Chapter CLXIX: ¿Por qué no?

February 14, 2549 (UNSC Calendar)/

Udinia, Paris IV, Paris System

"The bigger they are the harder it is to make them fall down on their asses. But it makes it all the more satisfying."– PFC Ryan Hoff

There are times when you feel like a deer caught in the headlights. Like there's nowhere to go and nothing to do in order to avoid the rapidly approaching vehicle about to slam into your face. Some of those times there's absolutely nothing you can do to avoid it.

This wasn't one of those times.

"Down!"

We were lucky. Very lucky. The Scarab's tail cannon aimed just a little bit too high, vaporizing the ceiling above us but missing my two squads by a meter and a half. Everybody crouched behind a column or a wall or simply dropped to the floor. The ones that were still in the stairwell just jumped down to the next level. I felt my skin heating up from the plasma blast, but my undersuit and my armor absorbed enough of the heat to make it non-lethal.

"Fuck that's hot!" someone yelled.

"Get up!" I ordered, struggling to get back to my feet as pieces of loose rock fell on and around me. "Helljumpers! On your feet!"

I pulled Sandor and Andy upright while Marv did the same for O'Malley. The rest of Recon Squad was running down the stairwell as fast as they could. If the Scarab could fire again before we could get out of its weapon's firing cone we would be atomized. Or maybe the gunner would just decide to bring the whole building down on our heads.

"Move, move, move!" Caboose barked at his men, shoving them downstairs.

"Is that the last of us?" I asked him.

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's go!"

We caught up with Weller and her squad on the ground level. They were taking up positions around the entrance and fortifying the place.

"What are you doing?!" I asked Weller. "We need to get out of–"

Three needles flew at me, missing my neck by less than one foot. I jumped to one side and pressed my back against a column as drones started flooding the entrance lobby through the broken windows. They fired at us from all over, but Weller's squad kept them back from behind their position.

"Jen! We need to get down on the parking lot!" I yelled.

"Your men are closer to the stairs!" she replied, hiding behind an overturned table. "We'll cover you!"

I turned around to see my men awkwardly huddled behind pieces of furniture, plasma hitting their positions. Andy, Miri, and Sandor were all crouching behind a piece of ceiling that had fallen over a couch.

"You three, go!" I yelled. "Caboose?"

"I got it!" he replied.

Platoon Three's fire intensified and they drowned out the sound of plasma for a moment. My three men dashed back to the stairwell and Caboose took advantage of the situation to make a dash towards the elevators. He pressed the button and then took cover in the small gap between the doors and the walls.

"Montri, Han, and Atkins, I want you three to move towards the elevators as soon as the doors open!" I ordered. "O'Malley and Marv, you'll go with me."

A chorus of nervous 'yessirs' followed the rapid-fire orders. Weller, on the other hand, was dead quiet, letting her men pick their own targets. She would order them to fall back as soon as we were safely away from the drones.

"Watch out!"

I looked up to see a drone taking aim at me. A burst hit the thing and it fell right on top of me, twitching and kicking at me, still very much alive. I pushed it away and fired a burst into its belly.

"Fucking insects…"

"Frank, get a move on!" Jen called out.

The drones were gaining ground on us, and a few of Weller's Helljumpers were pulling back to avoid being overrun.

"Elevator's here!" Caboose yelled.

"Move!" Han yelled.

"O'Malley, Marv, let's go!" I barked.

All six of us crashed into the elevator as multi-colored plasma tried to make contact with us. Caboose tapped the button to close the doors furiously and the elevator started making its way down. I took a deep breath and moved my crotch away from Marv's backside nonchalantly. Abri got off Han and Caboose helped Atkins up. We all took deep breaths and chuckled lightly before the elevator doors opened. The half of my unit that was already down here aimed their guns at us, only lowering them after they recognized us.

"Frank, we're coming in through the stairs, might need some help!" Jen shouted through the radio. "Now!"

"Doors!" I ordered. "There and there, take cover!"

We took cover behind a pair of sturdy-looking SUVs and aimed at the doors. A large Helljumper smashed through them shoulder-first. Two others picked him up and then the rest of Two flooded in through the door. After that four drones came in, firing wildly. We quickly cut down the drones and fired some more in order to discourage a second attempt.

"Block the doors!" Jen shouted. "Wiremu, Beckel!"

Two familiar shapes moved towards the car closest to the door and the bigger one smashed the side window. He reached in and unlocked the door before setting it to neutral. They moved the car and propped it across the door, quickly moving out of the way. We hit a couple more drones that tried to barrel their way through.

"Put it on its side!" Jen ordered.

With that, four other Helljumpers joined Api and Beckel in pushing the car on its side. They made sure that it blocked the entire door before tossing a grenade in through the broken window. The blast shook the car, but it stayed there. After that Jen had her unit move a couple other cars in front of the first one to prevent the drones from tipping it back on its four wheels. Only then did I signal for my team to leave cover.

"Jen, good to see you made it," I told her.

She sighed and nodded. "No shit. Did you get through to Fountain?"

"Yeah, I spoke with Galván. The rest of my team is headed in this direction to link up with us."

"Do they know they're going to run straight into a fucking Scarab?" Jen asked.

"Probably," I shrugged. "We need to get out of here before the walker decides to collapse the building on top of us. The two Tortoises made it out alive, we can use them for backup and support."

