The Major
Streets of New Mombasa
10 Hours After Rupture
"Seela!" he said again, shaking her by the arm, watching as her head lolled to the side, her eyes shut tight. He threw away all pretences he had about touching her, hooking an arm around her chest and lifting her up, bringing his glove to her mandibles.
He could feel her breath on his fingers, but it was faint, and that did nothing to steady his racing heart. She was soaked in her own blood from the waist down, her armour burned with plasma, and one of her mandibles was bleeding. He worried she might choke on her own blood, the way it dribbled down into her open throat.
He brought one of her long arms over his shoulder, his knees shaking as he struggled to lift her. Despite being slimmer than her male counterparts, it took most of his strength to flip her onto her back, and he had to take a rest before trying to get her to her feet.
"Come on, Seela," he pleaded, struggling to stand with her added weight over his arms. He got about two steps before he faltered, just managing to catch his companion before she toppled over and made her injuries worse.
Grumbling, he propped her up against one of the hills dotting the garden, his vest stained with her spilt blood. He reached into one of his pouches, he'd have to treat her before trying to move her again.
"Shit!" The only thing in his medical pouch was a discarded piece of medigel packaging. Of course, Seela had used it on the dead Elite earlier, the fight had come so fast he'd forgotten about that. He examined the garden, but like before, optican's finest were nowhere to be seen.
As he began to let doubt take over, he heard it. A phone, the rings coming from somewhere nearby, beyond the garden. He looked towards the doors where the Brutes had spilled out from, then back to his companion. He couldn't carry her out of here, she'd bleed out by the time he'd make it to the street, but leaving her could be just as fatal, any nearby Covenant would have heard the shooting and would show her no mercy if they found her. She'd die anyway if he didn't get her some meds, so there was little choice in what he had to do.
"Hold on, Seela," he said, squeezing her shoulder as he rose to his feet. "I'll be right back."
He slung his shotgun over his shoulder, the weapon clattering against his back as he ran out of the garden, a crack of thunder rumbling somewhere in the distance.
Panic began to grip him as he dipped back onto the street, following the noise of the phone. Seela was his responsibility, they were a team, one founded on necessity of course, but still a team, and he couldn't just let her die, alien or not. He'd lost too many friends in this war, and if he could stop that number from adding up, he'd do all he could.
Was that what she was, a friend? She understood him more than even his own team did in what little time they'd been together, and the fact they'd watched each other's backs all night added some semblance of comradery. If that constituted friendship, then he supposed she was. Had it only been a few hours ago he'd saw her as just an asset he was almost considering getting rid of? Time sure as hell flew in this place.
After a few minutes of desperate searching, he found what he was looking for. Three medical kits were mounted on the wall of a building, protected from the rain by a glass shelter. Their contents were identical, packets of medigel along with user instructions. Seela had said they wouldn't work on her since she wasn't human, but it was his only chance to help her.
Bundling the kits under an arm, he made his way back, but around the halfway mark, he had to duck behind a car as a loud, whirring noise drew his eyes to the sky. A Phantom banked over the buildings, its searchlights scanning the streets as its mounted chin cannon looked for targets. Whether they had heard the gunfire or one of the Brutes had called for backup, it was hard to tell.
He didn't have time for this, the Major whispering for the ship to leave as though that would somehow work. Screw it, he thought, rushing out into the open and keeping to cover wherever he could. Being spotted now would get them both killed, but Seela would bleed out if he took too long.
The journey back to the garden was slow, but he returned without being detected, rain plinking off his helmet as he rushed onto the grass, stepping round the hulking body of the Chieftain, his hammer still buried in his backside. Seela was right where he had left her, and he skidded to a stop beside her, his knees in the dirt as he laid out the medkits by her thigh.
He should start with her bleeding ribs, as there was already a pool of purple blood creating a circle below her rump. The Chieftain had skewered her good.
Removing his gloves, the cold air pricking at his knuckles, he ripped open a packet of gel and poured it onto his palm. Her bodysuit was shredded, but still partially obstructing her wound, so he pried it away with a thumb and finger, the material made sticky by her rushing blood.
He slathered the gel across her nasty scar, the cut longer than the length of his hand. The medigel took on a purple hue as it mixed with her fluids, the Major grimacing for Seela as he pushed his fingers into the gash, feeling her flesh writhe around his digits. He wiped his hand on his chest when the gel was all gone, then opened the second packet, thinking the cut needed another dose.
After rubbing the second packet away into her injury, the gel taking on the consistency of glue as it mixed with her blood, he set about removing the armour covering his arm. The gel could only do so much, and he didn't have any morphine or biofoam on hand, but he did have gauze, at least a version of gauze.
Slipping his combat knife out of its sheath, he sliced away the sleeve of his BDU, cutting the fabric into a long strip. Taking one end of it, he wrapped it over her front, then looped it over her torso, her bulk just slim enough his hands met on the other side. It would have been better to have the wrapping taught over her skin, but he had no idea how to remove her bodysuit, and he imagined she wouldn't appreciate being undressed by him if he did know.
He tied his former sleeve with a knot, pulling it tight around her waist. His improvised bandage was already soaking through, but it was keeping her blood from leaking out, for the moment.
He moved on to her burns, the one on her shoulder looking the worst out of them all. It was the same shoulder that had been bleeding when he'd first met her, and her disregard for medicine back then hadn't done her any favours, more of her blood dribbling down her back. Lightning shattered in the clouds above, and he looked up when the crashing noise was chased by the Phantom's engines. It was somewhere out of view nearby, but with a bit of luck, the tree canopy would conceal them if it flew over his position.
Unlike her waist, her upper torso was armoured, and it took a bit of prodding to figure out her to remove her power armour. There were buttons hidden just beneath each piece that would disable the magnetic locks, a very modular design. He set her pauldron on the grass, peeling back the neck of her bodysuit to expose her shoulder.
Her dark flesh here was bruised over, her skin raw and swelling, like someone had pressed a cattle prod onto her. Medigel could help, but he needed to conserve it just in case, and water was a good alternative. He left her once more to search for a faucet in one of the buildings. Rain was in abundance, but he didn't fancy putting her out in the open where the Phantom could spot them.
Each minute was laced with dread, but his searching in a nearby apartment turned up a plastic cup and a water cooler, and he filled it to the brim, spilling a little of it as he dashed back to Seela's side. From a distance she looked right at home, just another body in a sea of dead aliens, and the horrible thought that she'd die while he was away made his heart beat faster.
"Come on Seela," he pleaded, rubbing the water into her burn. He remembered the cut on her mandible was still bleeding, so he set aside the cup, opening his last gel packet as he moved to her face.
