Deployment had come once more, with the Spartan and Commander leading their respective teams in two marching columns, weapons at the ready as they walked through what was now the valley of manmade mountains. Tall buildings rose all around them, the remnants of Humanity's fighting forces also visible all around. Dead tanks, shattered armored cars and crashed helicopters littered streets and rooftops respectively, next to the dead civilian cars and the rubble and debris left over from the fighting.
Some parts of it reminded Chief of New Mombasa. The tall, modern-looking buildings, the damage, the scars of fires that'd long ago been snuffed out. The sole difference here was the natural overgrowth in the AO. Vines hanged off the buildings or crawled up the sides of the concrete, grass poking out from among cracks in the road, all served to remind the platoon that they did not own the surface anymore.
Cortana voiced, "Detecting higher concentrations of Alva particles around..." as they continued their advance. Chief halted his side of the column and motioned for Delta to move ahead. The girl nodded, donning a grey and green camouflage cape and taking off in a sprint. Alyosha turned toward the Spartan with furrowed brows and confusion streaking across his face. Chief replied by showing him to wait a minute, while Cortana added, "We're linked to their radio and telecom systems, by the way."
The Chief advanced up to the front of the column alongside his mass-production Nikkes and Signal, then took a knee behind a broken-down car husk as he scanned the area. The Commander and his team seemed to follow suit, finding good cover as they went and making sure they weren't too close together. Rapi and Alyosha stood close to the Chief, though, with another Product acting as a secondary sniper, backup for Delta.
Chief then looked over to Mihara and Yuni, both of whom seemed surprisingly serious compared to how they acted when he met them. He had to assume that they'd gotten it through their thick skulls that they were not supposed to be enemies, especially not because of someone like Syuen. Cortana told him, "I'm trying to pull up any data I can find on Chatterbox, but parts of Missilis's database are locked down a little tight. Whatever we have's not enough to identify it."
Chief quickly deactivated external speakers and told her, "Keep trying..." before turning to the Commander, reactivating the speakers and asking, "Any intel given to us by Missilis on Chatterbox, sir?"
"None yet," The man shrugged, "We just know it's a Tyrant-class. That's it..."
Chief usually liked a little more intel with his intel. He sighed and nodded, before scanning the area. Faint silhouettes played in the corners of his eyes, notably the silhouettes of people walking, talking and the likes. It seemed that the city they were in, whichever it was, was a ghost town in both a literal and figurative sense. Chief was tense, more-so than usual, because the enemy they were fighting had the capability to turn him into what was tantamount to a microwaved meal.
Delta popped up from the side of a building and waved the group forward. At that, the Spartan took the lead alongside her, Mihara and Yuni, rifle up and at the ready. Mihara looked over to the Spartan's firearm and commented, "A bit light for what we're doing here..." as she readied her own assault weapon, an overly-complicated-looking AR-pattern rifle that fired higher-caliber rounds than what most ARs were usually chambered in.
The Spartan hummed and kept up the advance, rifle at the ready. Signal had moved in quickly behind them, hauling the backpack with the radio transmitter that'd allow them to call up support. The little girl carrying an SMG and an entire com suite with her hummed as she took a knee beside the Chief, the Commander advancing up to them and seemingly forgetting he was not armored, nor equipped to deal with a possible attack.
Mihara sighed, then looked to Yuni and showed her to wait, before moving behind Chief and telling him, "I apologize for the way I and Yuni introduced ourselves to you. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience for us either, considering I woke up with a pistol shoved in my face after my nerves got one mean feedback loop... I have to ask how you did that, by the way."
"Classified," The Spartan shot back, then turned toward the woman. Cortana snorted.
She offered a soft smile and shrugged, "That's fair enough, I guess... I'm Mihara and the little pink-haired friend over there is Yuni. We genuinely mean you no harm here and just wanna do our jobs..."
"Syuen put you in our team as hound dogs, didn't she?" Anis quipped as she readied her launcher. Mihara frowned, but didn't deny it. Chief thought she had no reason to. It was obvious Missilis wanted a return investment after the bad introduction they got to the Spartan and probably wanted to capture him alive. It was the reason Chief was still tense around them in the first place. Certainly, Cortana could cover for their immobilization attempts, but she was busy decoding some of the ArkNet. One slip-up.
No. He trusted her enough to know she wouldn't fail him. With that note in mind, he prepared himself while Mihara replied, "Not wrong, but it's a rather limited world view, honestly... We're also here to make sure the target comes under our control, yes, but we are also kind of required to keep you all safe. The Ark's newest investment team being Lucky Strike means we still have to keep tabs on them and on the Counters."
