Noble Six and John-117 exited the security substation and were greeted with the sight of Bravo 022's remains. The Pelican had crash landed on the beach after being shot down by Covenant forces. Six looked over near the crash site. Bodies of marines were scattered about the wreckage like ragdolls, and the Covenant were sniffing about the Pelican, looking for something.
"Jesus. Look at them all. Alot of Covenant to surround one crash site." Six said to Cortana.
"Bravo 022 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters, I thought you could use them." She replied.
"Well, that means that we should probably get them, huh?" Six said.
"Yup." John said.
"Alright. Stay low." Six replied.
The two Spartans crouched down and proceeded slowly down to the wreckage. There were numerous Covenant, including Grunts, Elites, and Jackals, but they were few and far apart, so they were easy to dodge. When they finally got to the crashed Pelican, they had gone unnoticed.
"Woah. That's a lot of guns." Six said.
There were rocket launchers, shotguns, grenades and landmines lining the cargo hold.
"Take what you can carry. I'm just gonna grab me…"
He grabbed a pair of shotguns.
"…Two of these."
"Sergeant Johnson would be envious." John said as he grabbed a few mines and a rocket launcher. "Do you think we can get back up there unnoticed?"
"Maybe. Let's try and find a way back in. Stay quiet." Six replied.
"Trust me, I'm good at that." John said back.
The two had to circle around and get back to the Cartographer's entrance. Six almost walked in before he saw the second pair of Hunters that they had to deal with in that day.
"Great. Another pair of 'em."
"Well, this will be my fifth and sixth Hunter encounter of the day."
"You mean third and fourth?"
"No."
"You fought two OTHER Hunters before I got here?"
"Yeah."
"Nice."
"Yeah, I got lucky."
"Alright. Let's see if we can kill these things quiet. If we can't…"
He pointed to the two shotguns on his back.
John nodded.
The two Spartans pulled out their combat knives and inched towards the Hunters, who currently had their backs turned. Six went in for the kill.
"Now!"
He thrust his combat knife into the now-alert Hunter's back, doing little else but pissing it off. John jumped on his Hunter's back and started stabbing it in the face-area. Six's turned around and started charging it's laser, so Six punched the laser cannon down hard with his left arm, putting a giant dent in it. This gave Six an idea. He punched the Hunter's shield, making a dent in that as well. While the Hunter was raising its cannon again, Six punched it back down, busting it. It tried to charge its cannon, but it stopped mid-charge. Six took the opportunity of the Hunter's surprise to punch it in the face with his human hand, causing it to spin, dazed. He took one of his shotguns and pushed the barrel against the Hunter's soft flesh, then pulled the trigger. Its own wormy membrane acted as a muffler, almost silencing the shotgun blast, killing the Hunter in the process. Six looked over at John. He was finishing up the fight, carving the Hunter like a Christmas ham. He gave one final stab, and the Hunter fell, sure to make a loud crashing noise. Six ran up and caught it with both arms before it could hit the floor. John jumped off of it, and Six placed the Hunter's corpse slowly on the ground.
"Nice one." Six said to John.
"You too." John said
"Thanks." Replied Six.
The two travelled back to the security room, unsure of what to do next.
"Anything new open up, Cortana?" Six said.
"Analyzing… Bingo. There is an entrance to an elevator shaft not far from here. I'll mark it for you." Cortana said.
"Thanks, Cortana." John said.
"No problem." She replied.
The two Spartans were now in the elevator shaft, and below them was a drop of an unknown distance.
John walked towards the edge and kicked a piece of debris off of the platform, down the elevator shaft. They never did hear a noise.
"We should stick to the platform. Long way down." Six said.
The elevator travelled down, down into the abyss. A few minutes later, it stopped.
Six's radio crackled to life. "Foehammer to ground teams, you got two enemy dropships coming in fast!"
"Dammit!" Sergeant Johnson said. "Okay, people, we got company comin', let's set the table. Engage enemy forces on sight!"
"It'll be easier to hold them off from inside the structure. Can you get inside?" Cortana asked.
"Negative! They're closin' in too fast, negative!" Johnson replied. "Chief! You gotta find the Cartographer! We'll keep 'em busy as long as we can!"
"Give 'em hell, Marine." Cortana said as she ended the transmission. "We'll be in a tight spot if we don't get out of here before additional reinforcements arrive. Let's find that map."
"Understood." Six said. He looked over at John. "You're a quiet one, aren't you?"
John looked up. "Just figured that out, did you?"
"Never mind. Not important anyways, Mr. Sourpuss."
