Alright, everyone. I just realized that there are tons of Noble Six surviving stories (I noticed one or two a while back, but damn!). A couple are a bit similar to mine, though none are quite the same. Some are rigidly linear and follow traditional Halo lore, while others deviate off of the beaten path. I'm determined to make this story stand out among the pack, however. Get ready for the longest chapter yet, because I feel like I still owe you guys!
~Husky
"This place is enormous. I'm not getting anything on my radar, either." Six said. The in-HUD radar was glitching out and buzzing. He tapped the side of this helmet, but it didn't change anything.
Six and John had been walking room to room for the past half hour, looking for survivors. A large battle obviously happened, as there were Human and Covenant corpses everywhere, but there was no sign of what killed them. Some died fighting each other, while others were just... Dead. No wounds. They had checked every room on the first floor at this point, but this place was huge. Who knew how many floors it had? They had seen a ramp leading to a second floor earlier, but unless the two had the blueprints to everything in the facility, there was no way of knowing what lay above them. Six had been hearing noises, too. Guttural and throaty growls and moans, among other things. But what he heard the most often was nothing. Silence. It bothered him greatly.
"Want to check on the second floor?" John asked.
"Not really, but who else is going to do it?" Six replied.
"Come on, then. Eyes open."
They walked up the ramp, guns at the ready. Their footsteps clanked against the cold metal floor as they went up. As they reached the top, Six noticed an immediate difference. At the end of the hallway they were in stood a door. It was different than the rest, a large double door secured with rotary locks. Not only that, but there were ominous looking symbols on the door in red paint.
"I think that could be worth checking out." Six asked John.
"I bet it would. Lets." John replied. As they walked towards the door, guns still raised, Six realized that it wasn't red paint. It was blood.
"Gross." Six said.
Just then, the lights went out.
"Oh!" Six gasped. "Shit. Flashlights on." He said, turning on his. John clicked his on, and aimed it at the door. He examined the symbols more closely.
"I think that these are Forerunner symbols." He said.
"What do you think they say?" Six asked.
"Probably 'KEEP OUT' or something along those lines." John replied as he approached the terminal. He started pushing buttons on an already attached spoofer.
"What're you doing?" Six asked.
"I'm going in."
"I thought you said that it had KEEP OUT painted on it."
"That doesn't mean that we aren't going to go in. And I can't actually read Forerunner."
A roar came from behind them, not thirty feet back. Six whipped around, only to realize that his flashlight was very dim at that range. He caught a glimpse of a grimy tentacle, but it retreated down the hall and around the corner.
"Shit. Open the door." Six said.
"Give me a minute. Its password protected. Someone or something was messing with the spoofer." John said. "If you see anything, shoot it."
"Good plan." Six replied. Another roar. It was inhuman. And it sounded like... like...
Six's eyes widened under his helmet as he realized what was roaring. It sounded exactly like the undead Sangheili creature that they had encountered earlier. "Open the damn door. Now." He said.
"I've almost got it." He said. He had opened the control box and was cutting wires with his knife.
A panel fell from the ceiling. It smashed to the floor with a heavy metal clang. Six whipped upwards, to the ceiling. Nothing came out, but Six could hear something approaching.
Something big.
"Got it!" John said.
"Come on, before whatever's coming gets here." Six said. They went through the doors and closed them manually, pushing them back into place. Before they fully closed, a trio of tentacles protruding from the ceiling hole caught Six's eye. Before he could get a good look at them, however, the doors shut. The rotary locks rotated back to their original positions, and the two Spartans turned around. This room was not nearly as gory as some of the others were, as it contained only a few blood spots on the wall, and a helmet. Six walked forward, and something dripped onto his visor. Another drip. He looked up to the ceiling.
The body of a marine was stuck on the ceiling by a tremendously large piece of shrapnel. Blood oozed from the point of entry, his stomach, and his throat was slit and dripping as well. His head had a large split in it, the same as the helmet on the floor not far from them. His intestines were hanging a foot from his stomach, and his arms were mangled and bruised. Where his eyes were, there were bleeding pits, and his broken jaw was forever frozen in the middle of a scream.
"Holy shit." Six said with a start.
"Ditto." John replied in a nervous tone.
