A/N: I don't have much to say now, so I'll just get down to business here.

TheMadHatter577: Thankya very much. Hope you're enjoying this.

Warrior of Virtue: Yes, yes I do. xD Thankfully, no. No one was hurt.

NoneAvailible: The action will pick up soon. Go back and read; he was near Captain Keyes when the Flood took him, so he feels responsible.

The Marines of Charlie Company

Book II

Aftermath

Chapter Seven

First Battle

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'So, we were too late.' David thought bitterly as he observed the enemy formations before him. There had to be at least two or three hundred Brutes out there in front of them, their leader standing at the head just like David was with his Elites and Grunts. He knew that there were bound to be Jackals out there somewhere armed with Particle Beams, so he'd set up Owen and the ODST with snipers of their own in the trees surrounding their clearing with orders not to fire until David gave the signal.. The Brutes were barking and growling loudly, their formation looking like a giant, writhing mass of white and purple, their leader egging it on. His Elites, on the other hand, were calm and collected like Spartans of Ancient Greece awaiting the Persians at Thermopylae.

David grinned and motioned 'Takamee to his side. "I'm leaving you in charge here."

"Where are you going?" the Elite asked.

"To test out their leader. This is gonna be real fun."

As the Marine strode away from his own side, he could have sworn he heard 'Takamee mumble 'crazy fool'. Of course, David had to agree with his comrade; marching toward the enemy formation by one's self was not something that would be considered intelligent among most of his peers, but he had a feeling about this Brute. As he approached, several of the enemy must have barked some kind of warning to their commander, who turned and matched David's stride step for step to the center of the clearing. Each being stopped about six paces away from one another and stood silently for several minutes. David was sizing up this brute, who he was sure was doing the same thing. Oddly enough, this one was not normal sized; he was actually a good two or three inches shorter than most others of his kind that David had seen. However, what this Brute lacked in height, he certainly made up for in girth and probably outweighed his comrades by a good fifty pounds or so.

The staredown continued for several more minutes before the brute scoffed before spinning his staff about his head and around his body like a pair of nun chucks before stopping with the pointed end of the staff mere millimeters away from David's head, who had not flinched an inch. David calmly removed his specially designed energy blade from its resting place at his belt and activated it, earning a lunge from the brute that David dodged easily. He parried a blow that was meant for his torso and barely ducked under another that was meant to crush his skull. David kicked off to the right in a tight roll and lunged forward toward the brute with a diagonal slash that was easily blocked. For a moment, each opponent tested the other's strength before they separated and went at it again. David leapt backward, then charged forward again and slid at the last minute between the brute's legs.

Though caught slightly off guard, the Brute dove away, leaving David on his back like a turtle. It bellowed a roar and held its staff high above its head and brought it down repeatedly, David managing to roll out of the way just barely each time. The Marine leapt to his feet and was greeted by a furry fist to his face that sent him tumbling across the ground even after his shields took most of the blow. He glanced up and leapt high over another sideswipe and kicked the brute in the face when he came down, back flipping away from the angry creature. He hit the ground a little harder than he intended and grunted rather loudly and it was then that he realized he had a concussion; his eyes wouldn't focus well and the opponent he faced was a blur.

The tired marine pushed himself to his feet and kept his eyes on the Brute as best he could, who staggered a bit as it stood. David gripped the hilt of his blade tightly and clicked on the radio to every soldier under his command.

"Get ready to attack; this fight is over one way or another."

David then cut the link before anyone could argue or reply and sprinted forward on the balls of his feet, just running as quickly as he could toward the Brute, who lunged forward with its pike extended parallel to the ground. David parried it out of the way, spun around the edge of the pike and brought his sword down just as hard as he could and felt it hit something thick, then free itself. The next thing he heard over his panting was a thick, wet 'thud' and looked down into the eyes of his opponent, who was staring lifelessly at the clouds and landscape above them. Before he had time to observe his handiwork, David heard the collective thunder of two armies charging and readied himself for the swath of Brutes he knew had to be headed his way. David's vision cleared suddenly and he nearly yelped in surprise; a Brute was standing right in front of him. He cleaved it in half and ducked under another blow that was, again, meant to crush his skull. David brought the blade upward vertically and severed the arm, then spun with the blade at his hip and slashed diagonally up and to the left finishing his opponent.

