Stubborn
Well this is a little late...sorry. Been real busy with school so forgive me but I will be updateing a bit more frequently now so please keep reading :)
Run, duck…..fire, duck. All that had been running through my mind for the past hour was my training skills and my survival instincts. Shoot to kill, survive. Shortly after my group was ambushed I told the two remaining soldiers to retreat and head back to the beach while I covered them. As I moved to avoid grenades and changed clip after clip of ammo the fight seemed endless, they just kept sending more reinforcements down the slope and little by little I was being pushed back away from my cover. But just as I was contemplating when to run I remembered, James had installed a cloaking device into my armor, smart son of a bitch.
"Alright you bastards, time to play some hide and seek." I crouched low so they couldn't see me as I activated my cloak and as soon as there was a break in their fire I made a move, quickly but quietly running in an arch to a group of thick trunked trees for cover. "Hraak meekna tol! Find the demon!" I heard the elite leader growl out commands as they tried to fan out to find me, not knowing how or where I disappeared too, but with no luck. "C'mon just a little closer…" I had been waiting patiently for a grunt to stumble close enough for me to stick a grenade it but they were all looking in the area across from me but I began to fidget as my helmet notified me of my cloak power diminishing, fast. Guess the time to act was now or never.
I peeked around the trunk slightly and saw that a grunt had strayed a little bit away from the main group, but the problem was going to be getting it over here without drawing the others attention. "Maybe I should just throw it….." It would increase my chances of getting all of them with one and I wouldn't have to be as careful, but if I missed this I had better be ready to run like hell. Literally. "Ok ok….1…2….3!" Quickly my thumb hit the button on top of the plasma and activated just before I pulled my arm back and let it loose. It made a slight high pitched noise as I threw it and my eyes followed the grenades smooth arch through the air, its striking electric blue color a sharp contrast against the dull browns, greys and greens of the piece of forest we were in, and landed directly onto the back of the poor unsuspecting grunt.
"Oooo? Ahhhh!" It seemed surprised at first as it tried to inspect what had stuck to its pointed back, but that surprise soon turned into fear as it began to flail its stumpy arms and run directly into the middle of all the other covenant, obviously not caring that they were going to blow up as well. I almost felt a twinge of sympathy for the little runt as the grenade finally went off, ending his terror and dispatching the rest of the group, but then I thought of how quick they were to simply end the lives of my own allies and laugh as if a joke were told.
Did they not see life the same way as we humans did? Was their life nothing but being trained to destroy and kill for their own interest? Surely that could not be it, but yet, that's all I ever saw them doing; Not once have I seen a covenant make peaceful contact with my race, nor do I think that day will ever come. As I stood behind the tree, cloak now deactivated, thinking about why things worked the way they did, I failed to react to the sound of heavily armored bodies shuffling down the now silent path.
It was only when I heard the low distinctive whirring sound of one of the hunters arm cannons powering up did I turn around, but by then it was too late. I tried to move as fast as I could but I felt the heat from the cannon as it barely missed my side, the green glow of the plasma lighting up my vision, and instead hit the tree, making the bark explode and throw me back a few yards. I felt my back hit another tree and the air left my lungs in a rush, leaving me breathless and defenseless as the hunters moved towards me. Obviously they not only wanted to shoot me but they wanted to take a swing at me as well, great.
"Huhuhuh." Their muffled grunts of laughter could be heard as they were almost less than a foot away from me but by then I had managed to get to my feet, and just in time as they swung their massive shield arms in my direction. I ducked and once again heard the sound of bark crunching and splitting, seeing as they were massive hulks with much strength, and rolled out of the way, drawing out my assault rifle. I began to back away and fire my rifle in short bursts as I tried to find some sort of weak spot within their armored bodies, keeping my distance so they couldn't get a swing at me.
"They have to have some sort of weak spot…..their stomachs!" I felt stupid as I realized that their orange glowing midsections were unarmored and vulnerable and my mouth turned up in a smirk as my bullets began to do some damage. But although I now had the advantage in this fight I still stayed as cautious as ever, for if they managed to get in one right shot or a head on hit with one of their armored arms, well, I don't think I would be coming back from that.
"Uuuuuuuhhhhaaaa!" Finally as I got a few last shots to their back both of the walking tanks made a noise of pain, slightly muffled by their covered faces, and fell back with a heavy thud to the ground dead. "Damn tough buggers to kill….wonder what they were trying to protect…" I had heard that they didn't bring in the hunters unless there was something they were trying to protect, and I bet that whatever it is will be up this slope. But before I started up I figured I had better check in with Johnson first, "Johnson…..hello? Johnson? If you can hear me this is Agent Dusk, I'm heading up the slope to see what's going on. They were protecting something…."
