Master Chief and Six had left the bridge and Captain Keyes behind only moments ago, and they already had encountered a few Covenant. It was nothing that they couldn't handle, but that meant that there were many more than just the couple that they had killed. They were running out of time. Any minute, Covenant could come barreling through the next door, or the next one. The only marines that they had come across were dead ones.
Master Chief kneeled down at the body of a dead marine with his eyes still open. He pushed his eyelids down.
"Unlucky bastard." The Chief said. He took the marine's assault rifle and saluted him.
"Things really are going to shit, aren't they?" Six said.
"Oh yeah, they are. Let's get moving. We need to get off of the ship." The Chief said.
"What the hell?" Six said.
"What?" The Chief said back.
"I'm getting interference on my radio. Something's screwy." Six said.
"There we go. I'm patched in." Cortana said.
"Did she just hack into my radio?" Six said to Master Chief.
"Probably." The Chief said.
"Not only can we now communicate, Six, but I can see basic diagnostics and your shield level. Basically, I can tell if you or John are in danger." Cortana said.
"Handy." Six said. He looked at Master Chief. "John? That's your name?"
"Yeah. Got a problem?" The Chief said.
"No, not at all. Can I call you John? I don't feel like referring to you as the Chief. It's not very convenient in the way of conversation."
"Call me either. You're a higher rank than me anyways." John said.
As they advanced down the hall, John looked at Six.
"How about you? What's yours?"
"My what?"
"Your name. What's your name?"
"Couldn't tell ya."
"What?"
"I mean that I don't know. No clue."
"What, do you have amnesia or something?
"Yeah, something like that. I don't remember my name. All of the experimentation they did on my brain made me... forget... certain things."
"Sorry."
"No need. You sound like someone died." Six said with a grin.
"Well, come on, I have to call you something."
"Just call me Six. It's the closest thing I have to a name anyways."
"Alright then."
As they proceeded down the hallway, guns raised, they came across a trio of marines fighting off an Elite. Six raised his DMR and, with four well placed shots, took the beast down.
"Master Chief! Lieutenant Noble Six! It is a pleasure to meet you, sirs. Thank you for your help."
"No problem." John said.
Abruptly, the Autumn was rocked by an enormous and loud explosion.
"What the hell?" Six said.
"Did something just hit us?" One of the marines said.
"Move it! Back to the airlock!" The other marines said.
"No, wait!" Six shouted.
An explosion blasted out from the airlock, likely caused by a Covenant boarding craft crashing into the ship. The explosion killed the two marines. Covenant troops then emptied into the corridor. Elites and Grunts were all firing their weapons. John and Six returned fire, and dropped several Grunts. Six pulled a grenade from his belt.
"I'm probably going to feel bad that these marines won't have an open casket funeral after this." He said, and chucked the live grenade into the crowd.
"Their faces are melted off. I don't think that they can complain." John said as the grenade's explosion rocked the corridor. "Besides, I don't think that we're going to have time for a funeral at this point.
"Well, we have to keep moving. Who knows how many more Covenant there are?" Six said.
"Right behind you." John replied.
They had been walking for only another five minutes before something else went wrong.
Lifepods were ejecting out of the Autumn, and the two Spartans could see the results. Three lifepods ejected from the ship, and they were all shot down by Covenant fire.
"The Covenant are destroying the lifepods...they really don't want us on that ring." Cortana said.
"Fuck." Six said. "This is a suicide mission."
"Not if we hurry." John said.
"Well, shit. Alrighty, head for the blast doors." Six said.
"Warning! Blast doors closing!" Cortana yelled.
Just then, the blast doors in that room shut tight.
"Damn." John said.
"We'll have to use the ship's maintenance access ways. Follow the NAV point, it will lead you to an opening." Cortana said.
Just then, a dot appeared on Six's scanner. He was sure John saw it too, because he set off for it first. Six could still hear Keyes' voice over the intercom, shouting orders and trying to save as many lives as possible. Good man.
"I'm detecting Covenant movement outside the access ways. Activating motion tracker. Let's find a safe exit." Cortana said.
John and Six approached the first door. Suddenly, red dots framed their position on the scanner.
"They're right on top of us! We need to find another way through." Cortana said.
"Quick, over here!" Six yelled. He was pointing at a particularly beaten up door.