It was like pinching the fang of a spider, but he suppressed his apprehension, rubbing her mandible between his gel-laden fingers. The appendage was tough with very little give, packed with muscle, and a bit of curiosity came over him as he examined her strange split-jaw. He had killed too many of her kind to wonder about their alien biology, but he'd never had the chance to be this close to a living one, and he took these moments to study her a bit more.
The texture of her skin was like leather beneath his fingers, as smooth as glass, save for where she was injured of course. As he had noted before, her hide was a navy-blue colour, like an ocean at dusk, and as he moved back to nurse her shoulder he gave her hide a little push, feeling her hard muscles press up to meet him through a subtle layer of blubber.
She was so similar to a human, yet alien in many other ways, her split-lip that was her species nickname one of the most obvious differences, and he found himself examining her odd face again, purely to see if she was injured anywhere else, of course…
Her mandibles moved like lips did, she could replicate speech perfectly, and she also used them to eat as though they were just extensions of her jaw. Their abnormal appearance contrasted with how she used them, he couldn't imagine having four fingers as a face, what would that feel like?
She stirred, the Major quickly pulling his hand back as she flexed her mandibles, her eyelids slowly opening. "W-Where…?" she mumbled, slowly turning her head up at him. "Major?"
She made to sit up, but he gently pushed her back down, his hands on her shoulders. "Don't move," he warned. "That Chieftain got you pretty good, but I'm working on it."
"N-No," she breathed, the Major switching his attention to her hip. The strip of cloth was ruined with her blood, he'd have to replace it soon. "Don't," Seela added. "Leave it…"
"What are you on about?" he asked, using the last of the medigel on the wound, peeling back his improvised bandage and rubbing it in. He blinked when she tried to bat his hand away, but she was so weak all she could do was grab his arm.
"Stop," she said, shaking her head at him. "Don't… Don't heal me."
"I know it hurts," he said, bringing his hand out of her grip. "It'll get better, just-"
"No!" she said, a little louder this time. "I… I want… this."
"You need to stay still." He wiped his filthy hand on his pants, resuming his treatment of her burn as he picked up the cup.
"Please," she mumbled, and he paused, her purple eyes burning with a strange amount of awareness for someone in her state. He paused, having never heard her plead like that before. "just let me… let me have this."
"Seela, you need treatment, or you're not gonna make it."
"Yes… I go to… meet my forefathers…"
"Not while I'm still here, okay? I'm not just… gonna let you die, alright?"
He cut off another piece of his sleeve, bringing the cloth up to her mandible and patting the blood and gel away. He met her eyes as he cleaned her up, and they began to lid, her words slurring as she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Please…. don't…"
When her eyes snapped shut, a small drop of water slipped from beneath one, dragging down her cheek where it dropped off the side of her jaw.
The Major blinked, had she just… cried? Was that a tear born from pain, or something else? He wasn't sure, and Seela wasn't in the right state for him to ask, her breathing falling into deep, slow draws as she slumped over, the Major cradling her head to keep her from tipping over.
The Phantom made a pass over the garden, the backwash of its engines shaking the leafy canopy. They were out of time, and there was nothing more he could do for her, the Major stooping to pick up her discarded carbine, securing it to the back of his vest, next to his shotgun.
He ducked underneath Seela's arm, intending to carry her weight on his shoulders, but as willowy as she appeared, he barely made it two steps before her weight caused him to falter. He tried to wake her up, giving her face a gentle tap, then a harder slap, but she was out cold, the blood loss and the plasma burns too much, even for her.
He resorted to dragging her, her hooves leaving trails in the dirt as he moved behind her and lifted her by the armpits, dragging her towards the edge of the garden, the Major pausing for breaths every few feet. He got close to the safety of the building before the Phantom once again entered his vision, the aircraft halting above one of the adjacent rooftops, the telltale sound of opening doors making his heart race. He picked up the pace, hauling his companion into the office he and Seela had entered the garden from earlier.
His laboured breathing filled his helmet as he dragged Seela towards the street, the chirps of talking Grunts filling the silence that proceeded their recent firefight. There was also the deep contralto of a Brute, the Phantom depositing a whole squad into the garden, the way they could be heard, but not seen, somehow making the situation all the more tense.
Seela might have been able to tell him if they'd been spotted, but he took the lack of shooting as a good sign he was hidden for now. He pulled Seela onto the sidewalk, his arms burning with the effort, taking a quick breather as he looked around for options. He couldn't lug Seela along forever, he had to get her someplace safe, and quickly.
He picked a random direction and dragged her with him, Seela's hooves scraping the paved road as he moved across the street, keeping an eye on the tapered hull of the Phantom as it remained in place, its searchlights aimed thankfully at the garden.
Just as he lifted Seela onto the opposing sidewalk, he heard footsteps. A Grunt had waddled out onto the road, its head jerking around, its eyes eventually coming to rest on the Major. He drew his sidearm out of its holster with practiced speed, sending a single silenced round its way. The bullet dropped it to its knees, but the little alien was tougher than that, pressing its hands into the concrete as it started to get back up. A second bullet put it down, but the damage had already been done, its buddies would be on alert once they found the body.
He dropped the pistol back into its holster, hauling Seela up as he resumed carrying her. He made it another twenty feet before another Grunt poked its head out of the building, along with a Jackal. They yelled something in their alien language, probably a warning that they'd found the dead Grunt, the Major slipping between two sedans as he put distance between him and the Covenant.
A dazzling contrail lanced passed the side of his helmet, and he hauled Seela behind one of the cars as another beam smashed through the rear windshield, shattered glass sprinkling down on his head. One of them was carrying a beam rifle, probably the Jackal, covering his Grunt buddy as it moved up on him.
He could probably get away, but dragging Seela would make him an easy target, so he opted to stand and fight, drawing his pistol and leaning around the side of the car. He dropped the Grunt that was weaving between the dead traffic, spotting another one running along the sidewalk. As he aimed to fire, his pistol clicked rather than fired.
He fished for another mag, but he was out, and he cursed through his teeth as he reached for his plasma pistol, trading fire with the Jackal as it kept him pinned. He couldn't go into a standstill with them, the rest of the Covenant would be coming any second.
As he was beginning to think the worst, a flash of light drew his attention to the side. A nearby advertisement board came to life, switching from displaying some hair product to an arrow, pointing down and to the left. He followed it with his eyes, seeing a small pathway curving between two structures, likely leading into the adjacent block.
More billboards and other screens came flaring to life all along the street, the lights concentrating around the Jackal's position. Street posts blinked on and off, and some unseen car started honking its horn, as though its driver had suddenly returned and was venting their frustrations out on all the traffic. The Major and Seela were left in near-complete darkness, and the Major offered the Superintendent a silent thank you as he picked his companion up, heading for the path the AI was pointing him to.
