Chapter C: Tip of the Arrow
August 12, 2543 (UNSC Calendar)/
Uppergap, Lambari, Campo Sorrisco System
"We were shouting at each other across the street. Soldiers haven't had to do that since Whiskey Whiskey Two." –unidentified UNSC special forces operative.
I could see the explosions from my pod's window. The artillery was doing their job right. The entire area where we were supposed to land was being carpeted with high-explosive shells. I quickly ordered them to stop firing once I could see the windows on the sides of the buildings. Wouldn't want to live through nine years worth of war only to end up being blown up by accident.
"Aim for that intersection!" I ordered at the last second, redirecting my pod towards a large intersection where four different multi-lane streets met.
I closed my eyes as the window polarized and hardened.
My entire body jerked forward as soon as the SOEIV impacted against the floor. I depolarized the window and promptly opened the hatch when I made sure there weren't any covvies that I hadn't spotted from above waiting for me. The hatch fell noisily to the ground less than two seconds after I had landed. My rifle was already up and ready for anything that made the mistake of crossing my sights. I heard two dull thuds as two pods landed somewhere behind me.
"Status report!" I urged my team.
"Green."
"Green."
"Green."
"Green."
"Green."
I waited for that sixth reply for a few seconds. "Angel?"
"Sorry, green."
"We've got incoming," Snark warned.
Eight contacts immediately appeared on the map in the bottom corner of my HUD. As long as someone in my squad had an eye on them I would know where they were.
"Elite, and jackals," Scarecrow told us.
A loud bang echoed all around us.
"Make that seven jackals."
"Angel, keep their heads down. 'Crow, I want you to break through their shields if SAW fire can't break through."
"Got it Sarge."
I put my back against my pod as full automatic fire started. I kept my eyes aimed up, jackals had an annoying tendency to set up shop in windows. The buildings that surrounded this intersection looked way too damaged to be of any use, but that's precisely why I was so jumpy, rubble and debris makes for convenient hiding spots and sturdy cover.
"Caboose, what've you got?"
"Best estimate is we're a click away from the pylon. Radio and electronics interference is heavier in that direction."
I marked the point of interference with a waypoint on my helmet and sent it to the rest of the squad. If that's where the dead zone was stronger that was where we were heading. Well, as soon as those two finished handling the pesky bird aliens.
"Angel?"
"Done."
"Good, move out."
"That was bound to get some attention," Bumblebee noted.
I couldn't help but agree with him. The orbital drop alone was enough to alert every alien in a five-block radius, the firefight that followed soon after probably only made it harder for us. It didn't worry me. I lived for this, we beat the odds regularly. If it worked out well this would only be just one more story to add to the book, and it usually worked out pretty well.
"Subway entrance!" Grass called out. "Over there!"
I turned around and spotted the place. I thought about avoiding it for a couple of instants but then two phantoms rolled around the corner. One of them stayed back while the other one moved in our direction and started peppering the area with plasma fire from its nose gun. I jumped back inside my pod as a stream of plasma fire burned the asphalt. A couple of shots impacted my pod but didn't burn through it.
"Bee, take that cannon out!" I ordered frantically.
I saw the man roll out of his pod from the corner of my eye and take quick aim at the dropship with his Spanker. He fired without even bothering for the auto-lock function to engage. The HEAT explosive landed right where it was supposed to, destroying the turret and rendering the phantom's offensive capabilities null. Bumblebee fired his other rocket at the rear of the bulbous ship, hitting one of the thrusters and sending the whole ship sideways.
As soon as the ship managed to gain back control it opened the blast doors on both sides to reveal a pair of grunts already manning the plasma turrets. I was ready for that though, As soon as the first grunt slid his turret to the edge of the cargo bay I put three shots through its forehead and watched it slump over and fall down to the floor. Angel took out the other grunt with a short burst to the chest before putting some rounds in the turret itself to render it useless or at least add the risk of a backfire.
"They're opening the grav-lift!" Grass warned everyone.
I looked up to see the bottom of the phantom open up and reveal a pair of elites descend. The two aliens were suddenly the targets of three different assault rifles. Caboose, Grass, and Scarecrow took out the first one with sustained fire before it even hit the floor and then killed the other one without much trouble. Having their two leaders killed gave the aliens still on board the dropship a moment's pause. That gave me all the time that I needed.
I left the cover of my pod and ran towards the bottom of the phantom while grabbing a grenade from my webbing. I activated the explosive and threw it up into the open hatches of the phantom. I heard the explosion and smiled with satisfaction as I saw two mangled jackal bodies fly out of the ship. The pilot obviously re-thought this entire strategy and decided that it was probably wiser to leave the area in case another couple of rockets decided to slam into the ship's engines.
I smiled with satisfaction as the phantom flew away, four dead bodies on the ground and probably a couple more in the cargo bay.
"Sarge! Get down!"
I dropped to the ground without even looking. I had completely forgotten about the other dropship for a moment. The space above me suddenly found itself full of vivid colors and spikes. That only served to confuse me further. Only brutes used spikes. We had just killed two elites and now we were being shot at by brutes? That was unusual enough to have me worried.
"Angel, suppressing fire on those covvies!" I yelled as I scrambled for cover behind a pile of ruble from one of the surrounding buildings. "Scarecrow, I want you to scare them."