"I feel safer already," Anis sarcastically snarked. Chief cast her a sideways glance, as did Alyosha, though the more human of the two was grinning. The Spartan, meanwhile, tapped Delta on the shoulder and showed her to move on ahead, then tapped Signal on the shoulder. The little radio operator almost yelped, but looked to the Chief. He chopped his hand forward toward Delta, who was sprinting off to cover to scout the area ahead out.
Signal gave a quick salute, then dashed off to follow Delta as well, fearful. Oh-Niner and the other Nikke in Chief's team joined them up-front next, with Niner tapping Chief on the shoulder. The Spartan gave a nod to her, while iDoll Sun shouldered her rifle and uneasily scanned the rooftops. Soldier EG knelt beside the Chief and asked, "Sir, is there any reason we're taking it this slow?"
"High Alva Particle concentrations," Chief stated. Whatever that meant, he thought.
EG-137 gave a nod as she peeked out from the cover, noting Delta's bounding advance. The young woman and her ward, the petite radio operator, seemed to disappear into the foliage-covered concrete jungle, with Chief leaning over to look via utilizing the systems in his armor. EG could swear she saw the polarization of the man's helmet visor change for a moment.
23-20 squinted, scanning the rooftops just in case. She loaded a slug, then tapped Chief on the shoulder, pointing at a specific window and stating, "Silhouettes... Flying..." as she racked the pump of her shotgun. Chief gave 20 a nod, then turned to the Commander and, at first, put two fingers against his helmet's visor, then pointed out toward the rough spot that 20 had spotted the movement and then showed him to scatter his team by pointing in an arc with his open palm.
Alyosha nodded. It was about goddamn time the military hand signals training started paying off. He turned toward Rapi and whistled to her, with the girl nodding. He pointed to several positions and spots that provided cover for an ambush, before pointing at her, then Anis, then Neon. Neon was closest to the front, obviously, what with being a shotgunner.
Rapi nodded, then turned to Anis and said, "Dispersal pattern Two. Get Neon up front. I'll be tagging along..." as she loaded a projectile into the underslung tube of her assault rifle. Neon rushed forward to join the other front-line units, while the Chief scrambled to get to his position, too. He radioed, "Delta, Signal, return. Contacts incoming, eyes up."
Delta and Signal immediately swiveled about and burst into a full-on sprint, the smaller of the two lagging behind due to her short, stout legs. Delta picked her and her gear up and sped forward, feet kicking up a cloud of dust as she ran forward. The Spartan noted the first shadow of an enemy appearing against the ruins at the end of the street. It looked like some sort of ghost, or a drone.
When it crossed into the T intersection, its shape became more clear. A central eye stood atop the floating platform, while four floating prongs hanged below its form like a skirt covering the inner workings of its antigravity engine. Its baleful red eye turned toward the crews of humans and Nikke and its eye began to glow. Delta broke out into an all-out olympic marathon sprint as the first bolt of energy left the eye of the biomechanical machine.
It struck the concrete below, heating it. Chief stood to his feet and opened fire. From this distance, hitting a flying drone was nearly impossible, but he needed to give it another target to focus on while Delta made her way back. As he did so, he noted that it had, in fact, worked. His AP rounds hit the machine's frame, causing one of the boons to bend.
Its eye turned toward him and focused, with Cortana stating, "May wanna take cover when it fires!" as three bolts of energy left its scarlet eye. The Spartan watched the shots arc his way, ducking into cover behind the concrete barrier as the others repositioned to open fire, too. The bolts struck and he could hear his radiation counter suddenly spiking, the noise a bit deafening.
He was about to stand up and fire again. However, he froze as he saw Yuni step up, shouldering her rocket launcher and calling up, "Blondie! I think we can take it if we hit it at the same time!" while she looked to Anis. The surprised grenadier paused, then nodded and ran up beside her just as Delta made it into cover with Signal. Both women aimed their launchers and fired, the two missiles dancing around one-another before hitting the machine dead-center.
Two flashes and thumps and the shockwaves reached them. The machine crumpled and collapsed, its central eye shattering. The Spartan and crew set up for the next incoming, with Yuni turning to Anis and grinning. Anis nodded back, then said, "Not bad, not bad..." as she took cover beside Delta. Rapi joined the Chief up front and gave three hand signals.
'Fast', 'Multiple', 'Twelve o'clock'.
