I lunged for the shadow, but was suddenly stopped midway – the figure expertly used my momentum and fluidly diverted my direction, smashing me unto a wall. I was dazed – I have not expected this. I knew that no Promethean can use those manoeuvres –Grunts, Jackals or Brutes were too dumb and it was of course, not a sentinel. The figure stood up before me, a towering black shadow. I gained enough sense to turn on my flash light – and snorted. "Why the hell are you here?" I asked, still annoyed that Adam managed to beat me in hand to hand combat. Adam gave his hand and said in an Australian accent, "Want some help mate?" I sighed and I took it, my flashlight showing the rest of the squad. Jack requested every detail of my journey here, and I had to spend the whole night explaining that I didn't go AWOL on purpose. I was about to ask how the hell they come here, but Jack simply replied "You went missing and we searched for you. We were ambushed and escaped here." Right. I spent 2 hours explaining my story and Jack says in 2. Sentences. I peered outside and saw the elites stirring, and motioned my squad to come down. Well, I had more experience, so I guessed I could play leader.

But NOPE! Jack was Jack, and he needed to take control. After the usual pep talk, we packed all our stuff, which was not much, and got ready to get our asses out of here. I took point as usual, the meat shield guy. I advanced through the corridor, hefting my assault rifle. I reached the corner and knew it was going to be a fight from now on. Jack radioed in, "On my mark…" But I shouted, "Mark!" and turned into a room, and saw two patrolling sentinels. I shot down the first, and the second swivelled around to me, just in time to see the butt of my rifle cracking its eye. The others caught up and Jack growled, "That was reckless – it's the 15th time that I've have warned you. Next time –"

"I will be taken out of the Fireteam? Cool – but I did whatever got the job done." I said

"You know the consequences, but still show inability to follow orders. Why?"

"Yeah – I've got this syndrome called I-Hate-Enemies. A particularly severe case of it."

We glared each other for a long time, but Jack knew he was beat. He sighed and the elites started to guide us again. They radioed me the instructions, and I scouted away, getting my ass kicked by several enemies before the team caught up. But hey! I got all the cool weapons, and the fashion show was colourful! From scattershot to suppressor to light rifle, I got hands on weapons I could only have imagined using in combat. And I saved best for the last – incineration cannon. Then I primarily used my secondary, my scattershot.

We arrived in some sort of factory gateway, but it was guarded by several watchers and knights. I snuck up behind them, but didn't report back. I wanted these knights to be my kill. As soon as the watchers turned away, I jumped out of my cover, the knights snapping to attention. The other knights were an easy kill, and I was glad there were no lancers. But 2 problematic knights were present too. One was a BATTLEWAGON and the other was a COMANDER. I cursed my luck and quickly dodged as the commander shot a red ball of pure death. The balls exploded, clearly missing me but the orbitals catching me offside. I was tossed to the floor, my shield hissing and dying. Then the battlewagon took a clear shot, hitting me in my right arm. Other knights opened fire. I groaned when a light rifle shot hit my leg. Before I could be shredded to pieces, I scrambled back to safety, as the hard light bullets sizzled and hissed over my head. I swore, took out a plasma grenade and threw it – sticking to a Promethean's mask. It didn't even flinch, and kept firing. I snorted in disgust of the stupid bravery and rewarded the Promethean with scattershot shell, detonating the grenade and the knight covered in blue plasma.

My heart pounded, and knew that it wasn't entirely wise to mess with them first. Suddenly Jack radioed in, "What's going on down there? Why have you not reported?" he demanded. "If you think you can give a blow by blow report when you are dodging incinerator shots, you can take point." I said angrily. Then there was a moment of silence, then a reply, "okay we are going in. Hold your position until we arrive." The bullets were still whizzing by. I needed to do something. I looked around hysterically, then spotted some crates. I dashed to the crates, my shield sizzling. I was about to move the crates, but then I thought of something I quickly stood back, stuck the crate with grenades and kicked it with all my might. Quickly dived to cover, just in time to hear a large explosion. I smiled in satisfaction as empty armour plating flung in all directions. What a handy timing – the rest of the squad arrived. Jack looked at me, then the blackened entrance, then back to me. "What", I said, with exaggerated compliance, "I held my point and FOLLOWED ORDERS." Then I turned around and started to walk through the entrance, hiding a grin of victory that only I knew it was there.

Finally, the elites guided us into this auditorium of some sort, the same hieroglyphics covering the walls. As we entered, I immediately knew, this was going to be a tough battle. The crawlers poured out from all directions, watchers busily teleporting in new ones. The knights were in legions, silently commanding the lower Prometheans. We had little cover, the only cover being 2 small engines standing near the entrance, and little ammo. But the biggest problem was the sentinels. As I watched in horror, the sentinels all converged into each other, arranging their shape in a macabre elegancy. The end product? A big ass, multilayered tank, with one giant laser cannon lighting up like an angry evil-eye and a number of small lasers to back it up. Hovering over the knights, it looked more menacing than a Scarab. I gritted my teeth and growled, "This is going to be one tough son of a bitch to take down!"

Hold your horses, readers! I know that I skipped a lot of battles, but the next chapter is going to be all about the battle!