Chapter CXXX: Pulitzer

October 11, 2544 (UNSC Calendar)/one week later

Little Hero, Catamaran Peninsula, Asilon, Omicron Ebur System

"Winning the Pulitzer is not that big a deal."- Richard Harris

The whole room erupted with laughter. Why wouldn't it? I mean, whenever someone makes a joke that funny it is the norm. Well, granted, it wasn't the entire room, only most of it, probably around ninety seven percent, I'm not that good with mathematical calculations, especially not when I have to do them on the spot and mentally. Well, if there were about seventy people inside the bar then it was ninety eight percent, rounding up to ninety-nine. I was kidding when I said that I wasn't good with quick mental calculations, the job requires me to do those every now and then, plus, it is useful in life overall.

The only person that wasn't laughing was Caboose. The person who was laughing the loudest was Bumblebee. The later had made a joke at the expense of the former, a very loud joke with a very long and detailed setup that had ended in probably one of the best lines that I had heard in my entire life. I was doubled over and slamming my fist on the bar, shaking my drink violently as I did so. And I was one of the more modest laughers in the room. Pavel had fallen down from his chair, hitting himself in the head on the way down. His laughter was clearly audible in between cries of pain. Even Grass and Snark were being quite loud. Grass had a beautiful laugh, but that wasn't surprising in the least. She was as close as anything would ever get to the perfect woman. Don't let Hanna know that I wrote that. Snark, on the other hand, had an ugly, snorting laugh that made it seem like he was choking on his own blood. Trust me on that one, I know the sound that that makes.

Caboose wasn't smiling, I didn't blame him. In his situation any normal man would've turned beet red and probably smashed a bottle over Bee's head in anger, but Caboose had managed to keep himself unflushed and had a perfect poker face on. The only sign that he was unhappy was his silence. No white knuckles, no vein on his forehead, no clenched jaw. He had a perfectly relaxed face.

It was very scary. That's what made me stop laughing. I took my time, of course, but I think that more than a couple of guys were unnerved by Caboose's sheer calmness. The laughter died out after about two and a half minutes, it probably should've lasted longer than that.

Bumblebee was still chuckling when he apologized to Caboose, slapping him on the back and offering a toast. I was surprised, after the unearthing of Caboose's past I didn't expect anybody on the team to acknowledge him in any way that was not related to combat.

"Nothing personal lad," Bee went on. "You were next to me and I needed a victim."

Caboose nodded slowly, taking a sip from his beer, a local variety. "Of course." He took Bee's hand and shook it. Within five seconds Bumblebee was on his knees, crying in pain and begging Caboose to let go of his hand. I could hear the crunching form my position.

"Enough," I ordered. Caboose let go and returned to his drink as if nothing happened, staring blankly into a wall. "Bee, get up, next thing you know you'll be giving us Helljumpers bad fame."

"Yeah, sorry." He rubbed his hand and eyed Caboose up and down before returning to his seat and ordering another drink.

I sighed. This was the first time that we had gotten some actual leave. Sure, we had had some rest, a day without fighting and some good sleep, but for the most part we had been getting our asses shot at by an ever more desperate group of aliens. Catamaran City was now within eyesight, it was only a simple matter of shelling it into submission. But that wasn't going to happen. The more time we took with killing every single covvie on the planet the more likely it became that they'd get a transmission out. We were actively jamming their communications and our birds killed any kind of spires or dishes that we spotted. The Inconvenience was orbiting the city with its cannon pointed downwards. The covvies were dead one way or another, the only problem was that we might not kill them all quickly enough.

And so we were getting drunk the day before we were sent to the frontline to die. It was the logical thing to do. We would forget all about our troubles, forget that some of us might not make it another day, and maybe sneak in some quick sex with a willing soldier, airman, or marine of the opposite sex. And we even got hangover-killing tablets. Command sure knew their stuff.

"Sit up," I told Pavel irritably. No matter how much liquor I ingested I couldn't forget that we were returning to combat tomorrow morning. I honestly don't know why I was so pissed, normally I wasn't. I knew what my job was, I knew what kind of lifestyle I had chosen.

"You need to relax a little bit," Scarecrow said from right next to me. He was wearing an outfit that I had seen on him once. It was a regular pair of jeans and a t-shirt from a fancy store. He called it his partying outfit. Something of a joke, I think. Scarecrow went on, his voice quiet but somehow clearly audible above the racket of the bar. "Stop drinking so much, smile a little bit, dance with a girl or two. Go to sleep happy and wake up ready for a new day."

The chortle that came after that was a familiar one. "And then what?" Schitzo asked. "Watch men and women die while you manage to stay unharmed? No sir. I say you get drunk off your ass, get in a fight, go to sleep angry and wake up angry." He laughed at his own comment. "Let the wrath out on some aliens."

I groaned and pushed my beer aside.

"Have it your way," Schitzo shrugged. "Just don't be pissed when I say I told you so." With that comment he disappeared. Scarecrow went with him after patting my back and squeezing my shoulder lightly.

"What's with you Frank?" Pavel asked. "Lighten up a little bit, tomorrow we're back in the suck."

"The suck?"

He shrugged. "That's what kids are calling it these days."

"What's wrong with combat?"

He shrugged once more, as theatrically as he always did. "Not cool enough, I guess."

I allowed my muscles to relax a little and chatted with Pavel for a while. We started rating the girls in the bar on a scale from one to ten. Now that we were both in committed relationships it was as far as we could go with other women. Sure, I smiled at the waitress and might've flirted a bit with her, but nothing harmful. Still, I felt a pang of jealousy when I saw Bee leave the bar with his arm around a lovely dark-skinned pilot. Snark was hitting it up with a mechanic and Angel seemed to be doing well, making three girls from the Navy laugh at some joke or other. Even Caboose and Grass had someone with them. Caboose was having a quiet conversation with a young soldier that seemed smitten with him while Grass looked torn between five different marines that were all trying to buy her drinks. But Pavel's wedding band was something of a repellent. The moment somebody saw it they turned around. It worked for me too, everybody knew that nobody would stick with a married man in a bar unless they were actively trying to evade a hookup.

Which was exactly what I was doing.

Not trying to sound conceited or anything, but I had my charm when it came to the opposite sex. To top that off I was also a Helljumper, dangerous and mysterious. I was practically a sex magnet just because of that. Evading a hookup was harder than it sounded. Again, I'm not trying to be a conceited ass here.

Somebody cleared their throat behind me. "Excuse me, Gunnery Sergeant Castillo?"

"Who's asking?" I turned around and saw a man with the rank of captain behind me. "Sorry Captain, I didn't know who you were," I apologized immediately, standing up and saluting the man.

"At ease Gunnery Sergeant," he dismissed me. "I'm Captain Gibson, will you follow me please?"

"What's this about, sir?"

"You'll see in a minute," he replied, turning around and walking towards one of the private rooms in the back of the bar.

I shook my head and motioned for Pavel to remain seated. I had a knife and a gun, more than enough to handle anything short of an enraged brute or an elite. While the men in the bar moved aside to let an officer pass, they weren't so lenient with a regular NCO like me, Helljumper or not. I had to elbow my way past the drunken crowd and finally entered the private room that Gibson had walked into. He was sitting inside with a lieutenant general. General Staunton, the man in charge of the UNSC Army forces on the planet and the highest-ranking man on the entire planet. Why a man like him would be in this bar instead of a much nicer place was beyond me.

"General," I said immediately, saluting and straightening my back.

"At ease Castillo," he said dismissively. "I've heard much about you."

"Sir," I nodded neutrally.

"And so have I."

There was a third man in the room. He was about Grass' height and rather skinny. Unlike the rest of us in the room he was clearly a civilian. The man was wearing hiking pants and a vest over a long sleeved shirt. He seemed pleasant enough at first glance, but his presence here was unexplained, that made me weary.

