Steel to Rust Chapter 3: Ambush, a halo fanfic

Rust approached the blast door leading out to the outside. He paused to do one final check on his supplies, He had his pistol, his smg, and all the ammo he had for the respective weapons. He shifted his shoulders, it's not often he wears a backpack, but he will need it to haul any extra supplies he plans to bring. He then opened the pocket near his chest and held up 4 dog tags, he spent an entire year hunting down the rest of Plague Squadron in order to give them a proper send off. He carries them to remind himself not to get complacent, he managed to avoid the flood so far but only because he never stopped thinking, the moment he lets his guard down out there, he's dead.

"Reclaimer... are you absolutely sure you do not want me to escort you?" Tangent asked. "I know I stated that the flood receded, however I believe I can still be of use searching for any stragglers." Rust shook his head and took the pad out of his pocket.

"No, we don't know what else is out there, I know you said that you believed those tracks to belong to some space chicken, but in the low chance that it's a Jackal or worse a Skirmisher they'll be after you more than they would be me. You are still a ring monitor." Rust wrote down before turning the pad to Tangent.

"Then, make sure to come back safe! I can't perform my duties if you die." Rust patted the large talking orb before turning back to the door. He needed to leave now before he burns anymore time, he doesn't know just how long the flood will remain dormant for, but he needs those supplies regardless. He took one last breath and opened the door and began his long march.

Zaya was going through the weapons she was going to bring with her. She was planning to bring her sword, but should she need her plasma repeater as well? "Why not? We do not truly know what lurks out there." She turned to see Tis doing some final tuning to her needler. Even though Zaplak performs maintenance on their weapons, Tis does so much better with them. She taught Zaplak so many things once they met each other, Zaplak only does maintenance now since that is the only role he can perform right now. Tis then walked up and grabbed a needle rifle and holstered it on her back.

"I see... you are worried what we may find up there." Zaya said as she eyed her avian friend. Tis turned her head so she could look up at Zaya.

"Just in case, we don't know what is up there." Tis responded hesitantly.

"True, how are you're shields? Still functional?" Zaya questioned, not only did Tis have wrist shields like most of her kin Zaya personally requested a full armor shielding for her.

"Fully charged and ready for combat." Tis chirped happily. Just then Broccyus walked into the armory.

"Are we ready to leave Ma'am?" Broccyus asked. Zaya eyed what he was bringing with him, a war hammer, and a mauler.

"Almost, we just need to get Zaplak, unless you already retrieved him Broccyus?" Zaya asked, as much as she enjoyed her banter with the smaller Unggoy, getting him to do things he did not wish to do was like pulling teeth. Broccyus smiled and turned around, revealing a very ticked of Zaplak.

"Which one of you chuckle fucks came up with this retarded plan?" Zaplak almost hissed out. Tis and Zaya looked at each other, then back at Zaplak, then back at each other again, and started laughing, unable to contain themselves any longer. Zaplak huffed and put crossed his arms. "Well, I'm glad I could be a source of amusement to you"

"Do not frown Zaplak, Tis thinks you make a pretty backpack." Tis said through poorly contained giggles, causing the three to fall into hysterics once again.

"Enough, we must regain our focus." Zaya said finally able to contain herself "We have the ammo, your gas tanks, and our weapons. Are you all ready? We will not stop until we reach the base." All three nodded their heads. "Then we will be off. Tis you will take the front, I will take the back, Broccyus you will take the middle, and Zaplak... try to hang on." Zaplak groaned at her words. Once they left the base, they each started to run towards the base, they will get methane for Zaplak... or die trying.

It's been two and a half hours since Rust started to head towards the base, He hasn't seen any flood activity, but at the same time he hasn't seen any wildlife either. Normally, you'd hear birds chirping or something, but it's quiet. He didn't mind, he just needed it to stay quiet. He was making good progress anyway, he should be around a thirty minute walk from where he was, A little less than ten minutes if he ran there. He internally thanked his visor on his helmet, if there was a threat, it would highlight them in red hopefully before they spotted him.