The Covenant weren't completely neutralized, plasma bolts screaming down the street as more of the squad joined the fray, but the bright lights were contrasting with the overarching darkness, and their shots went wide as he slipped into the side path.
The way was paved with neatly cut stones, flanked by lamp posts on either side every few meters, but they were all off, the Major's visor systems keeping him from bumping into any stray debris as he heaved Seela through the path.
As suspected the paved concrete terminated at a different street, this one curving along until the road petered out, transitioning into polished metal that created a hump in the ground. It was another one of those blast doors, and the great wall of steel was wide open, the road beyond dipping into what looked like a tunnel system. It was their only chance.
His head snapped in the direction he'd come from. He could hear cars being pushed aside, tires squeaking against the road, as though some rabid animal was stampeding through the vehicles, the roar of a Brute unmistakable. Had one of them had gone into a frenzy?
Picking Seela up, he heaved her towards the blast doors, glancing over the top of her helmet when movement caught his eye. A pit formed in his stomach, there was something much worse than a frenzied Brute. Another Chieftain was standing at the mouth of the path, one of those gravity hammers clutched in his grey hands.
He stared it down for a second, and then the Brute uttered a roar that ignited a kind of primal terror in his chest. He double-timed it, ignoring the burning pain in his arms as he lugged Seela's weight towards the doors, which were maybe a hundred feet to his rear.
Seela felt like she'd suddenly gained weight, slowing his literal drag to a crawl as he made for the blast doors. The Brute was gaining on him, but he didn't dare look up to see how close it was getting. "Close them," he shouted. "close the doors!"
His order was obeyed as the blast doors began to fold towards the ground, something about the mechanical movement coming off as slower than all the others he'd seen. The Chieftain bared its teeth in a snarl as it thundered down the path, raising its hammer over its head like it was about to huck the damned thing like a tomahawk.
Every bone in his body told him to drop Seela and save himself, but he couldn't abandon her. Memories of lost squadmates flashed through his mind, casualty reports clutched in his hands, his name printed in the commanding officer field next to each lost soldier. Not one more, he told himself.
The Chieftain had already crossed most of the path in the span of a few seconds, its long legs making it look like it was leaping rather than running, the royally pissed alien bearing down on him.
His boots clocked against metal as he closed within spitting distance of the blast doors, the alien's footsteps travelling from the ground into his legs as it sprinted into the street, the engines on the hammer audible as it drew closer, closer.
He swore he could feel the Brute's breath on his skin as he summoned the last of his strength, lunging through the gap between the closing doors, not even a second passing before the Chieftain stomped its wide feet onto the metal, the hammer held high. The alien swung his weapon with a grunt, but the doors were too tight together for the bulky weapon to slip through, the metal ringing like a gong as it smashed into the reinforced frame.
He dropped Seela rather unceremoniously to the ground as he fell on his butt, watching as the Chieftain disappeared behind the doors, the hammer the last thing he saw before the sliver closed. He jumped in terror as the metal dented in a rough circle, the Brute ramming his weapon into the obstacle in frustration. There was one last bone-chilling roar, and then there was silence.
He let his arms drape to the sides as he laid back, the earlier fight and now this frantic chase draining him of energy. He just wanted to lay back and sleep, helmet and all.
After he'd managed to catch his breath, he rose up a little, planting a hand on his knee as he turned around, examining the tunnel he found himself in. The road split off into two branching tunnels after a slight dip, two lanes going to the one on the right, two towards the left. Signs indicated where these tunnels travelled to, and the one on the right caught his interest, the Major tilting his head as he read it out loud. At least the Superintendent had put them on the right track.
"Getting close," he said, turning to his companion. "Reckon there's a Warthog in here that'll help me carry your ass?"
Seela, of course, said nothing.
Seela
Streets of New Mombasa
11 Hours After Rupture
She opened her eyes, sucking in a lungful of air as she emerged from a strange dream, one she immediately forgot the details of. Where was she, what had happened? She reached for her carbine instinctively, but the magnetic holster on her back was empty, and the movement caused a splitting pain to rise up from her side, Seela gingerly lowering her arm to her waist.
There was a strip of white, slightly fuzzy cloth wrapped over her midriff, concealing a huge gash on her right hip, the sight refreshing her memory. She had brought down the Chieftain, and the last thing she remembered doing was succumbing to her wounds, yet this did not look like the afterlife she had envisioned, and a solitary feeling began to stir in her chest. Disappointment.
She rubbed at her eyes, her blurry vision slowly sharpening as her senses returned. She was no longer in the garden, but somewhere else entirely. She could hear rain slapping against the ground nearby, but there was a curved ceiling shielding her, light strips following the roof to the left and out of sight. She was in a tunnel, but how did she get here?
Planting a palm against the wall she'd been propped against, she rose onto her hooves, her legs complaining, a wave of dizziness forcing her to pause and clutch her head.
The wall terminated at a corner, and she followed it along, her hand sliding against the smooth stone, and she paused as the sudden intake of light burned her retinas. The city formed a circle beyond the limits of the tunnel, skyscrapers framed by the clouds of smoke that stretched over the horizon.
The rain drew a wet line across the shelter of the tunnel mouth, and crouched just behind it was an Imp, her carbine resting in his hands as he overwatched the area. She flexed her mandibles in alarm, but then she remembered that it was the Major, her newest companion. Had he brought her to this place, dressed her wound, stolen her gun?
He had done all that and more, she realised with a twitch of her eye. She had been gutted, a wound that would be fatal, had there been anyone else except for this Human in her company. Now her disappointment was laced with something more, something that made her hands clench into fists.
She must have made more noise than she intended, or maybe his hearing was better than average, because he turned his head round, her beleaguered body reflected in his visor as he glanced up at her. "Finally up," he said.
He returned to his watch. The little bastard actually turned his back on her, as though there was nothing abnormal about this whole situation, as if he didn't even perceive her as a threat.
"You… You ruined, everything!" she barked, punching the wall hard enough to shake the stone. "Were the irony not lost on me, I would kill you where you stand!"
He looked back at her again, lowering her carbine as he raised a questioning hand. "I nearly got my head smashed in saving you, and that's the first thing you say to me? What's wrong with you?"
"Me? What's wrong with me! I had it all, my wish was to be granted at long last, and you took it away from me!"
"I didn't take anything," he said, his tone reflecting his impatience, as if he had a right to be annoyed with her. "I saved your life."