"Nick Adamant," General Staunton said in answer to the unasked question. "Reporter."

Goddamn.

They must've seen the look on my face, because Adamant seemed to lose a little bit of the glow on his face and Staunton's lips turned into a firm line. I quickly managed to obtain a neutral expression and said nothing, instead choosing to plant my stare on the wall in front of me.

"Mister Adamant is a UNSC sanctioned reporter," Staunton went on. "He was about to ship off to reach to be attached to some company when shit hit the fan. He is also a photographer, supposed to go into combat with troops to record and photograph our brave troops as they fight the enemy. Apparently he has a supernatural sense when it comes to taking iconic pictures."

Adamant seemed pleased at the compliment, his hands were clasped across his belly and he was leaning back in his chair. I said nothing.

Staunton sighed. "He is to be attached to your unit during the attack tomorrow."

My jaw clenched ever so slightly before I answered. "Sir," I nodded. Adamant smiled to himself and I turned to face him. "Mister Adamant, I hope you understand that I can't guarantee your survival or even your safety."

"I understand," he spoke out for the first time. "I have my own set of combat armor."

This time I smiled. "I was assuming that you had body armor when I said that. Ceramic and titanium plating will not do much to stop any kind of plasma rounds. Maybe a plasma pistol or a single plasma rifle round. Carbines, needles, spikes, and repeaters are all deadly."

Adamant visibly gulped. "I know what I'm getting into."

"Do you?"

"Yes, he does," Staunton answered for him. The man was obviously annoyed by the situation in general, but if it was up to me to say what was going on I would say that Staunton wanted to climb ranks after this was done. He knew that the planet was done for and wanted out of here with a nice little bit of heroism under his belt. The photography was probably just an extra. I understood where he came from. We recorded everything from the battlefield in our helmet cams. Sometimes we could get some impressive stills from the videos, pictures like no others. War photographers outdid us nine times out of ten. They always had this way of getting the best moments on film, with the best lighting and the best equipment. Their holo-cameras were bulky and had to be carried in one hand, but they were infinitely better than the iris-installed ones that most regular photographers had. If you wanted emotion from the people then you went to a war photographer.

General Staunton stood up. "Mister Adamant will go with you, he knows the dangers. He is entirely under your command."

I nodded slowly, carefully. "Very well then, as long as he understands that he will be going into an active warzone. Mister Adamant, I'll brief you on everything tomorrow. My team is taking off twenty minutes before sunrise. Meet us at the landing pad with everything you want to take with you. If you're not there we won't wait for you."

"Yes, sir," Adamant said eagerly. "I'll be there."

"Sir?"

"Dismissed."

Same drill. Salute, then back to attention, do a one-eighty. Leave the room without slamming the door.

"What was that all about?" Pavel asked me when I sat back down in front of him.

"I need a freaking drink."

Pavel was every bit as frustrated as I had been. His hangover had been worse than mine and he had a lot more trouble waking up. Everybody else in the squad was annoyed to different degrees, but since everybody had gotten laid they weren't really that pissed.

"Why the hell do we have to baby sit some idiot that actually wants to go into the fight?" Pavel said for what must've been the eleventh time. "We're the best outfit on the entire planet and therefore have the most dangerous mission, I don't see any reason why he couldn't be attached to another unit."

I nodded, filling up my last magazine with bullets. "If he gets killed it's not our problem."

"But if he gets us killed it is."

"I'm on Pavel with this one," Angel voiced out, hefting his machine gun and testing its weight experimentally. He had switched from regular box magazines to cloth pouches. They were basically the same thing, only a little bit lighter. "I don't have anything against reporters, but he's not even combat trained, he could walk into a mine or snap a twig in the middle of an enemy camp."

"We're going into a city," Grass reminded him sharply. "I don't think that snapping twigs will be a problem for us."

"I take it you've never heard of parks then? Or figurative speech."

"Shut up," Grass told him. "The fact that a brute like you knows the word figurative was beyond my wildest expectations."

"Oh, then Little Miss Perfect was wrong?" He snickered. "Shouldn't be that surprised, it seems to be happening a lot lately."

Grass examined her nails through her nomex ballistic gloves. "Don't worry about it too much, there's no way that you'll ever be as right as I am. And if you could drop the little from Little Miss Perfect it would be great."

"Is Missus Nezarian ok?" he taunted.

"Listen you little-"

"Excuse me?"

We all turned around simultaneously to see who had walked inside the arms room. Snark must've been a little bit asleep, because he half-raised his rifle before putting it back down on the table in front of him. Nick Adamant was standing in the door, looking unsure. He hadn't taken a step inside yet. The reporter was wearing full battle armor over civilian clothing. The combination looked a little weird, but the man could've passed for a marine, even if it was a green one. His helmet had a camera attached to the right side, It was only slightly bigger than the ones that we had, but it was probably state of the art. He had also brought with him a messenger bag and a handheld holo-camera.

"Grass, check his armor and give him a gun, pistol."

"Why me?" she asked, her disdain only barely masked.

"You're the resident people's person," Bee told her. Angel snorted at that comment and shook his head.

Adamant wasn't that bothered. If a beautiful, statuesque, goddess of a woman approached you willingly you would have a huge smile on your face to. He didn't say or do anything as Grass tightened the straps on his vest and repositioned his forearm armor slightly.

"Um, thank you Miss…"

"Grass," Grass told him.

"Ok…"

I slapped my magazine into the BR55's port noisily, getting everyone's attention and making Adamant jump in shock. I turned to face the reporter and he obviously seemed intimidated by my person. He probably thought that I looked a lot different when sober and in full battle armor. I slung my weapon over my shoulder and looked the reporter/photographer straight in the eyes. I almost smiled when I saw him gulp nervously. "Listen," I started, making my voice hoarse and angry. "I'm going to tell you the same thing that I told these guys when they were put under my command. In this squad I am God. Simple as that. No other rules. I have the power to grant you salvation or to send you to hell. In this situation I am not speaking in metaphors. I can get you out of this alive or I can leave you to die in a sea of plasma fire. One rule only. You do whatever the fuck I tell you to do." I paused. "Understood?"

"Yes, yes sir."

"Good. Grass, you're babysitting."

"Wha- why me?"

One look was all it took to get her to stop complaining. She wisely shut up and went to retrieve an M6 pistol from the rack. I did one final check on myself while she gave Adamant a crash course on how to use the weapon and what to do.

"Never pull out the gun unless I tell you to or unless all of us are dead," she asserted firmly. "Always keep your head down, always keep your helmet on, and always stay behind me."

"Don't look so worried Nick," Angel said merrily. "Most of us would be dying to be behind that."

I smiled quickly and then turned to face him. "Shut up," I ordered. After all, I didn't want to give out the wrong impression to the reporter in our midst.

Grass studiously ignored everything going on around her and gave Adamant quick tips. To his credit, the reporter looked at her eyes and paid attention to everything she said. He interrupted to ask for a clarification every now and then. I guess that survival beats sex in most situations. By the time we were all ready Grass had given the reporter every single tip that she could come up with and Adamant was asking everybody their names. We knew better than to give him our actual names, so they just told him their call signs.

"What about you Gunnery Sergeant?" he asked me after Pavel had explained that he had no call sign and that he could be referred to as Reaper-2. "How should I refer to you in writing?"

"Reaper Actual, Reaper Leader, or Reaper-1," I said dismissively. The Pelican that was supposed to take us towards the front wasn't where it was supposed to be. I shrugged and sat down on a rock, it didn't matter. We still had a few minutes until we had to leave.