John simply sighed and chuckled. Six smiled. He was surprised that he had made friends with the legendary Master Chief. Sure, his exploits were just as legendary, and maybe some of their friendship was built on pure respect for each other, but as far as he knew, John was a very closed up person before they met.
Six wondered why.
The two finally reached the Cartographer. When they entered the room, there was a table and a holo-panel.
"There. That holo-panel should activate the map." Cortana said.
John walked up to it and pressed it.
The table lit up, and above it, a holo display of Halo appeared from thin air. It span a bit, and then the Halo broke into sections before them.
"Analyzing... Halo's control center is located there." Cortana said as one particular piece enlarged and highlighted itself.
"That structure appears to be some sort of temple or shrine, if I've interpreted this correctly… Interesting…"
"What's interesting?" Six asked.
"A shrine is an unlikely place to put such a significant installation."
Six thought about that for a minute. "A shrine? Are you sure?"
"Gimmie a second, Six." Cortana said as she switched to radio-chat. "Cortana to Captain Keyes."
"Alright then." Six said. He looked over at John. John simply shrugged.
"The Captain has dropped out of contact, Cortana." Foehammer replied. "His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems."
"Keep trying. Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and then tell him that the Master Chief, Noble Six and I have determined the location of the control center. We'll be heading there as soon as we're topside." Cortana said.
"Affirmative. Foehammer out."
A large group of Elites poured out from behind them. Six pressed the holo-pad and shut down the display. He pulled his magnum and started firing. John unsheathed his energy sword and went to work on the bulk of them. He killed one or two, but he was soon shot, so he retreated back while carrying his assault rifle, firing on the enemy. Six drew his shotguns and held one in either hand, killing several of the Sangheilli. An Elite Zealot approached from the middle, roaring with his fist up in an ungodly war cry. He ran at Six while he had his back turned and stabbed him in the side with his wrist blades. Six grabbed his side and looked at the Zealot.
"You fucker!" Six yelled as he turned one of his shotguns on the Elite and pulled the trigger. The Zealot dropped with a thump.
Several more Elites occupied the room. Now there were at least one and one half dozen of them, give or take one or two. The entire tim, Six and John were firing round after round into the horde.
"Jesus, this is a nightmare! How could this get any worse?!" Six said.
His shotguns suddenly ran out of shells.
"Of course!" Six yelled. "I'm out of ammo!"
Even more Elites entered the room. "So am I!" John yelled.
"I'm assuming this is our cue to get out of here!" Six shouted over the sound of gunfire.
"Let's go." John replied loudly.
The two ran for a minute straight, finally getting to the surface with two dozen or more Elites following in their wake.
"Cortana to Echo 419. We are topside, requesting pickup."
"Roger. On my way." Foehammer replied.
"I'm getting really sick of being chased all of the time!" Six yelled.
"Oh, save your energy!" John yelled back.
The Pelican landed about twenty yards in front of them. John and Six were running like cheetahs. Six threw one of his shotguns behind him, tripping an Elite and causing it to fall flat on its face.
"Haha! Gotcha!" Six yelled behind him.
"Jump!" John yelled.
The two Spartans lept the final four feet into the Pelican's back as it was taking off. It rose very quickly, the pilot obviously aware of the storm of Covenant behind them.
"Goddamn. That was the second time we've done that in two days." Six said.
"Not looking forward to doing that again." John said.
"Let's get moving. Foehammer. Here are coordinates and a flight plan I've worked out." Cortana said to the pilot.
"But, Cortana... these coordinates are underground." Foehammer said back.
"The Covenant did a thorough seismic scan. My analysis shows that Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels - which circle the whole ring."
"Is that—" John said.
"No way." Six said
A structure in the Cartographer lifted up, revealing an underground tunnel.
"Are we going down there?" Six asked nervously.
"Yeah, I guess so. Why, Is there a problem?" John said.
"No." Six said quickly.
John gave him a look, which, even under his helmet, he could tell was doubting him.
"Okay, yes. I just… I really don't like going underground." Six said.
"Oh, come on. Big bad Noble Six is afraid of a little dirt?"
"Fuck off." Six replied.
John just laughed. He was loving this.
"I hope your analysis is on-the-money, Cortana. This Pelican won't turn on a dime." Foehammer said.
"That's reassuring." Six said in a grim tone.
"Look on the bright side. The last thing the Covenant will expect is an aerial insertion... from underground."
The Pelican lowered down into the structure and the top closed with a crash. They were now submerged in complete darkness.
"Boo." Six heard john say.
"Fuck you." Six replied.
John just chuckled as they went further down into the caverns below.