I waited for a moment as Angel's SAW started roaring. The fire went on for a couple of seconds. I raised my head to see shards of polycrete flying in all directions where the covvies were taking cover. A brute left his cover only to have a forty-millimeter grenade detonate against its chest. The mangled corpse of the gorilla-like alien flew backwards a couple of feet before coming to rest on the ground, half its chest missing and its guts outside of their intended place.
"Add your fire! Get inside that subway!"
The rest of us left cover and started firing in short bursts at the enemy's position. Our concentrated fire forced the aliens to keep their heads down while we slowly moved towards the underground. I reached the entrance but stayed there to provide cover fire while Grass, Snark, and Caboose entered. Bumblebee fired a couple of more bursts before jumping inside.
"Angel, set a charge to collapse the entrance!" I ordered. "Scarecrow, you're with me!"
The reduced amount of bullets coming at them didn't go unnoticed and I suddenly found several spikes and plasma rounds hitting the ground near me or whizzing past my ears. Scarecrow pulled me back just in time for me to avoid a barrage of needle fire. I could picture his smirk behind his visor but I didn't let him enjoy the moment as I almost instantly repayed the favor and pulled his head down behind cover as a bunch of plasma rounds slammed into the polycrete.
"Done!" Angel cried.
"Get down there!" I ordered Scarecrow.
I took aim at a brute and fired two bursts. Both of them hit the alien in its shoulders and went completely through. The blood sprayed from behind its shoulder but the six holes in its chest didn't seem to bother the enormous alien in the least as it kept snarling at me and pushing forward. I jumped down the last couple of steps and jumped over a bunch of turnstiles. I found Scarecrow beckoning to me at the top of another staircase and ran towards it.
"Angel! Now!" Snark yelled as soon as he saw me run through.
I felt the entire structure shake as the Italian detonated his charges. The sound of rocks falling was audible through the explosion and a huge cloud of dust made its way towards the chamber we were in. The filters in our helmets allowed us to breathe normally.
"Lights on," I said. The lights on this place had long since flickered out when the covvies targeted power plants. That could work in our advantage as we could walk through the subway magnets without risking half our equipment shutting down.
"Bee, Caboose, scout the tunnel. Hundred meters in each direction, make sure it's clear."
"On it."
I moved around the area. I was in a relatively thin platform that was at least fifty meters in length. There were several posters for the latest releases on the planet and a few promoting the Colonial Militia. I shook my head disapprovingly at the drawn poster of a man and a woman holding an MA5 rifle over their heads. Below their images were the words 'Join now.' They hadn't even bothered putting up some sort of badass phrase that would actually encourage you to join. Near the bottom of the poster was some broken holostrip that no doubt showed the benefits that came with joining the colonial militia.
"Frank," Grass said from behind me. She had taken to calling me by my first name. Not that I cared, but it was slightly unusual when the rest of my team referred to me by rank most of the time.
"Hmm?"
"Check this out."
Grass was standing in front of a map of the subway complex. It was an honest-to-god paper map. Let me say that again. A paper map. Yes, not a holographic projection or even a television. It seemed rather old-fashioned to me, but right now it was very useful to us.
"We are right here," Grass pointed with her right hand. "Our target is around here." She circled an area that was about three or four stops away, depending on where we decided to hop off.
I nodded at her, I had started downloading a map of the city's subway but the stealth pylons were making it an incredibly difficult job.
"Four stops huh?" Scarecrow asked from behind us. "We better get moving."
"Let's wait for our scouts," I suggested. "Bumblebee, Caboose, come in."
"..ey… ge….n't….m….c….ct…."
"Great," Snark muttered. "Now our helmet radios are faulty too, pylons must be affecting them."
"Let's just wait for them to return," I said.
We milled about the station for a minute while Bumblebee and Caboose made their way back. I found a dispensing machine that was missing everything save for a can of coca cola. I shoved and pulled the machine a couple of times to see if it would fall before leaving it alone. Angel, however, didn't have the same reservations, kicking the glass open and taking the last can of coke. He put the can in his backpack and looked at me with his depolarized visor, the smile on his face was one of obvious satisfaction.
I shook my head at him and chuckled. "Keep it."
"Oi, Sarge," Bumblebee called out. "Everything clear in that direction."
"Bee, help me out," Caboose urged the Scottish ODST.
Bumblebee turned around and gripped Caboose's forearm before pulling him up to the platform with exaggerated grunting and groaning. By the time Caboose was on the same level as Bumblebee the latter was making so much noise that it seemed like he was on the verge of having an orgasm.
"Bee, shut the fuck up," Grass snapped.
"Fine, just chill."
"On me," I ordered.
Reaper Squad moved in to my position and huddled around the map.
"We're here and we have to be here. Simple enough right?"
"Right," Scarecrow agreed.
"Caboose, I want you and that shotgun of yours on point, twenty yards in front of us. Angel, you watch our rear."
As soon as I gave those orders I hopped down to the tunnel. My helmet's flashlights were down to the dimmest setting so as to not give my position away. The rest of my team followed suit and dimmed their flashlights as they jumped down. Caboose took off and gave us the go sign once he was twenty meters ahead of us. We started moving while Angel lingered behind for a little bit.
The walk was really one that unsettled me. The tunnels were not entirely quiet, I could hear a rat skittering here, water drops falling over there. Wind howling occasionally. It was scary, truth be told. Even with four trained ODSTs around me I couldn't help but feel slightly scared. The fear of darkness is one that you never really get over, it's hardwired into your brain.
"Stop," Caboose hissed. "There's something up ahead."
"What is it?" Angel asked.
