"Alli. Alli! Alli wake up!"

I quickly jolted up right in my bed as Cali yelled at me. It was only an hour or so after I had finished my final simulation, winning of course. As did the others as well.

I rubbed my eyes saying, "What is it Cali?" "You need to get to Hastati Squad bunkers! That Sullivan tech guy pieced a classified video together! He's showing the others!"

Having jumped up and rushed out already I said, "You had me at classified!"

Rushing to the Hastati Squad bunkers I quickly threw myself into the room they were all crowded in. They turned around to look at me in shock as I smirked and said, "You guys don't think all of you huddling into one room is suspicious? And besides, no one else knows. Cali's the one who told me. Now hurry and show me this video!"

Sully nodded at me before turning back to his desk saying, "So feast your eyes on Grade A, classified, nonlisted intelligence vids I pieced together. Super pain in the ass to do but, so worth it."

The video started and it started out with gunfire in a small dark hallway.

"This is beyond top secret." "I've never seen something encrypted so hard, but I cracked it." "Wow." "It's crazy huh."

Suddenly the man filming the video said, "Target located." "Wait wait wait. Now here comes the best part. Wait. Wait, now watch his hand." "Target acquired." The man said as he reached out with an armored hand to grab a bald man. The bald man started yelling, "No, no! They're coming! They're coming!" The man turned back towards the hallway again as he faced a marine.

My eyes widen as I took notice and someone spoke aloud, "That thing is like, two feet taller than the marine." "Pretty crazy huh?" "Now check this out."

Everyone in the screen of the vid turned to look behind the bald man. Everyone started firing down the hall as the man said, "Squad, encountered unknown hostiles. Going back." Gunfire and screams continued to play on the video as everyone ran back, one marine being thrown against a wall as the man pulled out a Magnum and started firing as well.

"Now who do you think they're running from." "What?" "Are they fighting together?" "Wait now here comes the best part. Wait watch…Watch this."

The screen paned over and we all caught a glimpse of another person. My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the armor design.

"Did you get this?" "So what do you think about all this?" Suddenly the campus AI came over the speakers calling, "It is now 1800. All cadets report to the mess hall." We all looked at each other before leaving the room.

I let all of Hastati Squad walk in front of me before going back to Sullivan's room. Letting Cali jump to his computer and already knowing what I wanted, she copied the video before quickly jumping back to me. I quickly ran out and headed towards the route we all usually took to get to the mess hall.

Running into the others I quickly grabbed Nick's arm and dragged him back to our bunkers as he yelled, "W-wait! What's going on?! What's wrong Alli!?" The others looked confused before following me as well.

Finishing the video and pausing on the solider I looked to the others. Johanna look scared, Matt and Lewis looked serious for once, and Nick held a stern face.

"There's only two people who where this kind of armor. And I think you guys know which ones." I said, dead serious and all playfulness gone.

"Freelancers-"

"And Spartans." Nick finished for me.

Matt and Lewis came over my shoulder and pointed to the soldiers visor saying at the same time, "What is that?"

Looking at where they were pointing I zoomed in on the image. From there you could see an alien holding what appeared to be a glowing sword.

Johanna gasped as she said, "What the hell is that?" As soon as she finished the computer went offline.

"Oh shit…"

"What just happened?"

I glared at it before quickly standing and saying, "Something bad."

Moving towards the door I turned to the others and said, "Eat fast, suit up, and get weapons and ammo. Be ready. Something horrible is about to happen."

It was close to curfew when the alarm sounded. "All cadets, report to the Tether. Campus wide evacuation." The campus AI said.

We all stayed close together and stayed as far away as we could from professors and marines, hoping no one questioned why we had armor and weapons on. As we entered the tunnel to the Tether all the Squad cadets were yelling.

Looking up to the Tether through the glass ceiling, Cali appeared beside me as we watched sparks and live electricity travel around the Tether. "Oh man…" "Not good."