Unfortunately, he was still in a pretty dense forest. He couldn't tell what kind of trees they were of all the things Plague Squadron tried to teach him, trees weren't on the high priority list. Rust chuckled at the thought. He didn't have much of an education, when the team found him, they realized he had almost no knowledge. So, while they were teaching him how to become an Odst, they taught him everything they possibly could, math science, you name it. However, he only had three years with them. He knew his knowledge was nowhere near complete, he was still thankful for things he was taught. As Rust continued walking, his visor picked up an enemy, He immediately ducked behind the nearest tree. He was less than ten minutes from the base, how did he zone out for that long? He peeked from the side of the tree to get a good look at the enemy, it was a single Infected Jackal. He watched the Jackal sniff the air...wait...THE FLOOD CAN BREATHE?! The Jackal whipped its head to where Rust was hiding, Rust was expecting it to charge his hiding spot immediately. Instead, it tilted its beak towards the sky.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" The Jackal let out a high pitched screech, and to Rust's horror he noticed many more red blips across his visor. Instead of waiting to take his shot at the Jackal, Rust stood up and Sprinted towards the direction of the base as he heard many more groans answer the call of the Jackal.

Rust pulled out his smg ready to shoot anything that got in his way, fortunately his initial dash caught the flood off guard, and any that were in range weren't fast enough to just grab him. As he ran, he could hear the moaning build behind him, until the moaning drowned out the sound of his heavy breathing. He reached the end of the forest, right at the foot of the base, Rust didn't waste any time taking in the view as the horde was fast approaching. There was way more flood here than there was supposed to be. He thought that al the flood were calming down, then why was there a huge horde? He realized, the flood wasn't receding, they were gathering at the base. He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid as he ran up the stairs towards the blast door on the side. If he got there in time, he could shoot the panel that controls it and lock the door, giving him enough time to scavenge. Whatever he was planning he had to be quick he didn't have much time.

Zaya, Tis, and Broccyus were running through the forest when they heard it. A shrill cry out in somewhere in the east, the only problem was how close that cry was.

"Tis! How close was that noise?" Zaya called ahead

"Very, very close. Not more than a mile." Tis replied

"We must hurry, we do not know what caused it to scream." Broccyus grunted out. Then tis screamed out.

"It's too late! We are surrounded." As if summoned by her words, the flood started to pour from the trees. Zaya pulled out her energy sword, Broccyus pulled out his hammer, and Tis pulled out her needler. They weren't getting away without a fight. Zaya slashed at the advancing flood, she had to think of something fast or they would be overwhelmed. An Infected Jiralhanae stepped to her right and raised its arm, just as Zaya was about to cut it down a swarm of pink crystals protruded from its face, killing it instantly. She didn't have time to thank Tis as the next wave was upon her. Even as she was defending herself, she could hear the strong blows Broccyus' war hammer was making, as bodies were sent flying in every direction, they were holding their ground well. They knew however, it wouldn't be enough. It was only a matter of time before the flood added them to their ranks.

"HEY BIG GUY TURN AROUND!" Zaplak screamed at Broccyus. Broccyus whipped around expecting an infected but was met with Zaya's back. Then he felt the little Unggoy start swinging his arms, which was followed immediately by an explosion. "PATH CLEARED RUN!" Zaplak yelled as the three sprinted towards the base once again.

"You had Plasma Grenades?!" Tis screamed out. She was met with a maniacal cackle from the Grunt

"How would I be the best at explosions if I don't have anything that exploded?!" Zaplak yelled back, still laughing at the mess he made. Zaplak stared at Zaya and gave her a thumbs up. Zaya chuckled, they might make it through this day after all. They quickly sprinted up the stairs, if they were fast enough, she would slice the panels on the other side of the blast doors and lock them down. Hopefully long enough to gather what they needed.