Adamant took advantage of those minutes and started asking questions. It was obvious that he was probing for information on our backgrounds, asking us where we were from, how we got into the military and stuff like that. He asked the questions under the guise of being friendly. I am proud to say that nobody actually fell for it, instead deflecting or telling flat out lies. Adamant wasn't disappointed or even surprised, I could tell that he enjoyed the challenge.

"Over there," I pointed. A Pelican was coming even as dozens of other dropships took off, full to the brim with troops and equipment. Troops had been leaving base for the last hour or so, the sun wasn't even up yet and we were already starting the attack. More than half a million troops were attacking Catamaran City, most of what was left on the planet was making one final effort to retake their home and kick the aliens out. I sometimes forgot that almost every single man, woman, and child in Asilon had been killed in the initial Covenant attack.

"Hop on," I ordered as soon as the Pelican touched ground. "Go!"

My squad jumped in with practiced movements, Adamant didn't exactly have trouble getting up the cargo bay, but when you compared the smooth movements of my Helljumpers to his awkward jump it made him look like something of an idiot. I didn't smile at that though, I just climbed up and went to the cockpit.

"Sorry, I've been running sorties for over an hour, I almost got nicked- Cast? Is that you?"

"Horace," I replied, this time allowing myself a smile. "Haven't seen you in ages."

"Same goes," Zekalwe agreed, taking off. "They've been using me as ground support, can you believe it? I'm a hot evac extraction pilot, ask me to drop supplies somewhere or to pick up a stranded unit and I'm as good as Marina. Tell me to strafe an enemy company…well, she can kick my ass when it comes down to that."

"I'm sure you did an ok job," I said.

"An ok job? I did one helluva job, the only problem is that I had to deal with Marina's almost godlike results every time we came back to base. She's competitive, that one."

"Tell me about it," I sighed. "I still don't know who won the breakup."

"I'd call it a tie," Zekalwe said, flipping some switches and turning towards Catamaran City. I could tell that the initial strikes had already begun, several buildings were on fire and there were little explosions running along the city. I'm sure that they wouldn't seem so little when I was closer.

"Who's Marina?"

I turned to face Adamant with a look of annoyance in my face and shoved him out of the cockpit. "Stay in your seat."

"Yes, sorry."

"Grass."

"Sorry Sarge," she apologized quickly.

The sun was only beginning to rise over the sea, but the little rays of light that came with it were good enough to illuminate the landscape below us. I could see the cratered ground below us, burned and still-burning cars from the initial attack adorned the highways. It wasn't hard to spot the corpses of people who had tried to leave their vehicles in an attempt to escape from the alien invaders. There were a couple of dead tanks every now and then. You could also spot Warthogs and military corpses if you looked hard enough. The closer we got to the city the more bodies I could see. I clenched my fists at the lack of Covenant corpses. They had attacked this planet with almost complete impunity. They had paid for their arrogance, but they hadn't paid nearly enough.

"There's not a lot of intel on the city," Zekalwe informed me. I had already gone through this, but maybe he knew something else. "There are obviously a couple of jamming spires, probably buried or built inside buildings, we can't see them and can't really pinpoint their location, even with the Inconvenience right on top of them. Other than that it is pretty much your standard occupation. Machine gun nests in every corner, sniper alleys, Specter's and Wraiths, Ghosts and Shadows. The initial recon sorties report heavy enemy presence, but all of it is camera work, we've got no thermal, no scans, nothing."

"Doing it the old fashioned way, huh?"

"The pilot talks about the occupation as if it were a routine matter, one glance shows that these men are veterans, but it is hard to imagine them being so used to combat with the Covenant that they talk about an entire city being held by them as just another challenge." I glanced back out of the cockpit and glared at Adamant. He just shrugged back at me. "Just taking notes."

"Keep it down," I told him.

"Yessir."

"AA Wraiths?" I asked Zekalwe. "Scarabs? Locusts?"

Zekalwe turned as green plasma started erupting all around us. Long-range flack was nothing but a nuisance, but you had to be careful around it. "We know that there's at least one Scarab, I don't know the type, but it shouldn't trouble us too much. Locusts, those are another matter. I spotted two of them myself, they were knocking down buildings, blocking streets and making killboxes. They know what they're doing."

"Brutes? I highly doubt it."

"That's what worries me, if brutes had half a brain we would have lost this war already, I don't want them growing one halfway through."

"Agreed," I said as I tapped Zekalwe on the shoulder and eyed my mission clock. "You stopping?"

"Yeah, want a view?"

"I don't see why not."

The Pelican slowed down to a stop and turned around until the rear was facing the city. The hatches opened and Pavel pulled down the turret, aiming it at the city in general. We were already hovering above the suburbs and outskirts, tanks, 'Dillos, and other ground transport stopped abruptly. There were some footsoldiers amongst the armored vehicles, but for the most part they were inside the hulks of metal, not outside of them. I stood on the edge of the hatch, one hand pressed against the wall for stability. A couple of green explosions adorned the sky, but none came close. The sun was only just beginning to rise behind Catamaran City, orange light was illuminating the buildings painting them black against the morning sky. The image reminded me almost of a painting, I knew that Adamant was taking pictures from next to me.

"What's goi-" Nick Adamant stopped his question and gaped at the sight. A bright beam of light bisected the sky in half.

The Inconvenience had fired a single MAC round, special configuration. The round was designed to hit with most of its kinetic force, the velocity and mass were equal to that of a meteorite. Downtown Catamaran City disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. The whole area was replaced with a crater and water from the ocean started rushing in. Within seconds the whole area would be flooded and every survivor would drown. Short range ballistic missiles were already screaming past, targeting likely points of resistance in the city, the artillery hadn't stopped, instead it fired faster and faster. Even Scorpions and Rhinos fired as they started moving forward again.

"Wha-"

"Beautiful," Angel said quietly, examining the results of the impact. "They just did half our job for us."

And have only half a dozen MAC rounds left… It wasn't particularly bad, but it would prevent Brooks and Eliza from facing anything larger than an unshielded corvette.

"Turning around," Zekalwe said, spinning the Pelican back. He didn't close the hatch. Pavel stayed on the gun and I watched as a multitude of UNSC vehicles flooded the city.

The plan was a simple one. Push in as much as you can, making walls on the sides with Armadillos and other armored vehicles while the Scorpions punched through the enemy defenses. Once they were stopped they would clear the sides. All of the city should be cleared in maybe a couple of days using this technique. It was risky, being surrounded on three sides with only one way to evacuate and get supplies in, but I had seen the same technique work more than once before. Even if they were left useless, the armored craft would still work as cover. That plus our air superiority guaranteed that this would work.

"Approaching landing zone!" Zekalwe yelled from the cockpit. "It's heating up down there!"

I walked to the cockpit and ruffled through his hair before slapping his helmet on his head. "What kind of mission would it be otherwise?"

Horace laughed at my cockiness and fixed his helmet while firing the massive front chaingun at a platoon of eager covvies. They exploded as the huge rounds hit their bodies. The UNSC Army forces that had been facing them cheered and moved forward, firing on enemy positions as they went. The huge amount of plasma flying at them was a bad sign.

"Cast!" Horace said before touching down. "I'm on pickup duty, I'll be watching your back."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, H," I assured him.

Bee, Angel, Caboose, and Snark jumped out of the Pelican while Pavel opened up on the enemy positions. The gatling gun roared as it spewed out ammunition at a rate of several thousand rounds per minute. Grass jumped down with Adamant trailing close behind her, making sure that she always positioned herself in between the enemy and the journalist. I hopped down and ran towards a piece of masonry that had fallen from one of the neighboring buildings. Already there was an Army company with us, firing en masse at the enemy. Pavel fired for a couple more seconds before jumping down, the loose gravel under his feet made a crunching sound as he slammed down on the pavement.