"Exactly!" she replied, the Major shaking his head in an unspoken question. "Have you not figured it out yet?" she added, taking a step towards him. "I took on a Chieftain in hand-to-hand combat, I avenged my fallen brothers, made the traitorous Jiralhanae share in their graveyard, all under the guise of responding to a call for aid. My ancestors would have welcomed me with open arms, my legacy would have been of equal worth to the holiest of Sangheili, but you stopped that from happening. You and your… misplaced sense of longevity for others!"
"You… you wanted to die? So you do have a deathwish…"
"Yes!" she growled. "That's why I was alone when you found me, ruined my chance back then, too, didn't you? Every time I think death is about to find me, you stand in its way. You do not understand how your actions have made me so… furious with you!"
"Then make me understand, Seela," he pleaded. "Why're you so eager to die?"
"I have already told you why, you fool," she said, shooting him a hateful look. "through all my deployments and battles, all I've ever had is ridicule from my brothers, what modicum of respect I've earned has been shadowed by mockery. If I cannot prove my ability in life, then I will do so in death."
She clenched at her waist, her outburst bringing up a stinging pain, but she pushed through it, putting on a more wistful tone.
"To die a warrior's death after the betrayal, alone but undeterred… everyone in the Covenant would remember my poetic end for years to come. Jiralhanae, Sangheili, Human… every one of them would revere my name and deeds."
"What about your family? You'd break their hearts if they found out you died willingly."
"How naïve your way of thinking is! They would be full of pride for me if they learned that I took so many Jiralhanae with me, where many others had died on the spot when they ousted us. It is the will of the Gods that warriors die on the battlefield, not to live through all… all of this."
"Sounds like you wanna die for spite to me, rather than the will of any Gods," the Major noted.
"It is not so simple!" she shot back, but it was on some level. She cursed herself for ever opening up to this Human. "What do I have to show for myself if I were to survive this day, or tomorrow? My accomplishments have never amounted to anything before, why would that change if I lived? At least in a good death that may change, and I would find some modicum of peace in the welcoming arms of my ancestors."
She crossed her long legs, depositing herself on the ground. She didn't want to sulk, but her body wasn't listening to her thoughts, her helmet clicking against the side of a vehicle as she leaned back, staring at the ceiling of the tunnel.
"Do you get it now?" she asked. "I do not want to be forgotten, I want to prove that all those who doubted me were wrong, that their disbelief was misplaced. A good death is the only option left for me."
"Seela," the Major began, shaking his head. He turned his back on the city, leaning his hands on his knees as he sat down opposite her. "Let me tell you something. In Humanity's history, people who lived hundreds of years ago are still remembered to this day, and most of them didn't even raise a weapon or take a single life."
"What else can I do?" she lamented. "Sangheili are different from you, our historical figures are exclusively warriors, members of ancient armies. Without a distinguished death, who would remember me?"
"… I would," he said, Seela glancing at him. "So would that mother and her kid you spared. That's something they won't forget anytime soon, and don't say they're dead," he added, pre-empting her comeback. "Just assume they got out, think of all the people she'd tell about what you did."
"To be remembered by Heretics does little to reassure me," she mumbled.
"We're all Heretics, Seela. What difference does it make if a Human remembers you? You'd still live on."
She stared at the ground, a thoughtful expression creeping onto her face, soon replaced with a glare. "That is but one deed, and it happened by chance. A lone achievement cannot substitute a legacy."
"What about you surviving the Brutes backstabbing you?" he replied. "You might be the only one who made it through all that, how's that not an accomplishment? Then you cut your way through Covenant lines without being detected, for a while at least," he added with a shrug. "And then you took out a Chieftain with his own hammer, and you did all that in one night."
"You were instrumental in most of those things," she said, rubbing her arm as she looked at him. "I could not have done any of that had you not been there."
"Doesn't make it any less impressive," he countered. "Look at it this way," he continued, pointing a finger at her, Seela noting his sleeve was missing. "If you lived your life, day to day, you'd start to see every moment as an opportunity to do even more with yourself. You don't have to die to make yourself a legacy."
"Why do you try and reassure me?" she demanded, her pauldron creaking as she raised an arm at him. "We are aliens to each other, adversaries in this war."
"Would adversaries watch each other's backs?" he asked. "We might be different species, but like it or not, we're a team now."
"Is that why you mended my wounds?" she asked, pointing at her bandage. "We are… a team?"
"I told you before how I've lost a lot of people under my command," he said, and now it was his turn to lament, the Human rubbing his hands together. "I felt as though if I lost just one more person, I'd… I don't know what I'd do."
"But all I have done for you is break our concealment and get us into more battles, jeopardising your mission," she said. "Why do you insist on keeping me alive?"
"It wouldn't sit right with me if you died, Seela, especially since you… know me, more than most other people do. I wanted to keep you at arm's length like everyone else," he said, turning his gaze towards the city beyond. "but it seems being pitted with you has made me realise how much of a lonely asshole I've been lately. I'm done with all the lone wolf shit. So no, I didn't save you cause we're a team, but because you're… worth knowing better."
"You wish… to know me?" she asked, her eyes going wide when he nodded.
"I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't want to," he replied. "You're an opportunity for me to learn how to make friends again."
"F-Friends?" she echoed. "You want to be my… friend?"
He nodded again. She didn't know what to say. This Human, who'd she'd thought was an Imp not that long ago, was asking for her friendship? She could not remember a time when someone had been so compassionate towards her. It made her feel so… strange, as though all her muscles were clamming up.
They had gone through many battles, survived for this long together, perhaps toning down her animosity would do them some good, she had more than enough enemies already.
"Yes," she said, clearing her throat when the word came out as a whisper. "Yes," she said again. "We have quarrelled long enough. I don't know if I agree with your stance on life and death, but… you have given me much to think on."
"Long as you keep the dying to a minimum, that's good enough for me."
"Very well, Major… friend, I mean," she corrected.
"'Major friend', huh? I like that," he chuckled, and that went a long way to diffuse some of the tension between them, Seela feeling the urge to chuckle herself. "Need a few more minutes rest?"
"No, I can walk," she replied, rising from her place against the vehicle. The movement drew a little flare of pain from her waist, but otherwise she felt well enough to move. "Where did you get this bandage from anyway?"
"Some people keep a few meds in their cars, got lucky after a bit of digging," he answered, jerking a thumb down the length of the tunnel, where dozens of cars clogged the lanes. "Oh right. Here."
He held his arms out to her, her carbine in his hands. She plucked it from him checking its ammo and replacing the cartridge with a fresh one, snapping the breach-loader back in place with a determined nod.
"Do you know where we are?" she asked as he began to move out into the rain.
"Sorta, we're on the right track, according to those signs up there."
"Tell me what happened while I was incapacitated," she said, following behind as they moved up the incline. "How did we end up here?"
