OK everyone, Enjoy.
Jorge and everyone else present watched in muted horror and fascination as the Ajax flew over their heads and right towards the Supercarrier, the UNSC frigate that looked like it was breaking apart as it flew. The Spartan saw it before the others, the sparks of electricity coming from the ship, he was as it only got more and more violent. It looked like it would break the ship apart before the Supercarrier weapons could, truth be told, he had no idea what was happening. Despite him and all the other Spartans having basic training and education in all manners of fields, it didn't make them experts in them.
He knew it had something to do with the Slip-Space core, it was the only thing on the ship that could create that type of reaction. However, that didn't mean he had any idea what was happening. It wasn't until Ajax was just under the Supercarrier that he saw a powerful reaction, a large purple sphere started to form from what he thought was the middle of the ship. It was difficult to tell, due to their position on the top floors of the building they could only see the back of the ship "THAT'S A SLIP-SPACE RUPTURE!" someone shouted across all the radio channels, he didn't know who but for a moment he thought it sounded like Linda "BRACE BRACE BRACE!"
Jorge only had time to widen his eyes before the sphere grew incredibly quickly, covering almost three-quarters of the Supercarrier and completely engulfing two of the four corvettes. Just as it seemed to move towards the city, in the span of what seemed like only a single second it stopped and shrunk back in on itself, condensing into only a small point light that from this distance looking it would fit in the palm of Jorge's hand. The Spartan and all with him looked up and stared in wonder as everything that the purple sphere swallowed up had now just disappeared.
The Corvettes were now just gone as if they were never there in the first place. The front point of the Supercarrier that remained looked like it had been separated by a galaxy's most powerful laser, he could see the orange glow from molten metal where the sphere stopped before retreating. Then it happened, and the small white ball started to expand at a truly rapid rate, unlike before this was now a purple sphere that reminded him too much of what a black hole would look like, though it did still have a slight purple colour to it. This one was clear, and it was something he'd seen too many times to not see it. A shockwave.
Only a few seconds after the brace call was given did it hit them. As the wave washed over the building they were in, all the glass that was still solid shattered without any resistance. Everyone was present, even Jorge himself was knocked onto their back and pushed back a couple of feet, unable to stand up to the force of the wave.
The ringing in their ears was a strong one, as soon as he stopped moving he grabbed his helmet and placed it back onto his head, quickly standing up and going for his weapon, though the first thing he noticed was that the armour was a lot heavier than it was before. And his heads-up display wasn't working.
"Status!" he shouted as he turned and looked to the others who were picking themselves back up, not being injured too much by being knocked on their backs.
"Green" a couple of them said as they picked themselves back up. The local Militia just gave him a couple of waves.
"I've lost coms" he announced to the others as he moved towards the now broken windows, watching with wide eyes as the part of the Supercarrier that survived the attack started to fall to the ground, if they make it out of this fight then they could get a lot of tech for salvage and R&D. It wasn't just them either, he could see the swarms of Banshees started to drop out of the sky and crash into the ground.
"Must have acted as an EMP" Thomas said as he made his way over towards the window as well.
"Fucking what?" a voice sounded, and they did not need to turn to see that it was one of the locals.
"An EMP, an electromagnetic pulse. Knocks out all power, all our electrics are useless now. We've lost all contact with everyone else" an ODST spoke out to them as they all now stood up.
"Fucking Christ, so what's the plan now?" he asked, looking over towards Jorge.
The Spartan was quiet for a moment as he thought about everything, his armour was a lot heavier than he was used to, but it was still usable, they would be outnumbered on the ground but with the chaos of what just happened, they might be able to meet up with the next defensive line before they get swarmed. The ground rumbled under them, turning his head he could see that the huge piece of the Supercarrier had only now just hit the ground. Kicking up God only knows how many tons of dirt and dust.
if they held out here then chances are they wouldn't be able to do much before they could spy and tell the others what to expect but with the coms down that wasn't an option anymore "We make our way down, with the chaos of what just happened, we should be able to sneak our way to the next line of defence before the enemy collects themselves and pushes forward" None of them disagreed but based on the sighs and deep breaths, they were not happy about any of this "We're on a time limit now" he said making his way to the stairs "Double time!" he shouted and when he did the others were quick to stand and follow him back down the stairs.
Linda and all those with her, now named Bravo squad fired none stop from their windows of the tall building. They were on the thirtieth floor of a skyscraper just behind the second defensive line. The enemy ground troops were trying to land from their drop ships all around them, but they were from nearly every different direction. The AA guns were doing good work making sure that they could be surrounded on all sides but there would always be those who were going to sneak through the cracks and make a landing. Thankfully, those that did found themselves taken out by the sniper nests before they could do too much damage to the defence lines.
