Persia.muX load failed
STOP: General Fault in 0x00000045 - Can't detect Logix FIn signal…Aborting
---------------
Amy's core raced as she tried to process what had just happened within her system as the translucent error message faded from her HUD.
"Kiersten?" Amy looked around for the other Dragoon, but didn't see her. The other ODST's and Josh also looked around as Amy spotted the slight distortion on the Warthog's frame as Kiersten began climbing into the vehicle.
"Kiersten, talk to me." No communication was returned and Amy knew she had to act. She didn't exactly know why but something wasn't right.
Amy broke into a short sprint before launching herself off the ground and crashed into Kiersten's form as the metal of the Warthog beneath the pair groaned. A sudden force impacted Amy's midsection and sent her flying back, crashing into the sandy ground below.
"Chief, lookout!" The Spartan had already caught onto the impending danger and had brought his assault rifle to bear before being knocked from the Warthog.
Kiersten instantly pounced, landing straddle over the Spartan and stuck his shield yet again, knocking it below fifty percent.
"Dammit, I can't see to shoot!" Josh yelled as he and the other ODST's tried to train their sites on an invisible target. Amy quickly leapt to her feet and shot off in full sprint toward the pair as the last of the Spartan's shields faded.
Amy felt the impact of Kiersten's body against hers as she knocked her off her feet and the two went crashing to the ground. Both of their shields weakened, Amy suddenly found her armor compromised as Kiersten's blade sliced into her right side, but managed to pull back before any critical systems were reached.
"Give it up girlie, you can't beat me." Kiersten's voice was colder than normal, and no longer seemed to belong to her. Something… else was causing this.
"Stand down Kiersten, I don't want to fight you. Let us take you offline and we can fix it."
"Oh really? Can you fix this?" Weapons fire erupted out of thin air and began chewing the ODST's up as bullets impacted and blood was splashed across the otherwise clean sand.
Suddenly all the ODST's had fallen, and only Josh was left. Knowing he was next, Josh leapt for the cover the Warthog could provide. Bullets traced his path, then began taking a sharp angle up as the Master Chief began sending bullets into Kiersten's shield.
The field around the Dragoon collapsed and overloaded her cloaking device, revealing Kiersten's blank form as it closed the few steps between it and the Spartan. A powerful hit to the side of the Spartan's head dislodged his helmet and knocked John unconscious to the ground.
Before Amy could close in, Kiersten sprinted over to the downed ODST's and ripped a grenade free, then primed it and rolled it under the Warthog as Josh settled in the vehicle's turret and prepared to fire.
"Josh! Get out of there!" Josh immediately sprang from the vehicle as flames erupted underneath and threw it over onto its side.
"Ready to fight me now?" Amy looked at the form standing in front of her. A form that mirrored her own as she noticed Josh moving about slowly out of her periphery.
"This is Lieutenant Colonel Waisse to all UNSC in the immediate area. The Covenant have broken through Alpha line. All personnel fall back to Nav Beta and prepare a counter-offensive…" The rest of the transmission faded as the explosions that had been in the distance suddenly started becoming louder.
Amy could not focus on them, however, as she raced toward Kiersten and their blades collided in a solid metal clank that was repeated as each Dragoon swung their blades in purposeful and graceful arcs.
Hoping to counter on a misstep, Amy sidestepped Kiersten's lunge and sliced into the side of her head, opening a hole that would have killed any creature, Human or Covenant, that it connected with.
The blow however did not go unanswered as Kiersten sliced around Amy's back and rent layers of metal so they jetted out in sharp angles. As she completed the stroke, Kiersten grabbed Amy's head and pushed her over as sand rushed up to meet the smoothly curved form of her face.
Kiersten immediately followed by smashing her knee into Amy's back to pin her to the ground as she raised her fist into the air and drove it down into Amy's metal shell and began searching for her AI core.
"Sorry to have to pull the plug on ya babe, but there's only room for one bitch around here." A single shot rang out from a Trooper's discarded M-6D pistol as the bullet tore a hole through Kiersten's chestplate and dropped itself into her shell.
"Nice try kid, now its my turn." The pressure from Kiersten's knee lifted as Amy looked up to see the Dragoon stalking after Josh.
Quickly jumping to her feet, Amy bounded toward Kiersten in an effort to stop her. Amy extended her forearm blades and lunged to attack as Kiersten quickly ducked and extended her own forearm blade into Amy's chest, piercing her power core which immediately began spilling coolant and hydrostatic fluid onto the ground.
Kiersten's form returned as she looked back menacingly at Amy as she regenerated her own image. Josh stepped closer to the pair, as he held the pistol out in front of him and began firing.
"Josh, get away from here!" Alarms began running throughout Amy's systems as diagnostics flashed across her HUD.
"Yes Josh, you should save yourself. Oh wait, I guess its too late for that." Another bullet from the M-6D entered Kiersten's form as she extended her other arm, sinking the blade into Josh's abdomen.
"No!" Amy screamed as she tore herself free from Kiersten's blade and sunk her own into her nemesis' shoulders. Amy knew she didn't have long before her systems would shut down, but she had to save Josh.