"Perfect! If you can get rid of that door, you should have a clear path ahead! Try knocking it down, Six." Cortana said.
With a singular super-human tackle, Six rammed his shoulder directly into the busted door, busting the broken and warped metal of the blast door. It fact, he went through the door with such force that he fell on his hands and knees.
Suddenly, he wasn't on the Autumn anymore. He was carrying his squadmate Kat away from the Covenant glassing of New Alexandria. He pulled her up. She had fallen, shot in the leg, and he had gotten down to his knees to pick her up.
"Come on Kat, get up!" Six yelled.
"Come on!" Carter yelled.
She could barely stand up, so almost all of her weight was balanced on him.
He could hear the roar of a sangheili above. And a needle rifle shot.
The sharp, deadly crystal flew through the air with deadly accuracy and implanted itself into the back of Kat's skull. Her legs gave out under her own weight. Kat's blood sprayed out of the back of her head onto Six's helmet. Her entire body went limp and collapsed. Six held on. He tried to get her to get up. It was useless. She was dead.
She was dead.
"Leave her, Six! Come on!" Emile shouted at him.
No. They'd pay for this.
Six ran forward and pulled out his DMR. He unloaded at least two dozen shots into two dozen Elites, a bullet for each of their brains. His team was gone. He was surrounded. He was killing them by the dozen, one by one.
"SIX!" Someone yelled.
He turned around with his gun raised. It was…
John.
Everything dimmed. He looked around, breathing heavily.
"It's alright. They're dead." John said.
He was back on the Autumn.
"What? No, but I..." Six said quietly to himself. He looked to the floor in front of him.
Corpses of Sangheili. Everywhere. Littering the floor with their unsightly remains.
"How…" Six whispered.
"After you busted down the door, all of these Sangheili started firing on us. You pulled me through the door and dropped me behind cover. Then you took out your rifle and… You killed ALL of them. ALL of them, Six. Now I see why you're classified as Hyper Lethal."
"Six, your heart rate is off of the charts." Cortana said.
"I'm fine. I'm okay." Six said.
"Are you sure?" John said.
"I just… Yeah. Let's get to the lifepods." Six said.
John looked at Six for a minute and wondered what Six's story was. He would have to ask him sometime. That was one of the few things that had disturbed him in a long time.
"Alright, let's go." John said.
They were finally at the lifeboats, despite the heavy resistance they had faced trying to get there since Six's episode. They ran through the corpses of Grunts and Elites as they ran to the last remaining lifeboat.
A running marine was thrown to the ground by a nearby explosion. "Agh! Son of a..."
"Get up, soldier!" Six yelled as he picked the soldier up and leaned into his weight.
As they ran into the lifeboat, Six realized just who he was carrying. It was none other than the marine that they had met earlier, Clancy Maegan. John looked outside with the barrel of his assault rifle, checking for enemies. There were none.
"Take a seat, Maegan." Six.
Clancy was surprised that Lieutenant Noble Six had remembered his name. He felt… Important.
"Thank you, sir, so much." Clancy said.
"No problem, kid." Six said back.
"Punch it!" John yelled.
"Aye aye, Sir!" the pilot of the lifeboat yelled back.
The lifeboat launched out of the Autumn's airlock.
"We're disengaged. Goin' for minimum safe distance." The pilot said.
"We're gonna make it, aren't we, sirs?" Clancy asked the two Spartans.
The Chief patted him on the shoulder, giving the Clancy substantial reassurance.
"We'll be fine, Clancy." Six said.
Clancy looked out of the window.
"What is that thing, exactly?" He asked.
"Hell if I know, but we're landin' on it." The pilot said.
"The Autumn! She's been hit!" A marine shouted.
The Chief dashed to the back of the lifeboat with Six as they both stared and watched the Autumn.
"I knew it! The Autumn is accelerating, Keyes is going in manually!" Cortana said.
The Autumn was suddenly hit multiple times by Plasma Torpedoes.
"Heads up everyone, this is it! We're entering the ring's atmosphere in five!" The pilot yelled.
"Sure you wouldn't rather take a seat?" Cortana said.
"We'll be fine." John said.
The Chief gripped the sides of the lifeboat, and bended his knees. Six followed suit.
"If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed..." Cortana said.
The Bumblebee headed into the ring's atmosphere.
Luck was all they had now.