"The entirety of Reaper Squad is now on the ground, enemy fire is flying all around us, the noises are loud, it is difficult to describe. Reaper doesn't look too worried, they fire at the aliens with short bursts, the Army soldiers with us are also pushing forward slowly, trying to reach our position and kill the Covenant soldiers. I can see two Armadillo troop transports as well as a Scorpion tank, but from the noise I assume that there are more of them. The Pelican that dropped us off is turning around, leaving us without any direct air support. It is now up to these brave men and women to overwhelm the enemy."

I stopped firing and looked at Pavel with a confused expression on my face. He shrugged at me in return and mounted his massive machine gun on a rock before he started firing continuously.

"Angel, lay down suppressive fire on our left flank, I want those repeaters subdued. Snark, can you find a decent perch?"

"Not from here, I need some space to work with."

"Fine, work at the grunts with your M7. Caboose and Grass, I want both of you to keep any brave aliens with their heads down."

There was a brief lull in our fire as everyone took in the new orders and repositioned themselves. Six Helljumpers opened up on the aliens a moment later. I saw brutes and grunts duck down under the renewed gunfire. A couple of jackals were caught in the open, their shields only serving to delay the inevitable. I calculated the distance from our position to the enemy. They were all taking cover behind cars or piles of debris, it was extremely close range, perhaps some twenty yards. I would have no trouble making it.

I crawled all the way to our left flank and ordered my team to open up with automatic fire. Caboose would be running with me. He switched his MA5K for his shotgun and cocked the massive M90. I nodded at him and he slapped my arm as soon as he was ready. I left cover, using a ledge to propel myself forward. I almost tripped over myself, but managed to settle into a short sprint. I slammed into a yellow cab, rocking the vehicle. Caboose slid down next to me and fired his shotgun under the car. He fired again, presumably killing whatever was on the other side.

I climbed on top of the cab and jumped to a car next to it. A brute minor was yelling angrily at a pair of grunts that seemed very eager to stay behind cover. It didn't notice me standing right behind it until it was too late for it. I fired two bursts into the back of its unarmored head, popping the skull like a watermelon and spraying brain matter everywhere. I immediately slid down and gunned down the grunts before they could raise the alarm. Hopefully my gunfire would be confused with the rest of the noise.

Caboose had gone around the cab and had snapped a skirmishers neck before shooting another in the chest. He did a fantastic job, killing the first bird with his shotgun. Snapping a neck with a long weapon is harder than it sounds people, but you look all the more badass when you're doing it. He stepped over the second skirmisher and took cover behind a pile of rocks. Our allies could see us from this position, but we were invisible to the aliens. I nodded at him and he nodded back. We would clear this position slowly and safely.

Well, maybe not so slowly.

Caboose tossed a flashbang over his pile of debris and fired once with his shotgun. He fired blindly and hit nothing, but startled the aliens on the other side enough to send them running to a different place. Being half blind, half deaf, and half scared to death they were easy targets. He placed a shot in the back of two grunts and a jackal. While he did that I slid around my cover and nailed a brute in the chest with a burst. As he stepped backwards from the impact I adjusted my aim and hit it in the neck twice. I fired into its head once it collapsed just to be sure. Another burst took care of a jackal sharpshooter and cleared the next pocket of enemies.

By that point the enemy had realized that something was not right, but we were hitting their flank and their front at the same time. Some opted to take cover from me and Caboose and others decided that they should stay where they were. All of them were dead within two minutes.

"Looks like it's clear," I said into my radio. "Army Company, you can come up."

"Castillo? Is that you?"

I recognized the voice, but it took me a moment to match the name with it. "Captain Caskey?"

"The same."

"Good to see you again," I told him. "Especially outside of that farmhouse."

"Tell me about it. I didn't know that you would be the Special Forces team we would be working with."

I reloaded my weapon as I rolled my neck. "Glad to have you by my side." I looked over my shoulder and down the street. There were buildings on either side, but most were three story buildings, small businesses and homes. The less fortunate had lived here when the city was attacked. Maybe they'd had some more time to escape. "Captain, how big of a distraction can you muster?"

"A pretty big one, we've got three Scorpions with us."

"Excellent, we're going to need you to plow through the enemy defenses, wreck everything."

I could picture the man nodding on the other end of the link. "Of course, but I'm not sending my men past the fifth."

"I understand, that's where we come in."

The plan was a simple on, the best ones usually were. There were several Wraiths in a school nearby, they had a clear shot at everything that went past a certain point, but everything behind that was covered by buildings, their guns couldn't get the appropriate angle, that's the only reason why we didn't have a bunch of plasma raining on top of us right now. With three Scorpions giving the covvies hell we could sneak into the side and enter the school. Killing the infantry soldiers and taking out the Wraiths wouldn't be easy, it would be simple. Much like the plan.

Two blocks later we found ourselves facing heavy enemy resistance. The lead Scorpion fired one HE shell into the enemy line and then let out smoke canisters. It would serve to interfere with the covvies' field of vision, but the cold smoke would also paint targets for the thermal scopes of the tanks. It was a simple invention, albeit a very effective one.

"Grass, how's our guest doing?"

"He's fine, scratch on the cheek."

"Good, has he been interfering?"

"No, but the voice notes are starting to get on my nerves."

"We all know you can hold it up," Angel told her.

"Even in the midst of combat the squad finds humor. They joke with one another in the infrequent lulls, ribbing at each other's personal quirks. I know that I am not accepted by them, but already I can make out the different personalities that mark the squad. The undisputable leader is Reaper-1, not only in rank, his personality is that of a movie hero. He seems to have no trouble with getting people to follow him. Second in command is obviously the staff sergeant, Reaper-2. He carries a huge machine gun, providing suppressive fire and making lots of noise. Despite the difference in their weaponry Reaper-2 seems to be the more subdued of the two. Quieter and not as chatty as Reaper-1. Of the rest of the squad I can only say so much, Grass, the soldier entitled to babysit me is efficient and more deliberate in her actions than Reaper-1. She obviously makes an effort to keep me out of harm's way while pulling her own weight in battle. If I had to describe her role I would say that she has that of a model rifleman. Personality wise I can't say so much, but she seems to be at odds with Angel, most of the time, even if it's only playful bantering. Angel is obviously the explosives expert on the team, one only needs to give him a single glance to…"

The sound of Adamant's voice droned off into the background as my team crossed an intersection. The Scorpions did an incredible job of keeping the covvies with their heads down. I climbed up a small pile of rubble and then back down. The pile was covering the entrance to a small clothing shop, the lights were off, but the shop itself seemed in pretty good conditions. Angel and Caboose climbed in behind me. Angel turned around and helped Adamant down before shoving his head down behind a solid polycrete wall. Grass jumped immediately after him, closely trailed by Snark and Pavel. We were now inside the building and directly next to the covvies. I could see them through the windows. Several brutes were trying to get the jackals to form up and the grunts to stand behind the bird-like aliens, but the first Scorpion rumbled through their cover, squashing cars with ease and running over a couple of unfortunate grunts. The gunner on the tank disposed of the rest of the aliens with ease. The main gun of the tank fired a few times before the tank moved forward, rumbling loudly.

"Let's go," I urged. "Rear exit."

"The store looks almost like it was closed yesterday, I know that that isn't the case, even if only for the thick layer of dust covering everything. A couple of the shelves have collapsed, probably from the shaking from the artillery. I find it surprising that even despite the heavy barrage the glass windows are still standing."

"Shush," Grass told him.

I nodded at Pavel and kicked down the rear door. We both emerged into a small back alley. I fired at a jackal, killing it before it could react and Pavel took out two grunts. The small alley separated the stores on one street from the stores on another. It was wide enough to fit two men with outstretched arms standing next to one another. The multitude of large trash containers and occasional piles of debris made it look narrower, but there was plenty of space in here.