"Sorry sweetie, you both should have stayed dead." Kiersten grabbed Amy's arms and jerked the blades free as she planted her foot in Amy's abdomen and kicked her several meters away.
The ground began to shake as more plasma mortars from Wraiths impacted ever closer. Kiersten cast a quick glance back at the Spartan who was still unconscious as he lay motionless on the ground. She then turned her attention back to Josh, who was holding his midsection as blood continued to force its way over and through his fingers.
"I'll do you a favor and make this quick." Kiersten raised her arm and brought it down with great force, sinking her blade into the top of Josh's head as it passed through it and into his neck and out of his back. Life instantly left him as Kiersten extracted the blade, allowing his lifeless form to collapse and spill blood out onto the battlefield.
Amy extended her hand toward Josh's body as she fought to stand up. Most of her systems were overloading and her ability to vocalize anything was gone. A sudden blast of sand pelted her form as a plasma mortar detonated close by.
"Aw, you don't look so good hun. Just not your day I suppose." Kiersten brushed past Amy as she struggled to produce movements in her extremities.
"Now, where was I?" Kiersten looked back to Amy with a smile adorning her fair-complected skin before turning her attention back to John whose sand-filled brown hair blew softly with the breeze.
The man's pale skin almost glowed in the bright sun that reflected off the sandy peninsula, save for the trickle of blood that had escaped his mouth.
Extending her forearm blades once more, Kiersten suddenly was knocked forward and off balance, only to be held upright by the blade that penetrated her back.
"Back for more I see?" Kiersten whirled around and sliced but came up empty as Amy ducked beneath her swing. With a quick upward jab, Amy's blade tore into Kiersten's elbow actuator and decommissioned it as the arm went limp by her side.
Kiersten took another swing with her right arm, but came up empty again. Amy faded back toward the disheveled Warthog as more plasma began to impact the ground. The two rocked as a nearby blast threatened to send them off their feet.
More warnings blared within Amy's HUD as the heat from the nearby plasma boiled her leaking gel and cauterized the line, temporarily sealing it off.
The sounds of swordplay continued as the two fought. Despite her two-armed advantage, the loss of fluids and the mobility they carried kept Amy from gaining an edge in the fight.
Amy's vision began to fade as the battle wore on, the strain on her systems was more than they could take as circuits began to overload and catch fire within her, smoke escaping the wounds she had amassed.
I must save the Spartan. I must… Amy could no longer stand as another plasma blast landed next to the Dragoons. Kiersten too was beginning to have problems with her systems, but had no catastrophic failures.
"Looks like it's a TKO for me girlie. You gave it the old college try though, Kudos for that." Kiersten began to step over Amy's downed form as she reached up and grabbed her leg.
"Honestly, do you think at this point anything you can do will make a difference?"
The sound of a screaming projectile suddenly filled the air as Kiersten glanced upward just in time to see the imminent impact.
"Well fuck." Both Kiersten and Amy were enveloped in a white light of the lobbing plasma mortar. Their forms melted under the intense heat as they were instantly erased from existence as Amy's core held onto the image of a boy she had known back at Luna's Eatery, who had been and always would be her love as the image slowly faded to black.
---------------
The Master Chief awoke to the sound of a screaming projectile as a nearby explosion sent sand flying into the sky. Voices from a time long ago echoed in his head, a conversation he had had with Kelly. How he wished the two of them were together now to face what was to come.
Beside him lay his helmet as he waved his hand in front of his face and inspected it.
The haze that surrounded him began to lift as he reached for his helmet and attached it to the rest of his Mjolnir armor with a satisfying hiss.
"Chief, leave me." Another echo stirred in his head, this time from Cortana, whom he had left back on High Charity. He could only hope she was still alright.
John looked around briefly for the others who had been with him earlier, but only saw dead bodies and objects smoldering he couldn't make out.
It was then that he noticed the assault rifle laying in the sand a few meters away, stood and walked over to it.
The sounds of the battle beyond became muffled as communiqués began to broadcast through his internal comm system as he shouldered the rifle.
"Is anyone out there?"
"Chief!"
"Marines! Fall back now!"
"Any sign of the Chief?" The mention of John's abbreviated ranking a second time brought a little more clarity to his thinking.
"Negative, Sarge. I think we lost him."
John notices an incoming plasma mortar and pulls out a shield grenade and primes it. "Not yet."
With a quick and heavy toss to the ground directly in front of him, John is encased in a translucent shield as the mortar impacts the ground directly in front, sending parts of the Warthog flying in all directions and creating a cloud of dust.
The shield around the Spartan collapsed as he broke out into a full sprint, heading for the direction of the incoming mortars. John quickly holstered his M-6D pistol and unshouldered his assault rifle as he neared the peninsula's edge and leaped.
The scene below unfolded in front of him as a group of brutes led by a new chieftian weilding the Fist of Rukt stood surrounded by a group of Wraiths.
Let's finish it.
A/N: That's it! Thanks again and feel free to leave me any closing comments. Hopefully everyone recognized my little homage and tie-in to the "Starry Night" Trailer.. ;0)