"If I knew what it was I would have said what it was as opposed to something," our scout deadpanned. Caboose could be one hell of a snarker too whenever he opened his mouth. "I'm checking it out."
We all waited while Caboose went further up ahead. His flashlights almost disappeared around a curve before he stopped and turned towards us, he flashed the lights once, giving us the ok sign. He was far enough away that if he told us what it was he saw it would echo through the whole tunnels.
"Move up."
Caboose was waiting for us right where the tunnel turned to the left. He let us catch up to him before he motioned for us to stop. Caboose waved me over and had me kneel next to him. He pointed right ahead, but the action was pretty much useless, because I could clearly see a crashed subway cart. It didn't look like it had simply fallen down when the energy gave out, instead it was turned almost sideways and several of the cars were in different positions. This train in particular had seen a very rough stop.
"It's blocking the tunnel," Caboose pointed out.
"Noted." I turned around and waved over the rest of the team. "Ok, we'll climb inside one by one, make as little noise as possible, ok?"
The first (or last) wagon had crashed so hard into the tunnel walls that entering through the back (or front) door was impossible. One half of the cart was facing downwards, so we had to climb on top of the last wagon to access the subway train. The windowless cart provided few entrances other than a pair of sliding doors. I ordered Scarecrow to get them open, which he promptly did with three powerful stomps.
"What happened to as little noise as possible?" Snark asked.
"I got it open, didn't I?"
Snark shrugged and moved towards the entrance before jumping down. He landed almost noiselessly and waited a couple of seconds before giving the rest of us the all-clear signal. Scarecrow jumped after him, followed by Caboose and then the rest of the team. I waited until they were all inside to jump down.
It was pretty cramped down in the subway cart. Not only was it turned sideways, but it was occupied by six tall and strong men with ODST armor and an additional female Helljumper clad in the same way. Not to mention that subway carts are cramped by design.
"I can't believe they still use these," Bumblebee mused. "They have subways in museums back home."
"Don't exaggerate," Grass told him. "Most cities everywhere have some sort of active underground transportation or other."
"But nobody uses it," Angel added.
"The Moscow Metro is used by several-"
A skittering noise cut her off.
"What was that?" Angel asked as everyone raised their guns and looked around.
"Probably just a rat," Scarecrow suggested.
Grass visibly shivered. "I hate rats."
Angel put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, there's still some girlyness inside of you. We might just sa- ugh!"
"Asshole."
"You didn't have to punch me!" Angel complained.
"You didn't have to punch him so hard," I corrected.
"Umm, back to the noise?" Caboose reminded us all of the matter at hand. He had taken a couple of steps to the next cart. "VISR doesn't show anything."
"It's too dark," Snark explained. "Not enough ambient light to help with the night vision."
"No heat signatures either," Caboose went on, undisturbed.
"Stay frosty," I ordered. "Caboose, I want you and that shotgun of yours on point. Let's move it people."
Caboose strapped his rifle to his back while he drew his M90 and silently pumped it. Out of all the squad members, he was the most alert. The sheer nervousness could be felt and that in turn made me feel even more nervous. Caboose climbed over a pile of chairs and motioned for us to follow him, our dim helmet lights barely illuminating the way ahead. The next wagon was tilted upwards, so we had to hold on to the tubes and poles to make our way across it. Halfway through I switched my rifle for my sidearm. It would be easier to fire that way.
"You hear that?" Angel asked again, this time more nervously.
"You're being paranoid," Bumblebee said while climbing the cart.
"No, I heard it too," Grass told him.
"As I said, rats."
I looked around with my VISR turned on, trying to make out anything, I switched to thermal but the cold metal floor didn't give out any heat signatures, the only red blotches were my squad mates.
"Keep moving."
The next wagon was pretty much the opposite of the second one. It was facing completely downwards at a forty-five degree angle.
"Caboose."
"On it." The man sat on the ledge and slid all the way down to the edge of this wagon, making just a little noise as he did so. He landed with a soft thud and stood up before moving to the side to make way for Grass as she followed him. Once again I waited until my whole team was down before I sat down to slide down and join them.
And then I heard the skittering noise again.
"Shit," I cursed as I turned around and brought my pistol to bear. My helmet lights could barely illuminate the absolute darkness of the subway cart, but I just knew that there was something out there, looking at me.
"What's wrong Sarge?"
"There's definitely something out there," I replied quietly.
I heard skittering to my left and aimed the pistol in that direction in a quick motion. My hands were shaking and I forced myself to breathe carefully again. There was a moment of silence before I heard the skittering again, slightly to the right of where I was aiming and a whole lot closer. I cocked my gun.
Whatever was making the skittering noise reacted to that sound, because immediately afterwards I heard buzzing. By that time I had had enough of it. I aimed at the buzzing as best I could and fired three rounds. Two of the suppressed rounds pinged as they went through the metal, but another one made and audible thud as it impacted something more solid.
Then that solid thing flew at me.
Whatever had hit me pushed me off the ledge and down the cart. It clawed at me. I punched back at the thing as hard as I could with my free arm while trying to shoot it off with my pistol. All my shots went wide and suddenly I found myself being lifted off the floor before I was dropped again. I landed hard on a bunch of chairs before sliding and grabbing on to a pole.
"Sarge!"
I didn't have time to answer as I soon found a winged creature lunging at me. I let go just in time and the drone smashed into the pole headfirst. It stunned itself and gave me enough time to fire three other shots into its chest as I fell. The drone recoiled with each shot and let go of whatever it was holding onto. It reached the bottom of the cart moments after I did.
