Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Iron Cross. Enjoy the 3800-word chapter. I do not own Warhammer or Halo, Gameshop and 343 do.
(SDV Class-Heavy Corvette Elegy's Lament, January 15th, 2532.)
The door exploded, showering the Banished in fire and smoke. The half-dozen group of Brute Warriors who had taken up positions around the door were thrown clear across the room and into the wall.
The leader, a captain with his hammer watched a hulking figure emerge from the darkness as he roared and charged, hammer raised.
Through it emerged Halius who brought up Willbreaker through them, skewering the soldier as Halius used their corpse to block incoming support fire.
Through the smoke came Jerome and Fred, firing their assault rifles at the group of dying grunts as Suriel strode through the flames.
Halius and Jerome rushed forward, finding shelter in a pair of supply crates as Linda's rifle echoed four times across the room. Halius watched a quartet of blue-armored elites collapse, blood dripping from their damaged armor.
"Hell of a reception." Jerome joked as Halius hummed.
"I have had more unpleasant welcomes," Halius stated, peering over cover to put a bolt through the skull of a jackal. "How much further is the bridge?" Halius asked as plasma fire raked their cover.
"Judging by the number of them shooting us? I would say through that door, there are about 50 of them crowding it." Fred said, dropping a spent clip with his rifle smoking.
"Agreed… They guard the bridge… We punch through them." Halius stated as he turned to Suriel. "Suriel? Grenades, cover us as we suppress them." Halius ordered as he turned and put down a brute warrior who had gotten cocky and tried to flank them.
He would not lie that they were dangerous but they were crippled by arrogance. Halius watched alien armors move closer and closer to their position… They were trying to crush them in a pincer move.
Halius turned towards Suriel as a pair of small objects flew, the Banished knew what they were as a group of grunts vanished in a ball of fire.
He hummed to himself more than before… Something like this had been tiresome.
Before Halius could speak? He heard another round of gunfire, the next set of brute warriors collapsed onto the ground, their heads nicely split into bits.
"Showoff." Jerome joked as Halius hummed.
"Come… We shall see which set of soldiers is superior." Halius added as he leaped over the cover. "Let us see how powerful these banished are," Halius added, pausing to crush a dying brute under his boot.
And it was into the retreating banished that the 5 supersoldiers did go. All the team was curious as to what the command center would hold.
(With Master Chief and his group)
Chief executed an elite minor before speaking up.
"Moving towards mission objective," Chief stated as Halius hummed.
"Any complications? The banished fight well but they are eager to die all the same… Spartan Jerome? The last of them flee into the bridge, preparing for the final breach." Halius stated, his tone serene. "Is my squad aiding you well enough, Master Chief? Your squadmates fight well…. I can see why they are dangerous." Halius stated before he hummed at the time being.
"Skilled," Chief stated before he looked downwards at the ground.
"Good, let us deal with our missions," Halius stated before he looked downwards at the ground.
Halius was curious at the time being, Chief when it came down to it was the best soldier within the UNSC, he reminded Halius of someone like Titus… Dedicated, honorable, strong, and committed to his role as a soldier on the battlefield.
Master Chief after this ducked into an alcove, tired and running low on ammo. He turned, visor locked on Kelly, her shields whined before she put a slug into the crimson armored elite who backed off.
"Flank!" Igaros stated before the elite charged Chief.
Igaros turned, bolter flaring as the bolt tore through shield and flesh, the elite screaming as their body exploded like a balloon.
Master Chief turned to the Ultramarine sergeant and nodded as the two started to advance further into the winding pathways of purple and alien machinery. They had a lot more missions left to deal with for now and waiting did not aid them.
(With Halius and Linda)
"They have locked themselves in the bridge," Suriel added as Halius hummed.
"We can breach this door easily… But they will be ready. Spartan Jerome? Do you have grenades?" Halius asked as Jerome nodded.
"Good… Spartan? I need your help… Do not open the door entirely… Yet." Halius stated, digging his fingers into the door.
Halius watched as Fred moved towards the other end, both soldiers took hold of the alien metal and began to tug. Motors whined and screamed as the two tugged at it, they could have easily ripped it off its hinges… Halius somewhat regretted asking for breaching charges to be brought but it was better safe than sorry.
Millimeter by millimeter they tugged the door open until there was a hole small enough for a hand to be put through.