He told her, her mandibles splaying wide as he recounted his tale. "Another Chieftain?" she marvelled. "And you dragged me all this way? There must be more strength in that little body than I first thought."
The Major shrugged in reply, the pair moving deeper into the streets.
-xXx-
They had passed by so many blocks and streets by this point it was all starting to blur together, although this wasn't a massive development for Seela, this New Mombasa as the Major called it, being nothing at all like the cities on Sangheilios. She had plenty to keep her mind occupied as they navigated the city, her thoughts turning to the Major and his earlier words.
It was her duty to die for the cause, but what cause did she follow now that she had been ousted from the Covenant? The Major's, Humanity, her own? To say she would gladly die for herself sounded quite silly, even in her own head, yet she had been ready to go through with it when the Chieftain had attacked her. Had this Heretic, this Imp who was technically Human, tried to twist the very foundations of logic? And had she been convinced, at least to a degree?
She had failed to kill the infant Human earlier this day, for better or worse, and death was the only way to restore her pride… wasn't it? Perhaps he was deceiving her, his kindness merely a front, so that he could use her for the task ahead and then feed her to his interrogators.
Yet she could detect no malice in him, and he had not tried to mislead her so far. He had even healed her and saved her from a death while she slumbered, that was a lot of effort to keep an asset around, perhaps there was some genuine kindness in his actions. He saved her life, that meant he needed her, didn't it?
The most she'd ever been needed for was gruntwork by her former Covenant brothers, or worse, a subject of personal pursual by the more hormonal warriors. This Human needed her for more than that, and it was a strange sensation, one she had no ability to describe, as it had never happened before. She had been so ready to fall for the sake of returning her honour, now she didn't know what to think.
"Hold up," the Major whispered, his voice pulling her out of her thoughts. He took a knee behind the bulk of a vehicle, pointing down the road. "See that?"
She hunkered, following his arm, her eyes picking out the details in the gloom. The road was split into two lanes here, the cars numbering in the few compared to other parts of the city. Chunks of concrete sprayed out in a cone from a gash in the wall on the left, damage from some kind of mortar fire she guessed. Part of the scene was illuminated by a solitary light post, the bulb occasionally flickering as its power wavered.
Maybe twenty paces up ahead was a strange glint, some kind of metal was sitting upon the road, the light catching it in just the right way to make it shine.
"I do," she replied. They had not seen any sign of Phantoms or Covenant, but she didn't want to go rushing in like she had last time. "Check the left, I will clear the right."
He gave her an odd look, but nodded, quietly moving off to clear the area while she did the same. Most of these buildings would be too small for a Brute to fit in, but she was wary of Unggoy and Kig-Yar laying in the shadows.
Checking the area brought her closer to the strange glint, and when she was satisfied they were clear, she stepped round another abandoned car to get a better look at the shining point. She trained her carbine on it as she approached, but eventually lowered it when she saw what it was.
It was a kinsman, and he was in much the same state as the two Minor's she'd found in that alleyway, right after the betrayal. There were plasma burns on his back, the Sangheilian laying on his stomach, his eyes staring out to the left, cold and black. This one was not a Minor, however…
"Is that a…?" The Major came walking up from behind, his weapon angling away as he looked round her hip. "Zealot? Here?"
She crouched beside the body, holstering her carbine on her back as she grabbed one of his golden shoulder pads, the armour polished to a shine where it wasn't burned, flipping him onto his front. Recognition flashed in her eyes, but the feeling quickly left when she examined the dead Zealot's face. This wasn't the one she'd worked with before.
Nearby, a pair of Unggoy were slumped over, along with a Kig-Yar. Whoever had finished the Zealot off they hadn't bothered to clean up or feast on the bones, perhaps they had been killed by Humans?
A quick inspection proved otherwise. The Kig-Yar had puncture marks going right through his chest, same with the Unggoy. The smell of burning skin was still fresh, this couldn't have happened all that long ago.
She placed a hand on the Zealot's chest, her eyes closing as she mumbled a prayer in their native language. She got a few verses in before the Major spoke up.
"What're you doing?" He heard her stop just off to her left.
"Bidding him farewell," she explained, her fingers going cold as they stayed connected to his cooling power armour, the rain coming down harder for a moment before relenting.
"Why?" he asked. "You told me these guys treated you like dirt, that they hated you as much as Humans did. He doesn't deserve your respect."
"He is still my brother," she snapped, turning and giving him a cold glare. "Whether he was displeased with me or not matters little, he has gone through much this night, and deserves to meet his forefathers in peace."
She returned to her prayer, the Major shifting on his feet nearby. He did not interrupt again. When she was done, a curved piece of metal on the ground caught her attention.
It looked similar to the handle on her carbine, with rubberised grooves fitted into the inside where fingers could easily rest. The ends flared out into circular caps, the whole thing a little wider than the span of her hand. She plucked it off the drenched road, turning it over and examining the runes etched into the spine.
She hooked two of her fingers over the grip, her palm pushing into the power button. There was a brilliant flash of blue from the caps on either end of the handle, energy hardening into two lines of wavering light that slowly travelled out and away from the grip.
The solidifying lights took on a blade-like appearance, tapering into two sharp points. The blades were about the length of her arm, streaks of electricity arcing through them, as though lightning itself was contained within them. A continuous sizzling sound filled the street, raindrops falling onto the blades evaporating as they met the superheated energy, wisps of steam rising from the points of impact.
She rose to her hooves, giving the energy sword a few testing swings, its weightlessness allowing it to cleave through the air. A circle of light surrounded her, the sword providing a small, but harsh illumination.
"I've always wanted to wield one of these, but even thinking about holding one of these would be considered heresy," Seela said, glancing over at the Major. "I can say with certainty I am glad to no longer be part of the Covenant."
"You look like you know what you're doing," he noted, watching as she gave it a flourish.
"I trained with one when I was younger, one made of wood, and I've always admired the finesse displayed by the Zealot's. It seems you were right," she added, powering the blade off, the energy snicking back into the handle in an instant. "you spoke of opportunities before, and now I may be the first female to ever hold a proper sword."
"Glad to see you're taking our chat to heart," he replied. "But didn't you just give that guy a prayer? Not uncomfortable taking his weapon?"
"He is dead," she shrugged. "He does not need it anymore, and I do."
They didn't linger, stepping past the dead Zealot and forging into the streets once more.
-xXx-
Seela swept the streets with her carbine, the rain pounding down on her armour. The hilt of the energy sword rested on her hip, its weight comforting her. They were moving eastward, slowly bending to the south after each block traversed.
"Should be able to see our objective pretty soon," the Major informed her, the Human stopping only once to orient themselves using a kiosk. "After that, it's just a little more walking, then we're done here."
