Chapter CLV: 18th Street

March 1, 2548 (UNSC Calendar)/

Water Oakley, LV-426, Zeta Reticuli System

"Hit the other fellow, as quick as you can, and as hard as you can, where it hurts him most, when he ain't lookin'!" -unknown (British Sergeant Major)

"What the hell took you so long?" Api asked as I opened the Wraith's hatch.

"Hey Api," I replied, taking his hand and pulling myself out of the cramped driving compartment. Wiremu looked like a veritable badass with his rocket launcher on his shoulder and helping me up with his other hand. "Damn grunt hit me with an overcharged shot."

"I think you're supposed to restart the Wraith and it's in working order again."

"Like I know how to restart this fucking thing," I muttered, jumping down the turret and aiming at plasma weaponry muzzle flashes as Api fired his two rockets at a fortified position. Suddenly the Wraith was the center of attention again.

"The rest of the platoon is moving into a flanking position," he told me. "Lieutenant left a few men to help your squad."

"Understood," I acknowledged, strafing the enemy lines with the plasma turret. I wasn't really attempting to hit anything as much as I wanted them to keep their heads down and their attention focused on me. "I take it we secure the area and then regroup with the rest of the company?"

"You'd have to talk to Lieutenant Weller for that," Api replied, reloading his SPANKr. "Just between you and me, she's one tough bitch."

"Certainly has the look…" I replied, ducking as a pair of needles flew right past my arm.

All of a sudden the enemy forces, what little was left of them, was hit from the side by Platoon 3. They opened up with grenade launchers and grenades before taking out anything and everything that was still moving with good ol' fashioned firearms. A few of the smarter elites and jackals took cover from the flanking attackers, but there wasn't much in the emptied parking lot that would protect them from both Platoon 3 and Pavel's gunners. They were all dead within one minute.

"Well there's that," I said, jumping out of the gunner's seat and patting Api in the shoulder. "Been a while since we last saw combat together," I told him.

He laughed. "If I was still in your squad it would've just happened like three hours ago."

"More," I corrected, "but I see your point. Serge and Axel?"

"Up to no good as always," Api said smiling. "They enjoy the extra girls in the platoon though."

"So do my boys," I said. "Well, Caboose is still trying to get into Miranda pants."

"What do you mean still?"

"Oh, I thought it was obvious."

"Well, it wasn't," Api replied. "Damn, Sergeant Konstantinov and Novak? That's a recipe for disaster right there if anyone ever finds out."

"I'm not telling, are you?" I sighed. "No need to worry about something that hasn't happened yet."

I looked around without really leaving cover. I was certain that every covvie in a two-block radius was dead, but it always paid to be extra careful. I opened up a line to Lieutenant Weller and asked her what her status was.

"We're good, just finishing up an area sweep."

"Good, good. Thanks for the help Jen," I said.

"No problem Frank," she replied almost dismissively. It was almost as if she was uncomfortable with me thanking her. Oh well.

"Fill me in on the plan?"

"Our two platoons are going to move forward as much as we can," she said, obviously happy at the difficult task. "A couple of armored teams from the regulars will be doing the same from the other side of the city. We link up with them and so do the other three platoons. We'll be making three corridors, separating the enemy forces into four different sections before taking them out."

"Multiple pincer maneuvers," I said. "Sounds like fun…" And a lot of opportunities for friendly fire.

"When do we start?" Schitzo asked.

"When do we start?" I asked.

"Captain Hayes said to move forward as fast as possible," Jen replied.

"All right, give me a minute." I turned towards Api. "Think you should regroup with your platoon?" I asked him.

"Probably," he admitted. "Come on squad, on me!"

Api moved towards the rest of his platoon with three other Helljumpers in his wake. The man certainly could command by physique alone.

"Caboose, where are you?"

"Not far," he replied almost immediately. "The rest of my squad should be there in a few minutes."

"What do you mean the rest?" I asked.

"Lieutenant."

I jumped and turned around, raising my weapon and aiming it at the visor of an ODST. My HUD marked him as Private Stan Zepeda. He was the platoon's designated sniper. The guy was almost as good as Snark with an SRS, but he left my former squad mate in the dust when it came to stealth.

"How the hell did you manage sneaking past everyone?" I asked him.

The man just shrugged.

"Dammit Zepeda, next time warn me before I put a bullet through your visor."

"Willco," he replied. All through this little scene the sniper hadn't even flinched, instead he simply held his sniper rifle across his chest in a relaxed stance. "Sarge told me to come help if needed. Seems like I'm late."

"That you are," I agreed. "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"A few blocks that way," he said, pointing. "They should be here any moment now."

I nodded and considered the new information. "Five!" I yelled. "On me!"

Most of my squad was milling about next to me within a minute, but it took Pavel's Heavy Weapons Squad a little bit longer to grab all their gear and move up towards the stadium. The area surrounding us was already secure, but it probably wouldn't be like that for long. Once I saw Pavel's men trotting towards us I waved my hand at them and set a waypoint at Weller's position.

All fourteen of us moved across the parking lot and then some to reach Weller.

"Fan out," I ordered. "Keep the perimeter secure."

Over a dozen acknowledgement lights winked in my HUD before my platoon started dispersing to take defensive positions. Lieutenant Weller was holed up in a security booth with her platoon sergeant, Micah Black. The man seemed friendly enough, but there was always a smile on his face and he always seemed a little bit too optimistic. Granted, I had only talked to him once, but it did come off as unusual, especially from a veteran ODST.

