Author's Note
Sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out, sort of burned myself out writing the last couple so fast. Nevertheless, here I am with the newest post.
Uploaded
02/17/2023
LEGEND BELOW
"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.
''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts.
Chapter 12
Rushing to their aid
Rated-M
M rating for blood, eventual mentioning of gore and other body parts, and language.
As soon as the words left the Spartan's mouth she had leapt, entering free fall roughly a hundred feet above the battlefield they had been approaching. All below her a battle raged on between the Covenant forces and UNSC marines pinned down behind cover.
They had a Scorpion tank pinned behind a small hill, two Covenant Wraiths hurling plasma mortars its way like clockwork. Without any intervention, they weren't going to be able to move forward without suffering major loss.
Her eyes narrowed, already creating an on the fly combat battle plan that would allow them to begin their forward approach to return to the Infinity.
Chief wanted her to leave everyone behind and rush for the Infinity bridge, and she still planned on doing so. But, but before paving the way forward for the rest, doing so her way.
She could do both while running.
"All UNSC forces, this is Spartan 117. New orders are to return to the Infinity. Samus will carve out a path forward, and you are to follow her. Do not get in her way." The Master Chief's voice echoed out through local coms, timed perfectly as Samus' feet slammed into the ground, kicking up a dust cloud.
The moment the Hunter had landed she launched herself forward with blistering speed, sending another dust cloud up as her thrusters flared to life on her backside. Her cannon changed colors, the yellow lights changing to a bright green, signifying the activation of her Plasma-Beam.
She moved forward fast, shoving a few soldiers out of the way of incoming fire, taking the attack herself without any signs of slowing down. Before her was a large platoon, five Elite Minors, fifteen Jackals equipped with hand held energy shields, and a huge gaggle of differing ranks of Grunts spread across the immediate vicinity.
She had no time to take each one out with carefully placed shots, and instead decided to go all out right away.
Suddenly, her body was lit up with what seemed to be red flames of energy, the woman making use of her Beam-Burst ability acquired many missions ago. It had the effect of temporarily overpowering her arm cannon, and suddenly the massively dangerous Plasma-Beam became three times stronger and faster.
She had to be quick, however, as repeated and or overuse of this ability had nasty side effects that would not be ideal for her situation.
"Get out of my way!" Samus shouted, arm cannon raised to release a volley of plasma rounds that had changed from their usual green beams, now surrounded with streaks of a hot red energy.
The Jackals stood their ground, shields raised to deflect her beams. Unfortunately, they didn't quite understand just how powerful her beams were.
The Jackals all fell as their shields proved in effective in stopping her attacks, her beams ripping into their bodies like a hot knife through butter. The surprise that shot through the Elites leading them allowed her all the time she needed to lay them out too, their shields only resisting her attacks for a brief moment before they too fell.
With no time to stop to feed, she rushed past their decimated bodies, leaving the scrambling and terrified Grunts for the troopers, the likes of which had become filled with a newfound boost of morale after watching her slay the encroaching forces that proved to have been a serious thorn in their sides.
Samus launched herself forward, rushing headfirst towards the two Wraith tanks as they took notice of her presence.
Two plasma mortars came flying her way. She slid to a stop, throwing her left hand out. In a feat that left all watchers stunned, she absorbed the attack in a blaze of pink energy. She licked her lips, eyes gaining a dangerous glint, a grin forming on her face that she found herself unable to remove.
Her thrusters kicked her forward, quickly closing the distance on the tanks. The war machines kept fruitlessly firing at her, even their gunners lighting her up with mounted plasma turret fire. All forward attacks were similarly drawn into her body, only further powering her. With every blast of energy she absorbed, the strength of her Metroid powers grew.
At a terrifyingly alarming rate.
She flashed forward once she was within reach, jumping forward, landing on the front of the tank. The mounted turret unloaded on her, but she paid it no mind, slamming her claws straight through the metal plating of the tank. The entire thing was lit up in a pink swirl of energy, and all inhabitants, the power core and the vehicle were taken into her body with alarming speed.
In three seconds flat they were no more, nothing remained to say that there was ever a tank. Nothing, but a large pile of gray lifeless dust.
Samus landed on the ground, the look on her face shifting.
She could not contain the pleased shiver that ran down her spine at the abundance of energy she'd taken in. But, more than that, she wanted more.
Much more.
And…
She was going to get it, and no one was going to and or was capable of stopping her from doing just that.
"Heh…" A tiny giggle escaped her parted black lips, all three eyes wide as she stared hungrily at the second tank.