She and those with her were only one of many different sniper nests spread throughout the city, they were stationed in what looked like a conference room. The table in the middle of the room was pushed to the wall and now held all their ammo crates, something they needed as they had already gone through half of them. Nearly all of those around her were lying on their stomachs with the barrels of their weapons hanging out the broken windows. Something that was needed for them given the recoil that would come from their weapons. Linda however was the only one present on her knees, not having the same problem due to her strength and armour.
"Defence line North B" she said into her radio "Be advised I count three enemy Phantoms closing in on your position"
"Solid copy Bravo Squad" the female voice said back to her quickly, the sounds of weapons fire being heard over her voice.
"Ma'am" a voice called to her, not over the radio but right next to her. Turning her head Linda looked to the right and saw a woman on her stomach with her sniper not pointed at the ground but in the air "I have eyes on the Ajax, it's heading straight for the Supercarrier"
As soon as she heard the words she was on her feet and moving over towards her, Linda stood over the woman and aimed her own weapon in the air. She found the frigate quickly enough, her eyes widened as she saw that it was indeed flying straight for the Supercarrier. When she saw the bolts of purple electrical discharges shoot out from the ship, her jaw lowered slightly. She knew exactly what this was "THAT'S A SLIP-SPACE RUPTURE!" she shouted into the radio on all channels available to her "BRACE BRACE BRACE!" it was the last word she was able to get out before she saw the flash of purple, the destruction of the Supercarrier and then the shockwave.
She was the only one standing and so took the brunt of the shockwave she was knocked backwards, hitting the table and causing three ammo crates to fall from the wood and onto the ground, bullets rolling across the ground all around her. The others were all lying down and so were only moved back a couple of inches, though they were quick to move back forward and aim down their weapons, ready to continue the fight "Ma'am, my sights are dead!" she heard one of them said as the Spartan picked herself back up off the ground, though when she did so, nearly fell down to her knee. The weight of the armour nearly proved too much for her though with her training and strength. She didn't let it stop her and moved back forward.
"My suits lost power" she told them all "The rupture must have acted as an EMP" Just to be sure she grabbed her weapon and looked down at the scope, as expected, the electronic scope wasn't working.
"Radio's dead too" an ODST said as he kneeled up and held a finger to his ear "We're cut off from everything"
"What's the protocol here ma'am?" another asked her.
Linda took a moment to think about what just happened and what the plan would be. She needed to regroup with the others but that wasn't an option, they needed to complete their mission, and it just got a lot harder "We still need to provide cover the defence lines, we can't do it from their distance without the scope" she raised her rifle to place it on her back but stopped, knowing that the magnetic clamps wouldn't work. So, she settled to carry it normally instead "We move to the lower floors, get closer to the action and the enemy, aiming should be easier closer. Everyone grab one crate of ammo and let's move" she said turning to leave, grabbing her own crate of ammo as she did so.
She quickly, calmly and confidently. Though she didn't show it, she hated this. Being cut off from her fellow Spartans was the worst thing that could happen now. They only just held an equal footing in ground engagements due to their teamwork and tactics, now that they didn't have that because they had no radio communication and they didn't know if it also affected the enemy forces either. She quickly entered the stairs and started to make her way down, doing her best to fight through the burning of her muscles as she moved the armour, something that was proving hard to do, if it came to a close fight then she would be next to useless.
She would need to remove it when she got the chance, at least the armour plates so she could move without too much trouble, she didn't doubt that John was already doing that or was about to. It wasn't until she reached the halfway point that she realised that the Ajax and those on it were now dead. She and the others did study the mental effects of war but she had no idea how Atlas was going to react to finding out that his father was now dead, she just hoped he would still have the will to fight on.
He couldn't move from this one spot, he stayed where he was. On his knees in the snow touched grass. He tried to move, he knew he had to, those in the city were still fighting and they needed him. But he couldn't move, nothing could force him to move even an inch in any direction. Not himself, not the sounds of battle, not even the shockwave that knocked some nearby trees over completely uprooting them in the process.
He just stayed in place, allowing the tears to fall from his eyes as he looked at the falling wreckage of the Supercarrier. His mind went into overdrive as he thought about every possible way his dad may have survived what just happened, with the might of his mind, something many thought was on par with a smart AI in terms of speed and reaction. He must have gone over millions of different ways over the next handful of seconds that maybe he survived what just happened.
