Faced With More Problems

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo 2.

Time unknown/ Date unknown/

Location unknown

Alex felt himself being pulled up the gravlift, and recalled on how he had managed to reload his Battle rifle: his brother had played the first level on one-player the weekend before, so he just copied what the Master Chief did in the game. The first part was the hardest, as he had no idea how to pull out the clip. He found a small button on the side, and he pressed it while pulling on the clip, satisfied when the clip came out in the palm of his hand and he threw it to the ground. Then he fumbled inside his pouches for an extra clip, found one, and put it in, receiving a click as the latch that the button opened snapped into place, holding the clip there. His feet hit the ground, and he jumped the gap, landing on the middle square. He aimed his Battle rifle to the left and fired, taking down a Spartan with a shot to the head. He pulled out a frag grenade, hit the button on the top, and dropped it behind him. The grenade went off a second later, making a body fly past Alex's head as he ran up the ramp. He arrived at the top and unslung his Sniper rifle, looking through the scope. He saw an Elite punch a Spartan in the back, killing him, and he decided to leave the Elite, letting him enjoy his glory. He looked at the other Spartan that was in the area, and put him down with two shots.

Bang!

A 3-shot burst from a Battle rifle flew past his visor, and he dived to the left, behind one of the small walls, being narrowly missed by another burst. He pulled out a plasma grenade and looked at it, unsure of how to activate it. He found a small orange button, and he pressed it. The plasma grenade lit up like a blue ball, which it was, and he lobbed it over the wall. He got up from behind his cover and saw the grenade hit the wall behind Disturbed, and land on the ground, right next to 3 explosive canisters. Disturbed fired at Alex again, but Alex moved behind the other wall, only sticking his head up to watch the grenade explode. There was a flash of blue as the grenade went off, leaving Disturbed just about dead, then the canisters exploded. Alex stood up in time to see the next flash, which was so bright that Alex lost sight of Disturbed for a second, and then flew backward as Disturbed's body smashed into him.

Alex hit the ground and slid back, hitting the wall of the ramp. He coughed and got up, feeling for his Sniper rifle, and saw it teetering on the edge of the ramp. He jumped up and leapt towards it, but it fell, spinning and tumbling into the abyss. He swore, and looked for his Battle rifle, realising that it must have jabbed into Disturbed and stayed there. And Disturbed's body had also gone over the edge. He unslung his shotgun, which had, luckily, not come off his shoulder. He ran down the ramp, and delivered a shot to the Kill Ferns, killing him. He ran out onto the platform in the middle, where there were a number of bodies. He found a small handle on the ground, just big enough to fit into his hand. He picked it up and looked at it, found a button, and pressed it. Twin blades sprang out from the handle, glowing with light, and he recognised it as a Plasma sword.

He didn't know where the Plasma sword was kept, or why it was in a 'Swat' match, but he deactivated it and put it in his belt, making sure that it wouldn't fall out. He turned around and saw JF running towards him with a different Plasma sword, so he received a Shotgun blast to the face. Alex pumped the weapon and turned around in time to kick the Elite sneaking up behind him in the balls.

"I've always wanted to do that," he said to himself, smiling. The Elite fell to the floor, and Alex kicked it in the head, firing at the Spartan behind the Elite. He left 1 ugly mofo on the floor, and he turned around, seeing Kill Ferns running out of a building, firing his Battle rifle in all directions. Alex ran over to him and wrenched the Battle rifle out of the Spartan's hand, dropping the Shotgun, and aimed the barrel at Kill Ferns' head, pulling the trigger. Blood sprayed outwards as he heard the sound of a Battle rifle clicking as someone respawned behind him. He sidestepped to the left, and a burst went wide.

He stepped backwards, and was about to turn around, when a different burst from the right tore through his Battle rifle, rendering it useless. He tossed it away and grabbed the hands behind him that were holding a Battle rifle, and put his hands on top of them. He aimed towards the Spartan that had shot his Battle rifle, still leaving the other person's hands clamped to the Battle rifle, and pulled the trigger 3 times.

The Spartan on the right fell as the last burst cut through his visor. Alex released his grip on the other Spartan's hands, grabbing onto his upper arms, still not facing him. He pulled with all his strength, flipping the Spartan over his shoulder, making him smash onto the ground with surprising force. Alex kicked him in the head so hard that the Spartan's neck broke, leaving Alex with one last enemy on the platform to deal with. He turned around, picking up his Shotgun, and leapt back as a blade sliced through the air that he had just occupied.

The Elite had picked up another Plasma sword!

Alex prepared to fire his shotgun, but shouted in rage and fear as the sword sliced through the gun. Alex ran backwards, running into the building and up the ramp on the left. Halfway up, he tripped, and felt the blade slice through his armour and part of his flesh. He screamed in pain, but somehow managed to dodge a second swing, and began running up the ramp again. He got to the top, and felt something in one of his pouches.

His Plasma sword.

He pulled out the handle, and hit the button, igniting it. He turned around, and saw the Elite lunge at him with the sword – a fatal move. Alex only had time to swing the blade to the right, and it saved his life. The two blades connected, sending off sparks of light, and he was forced onto the ground. He quickly got back up in time to parry another slice from 1 ugly mofo. Alex swung back at 1 ugly mofo, but he missed, and followed up with a kick that sent the Elite flying. 1 ugly mofo got back up, jumped into the air and swung his sword at Alex. Alex raised his own Plasma sword, somehow blocking the attack, and was sent tumbling off the building from the force.