"I want to apologise," she blurted out suddenly, the Human cocking his head at her as they walked. "Before, I said that your team has already fallen. I didn't mean to insinuate their deaths were your fault, that was wrong of me."
"It's in the past, Seela," he said. "And… I'm sorry too. When we went to that garden, I tried to talk you out of saving that dying Elite. Dick move on my part. If that was a Human on the line, I'd have done the same thing."
"You did what you could for him," she noted. "You gave me that medigel packet, when you could have kept it for yourself. You did all you could for me, as well," she added. "No one has ever shown me such kindness before. You've put more value on my life than even I have, that shows how much you care for your charges."
"Don't tell me no one has ever tried to save your life before?"
She shook her head vehemently. "I have served many Majors in my life, but except for the namesake, you share no similarities with any of them. To treasure life, to ensure the survival of your underlings, these values are foreign to the Covenant's warriors."
"Not surprised, considering you were so gung-ho about dying an hour ago," he said. "And you're not serving me, I'm not your superior."
"One of us has to take the mantle," she replied. "You are taking the lead, and you know the mission, that makes you the leader."
"But you're an Ultra, right? From what I know, Ultras outrank Majors."
"Then I hereby promote you to Ultra, all benefits and entitlements pending on the mission's completion."
"Consider me incentivised," the Major chuckled, Seela grinning down at him. It felt nice to just be able to talk to someone as an equal, or friend as he had put it.
As they approached the corner of the block they'd been skirting, Seela held out an arm to stop him, her head turning to the broiling skies, raindrops falling on her face. Through the rumble of thunder came a sound that was all too familiar to the pair, a slow, pulsing noise that grew in volume as the seconds ticked by.
The Major didn't have to say anything, the two of them ducking into the safety of the closest doorway, watching with bated breath as the street was suddenly illuminated, the background noise of the engines louder than ever. She didn't have to look to know it was a Phantom, and likely the same one the Captain Major was on.
"I don't know what you did to piss off this Brute Captain asshole," the Major muttered, seemingly more annoyed than alarmed by the dropship's appearance.
"My very existence insults him," she answered, watching as the floodlights slid across the street from right to left. "The Prophet of Regret's last order was to kill all Sangheili, he will do anything to accomplish this task."
"You know the drill by now," he said. "Follow my lead, stay out of the light."
When the Phantom swivelled to search the adjacent street, they moved back into the open, kicking up sheets of rain as they proceeded towards their goal. They kept talking to a minimum, the presence of the aircraft putting them on edge. Even as they traversed from block to block, the Phantom kept its ever-vigilant watch over the city, never quite leaving their immediate area no matter how far they moved, like it was tethered to their position. Were the Brutes tracking her through her link to the BattleNet, or had they left too much of a trail, that the Captain Major knew which way they were going?
She didn't know, nor did it really matter, as long as they stayed undetected, the Brutes would eventually move on.
Their progress slowed to a crawl, the Major taking every precaution they could to slip from cover to cover unseen. Seela kept as low as she could as she followed after, the two soon stopping at a four-way intersection. The Phantom seemed convinced that this very crossway was worth its sole attention, sweeping its searchlights up and down the long roads as it hovered over the buildings.
They waited in the shadows, minutes passing by. She could tell the Major was getting restless, the way he shifted on his toes, flexed his shoulders. For all his patience, the Phantom's incessant searching was obviously starting to get to him.
Eventually the aircraft's nose listed to the side, the ship beginning to search one of the branching streets. "Go, go!" the Major said, dashing across the street. She was larger than him, a little slower, falling behind a little as she dodged between the vehicles.
Something caught her eye, and she glanced over to see the dropship was doubling back, its front dipped forward as it began to accelerate. She picked up the pace, throwing herself to the next sidewalk as the Phantom sailed straight overhead, its searchlights thankfully not washing over her position.
When she turned her eyes up, the Phantom was gone, hovering over the buildings as it patrolled over the area they'd just come from. She hauled herself to her feet, glancing down at her companion when he muttered something.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"I said I'm getting real sick of this Brute Captain following us." He peered round her shoulder to where the aircraft had gone. "We're short enough on time as it is, can't afford to let him slow us down."
"As I said, he searches for me," she replied. "Perhaps we can find a way to throw him off our scent."
"How about we blow him out of the sky? That'll get him off our backs."
"There's a plan… wait, what?" she whipped round, fixing him with an incredulous look. "I thought you preferred subterfuge to open engagement?"
"It'd get rid of him permanently if we took out his little ship," he noted.
"As much as I wish to follow through with this course of action, I do not wish to be within the sight of the Phantom guns again. You know how difficult it was to escape its sights."
"Yeah, it was a dumb idea anyway, I'm just getting real fed up with this asshole. What's he doing now?" he asked, the two turning their heads as the Phantom banked over their position, going in the direction they were supposed to be heading. She followed behind as they slunk down the street, the sound of the dropships pulsing engines letting them know the aircraft was holding position somewhere ahead of them.
"I can hear its troop bays opening," Seela said, the noise on the precipice of her hearing. After a small delay, the dropship rose up above the rooftops, its ventral doors sliding shut as it banked away, disappearing into the next block after lingering in the area for a while longer.
"Did it just deposit a squad?" the Major asked, looking to her for answers.
"How would I know? Are we going around?"
"We're short enough on time as it is," he replied, checking some sort of device strapped to his wrist, the face decorated with four Human numerics. "My objective won't wait around forever, neither will my evac. We go through."
"I was hoping you'd say that," she replied, brushing the hilt of the energy sword on her belt. "Perhaps the Captain Major has left his ship, and I can plunge my brother's blade through his heart myself."
-xXx-
They came within throwing distance of where the Phantom had lingered for a little longer than it should have, the Major suspecting the Brutes had set some sort of ambush in their path. They took things a lot slower than they had in the garden, climbing up a stairwell in one of the adjacent buildings so they could set up somewhere above and overwatch the next intersection.
They climbed to the third floor, Seela shuffling past desks and other furniture as she moved to the windows, the frames devoid of glass save for a few shards poking out of the sides. She peered through it, surveying the area below and keeping as little of her body exposed. Below them was a clearing, as much as that description belonged in a landscape of structures. It was boxed in on all sides by buildings, streets and pathways spacing the colourless walls apart a little.
Centering the clearing was a monument. It was monolithic in shape, but far wider than it was tall, surrounded by a circular patch of grass. She could pick out no details on the strange monument, save for a small plaque off to one side, its script illegible at this distance, not that she'd be able to read it anyway.
As odd as the black wall of rock was, there was something worth far more interest in the clearing than the oddly cut stone. Crouching to one side of the monument were two hulking figures, and Seela's eyes went as wide as plates as she recognised the aliens.