"Sephard! Let's move it!" Nick yelled to me, in full command mode. Nodding and moving towards my team I stopped as I saw Hastati Squad.

"Griffin! Over here!" I called out, heading towards Hastati Squad. Nick got the others and quickly came over to me as I stood with Hastati.

"Feelancers?" Orenski said, confused as to why we were with her team. Nodding and smiling sadly I said, "Past experiences with your team. Good kids April." She nodded to me before we all looked back up to the sky as we heard whistling and finally crashing.

"What the…"

"Why are ODST's dropping here?"

"I don't know."

My team looked at each and silently talked over messages along with our AIs. Lasky seemed to be the only one to understand as he said, "Because we're under attack."

More ODST's began dropping and April said, "This is not good." "ODST's dropping in is never good."

After more nervous silence the blond said, "Screw this. I can get us on this wagon." Remembering her as being the daughter of an ONI Secretary of FleetCom I could only sigh and shake my head.

"No no no. We will hold our position."

"Yeah."

"Guys, come on."

"No Tchakova that is a direct order."

She shook her head saying, "Suit yourself." "Dima!" "Dima." "Get back in line right now!" "Dima!"

From my headset I could see all ten of our thoughts, and they were all the same.

"She's done." I whispered quietly enough so no one could hear.

"Wagon full! Send her up!" A marine shouted. We all kept our eyes on Dima as Sully said, "This is taking to long April. Maybe we should bum rush like Dima."

"No." I said sternly, having them all turn to me. I smiled sadly again saying, "We'll be fine."

Immediately as soon as the wagon with Dima went up, huge purple ships began descending towards the school.

"What the hell are those things?" Lasky asked.

Suddenly one of the ships shot the Tether and it broke in half.

Debris began to fall as the Tether fell towards the building we were all in. Having my team in front and me taking up the rear of Hastati Squad we all yelled to everyone.

"Move!" "Run!" "Go!"

Everyone began running and screaming down the hall as they tried to avoid the debris and make it out alive.

Running as fast as I could I watched the life signs quickly dwindle behind me to just a few as the debris began catching up. Throwing myself forward I tackled Silva and Lasky to the ground yelling ahead to others, "Get down!" Cali sent the message to the others as well as the debris rained over us.

As soon as it stopped I picked my head up and looked around, checking on everyone. Clicking on our emergency coms I called across the channel, "Report!" Four checks responded immediately to my request, reassuring me everyone was ok.

Suddenly a cadet landed next to the window we were all crouched by.

I quickly covered my mouth to keep from screaming and we saw a purple-lit alien that looked similar to the one in the video.

"What the hell is that thing?" It continued to stomp around and quickly pulled out one of those blue shiny swords, slicing the head off the Corbulo Statue.

I quickly jumped up and began pulling the others up as well yelling, "Come on! Come on! We gotta move!" As we quickly moved through the hallway, bodies from above began falling down, screaming before colliding with either ceiling or ground.

Outside wasn't much better.

Gunfire and explosions went off all around us. People screamed and fought, most died. What appeared to be pink needles embedded themselves into many marines and cadets. Plasma and bullets flew everywhere. Quickly rounding up with the rest of my team and reuniting most of Hastati Squad we pushed them all into the bunkers.

"Get in, get in! Go!" Nick yelled as he shot rounds from his Assault Rifle here and there.

Checking rooms ahead of them for unlocked doors, the only one that was unlocked was Lasky's room. "Quick! All of you. In here." Johanna counted them as I made sure everyone was ok while the guys kept watch.

Standing up and backing out of the room I said, "Ok, you guys stay here. If worse comes to worse, head for the locker rooms. There should be weapons in there."

As Johanna signaled the others and we prepared to leave Lasky yelled, "Wait!" We all turned to them with questioning glances. "Where are you guys going?"

We all looked at each as we silently debated over com messages. Turning back to Hastati I said, "We're gonna go look for anymore survivors and then find a way out of here. Don't worry, we will come back to get you guys when it's safer."