He nodded and called out, "Delta, set up. Signal, drop the radio and grab your weapon..." before turning to Alyosha as the man took cover behind Mihara. To her credit, Mihara stood between him and the incoming wave of Raptures, a fire burning in her lilac eyes as she checked her weapon one last time. Chief then turned to Niner and her comrades and showed them to set up with the rest in a staggered formation.
Twenty stood in front of the Spartan and behind a broken car, shotgun at the ready. 137 took the opposite side of the road, rifle peering through the broken windows of the other motor vehicle. Her fingers clenched the weapon tightly as the skittering and thumping of the Raptures' heavy feet echoed. They knew the two squads were here, obviously. That drone was just a scout.
Chief hummed and showed Six-One and Twenty to stay low, while deciding he needed to call them by proper names instead of numbers. He crouch-walked up to 137 and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to twitch. He lifted the open palm off her shoulder, showing her to settle down and told her, "You'll be fine, One-Three-Seven. You and the others will be fine. After this, remind me to get you all names. Numbers are tedious."
EG chuckled... "Understood, sir..." before seemingly loosening up a bit, shouldering the weapon and looking down the scope. He gave her a light tap on the shoulder, then marched up to Six-One. The iDoll Sun turned to the Chief and snapped a quick salute, turning to the Spartan as the chittering talons of the enemy force grew ever louder. She flipped her visor up while Twenty aimed her shotgun.
"I'm gonna be honest, sir..." Six-One started, "I'm scared..."
"All soldiers are scared on their first outbound mission, especially after dealing with terrorists alone for the better part of their operational life. Steady as she goes, Six-One. You, Twenty, One-Three-Seven and Oh-Niner are as much soldiers as the rest of us..." He told her, while Cortana let out a bit of a cooing sound, apparently enjoying the Spartan's more fatherly side.
She nodded and flipped her visor back on, then stood up and leaned against the trunk of the destroyed car. The Spartan then moved up to Oh-Niner, who was aiming down the sights without as much as a flinch. She told him, "I'll be alright, Chief..." before turning to offer him a smile, "Thank you for trusting me... It means more to a Nikke than you might know."
Chief gave her a pat on the shoulder, then rejoined Rapi and the others at the front. Anis smiled a genuine smile at him, then said, "I'm impressed, Chief..." as Neon moved up beside Soldier EG. The Spartan hummed, while Yuni beside him giggled as she leaned her launcher against the concrete barrier. Neon added, "I mean it, man. Not a lot of people who'd go to every Nikke of theirs to comfort them."
"Marks of a good commander after me," Alyosha nodded to the Chief from the back. The Spartan hummed in agreement, then shouldered his rifle as the chittering grew louder. The Spartan raised his fist and the group tensed. The snipers aimed, Signal readied her radio and the rest of the teams were about as ready to turn machines into scrap as could be.
The first machine appeared. A quadrupedal, small creature, about the size of a normal human. It carried a machine gun turret one one side, missiles on its thick center and a burning scarlet eye on the other side. A slew of such creatures rounded the corner moments later. Behind them, much larger machines, also quadrupedal, appeared, stomping their way forward. Shielders, apparently.
Two such shielders bounded to the front of the formation, lifting their energy projectors and emitting the forward-facing hexagonal-shaped hardlight shields ahead of themselves and their subordinates. Above, drones floated, firing their neutron projectiles first. Chief shifted his aim while Alyosha ordered, "Rapi, take out the drones!"
"Roger that!" Rapi replied, aiming down the scope. Chief clenched his right fist, then opened up with his assault rifle... Niner and the others soon followed suit, the assault weapons firing first. Bullets hit and started cracking the double-layered phalanx, the first mech's shield shattering within seconds of niner focusing fire on it. She shifted her aim as her barrel started glowing scarlet, aiming for the Rapture's Oculus.
Anis fired a missile at it, too, striking just next to the Oculus and removing a chunk of its armor. The Oculus itself seemed to crack, while the Spartan and his team shot down the advancing smaller drones. From among them, however, more quadrupedal drones, these ones more armored, ran forward on their stubby legs, charging as if they were a suicide bomber unit.
Delta sniped the first unit at the tip of the spear. It sparked, then detonated, spraying its comrades with shrapnel and staggering them. Sixty-One called out, "Suicide units!" as she shifted her fire from the drones, joining Chief in wasting the smaller ones. Yuni also hefted and fired her launcher, backblast kicking up dust as a missile lanced forward and struck the group.