"Forward," I whispered. "And keep quiet." That last order was mostly directed towards Adamant, I knew that none of my squad would be that stupid.

We turned left on our first side alley, keeping our weapons trained on the two brutes at the far end, they were too busy reloading and keeping their heads down to notice us. We simply bypassed them after marking their position on the battlenet. A few seconds later several armor piercing rounds punched through the polycrete walls, killing the two apes.

"Drone," Snark said. "Three stores from this one, corner."

"Mine," I announced quietly. I raised my weapon and sighted down on the bug. It seemed to be looking around, probably gathering intel. One shot through its head was all that it took. The drone's legs curled into a ball and it fell down the side of the building. "Kill, let's go."

Adamant wasn't saying anything, instead just moving from cover to cover and sticking as close to Grass as he could. His breathing was way too loud for my taste, but I couldn't blame the poor man, besides, the gunfire and explosions would more than mask the sound of ragged breathing.

We repeated our process several times, ignoring the aliens to our flanks while marking their positions. The tankmen knew of our mission and did their best to take out those we marked before anything else. Those enemy soldiers were the ones that were more likely to notice us and blow our mission. After we were far away from our own troops they started using the main guns of the tanks to kill the enemy. All the better for us.

"Shit," Pavel whispered. "Wraiths."

"Captain Caskey," I said into my helmet, "pull your men back, set up a perimeter!"

The explosion hit before I was done speaking. I knew from the sound of it that it hadn't detonated against the pavement. It really said something that I knew exactly the difference between a miss and a hit. I thought about the crewmembers of the Scorpion, maybe the pilot had made it out alive, but the gunner had most definitely roasted in his position, even if the shot was only a grazing.

"Doing that just now, one Scorpion was hit, but it looks like it's still serviceable…yes, driver is still alive, even if he doesn't sound too good."

"We'll keep moving, sit put."

"Acknowledged."

From that point on it was smooth sailing. We ran the length of the back alley with no trouble at all, a couple of grunts made their way across our sights, but they were quickly taken out with as little noise as possible. All the while I heard the Scorpions firing and the Armadillos joining them. Eventually we reached the end of the alley and stopped. Bee and I turned a trash container sideways so that it blocked the alley and protected us from plasma and needles. I crouched behind it and waited for my team to catch up with me.

"School's on the other side, air recon shows four Wraiths, three of 'em are regulars and the fourth one is AA. You all saw the pictures, they're clustered around the two basketball courts, the infantry is occupying the security booth in the entrance and the buildings. This is not a prison, so there aren't any towers."

"Good for us," Bee muttered. "For once."

"Agreed," I went on. "This is a city school, so there are walls surrounding it, eleven and a half feet tall, shouldn't be too hard. Caboose, you brought your pliers?"

"I'd say that I never leave home without them, but then I would be lying."

"So you did?"

"Yes."

"Well, isn't that simpler." I shook my head and forced myself to ignore the narrative commentary by Nick Adamant, reporter extraordinaire. "Pavel, I want you to lift Caboose. You'll cut the fence. Bee, you lift Snark, he'll provide cover for Caboose. Once the fence is cut then we'll jump over and do some storming." I paused and turned to face Adamant, who promptly stopped his narration and snapped a couple of pictures of me. "You still want to come?"

He nodded immediately. "I do."

"Now you sound like you want to marry him," Pavel groaned. "We good to go?"

"Reload," I ordered. "Everyone good?"

They nodded.

"Let's go," I said.

Bee and Snark ran together with Pavel and Caboose to their side. Grass, Angel, and I stayed behind, covering all sides. The piles of debris and car collisions served as excellent visual cover. That and the Covenant were completely focused on the tanks and AFVs firing mercilessly on them. The four men reached the wall and the large and burly Pavel and Bee lifted Snark and Caboose. Caboose immediately started cutting the razor wire on top of the polycrete fence while Snark shuffled sideways on Bee's shoulders. They both dropped to the ground as soon as Caboose was done.

"We're green," Pavel said through the radio.

The four of them took covering positions on the other side of the street while we sprinted through the street. Grass bounded over the fence without stopping and so did Angel. Once they were both over Caboose and Snark followed them. I heard their weapons fire over the fence even as Pavel threw Bee across. I intertwined my fingers together and motioned for Pavel to climb over.

"You sure?" he asked me. "You know I can bench more than you can."

"And you'll never let me forget it," I said in agreement. "Come on."

It was true, Lately Pavel had been gaining tons of upper body mass. I wasn't necessarily a fan of the bodybuilder look, but Pavel managed to keep his musculature one step down from being annoyingly massive and just on the super ripped level. Granted, I wasn't a big fan of the look, but I have to admit that it worked on Pavel. Oh, and the fact that he had out lifted me was slightly annoying, if only for the fact that I had special augmentations and he didn't. Sometimes I wondered if he had to push himself so much only to keep himself up to par with me.

Well that didn't sound conceited at all.

"Go on up," I told him as he climbed on my hands and shoulders before hopping on the other side. "Is it clear?"

"Clear as it's gonna get."

"Adamant," I told him, motioning for him to come towards me. I lifted him onto the other side and he landed with a thud. I chuckled as I pictured him on the ground face first. If he had a nosebleed it would only be better.

I jumped and grabbed the ledge before pulling myself up to the other side. As soon as my eyes crossed the top of the wall I saw the firefight going on. My squad had taken cover behind a chest-high wall. Adamant was still on the floor. I landed with one foot on either side of him. If he took a picture of me while in this position then I wouldn't know what to think of him.

I dove to the floor and yanked the man towards cover as spikes magically protruded from the wall behind me. Pavel and Angel strafed the walls and windows with automatic gunfire while Snark took out higher ranking aliens. I popped from cover and took out three jackal skirmishers that were trying to rush us. They collapsed nearly on top of one another. The school's windows were almost completely covered with enemies. They weren't expecting an attack this quickly though, and most of them were facing the other direction, trying to attack us pesky humans from the side. The Wraiths were on the other side of the building, so their gunners couldn't target us. We just had to clear a couple of dozen covvies from a very well defensible position.

Just another day on the job.

"Pavel and Angel, lay down some heavy fire. If you have armor piercing rounds use 'em." I ducked underneath cover again and the polycrete started chipping off. Someone had me zeroed in. "Caboose, Grass, you two will storm the door with me. Snark, keep it up."

We waited for Angel and Pavel to switch their ammo type before making a break for it. The three of us ran with plasma raining around us. Carbine rounds hit awfully close to home, chipping away at the polycrete floor and flying too close for comfort. We finally made it to the wall, there was a small ledge on the second floor that kept the covvies from firing on us. I could see eruptions all over as the piercing rounds punched through the wall. There were some cries coming from the aliens above, which was good.

"Door," I yelled hoarsely, beckoning for Grass and Caboose to form up behind me. Normally one would clear any room with four men, you'd go front, right, left, and an extra man hanging out in the back. Three was the absolute minimum to do it. It was also unusual that I was in the front. Normally I would've been in the back with Grass in the front. Tallest person usually goes in the back. Still, we were hard pressed for time. I kicked down the door, fully aware that it could've been unlocked for all I knew. I hit a brute bodyguard with sustained automatic fire from my rifle. It collapsed with additional fire from Caboose's shotgun.

"Bodyguards," Grass voiced out the obvious. "That means chieftain."

"Hammer?"

"Or turret, but I'd say hammer," Caboose said. "Close quarters."

"That doesn't mean anything," I muttered, moving slowly towards the corner. "Be ready for anything."