With that we quickly turned and ran to our assignments.

~Several minutes later~

I stepped pass the dead body of the girl. "Oh no…" "Alli I'm not reading any life signs in here…"

Holding my sniper up and I quickly yet quietly checked every room. "God damn it… I knew we should've left someone with them."

Quickly continuing on to the locker room I stopped as I saw JJ's body on the floor. "No…No no no no no no!" I muttered loudly, now full out sprinting.

"Shepard to all units! Hastati is being hunted! I repeat Hastati is being hunted! One Hastati causality so far…"

Arriving at the locker room I see the Elite alien holding his Energy Sword out and towards Lasky, Sullivan, Silva and Orenski. Looking past the Elite I see Vickers on the ground, dead.

Growling I pulled out my knife yelling, "Oh no you don't you son of a bitch!"

Running forward as the Elite turns toward me I jump on it and stick my knife into it's shoulder. Yelling out in pain, the Elite quickly knocks me off him with his arm. Rolling further away from him I finish in a crouch position and take my sniper off my back, quickly aiming and firing as he charges towards me. I hit him several times in the chest before he fell to the ground.

Breathing heavily I stood up and walked to the others. Standing in front of them I say, "Come on. Let's hurry and get out of—"

"Shepard!" Hastati and Cali yelled.

Suddenly I was spun around and held by the neck, being lifted off the ground. I stared wide eyed and struggled as the Elite growled and talked to me in an alien language. There was alien blood oozing from the wounds I had created and he held his Energy Sword up, ready to strike me.

Suddenly he was stabbed from behind in the neck, instantly letting me go and dropping back to the ground. Behind him stood a man in green armor with the numbers 117 on his chest. The lights on his helmet turned on as he came towards me and held a hand out. Cali appeared beside my head, the man moving slightly in shock but staying strong.

"Spartan…" We both mutter. He nods just slightly and I smile widely, quickly taking his hand as he pulls me up. Turning to the others he says, "We don't have much time. Let's go."

After I had checked the four surviving Hastati Squad members, I heard the Spartan com his team saying, "Kelly, tell Command I have five survivors. Take your team north. Rendezvous at Evac Alpha for Pelican extraction. We'll meet you there. Chief out."

The Spartan turned back to us as Lasky asked, "How did you find us?" "The distress beacon."

"Why did you come for us?" Sully asked. At this I sadly stepped forward saying, "Guys….You're the only survivors…"

"In the school?"

"On the planet." The Spartan said.

I quickly spun around on the Spartan saying, "Not completely. I have four team members around here. They're looking for a quick way out of the school." The Spartan seemed reluctant but nodded and said, "They better hurry then. We've got 15 minutes to get to the evac point. Armor up."

"It-It's locked." Sully stuttered. I smirked and cracked my knuckles. "Cali~" "Already done." Moving to one of the lockers that were holding the armor, I brought my fist back. "You won't be able to-" I cut Silva off as I punched and broke the iron locker door, easily pulling it the rest of the way off. I smirked as I tossed each of them a set of armor.

We all turned to the Spartan as we heard another loud bang, he had opened the locker full of weapons.

Moving around the now dark hallways, we followed the Spartan as I took rear. Sparks would randomly go off as we walked when suddenly we heard a growl and the Spartan stopped us.

He turned to us saying, "Stay quiet. Do not leave, no matter what you hear outside." "Wait, who are you?" Lasky asked. "Call me Master Chief." With that he turned and began walking away. Silva and Lasky sat against the wall as Sully said, "Oh god… I knew those ONI vids were bad news…Now we're the only ones alive….What the hell is going on?"

"Sully, you need to calm down." "Calm down? We're all following a giant robot. Who knows if he's even coming back?"

"He's gonna come back." Lasky and I said at the same time. As Lasky talked to Silva I called my team, "Report." Matt's voice was the first to respond, "Evac is going fifty-fifty right now."