It fired another mortar at her, only serving to again increase her growing strength. She was incapable of being stopped as she latched onto it, and this Wraith too was deleted from existence in slightly less time than the first.
With it out of the way, the immediate path forward was cleared. Just in time too it seemed, as the Master Chief and the rest of the Spartan Fours were deployed behind her with the rest of the soldiers. The green armored soldier quickly took control of the Scorpion tank, rolling forward to continue the charge she had started.
"Samus, keep moving forward! I'll lead the charge." Samus snapped out of her odd fervor at the sound of the Chief shouting orders her way. "Once you're inside, help out those soldiers. Reduce the number of casualties as you can."
She shook her head, third eye closing as she regained focus. She didn't like how easy she had started slipping out of control, but she had no time to worry about it now.
"Tsk, Copy." She responded after a moment, Beam-Burst powering down. The red flames of energy faded, instead Samus changing to re-power her thrusters.
She bent down low, both hands placed on the ground. Bent down low in a running position, her thrusters built up power over the course of a few long seconds, before she launched forward in a sudden burst of motion.
"Holy shit commander… You didn't tell me she could move…" One Spartan, who'd been riding with the Master Chief commented, shaking his head in disbelief as he watched the legendary Spartan's strange companion create a dust cloud as she tore off for the Infinity at speeds over a hundred miles an hour.
"Don't underestimate her. If you think it can't be done, she can do it." The Chief commented, turning to aim the Scorpion cannon at a Covenant drop-ship that was unfortunate enough to think it safe to approach…
She left a dust cloud in her wake, kicking up a trail of dust as she tore off for the infinity at speed. Blue and green after images was all anyone could see of her as she left, her form too fast to make out.
A massive energy wave was formed in front of her, powered by her speed and strong enough to allow her to run straight through many obstacles that stood in her way.
That included the unfortunate form of an Elite and his squadron, the aliens unable to even see her coming before her speed turned them all to paste, or, if they were unlucky, flung out of her way with their limbs intact and barely clinging to life.
She quickly reached the side of the mothership, a much larger encampment of Covenant forces stationed just outside. Without so much as stopping, she launched herself into the air, body spinning in a Screw Attack at an easy three hundred miles an hour. The covenant sniper towers had no chance in resisting her weaponized body as it went straight through them like a bat out of hell.
The ground shook as the towers fell, Samus' body nothing but a spinning ball of death. She shot straight through them, bouncing off of a cliff wall and rebounding back into the second and third towers. She shot forward, bouncing into the Wraiths that had been stationed there, not destroying them entirely, yet rendering their plasma mortar launchers ruined. Whatever remained of the Covenant forces stationed there were defenseless and would meet their end when the Chief rolled through with his tank.
Not stopping or losing her momentum at all, Samus bounced off of three more walls to reorient herself in the right direction, shooting off towards the underside of the Infinity at dangerous speeds.
There was an opening far ahead of her, roughly a few hundred feet in the air. Her form blurred as she changed direction, running up the cliff wall that the ship seemed to be resting on, gaining height before launching herself up into the ship.
In the blink of an eye she was inside, spinning body bouncing off of the roof of the interior, taking but a millisecond to assess any threats, before kicking off of the wall, using the retained momentum to launch her spinning body straight through the backside of a Hunter that had pinned a rookie Spartan Four to the ground.
An explosion of sound echoed out throughout the vehicle loading bay she'd found herself in, the worms that made up the alien vaporized by her kinetic force and wildly whipping energy of her Screw Attack. Ear piercing shrieking followed the use of her hyper charged Skrew Attack, drawing all attention to her.
She bounced off of two more walls, before hitting the ground, sparks sent flying as her boots ground into the metal floor beneath her to slow her movement.
"Samus, clear that loading bay and I'll release the lockdown to the ship! Get to the bridge, the Captain needs your support now!" Lasky exclaimed in her ears.
She didn't need to respond, focusing on the battle before her. Somehow a massive plenitude of Covenant forces had made it inside before her. Hunters and Elites were slaughtering the forces here, and the seemingly newly formed Spartan Fours were struggling to fight the armored giants off without losing their heads in the process.
Two of the grey armored super soldiers were already downed, being dragged off to cover by their squad members.
Massive and lethal Fuel Rods were repeatedly fired upon them from the remaining seven Hunters in the area.
Thankfully, she may have made it in time.
"We need backup!" A marine shouted desperately, green vapor explosions ringing out.
"Oh god, get back!"
"Shit, they're everywhere!" A Spartan shouted, fall back fall back!
"She's down! Estey is dow-" Another Spartan shouted, before too falling from the onslaught of Hunter fire.