I turned the corner and gunned down three brutes. They had heard the bodyguard die and were only just mustering the courage to investigate. Grass killed a bunch of aliens on the other side. The hallway was mostly empty, it seemed like the second floor was the one with the most aliens. I signaled for Caboose and Grass to go left, I'd clear the right and we'd meet on the other side. I was careful to step over the grunts. The place seemed awfully quiet even despite the sustained machine gun fire and the occasional sniper shot. Try as I did I couldn't hear Bee firing, he was probably trying to keep Adamant alive.

My boots were covered with luminescent blue blood, the squishing sound that they made seemed incredibly loud. I opened the classroom doors and closets as I went, being careful to make as little noise as possible. The rooms were all clear and so were the closets, but I did have to kill two jackals once I turned another corner. They were looking to the other side and made for easy targets. They bodies crumpled to the floor with barely a sound, but the gunshots seemed to echo loudly. Automatic fire resounded on the other side of the building, echoing through the walls.

I quickly set up a small screen in one corner showing me whatever Grass was seeing. Her camera shook slightly as she walked, and I could see the corpses of three bodyguards on the floor, blood emanating from various holes in their bodies. It seemed like my gunfire had provided enough of a distraction for Grass and Caboose to hit them in the back.

The sound of a chairs clattering snapped me back to reality. I cleared another couple of rooms and then stopped in the corner. Caboose turned it a few seconds later, aiming his shotgun directly at my head and then aiming away. He signaled the situation to Grass and they clustered around me.

"What's in the middle of the building?"

"Chow hall," Grass replied. "Under other circumstances I'd say gym, but this is a pre-planned design, so I'm pretty sure it's the chow hall."

"Do you not know anything?" I asked her, smiling as I did so.

"Don't think so."

"Thought so, I only need to clear this closet and we go in the chow hall." The closet in questioned was no different than all the others. It had cleaning supplies, a bunch of toilet paper and some random hardware stuff as well as a fire ax and a sledgehammer. I was about to close the door when the bucket in the corner shook slightly. The cleaning droid beeped and whirred slightly before dying down again. I took half a step back as the wall erupted in my direction. Rocks fell over me while some unseen force shoved me towards the other wall. I slammed into the lockers, crumpling them inwards loudly. I grunted as I slid down to the floor. The grunt was quickly followed by an involuntary yelp as a hammer descended on my position. The huge gravity hammer slammed into the roof, ballooning it upwards and buying me enough time to get out of the way of the angry chieftain. Caboose emptied what was left of his shotgun into the mammoth body of the alien to no effect. Well, to almost no effect, the brute did notice he was being fired upon and batted the weapon aside with a weird donkey kick move.

A brute kicking, that was a new one.

Grass emptied a magazine into the brute's face, draining its shields and hitting the helmet with the last couple of rounds. The chieftain hadn't gotten through to his rank by being a coward or an idiot. It batted Grass to the side while rolling to avoid my gunfire. Grass slammed into the wall, cracking a couple of tiles and probably getting a concussion. Her heartbeat didn't seem to be too damaged, so I ignored her as I tried to zero in on the brute. For a mass of muscle and fur that was ten feet tall it was surprisingly nimble. Half of my rounds landed on the brute's arm, but it barely flinched when it thrust with its hammer at me. It just touched lightly on my shoulder, and the gravity blast wasn't activated, but it was enough to dislocate my shoulder.

"Fuck," I grunted as I dropped my weapon and jumped to the side. I landed on my recently dislocated shoulder, crying out in pain.

Somehow I managed to swallow the pain and get to my feet while drawing my knife. It was hard to get it from my right boot with my left hand, but it was bigger than my small backup knife and easier to get than the large one on my back. The brute was busy trying to hit Caboose when I jumped it. I tackled it with my left side and shoved it sideways just enough for it to stumble. I promptly slashed at the tendons on the back of its knee. It went down on one knee and roared in pain. I quickly slashed upwards, aiming for the throat. My hit bounced off its chest and only succeeded in cutting through the brute's lips.

Lucky me.

I got headbutted in the chest and shoved backwards. The head strike was enough to send me on my ass to the floor. The chieftain pulled itself up with help from its warhammer. I shuffled backwards, getting my knife from over my shoulder and throwing it. It was a quick and hasty throw, but it hit the brute right in the neck. If only the brute had showed the slightest amount of pain over the injury. It was limping towards me ever so slowly, it raised the warhammer parallel to the floor, intending to drop it on top of me without doing a full overhead swing.

Then one of its knees exploded to the side. Shards of bone protruded from the joint and the brute fell face first, the hammer crushing my ankle against the floor, prompting me to cry out in pain again. I pulled my sidearm and fired at it, but the animal barely noticed the bullet holes in its shoulder, face, and neck, instead only lunging towards me. I kicked at its face and slid backwards. Only then did I see Caboose holding a sledgehammer over the brute's head. He dropped it down on the head. Helmet or no helmet, a sledgehammer being dropped on a brute's head by a man in peak physical condition junked up on adrenaline is going to do some damage.

A lot of damage.

The hammer crumpled the helmet easily and the skull as well. A little bit of fluid came out of the brute's nose and ears. For being a chieftain, this one had been knocked out rather quickly, albeit not painlessly.

My shoulder throbbed violently from the pain, but I stood up easily enough. "Caboose…" I started slowly. "Isn't your rifle fully loaded?"

"Yes."

"And yet you used a sledgehammer?"

"It was closer to my hand."

"Uh-huh."

"If it works, it works."

"Sure."

I slowly got up, using my uninjured hand for support. My right shoulder was burning, but as soon as it got fixed I would be able to use it just fine. Caboose dropped the hammer and moved towards me. I clenched my teeth as soon as his hands were over my shoulder and arm. With one sharp pull he repositioned the bones back into their socket.

It was a very practiced move, that really said something about his life.

"Holy fuck!"

"Should be fine," Caboose said, taking a step back and raising his weapon.

"Yeah, I know," I grunted, rolling my shoulder experimentally, it still felt a little bit weird, but the pain was bound to subside sooner rather than later.

The brute chieftain was dead on the floor and Grass was unconscious. I quickly went up to her and checked for life signs. Her suit was giving off stable lines, but I wanted to make sure. She seemed alright, and she didn't seem to have a broken neck or anything related to her spinal cord.

"She's good," I said.

"Up?"

"Up."

The closet that the chieftain had bashed through showed the chow hall, which also happened to be devoid of life. There were a couple of fusion coils and plasma batteries, but no enemies. The hole in the ceiling, on the other hand, was a gateway to a platoon's worth of angry aliens. I positioned myself underneath it and gave Caboose a lift. There he tossed a frag grenade in each direction before jumping back down. After the two explosions he jumped up and helped me up as well. My boots were already applying pressure on my ankle, allowing me to stand up, even if I couldn't move my foot much.

"Pavel, Angel, and Bee," I said into my radio. "Stop firing, Bee, I want you to go towards Grass, take care of her."

"And Adamant?"

"Pavel can handle him."

"Thank God, because he's still making the narration thing."

I ignored the chatter on the squad radio and turned the corner. The outer wall was crumbling and filled with bullet holes. There were plenty of dead covvies on the floor, their blood pooling on the floor and splattered on the inner walls. No windows were left intact either. Out of all the aliens that were still alive most of them were brutes. One of them received a sniper round through the head and fell sideways. That was when I opened fire on the other ones.

With Snark firing with me it only took about fifteen seconds to clear the entire hallway. Trust me, I timed it. The last brute hit the floor with a thud. I stood with my back straight, a strange sense of satisfaction filling me as I walked over the bodies. I should've been hunched, but I sure as hell wouldn't have looked as badass as I did at the time.

"Clear!"

"Clear!" Caboose came in only a couple of seconds later. "Skirmishers mostly, I can see the Wraiths from here." I heard plasma hitting polycrete and knew that they had spotted Caboose.

"Move up," I ordered my squad. "Angel, Pavel, I need you to draw their fire. Snark, take out their gunners."