"Explain."

"We found a working Warthog and Mongoose, but we're scavenging for fuel right now." Nick said.

I nodded to myself. "Well I'm sad to report that there are only four surviving Hastati Squad members. Though I am happy to report, we now have the help of one, Spartan Master Chief."

I heard several gasps before I heard an explosion outside. Cutting the com and raising my sniper I turn towards the sound. Heavy footsteps came our way before a light turned on, showing Master chief.

"Who's the best shot here?" "You probably." Sully said, trying to be slightly funny.

I stepped forward saying, "I am." Silva and Orenski stood up saying, "I'm good." "I am too."

"Cadet Lasky, can you drive a Warthog?" It took him a while to answer but finally, "Yea, sure."

"Good, that's where we're headed. Shooters on the left and right, driver in the center. Stay close to me. It's your best chance of survival."

Walking outside there's fire almost everywhere. Dead bodies of cadets, professors, marines and ODSTs litter the ground along with debris. We walk slowly and quietly.

"Sully, come on." "Sully keep up." "W-Where did they all go?" Sully stutters before a needle embeds itself in his leg. As if it was in slow motion, a Jackal fires another round at his head. Just as it's about to hit him I have Cali power up my shields before grabbing the oncoming needle, spinning and hurling it back. The needle manages to nail the Jackal in the head, counting as a headshot.

Chief grabs Sully and pushes him down as he yells, "Get down!" As they all hid behind a block of debris, Chief and I had a small firefight with the Jackals on top of the roof across from us.

"Get to the hog! I'll draw their fire!" Looking away for just a second to shoot another Jackal dead, I turn back to see Master Chief gone. "Where'd he go?" "Chief!"

Turning back and letting off a few more rounds, I get down and yell, "Quit yelling! Lasky, listen to me. You have got to get to that Warthog. Take Cali to help you start it."

I pull Cali's AI chip from my HUD and place it in his hand. He looks at me in shock as I continue. "On my mark, you break for it. We'll cover you. Got it?" He nodded quickly.

Taking a deep breath I quickly stand up and shoot, killing another Jackal as I yell, "Now Lasky!" Lasky quickly runs as Orinski and I fire at the Jackals.

Orinski quickly runs out of ammo though and Silva begins to help. She too quickly runs out of ammo but picks up an alien weapon on the ground. She picks it up and accidentally fires it.

Realizing this, she aims at a Jackal and fires, killing it instantly. "Nice one girl!" I call, killing another Jackal. Silva laughs lightly but quickly gets down as more fire and I follow her example.

I look over to Lasky as I hear the Warthog engine start up. "Yes." I mutter before hearing more gunshots. Looking at the balcony behind us I see Master Chief shooting down the rest of the Jackals with a Magnum.

Seeing the opportunity I yell, "Orenski! Take Sully and get in the Warthog! Now!" She nods and quickly puts Sully in the back of the Warthog.

"I got you! Go!" I yell at Silva next to me. She too quickly runs to the Warthog.

Suddenly there's a loud thud behind me and I turn to see Master Chief there. "Go!" He yells as I sprint to the Warthog.

Lasky hands me Cali's AI chip and I quickly put it back in my HUD. As Master Chief gets into the turret I shoulder my sniper and equip my Battle Rifle.

"Alli let's go!" I shake my head at Lasky saying, "I'm not leaving without my team." "Com them, and tell them where to meet us! We have to go!" Master Chief states. "I won't abandon them! They're my family, and I will protect them!"

Chief stays quiet for a minute before touching his helmet. Something pops up on my HUD and Cali opens it to find a new com link. I look at Chief in shock as he says, "Tell us you're all ok."

I smirk, cock my gun and say, "We're Freelancers. Our lives are everyday dangers." Chief nods before telling Lasky to go. My smirk fades as I quickly take cover behind debris again. As I slide into cover I pick up what appear to be two Plasma Grenades. Every now and then I would come out of cover when Cali called the clear and kill one or two aliens.

