The Pelican containing Noble Six and John-117 rose upwards from the pit, startling a group of sleeping Grunts. The sound of Foehammer's jets alerted them to danger, and they ran for their lives. The Pelican turned around, back facing the platform, and the back door opened, revealing the two Spartans and several soldiers, all of them skilled and armed to the teeth.
"This is as far as I can go." Foehammer said.
"Roger that, we can find our way to the Control Center from here." Cortana responded.
"Good luck. Foehammer out."
The two Spartans and the handful of soldiers disembarked from the Pelican, guns drawn and at the ready. The few Covenant that had been near the landing site had run away, most likely to get help. Six had no doubts in his mind that they were everywhere around them.
John decided to open his mouth first. "Seems like it's your turn to be the quiet one. You haven't talked since we came down here."
"You know why." Six replied.
Six absolutely hated going underground. He had nothing against deep, dark caves and things like that, but as soon as he had to go into them, he felt like dropping everything and running. It was an irrational fear in his opinion, but he had good reason for it. Once, before he met Noble Team, he was on a mission, some place he couldn't remember nor pronounce the name of. The mission entailed an underground op, and he was found. Before he could escape, the cave's entrance was blown before he could escape, and rock trapped him on all sides. It took him seven and a half hours to dig his way out with his hands. The rock was so thick he couldn't use his coms until he made a hand-sized hole in the rock. He had to be very careful, or else the ceiling would have collapsed on him, and that would have been pretty bad. By the time he had gotten out, he was done with going below ground level.
He never did tell anyone in Noble Team, but he was freaking out the entire time while they were down in the cavern below Sword Base.
"Alright. I'm just saying, quiet isn't your style." John said. "Try and forget that we're down here…"
"Thanks." Six replied.
"…Hundreds of feet below ground…"
"…Yeah."
"…With no support for miles—"
"As your better, I command you to stop." Six said in a very serious tone.
John saluted. "Sir, yes sir."
He almost sounded a little disappointed.
They approached a circular room that was relatively large. The strategist in Six said that it looked like a good place for an ambush, so he alerted everyone around him. He held a fist up, telling everyone to wait. He walked forward a bit, and looked ahead. Then he looked above him. It looked normal enough. Then the air moved. He looked closer. He could see the faint outlines of a dozen of Sangheilli with camouflage hiding on the upper level up the room. He walked back slowly, knowing that he was almost about to walk everyone into an ambush. He waved towards himself, and everyone followed.
"Here's the plan. We have to get to Halo's Control room, and there are at least a dozen stealth Elites hiding up on the second level in there. Me and the Master Chief are going to go in, you guys wait until you hear gunfire and explosions before you follow us." Six said.
The marines and John nodded, and then John followed.
"Pretty good plan. You sounded professional." John said as they snuck towards the room.
"I am professional, when I need to be. I just want to take my mind off of this underground thing." Six replied.
"Shhhh… What's up ahead?" John said.
"You mean past the Sangheilli? I'm assuming more of these rooms. The Covenant probably have this place locked down. Do you still have one of those land mines?"
"Yeah, I have both. Need one?"
"Yeah, give it here. I have a plan. Grab yours too. We're going to make some noise, then use them."
"I doubt that they're dumb enough to walk into them." John said.
"Who said that they were going to walk into them?" Six replied.
John looked at Six for a moment, then grinned under his helmet. "this ought to be good."
"Ready?" Six said to John.
"Ready." John said to Six.
Six ran into the doorway. "Hello, you dumb sons of bitches!" He yelled into the room.
Some of the Elites broke camo and started firing. The rest followed suit. Six took cover behind the entrance to the room.
"You want to kill me? Come and get it!" Six yelled as several Sangheilli jumped from their perches and followed him. He was surprised that the plan was working so far.
"On my mark, John." Six said.
"Three…"
The Elites were getting closer.
"Two…"
They were almost upon them, a second or two later and…
"One…"
They were a few feet from the door…
"Mark!" Six said as he and John both armed their landmines. They both threw the mines like Frisbees, landing them under the Elite's feet. One of them jolted to a halt, causing him to trip and fall on the now armed mine. He and three or four of his comrades were blown back and killed. John's landmine went underfoot an Elite that didn't notice it, killing it and a handful of Elites. There were three or four left, obviously startled by the sudden loss of their comrades. They didn't run, however. They stood vigilant and kept firing.
"Now, marines!" Six yelled. As he did, the handful of marines spilled out from the doorway and began firing on the Elites. Along with John and Six's precision fire, they were unstoppable, and the few Sangheilli left dropped like flies.
Six looked around the room. Then he looked above him. Everything seemed just fine.
"Well that went better than expect—" Six was cut off by a Hunter's plasma cannon hitting him in the back, throwing him on the ground. He got back up as quickly as he could, but his back was on fire. The pain was substantial, but he shrugged it off and started firing on the Hunter along with the rest of the squad.
The Hunter blocked every bullet that hit it with its shield, doing no damage at all.
"Watch my back! I'm moving up!" John said.
"Gotcha covered!" Six said.
John ran towards the Hunter, rolling out of the way of a plasma blast. He got nearby its front, and he made it turn itself around so its back was facing the squad.
Six took this as an opportunity to attack. He ran at the Hunter's back fast, took a leap, and grabbed the Hunter by the top of its head and pulled back. John fired at its throat while the marines fired on its back. Six had to lift his feet, because the marines almost hit him, too.
"Watch your fire!" Six yelled as he tried to move out of the way of the bullets.
After a few more seconds, the Hunter fell, shaking the ground around it.
"Jesus H. Christ…" Six said. "Does my back look okay?"