"Why aren't they firing on us?" Caboose asked.

"Don't know, don't care," I replied quickly. "Not about to complain either."

I turned the corner and ran the length of the next hallway until I arrived at Caboose's position. He was ducking behind a column as plasma hit the lockers next to him. He was just outside of the turrets' range, but if they sustained their fire long enough they would burn through the hard rock protecting him. He didn't seem too worried about it though, instead just holding his shotgun loosely across his chest.

"I see you reloaded."

"Didn't have much else to do."

I ducked underneath the window and crawled across the hall. Most of the plasma was hitting a small area, as soon as I had gone ten yards the plasma stopped flying above me. I could tell that the gunners were very dedicated in their task to kill Caboose. Once I was on the other side I stood up and fired at the closest gunner. The brute on the AA Wraith didn't see me until I had hit it twice in the head. Its helmet held well enough, but on the third burst it gave in to the force and the brute slumped over forwards, either dead or in a vegetative state.

The driver of the tank wasn't so harmless by that point. It decided that its cannons would be more useful by firing at me than by just hanging there. The barrels started lighting up green, giving me just enough warning to start running. The first of the AA rounds hit five meters behind me, the second one punched through the wall and detonated just outside of lethal range, singing my armor and making my skin burn with heat. I didn't really feel like waiting to see what the third and fourth detonations would do and jumped.

The detonations in question hit right above and in front of me.

I could feel the rock shrapnel digging into my left elbow, it stung like hell and back again. I rolled behind cover and held my bleeding arm with my other hand. The pain wasn't too bad, I could move my elbow well enough, but it still hurt pretty bad. It seemed like the rock shards hadn't hit the bone, instead just slicing through the top and back of my elbow. It should be easy to heal.

"Bee, take out those fuckers right now!"

"Sarge?"

"Sorry, I'm just pissed. Have Snark take out the gunners."

"Already on it," Snark assured me. Three SRS shots rang out and Snark confirmed the kills.

"I want the AA Wraith dead," I ordered.

I pushed myself up against the wall until I was in a standing position. Two explosions marked the death of the AA Wraith a second afterwards. My arm was now throbbing with pain. I dropped my BR55 and reached for a can of biofoam on my left thigh. I mentally prepared myself for some more stinging and self-medicated my arm.

Holy fuck that hurt.

"I'm good, I'm good," I wheezed through the stinging situation.

"Sure you are buddy," Schitzo said reassuringly. Scratch that, it was sarcastic reassurance.

"You're good Sarge," Scarecrow assured me. "Jump back in."

"With shrapnel in your arm?"

"It's not in his arm," Scarecrow corrected. "Besides, would you have him leave his squad alone?"

Schitzo raised his arms and backed away before an explosion shook the entire school and disappeared. I rolled my arm and shook my elbow before popping from cover and firing on the three remaining Wraiths. The pinging drew one of the gunner's attention and for a moment it seemed to be aiming at me. A burst of machine gun fire from the first floor drew the tank's attention a second later and it spun to face the new attacker. Before it could even fire once a pair of HEAT rockets slammed into it.

"Angel, the other two."

"Read my mind," he came in.

I could see two pieces of explosive lob over the courtyard. One of them landed on the hatch of one of the two remaining Wraiths, the other one hit its wing-like stabilizers. Three seconds later Angel hit the detonator and both of them blew up. The first Wraith fell to the ground immediately, its driver and most of the important systems gone. The other one started strafing sideways before it crashed into the wall and deactivated. Snark killed the driver as soon as the brute tried to exit.

"That was surprisingly fast and efficient," Snark muttered. "Is the school clear?"

"Looks like it," Pavel voiced. "Let's hail Caskey and his unit."

I nodded and opened a channel to him. "Captain Caskey, this is Reaper, come in."

"Caskey here. Is the Wraith platoon dead?"

"Like Elvis," I said.

"Who?"

"Never mind." I cursed myself for using out of date references and banged my own forehead with my uninjured arm. "You're in the clear."

"Good work, we're moving forward."

I finally allowed myself to rest when the three Scorpions rolled through, firing their guns left and right, smoking covvies out of cover for the regular infantrymen and the machine gunners to kill them with ease.

I hoofed and sat down on a brute corpse. "Everyone good?"

"Grass is up and ready," Bee informed me.

"Not thanks to you," she grunted. "You left me the moment you could."

"I ordered him to," I said weakly. "Come on, we're not done yet."

"Even despite the brilliant handling of the enemy tank unit, Reaper Squad doesn't get any rest. The men of this outfit are already checking their weapons and preparing to rejoin the assault. They look tired, two of the members of the squad have sustained injuries. Reaper-1's right arm is bleeding, but biofoam can handle that injury. Grass, however, has sustained an injury to the head. A concussion is likely, I do not know whether she is fit to fight right now."

"Adamant, please keep it down," I said with as sweet a tone as I could muster. "Or I promise you, I will fuck you up."

"Um, yeah, sorry."

Caskey's unit was making good progress, but then again, so was every single one of our spearhead units.

"Good job out there Castillo," Caskey complimented me. "Your arm ok?"

"Yeah, it's nothing, and thanks, sir."

Caskey was covered with soot from the smoke and explosions, but otherwise he seemed intact. I didn't see many injured men, which meant that they'd probably had an easier job than they expected it. "Your other assignment involves taking down an enemy communications antenna, right?"

I sighed. "That's correct, should be five blocks from here."

"We'll pave the way."

"Thanks sir, we just need to paint the target for the flyboys. Should be pretty straightforward."

Caskey nodded. Several men were trotting past us, ready to have another go at the covvies. Caskey's company was currently rotating platoons. One platoon would clear a block, maybe less if resistance was particularly intense, and then they would rotate backwards to get some rest. The second in line would replace them and everybody would rotate. The two middle platoons would provide suppressing fire as they rested and the one in the back simply cooled down. Captain Caskey rolled his neck and stretched one of his legs. "We're making good progress, the tanks are a huge help. I'm glad Brass decided to give it to us."

"I'm glad too," I said in agreement. "Are we good to go?"

"You can wait back here if you want to."

I was tempted to accept, but I could see disapproving faces floating around, shaking their heads at me. I was a Helljumper and above everything else I was a Marine. We don't rest until we're dead. "No thank you Captain, I'll rest when-"

"You're dead," he finished. "I know, I know. But if you don't rest at all, your death might come sooner than you expect it."

I quickly checked my ammo counter and looked back to Caskey. "I'm going to die a soldier, in the battlefield, I know that. I don't plan on speeding it up."

"Good to know."

My squad was already on the frontline, Adamant had come up here with them, he was recording everything that he could with his holo-camera. Pavel and Angel were working with the heavy weapons squad on the platoon and Snark was just sniping away, helping the sharpshooters spot high-value targets. While two extra machine guns did prove to be a huge help it was mostly Snark's sniping that got us steaming forward. Whenever you have an almost godlike talent for spotting and killing enemies you tend to inspire people, whether to kill you or to help you kill.

Huh, I like that. Inspiring people to kill since 2519.

Oh, oh, I know, you could have a black guy with a deep voice saying 'He inspires people to kill, to kill for him, or just to kill him' as the tagline for some action film, preferably one of those shoot 'em ups.

"There," Snark announced. "We can climb that building to zero in on the enemy antenna."

"The column is moving at a remarkable speed," Adamant narrated. "With the help of Reaper's sniper, Snark, enemy leaders are being killed quickly and efficiently. The higher ranking brutes are being taken out, allowing the tank crews to bulldoze through the leaderless aliens."

"He's right," Angel agreed.

"Pavel, Bee," I snapped. "You're with me. Adamant, feel free to join us."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I shrugged. "If you get shot it's not my problem."

