Bleeding Out
Disclaimer: I do not in any shape or form own Halo. It belongs to Bungie, 343 Industries, and Microsoft, nor am I associated with them in any way. This is a non-profit fan work written solely for the purpose of entertainment. This is in no way canon.
Responses to questions or statements:
-evilstatistic19: Thank you very much! Hope you enjoy this chapter.
-Nitroman98: Thank you. Hope this chapter was to your liking.
-Warcorgi: Thanks, man. I actually don't have a pc either, mainly I was spreading memes about Malevelon Creek and watching gameplay of it. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter.
-Krieger Techpreist: GLORY TO SUPER-EARTH!
-Yeah, hope we get another game in the future.
-Possibly. I admittedly did take some inspiration from Griff when writing.
-The Project Artemis: Thank you. My hand's pretty much better now in case you are wondering.
-Blaze1992: Thank you. I'm thinking about adding gear, though I haven't made up my mind about it yet.
-Guest: Thank you very much. Hope you like this chapter.
-Malgrath: Yeah, I suppose you may have a point. Still, I just wanted to have some fun moments and it's hard to do that when the main character doesn't really talk much.
-Zai9000: True, but it still had to have a massive budget to do all the things you mention. Still, maybe extensive wasn't the right word for it.
-Zack24: I am going to assume that's a complement. If so, thanks!
Now, onto the chapter!
Chapter 14
(Time: August 24 ,2552)
(Location: New Alexandria, Reach)
All six members of Noble team had gathered at the main entrance to the bunker, with a Kat and Casper being the last ones to arrive. The team formed a semi-circle in front of Carter, who was privately conversing with Dot being turning his attention to the rest of the Spartans. All of whom had their attention on their team leader.
"So what's the word, commander?" Emile inquired as he slung the weapon strap for his M45 shotgun over his head.
"Just got finished getting orders from Holland. So listen up" Noble one requested his team's attention as he began briefing them. "A bird's inbound to take us to SWORD. Six, we'll drop you off first and you'll link up with an airborne pathfinder team that's been reconning the AO and work with them to neutralize the defense towers. Since Casper's our demolitions expert, he'll work on setting the charges. Emile, you'll be giving him a hand. The rest of us will provide security and help when needed."
All the assembled super-soldiers gave out an affirmation with Casper and Emile sharing a fist bump.
"Once all anti-aircraft batteries are down, we'll find drop in at the central parking lot with all the explosives. We move in, neutralize any resistance we encounter, set the explosives, and get out before charlie sends in reinforcements."
"So what exactly is charlie looking for at SWORD?" Kat asked, curious as to what was so important that the higher-ups deemed it necessary to dispatch a Spartan team to deal with it.
Sure, there was no doubt that ONI would've stored some rather sensitive data at the site. With the planet literally burning around them, it had to be pretty damn important to dispatch them to deal with the base as opposed to some other unit.
The fast that it was ONI who was requesting them to do this only made her more suspicious. It wouldn't be the first time the intelligence agency sent them on a mission without even bothering to tell them of their true intentions or even giving them the full picture of what they were walking into.
"I'm not sure." Carter confessed. "All Holland said was that the Covenant took the base before they could finish destruction protocol, so they need us to go in and level the place to make sure charlie doesn't get their hands on whatever it is they're after."
"How exactly does Holland get the authority to call a demo op on an ONI installation?" Noble two asked.
"Apparently, the request came from ONI. And whatever it was, it was enough for CENTCOM to oblige."
"Typical spooks. Send us on a mission and they don't even bother to give us the specifics." Emile complained.
"Well, that's true for all the ops we go on, Emile." Jorge said. "Need to know basis and all that."
"Yeah, but at least with ASOC and STRATCOM they're a lot more forward and open about their intentions. I wouldn't trust anyone who worked for ONI to tell me the time."
"Ah, quit your whining." Jun gave Noble four a playful punch to the shoulder.
"Come on, Casper," the CQC specialist turned his gaze to the team's latest addition. "You worked with them often. You know what I'm talking about."
Six shrugged as he Emile another fist bump as everyone turned their attention back to Carter.
"Alright, Noble. Let's get to it." Carter began flipping switches to open the blast doors. "Pelican will be arrive at the LZ in about forty to fifty mikes. So let's get moving."
All super-soldiers nodded as they placed their helmets on and started gathering up their weapons, ammo, and gears. They then all made their way inside the bunker's airlock as Jun shut the door behind them and Kat initiated the decontamination procedure. An alarm blaring and a re light flashing from the ceiling as the air in the small room began circulating.
"We better be getting paid extra for this." Six muttered to himself absentmindedly as he did another look over of his gear.
"Ah, come on, Casper." Jorge joked as he lifted his newly acquired M247H HMG. "Since when do we ever get paid?