"Sarge, you alright?" Scarecrow asked as he lifted me up.
"I'm fine," I said, dusting myself and checking my armor.
"A drone?" Snark asked incredulously. "Underground?"
"They're bugs," Grass reminded him. "Perhaps it reminds them of their homes."
The drone struggled and tried to move before Caboose stomped its head in.
"They're freakishly hard to kill as well," he pointed out.
"Bugger's dead, let's get moving."
"Still want me on point?" Caboose asked.
"Yes, now more than ever."
He nodded and ducked underneath the ceiling of the wagon to make it to the other side. We all crawled through there and followed our scout as closely as possible. The encounter with the drone had freaked me out, but the rest of my team was a little bit scared as well, their fingers resting gently on the triggers of their weapons.
"You hear that?" Scarecrow asked when nobody could ignore the noise anymore.
"Yeah…"
"Give me light," I ordered.
"Sarge…"
"Light."
"All right."
Caboose turned on the power of his helmet flashlights to the maximum setting, briefly blinding us all before illuminating the entire cart. The subway cart had broken off from about halfway and allowed us to jump to the tunnel again. Once Caboose looked to the side or up we realized we were in for one hell of a shitstorm.
"Are they awake?" Snark whispered.
"Shhh!"
Two of the drones that were resting on the walls or ceiling moved slightly as the light hit them. Once the two of them did that the entire hive woke up.
"They are now! Fire!" I yelled.
Seven grunts fell off the ceiling from the initial bursts and a couple of dozen joined their comrades in death before the entire tunnel was filled with a loud buzzing sound. I aimed at the dim lights that the drones had on their shells as best I could. We must've killed at least fifty of them in the initial seconds of the firefight, but that's about when they realized they were under attack.
"Run," I prompted calmly, surprising myself. "Now!"
My team wasted no time following that order, climbing onto the other half of the subway train and sprinting away from the angered flies. I, as a dutiful leader, waited until last to climb up. That earned me a scratched helmet. I kicked the offending drone away, bashing its face in and started to sprint. This half of the train was in better conditions, with most of the carts still standing upright and some of them even still on the rails.
"Shiiiiiiiiit!" I yelled as I heard the swarm close in on my tail. I reloaded my pistol and fired the entire magazine at my back without bothering to aim. With the amount of enemies headed towards me I was bound to hit something.
"Hurry up Sarge!" Scarecrow yelled. He was in the tunnel again, holding open one of the doors.
I jumped out of the train just as Scarecrow slammed the door shut behind me. Bumblebee and Caboose quickly put down two drones that busted through the door's window. Angel aimed his M2457SAW at the thin metal door and started firing through it. Grass joined him, emptying her MA5B at the wall. Through the roaring noise of both weapons I could hear the noise of bullets going through flesh and of bodies hitting the ground. It was about ten seconds before Angel stopped firing.
"That oughta make them think twice," he said with what was undoubtedly a smile behind his visor.
"Good," I grunted while standing up. "Let's not give them enough time to do that. Move along."
When I said move along everyone started sprinting as fast as they could away from the subway train. I was forced to reduce my speed to something that wouldn't alarm any of them needlessly. This also allowed me to keep guard for any drones that decided to come after us. We ran past three stops and another train, this one intact, before we finally came to a stop.
"How much more?" Angel heaved in between breaths.
"Next stop," Grass informed him. "You aren't tired, are you?"
"Puttana," Angel spat back.
"Easy there," I warned him. "Spanish and Italian are close enough that I can get that."
"Sorry," he apologized without any real feeling.
It wasn't long before we reached the next subway stop. This one was a minor one. Only a small platform and a couple of benches leaning against the wall. I hopped on and scouted it for any unpleasant surprises before helping Grass and Snark up. Reaper Squad quickly moved towards the non-functional electric stairs and started climbing up.
Once we left the station I found myself surprised by the lack of sunlight. I knew that Lambari's days were shorter than on Reach, but the speed with which it had started to turn to night still surprised me days after I arrived.
"Come on, we haven't got much time," I pressured.
The street here was littered with crashed cars, piles of rubble and debris, craters, and human bodies. We stuck to cover as much as possible, keeping ourselves hunched and trying to avoid being spotted. I could hear the hum of anti-grav engines a block away and I didn't want any attention being called to us. I kept my sight on the buildings on either side of us and ordered Snark to see if he could spot any snipers.
"There," Bumblebee hissed. "I see it. The tower."
I moved in his direction and stopped with my back pressed against the overturned bus he was using for cover.
"There," he pointed. "See it?"
I raised my neck a little bit and saw that there was indeed a stealth pylon on one rooftop. It wasn't really a rooftop, it was more like a terrace. The building where the pylon was located was a traditional skyscraper. Perhaps some six hundred meters tall, a little bit shorter than the rest of the buildings surrounding it. I sighed. It would all be much easier if people made everything three stories tall. The building had a very wide base and became thinner at irregular intervals marked by large terraces or balconies. The pylon was on the third terrace of the building, a little below the two hundred meter mark.
I sighed. "Well, there it is."
"What's the plan?" Scarecrow asked, joining us.
I pondered on that for a moment. "Anyone brought rope?" I asked.
"I have some," Grass said.
"We could use jetpacks right about now," I mused. "How much rope?"
"Hundred meters worth."
"So wire?"
"Same thing," she retorted. "It'll hold your weight just as well."
"Think we can do it quietly?" I asked.
"Where will you be rappelling from?" Grass asked.
