Green.
The whole scenery around them was green; as Six's blanketed feet slammed the ground, they crushed some green too. The Spartan made little concern of the nutritional substance that clung onto his armor and followed the others down the hill and towards the distress beacon.
From the side of his peripheral vision, he spotted the lone skull-faced Spartan looking over the ground from a proud boulder. Whether it was because of the silence or for the sake of talking, the thin tension was disrupted by the oldest of them.
"See anything, Emile?" Jorge asked.
Six barely grasped the conversation being exchanged through the open COM, and focused primarily on getting to the beacon. Once they arrived at the spot, Six freely ventured further towards the next complex of buildings before being abruptly stopped by Jorge's gun.
Six did not talk, but merely, gave into the unsaid command; and turned back around to see Kat inspecting the beacon. When she was done with it, the thing was thrown carelessly aside; Carter instructed them to keep moving on.
"There's a lot of blood on the ground," Emile commented. He kicked aside a piece of debris from the smoking Warthog as his head shot towards the faint figure of his new comrade. If anything, he would've expected the newest edition to team to add his two cents in; but if his guessing was right, the new Six was anything but talkative – nevertheless, Emile always enjoyed a good challenge. He too, sped up his pace and followed Carter and the rest out of the still area.
"Permission to engage Commander?" Emile asked, loading his shotgun.
"Permission granted, but be selective," Carter especially threw a glance at him. "We don't need to telegraph our presence."
Emile scoffed at this. Noble One always acted like he would be the one doing the brash actions; Emile expected the leader to know better. Sure he was a bit reckless, but it wasn't like that trait had gotten him killed yet. If anything, he thought that Jorge, big old sentimental Jorge, was the one who always called the heedless moves.
Noble Six sighed as he pried his way through the ravaged house. How was one to keep quiet when his teammates persisted on their constant chattering? Turning a furniture over; there was nothing but overturned tables and scorched surfaces; noting that description in my field notes, he mentally wrote. Six decided to momentarily keep this new observation to himself and followed the rest of the team out of the place. Beside it was a boarded building, in which one man stumbled out of.
Six paid no heed to this, as Emile seemed very eager to lay out the welcoming carpet instead.
"Out of the house, now!"
And with an almost equally exasperated tone, Jorge ordered Emile to stand down. The Warrant Officer was reluctant to do so and let Jorge converse with the civilian. The others, with the exclusion of Kat and Carter, barely paid attention to this talk. Six was included with these few 'others', and stared blankly ahead.
"Something on your mind, Six?" Kat asked.
Startled out of his reverie, Six numbly nodded his head. "Just thinking." he replied. He made sure to turn his head away from Kat to dodge the questions forming in her head. This gesture went noticed by the said Spartan as she kept her words in her head and tuned back into Jorge's interrogation.
"...said something in the fields." Jorge was finishing up.
Kat loaded her Mag.
"Killed his son."
One quick glance at Carter told Six that he was already conversing with someone else on a private COM; another look at Kat told him that she was probably that other person. Another thing Six noticed was that tiny turn Kat's head did that made her look like she was gesturing towards him – Six had no doubt that he was the subject of their private talk. Another mumble to his front right told him that Emile had no incentive of their conversation either.
"Just what is this 'something'?" Carter's voice broke the surface of Six's thoughts. Though before any of them could reply, Jun's voice blared through their open COM unit; "Be advised. I'm picking up heat readings in the next building ahead."
Checking to see if his DMR's ammunition was good, Six scanned over his weaponry to see if he was prepared for a sudden firefight. Judging by the amount he had, he expected to last for at least two to four waves of enemy intrusion before running out of ammo. And if that were to even happen, he could just pick up the foes' leftover guns. All isfair in love and war, right?
"Jorge tell them to get back in the building. Noble Team, double time." Carter's voice ordered.
So following the Commander's lead, Six raced across the bridge and hill, trailing just behind the first two Nobles; Emile was somewhere near his left while Jorge brought up the rear. In conclusion, it was a perfect formation that was brought to an end too quickly; Six carefully wandered into the building.
"Damn..." Carter's voice seemed to echo throughout the small room. Six momentarily glanced at the two corpses before looking onward into the next room. While Carter was busy transmitting the info to Jun, Six planned to make sure nothing else jumped out at them.
Huh, Six looked down on the floor, only noticing the barely visible claw-prints the killers had left behind. Wary, Six watched as Noble One silently swept into the next room. Orders were not needed to be given as the rest of the team followed in suit.
A loud thump! From the tin roofing triggered an injection of attentiveness into the group.
"What was that?" Emile's voice sounded from the COM. Six could clearly hear the loading of his shotgun as the two emerged into the courtyard. Carter continued on to stand by the tree whilst Six stared at the next entrance ahead. From his side view, he spotted quick movement from the East.
"Commander –"
"Hold it till later, Six." he cut off.
"Commander! Multiple heat signals ahead!" Jun's voice shouted. Six barely grunted as he maneuvered into the rundown building. The lights were flickering, and as Six passed by the windows, he spotted a Skirmisher on top of a roof. Six felt the adrenaline triple as he switched his DMR for a magnum and shot two times; one to shatter the window, and the other to hit a perfect head shot on the Covenant warrior. Six proceeded to the basement, mechanically picking up the two grenades a dead Marine had dropped; he threw one at the clustered group of Covenant.