She nodded. "I'll have them meet us on the parking ramp. One of them covers our front and the other one flank."

I nodded. "Still a lot of space to get attacked from," I told her. "The ship probably dropped a bunch of pods as well as dropships."

The building rumbled violently, the sound of the Scarab's tail cannon clearly audible.

"Let's move!" I ordered. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

The building rumbled a couple other times before we left the parking lot. The two armored vehicles were waiting there for us as promised. The Tortoises were very much like the Armadillos that the Army favored. The only difference was the cholor and camouflage scheme as well as some other minor stuff. Technically speaking the Tortoise was an IFV, not an AFV, but the terms could be interchangeable in some situations. To the untrained eye they would've looked like variants of the same vehicle, but they were actually pretty different. The Tortoises were designed to dish out as much damage as they could while absorbing a lot of it. The 'Dillos were designed in the same way, but their main role wasn't infantry support. They were mostly used to hold positions and sometimes engaged in tank combat. Their speed and powerful autocannons allowed them to provide a fair enough match to any Wraith they encountered.

These two Tortoises were scorched with plasma, but otherwise they seemed perfectly fine. Instead of the powerful autocannons they sported a heavy machine gun and a few rocket pods. Both of them might overpower a Wraith, but a Daemon would be pretty bad news.

Let's not forget that we were facing a Scarab.

"Move up, move up!" I ordered. "Caboose and Recon with the Lead Tortoise!"
"Lima-One if you please, Lieutenant," the vehicles commanding officer replied through the radio. "Our partner here is Lima-Two."

I nodded even though they had no way of knowing that. "Recon with Lima-One."

"Second Squad, you're with Lima-Two. Black, I want you to use the cover."

"Wouldn't dare to do anything else," Weller's staff sergeant replied. "Let's go!"

Weller's squad joined mine and we moved up as the two large wheeledvehicles started moving.

"Snark, Zepeda, you there?"

"That we are, sir," Snark replied almost immediately. "I was beginning to wonder if you–"

"Snark, what's your position relative to the Scarab?"

"Hold on, I'm patching you through."

They were almost directly above the huge walker. It was still firing at the building, specifically aiming for strategic points to collapse it faster and minimize the risk of the building falling on top of it. The high-res feed that I was getting from Snark's Oracle scope showed movement on top of the Scarab, mostly grunts and jackals, but I saw a pair of brutes as well.

"Fuck," I muttered. "Any additional enemy units?" I asked him.

"Yes, two or three pods landed a block away from your position, I don't have eyes on them, but they were the big pods."

"Fuck," I repeated. "Snark, I want you and Zepeda to take out the brute in charge of that platform if it leaves cover. It's probably a captain."

"Yessir. What I wouldn't give for the Sledgehammer right now…"

"You can't always get what you want, Naveen."

"You called me by my first name, it must be serious."

I rolled my eyes. I rarely got quips from him now that he wasn't in my unit. He wasn't half as sarcastic when he wasn't in high-intensity combat.

"Get to work."

"We'll do our job," he replied. "Isn't that right, Stan?"

"Yes, sir."

Huh, you got him to talk.

"Roger that, out." I jogged up with the two Tortoises. They were already moving forward, moving around cars and crushing the ones that they couldn't completely avoid. A car being crushed made an awful lot of noise, but it was probably drowned by the sounds of renewed battle.

"Enemy infantry, dead ahead," Lima-One said. "Engaging."

It's multi-barreled machine gun roared as it fired, and the casings clinked as they hit the street. I couldn't see the result of the attack, but I could only assume that the targeting systems functioned properly and a bunch of covvies now found themselves riddled with holes.

"Move up!" Weller shouted.

"Intersection up ahead," Lima-Two said. "We'll form up a wall for you to pass."

"Much appreciated," I thanked them. "We'll move as quick as we can." The two Tortoises would be exposed to fire from the Scarab all the while, and a blast from those cannons would completely obliterate any and all armor that they had on.

"Moving up," Lima-One said.

"Acknowledged," Lima-Two replied, patiently waiting for the lead IFV to take position. "Rolling."

"Recon Squad move up!" Caboose shouted. "Make this quick!"

Second Squad followed Recon and I found myself running with my squad and Jen's. I looked to the left and saw the Scarab. It was one of the bigger models, impervious to anything short of a tank brigade or high-concentration bombing strikes. Its rear turret slowly turned to aim at the two Tortoises.

"Move, move!" Jen urged them. "We got this!"

"Negative ma'am," Lima-Two replied.

The moment we crossed the intersection and were safe the two IFVs started moving. The Scarab fired before it could properly aim, and I saw its stream approaching the rear Tortoise as fast as the turret could turn. A section of the vehicle was burned completely off before it could take cover around the corner.

"Lima-Two, are you all right?" I asked.

"All good," the driver replied in a perfectly calm voice. "Those doors always were too heavy for my taste."

Lima-Two rolled by, black smoke coming from the rear. Only the doors and a small section of the walls had been burned off, but the wheels were all intact. I looked inside and the two crewmembers looked over their shoulders to smile and give me a thumbs-up.

"Let's roll!" I shouted. "Vamos!"

We started moving again through the vehicle-littered street.