Alt could see the escape pods shoot free from the Ajax before it got too close to the Supercarrier, he could have been on one of them. The ship's dumb A.I could have been programmed to do what would be needed in order to overload the Slipspace core. Idea after idea thought after thought. Millions of ideas, hundreds of plausible plans.
Each one was shot down by one simple fact, Stevens said goodbye. His dad, said goodbye to him before dying, something he knew he was about to do.
His dad was dead. Khane was dead.
His breath started to quicken, his heart beating quicker than he'd felt it before. His hands were shaking. He wasn't in control of his body, it was all just instincts that he'd never felt before. On his knees he fell forward, only just catching himself on his hands before his face hit the dirt and snow. Without him even knowing it his hand's fug into the ground and clenched into fists so tight that it even hurt himself to do it.
How could it come to this? Why did it come to this? Alt felt so much anger directed at everything around him and at himself. Why the fuck did he allow his dad to come into the war so closely? How the fuck did he think it was a good idea? He didn't. His dad was there because he wanted to be there. After all, he wanted to be at his side through this, so they could work together. Because he wanted to spend time with him. Something they would never do again.
Because of them.
His breath stopped, his heart stopped, and all he could hear around him was muted for nothing more than a couple of moments. His head rose from the ground and he looked right at the city, at this moment he couldn't even tell how far away it was. He didn't care, his eyes looked through the great distance between him and the target, he looked through all the buildings, all the firing soldiers, all the dead bodies, all the wreckage, everything.
That was when he saw him.
In truth he didn't know what he was looking for, the enemy's mine force, some high-ranking commander, anything that he could find to place all this rage upon. And he found both in one. He saw him on the outskirts of the city walking past the now overrun defence line, he was ahead of a large force that was marching with him. Almost unbothered by the destruction that just happened, like he didn't even care? Those around him fired at anything they could see, protecting him but he didn't even flinch as the bullets Alt could see bounced off his black armour.
The small specs of dirt and rock started to float in the air around him, his blue eyes turned red and he breathed in air through gritted teeth. He was on his feet before he even knew what he was doing. Then he moved, he ran forward as fast as he could, his target spotted. The ground under his feet was caved in by his strength, with every step he felt the pain that overtook him not even a few seconds ago leave him. Later he would think that it was due to adrenaline or an overburst of emotion that made him just forget about it.
With every step, the craters he made got bigger and bigger.
With every step, he moved faster and faster.
With every step, his anger grew hotter and hotter.
With every step, he touched the ground less and less.
Until he wasn't touching the ground at all.
"Focus fire!" Spartan Otto-031 shouted as he and all those with them started to fire at the approaching enemy units, what he assumed were the scouts of the main force. After the shockwave and the EMP that came with it, they now had no way of knowing what was coming their way. A major blow to their chances of winning but it did come with a couple of advantages.
The main one he saw now as the bullets he fired quickly sailed through the air and hit the neck of the incoming Elite, the shields that would have saved it not working. Something that could really help them out, one of the biggest advantages that the enemy ground forces had was their personal shields. Now that it wasn't a factor, they could even the scale in this fight.
When the shockwave hit, Otta and the rest of the black team were quick to order him to press the advantage they had. He kneeled down behind cover as he fired, something that was easier than standing considering that the weight of his armour was now pushing down on him with the suit's own aid. If even a single Spartan survived what was coming then he knew that the first thing they would do is report to Halsey and fix this problem so it doesn't happen again.
"Sir! Enemy aircraft going down. They can't fly!" a voice called to him and Fred turned his head skyward for just a moment in order to see the Phantoms start to crash from the sky and into both the buildings and the grounds.
"Incoming!" Otto shouted as many heads turned to see one of said ships fall towards them. Himself and many others all dived as the smaller Banshee crashed right into the front of their lines. The purple fighter exploded in fire of the same colour and the force of the blast knocked others onto their backs.
Using all his honed training and instincts, Otto didn't allow himself to remain on his back. Knowing that he couldn't allow himself to give the enemy ground, they had to hold on for as long as possible. The Spartan grunted as he slowly picked himself back up off his back and slowly rolled forward, the concrete pillars and sandbags kept him hidden from view and based on the sounds of fire he was picking up, it saved his life. He didn't doubt that the enemy was using the chaos of the Banshee to their advantage.
As he found himself on his knees, he looked to the left and found a 'SPNKr' Rocket Launcher lying over the chest of a downed ODST. He didn't go for the rifle that was knocked out of his hands when he went down and instead reached for the heavy weapon. He knew his muscles were going to be burning tomorrow based on the way they felt as he picked up the weapon.