The splash damage staggered several of them, while Neon loaded slugs into her own shotgun. She looked to Twenty, who gave a nod. Both racked their pumps and opened up, their shotguns having farther reach with the new heavy-core slugs. Two rounds hit the other shield unit at the same time, shattering the shield. A third shot came from Rapi's underbarrel launcher.
Mihara followed up, joining the team at the front and firing while kneeling. Automatic fire raked the machine, chipping armor away and causing the machine to stagger. She growled, then pushed up next to Six-One and Twenty, calling out to Six-One, "Focus fire where I'm shooting!" as she aimed for the shield Rapture. The iDoll nodded, both of them focusing now on the Rapture's joints.
Shooting its legs out from under it caused it to collapse, squashing several of its comrades and disabling its ability to fire back at them. Noting this, Chief called, "Press the advantage!" as he chopped his hand forward. Cortana braced, a grin on her face as the Spartan jumped out of cover, rallying his team. Mihara and Yuni stared, surprised, as the Spartan gave lightning quick orders.
Six-One and Twenty punched through the ruins on the left, while Oh-Niner and 137 repositioned to the right, firing their weapons as they moved. Niner dropped her warped barrel while they ran, switching it out for a fresh one, while Chief primed several grenades and threw them into the ranks of the machines. Delta had stayed behind, sniping out the drones above.
Chief jumped over the drones, forcing three platoons' worth of them to focus fire on him. Bullets sparked off of his shields, missiles trying to arc upward to catch him. Meanwhile, Rapi and the others engaged the drones, with Neon and Twenty leading the charge. Neon's shotgun thundered as they made it within range of the first drone, while Neon put the barrel of hers into another drone's Oculus before firing.
Fragments of metal fell to the floor, the Chief landing on a drone and drawing his pistol. He opened up with both of his weapons as he saw Delta push up, too, sidearm up and engaging the enemy with precision shots. Shotguns thundered, assault rifles roared and a fifty-cal pistol snapped off shots as the Spartan was joined by his comrades. Mihara took his left flank, while Yuni and Anis rained missiles into the rear of the line.
Rapi skidded to a halt, taking a knee and opening fire. She spun about and kicked one drone in the oculus, aimed and fired a full burst into it, then reloaded, slammed the butt of her rifle down onto another and turned to Chief. The Spartan himself holstered his pistol and punched through the Oculus, shattering it. Cortana called out, "Alva Particles are dropping... And I found the lead. Tagging him now."
"Lucky Strike, on me! Wedge formation!" He called out as the target was marked on his HUD. A floating drone that resembled a hawk of some kind hanged in the back, aiming missile pods attached to where the avian legs would've been. The Commander's voice echoed, a loud bark, an order. Anis's missiles lanced out from behind them, impacting the bird and throwing off its aim.
The Commander moved up next to the Chief as their group sniped the Eagle Rapture's core, sending it spiraling down. It was the Lord, seeing as the other enemy units also detonated. The group watched the rest of the Raptures die off, with Chief looking to Mihara and Yuni and giving them nods of thanks. Both girls smiled at him, while Rapi, Anis and the others joined up at the front.
Chief sighed, sliding his rifle onto his back, then stated, "That was cutting it too close..." before turning toward his team. He told them, "Well done, Lucky Strikes. You did good work..." before turning to see them all smiling at him. The man then looked to Alyosha and hummed.
"Let's set up camp, folks," The man told them. Some hours later, the group had entered one of the nearby buildings, noting the bigger tracks on the road, that the other Raptures had had to walk over in order to get to where they were. Alyosha sat down beside the Chief and handed him an MRE, stating, "This stuff is good, Chief. Honestly, Splendamin ain't so bad."
The Spartan nodded in thanks, then sighed and took his helmet off. Mihara hummed and smirked, then said, "We have to admit, you're cute," as she ate her own Splendamin bar. Beside the Chief, iDoll Sun and the others glared at her, while Delta and Signal simply ate their food. Delta looked over to the Chief as he, too, started munching down on the strange superfood.
Delta commented, "Whilst I'm sure the Master Chief appreciates the compliment, maybe keep it to yourself...?"
"I'll try, sweetheart," Snorted Mihara. She looked over to Yuni, who was frowning and glaring at Delta. The older of the two gave her pink-haired friend a gentle nudge with her elbow. Yuni hummed, then sighed and looked away to eat. Delta tapped her knee with her finger as she ate, then slid back and sighed as Anis started a fire. The Spartan looked around to his team, with 20 humming as she took off her goggles.
"Guess we'll find it tomorrow..." Murmured Cortana quietly.