"Scarab is moving on your position," Snark announced.

"Tell me something I don't know," I replied. "We're moving as fast as I can."

"Might I suggest those tunnels?"

I had considered them. "So that the walker can bring them down on top of us? No thanks. Besides, latest intel shows that they're clogged with abandoned cars."

A couple of sniper shots rang out, clearly audible through all the battle noise.

"Brute captain out," Snark informed me. "And now they're firing at us. Remind me why I took this job again."

"Because you were a homeless orphan."

"Right, thanks El-tee."

"Anytime," I replied.

"Ghosts, three of them," Montri warned.

Lima-One stopped. "We see them."

"They're probably scouts," Black said. "Three Ghosts as scouts means at least a platoon-sized force."

"Engaging," Lima-One said.

The IFV fired two long sustained bursts at the incoming scouting vehicles. A few plasma bolts flew over the Tortoise, but most of the plasma fire impacted it in its frontal armor. The plasma barely burned at the armor, and two of the Ghosts blew up in flames before the third one turned tail and ran.

"Watch out for fuel rods," Jen warned. "Yumiko, I want you scouting for snipers."

As if by magic, one of my Helljumpers was hit in the chest. I couldn't see who it was, but Marv pulled the ODST behind a car and several assault rifles barked out in response to the shooter.

"Jackal! Third floor, fourth window from the right!" Yumiko yelled. "I got the fucker!" She fired two shots through the polycrete walls and then everybody aimed at the windows. After three seconds of no movement Beckel tossed a grenade in the window for good measure.

"Who was hit?" I asked. "Marv!"

"It's Andy," he replied. "She needs a medic."

"Han, get over there!" I ordered. "Lima-One, we're going to put two men inside."

"Understood Lieutenant, opening rear doors."

"The needle didn't go completely through the chest piece before detonating," Han informed me, "but once it did it sent shrapnel through her chest."

"How much?" I asked.

"Not much, but you only need one piece for it to be lethal."

I cursed. We didn't have the equipment to remove the jagged pieces of metal from her chest here with us. Han could stabilize her and prevent her from bleeding out. If it came down to it he could even open her up in order to close a nicked artery, but if the shrapnel cut a lot of blood vessels then it was out of his hands.

"It doesn't look too serious," he was saying. "But she needs medical attention now."

"Get her in the Tortoise," I ordered. "And stabilize her."

We covered Marv and Han as they dragged the unconscious woman inside and placed her on the floor. Marv closed the doors as he jumped back out and banged on them to signal the driver to get moving.

"Why does our medic always get shot?" Sandor asked. "She can't help us if she's unconscious half the time."

"Takacs, shut the fuck up," Miri told him.

Whether I liked it or not he had a point. I would have to talk to Andy about situational awareness if she pulled through this one.

"Don't worry El-tee," Beckel said, patting me on the side. "I made it through worse, remember those spiker bayonets?"

"I do," I told him. "And she's a hell of a lot tougher than you are."

Beckel laughed. "Let's hope."

"Banshees!"

A unit large enough to have vehicle and air support in front of us and a Scarab building-killer behind. I was fairly confident that it could not get much worse, at least not very quickly.

The two Tortoises fired at the lead Banshee. Their machine guns tore through the front armor and killed the driver, bringing down the craft before it could let off a bomb. The second one didn't face the same trouble. It barrel-rolled to avoid the gunfire and dropped a fuel rod on Lima-Two. The battered Tortoise took the hit and shrugged it off like a champ, but I could see that a section of the IFV had dented inwards from the explosion.

"We can't take many more hits like that," Lima-Two said.

"Wiremu, take that down!" Jen barked at Api.

Api hefted his rocket launcher and fired at the Banshee. The missile quickly caught up and detonated, slamming the Banshee against a building wall and destroying it. The rest of the enemy unit was already moving around the corner of the next intersection and were taking position to fire at us.

"Move forward," I shouted. "We need a wall. Lima-One, I want you to place yourself behind a big car, keep my men safe."

"Yes, sir."

"Two, place yourself in front of him, I want a wall."

"Understood."

Jen was already signaling for her men to take positions on the sidewalks and close to the windows. If the Scarab decided to shoot at us we could jump inside the buildings in an attempt to avoid its blast of doom.

"Work in pairs when taking down brutes!" I ordered. "Target the same monkey before shooting, you know how hard it is to bring those fuckers down."

Al-Hassani's avatar appeared on my HUD. "Lieutenant, I managed to get two Gryphons to move to hit the Scarab. They can only waste a missile each."

"Gryphons?" I asked with a groan. "Really scraping the bottom of the barrel, are we?"

Al shrugged. "Better than nothing."

"Agreed. Target one of the leg joints. Two missiles won't be enough to bring it down."

"That was my consensus," Al said. "The Scarab will be unable to move for at least an hour. You'll hear them soon."

"Thanks Al. Frank out."

To the AI "soon" meant fifteen seconds. I heard the two atmospheric fighters fly overhead and the two missiles strike a second later. The explosions and groaning noises brought whoops and hollers from our ODST unit, but the strong opposition in front of us discouraged us from getting too cocky.

"Grenade!"

Some ODSTs dove out of the way of the blue explosion and the Tortoises redirected their fire to hit the offending alien.