Rust practically threw himself at the door, fortunately, the door opened before he collided with it. He turned around and unleashed an entire clip of his smg into the panel causing the door to lock down, before he turned around, he heard something loudly slash and sizzle behind him, like metal getting cut by a super-heated blade. He turned around and raised his pistol aiming at the source of the noise, only to be met with the biggest fucking alien he has ever seen. In front of him was an Elite, a Brute, a Skirmisher, and a Grunt. The only one who reacted as fast as he did was the Skirmisher, it was pointing a needler his way, but from the looks of it, it didn't have much ammo. All eyes were on him, the Elite was snarling blade activated, the brute held his gravity hammer, staring daggers but otherwise remained silent, the Skirmisher may have had her gun on him, but she kept glancing back to her team then back to him, almost as if she's unsure of what to do, and the Grunt held a plasma grenade, finger on what he assumed was the activation switch.

As the staring contest continued both parties jumped at the large bang at the hangar door, the flood were trying to claw their way in. The Skirmisher and Odst locked eyes again, Rust took a deep breath and slowly lowered his pistol, the Skirmisher mimicked his actions. He slowly holstered his pistol, and it did the same. He watched the Brute say something to the Elite, but he could not understand them, they were not speaking English. While keeping his eyes on the group he made his way to the weapons locker that were strung across the wall, while most weapons were Covenant, he spotted a few weapons that were UNSC, such as a battle rifle. He started to grab all the weapons he knew how to use and put whatever ammo he could carry into his bag.

As Tis and her flock breached the blast door, she sighed in relief as she heard Zaya tear the panel down. They were safe for a moment, but that feeling instantly vanished as she found herself staring right into the face of a Human. Tis immediately pulled out her needler, but the human matched her speed as it whipped its weapon and aimed at her head

Tis was eyeing the human who was currently deciding whether or not to put a bullet in her skull. She turned to look at her team, all of their attention was turned to the human. This was bad, even if they killed the human there was still enough distance that he could kill either her or Zaplak. A loud bang roused Tis from her thoughts as a flood rammed the hangar doors. It was the worst possible scenario, they should be securing supplies and getting ready to fight the flood but here she was in a stalemate with a human. She glared daggers at it, it was putting her flock in danger, if she doesn't decided something fast everyone here will die. A slight movement caught her attention, as if it sensed her thoughts, the human started to slowly lower his weapon. Tis knew she should kill him right then, but it didn't seem right. So instead of killing it she slowly lowered her own weapon, hoping it wasn't a trick. Then they continued staring at each other, She heard Broccyus tell Zaya he wasn't a threat, but she couldn't take her eyes off it. She watched as it turned to the wall of weapons and started to arm himself with more than his small weapon.

Zaya watched as the human start grabbing ammo and weapons off the shelves Broccyus stated he was not a threat and wished to not kill him if they could help it, but even if he was not a threat, she was not going to let it out of her sights.

"Zaya, you need weapons!" Tis called out throwing her a fresh plasma repeater. She caught it and continued to watch the human, he kept stealing small glances at her and her team. Broccyus walked up to Zaya and asked

"What are your thoughts Ma'am?" Zaya sighed and replied without taking her eyes of the human.

"It is a single human, normally these one travel in packs, yet here he is alone. You wish for me to avoid killing him, if necessary, but in my experience a lone human is more dangerous than a group of them."

"He has had every opportunity to kill either Tis or Zaplak, yet he did not take it as most would, that alone speaks of its character." Broccyus retorted. Zaya eyed him the huffed.

"Yes, but be wary, we will not leave here without killing the Flood. See to it that he does not use us for his escape."

"As you wish." Broccyus said watching as the human stuffs a plasma pistol into his bag.

Rust had to hurry, the flood were going to tear down that hangar door any minute, and unfortunately the only thing that could possibly slow them down long enough was the group of aliens scavenging next to him. He shook the thought from his head, he was too distracted, he needed to focus. He was taking anything that he could find useful, small plasma pistol though not the strongest weapon, he could use it to start a fire if absolutely necessary. He even managed to find a few clips of fuel rods, he always wanted to fire that thing. He heard the Brute talk to the Elite again as they both watched him scavenge, Rust didn't care as long as they didn't attack him. Though he has not personal grudge with the aliens, Charles and Jacob told him how ruthless the Covenant were at killing humanity, most viewed humans as heretics, others as food. Rust shuddered at the thought. As he continued to scavenge, he heard a something clacking its way towards him. He looked up to see the Skirmisher walk towards him, then stop as he noticed it.

