"Lili?"
Ugh... Just five more minutes...
"Lili, c'mon. You know how the Commissar is about tardiness."
A sigh.
Lilith... No... Elster? No, no, Lilith stirred awake, rubbing her eyes and murmuring in her usual half-awake tone, "Why now...?" to which Alina smiled. Extending a hand to her squadmate, Alina Seo helped Lilith Itou to her feet from her cot in the back of the dark-blue tent. The two girls waded out of the makeshift barracks where a dozen men and women slept in cramped conditions, then marched down the remnants of an old road. Far away from them, they could see the destroyed skeletons of ancient buildings, torn asunder by the war.
Two artillery cannons sat out amidst the shallower waters, pointed upward as their crews did maintenance. High in the sky, past the blue and in the dark, star-spangled void, two fleets did battle, the flashes of explosions filling the void as well. Beside them was a staggeringly-long double trench line filled with infantrymen and Replikas from the Eusan Volksarmee.
"Seems like we're getting some new combat Replika types to help us in the fighting. So's the word, anyhow..." Alina explained, turning to her grumpy sleeper of a girlfriend and asking her, "Are you okay, Lili? You look a little worse for wear. Bad dream?" and she slowed her step to match Lilith's. The tired-looking girl shot her a glance that pretty much told everything that needed to be said.
Alina chuckled awkwardly, then nodded. They marched past another trench and toward the Commissar's, only for both of them to be surprised as they saw a slew of new-model Replikas. Two... Mark that three models. Only one interested them for this run, however. Sly smirks that hid sharpened teeth, heavy-duty assault weapons and steel alloy bodyarmors. One of them arranged her garrison cap on her head and flashed the two girls a grin filled with those shark-like teeth., an evil gaze in her eyes-
Elster jumped awake. Her feet didn't feel like they were on the ground, instead dangling. She blinked as her eyes opened and she found herself a couple feet off the ground instead of standing. She saw hands wrapped around her legs and felt herself leaned against armor, the faint, indistinct scratching of Titanium alloy against itself filling her helmet's auditory sensors.
She looked ahead, to see she was being carried. She spoke, "Six..." a hint groggy. The Spartan hummed, then turned back and nodded. She stated, "I'm awake... You can put me down..." to which the soldier complied, allowing her to settle down on her own two feet. She stretched and yawned, before adding, "Guess I got knocked out by the re-entry... You okay?"
"Dislocated my shoulder, but I set it back into place when I landed..." The Spartan answered. He turned toward her and extended an M6 her way, grip first. She took the pistol and nodded in thanks, then pulled back the slide a little and checked the chamber. One round in, a couple mags at the ready. She nodded to Six and then turned back, to see the mountains in the distance.
She went bug-eyed as she saw the remains of the Covenant Supercarrier laying in rest, still burning, atop a mountain range that almost seemed split at the seams by the impact. Removing her helmet, she revealed that her jaw had, in fact, dropped. Blinking, she smiled and sighed, relieved, before nodding to Six and showing him to lead the way. The two were stumbling up a hill.
The audible sound of gunfire from a distance didn't feel the girl with confidence. She scrambled up the dirt mound and clambered to the top... Only for her heart to drop as her helmet fell out of her hand and clattered on the floor, all color draining from her half-machine face. Six stepped up, too, stating, "I picked up Maydays when I got my com system working..."
New Alexandria, the Crown Jewel of Reach, burned. Above the city's skyline, three Covenant Corvettes just like the one they'd used to destroy the Long Night of Solace, brought about their plasma batteries, raining hell down upon the city as Covenant dropships deployed troops. She whispered, deflated, "We failed..." to which Six shook his head. Turning to the Spartan, she raised a brow.
"... Deep down, I think we all knew it was done the moment the Covvies came about," Six stated nihilistically, taking his own helmet off to reveal a young, average-looking guy with black hair and eyes more blue than the sea. His face was laced in a multitude of scars from bayonet to bullet wounds, but he seemed calm. Determined, even. He told her, "But Reach is Reach. We aren't going to go down without taking a good chunk of'em with us."