"We can't keep firing at this rate without running out of ammunition," Lima-One informed.

"Target only high-ranking brutes or other high-value targets," Jen told him.

"Yes ma'am."

I frowned. I was used to call superior officers 'sir' regardless of gender. Oh well, I guess some things weren't the same all over the Corps. After all, the branch consisted of a couple hundred million brave men and women.

"Brute jumpers!" Miri shouted. "Watch out!"

The jet-pack brutes flew several dozen meters up in the air before they started coming back down. I targeted one that seemed like he would land close and fired at it. A couple of shots hit, but mostly I missed. The brute did indeed land a few feet away from me and turned with its spiker. It fired two shots that missed my head and then recoiled as I replied with far more accuracy. The brute took an involuntary step backwards even as I ran up to it. I took advantage of its stunned moment to jam my rifle into its mouth and fire a long burst. The brute's head was all but gone after I was done with it.

"Sir, get down!" Marv warned.

I ducked, landing on top of the bloodied brute. Several bursts of plasma crisscrossed the space above me before I dove behind one of the many cars that had been abandoned in the initial strike.

"Frank, my other two squads are being dropped in on that building two minutes from now," Jen called out. "Yours?"

"Still moving," I replied. "Pavel will tell me when he's close."

"Let's hope he gets to that point," Weller replied, obviously annoyed by all the aliens trying to kill her.

The nature of this encounter meant that we couldn't flank them or outmaneuver them. We couldn't call in for support seeing as everyone was under attack at the moment and the UNSC's priority would be to secure strategic positions, fight back attacks on strategic positions, and defend refugee camps in that specific order. We were pretty far down the list, and no matter how many favors I was owed there was no one that could get here faster than Galván or Pavel.

"Jumpers eliminated," Black said. "No casualties."

"Move up," Jen ordered. "Just a dozen meters and hold."

"Come on! You heard the lady!" Black urged his squad. "I want to be back home for breakfast!"

The squad moved up while the rest of us provided covering fire. They used a large bus as cover and started firing at the covvie positions form their locations. In return they started receiving a whole lot of plasma. The distraction that they provided served to give Yumiko an opening. The tiny sniper took out two brutes in three seconds before they pinpointed her location and started concentrating on her instead. Then Api fired the other rocket in his SPANKr at a large SUV, blowing it up and sending shrapnel through several grunts. The blazing vehicle also denied the covvies the use of that are as cover until the flames died. That wasn't bound to happen any time soon.

I squinted as I saw some movement.

"Caboose, watch out!" I yelled.

Caboose turned around at the sound of my voice and saw just what I was referring to. He jumped out of cover with a roll just as a bright orange ball flew at him. The ball exploded in a fireball and a brute stalker briefly materialized before disappearing again. I fired wildly at the position until a couple of shots hit it. Caboose dropped his MA5K and switched to his shotgun. The shimmering that my bullets caused was enough to give him a target. He blasted the towering brute in the chest with his shotgun and then fired another two blasts into its face for good measure.

"Sandor, I want you on thermal. See anything?"

"Hold on…negative, but I can't see the whole battlefield."

"Marv."

"Nothing here," he replied after a moment.

I grunted. "Lima-One, can you use thermal?"

"Affirmative Lieutenant, we'll keep an eye out for stalkers."

"Thanks," I said.

By that point there really wasn't much else to talk about. The two Tortoises were scanning around for anyone that tried to sneak past while gunning down any brute stupid enough to get out of cover. The rest of us took care of the grunts and the jackals. They were probably being ordered to keep shooting at us, but we were better trained and a lot deadlier. It wasn't long before the tide started sporadic plasma fire flew in our direction and the brutes were keeping their heads down.

"Move up, let's finish this," Staff Sergeant Black ordered. "Let's go!"

His squad moved up another dozen meters while Recon moved to the side and advanced through the sidewalk. I ordered my own men to move forward as well, leaving Jen and her ODSTs to provide cover for the rest of us. The three squads approached the enemy positions from different angles, killing a couple of jackals that tried to shoot at us.

There was a blur of movement and a brute chieftain jumped from a second floor window.

"Move!" Caboose yelled, raising his weapon.

The chieftain landed directly amongst Black's squad. Two ODSTs aimed at it before promptly being batted aside like rags. One of them landed on a car and the other slammed against the floor, skidding for a couple of meters before coming to a stop. The chieftain then hefted its huge war hammer with one hand and hit another ODST right in the chest with it. The poor man flew twenty meters into a wall, leaving a nasty blood splotch there. Black turned around, firing at the chieftain's back. The brute hit him with a backswing, sending him flying into a car.

One of the men in Black's squad was Beckel. He was one of the only two that hadn't been quickly eliminated. He raised his rifle and emptied half his magazine into the chieftain's face. The action only drew an angry roar from the creature. Even as the rest of us turned around to aim at it the chieftain didn't stop. He grabbed at Beckel's arm and yanked. I could hear the pop as his shoulder dislocated and actually thanked God for allowing Beckel to keep his arm.

"Concentrate your fire!" Jen ordered. "Shoot it!"

I didn't have to think twice. The three other squads hit the brute with everything we had, but its shields and armor held up. The chieftain reached behind its back and produced a concussion rifle. It fired three shots at my squad's position.

"Down!" Marv shouted.