"Shit! Casillas!" Another Spartan dropped, clutching their stomach as they fell to a knee, before falling to the side. The one beside her looked up in surprise as a Hunter approached, heavy metal arm raised high to cut the wounded super soldier down in one fell swing.
At least, that was the beast's plan. It was also its last thought, as an ear piercing screeching echoed throughout the inside of the loading bay as a large spinning orb of serrated energy slammed into the back of the armored creature, and with little resistance, passed through it, tearing it in two with a showy display of gore.
The spinning orb of death continued forward, hitting the ground once where it was revealed to be a humanoid looking suit of green armor, before launching forward again in the blink of an eye, again seemingly turning into a blazing orb of death.
Samus flew forward with continuous use of her Screw Attack, launching herself into the second Hunter, then the third. She bounced off of the wall of the ship, kicking herself back towards the rest of the enemies.
The beasts became enraged by her attacks, and turned their full attention to her. They formed a line, using their hard outer shells to attempt to stop the spinning ball of death coming right for them. Unfortunately, doing so left them wide open to an attack from behind.
They all shuddered simultaneously as Samus' body slammed into them, spinning with terrible force. Her continuous spinning against them seemed like it wasn't going to be enough, yet in a flash the serrated energy was gone, Samus spinning out of her attack to reach forward and grab the Hunter nearest her by the face. It seemed she still held some momentum from her charge, as the beast lost its footing, falling to its back as she mounted it.
In and instant she had her legs wrapped around its head, preventing it from shaking her off as she sucked it dry.
She grunted in pain as another Hunter slammed its heavy arm into the back of her head, sending her flying off of its brethren. Her shields flared to compensate for the damaging attack, preventing any physical harm from reaching her body.
The Hunter turned to its ally, but it was too late, only dust left where its brother once stood. And, to add insult to injury, the beast that hit her didn't expect her to brush off its attack and retaliate with a volley of missiles before she even hit the ground. The fifth Hunter hit the ground dead, its exposed body having been torn apart by repeated violent blows.
Having already gotten back to her feet, she rushed forward, grappling the large metal shield that used to be the arm of the beast, before she jumped high into the air, spinning to gain momentum before she let it fly, the armored shield pinning the sixth Hunter to the ground.
She bounced off of the platform she'd made with its shield, flipping backwards in the air to land atop the shoulders of the seventh and final Hunter within the area. Before it could shake her off, she slammed the muzzle of her cannon into the crook of its neck, before violently pumping super Missiles into its worm-like body before jumping off.
The resulting explosion painted her in a shower of gore, but she paid it no mind.
With the main and most dangerous threat within the immediate vicinity having been pasted across the floors and walls of the Infinity, she could turn her attention to the rest of the enemies within the loading bay.
The sight of her bloody gore covered body turning to eye the remaining Covenant within the room was enough of a chilling experience to momentarily stun the Elites in the room.
Her eyes narrowed, sending a sharp monstrous glare to those that opposed her. Then she spun, turning to face them as she jumped forward in a low speed Screw Attack, in the blink of an eye she'd been cleaned from the gore, the attack having vaporized anything that touched her.
The Elite's and those under them turned and fired everything they had, but it wasn't enough. She ran straight through their attacks, dodging and weaving to avoid most attacks sent her way. The blasts that did hit her, however, seemed to do little in terms of damaging her armor.
"Everyone take cover! Get your wounded out of here!" Samus ordered over the blaring sound of plasma fire.
She blinked forward, claws appearing around the throat of the Elite closest her. He snarled and tried to pry her off, but was not quick enough, and was dust moments later. The Elite beside her roared in anger, throwing his weapon to the side as he instead pulled out some sort of energy sword.
He was upon her in an instant, spinning his body to thrust his blade into her as hard as he could.
Only, to blow the mind of the soon to be dead creature, and many watching, she parried the attack with nothing but the barrel of her cannon, swinging it upward in a smooth sharp motion.
Thrown off his balance, the Elite couldn't block the rib shattering kick she sent his way, the beast crumpling in on itself a moment later. He could only look up as she stood over him, raising her leg high up into the air, before dropping it right on his face with a stomp that eradicated him from existence.
Samus' gaze snapped toward the location of the wounded soldiers as a sniper round wizzed past her head, behind a her a cloaked Elite dropping dead.
Suddenly silence rang out within the loading bay, all threats having been neutralized for the time being.
Samus' shoulders slumped, the tension she'd been holding onto for the last ten minutes having finally drained from her body. So involved in the battle, she had almost forgotten to breathe with how fast she'd been moving.
As soon as the area was cleared, shouts of pain and then some filled the bay. Soldiers came running in from other areas of the ship, immediately moving to attend to the wounded and the dead.