He quickly turned his head and looked over the cover, his eyes widened for a moment as he saw the large enemy Brute standing just ahead of him. Close enough for him to punch, something that he wouldn't be able to do based on how slow he would be and he lacked the side arm needed to bring the enemy down. All he could do was watch as the Brute raised the large hammer above his head with both hands and made to bring it down.
But he wasn't alone. The bullet struck before he heard the sound from the large sniper rifle. The Brute fell backwards with a large hole in his head, seeing the chance, he took it. Standing up to his full height, he took the sight that was before him with an impressive speed for a human. There was an entire horde of Covenant troops running towards their lines, he could see whole squads of Elites, Brutes, Grunts, Jackels, all of it. what he did make out quickly and something he was thankful for was that they didn't have any vehicles with them. Leading more credence to the proof that they lost all of their power as well. Good.
Otto focused on the biggest grouping he could find and he fired. The first rocket landed on the ground in the middle of a large grouping of Brutes and he quickly turned to the second target before it landed. The second wasn't a large grouping but instead the biggest enemy he could find, something that was to do given that the large Brute with heavy armour and massive hammer was hardly hiding itself. Like before he fired as quickly as he could, feeling comfortable with his choices of targets.
He didn't have the ammo on hand to reload the heavy weapon so when it was spent he was quick to drop it to the ground and make way for his discarded rifle, something he was quick to find. The weapon didn't move far from his side, having faith in the dozens of others that whereby his side. Blocking the street off completely with their bodies and made-up cover, something their tanks and Warthogs aided in as well considering their bulk.
As soon as his hand grabbed the grip of the rifle, he heard the warning "GODFALL INCOMING!" he recognized the sound of Margaret-053, the leader of the Black team giving the warning.
Godfall. Otto and every other Spartan knew exactly what that meant, he brought his weapon up as quickly as he could and aimed it over the cover he was behind. The enemy was right in front of him. A figure in towering black armour stood in front of him, the sounds of weapons fire came from all sides, either force stopping their attacks.
He could see the bullets bounce off the armour with not even a scratch to show for it. Otta like many of his brothers and sisters went over the report about the first meeting with the enemy leadership, what the reports didn't talk about was the fear that he would feel when face to face with one of them. Otto has been fighting his entire life, he's faced death many times, and he has fought against the Covenant a handful of times before this as well. But he has never felt real fear, not since he was a child at least.
But he felt it now.
This aura that the alien had felt overwhelming to him, how Alt had gone toe to toe with one of these guys he had no idea. It must have been a good couple of seconds before he was able to move under his strength, all the while the alien stared, looking down at him with a face that he couldn't see due to the thick-looking black metal face plate.
He brought his weapon up with one hand as fast as he could, he didn't need to worry about aiming when the target was so close. Before his rifle could even reach the halfway point between the ground and the target. He choked as he felt a large hand wrap around his neck, it did so with such force that he was amazed that his neck didn't break. He could feel the figure's hand wrap around it completely, all the air left his lungs despite his best effort.
Like all others of the Spartan II's, Otto has both seen and trained with Atlas personally. He knows the type of strength that the man had, a type that couldn't be stopped with conventional means. Unfortunately for him, conventional means were all he had. His body was lifted from the ground into the air by the largest humanoid he has ever seen, easily a head taller than Jorge. When he was head level with the larger alien, the sounds of enemy fire started to overload that of their own weapons.
He could guess why as well, based on the bullets still bouncing off the black armour, many of their own were focusing on him and not the rest of the enemies, allowing the Covenant to advance closer without as much resistance. It was getting harder for him to breathe, his windpipe being closed through the armour by the strength of the alien. But he wouldn't go down without a fight.
Be brought his hands up and started to punch the face plate of the alien. It was a good punch, solid form, decent power and hit where the nose would be if this alien was as human as Alt was. It did nothing. He did it again and again, he ignored the pain from his hand as he continued to punch the face of the alien. He could see the Covenant troops moving past the two of them, completely ignoring his vein struggles. He could vaguely make out the sounds of orders for a retreat to be given, was that Vicktor? Margaret? He didn't know.
Brought back his dented armour fist to strike the head again. He was on the ground…. No, he was in the ground. It happened so fast that even his own enhanced senses couldn't see it happening, but he was looking up at the sky, he could hear a ringing in his ears. He could make out buildings on either side of his line of sight. At least until the black figure stood over him completely, looking down at him. Otto watched as the large figure looked on either side of him before pointing forward, Otto knew where that was, the third and final defence line.
Without radio contact, John would have no way to know the main force was here and he wouldn't be able to call for reinforcements from the other ground forces scattered around the city. The Covenant would be able to use this larger force, go around the city and pick off the separated nests of UNSC forces one by one.