"Oh no, it's you who'll be rappelling."
"I like this idea," Angel said.
Grass was unfazed. "Hmm, you could set up shop on the next balcony, I'll drop the charges."
"Why don't we just break through everything that opposes us like we usually do?" Bumblebee asked. "It's worked pretty well so far."
"Last time I tried storming a building I ended falling out of it," I informed him. "And unless you have a jetpack hidden somewhere it's our only feasible option."
"Fine."
"We enter through the parking lot," I stated. "And take the service stairs."
"How many you think?" Caboose asked.
"At least a platoon's worth," Snark suggested.
"I'd put three," Scarecrow said. "To defend something as important as that."
"Then we can expect four," Bumblebee muttered. "I don't like those odds."
"That's why we're going around them," I explained, trying to reassure my team. "When have I given you a reason to doubt me?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Caboose asked me.
"Shut up, move it."
I had Snark stay a few dozen meters behind the rest of us to provide sniper support if it was needed. It was more likely that the large group would be spotted than the lone sniper, so he was relatively safe inside the bus. Once we reached the other side of the street I motioned for him to join us. Snark moved quickly, his shoulder hunched and his rifle's barrel inches above the ground. I could tell just by looking at him that he had experience running like that.
From where we were standing our target was just four buildings over, but I could see two grunts standing guard in the street. There was bound to be some brutes (or elites) inside or nearby, so we went around the block instead.
A flight of banshees flew above, but didn't spot us, we resumed our slow march until we found the parking lot entrance of the building we intended to enter. The ramp ended in a pull-down metal gate.
"Crap, I assume nobody brought bolt cutters?" I asked as I examined the thick lock protecting the gate.
"I have a pair," Caboose said. "Maybe I should've brought the laser cutter."
"Why didn't you? It's gotta be smaller than a pair of bolt cutters," Snark pointed out with his usual sarcastic tone.
"How about you try cutting through that lock?" Caboose asked, tossing him the bolt cutters that he produced from a pocket.
"My pleasure," the sniper said with a small bow.
Snark moved towards the lock while we kept our guns trained on the top of the ramp. He placed the bolt cutters around the lock and tried squeezing with both hands. His attempt produced no visible result before he tried once more, using more force than before. When his second attempt failed he positioned himself more comfortably so that he could use his legs for support. Once again he failed in snapping the lock.
"Need help?" Scarecrow asked.
"I got his."
Snark put one of the arms on his belly and his two hands on the other one. He pulled the arm against him and eventually succeeded in snapping open the lock. The small metal device flew off and the large gate started sliding upwards at scary speeds before Grass caught it.
"Go," I ordered.
Scarecrow grabbed the gate and put his arm up before letting it go, making as little noise as possible.
"Over there, service stairs," Angel said.
"Caboose, you're on point again."
"I should've left the shotgun back home," he muttered.
"But you didn't, now go."
Caboose opened the door and scanned the small room with his shotgun. If anything moved it would be receiving a bunch of buckshot to the face. Or the chest. Not that it matters, whatever got shot would end up dead anyways.
"Clear," Caboose said. He took a long, tired sigh as he looked up at the endless stairwell. "We can climb now."
"Did you count the floors?" Grass asked me.
"Seventy, give or take a few."
"Sixty-eight," she told me. "Just checking."
"Ouch," Angel said from behind me, shaking his hand sideways.
"Why don't you get back to me after we're done climbing?" I asked him with a smile. "Lugging that gun of yours must get tiring after a while."
I could clearly see his expression through his depolarized helmet visor. None of us would enjoy this, but he would have a worse time than all of us. Now, thanks to me, he knew it.
The climb was every bit as grueling as I had expected.
"This is it," Grass informed us. She was unable to hide the relief and happiness in her tone. "This is it!"
"Easy there, you might wet your panties," Angel managed out in between heaving breaths. "Wouldn't." Breath. "Want." Breath. "That."
"I'm going to ignore that because seeing you like that is insult enough. In fact, I'm taking video of this."
"You." Breath. "Bitch."
She tisked. "Nah-ah, you shouldn't call me that, but again I'll let that slide." She patted him on the shoulder rather violently and sent him flying towards a wall, where he just slumped down and sat on the floor.
"You brought water?" I asked him.
"No, just combat fluids."
"Have some," I ordered. "Same goes for everyone else."
There was a moment of silence as everyone swallowed a small amount of the combat stimulator before Caboose opened the door.
The door opened into a small service corridor. The place looked intact save for one door that was blown off its hinges. I slowly made my way towards the door at the end of the corridor. It was rather ominous really, with the flash of light coming from underneath the door and from the sides while half-open doors to the sides showed service closets. To me it seemed like I had just left a horror film down in the subway to enter another one in this building.
I reached the door and extended my hand towards it…
Only to have it bashed in my face with a lot more strength than a human could muster.
I slammed into the wall and grunted in pain. I spotted a stocky pruple-ish barrel out of the edge of the door. It was aimed right at Scarecrow's chest. I let out a kick that pushed the barrel up as the gun fired. A pink round left the weapon and detonated on the ceiling above, bringing pieces of polycrete raining on us. Grass moved quickly and fired two bursts at whatever was holding the weapon before I pinned it with the door and its frame.