"It'll be fine. Your shields absorbed most of the impact." John replied.
"Really? Feels like my spine did." Six said under his breath. He cracked his back and started forward. "Move up, marines!" He yelled, beckoning forward. The marines followed. Six looked at John.
"I don't have any more neat plans, so we're going to have to be careful up here. Try not to get shot." Six said.
"That is a neat plan." John said as they travelled forwards, ever closer to the Control Center.
"Jesus, how many of these things are there?!" Six yelled as he shot Elite after Elite, with John and the now smaller group of marines close behind. There had been several rooms like the one that they had encountered earlier, and they had lost three of their marines in the process. There were only four left now, and they looked a little more agitated than before. John answered Six's question punctually.
"A lot!" John replied.
"No shit!" Six shot back.
"Does anyone see an exit?" Six shouted back at the marines.
"Over there! We haven't been through there yet!" One of the marines said, pointing at a large, airtight door.
"Let's get over there, then!" Six yelled. "Move!"
Six shot at the Elites as he ran to the door, with John and two of the marines close behind.
"Where are the other two marines?" John asked.
"Dead, sir." A marine replied. "It's just us now."
"Dammit!" Six yelled. A few more yards to the door, and…
The door whooshed open, and the soldiers ran through. The door closed behind them and locked, separating the Elites from them. Six turned around, and gazed upon the sight that was now before him. They were now on a bridge. But something seemed amiss. Then, a flake of white landed on Six's arm. He lifted the arm up to look at it. It was a snowflake.
It was snowing. But… They were underground.
"What…?" Six said as he stared at the suddenly introduced sky and the snow falling from it. The two remaining marines were looking around too, confused as to how this was possible. John was, too.
"Cortana, where are we, exactly? I thought we were underground." John said.
"I'm not sure… Hold on." Cortana said. A few seconds passed, and then she spoke up.
"Interesting... the weather patterns here seem natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring's environment systems are malfunctioning... or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather. "
"Whatever this is, this is beyond strange. It almost makes me think that we're still aboveground." Six said. "Almost. Stick close everyone."
Six's radio started crackling, and a Pelican flew over the bridge. Covenant forces that Six had yet to see started firing on the dropship as it crossed over the bridge.
"This is Fire Team Zulu requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces. Does anyone copy? Over." A soldier said, likely the pilot.
"I didn't think there were any human forces left on this part of the ring." Cortana said. She patched into the radio and responded. "Cortana to Fire Team Zulu, I read you. Fire Team Zulu, this is Cortana. Hold position. We're on our way." She said.
After a moment, there was a response. "Roger that. Make it quick." The pilot said as he turned the pelican and flew it under the bridge.
"Alright, we're going to have to high-tail it if we want to get to Zulu in time. Move it, everyone!" Six said as they traversed the bridge. The squad entered a structure and went down the stairs, then exited through the bottom floor. They were greeted by the sight of a flipped Warthog sitting next to a canyon, and a trio of marines defending themselves against a legion of Covenant, including Jackals, Grunts and Elites.
"Blast 'em!" Six yelled as they charged into battle. The squad was firing on the Covenant from the back, killing many of them without being noticed over the gunfire. They got away with a few more kills until someone realized where the bullets were coming from, then opened fire on the bigger threat. Quite a few of the Covenant turned to shoot, and quite a few were gunned down before they could pull their triggers. A stray plasma blast caught one of their marines in the face, sending him stumbling off of the cliff and into the canyon below.
"Shit." Six said under his breath.
A few minutes later, the other marine was shot with a needler four or five times, ending her life as well.
"Shit!" Six said again.
After another seven or eight minutes of constant gunfire, the Covenant were slain, and the very few that survived were fleeing. Six and John travelled over to the fallen warthog, where a combat medic was tending to a soldier who had taken plasma burns on his chest. The third marine had his hand on the man's shoulder, comforting him
"You're going to be okay, don't you worry." The marine said.
"I need some space, will you give me a minute?" The medic said.
"You got it Doc." The marine said as he stood and turned around. It was none other than their friend, Clancy Maegan.
"Look who it is." Six said as he walked up to the now standing marine. "How're you doing, Clancy?"
"Trust me, I've been better. He sure as hell has been better." Clancy said as he gestured towards the fallen marine. "Glad you could join the party, sirs."
"I can't exactly say the same, but hey, who else is going to do it?" Six responded. "What a coincidence that, of all people, they sent you in here."
"Actually, sir, I asked." Clancy responded. "I want to fight on the front lines. I'm thinking about becoming an ODST one day."
"That's a dangerous job, Clancy. Not to mention you have to have months of intense training first. And that's just to get a Spec-Ops position, not even to be an ODST."
"Whatever the training, It's worth it. I want to really help, not be cannon fodder for the Covenant." Clancy responded.
"It is your choice. And it could be a good idea. There would be one more smartass backing me up in a firefight." Six said, grinning under his helmet. "Alright, enough chit-chat. We need to get to that Control Center. Are you done over there?"
"Just about! He'll be up and moving in no time!"
"Alright then. Move it, everyone!"
Clancy saluted him. "Sir, yes sir." He said.
And with that, Six, John, Clancy and the others went towards the sounds of gunfire up ahead.
I just realized that this is the longest chapter so far! High five me!
...Nice one!
Also, for those who haven't seen my addition to the end of chapter fourteen, I put a poll up on what I should write next as a side thing to this story. I'm thinking Sly Cooper, but i'm not too sure. Just go to my Profile by clicking on my name. It's right at the top.
Keep reading, dudes and dudettes!
~Husky