Jerome primed both M9s along with Fred and 4 sailed through the doorway. The group backed away as muffled explosions and, screams of alien cries were heard before the two tugged the door open, alien metal ripping off the hinges as Halius maneuvered the door in front of him as a makeshift shield.
Over a dozen streams of plasma raced at them, along with metal spikes which Halius quickly realized were as sharp as a chain sword. He knew damn well the Banished had time to prepare, this was where they would make their stand.
So be it… They would fall soon enough. Halius along with both Jerome and Fred advanced into the bridge, raking fire across the plasma-shooting elites whom Halius counted 12 of.
The bridge was small, with a holo tank in the middle of the room and several beams into which consoles were built.
Halius hummed, curious as to how this needed to have been… He was much more curious as to how this would work than who would be hurt in it all.
Both had been tired now… They had to be relaxed as it came down to it now.
They were too interested in it all for now… They had a lot more to deal with and understanding these alien technologies could help.
"Serina? What are we looking for?" Douglas stated before he looked to the side.
Both were silent… An idea like this was going to be dealt with for now, something as simple as figuring it out would help.
Halius hummed… He had to figure it all out now… Something within them had been dealt with for now.
(With Chief and Igaros)
Chief ducked into cover, more plasma coming past him as he turned and put down an elite with a burst of energy.
Both he and the others were silent…. Something had changed. It had been amusing for now… An idea within them had come now back and forth.
Bursts of fire made them remember that the covenant was still protecting something different… Both were all too interested… Something within them both had been too much.
"Chief? I can overload the reactor but there will be reinforcements… We need to go." Cortana stated before Chief fell silent.
He had been too distracted… Far too distracted.
(With Halius)
Jerome raced towards the console as Fred tackled an elite and stabbed them in the skull, knife sinking into their body.
Both looked over at both Halius and Linda dealing with a squad of banished. A half dozen elites and brutes attacked Halius with their hammers and swords as Halius swung Willbreaker in a large circle, keeping them back.
"Come, I'll slaughter you all myself!" Halius hissed as he stared down the snarling soldiers. "Your master has offered you up for death, there will be no deal with the Banished!" Halius stated as he deflected a pair of energy swords.
Halius glared at them, he wanted this fight, his blade crackled with energy like his twin hearts. If they demanded death for whatever heinous slaughter they wished upon humanity?
He would grant it… He had seen worlds fall to beings corrupted by faith, those who pretended to work for higher powers only to use it as an excuse.
Halius kicked one of the elites back, using Willbreaker to parry the sword of another, and slammed them into the ground. He was interrupted by one of the brutes trying to slam their hammer down on his back.
The Ultramarine ducked, the hammer crushing the chest of another brute as Halius looked between the entire group… He did not see fanatics but instead, warriors who would capitalize on the smallest mistake he made in combat.
However? He was an Ultramarine… Mistakes were not part of who an Ultramarine was when it came down to it.
Both times had been too interested in it as he looked downwards… Both groups of soldiers had to look at each other.
Halius struck like lightning, slicing the nape of one elite, and then slamming the next into the wall. He gripped it by the head and slammed it into the wall, using it to block a stab from an elite.
They had to think of what was growing on his head, something that he could have dealt with for now… They had a lot more to deal with, he sighed to himself.
Both times before now? Halius hummed and then smirked to himself… An idea like this was all too interesting at the time.
Before he looked downwards at the ground? An idea like this was more said than done.
Halius blocked the next hammer… Atriox had not trained them how to fight properly, how to kill? Yes, how to fight? They still fought like animals. He knew more than he had to relax for now.
Halius seemed to be dealt with as he looked downwards at the ground… He closed his eyes and looked at both remaining brutes.
Halius was able to fight them before now… And he watched Linda flip over his shoulder, slamming into the next elite, stabbing them in the chest, turning her pistol on the two brutes.
"Are you ok?" Halius stated before he looked at the Spartan.
"Yes," Linda stated as both faced the Banished.
"Good… Jerome?" Halius asked before Fred slammed into the next brute, stabbing them in the chest, causing the last brute to attempt to clobber him.
Instead? Halius gripped him by the hammer and stabbed through the brute, lifting them with the other hand.
Halius hummed to himself before he sighed to deal with it for now… He dropped his body with contempt before he looked to the side, something at the end.
Halius hummed to himself before he shook his head… He looked at the bodies of over a dozen Banished infantry.
Halius looked over at Linda as she sheathed her knife and Fred who was busy reloading his rifle.