They were clad from their huge, flat feet to their sloped heads in thick, overlapping armour, taller than Seela even though they were kneeling down. Their left arms were covered over in a towering shield, curving slightly to follow the shape of their huge limbs. On the other arms were massive cannons, plasma canisters embedded along the sides glowing an ominous green.
Their blue chest pieces protected a flared midsection, long spikes poking out of the spinal area, their purpose unknown even to Seela, and she had served alongside Mgalekgolo many times. These were the largest and most ferocious species the Covenant deployed, their integrated fuel rod guns and ability to weather extreme amounts of damage perfect for pushing enemy lines and delivering devastating firepower.
"Hunters," the Major said, his voice suggesting he found the situation more annoying than anything. "How'd you fit Hunters in a dropship? Things are like, eleven feet tall."
"The Lekgolo simply lay upon the aisle when there is little room to spare," she explained. "but enough about that. I don't think we will be able to slip past these two, Major. Mgalekgolo can easily pick up the vibrations of others, and it's safe to say they are on the lookout for us."
"Any ideas then?" he asked, sliding a couple of green shells into his weapon, replacing ones that were red. "Been a while since I've dealt with Hunters."
"We must split them up, force them to work independently, as much as a colony of worms can be independent. Think you can hold one off while I deal with the other?"
"About to ask you the same thing," he replied, looking down at her belt. "You're not gonna go out there with your sword, are you?"
"It will be more effective than my carbine, their plates are resistant to plasma fire, and I don't have the ammo to spare. I am probably more agile than them up close."
"'Probably'? You're nuts," he grumbled, but he made no more complaints as he peered down at the pair of Hunters, as he called them. "Cost me a lot of ammo, but a couple of slugs can get through their armour, long as I don't get disintegrated by those fuel rods. I'll draw one to this side of that monument down there, should give you some breathing room to take the other one."
"Sounds like a plan," she said, her heart surging with excitement as they made their move, returning to street level and fanning out to either side of the clearing.
The Major stalked off to hide behind a raised section of the ground, which looked like a tub filled in with dirt and plant matter, Seela keeping light on her feet as she circled his movements, putting the Hunters between them.
As she'd warned, moving quietly around Mgalekgolo would be a difficult feat, even for the stealthiest Sangheili, and before long one of the Hunters snapped its head in the Human's direction. It rose onto its thick legs, loosing an intimidating grunt as it pivoted round, digging one end if its shield into the ground as it levelled its arm-cannon.
Its counterpart did the same, the plasma canisters on their limbs swirling with heating energy as they primed. After a moment of wind-up, the Hunters fired, two bolts the size of her torso sailing towards the Major's position. The first bolt crashed into this side of his cover, throwing up clouds of dirt and concrete, the second travelling wide over the Major's head, splashing against the wall of the building behind him and leaving a black mark. She could hear glass break from somewhere inside, the impact shaking the building.
The Major repositioned, another fuel rod bolt lancing into the spot he'd just vacated, reducing the planter to a pile of rubble. He slowed down a little to fire, the supressed weapon rocking into his shoulder as he pulled the trigger. One of the Hunters growled as its shoulder snapped backwards, the shot doing little more than putting it off balance.
The Hunters moved in synchronicity, one lagging just behind the other as they shuffled to the side, always keeping the Major dead in their sights. The one at the back was readying its cannon, and Seela picked her moment to shoulder her carbine, sending a single bolt its way.
She could see the contrail ricochet off the top of its angled visor, the Hunter flinching in surprise, if a worm colony could be surprised. It turned around while its kin continued to track the Major, the green slats that served as its visor locking onto her, a pit of dread swelling in her stomach as it aimed its cannon. There were three claws on the end of its limb, making the cannon almost appear like a mechanical hand.
She forced down her troubles with an audible gulp, furrowing her brow as she stowed her carbine on her back, leaning forward and falling into a mad sprint, crossing the distance between her and the Hunter on her long legs. The other Hunters moved out of sight behind the monument, still trading fire with the displacing Human.
The fuel rod fired, a stream of boiling energy leaving a swirling trail of gasses as it shot towards her. She jumped to the side, the bolt passing so close her shields flickered as they protected her from the superheated plasma.
Seeing she would close in before it could ready another shot, the Hunter instead wielded its cannon like a giant club, stepping forward and swiping it from right to left. Seela ducked under the blow, feeling the wind break as the cannon passed over her helmet, and she launched off her knees into a leap, her added height making her eyes level with the tips of its dorsal spikes.
In the middle of her jump, she reached for her hip, taking the hilt of the energy sword into her grip and igniting it. The energy hardened into the two bladed prongs, and she brought them down with a grunt of effort, swiping the Hunter across its chest.
Where her carbine had simply bounced off its thick armour, the sword cleaved through the plates with an ease that surprised her, the blade entering one side of its armour and leaving out the other, leaving a long, searing burn in the chest piece.
The creature roared in pain, swatting her away with its shield, taking a chunk out of the nearby monument. Seela was too close to get out of the way in time. She was sent back a few paces, her shields breaking as she rolled to a stop, the kinetic energy too much for the barrier to handle.
She couldn't wait for them to recharge, the Hunter would simply use its cannon if she didn't keep it occupied. Holding the sword out to one side, she took off in another dash, the Hunter raising its shield protectively, ready for her this time. It slammed its cannon down on her head from above, Seela almost losing her balance as she dodged out of the way, the sheer mass that the Hunter delivered enough to leave a crater in the ground, cracks webbing their way out of the point of impact on the concrete.
She plunged the blade beneath its shield as it recovered, leveraging the sword with her other arm to angle the blades upward. The shield began to pry apart from one end, Seela impaling the blade through the alloy and pulling back, the reinforced shield ripping apart near the middle.
As the thick alloy tumbled to the ground, Seela saw wet, pink meat had been hidden beneath the alloy, wriggling and flexing like sentient bundles of rope. Despite appearances, the Hunter was actually made up of thousands of Lekgolo, worm-like aliens that formed a cohesive unit the more numerous the colony was.
The Hunter moaned in what might be pain, thrusting the pointed end of its damaged shield towards her chest, Seela parrying the strike away. A flash of sparks rained off the contact, the broadness of the Hunter's armour the only thing able to withstand the hardened energy of the sword without being instantly rendered.
There was still so much strength behind the Hunter's strike however, that Seela was sent sprawling backwards, the Hunter taking advantage of her disorientation to close in, splaying its arms out wide as it lunged towards her, as though trying to come in for a hug.
Rather than retreat, she moved into its grab, leading with her sword and impaling her weapon into the exposed bundles of Lekgolo, the blade exiting out of the other side of its limb. She could hear a sizzling sound as the heated blades cooked the colony from the inside, Seela giving the hilt a pointed twist.