The elite, for it was an elite, tackled the door and pushed me back to the wall, this time I crashed a lot harder than the first time. The alien kicked Scarecrow in the chest, sending him bowling backwards and throwing him to the floor. Scarecrow took down Grass and Angel with him. As the three of them recovered from the fall the elite punched at me. I ducked just in time and the elite punched the hard wall, cracking it. The Sangeili didn't seem wounded, as he took aim with his stocky weapon and fired at Bumblebee, forcing him and Snark to duck sideways as the explosive projectile flew by them and hit a wall, bringing it down.
Caboose had started moving and jumped at the elite's waist, forcing it to drop its weapon and to use its other hand for support. I was still stunned from the door hitting me twice, but I raised my rifle at the elite, who simply batted it aside with one hand before throwing Caboose against the wall.
I grabbed my backup knife and threw it at the elite's face. The sharp blade might just make it through the shields unimpeded, but that wasn't the main goal. The elite raised its arm and deflected the blade before it struck its chest, its shields flickered slightly as the kinetic force from the knife registered.
I now had the elite's full attention.
The alien's four jaws spread as it roared at me. Scarecrow fired from the ground, before the elite could charge at me. That drew its attention from me for a second and I charged at it with my other knife. The elite received my tackle awkwardly, but managed to keep me from pushing it to the ground. I punched it a few times with my free hand while trying to stab its ribs with the other one. The elite didn't seem to be having much trouble, as it pinned my arms to the wall, lifting me off the ground and closed its face to me. Another burst of ammunition hit its face, draining its shields. It let go of one of my arms and drew a plasma pistol, taking aim at the offender. Bumblebee jumped sideways just as three plasma bolts flew at him. Two hit the wall behind him, but one impacted right on his chest and he collapsed sideways, his chest piece cherry red and smoking.
The distraction allowed me to drop my knife and catch it with my free hand. By the time the elite had his plasma pistol aimed at my face I had stabbed it through the mouth with the large standard-issue UNSC knife. The elite looked surprised for a moment and even looked at me in shock. Then its jaws curled backwards in what seemed to be a gruesome smile before it collapsed to the floor, letting me go.
"Bee," I shouted as soon as I dropped to the floor. "Bee!"
The Helljumper was struggling to reach the quick-release clamps for his chest piece while the plasma burned through the plating. After a second he found them and pulled, letting the metallic plate fall to the floor with a loud clang.
"You all right?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he coughed out. "I just need for the armor to cool and I'll be good as new."
"Don't worry about us Sarge," Scarecrow said from the ground while slowly getting up. "It's not like any of us was shot at with a grenade launcher. Or kicked in the chest by an elite. Ah, that hurts," he said, clutching his belly. "Knocked the wind out of me, that one."
"You weigh a ton," Angel noted. He helped Grass up and dusted her off theatrically, no doubt aiming to piss her off even after they had both faced death. "But I'm glad you were there on top of me. You would've served as a nice shield for us."
"Thanks," Scarecrow replied unenthusiastically.
"And I'm sure that Grass enjoys having men on top of her."
"One more thing we have in common," she quipped. This time it was her dusting him off as he tried to look for a comeback.
"Focus people," I snapped.
"Yes, sorry."
I kneeled next to the elite and pulled my knife from its mouth. The motion made a disgusting squishing sound and a bunch of blood started pouring from the wound. Its armor configuration marked it as a zealot. The weapon next to him was one that I had never seen before, it had a circular grip and had the typical curves of covenant design. In addition to that it had some sort of weird-looking stock right behind the weird grip. It was about as long as an assault rifle and a lot bulkier. It weighed perhaps twice as much.
"Zealot huh?" Bumblebee noted. "Glad it didn't have a sword."
"Unusual, but I agree," Scarecrow said. "What's with the weird grenade launcher, I've never seen anything like that before."
"Neither have I," Snark put in his two cents.
Grass leaned close to examine it. "Might be a concussion rifle," she suggested.
"Concussion rifle?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, read about it in some memo, there wasn't a picture about it, it was mainly a rumor."
"All right," I said. "Pack it, ONI might pay us for it. If they do, we split it seven ways."
"Sounds good to me," Snark said as he slung it over his back, the magnetic clamps in his armor securing the rifle in place.
I nodded at him and stood up. My other knife was on the floor as well, so I picked it up and sheathed it upside down by my left shoulder. The bloodied one I cleaned before putting it in its sheath across my lower back.
Bumblebee waited a few seconds for his armor to cool off and touched it tentatively. He pulled back his hand as soon as he made contact with it, but then touched it again and held his hand there. No doubt his gloves were doing a wonderful job in nullifying the heat, but if his gloves could do that then so could the rest of his armor and his undersuit. We all waited while he put it on and secured it once again. The smoke leaving the chest piece gave him a weird look.
"Scarecrow, Angel, and Caboose, you clear the right side," I ordered. "Everyone else, you're with me."
We went room by room, making sure that we had no more unexpected surprises. Our helmets were now completely useless for communicating, so we had to use hand signals and whisper to each other. The rest of this floor was completely empty. We eventually met the other fireteam before heading towards the balcony. Grass was already pulling out her rope and attaching it to her belt while Caboose secured it to a flagpole.
Caboose pulled a few times to make sure that the thin rope was secured and that the knot would hold. It was a simple knot. It would hold.
"Snark, you stay with me and Grass. I want everyone else to keep guard, no one gets past you."
"What do you want me to do?" Snark asked almost eagerly after the rest of the team left the large terrace.
"Here," I passed him my rifle. "And here," I added as I gave him the weapon's suppressor. "I want you to keep watch for any snipers on the opposite buildings. You see anyone, you shoot it."