He looked over his shoulder when someone cried his name and snatched the shotgun that had been hurled by said someone out of the air, chambered a round and went to work. David rolled away from a strike aimed at his side, brought the shotgun to bear and fired point blank into a Brute's thick, muscular hide that gutted the creature. He removed a grenade from his bandolier and hurled it with all his might into a formation of Covenant troops that were pounding his own with Brute Shots. One Brute shouted loudly and dove aside, but the others were too slow. The grenade detonated, not only killing the brutes but setting off their own grenades as well, causing a chain reaction that destroyed everything within a meter and a half of them.

David didn't have time to celebrate and all but dove out of the way of a Particle Beam round that had been meant for him, but struck an Elite behind him that uttered the same horrible death cry and collapsed, a hole burned neatly in its chest. A sharp reply came from the ODSTs up on the cliffs that picked off not only the Jackal snipers, but brute after brute that would have rivaled even the Spartans. Six or eight brutes fell in sync as the snipers picked the formations apart, aided by the Elites and David's shotgun. David charged headlong into a group of brutes, activated a plasma grenade, slapped it to one's back, rolled aside and decapitated another with a single blast from his shotgun. He fired round after round after round into the Covenant formations, the eight gauge slugs wounding anything that they didn't kill. Over the general din of the battle, David heard the two things he didn't want to hear; the distinctive screech of Covenant Banshees and the whine of a Wraith tank's plasma mortar.

"Incoming air and arty! Scatter the formations! Cassandra, now's your time to show them what you've got!"

Immediately, the Heretic Elites scattered, confusing the brutes momentarily as their own artillery rounds tore them to pieces. David spotted a squad heading toward his position and motioned them to follow him as he let the shotgun hang across his chest by its sling and activated his blade once again. He lowered his shoulders and charged headlong into the brutes, swinging his sword every which way and not giving a damn if he killed them or not, only trying to clear a hole. Finally, he broke through their ranks with only a pair of the six or seven elites he started with and made a mad dash for the opposing Wraith tanks as his own opened up into the brutes. He pulled a plasma grenade from his bandolier, activated his comm and ordered the Elites to do as he did. He leapt up on the nearest of the half-dozen Wraiths, used his sword to cut open the latch, activated the grenade and shoved it down inside. The pilot bellowed as David leapt off the tank and tried to clamber out, but was caught in the explosion and cooked alive as super heated plasma arced through the air. The two Elites followed his example and repeated the steps he'd performed, and the three of them quickly dispatched the few remaining tanks.

David then took the time and glanced up toward the deadly ballet being performed just over a hundred feet above his head. The Elites had been smart enough to repaint their Banshees to a combination of purple and off-brown, giving them an almost ancient and rusted look. The battle looked pretty even at the moment, but Cassandra's squadron seemed to be gaining the upper hand in their fight, as did David's own Heretic force. Deciding to leave everything to 'Takamee and Cassandra, David motioned yet again for the two Elites to follow him into the main compound just to see what they could see. It wasn't a long march to the compound and there weren't enemies to stop them, so the trio had no trouble getting there. Getting in, though, was a problem. The short, squat building at the heart of the complex was sealed at every entrance and the doors were to thick to blast through with the equipment David and his Elites had on him at the moment.

So, they scavenged around the base for a little while longer before returning to the site of the battle and found what David had expected; the Brutes had been utterly decimated and it looked like a slaughter. Their bodies lay arranged in a completely random pattern, intermitted now and then with Elite corpses and the burned out hulls of a destroyed Banshee or two and limbs now and then. After a few minutes of searching, David found 'Takamee and learned the count; one hundred and thirty five wounded, ninety eight dead and three missing. He nodded and showed 'Takamee to the door.

"We tried knocking, but they don't want to answer…so I say we knock really really loud."

A/N: Another chapter completed! Awright! As always, folks, read and review!