He couldn't let that happen, he had to warn them so how. But he couldn't, despite his best efforts, he couldn't move. Not only that, he couldn't feel anything below his next. The crash with the ground must have caused damage to his spine.
He was completely paralysed.
Before he had a moment to process what options he had to help in the war effort, the large black figure knelt next to him. He reached forward and grabbed Otto by the breastplate and forced them to be face to face. Not even a couple of inches between their helmets, the Spartan watched as the small breather-like piece of the helmet detached itself and lowered deeper into the armour and the black skull-like plate turned from a dark metal to a completely transparent material. Allowing Otto to see the man's face.
He knew he was expecting it. But that didn't make it any more unnerving to see such a human face staring back at him. The man looked no older than Mendez, he had the standard buzz cut that Otto has seen so many times before, a small beard that only went around his mouth, hardened eyes and an uncompromising stare "Even when beaten you attempt to destroy your enemy" he spoke to him in perfect English, like he has been speaking it his whole life "You have my respect human" the man stood up and brought Otto up with him, unlike before he no longer had a means of fighting back "due to that respect I shall ask you this question only once, if you speak true I shall…."
"Go. To hell" Otto spoke out through gritted teeth before the alien could even finish the offer "I won't tell you…... anything" he grounded out through the blood that started to pour from his mouth.
He was expecting an angry outburst and a quick but brutal death. The alien however just gave him a small smile, like he was proud of what he did "So be it. a fine way to embrace the end" he brought up his own closed fist and it was aimed right at his head "Rest assured, you shall die with your honour intact"
He didn't close his eyes, he wouldn't. He would look right back into the eyes of death as it came for him.
He didn't see it coming, it happened so quickly. He was excepting the fist to come for his head, a flash of white and for that to be it. Instead, he found himself flying through the air by a force he couldn't see, he could only make out one thing. It was a face that looked familiar to him.
'Atlas?' he thought to himself as he landed against something hard and his mind went black.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH" he screamed as his arms wrapped around the large figure's torso, the two flying through the air without touching the ground. They flew through everything that they came across, dead vehicles, tall buildings and even those unfortunate souls that were in their way. Alt didn't even spare a thought to the red and purple liquid that spread across his body. As the two passed through another building Alt used this new freedom of movement by instinct and pushed the larger figure into the ground while they still moved what must have been eighty miles an hour at least. The figures back-dug into the ground as they moved, Alt moved slightly above the man, placing one hand on his chest and bringing his other hand back. He punched the man right in the face as hard as he could, and with every blow, the man's head was snapped back. Again and again and again.
With every punch, Atlas's hatred only grew hotter and stronger "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" he shouted as the two started to slow down. He didn't know where they were, all he knew was that the enemy was lying on the tarmac of a street road when they stopped.
He quickly found his feet and started to punch the man with both hands in his chest, head, stomach, whatever Atlas saw. There were no tactics or strategy, just blind rage. The man didn't fight back, at least not yet. Alt grabbed the man's breastplate and pulled him up before punching him in the head and back to the ground. He didn't let go of his chest, he wouldn't. He brought his hand back and moved to punch him again but he couldn't, just before his hand reached his head again. The man's hand came up and blocked his fist, Alt gritted his teeth as he pushed forward, despite all his rage he could see that the man's hand was shaking as he tried to keep him contained.
The black armoured head slowly turned to look at him "Is that all you've got?" he asked him in an almost disappointed tone.
The rage he was feeling increased tenfold, the redness of his eyes grew even hotter and he brought his hand back "AAAAHHHH" he yelled ready to strike him again with all he had, unfortunately for him he couldn't.
Before he could strike the bastard that took everything from him. He watched as the large figure snuck his leg in between Alts own and pushed it out with an incredible amount of strength. If he had the strength of mind he would have processed all the air being pushed from him as the foot connected with Alt's chest and he flew through the air. Alt didn't keep track of how far he was going or where he was landing, the only thing he could understand was that the target was getting further and further away from him. He didn't even feel himself being smashed through the wall of a large skyscraper, the glass, metal and concrete couldn't stand up to him. He must have landed in the tallest building in the city, he didn't care. All he could see was the enemy that was picking himself back up. He pushed himself out of the wall he was in and jumped from the building, instead of falling to the ground, he was shooting right towards the man he was going to kill.
Ok all, we shall leave it there. I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to what comes next. Let me know what you think in the reviews, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.
P.S: I start a new job soon so the next chapter will either be a little shorter or take longer to upload.