The Hunter began to sag, smoke slipping through the joints in its damaged arm. There was a number of wet slaps as the rest of the colony abandoned the suit of armour, slithering across the ground to get clear. The Lekgolo in the fuel rod part of the armour took a swipe at Seela even as the Hunter was half-collapsed, the metal smacking against her flank and sending her to the ground.
She caught herself before her jaws met the deck, but a splitting pain still shot through her anyway. She could feel the wound on her hip had reopened, her warm blood spreading out in a circular patch down her hip and thigh.
She pushed herself to her knees, ignoring the pain, stepping round the husk of the fallen Hunter and retrieving her sword, the weapon having fallen out of her hand. She could still hear the sound of the Major's supressed weapon from the other side of the monument, Seela reactivating her sword as she stepped around the wall of stone.
He was trading fire with the other, bulky Hunter, nimble enough that he could sidestep the fuel rod bolts as long as he kept at a distance. The building behind him looked like it had been pounded by a group of Wraiths, nearly the entire wall crumbling away, exposing the square rooms within.
"Go for its lower back!" he cried out. "I shot off most of its armour there!"
The remaining Hunter turned around, perhaps knowing the Major was addressing her. Its angular visor fell on its fallen counterpart, and it wailed in a way that came off as mournful, bringing its clawed arm-cannon around to aim at her.
She readied her sword, squaring off against the Hunter, but it didn't take the bait and launch itself. It seemed to hesitate, wheeling around and directing its attention back to the Major, huddling behind its massive arms, trying to shield itself from two directions at once.
From this angle she could spy more glistening ropes just above its waist, where the small of the back would be on a Sangheilian, a section of the plating having been stripped away by the Major's weapon.
After a few moments where nobody moved, the Hunter reacted, sending a stream of plasma in the Major's direction. Seela dashed in, making to plunge her sword straight through the weak point, but she missed, the blades slicing into the surrounding armour in a graze. She ripped her sword away, pieces of armour flying through the air.
It swung at her, Seela ducking out of the path of its first arm, but not the second, her feet leaving the ground as the slab of metal sent her arching through the air. She slammed into the monument, her shields collapsing along with part of the stonework, Seela crumpling to the grass, stones bouncing off her back.
She pushed herself to her hands and knees, shaking her head as she patted the ground for her sword, the whirring of electronics drawing her attention upward. The Hunter raised its cannon, the barrel glowing from black to green as the weapon primed, the alien ready to finish her. A strange feeling gripped her as she stared down the barrel, the broiling plasma moments away from granting her a swift death. Was this what she'd truly wanted? To be vapourised into a puddle?
Gas snapped as the Major fired at the Hunter from behind, the alien stumbling as a splatter of orange gel leaked out of its exposed flesh. The Major flipped his weapon upright, a spent casing tumbling to the ground as he reloaded, firing another shot that bounced off the Hunter's shield.
Seela collected herself, her eyes frantically darting around in search of her sword, but she couldn't see it, and she didn't have time to go scrounging. She rose to her feet anyway, forgetting the sword and darting into the Hunter's flank, the thing distracted enough she could get in close.
She raised a hand over her shoulder, and with a cry of effort, impaled her hand up to the wrist in the seething mass of worms. The Hunter wailed in pain, Seela feeling the Lekgolo move and shift between her fingers, the mucous they excreted soaking her hand in pearly fluids.
She balled her fingers into a fist, ripping a bundle of the tendrils away, the colony warring with her as she struggled to tear the 'flesh' loose. She summoned all her strength, succeeding in prying a chunk of the colony out of the suit. The Lekgolo seemed to beat like a heart in her palm, orange slop dripping down her arm with each subtle pulse.
The Hunter dropped to a knee, but it wasn't done yet, swinging its cannon around, the green studs surrounding the cylinder glowing brightly as it primed, but the Major moved in, planting a foot on the cannon and thrusting his weapon into the Hunter's visor, delivering a point-blank blast that sent its neck snapping back. The Hunter did not possess a 'head' in the traditional sense, but the blow still sent orange goop spraying, the Hunter keeling onto its side as he fired another shot, while Seela pried another handful of the worms out of its back.
The armour deflated, each limb tumbling in a different direction with a series of metallic clatters as the Lekgolo pooled out from beneath it, slipping and writhing about, incapable of posing a threat as the two butchered it until the Hunter was no more.
"You good, Seela?" the Major asked, his chest expanding and contracting as he battled for air, his visor tilted towards her.
She raised her hand, which was still clutching a wad of the Lekgolo, and she twisted her wrist, letting it fall to the ground with a wet slap. She extended a thumb at him, and he chuckled inside his helmet.
"Can't say I've ever seen someone rip a Hunter apart with their bare hands before," he said, taking care to not step on any Lekgolo as he moved away from the armour, little more than a lifeless golem now. "Come on, let's move before that Phantom comes back."
"Victory is ours, Major," Seela breathed, her heart pounding in her chest. She felt so alive, adrenaline coursing through her veins in all the right ways. She had read about the ferocity the Lekgolo had shown when the Covenant came to conquer their world, and to have faced two of them down… it reminded her of the stories of that ancient conquest. She had experienced a sliver of it, and she found herself awash in pride.
"Perhaps we should linger?" Seela suggested, stooping to retrieve her sword after a bit of looking. "The look on the Brutes faces when they realised we have bested their most ferocious troops! I shall love to see it!"
"Please don't tell me you're serious," the Major sighed.
"Relax, Major, a little humour never hurts, no?"
"Speaking of which, looks like your wounds opened after that tumble. Damn it, Seela."
She cocked her head as he walked over, muttering to himself as he examined the bandage over her waist, the white fabric now purple with her blood. "I don't know how you can lose so much blood but still keep going," he said, glancing up at her.
"It is the stimulation of pain that drives me ever onward."
She imagined he was giving her an odd look beneath his helmet. "Good for you, but can't have you bleeding everywhere and leaving a trail, let's go find some medigel."
"You are quite the hardy little warrior, Major," she said, giving him a pat on the back as they turned away. She underestimated her own strength, the gesture nearly knocking him over. "You faced a Mgelkgolo without a single scratch on you. I've always admired warriors with scars, but going unscathed is not so bad."
"I prefer to keep out of reach of massive alien worm-beasts," he said. "Unlike someone I know."
"I had a chance to use a weapon I would never be permitted to use if I was a Covvie, you cannot blame me for taking it."
"It was quite the sight, I'll give you that."
"Let us proceed, then. You will need to heal me if you want me to take down any more Mgelkgolo for you," she teased.