He hit the ground and felt pain find its way through his body. He was now vunerable, on his back, and he looked up to see 1 ugly mofo jump down, ready to finish him off. He groaned as he stuck up his blade, feeling pain course through his arm, then felt a jolt, making his arm dislocate, and he lowered his sword. The body of 1 ugly mofo had been skewered on the sword. Alex managed to get into a sitting position, and applied some biofoam to his back, and then he painfully relocated his shoulder.

Boom!

A rocket zoomed past him, through the doorway, and hit the wall, sending debris flying in all different directions. He looked to where the rocket had come from, and saw a Spartan standing there with a rocket launcher. A second rocket streaked out of the tube, and headed straight for him. Alex couldn't get up and go straight away – he was too weak – so he did the next best thing.

He threw his Plasma sword at the rocket, and they connected. The explosion was a mix of blue, orange and black, and was so big, there was a hugeblack mark on the middle square, and Alex knew the person playing as that Spartan would be staring in disbelief. Alex managed to get up and, weapon less, make his way back inside the building. He limped slowly, and he tripped, sprawling on the ground. He crawled over to the wall, and sat up against it.

He heard footsteps, and a Spartan ran into the room, saw Alex leaning up against the wall with no weapon, and walked up to him. Alex looked up at the Spartan, and he knew that there was no way he could get out of this one. The Spartan stood there with his Battle rifle aimed at Alex's head, obviously enjoying the fact that he was going to kill him. Alex squeezed his eyes shut, and the Spartan pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The 3 bullets flew out of the three separate barrels on the Battle rifle, speeding towards Alex's head. They were just about to enter Alex's visor when the Spartan, and the bullets, disappeared. Alex kept his eyes shut, and soon opened them. He looked around for anybody.

They were all gone.

He shouted in joy and triumph, and slowly got up, feeling his body start to heal. He limped over to the square in the middle, and looked around. He leapt across the gap and to the gravlift, and sat down again. He sighed and recalled on the past 30 minutes or so.

30 minutes! He didn't know why, but it felt like he had been here for 10 minutes!

Maybe the time span is different inside the game…

He had been playing with his friends and Andrew, and then he received a small shock when a drop of water hit the 'waterproof' control. He then remembered that they were going to play another map, obviously Lockout, and then the antenna on the house was struck by lightning, which seemed pretty unlikely.

Then he woke up here.

He tried to think of how he had been sucked in, and then he remembered the fail-safe for the Xbox: when the house's power was shut, or cut, off, the Xbox and the T.V would keep running smoothly. All it needed was a small electrical power source to draw in.

Him!

He had received the shock, which was why he had been pulled in, instead of something else. He looked up as a drone filled the air. He saw a large, purple, bubble-like object fly into view. It had one small swivelling thing on the bottom-front, and one on each side of the bottom. He jumped up and waved to it, hoping that it was someone that could help him, and then he quickly found that it was the wrong decision. He realised that no one, or nothing, else should be here – he was in multiplayer. He was about to hide himself when the ship sped towards the station and opened fire with the things on the bottom. They spat out purple plasma bulbs. He ducked behind the wall as they impacted on the ground where he was standing and the wall next to him.

They left black scorch marks that stood out on the blue surfaces. He launched himself out from behind his cover and drew a plasma grenade, tossing it at the purple ship, which had gotten lower, hovering above the square in the middle. He ran out onto the square, seeing a blue circle in the middle of the bottom. He hit the button on the grenade and tossed it up into the circle. The grenade disappeared, followed by inhuman shouting, and then the grenade exploded, rocking the ship.

Another roar filled the air, and Alex looked at its source. A grey drop ship appeared from the other side of the cliff, and it sped towards them, a chaingun on the front of it, below the cockpit, spinning as it fired thousands of rounds at the enemy drop ship. He looked up at the purple drop ship, and saw it jolt as the amount of rounds that hit it increased when another grey drop ship joined the first. The first drop ship hovered above the purple one, and Alex ran out of sight, and up to where he had first got the Sniper rifle. The sounds of the engines were deafening, but Alex still heard something inside his helmet.

"Sir! Jump on!"

He looked at the back of the grey drop ship, and saw that it had an opening where there were 4 soldiers: one holding onto a turret that was on the back, two sitting on seats holding Battle rifle's, and one standing, holding onto a handle on the roof, and beckoning him frantically. Alex stepped back and got a running start, jumping into the drop ship. He felt it rise, and stood up, after narrowly missing the standing soldier. The drop ship picked up speed and Alex sat down.

"We got reports that there was more than one Spartan." The standing soldier said to him.

Alex looked up at him, and then said:

"No: there's only me."

He panted, and then asked the soldier a question that he hoped the soldier would say no to.

"Are you a marine?"

The soldier looked at him and nodded.

"Part of the UNSC, what do you think, sir?"

Not only had his coming affected time, but the actual game itself: Alex had made the multiplayer become slightly linked with the campaign, and he had made everything realistic.

"Where are we going?" he asked the marine.

"We're dropping you off at the Pious Inquisitor."

"Why?"

"That's one of the fastest Covenant ship's in the fleet: you need to sabotage it."

"Why not any other ship?"

The Maine shrugged.

"Orders. The ship was the first to reach Earth, and Hood wants it down without a fight."

"Alright."

Although Alex didn't know it, the Pious Inquisitor was the level he knew as Midship, and fighting it out on board was going to be the least of his problems…

A/N: I was going to take this chapter all the way to when he gets on Midship, but it would've taken too long, and I also wanted to demonstrate the fact that time in the real world is about 1/3rd of what it is where Alex is.