A/N: Guys, I'm REALLY sorry about the massive delay. My home PC exploded on me at the beginning of the summer…so, yeah. For the time being, I'm using a laptop that I have access to maybe twice a week. At any rate, I'll try and update Charlie Company as often as humanly possible. All of you have my sincerest apologies for this…but I do have good news!

I am proud to say that the Marines of Charlie Company is currently in the process of being drawn into a Web comic! Teh sweetness!

Meeph: Hurrah!

Sam Church: I know…I'm good like that.

Firebendingguy: I'll work on both things.

Lecter42: Well, you have my explanation. I knew people would be looking for things that I overlooked, so I read this chapter a lot of times.

Warrior of Virtue: Damn skippy.

Featured song: My December – Linkin Park

The Marines of Charlie Company

Book II

Aftermath

Chapter Five

Prophet Hunting

David rolled to the side, barely avoiding the brute's fist that was bound for his head and lunged forward, plunging his plasma blade deeply into the beast's chest with a sickening sizzle, followed by the smell of burnt meat. He yanked the blade up and to the left, diagonally cleaving the Brute in two. Since their landing on Halo, a lot had happened, most notable being the fact that more Marines other than himself, Lt Jackson, Cassandra and the other few men and women were on Halo. More surprising, though, was the fact that the Prophet of Regret chose to ignore both the Marines and Heretics on Delta Halo as it was being called. If ignorance was going to be Regret's path, then David was going to make damn sure that the Prophet lived up to his name. A smile slowly formed across David's lips as he charged forward into a swatch of charging brutes as the thought ran through his head and as though he were completely oblivious to the plasma arcing past his head.

Again and again, David's blade found it's mark and easily cut down any Brute that dared step in his path. It was only a small camp of them, but David was starting to get rusty and wanted to warm up before the big fish reared its ugly head. He ducked and weaved and bobbed and slashed and killed and maimed his way forward. Brute Shots exploded all around him, kicking up dust and rocks from the canyon floor. David had noticed changed in himself since that Flood attacked him on Halo; combat was now a thrill, a rush that he needed more and more of now. Cutting down his enemies had been pleasing before, but that feral desire deep in his soul seemed to roar to life after his near-infection. That coupled with his enhanced speed, strength and reaction speeds made him oh so much more deadly on the field of battle. He felt invincible. Of course, David knew he was far from being so and that alone kept him from making stupid mistakes.

All too soon, his faithful blades ran out of charge and fizzled out as another Brute rampaged toward the Marine, who smirked as he brought the M90 shotgun that had been strapped across his back to bear. One, two, three earth shattering booms echoed above the rest of the pitched combat as the bullet-riddled corpse of what used to be a Brute fell to the ground and tumbled head over heels until it came to a stop at David's feet. Another Brute came at him from the right, but was quickly eliminated by an Elite's particle beam rifle. David nodded to his ally and pressed onward again. Soon enough, the few remaining Brutes were cut down with David's losses at a bare minimum and now he had time to recollect how they'd gotten where they were.

It hadn't been long since the landing force hit the hard top and began to establish a head so that an ops center could be set up. They chose a clearing set right in the middle of a rather dense looking forest and had to…evacuate a few of the more hostile residents. The Covenant knew the crew members of the Ancient Fury were Heretics, but it was far too late now; they had already landed and the Fury was all but invisible thanks to the Engineers onboard. After the outpost was destroyed and a new ops center was set up, the Covenant counter-attacked with a battalion or two of Brutes and Jackals, who David and the others had just dispatched. The war-hardened Marine rolled a Brute over with a rather sharp nudge with the tip of his boot and examined the blank stare on the monster's face with a bit of an odd grin.

David turned away from the still-bleeding corpse and set off to rejoin the Elites that had been poring over their deceased enemies looking for weapons, ammo and any intel they might be able to use. So far, there was nothing. He noticed a few heads turn his directions upon his approached, so he smiled and gave a short wave that was received by several nods. 'Takamee stood at the center of the semi-circle and was talking back and forth with the Ship Commander, 'Eksa, who was more than eager to cut down his enemies at every possible engagement.

"What's our status, 'Takamee?"

"A half-dozen dead, maybe forty wounded. Sufficient enough to slow our forces down a bit, but not crippling."

He nodded and looked to Eksa. "Any news on the BattleNet?"

Eksa shook his head and David sighed; the Covenant weren't planning anything yet and that was a good thing. It also meant that they had no idea where the Prophet of Regret was hiding. Once David found that sunuvabitch, he was going to rip Regret's throat out and strangle him with it. "The Engineers do have a gift for you, though. Head on back to the Fury; they're waiting for you in the Hangar."