"Jen," I greeted the platoon leader. "Good to see you."

"Lieutenant," she replied in acknowledgement. "Please."

I looked at the projector on her hand and waited for her to turn it on. The hologram that appeared displayed the city from a bird's eye view. It showed our current position in green as well as the UNSC-controlled area. In between them and us there was a large section of Covenant-held land covered in red.

"We'll go in a straight column," she said, "we will take and hold the blocks between 18th and 19th streets and we'll do what we can to hold the streets as well."
"That'd be a lot easier if we had vehicles," I noted.

"Command is working on sending us a pair of 'Hogs," Lieutenant Weller told me. "Should be here right about now."

I listened for the sound of Pelicans and only just caught it over the raging battle. Already some of the ODSTs in the two platoons were firing their weapons. Just because we had accomplished part one of our mission didn't mean that the rest was going to be a cakewalk.

"One 'Hog per platoon?" I asked her.

"Yeah."

"Got it," I replied. "We'll take turns moving forward with Pavel's squad providing machine gun cover."

"That's the plan then," Jen agreed. She turned to face her second in command and put on her helmet. "Black, give out the orders and mobilize the men."

"Yes, sir," he replied, exiting the room with his weapon tightly held in his hands.

I followed after him and exited the security booth. Bright lights from the two Warthogs and several colorful plasma bolts illuminated the night even as the two ODST platoons fired upon attackers that I couldn't see.

"Five!" I yelled loudly. "We'll leapfrog our way to friendly territory with Pavel and HW Squad providing machine gun cover all the way. Staff Sergeant Konstantinov, I want three of your men on the Warthog."

It was like a well-oiled machine. Everybody started moving in different directions until you could clearly tell one platoon from the other. Three moved across 18th street and all the way onto19th. As soon as they were there I ordered my platoon to move up. As always there were plenty of cars and debris to provide cover for us. Since we were attacking the enemy from the rear it meant that there were also some pieces of equipment that the Covenant had left behind to provide for us.

"Warthog! Hit and run, give me an overview on numbers and positions," I ordered even as the vehicle lurched forward, its engine roaring. "Pavel, move your team up a building, we're going to be needing lots of cover. I want Carver groundside with us."

PFC Daniel Carver was the man with the M515 Multiple Grenade Launcher. The weapon had a revolver-like design that allowed it to house ten 25mm smart grenades. The little monsters were rocket-aided and had a high degree of maneuverability and some limited tracking function. They could be set to detonate above enemy cover or right in front of them. There were several different types of munitions for the M515 including regular explosives, incendiary, stun, AP, and my personal favorite, flechette.

My platoon moved forward while plasma and needles flew at us. They were being fired from a distance and with our Warthog distracting them so it wasn't very accurate. I took position behind a tall SUV as the rest of my squad and the other three men on Grigori's Recon squad moved forward.

"Lieutenant, we've got about equal numbers facing us," the passenger on the Warthog, PFC Abri O'Malley informed me. "They don't have any heavy weapons and appear to be attempting a holding action."

PFC O'Malley was born in Luna and was a first generation Lunatic, as residents of Earth's moon were often called. Her parents were from the south of the African Continent. She had brown eyes and blonde hair but her accent was like brick hitting glass. I guess I would've found it sexy if I didn't need the subtitle function on my helmet to understand half of what she said. Not even a drunk-as-fuck Bumblebee could speak in a thicker accent.

"Understood," I replied. "Make your way back here and hit their fortified positions if you can." I looked at my minimap to confirm that everyone was in front of me.

"Ok everybody move up! Let's take these bastards down! Pavel, covering fire. Now!"

Numerous SAWs and M247Ls boomed loudly from the second floor on the building to our right. The squad was at an angle and didn't really have a very good view of the enemy, but it was enough to kill a couple of aliens and keep the rest with their heads down.

I moved up even as my platoon already advanced in front of me. It felt weird not to be leading an assault at the very front, but I knew that I didn't need to feel that way. At least that's what officer school had taught me, I still felt like a coward for some reason.

"C'mon," I muttered to myself, ignoring the laughing Schitzo to my side. Focus.

I fired a quick burst at a grunt that tried shooting at one of my men and with that every alien on this block was dead.

We aren't called humanity's best for nothing.

"Keep pushing," I ordered. "Pavel, provide cover for 3."

"Lieutenant Weller is already moving up," he replied. "No need to provide cover. HW Squad is on the move."

I smiled. It was good to work with a unit of highly proficient killers.

It wasn't particularly fast, but we cleared our street and the neighboring buildings with deadly efficiency. Most of the Covenant forces were already on the frontline, but the few that we encountered here were prepared for our assault. The further we went the more fortified their positions were and the harder it was for us to punch through them. It would've been a lot easier if we had counted with a Hornet or three to provide air support. Instead, the covvies were the ones who had Banshees to support them. They stopped attempting strafing runs after Corporal Dana Bamber from Pavel's squad killed a couple with her Spartan Laser.

"Should we worry about damaging property?" PFC Carver asked me after a while.

"Didn't get that in the rules of engagement," I told him. "Besides, most civilians are either in the safe zone or outside the city."

All I got for a reply was three explosions followed by three floors of a building collapsing into the street and burying some grunts that didn't move out of the way.

"Sniper down," Carver announced cheekily.

"Good job," I complimented loudly, even clapping a couple of times. "Now lose the attitude and keep moving."

"Uh, yes, Sir," he replied, stumbling over his words ever so slightly. "Sorry Sir."