He turned back to the weapons, when the Skirmisher decided to get even closer to him until it was almost looming over him. He looked back to the Skirmisher who easily stood a foot taller than him. It pointed at the needle rifle that he took, and then pointed at itself, then it pointed at a needler in their hands then at Rust. Rust realized it wanted to trade, he liked needle rifles, but at this point in time the needler would prove more helpful to him, so he grabbed the rifle and offered it. It grabbed the rifle then held out the needler for him to take. He slowly took the gun from its hand, then it bobbed its head at him. At this point Rust thought, it would walk back to its group, but it stayed next to him as it rummaged through more weapons. He was beyond nervous at this point, he accidentally fumbled a plasma rifle in his hand. The Skirmisher and Rust watched as it hit the floor, seemingly undamaged. As he bent over to pick it up, he noticed the Skirmisher's feet...

"So that's who was outside my base, Tangent was right it was a space chicken." Rust thought as he also took notice of a fuel rod cannon, and a fairly large covenant box, he's been told about these before. The boxes usually held a plasma turret in them, they definitely needed this if they were going to repel the horde right outside the bay door. He couldn't open it though, maybe if he had a cutting torch... then her remembered the red sword the Elite had. Rust calmed his nerves before he turned to the Skirmisher who was still quickly choosing and discarding weapons, noticing he was staring at it the Skirmisher stood up and stared back at him. He slowly pointed at it the pointed at the Elite. It looked back at the Elite, then back to him, he held his hand like the Elite did then he motioned it to slice the box lid open. It bobbed its head again and ran to the Elite and squawked something he couldn't understand. The elite turned and looked at Rust causing his blood to run cold. As it approached Rust became painfully aware how small he was compared to this giant. It walked so close to him it was almost stepping on his feet, it peered down at him and ignited its blade, then turned and in one swipe sliced of the lid. It took a step back and continued to stare Rust down. Rust didn't waste any time as he grabbed the turret and slowly moved it to where it was pointed at the bay door. He quickly got it installed as he remembered how Bruce explained it to him. He said Rust would probably never set one up but still showed him how just in case.

He turned and saw the Grunt making weird noises as it was collecting fuel rod ammo, looking frantically around. Rust guessed it was probably looking for the cannon, he remembered one tucked away beneath the locker where he was originally. He reached down and lifted the heavy gun onto his shoulder and walked back to where the grunt was. The Brute who was next to the Grunt saw Rust approach and stood up, glaring at him but still said nothing. Most likely waiting to see if he was going to start something. The Grunt eyed Rust suspiciously, until Rust handed him the cannon. The Grunt took the cannon and quickly loaded it. Rust stepped back, he could hear the doors of the hangar starting to creak now, they didn't have much time.

All that was left was for Rust to find a strong weapon for himself. As he was about to continue his search. He stopped in his tracks when he heard the Brute grunt at him. He turned to face the behemoth, in one hand he was holding a box, what surprised Rust was the fact the box had the UNSC logo on it. The Brute then ripped off the lid revealing a SAW with many belts of ammunition beneath it. He looked at the Brute who then huffed, took the gun and shoved it in Rust's arms.

Of all the weapons Scott taught him how to use the SAW was the one he wanted to try the most. This was perfect to combat the flood, as he was admiring the weapon they heard the sound of steel bending, the flood tore a small chunk of the door off. Rust rushed to the turret, he was as ready as he was ever going to be. The door finally gave, and the flood poured in.

By the time the flood was able to get past the door Rust already started to fire in their direction, melting many of the flood who were in the small hole. He heard shuffling behind him, as the flood squeezed past the door, they finally ripped a sizable hole in the door. It was impossible to hold them all back with the turret but that wasn't going to stop him from killing as many of the bastards as he possibly could. The flood then split directions in order for him to duck away from the constant plasma raining their way, Rust cursed internally as he engaged the flood coming on right. He then heard a needler fire off, instantly killing quite a few flood that were advancing on the left. He glanced to his left to see the Skirmisher stand a few feet away from him firing volley after volley into the flood, He'd never seen someone reload a gun as fast as it did. He heard a roar behind as the Elite charged forward and started to cut into the flood, it's sword catching many victims in a single slice, it was firing with a plasma repeater in it's other hand mowing even more down.