Six broke eye contact with the body and looked at the helmet. There was a helmet-mounted camera on it, and there was a small chip on the ground a few feet away. He picked up the helmet and looked at it, noticing that there was a slot for the chip that was on the ground nearby.
"Let's see if he recorded anything important." Six said, walking over to the chip with the helmet in hand. He picked the chip up off of the floor and put it into the slot on the back of his helmet. He pressed a few buttons on his wristplate and broadcasted the video to both of their visors. The video appeared in the corner of Six's HUD, and it began to play. The screen was black. Type appeared on the screen.
Open Record View (2:52:56 L)
Pvt. Jenkins, Wallace A.
Play
A night vision view from a stationary helmet appeared on the screen. Flip music was playing in the background, and Staff Sergeant Johnson was cleaning his rifle. A few other marines were next to him. They were obviously in a dropship, as Six could hear the Pelican's engines over the music.
"Why do we always have to listen to this old stuff, Sarge?" A marine asked. Johnson looked up and took his cigar out of his mouth.
"Watch your mouth, son. This "stuff" is your history. It should remind you grunts what we're fightin' to protect." He replied.
"Hey... if the Covenant wanna wipe out this particular part of my history, that's fine by me." The marine said. Someone picked up the helmet and put it on.
"Yeah... better it than us." Another marine, seated next to the first one, said.
Johnson chuckled. "You ask 'em real nice next time you see 'em, Bisenti. I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige." He said.
The Pilot turned on the radio and started speaking. "LZ looks clear! I'm bringing us down!"
The Pelican landed and the door opened up, revealing the swamp.
"Go, go, go!" Johnson said. The marine wearing the helmet got up, along with the others, and exited the Pelican. The recording stopped, then new letters appeared on the screen.
FFW
PLAY
The recording cut to a view of the structure that the two Spartans were now in, and it was much less foggy than before.
"Stay close, Jenkins!" Johnson said, talking to the cameraman. The four man squad rushed up the structure and to its entrance, guns at the ready. "Mendoza! Move it up!" Johnson said to the first marine who spoke, who's name was apparently Mendoza. He moved in closer with Jenkins and Bisenti. Johnson looked back at Jenkins and spoke. "Wait here for the Captain and his squad, and get your ass inside." He said.
"Yes sir!" Jenkins said.
"Okay, let's move." Johnson said, motioning to the rest of the team. They followed, and Jenkins stayed outside.
FFW
PLAY
Jenkins walked into the structure with Captain Keyes. He looked okay, but that was then. They still had no idea where he truly was. They approached a room together, voices emanating from inside.
"-which is weird, right? I mean, look at it. " A marine, likely one of the Captain's squad, said. Jenkins looked to the ground and the camera showed a mutilated Sangheilli corpse with its chest ripped wide open, not unlike the dying Sangheilli that John and Six encountered earlier. "Something...scrambled the insides. Kind of looks like... I don't know, plasma scarring?" The marine guessed.
"Was it an accident? Maybe friendly fire or something like that?" Another marine said.
"I dunno... Maybe." The first marine replied. Keyes stepped forward and confronted Johnson.
"What do we have here, Sergeant?" He asked.
"It looks like a Covenant patrol. Badass Elite units. All KIA." Johnson responded.
Keyes looked down at the mutilated corpse, and up at the marine who was talking earlier. "Real pretty." He said to the marine. "Friend of yours?"
"Nah, we just met." The marine said in a slightly apprehensive tone.
FFW
PLAY
The group of marines approached a rotary locked door. It was the same door that they had just come in through.
"Right. Well, let's get this door open." Captain Keyes said.
A marine looked up at Keyes. He had been examining the door, trying to find a way through. "I'll try sir. But it looks like these Covenant worked pretty hard to lock it down."
"Just get it done." Keyes said impatiently.
The marine pulled a hacking tool out of his pocket and attached it to the panel. He entered a few commands using the buttons on it, and the door opened within ten seconds. As the doors parted, it showed a view of the room that John and Six were standing in right now. Six looked behind him instinctively, knowing that the recording wouldn't end well.
The squad entered the room, guns out. As they entered the room, a rumbling noise shook the ceiling above them. The marine from the beginning of the recording, Mendoza, looked up.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." He said.
Johnson smirked. "Boy, you always got a bad feeling about somethin'-" He said, but was cut off by radio static.
"Captain! Sarge! Can you hear me!?" A marine said through the radio. There was a lot off radio interference.