We had moved forward seven blocks when I got a transmission from Al-Hassan.

"Whatup Al?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I sounded like an idiot saying that. I was thirty-three now.

"Bad news Frank," he told me. I noticed that he changed the line into a secure one before saying that. "Very bad news."

"Covvie reinforcements?" I asked, shooting a jackal sharpshooter down from its watchtower.

"Afraid so."

"Are we pulling back?"

"No. The admiral said that we're defending this moon until reinforcements arrive. It should just be another two days."

"Damn," I grunted, taking cover behind the pile of debris that Carver had made with his M515. "Numbers?"

"Sixteen enemy ships. Six of them are cruisers and some are frigates, that's all we've got so far."

"Puta madre," I cursed. "The battlegroup?"

"They took out the last remaining cruiser just before the enemy reinforcements appeared. They took out the Cappadocia and heavily damaged the More Badass than Thou. The rest of the fleet is on the run but still intact."

"Something good I guess," I grunted, not really feeling it. "Aw well, nothing we can do about it right now."

"Negative Frank. Your current objective still stands. You're free to inform your unit of the situation as soon as it is accomplished."

"Yeah, that'll certainly be a reward for a job well done."

"I am sorry Lieutenant," Al said. "Good luck."

Luck…

In the next intersection we came across our first real obstacle. I found myself running across the street in order to avoid a Wraith mortar. Needles and plasma flew around me without really making contact even as the huge bluish orb detonated, sending shockwaves all around it. Automatic plasma fire hit the car I had chosen for cover, with a few of the rounds punching through the thin metal sheets. I popped out of cover and fired a burst at the elite manning the Wraith's heavy turret. The elite stumbled and the turret aimed towards the ground, where its fire hit two grunts.

I chuckled at my fortune and grinned as I saw the angry elite snarl in frustration at its mistake before firing another burst. The alien stopped firing briefly and instead just located my position before it resumed firing, trying to melt through the car in order to get to me.

"Wraith's going to take you out El-tee," Mobuto warned in a dull voice from an overturned truck.

"Miranda, take out the gunner will ya?" I asked calmly.

She fired five shots. "Done."

I used that small window to sprint from my half-molten car towards Marv's overturned truck. Just as I slid into cover I heard the familiar explosion from the Wraith's mortar. Some shrapnel clattered against the truck but none punched through.

"Hey Marv," I said conversationally. "You good?"

"Can't complain," he replied. "But I really think we ought to move."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Probably right."

Both of us dashed away as another Wraith mortar shot hit the truck essentially turning it into a giant grenade. Everybody had seen it coming and had taken cover behind something, but the huge amount of shrapnel and hot metal that was sent flying in every direction was still impressive. Every window within thirty meters was shattered by the fast-flying pieces of metal and the truck itself was rendered a pile of molten slag.

"Enough is enough," I growled. "Carver and Bamber, one of you take that fucker out."

"Ain't got the firepower," Carver replied. "I could damage the cannon if you want me to."

"Bamber?" I asked.

"Sorry," she apologized in her relatively deep voice. "Trouble reloading."

A second later a red laser beam collided with the Wraith's frontal armor and detonated the ammunition store. The tank blew up in a blue fireball and then fell down to the ground as its anti-grav engines failed. The Wraith was the backbone of the enemy defense, and with enough time and lead we ground down the enemy. A couple of squads fell back under our onslaught, but we took the intersection with no casualties. We were doing good.

"Frank," Jen suddenly came in. "Trouble on our end."

I almost said 'whatup' again. "What is it?"

"Two Daemon tanks, they've got us pinned down."

"Can Bamber-"

"No, they're just outside of her visible range."

"Have her climb down then," I suggested. "Fire from ground level."

Two loud explosions sounded from the other street.

Weller grunted. "Perhaps that's not the best idea right now; we can barely look over cover."

"Can you fall back and regroup with us?"

Another explosion.

"Risky, but possible," she replied.

I hesitated for a second. "Hold on," I said. "We'll try something."

Formulate a plan, formulate a plan, formulate a plan.

"Not really inspiring any confidence Frank," Jen grunted. "Keep your thoughts to yourself."

"Right."

So I had one Warthog and thirteen highly trained killers plus another seven ODSTs with Pavel. It really shouldn't be that hard. Well, with those assets alone I could come up with several plans, all of which would've only worked if it had been Pavel and me doing them. The Warthog was a tempting possibility though.

"Caboose, get the Warthog down here. Carver, on me!"

The large vehicle skidded to a stop as I walked down the street. PFC Daniel Carver jogged up to me and said nothing.

"You two," I pointed at Caboose's two men. "Out. Carver, get in the passenger's seat."

"Want the wheel?" Caboose asked me.

"Last time I drove it didn't end too well," I said.

I actually got a chuckle in reply. Everybody loves the Warthog's handling, or rather, its lack of handling.

I spooled up the Gatling on the 'Hog's rear even as Caboose stepped on the pedal. Carver was already reloading his M515 with a different type of explosive. Caboose dodged some cars as we sped up. As we came across the first intersection I started firing at the elites I could see. I killed two of them before we had to dodge a salvo of plasma. Caboose put it in reverse before we were hit and hid behind a pair of small cars for cover as I killed our attackers.

"The intersection after this one," I said.

"I know," he replied irritably. No doubt he wasn't having much fun right now.

The tail of the Warthog fishtailed as he turned around. I held on for dear life as we hopped over the median dividing the road. A jackal was squashed under the 'Hog's hood and we burst through the second intersection. I fired at our rear, discouraging the covvies from taking any potshots at us.