Suddenly I hear a horn and turret fire. Coming out of cover I smile excitedly as I see my team. The twins in the Warthog with Johanna on the turret and Nick comes up behind them on a Mongoose and quickly drives over to me. "Hop on!" "Don't have to tell me twice." I say breathlessly, jumping onto the back while firing a few rounds. I send the evac coordinates to everyone and soon we're driving away.

"So what took you guys so long?" "Hey you can't go blaming us. We had just as many Covenant to deal with as you." Noticing life signs just north of us I com everyone saying, "There they are! I'm gonna try and com Chief."

Having Cali connect me to the Chief's com channel he set up for us I waited for him to notice.

After a minute of no answer I switched back to my teams with a worried face. "Something happened…"

Seeing that four of the life signs were now at the blind we used for simulations and that one was slowly fading I started worrying. As we pulled up the one life sign disappeared. Quickly jumping off the Mongoose I ran over to them and nearly fell on my knees.

"No…"

Chyler was dead. I felt the others come up behind me as tears started falling down my face. Quickly rubbing them away I looked around and asked in a strained voice, "Where's Chief?"

Sully pointed behind them saying, "Some, giant green alien. He went to fight it." Glaring in the direction Sully was pointing I went to move had Nick not grabbed my shoulder.

Turning to face him he said, "Alli, he's a Spartan. He can take care of himself. Right now we should worry about getting everyone out of here. Hopefully alive."

I turned away with my eyes shut tight, fist and teeth clenched before I breathed out deeply. Deep down, I knew he was right, but it just didn't feel right leaving ANYONE to deal with these things alone.

Taking another deep breath and letting it out, I equipped by Battle Rifle and turned north saying, "Let's get going. Nick and Johanna take front. The twins and I will take rear." They all nodded and we began walking slowly and quietly.

As we got further from the blind it was getting harder not to turn back around. Hearing a sound behind me I quickly spin around to find it. Not seeing anything I keep following the others while walking backwards.

Every now and then I would hear something and spin towards it to try and locate it.

Finally getting fed up with it I quickly climb and tree and turn my flashlight off. When I hear the noise right below the tree I was in I unsheathe my knife and jump down onto the stalker.

Knocking them to the ground and raising my knife I stop as I hear, "Stand down, cadet! Stand down!"

"Chief?"

Quickly turning my flashlight on my gun on I point it below me to see Master Chief.

"Do NOT sneak up on me like that Chief! I could have killed you!" "…Surprisingly….yes….You could have…" Getting off of him I held my hand out and helped him up.

Hearing a deep growl I looked around and Chief said, "There's one more." Quickly understanding what that means I cock my weapon and start running to the others saying, "We need to get moving! Let's go Chief!"

Finally catching up to the others the aliens, or what Cali told me Hunters, began firing at us. Green explosions surrounded us as dirt flew everywhere. I heard Nick and Johanna up ahead yell jump as we all jumped off a ledge.

"There." Chief said, having us hide underneath the ledge. We all turned off our lights and Chief made a call to his team.

"Kelly. Negative, need more time. Can not make it to the rendezvous." Hearing one of the Hunters above us Chief continued to talk, "You have to hold the Pelican."

After all we had been through that night, my heart finally skipped a beat as Chief angrily said, "I won't leave them! Chief out."

Turning back to Johanna, who I was side hugging as she shook, I said loudly, "Thank you."

Chief stayed quiet before finally saying, "I'll engage. Get to the Pelican as fast as you can." Stunned I couldn't say anything but as he began to move, "No sir. I'll be the decoy."

"What?" "Lasky no." "You sneak in from behind." "Cadet."

I placed my free hand on Lasky's shoulder muttering, "Lasky don't do this…"

Placing what I'm assuming are Silva's dog tags in his chest guard, I'm surprised to hear him yell before darting out of cover, "Axiopisti!"