"Thank you so much!"

"Why is he so excited?" Bumblebee asked.

"I don't know, the reality of the situation will sink in soon enough."

"You think it's because he hasn't seen anybody die?"

"Might be," Pavel nodded. "But he did survive a genocide."

"Better not make a definitive opinion just yet then."

"I can hear you, you know?"

"Doesn't feel that nice when you're on the receiving end, does it?" I taunted. "Let's go, Angel, coordinate to provide covering fire for us."

As soon as the entire platoon opened up we crossed into a building on the left of the street. It was the tallest building around, clocking at twenty stories high. Intel told us that there were at least a couple of sniper teams on the building, but nothing seemed to indicate any heavy presence. Some plasma bolts flied at us, but none came close to hit us. Adamant seemed to think otherwise, because he kept narrating about plasma wheezing past us.

We were almost through when a single beam nicked Adamant in the arm. It was barely a graze, because otherwise he would've lost his arm. He collapsed from sheer pain and started moaning in complaint.

"Snark!"

"On it!"

I turned around and grabbed the man by the armpits and lifted him up. He grunted but had enough strength to stand on his own. I still threw his uninjured arm over my shoulders and ran towards safety, dragging him with me as I went. Adamant kept narrating whatever was going on, describing me as I closed in on him and as I pulled him towards safety. I have to admit it, it was pretty flattering, but it was still a little bit annoying.

"You're good," Pavel told me as he helped pull Adamant inside the building. "Bee, cover us." Pavel took a knee and pulled out a can of biofoam. He paused before applying it and gestured at me. I undid one of my ammunition pouches, pulled the magazines out and gave it to the journalist.

"Bit on this," I advised.

"What?"

I all but shoved the pouch into his mouth when Pavel started rubbing the gel into the thin wound on Adamant's upper arm. The poor man cried like a pornstar. He cursed and clenched his fists and jaw, but he didn't move an inch. As soon as Pavel was done he collapsed, breathing heavily but still breathing.

"You stay here," I told him. "We'll clear this building."

"No," he huffed. "I want to see this."

"You know I can order you to stay here," I reminded him. "Or knock you out."

"I am aware of that."

I sighed. "Whatever, you can come, but stay in the back."

Nick Adamant nodded. "Reaper-1 doesn't seem to care for me or my safety, only for completing the mission. I don't know if that is an admirable quality or not, the dedication to his job is impressive, but to think that he wouldn't go out of his way to save a civilian life is slightly worrying. While I am thankful that he has allowed me to continue, I am certain that most unit leaders would've had me stay behind and evacuated by this point. Things are getting louder, tanks are exchanging fire now."

"Damn, those are Daemons," Pavel grunted. "Things might be getting hairy outside."

"I think I've got an idea," I shrugged. We were already in front of the elevator, I clicked the button and sighed when I saw that it was still in working order. "Penthouse."

"Shouldn't we clear the building?" Bee asked.

"Yeah, but we're going to paint the target first, then work our way down."

Bee shrugged, obviously not comfortable with the idea of being trapped on the top of a building. I could relate to that, Nezarian trapped in the Spire had left a big mark on all of us.

The elevator doors pinged and we walked in. The lights flickered a couple of times before the doors finally closed and we started going up.

"The elevator muffles most of the outside sound. The Muzak arrangement playing on the speakers seems almost like some sort of ironic joke at the chaos going outside, I would go as far as saying that the scene is taken straight out of a corny action movie."

"You'd be surprised how often I think that," I muttered.

"Or how often elevators have elevator music in them," Bee added.

Pavel also threw his two cents' worth in. "it's usually The Girl From Ipanema."

"Weirdly enough, the three members of Reaper that are with me seem used to this, I guess that you see many things in combat that you wouldn't notice otherwise."

"You have no idea," I said lowly as the elevator slowed down. I shoved Adamant to the side and covered him with my body. Pavel took a knee and aimed his shotgun while Bee cocked his assault rifle.

The doors opened and they started firing through the metal. The assault rifle punched through the doors with ease, Pavel's shotgun left huge holes in the sheets of metal. A couple of rounds of plasma melted through the doors as they opened, but we had the initiative, out bullets hit a couple of brutes and a jackal. The two brutes recoiled backwards from the sustained gunfire, the jackal just collapsed, dead. I kept my arm against Adamant's chest and fired a burst at a kneeling brute, finishing it off while Pavel blew the other one's head clean off with a close range blast.

"There's no reason whatsoever that that should've worked!" Adamant complained, seeming to be in shock. "They knew we were coming, they probably knew that we knew they were there too! How did they not kill us."

"Luck of the Irish," I said dismissively, moving forward to clear the rest of the penthouse.

Pavel chuckled to himself.

"More like the luck of the Mexican," Bee quipped. "You should know better Sarge."

I rolled my eyes, they were going at it again.

"Have you ever tried playing the lottery?" Pavel asked me. "With your luck you'd go broke and then win the grand prize with your last credit."

"Right," I said.

"Clear," Bee informed me. He fired a burst. "Jackal, dead."

"Left?"

"Clear."

"Double check," I ordered.

A few other bursts rang out before the call of clear came in again. Our fearless journalist crouched behind a couch every time Pavel or Bee fired. It wouldn't exactly stop anything bigger than a medium-sized rock, but it served to reassure the man. Pavel and Bee returned to the main hall and nodded at me. My rifle had the best laser on it. I could paint a target from orbit provided that I could keep my weapon stable enough for the required time. I walked towards the window and aimed at the communication antenna. It looked pretty much like all covvie spires did. Slightly bulky, purple, and with a mushroom-like dome on top.

Down on the street something caught my attention, two Daemon tanks, firmly entrenched behind piles of debris and several deployable shields. The covvie tanks were firing at a Scorpion, even as I watched the aliens killed the tank, sending its turret flying upwards as the ammunitions detonated.

"Bee, how many rockets do you have left?"

"Not enough."

"Shit…"

I did some quick mental calculations and decided that it was worth the risk. I zeroed in on a spot a couple of floors below the Covenant antenna. It was located on top of a shorter building, but slightly to the edge facing the street. I kept my laser focused on that spot and opened up a channel to command.

"Command, this is Reaper Actual, Target zero-five-niner is visible and currently being painted. Are the birds ready?"

"Affirmative Reaper Actual, I advise you keep your head down."

"Thanks Command. Reaper out."

I kept my rifle steady and waited patiently. Those few seconds seemed like ages, but I didn't waver. After the wait came the fireworks. Two Gryphon fighters like the ones in Lambari streaked downwards from above, pulling up just above the skyline. They each let out two rockets. The missiles flew straight at the spot my laser was painting and detonated almost instantly.

Had they hit the communications tower, they would've destroyed it instantly, but the explosions didn't reach that far up, instead they only served to slice of a large section of the building's wall. The tons of rock fell straight down and right on top of one of the Daemon tanks. I allowed myself a small smile, but the top of the building was keeping stable.

"Damn."

Bee fired one rocket from next to me. It flew in a perfectly straight line at a column. The initial explosions had exposed much of the inside of the building, the detonation broke down the column and a large section of the ceiling. With that the rest of the top started crumbling. Polycrete and steel bars started falling down until the weight of the antenna brought it down. As luck would have it, it hit the remaining Daemon head on, detonating as its plasma cells overloaded.

"Nick," Bee said after watching the entire building collapse in what seemed like slow motion. "Tell me you got that."

Thanks to Sniper Fodder for proof-reading this chapter.

Well, I hope you liked this chapter and sorry for the delay, but I've been trying to get used to school and all the homework isn't really helping in any way. For those of you with concerns, rest assured that there is a semblance of a main plot going on here, I'm just struggling a little bit when it comes to putting it together.

Again, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Stay strong.

-casquis