"This is the one!" PFC Carver yelled.

Caboose floored it as he crashed through a pair of SUVs. The grunts taking cover behind the vehicles ended up underneath them. The rest of the covvies were rather shocked to see the Warthog plow through their cover and not even stop. It bought us a second that I used to fire at the elites and jackals, sending them running for cover and confusing the grunts. I took out one elite before we turned towards the 19th street. As soon as we turned I saw one of the two Daemon tanks. It was just standing there, calmly waiting for Jen's platoon to leave cover or make a fatal mistake.

Carver didn't need an order to fire. He put all ten of his smart grenades into the tank. The ten projectiles were pretty small but packed one hell of a punch. I raised an eyebrow when I realized that the first couple or so had been penetrator rounds, designed to punch through thick armor. The rest were all HE-AP. Regular anti-tank shells that would punch through some armor and then blow up some. I immediately started firing at the damaged section of the tank, hoping that one of the 12.7x99mm rounds would go through whatever was left of the tank's armor and hit the gunner or driver.

I had to stop when the elite manning the turret outside turned to aim at us. Fortunately I got the first shot off and didn't stop firing after that. By the time the elite was slumped over the edge of the seat Carver had reloaded his MGL. He fired two more shots, both of which went right into the damaged part of the Daemon's armor. The second shot seemed to have no effect until the tank's turret exploded upwards.

"Aimed for the ammunition store," he explained. "Memorized the location."

"Good work," I allowed. "But we still have another one to go."

I saw sparks on the second Daemon mark my hits. Carver was reloading his MGL again and Caboose was swerving around the wreck of the first tank in order to cross the intersection and put a building in between us and the other tank. The Daemon attempted to shoot us, with the corner of a building only just barely blocking the plasma shell. Bits and pieces of rock showered the Warthog and almost knocked me out of the gunner seat.

"Shit," I grunted as I tried to hold on. I accidentally clicked the triggers, spraying the wall to our left and startling Carver, who promptly aimed at the spot I had fired on before he realized what happened.

"You scared the shit out of me El-tee," he told me.

I remained quiet in response as Caboose turned the jeep around.

He stopped when the car's hood pointed towards the intersection we had just crossed. I could hear myself taking a deep breath and both Caboose and Carver's shoulders slowly rose and fell. We were literally going to make ourselves part of a shooting gallery with a tank.

Yes, we were literally making ourselves part of a shooting gallery with a tank.

Caboose floored the accelerator and the car jumped forward. The moment we crossed into the Daemon's field of fire I started hitting the tank, the huge caliber bullets doing nothing to its thick frontal armor. Carver aimed with his launcher and fired all ten grenades. For a brief instant I saw three of the rocket-assisted explosives fly away from the barrel of the weapon at a fraction of their real speed. A pair of elites in ranger armor snarled at us, trying to aim their plasma repeaters at us. The shells from the LAAG slowly moved across the air and down to the street.

I don't know if time slowed down because of my psychosis or if it was a secondary effect from the augmentations, but it was probably the only thing that I enjoyed about being experimented on by ONI. For those brief instants I could see absolutely everything. I feel like I could do anything. It was a sense of clarity that was simply indescribable, as if I knew everything that was going on around me.

I somehow knew that there were two grunts taking cover behind two jackals just to my right. I could see that the two elite rangers were about to overheat their repeaters and that the windows above them housed one jackal sharpshooter with a needle rifle that was half empty. There were about six grunts moving up from the next intersection, one of them an ultra with a needler and the rest regulars with plasma pistols. I could see the scratches that my firing had made on the side of the Daemon's turret.

I could also see as the first of Carver's grenades collided directly with the head of the elite manning the plasma turret. The alien's head blowing up was what snapped me back into real time.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Carver yelled as he fired his weapon.

Halfway through his magazine the Daemon shot at us. It missed, but only just. The plasma shell detonated about three meters behind the rear fender. The shockwave was enough to tilt the Warthog's rear. Caboose tried to regain control but it was too late. I jumped as the Warthog became perpendicular to the street. My rifle was already on my back and my pistol was secured to my thigh. There were a few grenades still on their webbing on my belly, but I'd have to work around those. I landed belly-first, the impact driving the wind out of my lungs. My armor absorbed some of the shock, but not all of it. Despite the strength of the impact I had the advantage of a couple of inches of plating in between the asphalt and me.

I felt strangely ridiculous skidding through the street at high speeds, but the rapidly approaching sidewalk quickly changed my mind. I put my shoulder first as I crashed into the curb and flipped over, slamming into the sidewalk with a groan.

"Fuck me," I complained loudly, every inch of my body hurting.

"Not the time Francisco," Schitzo urged. "Get up."

"Take it easy," Scarecrow said.

Been a while, I noted.

"No time to take it easy!" Schitzo yelled-

The force behind his words was enough to make me jump to my feet, rifle in my hands. I quickly confirmed that both Carver and Caboose were alive and relatively unharmed. The 'Hog's frame had protected them from being squashed against the street.

One of the elites hopped over its makeshift barrier and aimed at me. It jerked its left hand away from its repeater violently as it overheated. I smiled to myself and squeezed off a couple of bursts. The elite rolled until its back was facing me and then it took another pair of bursts that drained its shields. I aimed at the gap in the armor between its head and back. It took two bursts to put it on its knees and one more to kill the elite. Those fuckers had some thick skin.