"Won't the gun still make noise?" he asked as he screwed on the silencer.
"Yes, but hopefully we're far enough up that any covvie down there will dismiss it as background noise."
"Makes sense," Grass reassured him as she double-checked the knot in the back of her belt. "Here," she said, tossing me her rifle. "Less weight."
"Makes sense," I reassured her. "You'll be fine."
"I know," she said, smiling at me before polarizing her visor again.
"Snark, get the charges," I ordered him. The small sniper went grabbed the two plastic explosives from where Angel had left them and handed them to Grass. She promptly put them in a pouch and attached that pouch to the front of her belt after removing all the magazines for her MA5B.
"Here I go," she said as she sat on the ledge. "You sure you can hold me?"
"How much do you weigh?" I asked with worry.
"You know, you should never ask a girl that," she told me as she slowly lowered herself.
I grunted with effort as I did my best to hold on to the thin wire. I had placed the rope through a carabineer on my belt (which I had no idea what was doing there) to allow me to better use my body as leverage, but my hands would be the ones that still had to hold on. I didn't want Grass to fall down to a dead drop. In fact, I think that the rope was longer than the drop.
I looked over the ledge and saw Grass gesture to give her more rope. She gestured for me to stop and then positioned her body horizontally and perpendicular to the building's wall. She turned around half ways before giving me a thumbs up. I started slowly giving her more length. It took a moment before we settled into a rhythm and she was walking down the wall at a steady pace. She only had only gone fifteen meters when she jumped off the wall and then disappeared into it. I looked down and saw an alien, a jackal by the looks of it on the terrace below us. I hid behind the ledge and have Grass a couple meters of rope so that she could hide comfortably. I stayed there for a few seconds while Snark scanned the buildings opposite us.
The rope waggled a little and I peeked over the edge. The jackal was disappearing around the pylon. It hadn't bothered to look up. I looked directly downwards and saw Grass give me an ok sign before she climbed out of whatever window she had jumped into. She had been lucky that the window had been a broken one.
I grunted once again as Grass let herself gently drop. I gave her the required time to position herself as before and started lowering her more quickly. She might not have weighed a lot by regular standards, but you try carrying your girlfriend from your car to the supermarket when you parked very far away. Or your sister for those of you that don't have girlfriends.
She stopped once she was at the same height that the top of the stealth pylon was. She bent her knees and propelled herself outwards. I struggled to keep a grip on the ultra-thin rope as she did so. The bad news is that her fingertips only just managed to touch the stealth pylon. She came back to the wall and held her position there for a few seconds before she jumped again, this time with more force. She managed to reach the top. The three-armed structure wobbled a little bit as she climbed on top, the anti-grav device underneath trying to keep it afloat.
Grass quickly grabbed the two charges and placed one of them right next to her. Grass was motionless for a few seconds before she clicked a few buttons on the detonator of the plastic explosive. I understood what she was doing, she set them to detonate at sundown in case we couldn't use our detonator.
She did the same for the other explosive before dropping it to the roof-like structure protecting the platform with the turrets from hostile weather. She slid off from the top of the pylon, sending it wobbling again before hitting the wall.
It was at that precise instant that Snark fired two rounds. I looked up to see a jackal on the opposite building fall out of a window and to the floor below. If the two shots through the skull didn't kill it, then the fall certainly did.
The suppressed gunshots were too loud.
"Pull me up!" Grass yelled.
I looked down again to see her struggling to climb. On the terrace below were two elites looking up at us. She peppered them with gunfire, sending them both for cover. I started pulling her up as quick as I could. I propped my feet against the ledge and started pulling the rope. I could hear Grass firing her gun repeatedly and saw Snark peek over the edge to shoot down at the elites. Grass must've been so happy, aliens shooting plasma at her from below and bullets whizzing by from above.
Eventually I managed to pull her all the way up and grabbed her hand as I dragged her to safety. Snark fired a couple of shots before he grabbed a grenade from Grass' vest and let it fall down. The explosion happened several seconds later, but by the sound of it and judging from Snark's reaction it had hit its mark.
"Who said I could only snipe with a rifle?"
"Bumblebee! I want you here now, get your Jackhammer ready!"
"Coming!" I heard.
"Grass you ok?"
She breathed in and out several times before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine."
For all I knew she was traumatized and would be afraid of heights for the rest of her life, but if she could function right now, it was a victory.
"Why did I have to go?" she asked me almost accusingly.
"You were the lightest," I explained.
"And Snark?" she snapped.
"He's the sniper," I said calmly. "Now relax. You're fine now. I would've hugged her, but I wasn't sure if that would be seen as unwanted advances. Instead I settled for gripping her shoulder reassuringly as I would've done with any other male member of the squad. "Relax."
"Sarge!" Bumblebee reported in.
"Bee, we might be having a phantom swooping in on us soon," I told him. Might was an understatement, I was certain we would have either a phantom trying to blast us or a flight of banshees trying to do the same thing. My bet was on the gunship. "I want you to shoot it down."
"All of it?" he asked. He obviously wanted to make sure that I wasn't talking about leaving it weaponless. That was the usual routine, you shot down the nose-mounted turret and killed the gunners of the other two.
"All of it," I confirmed. "The attack is coming soon, we don't want that gun dropping off enemy reinforcements on the frontline."
"Understood."
"Well, well, seems like you two are getting along a lot better now," Schitzo said.
Jealous? I teased myself.
Ironic, isn't it?
"No, I'm happy for you," he said. The sincerity in his voice made it all the more confusing.
