I looked to my right, seeing Dragon in his Pathfinder armor, glowing red visor on his venator helmet staring back at me. I looked to my left and saw Athena, her Gungnir's solid facemask showing no visor. I received a nod from each before crouching from my prone position and looking through the trees ahead of me. I was ankle deep in mud and dirty water, moss and muck stuck to all pieces of my armor. I wiped a piece of moss of of my visor before the other two stood up with me. Dragon had left his flamethrower behind, hesitantly, because of the water levels. He hoisted his shotgun from his back now, holding it tight to his side. Athena was walking with her Sniper Rifle held tightly to her chest. I myself was looking down the barrel of my Battle Rifle. In front of us was a hill, taken by Rogue members of the SPARTAN Force. We were to take them down. I trudged through the dense mud, avoiding the trees that grew out of the water, roots growing in odd fashions. The top of the hill became visible as we neared its base. Athena stuck to a tree on hr left, aiming up the hill with her rifle, Dragon pushed through the marsh to stand next to me. Suddenly Athena's rifle rang out.
"Contact!" she said, firing another round.
In response another round from a sniper rifle struck the tree next to her, taking a chunk out of the wood. I moved to a tree next to me Dragon was trying to slosh his way to a tree just to his right. That was, before a sniper's round pierced his helmet. He fell face first into the muck, the hole in his head bleeding profusely.
"Dragon!" we screamed simultaneously.
Athena began to fire madly, striking off four rounds and popping in another clip, I used the covering fire to grab Dragon and drag his body behind a tree, propping it up against the slick bark. I grabbed his shoulder and touched my forehead to his before moving up to the next tree. Athena continued her suppressive fire, keeping the enemy sniper pinned. The blue helmet of the SPARTAN popped up for a moment, a moment too much. Athena's high powered rifle struck him in the visor, his head whipping back as he fell. I took this moment of relief to charge as fast as I could to the base of the hill, diving to prone onto the slick upward slope. I began to crawl, slowly, up the hill, Battle Rifle trained on the top.
Athena's voice came over the comms, "I've got movement, 11 O'Clock."
I blinked my acknowledgement light green, signaling I had gotten the message and kept watch to the top left of the hill as I crawled. I got halfway up the hill smoothly, but just then a Blue SPARTAN jumped the crest of the hill, firing blindly into the trees where the sniper had fired her shots. Athena pulled back around the tree as the SAW tore up limbs and splashed into the water around her. I took careful aim at the SPARTAN's head and squeezed. A burst of three caught the SPARTAN int the temple, dropping him instantly and sending him rolling down the hill. Athena peeked back around and gave a thumbs up, I continuing my crawl.
I reached the crest of the hill and peeked over. There stood two more SPARTAN's, both of them poised to strike at whatever appeared next. I popped my head back under the lip of the hill and looked back down. I flashed my index finger twice at Athena, motioning her forward. She made the crawl up the hill, appearing next to me half a minute later.
"Two on the hill, both armed." I said, she blinked a green acknowledgement light, trying to make as little noise as possible.
I peeked over the hill for another moment and poked back down. One was armed with a DMR, the other, a lightrifle. I took a plasma from my belt and primed it, nodding at Athena, who in turn drew an automatic shotgun from her back. I tossed the grenade over and stood up, not waiting for an explosion. The lightrifle wielding SPARTAN was taken down in my Battle Rifle fire, the other being dropped by Athena. I smiled behind my visor as we went to claim victory. I stood atop the hill and looked down into the Stalker helmet of the SPARTAN holding the DMR. I turned to congratulate Athena in the victory, her happiness being able to be felt through her helmet.
A cold feeling rushed over my body as I was thrown from the simulator. I stretched my neck and arms and looked around at the others stepping down from their respective simulators. I smiled at both Crow and Meteor, whom I'd taken out. Athena looked at Fallen and Phoenix, smiling viciously as she took off her helmet. Phoenix snickered before looking at Dragon with a disapproving look.
Dragon shrugged, "What? There was nothing I could do, you hit me from far away like coward. Bring it in close and I show how real man fights!" said Dragon with a chuckle.
Phoenix smiled a bit before walking off. Everyone else followed. We talked and laughed as we walked back to our cabins, Dragon coughing up the 5 dollars he'd bet Phoenix. I listened intently, speaking whenever I was asked a question or if I was mentioned. But my absence from the conversation allowed me to notice something. There was a lone girl, 6' in height. She was staring at a SPARTAN undersuit in her hands as she walked down the hall in the direction of the marines' cabins. She seemed strangely...familiar. Though I couldn't quite place it. I left it alone as she passed us by and we all walked merrily into the mess hall.