"Lieutenant!" Carver called at me. He was in panic.

"Relax," I told him, sliding into cover behind the overturned Warthog. I slid on one knee and with my rifle up, and I will have you know that I looked very badass as I did so. "Caboose?"

He grunted something in Russian before confirming that he was fine.

I fired a burst to discourage the other elite from jumping over cover and then ducked underneath the Warthog. Carver hadn't been wearing his seatbelt, but he had had enough time to slide down into crash position before his helmet slammed against the bulletproof windshield. It was a miracle that he hadn't been knocked out instantly.

"You have a hard head," I said, trying to see where he was stuck.

"And I'm also unable to move," he replied.

"Spine's fine," Caboose said, no doubt accompanying that statement with an eye roll. "You can walk."

"I know that," Carver replied. "I just-"

"Aha!" I exclaimed in exaggeration. "That's the problem."

The seat itself had moved during the impact and was pressing both of Carver's legs against the floor of the jeep. I pressed my feet against the Warthog's frame and pulled at the seat, yanking it from its place with very little trouble.

"Ah…" Carver grunted as he fell to the street. "Thanks."

"Cover me," I ordered. "Caboose?"

"Can't move," he replied.

I went around the Warthog and helped Caboose out from underneath the wreck. Carver fired at something with his MA5, discarding the powerful M515 for the moment. Caboose was in better shape than the PFC. If we needed to move Carver would be in some trouble. It wouldn't be long before he realized that one of his ankles was broken and the other one sprained.

"Jen," I called the other platoon leader. "The Daemon should be aiming away from your position, Api can take it down."

There was a slight pause before I got a reply. "Looks like you're right," she said.

The two rocket explosions were way too close for my taste. I peeked over the edge of the Warthog and realized that the Daemon tank had been moving forward and was in the process of aiming its cannon at our little wrecked Warthog.

"Thanks," I breathed. "Close one."

Before Jen could reply a plasma shot burst right next to my head, only just missing Caboose.

I forgot that we were behind enemy lines while we were behind enemy lines.

Caboose took down the offender with three bursts before rolling to the side in order to get better cover. There was no way that we could be fully protected from both sides, but he got the best spot.

"Platoon 5 move up, move up!" I ordered loudly. "Double time it!"

I could hear the gunfire intensifying on 18th street. It didn't take long before Jen and 3 got the hint and started pushing forward. Both platoons moving simultaneously was enough to distract the covvies and make them think about their priorities. The aliens stopped firing at us and instead focused on trying to push back the angry Helljumpers with fancy guns.

An exercise in futility, but they made a show of putting up a fight.

"Are you ok Lieutenant?"

I looked up to see Miranda standing next to me. All of a sudden I felt as if I had slammed into the pavement from a rapidly moving vehicle. My head spun slightly and my sternum started throbbing like hell. I had no doubt that at least a couple of ribs were cracked and that my titanium prosthetics had saved me from further internal damage.

"Peachy," I replied with my best smile. "Where's Livingston?"

"Am I not good enough for you?" she asked. "Besides, I'm qualified."

"I forgot that you took the Corpsman Course."

"Someone had to," she told me, "especially after Almers."

"Yeah…"

"Besides, I needed something to do while you were taking those vacations."

"A joke? From you?" I chuckled despite the pain. "Next thing I know you'll be cursing."

Miranda smiled but suddenly frowned as something caught her eye. "Grigori!" she exclaimed in shock at seeing Caboose. The man had a cracked visor, but he was in better condition than Carver and me both. "Are you alright?"

Miranda placed her hand on his shoulder and reached for a medical scanner in her butt-pouch. She looked at my former squad mate with a frown on her face as she examined his vital signs and other information that his suit gave off.

"No one ever medicates me with that much feeling," Carver complained.

"Oh," Miranda said, suddenly realizing what she had done. She quickly yanked both of her hands back towards her. "Seems like you're fine, no injuries."

"Thanks," Caboose replied, sounding a little flustered. For him that meant that he sounded the same as always. Dull.

"My legs, they hurt really bad doc," Carver said in an accent that I didn't recognize. It was rather funny the way he said it. "Be straight with me, am I gonna lose 'em?"

"Christ," Miranda muttered under her breath. "Might have a broken ankle."

"Broke-What?!" Carver said suddenly. "Broken ankle? It hurts but not that bad."

"Sorry bro," I told him. "Your boots can make a splint."

"The other one's also broken," Miranda said. "Minor fracture, should heal in two days with bone regen fluids."

"Two broken ankles."

"You can't get more than that," I said, summoning all my strength in order to stand up. "Come on, splint yourself and have Miri help you up."

Caboose got up with me and looked around. Anybody else would've offered me a hand the way I was stumbling, but he barely spared me a second glance when he saw how weak I was. Frankly, I preferred it that way. Squad mates or no I still didn't like the guy.

"Pavel," I said. "Send three of your guys here to flip over the 'Hog." I stopped. "Negative on that one, send two of Grigori's guys, see if the thing's still drivable."

"They're on their way," he replied after a moment. "Frank, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah," I assured him, realizing that I was slurring my speech a little bit. "No. You have command of the platoon for the time being…whoa."

The world went upside down on me and I sat back down. It seemed like this wasn't as harmless as it appeared at first sight. Little black circles dotted my vision and I could feel myself growing weaker and colder.

"Am I going to faint?" I asked. "No way."

"You are," Schitzo said resignedly. "How embarrassing."

"Nah, I won't faint."