"Hey, save some for me lieutenant." Emile's voice crackled over the COM as he aimed at the grunts sprawling around the courtyard. Six remained at his position as the others rushed past him. Only Kat paused for a brief moment to check his vitals.
"Six?" she asked.
The called Spartan nodded his head and switched back to his .45 Mag. Handgun. Aiming high, he took out the rest of the Skirmishers in hiding. Jorge nodded his thanks to Six as they sprinted through the valley; the Covenant were everywhere.
Six pounced on a grunt and twisted its neck as he jumped onto the next one – shooting it between the eyes. Rays of plasma joyfully shattered his shield as he fought his way for cover. Pressing his back on the lone boulder, he reloaded his magnum; Six counted to five before charging back into the field – his shield back to full power.
Meanwhile, Kat exhaled a breath she didn't even know she held, and copied the same actions the new Six had done as well. When she read his file, she thought that the spook was just exaggerating about his skills; but now, as she saw Six in action, she was beginning to see what they meant.
Though suddenly, a stray bullet grazed the side of Kat's helmet and lodged into the unsuspecting Skirmisher behind her. It dropped dead, but only after she heard Emile's insinuating remark. Glancing at her savior, she returned her gaze to Noble Four. He was lucky that he couldn't see her threatening glare.
"Alright Noble, stand down." Carter's cool voice flooded into their helmets. From behind him, he spotted Jorge shifting irritably from foot to foot.
"Stand down? It's the damn Covenant!" he roared.
Emile snickered through the COM: "Relax, big guy. This whole valley just turned into a free fire zone."
Carter sighed: "Quit it. Jun? How are the skies?"
Like a child, Emile kicked a head out of his path and fumed about the Commander's killjoy attitude. As for Jorge, he was glad yet miffed all the same; he was happy that Emile had been told to shut down, but irritated at the fact that the Covenant were on Reach. His Reach.
"They just keep on coming, sir. There's a dropship north of your position."
Carter mimicked Jun's exasperated tone: "Let's go Noble Team. Six?" The Spartan's head rose from his gun. There was something wrong with the cartridge for a new magazine wasn't fully able to insert itself into the device. "You got point."
But of course. Mentally sighing, Six decided to ignore the DMR's defect and quietly sprinted to the drop zone. The first thing he spotted was a huddled group of grunts which were easily dispatched by a grenade. The bigger problems lay ahead of them as a handful of Elites jumped out of the stacks of hay.
Six's helmet specifically viewed in closer to look for an opening; he concluded that the best way to get rid of them was to separate them. He threw his last grenade in the middle, hoping by some chance that it would stick to one, and watched as it obliterated the ground.
At this point, Jorge unleashed his heavy duty fire whilst the others dove for their targets. Carter and Kat opted for teamwork and flanked one Elite; Emile tackled one by his own; Six engaged another, and Jorge kept the last one running for cover.
In unison, the two enemies exhausted their guns at each other. When they both ran out, it was just a matter of time to see who refilled theirs first. Six let out a grunt as he struggled to revive his DMR; it was malfunctioning again.
The Elite seemed to roar derision at this as it attempted to slaughter Six with its needle rifle. Six grit his teeth as he dove inward and jumped to the right. Though, no matter where he went, the Elite's gun seemed to be positioned right there – expecting; waiting.
"Need some help?" Six watched in disbelief as Emile slit the Elite's neck from the back. Colored blood spurted from the wound as the alien choked to its death. Emile appeared to be grinning with satisfaction as he brought down his boot on its neck. Six nodded a thanks to him before running off to help the others.
No assistance was required.
"We need to warn Holland about this. I need you at that relay outpost now, Kat." said Carter as the team recovered from the recent firefight.
"Commander? I'm reading more hostile activity to the northeast."
"When don't you?" mumbled Emile. But if anyone had heard it, Carter especially, ignored him.
"Got it, Jun. Emile, you're with Kat. Five, Six, we'll run a ground interference and meet up at the outpost." Carter ordered.
Kat nodded, turned around, and contacted Jun: "Noble Three, requesting for airlift."
"Jorge, Six, the truck."
Six momentarily paused in his steps to watch the Falcon pick up its comrades. The Covenant were on Reach? UNSC is going to have hell when they hear about this one, he thought, trudging down the hill. As he stepped into the driver's seat, he awaited for the others to come on board before stepping on the gas.
It was time he settled the score with the Covenant.
On a note:
It is Valentine's Day.
So to all my readers, happy Valentine's Day!
I hope everyone liked this newest installment.
As I promised to myself, I tried to keep Six as ominous as I could.
And hopefully he was.
Cheers,
FTAaee
Ps. I was told once, when I 'carelessly' forgot to put a disclaimer, to put one up.
And as you can see, I haven't put one up in this chapter either.
Why?
Well, it's a repetitive annoyance and I believe the site covers for all that copyrighted work, yes?
Yes.