"What's the point...?" The girl replied with a tired voice as memories of their War flashed in her mind.
He shot back, calm, "Now? Saving as many as we can, if for nothing else than to spite these alien pieces of shit." And he walked up to Elster. Patting her on the shoulder, he said, "Our people still need us, Elster. Ariane's fine for now... She'll get out with Doctor Halsey, I'm sure. So, let's focus on helping as best as we can in the city, aye?" and looking to her for confirmation.
She narrowed her lips, then sighed deeply and picked up her helmet. Dusting it off, she slid it back onto her head and let the seal kick in, before drawing her pistol and stating, "Let's move it out, Spartan..." which got Six to ready up his own pistol. The two ran forward and into the city, entering one of the many promenades and moving via the rooftop of one of the buildings.
Six stopped next to a door, then looked over a railing, before giving a hand signal pointing the way down. She nodded and the two of them jumped down a floor. Pushing up with the wall on their left, the two arrived at a Plaza and Elster stood, mortified, for a moment. Civilians lay, slumped against the walls or dead on the floor in pools of their own blood. Men, women... Elster averted her gaze from one corpse.
She walked up to one of the Civilians and took a knee, then felt for a pulse. She sighed and shook her head. When Vineta burned, when hellfire rained down from the Imperials' ships, all she could see was the destruction of her home. All she saw was the deaths of loved ones, of friends, of family. It was why she'd even stayed on Vineta to fight...
She grit her teeth and stood up, before giving a quick motion of the hand to Six. The Spartan nodded and the two went into full sprint, choosing to outright avoid the bodies if they could help it. They'd stack enough Covenant bodies for it to even the hell out, she thought as they pushed on through into a building, only to be met by a trio of Jackals. With little hesitation, however, the two soldiers domed each enemy, letting their splattered brains and blood be the mark that told the world they'd been killed. Elster, however, kicked one's head in on the way out.
The duet of Spartan and Replika pushed through into another building, descending to the basement and sweeping the place like a pair of Special Ops. Elster's survival instincts had kicked into high gear to the point she was checking every corner of the bowels of this place slowly. They only had their high-caliber pistols and that was about it until they ran into friendlies.
Various radio signals played across their com, including one of a trooper requesting Fire Support as the pair slowly pushed through the city's underbelly, pushing past markings, trash and various machines used to keep the place in working condition. The two met a group of Grunts in this 'sewer' so to speak. Bullets made short work of the little creatures.
They left behind diminutive corpses and fluorescent blue blood splatters on the floor as they climbed back up to street level. The two covered each-other's rears, Six noticing a hint more tactical ability in Elster now. She was checking her corners more, pying every single one of them, her pistol pointed forward and at the ready in case a first target appeared.
As they exited onto another promenade, Six bobbed his head right as a needle round slammed into the white wall behind him. He lifted his pistol and popped off two shots at the Skirmisher with a needle rifle, before sliding into cover behind one of the promenade's handrails. Below them, down a ramp and a level lower, UNSC Marines duked it out with massive, hair-covered beasts with thick helmets and the looks of gorillas.
"What...?" The girl blanked. Six growled, then stood up and advanced toward the Marines, firing his pistol one-handed. Elster blanked and joined him, providing covering fire. She ran toward a railing, jumped onto it and used it as a boost-off point. She saw one of the massive brutes pin down a civilian and prepare to rip her spine out, before she brought down her heel in a low kick that cracked the beast's helmet. She drew her machete as she landed, rolled and slashed the beast's throat with high-enough speed to pierce its thick hide.
It collapsed, gushing blood from its throat, but Elster saw that the machete had dulled ever so slightly. She grit her teeth, aimed her pistol and shot at the other Brutes that were charging them, before living the Civilian with her left hand and dragging her out of harms way as she was screaming bloody murder. She joined Six and the Army Troopers and Marines in the rear, before looking around and taking the place in.