And with that I got my weapon ready and began to move forward, my mind wandering to the Master Chief and how he and Cortana were getting along.
"Communications have been nothing but static on this island so I assume they have a disruptor up. Last I heard from her though was something about going up the slope." "That's where the control panel to open up the door is so we need to head there anyway, thanks Johnson." The AI didn't want to think negatively but she had a feeling that even if they got there quickly they were not going to find the missing Agent, something wasn't right about this island.
"Mmhmm. Chief the other marines and I are going to stay here and make sure to stop any other reinforcements that try and stop you, good luck." The Spartan nodded his thanks and hopped into the jeep, revving the engine a few times before speeding off to the other side of the island. He stayed sharp and cautious, expecting more covenant to be waiting for them on their way, but none ever showed themselves nor did he spot any. "That's odd…..surely that wasn't all of them?" "We'll see."
Cortana had always noticed that Spartans never seemed to mind being killing machines, always training or running their tactics through their mind. Have they ever had a shred of a normal human life, or even a normal childhood? And even though they were human, all the flesh and blood and nerves, how much of their humanity was left? John 117 didn't seem to really show any sort of emotion other than when Agent Dusk seemed to be around now, and she could have sworn that when Johnson said she was missing there was a skip in his regular heart pattern.
She would have to continue to watch and learn, these humans were such a fascinating species, and the internet and Halsey could only tell her so much about them. The rest would have to be observed. But her musings were interrupted as the spartan she was with crouched low to the ground and drew his weapon out, looking through the scope at what she assumed was hostiles.
"Looks like they were able to get a few reinforcements in, is the control room in that building?" Cortana paused only for a moment as she got a scan conformation of the building and then replied, "Yes. It should be right down a hall once you enter the structure, just be careful. My readings show something big is waiting, two of them actually." He simply nodded and then loaded his assault rifle, "Let's go."
(2 hours later)
"The cartographer should be down this ramp, hurry." The Master Chief rushed down the small hallway and stopped in front of a large control panel with a floating schematic of the Halo ring. "Will this help us find Agent Dusk as well?" "Hmmm...it may help me pinpoint her location but it won't be able to tell me exactly where she is, hold on let me download the information...yes she's showing up to be...back at the top of this facility? But how?" But before she could say anything more the Master Chief took off back in the direction they had come from, shooting any stray covenant that had come out from hiding.
"Alright take the next left up here they locked the door we came down here from, there should be an exit ramp that we can take." The farther up they got the clearer their communications became and soon they began to hear the slightly panicked voice of Agent Dusk, "Hello? Any back up please respond! I have heavy covenant reinforcements up here and a few are cloaked-Argh dammit!" "Rikki this is Cortana responding! Johnson and the other marines are on the other side of the island but the Master Chief and I are almost there, just hang on a little longer!"
She heard static over the comm but no direct response, hopefully they wouldn't be too late. To the Spartan it seemed like another hour before he finally killed the last elite and ran back up the ramp to the main complex. "Rikki!" "Over here! But be careful there's one last elite but I couldn't see where he went because of his invisibility!" He could see the woman was pinned down behind a column with a shot to her arm, but it seemed like it had already stopped bleeding. But he didn't get to inspect her condition more than a few seconds as he was tackled from behind by the missing elite.
"Hrakk neer mal! Die demon!" He felt the heat of an energy sword pierce the metal ground beside him as the elite tried to slice his head off, but he rolled and threw a punch at the aliens jaw making him drop his weapon. "Rarrrgh!" The spartan continued to punch the elite several times until he got a clear enough shot, effectively ending the fight. "That was the last one Chief, and Foehammer is headed over with a pelican now to take us into the hidden part of the island I found in the schematics. Make sure Agent Dusk is ok."
"I'm fine, it just grazed me. And it turns out I heal pretty quickly so I'm ready to go." "And what makes you think you're coming along? This is a solo mission." The Master Chief didn't really understand why he jumped the gun to keep her from coming so quickly, after all she was probably the second best marine compared to himself. But he couldn't shake the feeling to protect her from harm, he didn't like seeing her hurt and he didn't know why. "I'm not staying back just because a spartan tells me too. I have orders I intend to follow and promises I intend to keep, so your either with me or against me...but I'm coming either way."
He sighed heavily and made his way outside as he heard the pelican hover about the platform, waiting for them to climb aboard. He didn't want to admit it but he secretly was glad she was coming. She followed quietly after, smirking underneath her helmet, and hopped up onto the pelican as well. Buckling the strap and getting her gun ready as Foehammer spoke over the comm, "Hold on folks we're goin in, and it's not gonna be a smooth ride!"
Please leave a review I love reading and seeing what you all think about my story so far, and there will be more bonding in later chapters. Sorry it's off to a slow start.