Rust, now more confident in their chances of survival, switched his attention down to the door that the flood breached, hoping to catch the brunt of them as they continued to try and dodge the turret. He heard the brute to his right slam his gravity hammer down, swinging it with skilled precision, he used the rebound of the hammer to power up his next swing. The Grunt was standing slightly behind him firing off the fuel rod cannon, vaporizing a large amount of Flood that were heading to the right.

The flood with a seemingly endless number of soldiers continued to pour in through the door, and rust felt the turret start over heating, not that it mattered. It was almost out of plasma anyway.

"Shit, the turrets almost out of plasma. When that happens, I will switch to the SAW, that will hopefully have enough firepower to keep them back, I just need to find a right time to sw-" Rust thoughts screeched to a halt as he noticed an infected brute carrying a spartan laser quickly was rushing the right side, but instead of firing it at the right side, he aimed at the left, directly at the Skirmisher. Rust let go of the turret and lunged at the Skirmisher, just as the spartan laser fully charged. The Skirmisher squawked in surprise as Rust tackled her out of the way, the beam barely hitting the edge of his back armor plate, melting a small chunk off. The brute was immediately vaporized by the Grunt, Rust quickly got off the Skirmisher and ripped the Saw off his back and started to fire into the oncoming crowd in front of the Elite, he noticed the Elites shields were flickering, they would not last much longer. The Skirmisher stood up and ripped the needle rifle off her back. She was trying to buy time for the Elite's shields by getting headshot after headshot, blowing up each and every target that could get close to the Elite, but the Elite needed more time. Rust quickly looked around while firing, then he spotted something he didn't notice earlier, a drop wall. He quickly grabbed the dropped wall and heaved it over the edge of their little platform, landing between the flood and the Elite, buying it a few seconds.

Rust turned his attention to the right side, the flood was overwhelming the Brute forcing it to take a step back with every swing. Rust then provided the Brute with cover fire, trying to take out any flood that was the closest to it. As he was focused on helping the Brute, he failed to notice that an infected jackal with a needler started to fire at him, while Rust was out of range of the needler for it to track him a stray needle hit Rust in his left shoulder. Fortunately, it hit the densest part of his shoulder plate, however it still buried itself into his flesh. The infected jackal was then shot by the Skirmisher, as it sent a round from its rifle straight through its skull. Rust hissed in pain as he reached up, sucked a breath in and yanked the needle out before it could shatter. Then the unthinkable happened, the moaning got quieter and quieter as the group continued their assault until there was no more noise. Just as they thought they survived, the group heard heavy footsteps marching towards them. A giant writhing mass of flesh rammed itself tearing what was left of the door down. Rust only saw this monster in the lessons the he had with Charles, it was a flood juggernaut.

The Grunt was the first to snap out of its gaze and shot it in the head with its fuel rod cannon, causing the massive beast to shriek in pain as it barreled towards it. Rust half expected the Grunt to run but he stood his ground and fired again, the Juggernaut dodged out of the way, the rest of the group snapped out of their daze as they began firing at the behemoth. The Juggernaut again began his pursuit of the Grunt determined to kill it first, but before he could make it, the Brute slammed it's gravity hammer into its knee causing it to buckle. It threw it arm forward as it fell to one knee, the arm happened to catch the grunt sending him flying to the wall. The Grunt crumpled to the floor, and completely stopped moving. The Elite let out a rage filled roar and stabbed the beast in its left knee hoping to cause it to fall while the Skirmisher fired more rounds, some into its knee, and some into its head.