"Snark, where the hell are you?"

"What's going on?" he asked. "El-tee, I'm almost within visual range!"

"Hurry it up!"

The chieftain kept us at bay with the explosive weapon, but eventually it ran out of ammunition. The brute used that moment to take another leap that seemed to defy gravity and jump wherever it had come from. It hung onto the window's ledge with one hand and gripped his hammer with the other one. One of the two Tortoises hit the brute right then, knocking it to the floor and kept on firing until the chieftain was nothing but bloody pulp.

"Fuckin–"

Three green lights flew from behind the enemy lines. I turned to look at the source and saw a grunt with a fuel rod cannon. I shot it even as I heard the explosions behind me. I turned back around to see Lima-Two being hit three times in quick succession. The transport seemed to stand there for a moment before blowing up violently. I found myself thankful that it had been Lima-Two and not Lima-One, otherwise I would be two men down.

"Fuck!" Jen cursed loudly.

"Caboose, secure the area!" I ordered. "Kill every fucker still there!"

The task didn't take long. There were only a couple of brutes and a few grunts left there. Recon quickly dispatched them with well-placed bursts and then declared the immediately neighboring area clear.

I jogged up towards Jen.

"…Black's alive, but he won't make it," her squad medic was telling her. "Logan and Reese are both dead."

"Reese?"

"His neck snapped from the blow," the medic explained. "Dead was instantaneous. And Logan…" he glanced at the bloody mark on one of the building's walls. "Well. Yeah."

"God damn!" Jen cursed. "Fuck. Is there no way to stabilize Micah?"

The medic shook his head. "Negative, sir. The hammer crushed his sternum and pretty much every rib. Some of the ribs seem to have punctured the lungs and heart. His organs are paste." He paused and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry Lieutenant."

"Jen…" I said.

"Leave it," she grunted.

I knew how important Micah Black was, or had been, to her. The man had pretty much saved her from being fragged and helped her earn the respect of a particularly vicious unit of ODSTs. They had been together ever since she left Officer Candidate School. And now he was dead, unceremoniously batted aside by a brute chieftain.

"When a dog's backed against a corner it bites back," Schitzo said. "I always knew he wouldn't last long."

I tightened my grip on my rifle but otherwise said nothing.

"Beckel's fine, we just need to pop his shoulder back into place and give him some…a lot of painkillers."

I shook my head, leaving Jen to confer with her medic and moved over to see to Beckel. The man had served with me for a pretty long time. I was concerned for him, but glad he wasn't dead.

"Axel, seems like you made it."

He looked up, holding his limp arm. Han was already looking at him, having left Lima-One, and giving him a once over before preparing to fix his shoulder. The joint popped again and Beckel let out a grunt of pain.

"Thanks, sir," he grunted. "Staff?"

I shook my head. "Logan and Reese two."

"Damn," he shook his head. "They were good men… Api?"

I turned around to see Wiremu kicking the dead chieftain angrily. "Alive."

Half his squad had been killed in just a few seconds. He had a dislocated shoulder and the other guy that the brute had batted aside without any actual weapons was unconscious and probably had a concussion. I was glad that the brute hadn't decided to jump in the midst of my own squad.

"Come on," I told him, slinging his good arm over my shoulders. "You'll be fine."

"Thanks, sir," he replied. "I'm…I'm tired."

"We all are, Axel," I told him. "Let the drugs do their job and get some rest."

"Yeah…"

Han opened the doors of the surviving Tortoise and helped me sit down Beckel. We strapped him tightly and his head slumped over forward as he fell asleep.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He'll be fine. The bones are in place now, but I think that the ape tore several muscles. It'll take a while for them to mend, even with medication."

"At least he's alive," I muttered. "Andrea?"
Han looked at Andy. "She was very lucky. Her undersuit stopped a surprisingly large number of shrapnel fragments, and the ones that got through didn't hit anything vital. She needs to have them removed as soon as possible, otherwise–"

"Yeah," I waved him away with a hand. "Good job."

"Thanks, sir."

I nodded and closed the door behind him. The four members of Recon out on the street had their weapons trained in all four directions while Jen's squad scanned for movement around the intersection. Jen was still conferring with her medic while he attended to the other survivor from the squad. He'd be packed inside the Tortoise as soon as he was given the all clear and then we'd move up as if nothing had happened.

I banged a couple of times on the front of Lima-One and a small slide slid open to reveal half a face.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"You guys good?" I asked.

"We knew what we were getting into," he replied, looking downward briefly. "We won't let you down."

I nodded. "Thanks Lima," I glanced back at the smoking Tortoise next to this one. "They were good men, brave men."

"Thanks, sir."

I banged on the hull a couple of times and walked up to the rest of my squad. Marv and Miri were crouching behind a car, their rifles aimed at the ground. Sandor was by himself, leaning against a wall inside a shop window. He kicked at a mannequins arm and shook his head.

"Damn fuckers," he said.

"It was a clever strategy," I replied. "We shouldn't have fallen for it."

"None of us saw it coming, sir," Miri told me. "It was an attack of desperation."

"That none of us saw coming," I reiterated. "We can't be that sloppy again. Next time it might be us dead on the pavement."

Marv looked at the Reese's broken body and shook his head before leaning back so that he could sit down. He rolled his neck and stretched his legs. "Fucking Covenant."