"Suriel?" Halius asked as the Ultramarine looked over at him. "Watch the door. Jerome… Have you found anything useful?" Halius asked, cleaning Willbreaker with his free hand and then sheathing the sword on his hip.
"Bits and pieces…. The Banished is not exactly new." Douglas stated as he looked over at the Ultramarine as he and the two Spartans joined him.
"How do you mean?" Halius asked, setting a hand on the column next to them.
Halius hummed, too relaxed, far too relaxed… Something that he could not have dealt with… An idea within his mind had tempted him to act differently.
Jerome looked at the Supersoldier as he looked to the side. Both were curious as to what it would have been like and both were asking questions as to how it would have possibly.
Both were all too tired, all too done with dealing with anything beyond fighting, now? Now both just felt angry with it all being too much.
Halius hummed as an alarm was heard. Alien sirens buzzed with words they could not understand as he turned toward the hologram.
"Red Team? We are reading Banished aircraft heading for your location… We will shoot down who we can but we cannot stop them all." Jerome heard as Halius frowned.
"How long have we?" Halius asked as Jerome shrugged.
"Best guess? 10 minutes." Jerome stated as Halius cursed.
"Spirit of Fire? How large is the hostile force?" Halius questioned with obvious intent to fight.
Jerome left the decoding device inserted and grabbed his shotgun.
"10-15 Spirit dropships… Serina is crunching the numbers on troop counts." They heard as both frowned.
Halius scanned his gaze over the bridge. He did not know the alien controls nor did he have the time to learn.
They had to fight… So, they would, they would have to fight so they would have to deal with it for now.
"Spirit of Fire? We are busy and unable to properly defend our position… How copy on reinforcement?" Jerome asked to which there were mutters.
"Best we can do is give you air support… Dropping in another team right now is too risky… Especially given the evacuation procedure." Cutter responded.
"Copy, sir… Give them hell." Jerome stated before he looked at Halius. "Got a plan for this?" Jerome added as he and Halius shared a glance.
"We defend the bridge… I would scuttle the ship but there is no way to confirm we can pull data from the wreckage…" Halius added.
He knew he could not have done much to make it sound funnier… He made it sound amusing and that was all that had mattered to him.
He knew the chances of holding the bridge were low… Not because they could not fight but because it would only tire him out as he did it.
He knew how to deal with soldiers… But he did not know what he had to do something like that.
He did not know… Could not know… There were plenty of rules within them.
He had been thrown into the deep end and it was clear they had little choice but to fight.
"I do not… But I believe we can attempt something… Lock the doors… Topple over what can be broken." Halius stated to which the others nodded.
They knew holding the bridge was a chore, holding it like this was something they could barely afford.
Halius knew better than to underestimate the Banished, something about it next time… Something about the way both times had gone made him confident they could handle it.
He did not believe their chances were that skilled for now… All of it had become too much for now… Far beyond the pale.
Halius looked over towards his friend, unsure of what would become now, and at the end of the day, something within the Ultramarine was just annoyed at the lack of ideas now, and for a good reason.
He finally was broken from his stupor just by how odd this was and the sound of metal tearing free from its seams.
Both times they had to try and figure it out now… Something within it all had been too much for now.
Halius cleared his throat, tired… An idea like this had not been done yet… Something about it all for now had torn him apart.
He had a lot more to deal with now… Something about it all had been too much for the time being.
Halius seemed to be dealing with for now… He has a lot more to understand.
"Halius, they're boarding now," Jerome said as Halius hummed and took up a position near the window.
Halius could not for the life of him clear his head fast enough as consoles were torn and tossed in front of the door… Jerome buried his fist inside the panel and tore out a handful of wires.
The door sparked and slammed shut… Not that it would have stopped the others. The rest of the Banished would either tear the door down and attack it or burn through it, he did not know if the door had redundant systems.
Halius hummed and then looked over at Linda and Jerome who had their weapons up as he looked towards the side.
Halius hummed and then looked downwards as he readied his bolter and brought as he looked towards the time being as he sighed to himself.
Halius readied his gun. He shook his head before he prepared for now.
(With Chief.)
The explosions all up and down the base. They started to fight and all of them were eager to fight for now.
Igaros stayed silent as he fired through another elite, their body boiling from the lasgun that the Ultramarine had held in his hands.
The Ultramarines reminded him of Spartans, each one different in their way and each one eager for combat.
Chief questioned if the Salamanders were any different.