"Lieutenant, are you ok?" Miranda was asking me. "You just fainted."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. I was right here and I saw you. It's recorded and everything."

"No I didn't," I repeated. "Why the hell would you say all that on your first counter?"
Miranda shrugged.

"Dammit woman."

"Take some stims," she told me in a doctor's tone. "I'd recommend downing one of your energy bars as well. Oh, and painkillers too."

I sat back up, not remembering having lied down.

Holy shit I actually fainted.

"Told you," Miranda replied with a self-satisfied smile. "Don't worry; you were just out for a minute."

Since when did the brain-mouth filter stop working again? Christ, another thing to worry about.

"Take the meds," she said. "We need to move out, armored teams are meeting up with us soon."

I did as Miranda ordered, swallowing a few pills and closing my eyes, waiting for them to take effect. The meds were designed to start working as fast as possible and they did their job right. In less than a minute I was feeling like I could take on a hunter with a pair of plasma grenades and a shotgun.

Yeah right.

Caboose and his men had flipped the Warthog over and were now providing machine gun support for the rest of my platoon. We had moved up an extra pair of blocks while I was allegedly fainting. No Covenant soldiers in those two blocks. It wasn't until the third one that we came across a fortified position.

Fortified position perhaps doesn't do it full justice. It was like a fucking fortress.

"How the hell did they get the time to make that!" Pavel exclaimed.

Even from my position I had to agree with him. The street went down as the avenue perpendicular to us turned into a bridge. 18th street briefly became a tunnel that turned to the left here. All the buildings surrounding this place were reduced or completely gone. There wasn't a construction more than two floors high. The Covenant had taken advantage of the situation to make a fortress.

They had set up an AA gun right in the idle of everything and had piled up cars, debris and deployable shield covers all around, forming a very well defended perimeter. There were a few plasma turrets on the second level of the AA gun and on top of the wall of cars.

"Christ," I cursed. "This is going to suck."

The AA gun wasn't only that, it was also a fortified infantry position that could fend off several attacks. Not to mention that they had made a wall around it.

"Holy crap," Weller exclaimed. 19th street also came across the enemy fortification, merging with our street right before the tunnel. "There's no way we're pushing through that!"

"Maybe we can wait for the armored teams to move up," I suggested.

"I'm afraid that's not going to be a possibility," Al said, his avatar appearing on my HUD. "The Covenant have sent all their Daemon and Wraith units to meet up the armored teams. Command expects a victory, but it might be a while."

"Urban tank combat," I muttered. "Great."

"Lieutenant," Jen said. "We need a step-by-step. Or air support."

"Sounds about right," I agreed, moving up towards her position as she jogged towards me. "We need a plan."

As soon as we were both safely behind cover Jen produced her holographic projector and placed it on the ground. It immediately displayed the AA gun and the wall of cars and debris surrounding it. From here it didn't really look like we had much of a chance.

"Any suggestions?" I asked her.

"Me?" she exclaimed, half-surprised. "You're the one that's supposed to come up with the crazy plans."

"Ah, my former squad mates like to talk," I said in realization. I chuckled to myself while shaking my head. "Ok, here's what we do," I started. "The tunnel isn't that heavily defended, but we're still going to need some skill to pull this off."

Jen nodded to show that she was following.

"We put sharpshooters here and here," I pointed at a few of the surrounding buildings. "Send both of the snipers, your platoon has a sniper, right?"

She nodded again.

"We send him and Zepeda as far back as we can while still giving them full view of the fortification. They and the sharpshooters will work on keeping the turrets empty and unmanned. Your platoon should keep hammering them from here while Pavel's squad pounds away at these two sections, they seem like the weakest."

I examined the hologram before going on. "The rest of my platoon can go down under the bridge if we have good enough cover. Send in a pair of Grigori's guys with explosives and we bring down the whole thing. AA gun should at least tilt sideways and about half of the wall will go down with the bridge."

Jen looked from me to the hologram and then back to me. "So everybody's a distraction?"

"Yeah," I confirmed. "But you need to sell it."

"Do you doubt me?"

I smiled until I realized that her question wasn't a joke. "No, no, of course not, just going over everything."

Jen seemed to consider whether I was being truthful before nodding and polarizing her visor once again. "Very well then, we'll make some noise. You should probably reposition your Heavy Weapons Squad from here to here. That way they can cover you and us without drawing fire to you."

"Good idea," I admitted. "Good luck."

"To you as well."

We took off towards our respective platoons while I ordered everyone about. I got the men on the Warthog to position it just around a corner and sent Zepeda to our rear to provide sniper cover.

"Keep those turrets empty," I told him.

He nodded in reply and took off without a sound.

"Move it people!" Pavel was yelling to his squad. "Move your asses!"

"Don't get to excited," I told him quietly as I passed by him. In reply Pavel simply pushed me in the back as I walked past. "Ok listen up!" I yelled loudly. "Everyone will be providing cover for us twelve. We need to get under the tunnel and then bring it down."

Long pause. "Wait, that's it?" Miranda asked what nobody else dared to.

"Do you require more?" I asked her. "Are you not supposed to function under tough circumstances? Are you not Helljumpers!"

"Oorah!"

"Damn right," I said, smiling.

Holy fuck had I been wrong to expect this to be easy.

Well, I hadn't exactly figured it to be easy, but I had expected it to be about twenty minutes of frantic shooting and some crazy awesome shit before we achieved out objective.

It seemed like humans weren't the only ones who can fight hard when they have their backs against a wall. And the covvies here had their backs against two full battalions.