"Fucking Covenant," Miri agreed, the curse word sounding weird when it came from her.

"Frank, don't forget about the–" Schitzo began.

I snapped my head around as a loud mechanical noise flooded my ears. "The Scarab… Scarab!"
"Get him inside the Tortoise!" Jen ordered. "Get a move on!"

Lima-One started moving up and stopped only to let Jen's medic put the banged up Helljumper inside. Han quickly strapped him to a seat and closed the hatches behind him. Lima-One rolled forward and took point with the rest of us taking positions behind and to the sides. The Scarab was moving now.

"Snark?"

"I can see you," he replied. "I've got fields of fire all the way down the street."

"Might be better if you don't make yourself visible," I told him. "Big-ass walker's about to turn the corner."

"We can provide cover Lieutenant." He paused. "Just saw the bodies. Weller's unit?"

"Black's squad," I replied. "Three men down."

"Yeah, I saw them."

I sighed. "Listen Snark, I won't order you away because, frankly, I'd love to have you two covering our asses, but you should probably run."

"Well, my commanding officers never did show me how to do that."

"What a bunch of dicks," I replied.

"Yeah, I'll cover your backs," he replied. "And so will Stan, won't you Stan?"

"Yup."

Wow, he got him talking again.

"Phantoms overhead!" Marv warned. "They're dropping hunters!"

Heaven picked that moment to turn my shit day into… well, a less shitty day.

"Frank, you hear me?"

"Pavel, thank God!" I exclaimed. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Ran into some Wraiths, had to take a detour."

"Do you have all of HW with you?"

"Yeah, even got ourselves a Gauss 'Hog."

"Good, but I have a feeling it won't be enough."

He chuckled. "Lizzo can put two rounds into the Scarab's joints before it can fire."

"It's one of the big ones Pavs."

"Holy shit… Well, I guess that Carver will have to help. You've got Api with you?"

"Yeah."

"He can join in on the fun."

"I can have the Tortoise shoot at it too."

Pavel was silent for a moment. "We might have a chance. After we bring it down what do we do?"

"We need it taken out," I said. "And we need to do that as fast as possible."

"We're two minutes away," he replied. "Hang tight."

We weren't jogging next to the Tortoise anymore. We were sprinting next to it. I can only imagine how frustrated the crewmembers must've felt. If I had been driving the thing I would've left us all behind and saved my own ass.

"Just be careful not to say that in front of Hayes," Schitzo warned. "Because of, you know... that one time you left her favorite cousin to die without a care."

One of the hunters fired at our group. Everybody scattered, jumping in different directions to avoid being burned to cinders. Recon took cover behind a pair of crashed sedans and started firing back at the Hunter. I used their distraction to pick myself back up and jump behind another car. The Tortoise turned its heavy machine gun and fired at the hunter. Even with its shield it couldn't stand up to the onslaught. "Target down," Lima-One reported. "We're low on ammo."

"Concentrate your fire on the other hunter," I ordered my men. "Take it out!"

Weller's men, who had a sturdy IFV in between them and the hunter took positions around the Tortoise and started firing at the second hunter.

"Api, take it out!" Jen cried.

Api raised his rocket launcher and took a second to aim at the alien. He let one rocket fly and I followed it with my eyes. The hunter crouched behind its shields and the rocket flew straight at it. For some strange reason the rocket actually bounced off of the shield and spun a couple of times before blowing up without harming the hunter.

"Did the rocket…" Api trailed off.

"Just bounce off?" I finished.

"Fire again!" Jen shouted.

The hunter couldn't pull off the same trick twice in a row, this time the rocket punched through the shield and just turned the hunter into a giant pile of orange goo.

"Wasting rockets on a single infantry soldier. Yup," Api said. "Dear fucking God."

He had a point. Hunters were part of what made Covenant ground units so terrifying. They were basically giant trolls that could kill anything up to a Warthog if they didn't screw up too bad. They could certainly provide enough trouble for any UNSC unit below a platoon.

Luckily, we counted with Lima-One.

"What happened to the other Phantom?" Miri asked.

"Good question," Marv said.

"Oh shit, incoming!" Sandor cried.

The other Phantom was flying down the street, its heavy front cannon firing at us while the two door gunners shot us. I switched positions to take cover from them and fired full-auto at one of the grunts manning the turrets. The first couple of rounds missed, but the rest hit it in the arms and head. The grunt toppled over and slammed into the pavement just as Api hit the dropship with another pair of rockets.

"I'm out!" he warned.

"Hit the gunner!"

I cursed and ducked back behind the car as the Phantom's front cannon redirected its fire towards my position. A couple of heavy blasts shook the ground and I shouted angrily as gravel landed all over my head.

"Get out of there Lieutenant!" Marc cried out a warning.

I cursed again and jumped away from the car just before another pair of heavy blasts caused it to explode. The wall that I used for cover withstood another few blasts before it shattered and pieces of debris started falling off.

"What the fuck does this ass have against me?" I complained.

"It's dropping troops!"

The Phantom was indeed dropping troops. Two brutes jumped out with brute shots and started taking aim. One of them decided that me having to face the heavy cannon wasn't enough and turned to aim at me too. Just as it was about to let off a couple of shots its head jerked to the side and a bunch of blood and brains flew out of it.