"Commander, we have Spartan's down at our site. I repeat, three members of Spartan Fireteam Castle are down." The only Spartan remaining standing in the area had called out, looking himself worse for wear.
Marines and troopers filled the area, taking stock of the damage and quickly began working on removing the wounded from the area.
Samus approached the Spartan, taking note of how he eyed her like she was some sort of otherworldly monster.
She didn't blame him, she'd just slaughtered an entire battle group on her own with little show of a struggle.
"Are you the one the Master Chief is talking about?" He asked lowly, seemingly struggling to breathe. It was likely he'd taken some damage during that battle as well. He shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter. You move on to the Captain's position, I have to… I have to take care of my squad." He said, trailing off as he turned his attention to the recently killed bodies of his fellow Spartans.
But they were more than that.
So much more. They were his Fireteam, his soldiers, and his family. The members of Fireteam Castle had not been together long, but they'd served many years as soldiers before becoming Spartans.
It was terrible that they had to meet their end here, in the defense from an attack on the Infinity. It felt unfair, yet he wasn't about to openly complain about it.
They were soldiers, this thing was their eventual reality the longer they stayed in service. But for the only man left standing in his squad, it felt surreal to see them all fall here.
Despite that, he focused his attention to the strange green alien as she walked up to him, getting this close to her seemed to make everything in his body scream danger.
"I'll move for the captain in a moment." She said, eyes narrowed behind her visor. "Before that, I'm going to help your Spartans. Cover me in the meantime, Spartan. Do not look, it will not end well for you." She said plainly, as if what she'd just said wasn't a load of nonsense. Her last words were pointed, a threat laid out openly before him, yet said with so much confidence he couldn't help but pay attention to what was spoken.
He wanted to snort, the insanity of her words slamming into his tired and tested mind with the subtlety of a freight train.
Was she blind? Or was she so caught up in the moment to notice that they'd died during the battle. There was no medical equipment that could save them now, not with their wounds.
But, he had his orders, and his orders were to listen to and assist this stranger when needed. The commander had placed the Master Chief in command over the soldiers stationed here, him included. So he listened to his orders, and stepped up to cover the alien while she did whatever it was she was doing behind his back.
The marines had already run through the area, see the wounded while they left him to worry about the Spartans. As they were, they were, for the moment, alone in the loading bay.
There was a brief flash of white light behind the Spartan, the sound of hissing as air and internal suit pressure escaped. It was a sound he was all too familiar with, as it was the sound of a Spartan's helmet being removed.
A pink light swirled around somewhere behind him, yet he dared not look. This lasted for a long moment, too long, before stopping abruptly.
He could hear the alien woman seemingly lick her lips, before moving onto something else. Again the sound of a helmet being removed was heard, and the pink lights were soon to follow. This happened just the same a third time around, before he heard her return to her feet.
A moment later she was beside him, staring up at him from behind her baleful red visor. He found himself surprised at the sight of the three red eyes staring back at him.
He didn't like how they quivered, as if she was struggling to hold something at bay and was losing the longer he stood near her. That, accompanied by the stabbing sensation to flee that filled his body had him on edge. "Get them out of here, their armor is compromised. I'm going to rescue your captain, do not follow me. Do not speak a word of what happened here." She grunted, turning sharply on her heel. She seemed to struggle running for a moment, but had otherwise disappeared into the halls of the Infinity.
Ernst found himself blinking in surprise, gaze drawn to her as she stormed off without another word in edgewise. His lips parted as if to say something, but the words died a moment later as she vanished into the depths of the Infinity.
"E-Ernst…?"
The Spartan's blood froze at the sound of her voice, and he couldn't stop himself from turning around to find…
"W-What… How did… I-…" At a loss for words, the Fireteam commander couldn't quite put into words what he was seeing. His Spartans, the three that were assuredly dead moments ago, had all sat up, looking as if nothing had ever happened.
"Castle one…? What's going on?" One Spartan stood up, across his ruined recruit class generation two Mjolnir chest plate was the tag Castle three.
"Commander?" It was Castle two that spoke up, half of her breastplate having been blown to hell by a direct hit from a Hunter cannon. Some of her skin too was exposed directly, showing just how much damage she'd suffered. And yet, as she stood up on both legs, it was apparent that she was seemingly fine. Where once was a hole in her side, was now nothing more then smooth unblemished flesh. "What happened? I-I'm… I was sure I'd died…" She muttered.
Her words felt like an understatement.
For Ernst knew for a fact, she and the other two were very dead only moments prior…
Chapter
12
End