Keyes turned on his radio earpiece. "What's going on, soldier?"
The marine was breathing heavily. "We got contacts!" He yelled, panicked. "Lots of them! But... they're not Covenant! They're just tearing through us!" He said. Suddenly, he stopped.
"Soldier! Are you there?" Keyes asked urgently.
"Oh my god... no. No! No! Hrgghh..." The radio transmission was cut short.
"Corporal! Are you there?" Johnson asked. When there was no response, he turned and looked at Mendoza. "Mendoza, get back up to Second Squad's position and find out what the hell is going on." He said to the marine.
"But sir-" Mendoza said.
"But nothin'! I don't need your lip, soldier, that was an order!" Johnson said.
Mendoza gulped. "Yes sir!" He said halfheartedly. As he was about to exit the room, a heavy hissing noise came from behind them.
"Sarge! Listen!" A marine said.
They looked around the room, guns raised. The hissing sound grew louder.
"What the hell is that? Mendoza, find out where that's coming from." Johnson said.
Mendoza looked around. Six looked to the right, art the door opposite of the one that they had entered. It was split open.
"I... I don't know. Everywhere... there!" He yelled, pointing at the door that was presently split open. "¡Mira!" He shouted, still pointing. The door blasted open as he yelled, and small squid-like creatures came pouring out off the opening. There were hundreds within a few seconds, and soon they were swarming the squad furiously. Everyone started shooting, killing some, but not nearly enough. One jumped on a marine, and knocked him to the ground.
"Get it off! Get it off!" He yelled. Another marine raced to his side, trying to pull the creature off of his chest he pulled it off, but the marine that it was attached to went limp. The marine that had tried to help was now fighting for his own life. The creature clenched itself to the marine's face as he screamed, suddenly standing up straight and going stiff.
"Shoot them!" Johnson yelled.
"There's to many of them, Sarge!" Bisenti replied across the room, shooting for his life.
"Don't even think about that! Keep firing!" Johnson yelled, taking out small groups with every shotgun blast.
A creature jumped on Jenkins' helmet, cracking the top and his skull wide open. As he screamed , a tentacle wrapped around his head, obstructing the camera's vision and pressing stop on the recording.
Unexpected Halt X (WND/INCAP/KIA? Ref.a4 3d.3)
End of recording (2:39:23 L)
Six stood still. He dropped the helmet and backed up a few steps. He looked over at John, who was now looking at him with what he assumed to be the same disbelief that he felt.
Six's next immediate reaction was to look around the room. In the recording, there were marines going limp and dying, not to mention blood spraying in several directions. But the room was clean, minus Jenkins' hanging corpse above them. This puzzled Six.
"What happened to the rest of them?" Six said. John remained silent, stunned by what he had just watched. Those things broke through a foot of solid steel and killed or incapacitated every marine in the room, then took them with, leaving the room nearly spotless.
"How did they do that?" John asked.
"What?" Six replied.
"The room is clean, minus our friend on the ceiling. How did they do it?"
"I don't know..." Six said, a chilling thought running down his spine. "Maybe..."
"Maybe what, Six?" John said.
"Maybe... Maybe they took control of them. Took control of their bodies. Like the Sangheili." Six said. As he said it, he realized that he was one hundred percent correct. There was no other logical explanation.
John looked at the helmet that Six had dropped on the floor for a moment, then looked back up at Six. "That's insane."
"I know." Six replied. The two Spartans looked at each other for a few more moments, and then Six walked towards the blown open door. "Come on. We need to find out exactly what the fuck is going on here." He said to John. He put both of his arms in between the one foot thick steel doors, hoping to open them a little wider. He pushed with all of his might, but instead of opening, the doors bent inwards from pure force. Six stepped back, admiring his handiwork. "Stay close." He said to John, motioning him forward. The two raised their guns, Six raising his DMR and John raising his assault rifle, and they pushed forward, both very rattled by the recording. Six couldn't help but have his heart pound in his chest like a train. This went beyond even his fear of the underground.
This was pure, unfiltered terror.
Sorry that it took so long to put this damn chapter up! My computer has been acting screwy recently, and I had to write the whole thing on my tablet. Not fun! Anyways, as always, have a wonderful day/night/etc.!
Keep reading, Wolfgang!
~Husky