The Marine quirked an eyebrow and left 'Takamee in charge of the cleanup, then turned toward the ship while scratching his head. He passed by a few odd-looking buildings that were meant to house the Grunts and then by a few of the tiny, rather adorable creatures. Some slept, others walked about in a gorilla-like fashion, and the rest either chattered back and forth or played with one another (David even recalled seeing a Grunt in red armor fooling around with a sleeping Grunt's methane intake valve). Finally, the Marine arrived at the Gravity Lift and was pulled into the belly of the ship and then proceeded to make his way down to the hangar. It was an odd feeling strolling around in a Covenant battle cruiser like he owned the damn thing, and even more odd to be greeted by Hunters, Elites and Grunts than to have the piss shot out of him. David continued to think to himself until he arrived at the bottom level of the hangar and found the rest of his surviving marines donned in ODST armor, oddly enough.

Several Engineers quickly approached the Marine and presented him with his own suit of body armor, this one painted gold and royal blue, unlike the others standard black. It was pieced together on his person up to the helmet, which he was allowed to put on himself. Then he knew why this was a surprise; they had integrated a HUD, shield system and ammo counter into the ODST armor somehow. He heard the others 'oooh' and 'aaah' quietly as they watched him move about in the armor, trying to get a feel for it. Another Engineer approached him and began tweaking the system slightly, which allowed him to not only see tell friend from foe, but also gave him names, ranks and ID numbers. A text message scrolled across the top of his visor explaining how to turn this feature on and off.

Eager to play with his new toy, David began flexing his fingers as though he were typing on a keyboard and grinned from ear-to-ear as he accessed dozens of the suit's functions, from placement of the shield array to a map of the surrounding area to the communication system. He found that he could send messages and even communicate directly with the leaders, individual soldiers and even entire battalions at a time with just a quick flex of his finger. David whistled appreciatively and waved to the Engineers in a thankful manner. They all chirped happily, and all of them left but one, who approached David with what appeared to be the hilt of an energy sword custom fit for a human's hand, almost like the hilt of an old Samurai sword. It activated the same way a normal sword did, but this blade was different; it wasn't two pronged and jagged. This one was one blade, long, and gracefully curved. Characters were 'etched' into the 'blade' of the weapon, creating a rather neat effect. David rotated his wrist left and right, then moved his hand up and down, nodding the whole time. This was a truly awesome weapon.

Better yet, though, was the fact that this one had no 'ammo' counter displayed on his HUD, which either meant that this one would never run out of charge or that it was incompatible with his new ODST armor. Either way, he couldn't wait to test this thing in the field of battle. With another flex of his right index finger, David deactivated the blade and clipped it to his belt. As the final Engineer left, David couldn't help but turn to the other Marines and say

"Neat shit, huh guys?"

They nodded and stepped aside, revealing another 'ODST' behind them, this time in a deep maroon and purple set of armor. Her helmet was off and Cassandra was smiling at David.

"You're damn right it is, hon."

Hoots and hollers echoed in the Hangar as the other Marines cheered at her comment and commenced conversation immediately, mostly questions of 'What's next, Sarge?' and 'When are we gonna get back to Earth?'. Chaos ensued for the next several minutes before David managed to get his fellow Earthings calmed down and ready to listen. Now that they were all focused, David could communicate his plan…and communicate it he would.

"The way I see it, ladies and gents, the best shot we have at aiding Earth is to take out the Prophet of Regret here on Delta Halo. If we do that, it should throw the Covenant into disarray since the fleet already at Earth is Regret's personal fleet. After that, we need to focus on finding the Prophets of Truth and Mercy; with them out of the picture, most of the Covenant should be a piece of cake to persuade into fighting for us. Then we can figure out where exactly their homeworld is, if they have one, and destroy it."

It was a good plan in theory, but the possibility of success was slim to very little, but better than anything else he could think of at the time. Now that this particular issue was settled, David scrolled through the Comm. list until he found 'Takamee's name and proceeded to open up a private link with the Elite.

"Takamee, you receiving me?"

"Quite well, actually. I take it you received the gifts?"

"Yeah. Those Engineers kick some serious ass. We have any leads on Regret's location yet?" There was a slight pause.

"Well…yes and no."

"'Yes and no'? What the hell does 'yes and no' mean? Do we or don't we?"

"We knew where he was, but are receiving mixed reports that he's dead. Killed by 'The Demon', apparently. Looks like your Master Chief beat us to the punch, eh?"

David nearly laughed; somehow, the Chief always managed to beat just about everybody to the punch…perhaps because of his superhuman reflexes. Well, that was just one less target for them to worry about.

"Any news on the Chief?"

"Just as mixed as the reports on Regret, but most of what we can gather points toward his destruction."

"No…"

A/N: I know, I know…lotsa dialogue at the end of that one. Sue me. At any rate, I hope to begin updating again here soon because school's starting back! Man, I never thought I'd be excited about that…