Casper didn't say anything as he stared at the Spartan-II. However, all the members of the team could recognize that the stare was one of confusion.
"Wait...you get paid?" Emile asked shocked.
"Yeah, how do you think I afford all my stuff?"
"I always thought you just stole it." Kat deadpanned.
"Hey! I never stole anything. I just strategically transported those things to an alternate location." Noble Six defended.
"That's stealing."
"No, it's not!" The hyper-lethal protested.
"W-Wait does that mean you have a regular salary?" Jun chimed in.
"Uh, yeah." Casper replied as if it was obvious. "Along with a few benefits like dental, paid time off, overtime-"
"Y-You get overtime!?" Jun exclaimed.
"I do." Casper nodded. "Do none of you guys do?"
"No!" Emile and Kat affirmed.
"Hold on, does that mean none of you have a 401K?"
"You have a 401K?!" Noble four nearly yelled as looks of disbelief began growing on the team's faces.
"How did you even get one anyway?"
"I just asked." Six shrugged.
"You mean we just had to ask!?" Emile asked incredulously.
"Alright, lock it down." Noble one ended the conversation as he gave them all a pointed look. "We got to get to the LZ. You can discuss this later." He said as he grabbed his COMMANDO helmet and placed it on his head. Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, he too was stunned at the fact that their latest addition actually got paid for his time.
As the airlock finally finished its decontamination protocol and the reinforced steel doors slowly opened, heir suit's HUD indicated an instant increase in heat and radiation levels the second the slightest gap opened, despite the fact that according to the battle net the Covenant stopped glassing the city nearly five hours. Luckily, their armor was rated to protect the user against chemical, biological, and nuclear hazards, so they were safe.
As the six super-soldiers exited the bunker, they greeted to an apocalyptic sight of a destroyed city. Several buildings look as though a single hit from a rock would cause it to start crumbling. An orange gloom filled the sky which only added to the depressing feeling. Fires could be seen burning out of control in the far distance and the glowing scorch marks of a Covenant glassing beam could be seen a few kilometers away from their current position. Additionally, Banshees and Phantoms were patrolling the remains of the city and firing plasma shots at anything that looked even remotely suspicious.
Carter ordered them forward, with the team maintaining a single line formation with Jun taking point and Jorge covering the rear. The walk was spent in near total silence, with the members of Noble team speaking only when calling out a potential threat with none of them commenting on the state of New Alexandria. The sight of devastated human cities was all to common during the course of the human-covenant war. Thought, with Reach's importance to the UNSC's war effort it was undoubtably more devastating to humanity as a whole as opposed to a small outer colony being glassed.
Eventually, the team had made their way to what was left on a parking lot with debris and rubble scattered all over with just enough room for a Pelican dropship to land. The time taking longer than expected as they had to take a few detours to avoid Covenant air patrols. After a sweep of the area to make sure that no Covenant were around, Carter radioed in for exfil,
"Raven 3-3, this is Noble One. We've reached LZ delta, area is clear and we're ready for extraction. Over."
"/ Copy that, ETA is about ten mikes. Need you to mark your location, it's hard to make things out from up here. Over. /"\
"Roger, when we get a visual on you we'll signal with a flare."
"/ Copy. 3-3 out. /"
After waiting for about ten minutes, the Pelican dropship could be seen off in the distance. Prompting Jun to pop a magnesium flare and tossing it on the parking lot. The D77 then began changed course and began moving in their direction, with it turning from a small green shape in the orange sky to hovering over the landing site within a few minutes. Slowly descending and hovered a few meters off the ground. Not bothering to deploy its landing gear as it would take off once everyone was onboard. The back hatch then opened to reveal a crew chief standing there as he ushered them aboard the dropship.
Once they were all onboard the dropship, the crew chief sealed the door before resuming his in flight duties. As they flew over the city that had completely changed over the last few days. The hatch closing as they left the city and a green light filled the compartment from the overhead light.
Casper got himself comfortable as he began scrolling through his playlist as the ride to SWORD was estimated to take around two hours so he figured he may as well play some tunes to help past the time.. However, before he could play it, Jun who sat to his left spoke.
"So...how much do you make exactly?"
The question had every member of the team turn their heads to him, as they were all curious as well. What he replied had the same unanimous response from his teammates.
"...you make WHAT?!"
And scene. That's it for now. Hope you all found this chapter to be satisfactory. A bit shorter chapter this time as this is just me finishing the last chapter off, so I guess you can say it's just a continuation. Next chapter will most likely be the assault on SWORD base. Sorry for the short chapter as I don't really have a lot of free time recently and life's been sort of beating me down as of late. Hope you understand. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out soon.
*Edit: I can't believe I forgot, but Happy Independence day! USA! USA! USA!
See you all next time. And remember... stay frosty, gents.