"Lasky no!"

"Lasky!"

As Lasky ran the Hunter fired it's plasma cannon and hit the ground next to where Lasky was running, knocking him to the ground. I stood instantly when he disappeared into the grass, playing with the Plasma Grenades at my side.

We were all surprised though as he quickly got back up and kept running.

The Hunter jumped down in front of us, his back facing us as he went to chase Lasky.

"No!" Chief yelled as he went to plant the activated grenade into it's back. The Hunter quickly spun around though and knocked him aside.

Growling I stepped forward yelling, "This ends now!"

Quickly and without hesitation my team stood behind me was well.

"Till all are one!"

"Alli that show is so old…"

"Hey! Transformers are amazing! No matter what year it is!"

"Fine, whatever. Till all are one!"

We all yelled as we charged the Hunter, who was charging another blast for Lasky.

Jumping onto it's front I stuck both Plasma Grenades on it. One on its head and one on its chest.

As with Chief it swung its arm and knocked me off.

"Incoming!" I yelled, maybe just a little excited, as I flew through the air.

Landing on something hard I sat up and rubbed my head saying, "I gotta work on those landings."

"You need to work on WHERE you land."

Looking down I see I landed on Chief's back.

"Oops sorry."

Quickly getting off I turn and look as the Plasma Grenades finally go off, throwing the Hunter's aim off to somewhere else.

"Fire! Fire!" Nick yells as my Freelancer teammates shoot the Hunter's exposed muscle.

"Chief if you're gonna do something, can you do it before one of my teammates die."

Chief nodded and quickly ran up and jumped onto the Hunter's back, sticking the grenade into the muscle and quickly rolling away. The Hunter exploded into a million pieces, raining gunk down on myself, Chief, and my teammates.

Seeing a random muscle still twitching by me, I happily step on it.

Quickly remembering where Lasky was we all rush over to him. Apparently that stray shot was enough to blow Lasky a couple feet into the air. "Lasky! Lasky!" "Bring it down Kelly." Looking from Chief to the unmoving Lasky, I then turn to Johanna and say, "Anything you can do?"

She looks hesitant before leaning forward and feeling for Lasky's pulse. Sighing deeply she quickly raises her hand, and slaps him. His eyes instantly open but he slowly sits up coughing.

Smiling and laughing nervously we help him to his feet just as we hear a Pelican over head. "They're here." Chief says as he points us in the direction. Running into a clearing we head to the Pelican.

As the Pelican takes off, in the distance we can see Corbulo Academy burning.

Suddenly two of the Spartans in front of us take their helmets off. We can't help but look slightly shocked, as they seem to be just a little older than us. We all look to Chief expecting him to do the same, only to see him staring out over the landscape.

"How old are all of you?" Sully asks.

"That's classified." The girl says.

We all look at each other before following the two's examples and taking our helmets off.

Looking between Lasky and Chief, he hands him something. Silva's melded dog tags and he says, "Well done solider."

I smile widely as Lasky looks at him shocked, knowing that's just what he needed to hear.

"And you five," Surprised we all turn to look at the Chief as he says, "You'll all make fine Freelancers."

Smiling at him and then at each other, the moment was ruined as Matt said, "Well of course. We always knew that."

"Hey don't be so cocky you idiot!"

"Ow! Don't punch me there Lewis that's where I got shot!"

"Ow!"

"Knock it off you two idiots!" Johanna says as she watches the two.

"Guy's knock it off!"

"We do NOT need this right now." Nick and I said as we hit them upside the head.

And done! Last chapter! Way longer than the other two. If you didn't like it I'm sorry, but I rather enjoy putting my characters into things like this. Yay! Transformer reference! Love Transformers! Thank you for reading and remember to review! Tell me if there should be a sequel in Halo or Red Vs Blue! I do not own Halo or Red vs Blue or Forward Unto Dawn. Only my characters!