"There, phantom!" Snark warned us.
"Bee, now!" I ordered.
The rockets man finished checking the scope on his Spanker before taking careful aim at the enemy dropship. It was positioning itself sideways so that it could shoot at us with both its main gun and one of the side-mounted turrets. It just gave Bumblebee's rockets a wider target. I heard the pinging of the lock on signal from my side.
"Sarge," Snark warned as he tossed me back my rifle.
I grabbed the BR55 and took three quick shots at the elite gunning at us before dropping to the ground to avoid a retaliation strike. It was just then that Bumblebee let go his first rocket. The missile flew in a straight line that would miss the phantom completely before abruptly turning to the right and hitting one of the engines. The ship tumbled sideways and the elite gunner tried to stay afoot. Snark took advantage of the situation and shot it through the leg, forcing it to fall to the floor before rolling out of the ship.
I turned to look at the sniper and he simply shrugged at me, daring me to admonish him for not taking a kill shot when he could've. Truth be told, forcing the elite to suffer its final moments before falling to the ground was acceptable in my books.
"Yipee-kay-yay motherfucker," Bumblebee smirked as he shot his second missile.
The phantom had turned forty-five degrees when it was first hit, the maneuver now exposed its thrusters to us. The missile flew in a straight line and veered slightly to the side to hit the white target. The HEAT warhead detonated and caused a bigger explosion as the fire breached the casing that protected whatever liquid fueled the phantom. The gunship tried to stay afloat before veering towards the opposite building. It crashed through the walls and it seemed like it would stay there before it fell to the side and down to the street below.
"What? No explosion?" Snark asked. "Cars always explode when you drop them from high altitudes."
"You've been watching way to many of Bee's movies," Grass told him.
Bumblebee fired a third rocket at the phantom's exposed belly. The missile hit somewhere important because after the missile detonated the entire phantom followed suit.
"There's your goddamned explosion," Bumblebee said with satisfaction.
"Next thing you know you're going to be shooting out one-liners like him!" Grass told Snark in a tone that a mom would use on a son that was hanging out with kids she didn't like.
"Thanks," I told the rocket launcher Helljumper. "But seriously, what's with the one-liners?"
"It was either that or hasta la vista baby," he said with a shrug.
"You made the right choice," I admitted as I looked on the flaming phantom. "Yipee-kay-yay… Hard Death?"
"Die Hard," he corrected. "Good film, even if a little bit implausible."
"What? One guy against a bunch of bad guys, outgunned and outnumbered. What's so impossible about that? We do that on a daily basis."
"Aye, but we have shoes."
"Duly noted. Now let's get out of here."
"The sun's almost down," Snark told me.
"I know," I replied.
"Beautiful sight, don't you think?"
Conventional thinking would've said that there was nothing beautiful about this, a half-destroyed city with several buildings wrecked. Piles of rubble and debris on the ground, streets filled with craters, burned out husks of vehicles, and corpses. The few buildings that were still left standing had all been damaged in one way or another. The one we were in had suffered so much damage that it looked like it was in construction.
There was some sort of beauty to all this chaos.
"No," I said. I glanced at my watch. "Seven forty-three."
"Just a few more seconds now," Snark muttered.
We both watched as Campo Sorrisco slowly disappeared behind the horizon. It was a beautiful sunset, but I wasn't here to take it in and have some sort of epiphany. I was here to blow shit up as soon as it disappeared.
"Do you want the honors Sarge?" Angel asked.
"I think Grass deserves them," I said.
"Fair enough, Grass?"
"Gimme that."
Angel tossed her the detonator.
"Now," I said as soon as the sun set.
"Aquiring signal," she informed us. "Kaboom."
Our pylon was the first one to blow up. Seconds after it did three other explosions followed suit. I looked to my left to see the damage that we had done. The large covenant structure was mostly undamaged, but the important part was utterly destroyed. I watched as the top of the pylon and a portion of the botom part fell from the terrace and to the street. There weren't any covvies down there, but it would've been a nice bonus.
It wasn't more than five seconds before missiles started raining in all around us. They kept missing our building by meters. Thanks to that IR strobe that we had placed on the rooftop no doubt. After the initial missile and artillery barrage came the flights of bombers. The Shortswords strafed the main Covenant positions with bombs while the Gryphons dropped smaller bombs and strafed exposed infantry. I only caught a handful of all this action, but I knew that this was only the beginning of the battle for us.
"Reaper-Squad, come in, do you read me?"
"I read you Eliza," I replied calmly. "What do you need us to do?"
Thanks to Sniper-Fodder for proof-reading.
So there it is, 9,854 words of pure awesome. At least I would hope so. That was Chapter 100. Hitting the triple digits now, and I don't plan to stop any time soon people. I think I deserve some credit, especially because I updated yesterday and do at least two updates a week. I mean, seriously, who else is that awesome?
This is the part where I thank everybody for reading this fan fic, especially the ones that have been following the story and watching it grow ever since I posted a badly-written Chapter 1 with a serious lack of proper grammar and clarity. Everyone else is just as important, but anyone who started reading a week ago didn't have to wait for me to improve my writing level as much as those that started reading nine months ago. To them, my apologies. In all fairness, though, I am getting better. I think.
That was probably the weirdest thank you of all history, but you probably grasp the meaning of it well enough.
So what do you think? Was Chapter 100 everything you expected? Was it awesome? Was it epic? Was Grass' stunt badass? Let me know what you think.
-casquis