"This felt like a trap… Atriox knew we'd take any chance for intel." Kelly stated, her shields sparking as she cursed.
Chief nodded. It was clear the Banished ruler knew that they would take any attempt for intel to get ahead.
Some of it had been tiresome as he looked downwards at the ground. They had a lot more to try and deal with and Master Chief was unsure of the fact they had to deal with it or die.
"Master Chief, our mission has hit complications… Has yours? I hope you have completed it, now. I can only hope you have been dealing with it all the most effectively." Halius stated before the sounds of metal scraping were heard.
He was too interested in something beyond this. Chief and Halius shared similar views and both soldiers were all too interested in something beyond now… Now? Now Chief and Halius had assignments to figure out.
The sound of plasma tearing through metal made both think of something like a demon emerging from the depths of hell.
He looked up, and the same warrior from the battlecruiser stood.
(With Halius and his group)
Halius could hear the cold and brutal sound of cannon fire even outside the ship. He refused to believe they could have possibly dealt with it.
He did not want to think of the fact they were being boarded… Only that they held out? The enemy would flee, if they fled? They would walk away with the information needed.
Halius knew the makeshift barricade would not hold, he knew more and more these types of things would not keep alien warriors at bay.
Instead? It would make them eager for blood… The Banished reminded him of Orks, they were eager to fight and die purely for battle over anything else.
"They redouble their strikes." Halius heard as he hummed.
"We hold the line… They will come… We will slay them." Halius added with a tone that suggested he was not even slightly lying.
"It will not be that simple," Jerome stated as Halius shrugged.
"It could if you hit your targets," Halius said in a tone that got the Spartan to chuckle.
"You going to swordfight them to death?" Jerome joked as Halius chuckled.
"Seems effective enough." Halius joked as both watched the door. "How much longer must we guard your device before it extracts the information required? Atriox is not a fool and his methods will press even I." Halius added to himself.
He had zero idea of what Atriox plotted, only at the time within his mind could he attempt… The brute plotted to try and take the entire galaxy, the entire world, and the universe.
And Halius knew he would not be stopped with just one setback… he had plotted far beyond this meeting… Something about that rubbed him the wrong way… Something about it had bothered him.
"Jerome… You spoke about the Banished as if they were not a new group… They have existed for longer than this day?" Halius asked as Jerome nodded.
"Correct… The UNSC had some ideas of what they were but we were not sure they existed until now. Now? Now I know they are as dangerous as intel stated." Jerome heard before he hummed.
"Then Atriox has known about our alliance and everything for longer than today… Damn it." Halius stated as Jerome hummed.
"Any special reason you wanted to ask that?" Jerome asked, lifting his shotgun.
"Because he's thinking Atriox and the banished could be as dangerous as the Covenant and Orks if we don't put them down now," Linda stated as Halius nodded.
"Correct," Halius stated, sighing at the others before he looked towards the side as he looked towards the ground.
Halius seemed to be tired as he looked towards the door… Linda hit the nail on the head before he sighed towards the others.
They had work left to deal with for now… Halius hummed at the others. Whatever damn thoughts invaded his skull? He could push them down for now… He had different.
Halius clicked his fingers and then relaxed towards each little idea for the moment. All the ideas seemed to be dealt with as sparks flew from the door.
Halius knew Atriox was also here, there was no reason they would have had to hold back their power…. That? And he assumed Atriox would not rely on underlings when it came down to fighting them.
The door finally exploded, perhaps the Banished grew tired of trying to hack it.
"Ok, now I know the Banished aren't covenant… Covenant wouldn't even blow up a door because it looks fancy." Jerome stated as Halius hummed.
"Don't shoot yet… Wait until there is more smoke." Halius stated as smoke started to billow from the remnants of the door.
They unleashed a torrent of bullets and bolts into the doorway at the Banished, they heard screams of pain and the dying war cries of banished soldiers.
There was only one way to find out.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! A few things.
I feel like some of these chapters are mindless filler… So, I am going to not make every chapter as drawn out.
Anyone is going to tell me how Warhammer is stronger than Halo and how Halius would realistically kill everyone? I am a fan of Halo and I am not making anyone overpowered.
If anyone thinks I do not respect Atriox? That is true, I do not see him as the brilliant master strategist the series made him out to be because of his poor showing in Halo Wars 2.
The next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show the end of these missions. Until the 900–6500-word chapters, Lighting Wolf out!