Rust turned to the Grunt who was just flung against the wall, he suddenly got an idea. He ran up to the Grunt and took its cannon along with its bag of grenades he was holding. He then shot the Juggernaut with the cannon in the face again causing a deeper hole, the Juggernaut enraged reached out to grab Rust, which instead of running away, Rust ran and jumped right into its grasp. The Skirmisher squawked and started to shoot the tentacle that held Rust hostage. The Brute and Elite were wailing on its sides, trying to kill the beast before the flood snapped him in half. The Juggernaut lifted Rust up and was about to slam him to the ground, until Rust took the plasma grenade and stuck it to the bag, then threw the bag sticking it to the Juggernauts face. He then grabbed his knife and stabbed the part of the tentacle where the Skirmisher was shooting successfully cutting it off and dropping 14 feet to the floor. He gasped in pain but still pushed himself away from the beast just as the bag of grenades went off, completely melting the beasts upper half. Rust sat up dazed, the Brute stood over him then quickly ran over to the fallen Grunt.

Rust grunted as he stood up and made his way to the Grunt as well. The three were surrounding it, the Skirmisher shook its shoulder, the Grunt woke up with a start. It yelled out some things he couldn't understand but he figured they were most likely swear words. Then the group turned towards Rust, he didn't move as far as he knew now that the main threat was gone, they may try to kill him. The Elite walked up to Rust this time staying a few feet back, so as to avoid intimidating him. Rust had to stop himself from taking a gulp of air, for some reason this Elite scared him more than the flood did, but he did not know the reason behind this fear. It wasn't it's size, he just got grabbed by a Juggernaut and he wasn't that rattled. The elite then dipped its head at him, it was bowing to him. Rust unsure of what to do bowed back, the Elite looked at him in surprise then let out a deep gargling noise...wait, it was laughing at him. Rust then shook his head, he looked back at the group and slowly backed out of the huge hole the flood made, then headed home.

Zaya watched as the human left, before turning to Zaplak and asked.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Zaplak looked up at her in a pained expression.

"Of course, I'm not all right that damned human used all my grenades!" Zaya huffed at that, it appears that he would live another day.

"Let's go get your methane, the let us leave this place." Zaya started as she went to go searched the rest of the rooms. Broccyus followed her and said.

"Thank you for trusting my judgment. I know he was an enemy, but I doubt we would be alive if it wasn't for his help." Tis ran up to them to add her own thoughts on the human.

"He saved the flock, maybe not all the humans are bad?" She asked looking up at Zaya to get her input

"He did help us this time, but that was only because we had a common enemy, do not let your guard down around him. We do not know his true intentions." Zaya said somewhat sternly, the human did help them, even took a needle for Tis, but she could not let her guard down, her family came first and foremost. She would sacrifice the human in a heartbeat before she would endanger her family. "I also need to apologize to you Tis." Tis cocked her head at that before asking.

"For what?".

"I did not believe you when you reported that you detected a human, I will have more faith in your senses from now on." Zaya said. Tis just chuckled as they continued to search for the methane tank.

The trip back home took much longer than Rust originally thought, He was beaten and sore, his body ached with every step, his breathing was becoming more and more heavy, he could barely keep his eyes open and yet he couldn't help but feel relieved. He met other living beings on this rock, he knew better than to trust them blindly, but together they destroyed a massive hoard, the same horde that took his friends away from him, at least that's what he thinks. He doesn't know if the flood migrate. He sighed in relief as he finally came to the front of the door, it was so dark he almost missed it. He pressed the keycard into the lock and stumbled inside. Setting all his weapons and his bag down at the entrance.

"Reclaimer there you are! I was starting to worry, it took you so long for you to get back I th- Are you alright?! Your shoulder is bleeding and I scanned multiple bruises across your body! Quick grab a firs aid kit and patch up your shoulder." Tangent practically yelled at rust as he floated in and scanned his injuries. "Fortunately, the wound on your shoulder wasn't deep maybe a half inch into your flesh, but it could get infected if not treated properly. What happened while your where out there?!" Rust chuckled weakly as he grabbed his pen and paper.

"I promise I'll tell you about it tomorrow, I'm exhausted, I need sleep." Rust wrote as he bandaged his arm.

"That...is acceptable, what matters now is that you are safe. I will however expect you to tell me everything, do not leave out a single detail!" Tangent declared while staring at Rust, Rust smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. As he walked over to his table, he took off his armor, and went to sleep. For once in two years, he didn't have any nightmares.