"AL, where the hell is that air support?" I asked the AI, still crouching behind the car that I had been using as cover for the past thirty minutes. "Can't they send a couple of Hornets or even Falcons this way?"

"I'm sorry Frank," he replied. "But command is giving priority to the units fighting down the Scarabs."

"How the hell do they always keep those things hidden," I asked myself.

"They're modified mining platforms," Al lectured me. "They dig them into concealment."

"Lotta good that does me." I looked around to see Marvin calmly reloading his SMG and rolling his neck. "What's the situation on those?"

"Platoons One and Two are still up and kicking with four casualties each. No KIA just yet."

"The Scarabs?"

"They are trapped, One and Two are pounding them with rockets and trying to take out the crew. The armored team on the other side is keeping them from making a run for it."

"Why don't they just knock them out already?!"

"Well, they're waiting for the air support that you requested."

"Like every single gunship is busy."

"Or shot down," Al suggested.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I punched the car. "Our armored team still playing cat and mouse with the Covenant tanks?"

"Unfortunately."

"Guess this is still up to us then," I sighed.

Schitzo laughed and shook his head. "My my, I never took you to be lazy Francisco."

"You could always wait an hour or two, let the cavalry come in," Scarecrow suggested.

Nah, that's not very Helljumpery-like.

Scarecrow shrugged before disappearing, a grinning Schitzo close behind him.

Had I been British I would've said that we were in a bit of a pickle. Marv and I were both pinned down and there was absolutely no way that we could make our way back to cover without getting an extra hole or two through the chest. The rest of the VSF squad was hanging out a little bit further back, just as the street started descending underneath the bridge. They were keeping our left side clear of any hostiles. If we were flanked here we were as good as dead.

Pavel and his squad was keeping anything in between us and Platoon 3 clear of hostiles while doing their best to suppress fire form inside the enemy fortification. They were doing an ok job, but the covvies had a dozen plasma turrets all aimed at them and were also doing a fine job at keeping my fire by support squad with their heads down. It was a miracle that none of us had gotten themselves killed yet. I knew that two guys on 3 were out for the count with minor wounds.

"Zepeda," I called the sniper. "What's the situation on your end?"

"Still the same, most of the turrets have deployable shields on the side that faces me. I can't take out the gunners without sacrificing two magazines."

Wow, that was twenty-six words out of his mouth in one go. Twenty-seven if you count can't as two. Very impressive.

"The one above us?"

"No good."

I cursed. "Orders stand, target elites."

I got an acknowledgement light instead of a voiced reply before he broke the line. The man was a damn good sniper, but right now some clever alien had placed covers on the plasma turrets that completely invalidated his skills. He had cleared a couple of watchtowers already, but he couldn't really do much right now.

"Jen, how's your sniper doing?" I asked the Lieutenant Weller.

"She's still moving through the streets, but Yumiko has to go around the fortification without getting herself shot. The area behind us isn't safe yet."

"You don't have to remind me that," I replied angrily. Getting shot at is never good for your mood. "Keep pounding away, if you see an opening go for it."

"I'm not a child," she replied before cutting the line.

"Fucking great." Now everybody's pissed.

I couldn't blame them though, we had been going at this for an hour and a half, most of which had consisted of us with our heads down and praying that our cover held. All I could do was use the camera on my rifle's barrel to fire off a few shots form behind cover. It was difficult and my rifle had been grazed by plasma twice already. It wouldn't do me any good to have a molten pile of slag on my hands.

"Lieutenant."

I turned to see Marv waving at me.

"Yeah?" I asked irritably.

"Let's wing it."

That was quite possibly the worst idea I had heard in my entire life. Maybe a close second to that time Pavel and I decided to go down fighting in Aztlan instead of remaining behind our sturdy tree for five more seconds. Literally, we had one turret keeping us safely in check in front and above us. With that turret we also had four jackal sharpshooters with carbines and various squads of grunts that were feeling rather elated at being able to keep us imps pinned down and helpless. And that's not taking into account the three elites commanding all theselovely fighting aliens.

"Sure, why not," I replied.

Marv nodded and positioned himself near the edge of his cover.

"Pavel, I want you to redirect all your fire towards the railing above us. Keep it going for as long as you can. None of that taking turns firing shit. I want all of you firing at the same time."

"Sure, you want me to pour beer over your grave this day once a year too?"

I smiled. Same old Pavel.

"Now?" he asked after a second.

"Now." Why am I doing this?

I could hear the bullets whistling above us as well as the sound they made as they impacted against the cars, shields, and polycrete that made up the Covenant wall. Neither Marvin nor me needed a spoken order to spring into action. Both of us jumped out of cover and fired one burst each. Two jackal sharpshooters fell backwards, one dead and the other one dying. It was at that moment that my second Spartan Time episode of the day kicked in.

I can say that I was thankful for being a freak.

I moved my rifle, my body a little bit to slow for my mind. Before I could even raise it to look through the scope I knew where the bullets were going to hit. I squeezed off a burst and the three bullets flew out of the barrel. They passed just above the plasma turret, hitting the grunt manning it just on the top of the head. I was already switching targets as the blood sprayed backwards.

The next target I was going to aim at collapsed, a dozen rounds from Marv's SMG hitting it in the chest.

The next three seconds saw me take out the other two jackal sharpshooters as well as a grunt that looked like it was going to make a run for the plasma turret. The rest of the aliens were only just beginning to leave cover in order to fire back at Pavel's MG team. It took them all of two seconds to realize that we were going to make a run for it.