"Snark, was that you?"

"Actually, sir, that was Stan."

"Thanks Zepeda," I thanked the sniper.

The other brute was hit a second later and the Phantom flew up, redirecting its fire towards the two snipers' position. I heard Snark cursing in a foreign language before he cut the line. I fired at the Phantom in an attempt to draw its attention as did everybody else on the ground. Lima-One lit it up with heavy machine gun rounds and promptly announced that it was out of ammo. The Phantom didn't stop and kept shooting at Snark and Stan's position.

"I see you!" Pavel shouted.

"What?"

Two white lines crossed the sky and hit the Phantom's engines. The dropship shook violently before crashing into a building and then spinning back down before crashing down onto the street. Three other bright lines of light made contact with the Phantom before it finally decided to blow up for good.

A Warthog slid to a stop and Pavel climbed out of the side seat. "Frank, why on Earth does trouble on this level keep finding you?"

I laughed and hugged him, slapping him in the back a couple of times. "What the hell took you so long?"

"We hit some traffic," he replied. Two other Warthogs stopped behind the first one and the gunners aimed at different directions. "Where the hell's Andy?"

"In the Tortoise. So's Beckel and another guy. Han's in there taking care of them."

Pavel looked around, no doubt scanning the ODSTs with his helmet. "Snark?"

"Over there, you just saved his ass."

"Yours too," he reminded me. "Come on, we need to get moving the Scarab's–"

The Scarab was right about to fry us all, its main gun was powered up and aiming straight at us.

"Move, move, move!" Jen shouted. "Lima-One, get the wounded out of here!"

By this point the two crewmembers on board the Tortoise were way past their normal limit. Urban combat was all good and well provided you were the one with the big guns, but facing a Scarab was something that nobody should have to go through.

The IFV sped up and burst through a pair of cars before turning around a corner. Pavel ordered his men to back up their Warthogs and Jen moved her men out of the way. We moved quickly, but the Scarab had already turned the corner.

"Snark, hit the gunners!" I shouted. "I need you to kill the gunners and get the hell out of that building!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Scarab fired its main cannon, aiming for one of the Warthogs. Whoever was driving it saw it coming the moment the weapon started powering up and banked hard to the left, disappearing around the same corner the Tortoise had gone through.

"Pavel, who's on that Warthog?" I asked, blinking after the bright green flash.

"Ramirez, Dotsenko, and d'Arc," he replied. "Why?"

"Have them leave the Warthog, I want them to climb five or six floors on that building over there, you see it?"

Pavel paused for a moment. "Very well then. How do we herd this thing over there?"

"Just make sure it keeps missing."

"Not as easy as it rounds Frank," he grunted. "But we might pull it off."

"We don't have a chance," Jen chimed in. "Leave the 'Hog close by. I'll have a few of my men man it."

I nodded at Pavel.

"Yes, sir," he told Jen. "Right away."

By the time the Scarab's cannon had cooled off enough for it to fire again we were all out of the street. The plans called for us to sprint one block away from the street the Scarab was in, then move up in the street paralel to that one, and then go back to the street where the Scarab was in, all while keeping ahead of the huge walker. It was a lot of sprinting, but the covvies were scattered and still trying to get their shit together while we pounded away at their positions.

By we I mean the UNSC units with armored and air support.

"I hate running," Miri huffed as we stopped just short of exposing ourselves to the Scarab.

"Pavel, move your Warthogs… now!"

The three jeeps roared and moved forward. The men on the guns fired at the Scarab, knowing full well that they probably wouldn't do any damage. The two regular Warthogs aimed at the Scarab's deck, but the Gauss 'Hog shot twice at the walker's front legs, denting the heavy armor that covered them. The Scarab stopped to aim and only just missed the tail of the last 'Hog.

"All clear!" Bamber called out.

"Pavel, move up the next intersection," I ordered. "This time see if you can hit the leg a couple extra times."

"We're on the move."

Jen looked at me and gave me a quick nod. I tapped Marv in the shoulder and he rolled his neck from side to side. All of a sudden he took off. I immediately lunged after him, knowing that the rest of the ODSTs behind me would be sprinting as fast as they could as well. Running out in the open with a weapon designed to dig mines aiming at you.

We made it just before the Scarab fired again. I thanked my luck for making the gunner a goddamned idiot. That had given Pavel and his Warthogs a small opening. They used it to their full advantge. They appeared one intersection further down the road ten seconds later and this time the Gauss cannon managed to fire three times before they had to pull out.

"Snark, are you with Ramirez?"

"You mean Burly Russian and–"

"Yes, them!" I interrupted. "How long until the Scarab comes right beneath you?"

Snark took his sweet time answering. "Shit, El-tee. You want us to jump on top of it?"

"Yes."

"There's five of us!"

"I reckon you already took out half the crew."

"Two of us have sniper rifles!"

"Snark. Do it."

"Fine. I'll do it Lieutenant, but only because it's gonna get me laid."

"Be sure to film it," I reminded him. "Prick."

Jen and her team took off and a second later I sent Recon behind them. I stayed back with Marv, Miri, and Sandor, waiting for Snark and the others to make their move. As soon as the Scarab was beneath them they rapelled onto the deck. I couldn't see it from down here, but I heard the gunfire well enough. There was almost no plasma fire to respond to it.