Terraced, with multiple vantage points. This side of the strange food court-style Plaza was owned by the UNSC, with DMR-toting soldiers holding the high ground and sniping away at the advancing army of massive gorillas. Elster, meanwhile, was on the 'ground' level with Six and a mixed platoon of Marine and Army troopers, plus about a dozen Civvies that were being hunted for sport.
That made her blood boil...
... But the horrid laughter she heard from up ahead filled her ears and sent her down a path of remembrance she didn't want to undertake. She watched as a Replika with violet markings instead of her own scarlet stepped out into view, firing bursts from a rifle with a polymer handguard and folding stock. Spent mid-caliber casings dropped to the floor as the short-haired machine moved back and fired.
She brandished her knife and Lilith caught a glimpes of her teeth. Sharp as sawblade teeth, but human-looking otherwise, the sadistic Replika's mouth was lined by the damned teeth. She rolled back, pulled a frag grenade off her belt and threw it, before staggering as one of the Brutes charged her, the thump of the detonation filling the air. Elster saw the beast charging the under-equipped Combat Specialist Replika, to which the girl brandished her knife.
Elster stepped up first and put about half her remaining magazine of the M6G into the Brute's head, sending it tumbling to the floor. The Machine turned her head toward her unknown savior, then asked with a heavy-handed accent, "I see rescue is prompt here, then. Who are you?" only to pause as she saw Elster remove her helmet, revealing herself. The girl's grin grew wide and she burst into a bellowing laugh, "An LSTR UNIT! Now, that's rich! Got lost, Magpie!?"
"You're the one who's lost, Krähe... What are you doing here?" Elster demanded. She noticed a dead Marine to her right and marched up to him, whispering an apology and taking his ammunition and his DMR. She saw Six grab an assault rifle and ammo, before she turned to the Crow, the Volksarmee's new favorite toys from Vineta. A Fifth-Generation Combat Specialist.
The Crow quipped, "Just taking in the sights of a city ablaze... Didn't know we're dealing with genuine apes now, though."
"Because you're not on Vineta..." Elster sighed and slid her helmet back on.
Six walked up to her with the Marines and Troopers and asked, "You know this thing, Elster?"
"She's a Crow. Unconventional warfare specialist, including PsyWar..." The AI replied, before looking over her DMR. She racked the bolt of the weapon, feeding a round and checking the damaged ammo counter. She sighed, relieved to see that it read full on the mag, even with the crack in the windshield. She checked the scope and nodded approvingly, seeing it wasn't busted, before walking up to the Marine she took it from and retrieving the tags.
"Huh..." Six looked to the Crow, who was grinning menacingly, Assault Rifle leaning on her shoulder. Some of the Marines and the Civvies also noted the gaze she was giving, with Six murmuring, "So, ONI's gonna love her... Noted..." before turning to Elster and adding, "We gotta move. Civvies will need Evac out of Traxus Tower. We're their escort 'till Noble finds us or we run into them." And he pointed to one of the massive High-Rises just up ahead, bearing the TRAXUS markings.
"Fine by me..." She replied and shouldered the DMR. She walked up to the Crow and said, "If you want to live, you tag along with us. If not, I don't mind one less of you out there."
The Combat Specced Replika snorted derisively, then held her rifle with both hands as she stared Elster down straight in the visor, "Oh, I'm coming along... Simply to understand who the hell these people you threw your lot in with are... And how you got here..." then she looked to Six. The Superhuman soldier was somehow shorter than her by about a foot. It was confusing for both Six and Elster, to have to look up at the killer.
She hummed, however, then noted the blood stains on their armor. With a grin, she asked, "We going? I wanna have some actual fun without her..." She jabbed her index against Elster's chest plate, "Interrupting me..." before she turned toward the upcoming wave of enemies. Elster's shoulders sagged, before she shook her head and showed Six to keep the Civvies close.
The two pushed up next to the Crow as she aimed her weapon and opened fire toward the ranks of the Covenant brutes charging them. Crow, however, hummed and told them, "Take a step back~..." before dropping a mine at her feet and taking a couple herself, right behind cover. The trick was she had dropped the mine just as the Brutes were coming into range...