The guys above weren't the only threat though; there were several aliens on the lower street and in front of us as well. The closest one of them were right behind a pair of sedan-type cars places across the street. Marv and I both jumped over the hoods feet-first. Marv kicked a grunt's face in and I landed right next to an elite. The alien wasn't stunned at all. It aimed its plasma rifle at me and missed by inches as I jumped in between its legs.

Marv fired at the alien, draining its shields with his SMG and I finished it off with two bursts to the back.

Even as the elite was falling to the ground we pushed forward. I ran and jumped over another car and kicked a grunt while I shot another one. I turned to finish off the first one with a headshot and then sprayed at a pair of jackals, catching one of them in the throat and the other in the chest. They collapsed to the floor. I looked at Marv to see him finishing off a skirmisher. He spared me a quick nod before running forward again.

By the time we jumped over the third barricade we were already underneath the bridge. Or tunnel, it's confusing to me too.

Inside we had a full squad of elites. They weren't exactly paying attention to us. Like most of their kind they believed that they were too good for the rest of us. That cost the leader its life. It turned to look at us with what I could only assume was a surprised expression before Marv and I both let everything we had go at it. The major fell after a few seconds and the rest all jumped behind cover.

"Frag out!" I yelled, grabbing two fragmentation grenades and tossing them under a truck that two elites were using for cover. "Marv, gimme the explosives."

Marv tossed his last grenade before throwing the C-12 charge at me. I caught it just as my grenades went off, turning the truck into an explosive and frying the two elites.

Suddenly everything was regular speed again and I started feeling about as helpless as I was.

"Marv, cover me!"

I turned the charge over and activated it, foregoing the remote detonator for the simpler timer. I set it for twenty seconds and was about to hit enter when the car I was using for cover jumped.

I looked up to see an elite aiming down at me with a pair of plasma rifles. I drew my sidearm and fired two shots before it could squeeze of one. I was rolling to the side when the elite's head exploded and it flew backwards.

"Zepeda, I don't know how the hell you made that shot but I owe you a beer," I said quickly, blood covering my visor. "Marv, fall back!"

I tapped the little red button and threw the charge at the ceiling as hard as I could. In my enhanced and accelerated state I was more than capable of tossing one kilo worth of explosives for five meters. The sticky plastic explosive stuck to the polycrete ceiling and I was out.

I ran in a straight line without even bothering to take cover. I had twenty seconds until the sky literally came down on my head and I wasn't going to waste one of them. Marv was jumping back over the cars as the surviving elites and grunts fired at him, missing by inches. I didn't want to see how much they were missing me by. I jumped over the second barricade and a shot hit me on the side of the knee, grazing me.

"Fuck," I cried. The moment I slammed into the floor I fired back at anything, half my shots hitting the car I had just jumped over.

Two more sniper shots rang and I swallowed my pain to jump forward and run over the next barricade. I landed on my injured leg and collapsed, the pain suddenly too much for my body to bear. I tried standing up and fell back down once more. Holy shit did that sting.

My HUD had an automatic timer on and I looked at it just as it went down from seven all the way to zero. I could picture the charge beeping before blowing up. The sound was deafening, and the bridge collapsing wasn't far behind that either. I could hear rock upon rock and metal and knew that the entire bridge had collapsed, squashing anything underneath and bringing down anything above. A sizeable section of their wall was now gone.

Half a minute after the explosion Livingston and Sandor were dragging me out, firing sporadically at any survivors. Marv had also been hit. A needle went through his hand before exploding two meters in front of him. He could walk well enough, but Miranda was still checking him. On my minimap I could see Jen's platoon rushing through the walls and killing the dazed covvies inside the perimeter. Her platoon would take care of the aliens inside the now-destroyed fortification and the AA gun.

Me? Well, I just had another story that people wouldn't believe.

Thanks to SilasWhitfield for proofreading this chapter.

So here we have Platoon Five facing some heavy urban combat for the first time, they also worked in conjunction with Platoon Three and Lieutenant Jen Weller. I'm only saying this so that you try to at least remember the platoon leader names. In any case, they did a good enough job, making use of their limited assets when facing heavy enemy presence and opposition. I like the idea of a larger Helljumper unit because it allows me to get Frank and Pavel (and everybody else) involved in battles with a much larger scope. Not that they didn't do that before, it's just that they didn't do it as well.

Of course, there's a big problem that comes with having a larger unit. The large number of additional characters. I'll try to provide every character some measure of development and have them take part in some thing or other. I know that I can't have everyone become a main and well-developed character, but I'll do my best with non-VSF squad guys. As you can see I already gave some focus to both Zepeda and Carver as well as pointing out the roles of certain other ODSTs in other squads (Bamber in Pavel's squad). As I said, I'll do my best. Seeing as there are many characters and not many will be very developed, feel free to tell me which ODSTs you like more than others and I'll be sure to give those more focus. My goal is to make you happy, after all.

Here I am, posting this chapter on December 24th, one day before Christmas. I wanted to post a chapter as a Christmas present to you guys, but I finished a little bit early and decided to post it anyways. From me to you, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas. To those of you that don't celebrate Christmas I want to wish you the very best holidays. I'll try to post one more chapter before I leave for vacations. Unfortunately, I might not post anything until after New Years due to lack of reliable internet connection. I will, however, be sure to write a bunch in order to come back with additional chapters. So in case I can't post a New Year's chapter: Happy New Year.

Oh, and Marv is a badass.

Stay strong.

-casquis