"Drop us a rope," I ordered. A moment later two cables appeared from the Scarab. Marv and I immediatelly grabbed onto one and started climbing. It was a lot easier than it had been back in high school, especially considering that I was trained to this kind of thing. I pulled myself up and Zepeda offered the barrel of his sniper rifle to help me up. I hoped that he had the safety on and dragged myself back to my feet before helping Marv. Sandor and Miri were already climbing up.

"Marv, hold the ramp," I ordered. "Stan, is this deck clear?"

He nodded.

"Good, go upstairs and tell us if anything aproaches."

Stan nodded again and took off.

I helped both Miri and Sandor up the deck and we headed towards the ramp that led into the Scarab itself. Several corpses littered the Scarab's top deck, most of them were grunts and jackals, but there was a brute captain and a pair of lower ranking apes.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"We've got two or three brutes holding us off. They've got plasma rifles, but they move on us whenever we stop firing," Snark replied.

"Can't you make the bullet ricochet?" Sandor asked him.

Everybody turned to look at him.

"This isn't a videogame, idiot," I said.

Marv gave him a dope slap.

"Ramirez, Dotsenko," I adressed the two gunners. They both nodded sharply but didn't stop aiming down the ramp. Both of you will keep firing on the left side, nonstop. Marv and Sandor will go down pressed against the right. D'Arc, I want you to aim at the right, but don't fire unless a brute actually shows up." I turned to look at my two volunteers. "You two have any grenades left?"

"Two," Marv said.

"I'm out," Sandor replied.

I handed Sandor my last frag and Marv hit him in the back of the head once more.

"Toss the grenades, clear both sides and then pull back a meter. We'll move down the ramp, take the bottom and then wipe out anything inside this stupid thing, ok?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Ramirez, Dotsenko, fire!"

The roar of their SAWs made my ears ring. Marv and Sandor started moving down the ramp. Their body language indicated that they were indeed uncomfortable near a stream of bullets flying inches next to their heads. The two gunners, however, didn't seem worried at all. After all, it wasn't their head blowing up if they missed.

Both of my squadmates made it down and tossed their frags without incident. One of the explosions sent a brute flying into view and they both tossed their flashbangs inside the control room immediatelly.

"Move, move," I ordered. "More flashbangs!"

The loud detonations were amplified by the enclosed space, and even with my helmet's protection I could feel my ears throbbing in protest. The three men from Pavel's squad didn't need a direct order to move. Ramirez and d'Arc moved on the left and Dotsenko on the right. They fired their SAWs at targets that I couldn't see, but a few seconds later they stopped.

"Clear," d'Arc called out, her voice dripping with satisfaction.

"Great job," I allowed myself to say. "I want pictures of every inch of this room, scan the place with your helmet, ONI might feel grateful if we do."

My men moved in on the alien room and made a point to look at every last piece of wiring and paneling.

"Lieutenant, the two Gryphons are in range, they need you to paint the target to– Oh, I see you already took care of it." Al sounded suitably impressed, and it was pretty hard to impress and AI enough for it to drop from monotone or sarcastic. I was profd. Of myself. Sure, my men had done most of the leg work, but I had come up with the plan crazy enough to pull it off.

"Keep up with the program, Al," I teased the artificial intelligence.

"I'm keeping up with a hundred different programs, literally. You're just not that important, Lieutenant. No offense."

I laughed. "Redirect those Gryphons and patch me up to Captain Galván, he's going to be damn happy that we did his job for him."

"Oorah!" my team agreed.

I walked out of the control room and beckoned for Zepeda to come over. He looked around and placed his rifle's butt on the floor before looking at me and depolarizing his visor.

"Did we just highjack a Scarab?"

Thanks to SilasWhitfield for proofreading this chapter. I saw that some of you commented on his not so good proof-reading and talked to him about it. If this persists I'll see about getting an additional proofreader.

Finally made it to 1000 reviews! Thanks everybody, I couldn't have made it without you.

Johnson stole the ending of Halo 2 from Frank. Damn copycat. Because I most definitely didn't play the ending of Halo 2 after writing this chapter. Well, I think I should have more missions with Armadillos and Tortoises (google Stryker IFV) because the way I picture those things they are just too badass. They make it easier to face down bigger covvies such as brutes and hunters. Plus, they just sound cool in my head. Interesting point, Frank barely took part in the hijacking of the Scarab, he was the one with the idea but it was his men who did most the legwork. I wonder if he would be proud about it or just annoyed that he didn't get the lion's share of the killing.

Well, I wrote the first arctic warfare chapter and started writing the beginning of the next one. As you know I use a three chapter buffer system in case I lose an arm or something like that and need some time to get used to typing again and you want to get some reading done. Well, I can tell you that I had fun writing it and the next one will feature some heavy duty snowstorms. Before I forget, I have most of this battle planned, but there is some space open for suggestions. If you want anybody from the games or books (worry not, Johnson will get his due glory, but it might be a while) to appear in the battle, please let me know.

Which Spartans do you want to show up? So far I've only had Blue Team and a few Spartan-IIIs. There's plenty of space for more. Oh yes. If you have suggestions feel free to leave them down there.

Stay strong.

-casquis