And one of the dumb beasts stepped on it...
The explosive yield removed the Brute's leg below the knee, sending the massive monster staggering forward on one wounded leg that was embedded with a ton of shrapnel. It also caught both of the Brute's packmates as they charged, severely wounding one and disorienting the other. The Crow calmly walked up to the stumpy-legged Brute, pulling out her combat knife... Before sticking the blade through the thinnest part of the skin on its neck and slicing down. She kicked the brute down as blood gushed from its wound, right in front of a squad of Grunts and Jackals. The Grunts screamed and the Jackals staggered.
With the knife still bloody, the girl drew her Assault Rifle off her back and opened fire. Spent casings fell to the floor, the fussilade joined by the Spartan's and the LSTR unit's weapons. The two surviving Brutes dropped dead to the floor, their weapons clattering next to them. Elster grabbed the Crow by the collar of her armor and dragged her into cover, before poking out and shooting at the retreating Grunts with her DMR.
Six said, "She's nuts..."
"She did just try and flay one of those monkeys alive, so, I agree..." Said Elster. She looked back to the Civvies and Marines they were escorting, most of which seemed frightened by the new Replika. Said Replika cleaned the blood off her blade and sheathed it, then looked to Elster and Six and smirked. The Spartan and Elster looked to one-another as the Marines advanced, with Elster stating, "I'm not sure we can take care of her. From what I remember, they respect strength, so our best bet would be to show her that... Or smarts."
"You met one before?" Six asked.
"Prior life, yes," Elster nodded. Notably confusing the Spartan with that reply, the girl sighed and added, "Listen, long story, let's just..." And she paused, "She's gone already, isn't she?" then got a nod from Six. The girl looked ahead, watching as the Crow moved around the targets on a flanking route, Knife and rifle at the ready. She rolled her eyes, then said to Six, "Go after her. We'll distract the targets here."
Six nodded. Elster waved to the Marines, then balled her fist, pointed it toward the fortified Covenant position ahead and moved her balled fist back and forth. The Troops nodded and joined her up front, all while leaving two Marines to guard the Civvies. Scattering around cover as bolts of plasma and Needle rounds snapped past them, the Army and Marines engaged in the firefight.
... Six, meanwhile, trailed behind the Crow. He caught up with her about midway through the flank and she whistled, clearly impressed, "Pretty fast for a Gestalt! Unless you're also a Replika under there!" and she flashed him a grin. The Spartan rolled his eyes at that. Yeah, she was going to be a pain to deal with, but Elster did just tell her how to solve this issue.
"Classified..." He replied snidely, "But close enough to Human."
She snorted, "Jawohl, jawohl. What's your rank then, 'near-Human'?"
"Lieutenant," He shot back, which caused her smugness to evaporate for a moment. It returned moments after as she was about to mouth off a comment, but Six grabbed her arm and dragged her into cover as a plasma cannon caught sight of them. The grunt manning it let loose a full burst of plasma fire toward them, striking the ground and boiling away concrete and the topsoil of a decorative plant display.
Six looked to the Crow and told her, "Since you took us on a flanking route that just got us shot at, you'll listen to me. We'll both walk out of this and then you and Elster can do whatever the hell it is you Replikas do, but we need to work together to get out of this..." all while the Crow watched him, a little awed that he wasn't flinching even as plasma struck their own cover, melting chunks of it.
She hummed and replied, "We'll see how good a lead you are, then. All yours, Kamerad Leutnant." as she racked the bolt of her rifle. Six started counting the magazines she had for the weird weapon, which took box steel mags like old STANAG M4 rifles. She only had one magazine left, which caused a slight degree of annoyance to the professional Spartan.
He hummed and looked over to his right, to see a dead Trooper. He positioned himself and rolled toward him, letting the Covvie track him with bursts of plasma fire, before grabbing his assault rifle and some ammo. Jumping back into cover, the man extended the weapon and ammo to her, then said, "Take these. Interchangeable ammunition with the rest of us..." before he drew his pistol, aimed from behind cover even as plasma struck his shield, then snapped off a shot.
A scream of pain and a thump. He nodded to the girl and motioned for her to take the left, before jumping to his feet and charging forward, assault rifle drawn and chattering off already. He left a trail of spent casings as he fired at the reinforcing Grunts and the two Brutes dead ahead. The girl seemed to adapt to her new bullpup rifle well, too, firing bursts toward the enemy, bullets taking chunks of flesh off the Brutes.
Six grit his teeth, slinging his AR on his back as the Brute ahead aimed for him with its one-handed pistol. With two thick blades poking out of the front, a bent, leather-bound handle that had a sharp pommel and two barrels lined with coils, the Brute Spiker spat out the massive, jagged crystal-like metal projectiles left the barrel, pinning against the floor below and damn-near hitting the Spartan. Had he not dodged to the right, he might've gotten skewered even through the shield.
Closing the distance as he filled the Brute ahead with Lead, the Spartan slung his rifle onto his back, drew his combat knife and ducked under a swing from the growling monkey, then under another, rolled off to the side and clambered onto the beast's back, surprising it. Before it could grab him and throw him off, the man slammed the tip of his blade against the back of the monster's head, straight into the cerebral cortex.
It let out a sharp scream, collapsing. He saw that the Replika had kept up, too. She was agile, dodging under the beast's attacks, before drawing her knife and stabbing it in the eye. She twisted the blade with a deranged laugh, before pulling it out with a whole half of an eye still hanging off of it. She then shouldered the rifle and emptied a whole magazine into the squad of Grunts that was backing the enemy up.
"Not bad..." Six remarked as he sheathed his knife.
The Replika let out a short laugh, before stomping a Grunt's head in with her sharp foot pad. She replied, "Maybe this'll be fun after all..." before pausing as she saw the Spartan listen in via Radio. He sighed and gave a quick, quiet reply, before motioning to the Crow to follow him. She rolled her eyes and did as asked, the two of them sprintign all the way to the base of the Tower.
They found Elster past the entrance to an Atrium, nearby one of the upper sections of the local Cargo area. The Marines and Troopers carried wounded Civilians and their own soldiers inside, with the Survey Replika telling them, "Corvette did a number on this place after both FPF systems failed to bring it down... The Lieutenant here told me we have to clear them a path so they can get the civvies out..."
"Damn..." Six sighed, annoyed...
"Good news, though?" Elster added, Six now realizing she was relaxed. She said, "We have backup. Orbital Drop Shock Troopers... Some 'Bullfrog' unit..." before showing the two to follow. The Crow huffed as she walked along with them, looking to the injured civilians and the Troops. She murmured something about them being 'weak' before pausing as she saw Elster shoot a glare her way. She knew it was a glare because of the movement of her body.
"Good thing we took the alternate route the Spartans found..." A Marine murmured, "Would've had to go through the lower sections of Cargo..."
"We still ain't got shit in the way of transport until we find a way across to Traxus from here, though..." Another stated, then groaned as their Corpsman gave him medical care. He grunted and said, "Why'd these bastards have to hit now of all fucking times...? I was having a nice, easy Shore Leave back home and they had to fucking shoot at us..."
Entering the area, the group laid eyes on a platoon of ODST Bullfrogs. Equipped with jetpacks and armed to the teeth, the Marines' Special Forces turned to the girl and the Spartan and their TL said, "Well, if it isn't the people the Radio's buzzing about..." before shifting his assault rifle onto his back, "I'm Sergeant Danvers. We're about to take a little trip through this clusterfuck," and he motioned to the broken platforms of the place, "To give our Civvies a clear way through to TRAXUS. You three up for a little leapfrogging? We got the room for you."
The two Replikas and the Spartan seemed dumbfound until they noticed the extra jetpacks...
AN because I forgot to say:Credit for the Replika seen here, the Crow, goes to Lazy_Robot on both the Signalis Discord, the subreddit and Twitter for his art.