A/N: Alas, the cliffhanger endeth. Okay, real quick, I know it wasn't really Halo in the sense most Halo media is, but I did enjoy the second season of the Halo show. I'm happy they took what happened in the first season and made the best of it. Could they have done more 'Halo' with it, sure. It was still fun to watch either way. That out of the way, on to the next chapter of this fanfiction. When we left our heroes, they were about to begin planning for a fight with Raiders! Crazy, right? They've been stuck in this base this whole time and haven't fought them yet! Well that's getting fixed here. But that's enough rambling from me so leave a review if you're so inclined and, as always, enjoy!
Chapter 83: Sweet Relief
Nate walked in front of us toward the center of base. His gait was stiff. I don't think anyone else would notice. We've spent the better part of half a year traveling across this goddamn wasteland together.
So I noticed.
After some hesitation, the ex-soldier agreed to take command of the team.
"The largest force I ever led was a squad", he'd muttered as we began discussing who would be on the team.
I shrugged. "I've never led any group."
"... Okay." He took a deep breath. "We have leadership, we need guns."
Then we started. Trent suggested Julian but I vetoed that almost before the name left his mouth. While I'd never seen him fight, Glory put him in charge of a QRT team and on the support team. He's survived three of these little trials and had a good head on his shoulders.
But the kid was in no shape to go through this again. That cage match against the prisoners had pushed him too far. He needed some time. The last thing any of us want is for him to break in this place.
… I couldn't do that to him or Alex.
After 15 minutes, we settled on Melanie, Laura, Blake, Trent, Nate, and myself. I didn't know if Melanie was a good choice. She seemed calm and composed when she spoke with me, which was a good start. Blake was a medic so I'm not sure how useful he'd be in combat but, like Melanie, he was collected. I didn't know anything about Laura. Trent was one of Nate's people. I'm trusting him to lead this team, I should trust his choice in personnel. Plus, he'd have had better access to high-quality facilities and, with Nate putting the Institute program together, training.
While we didn't know what Castle would throw our way, we gamed out a few scenarios. They incorporated every type of event anyone has been in so far.
That wasn't enough, though.
"This is a new situation", I'd said. "She's going to change things. Whatever we're in for, she'll stack it against us."
"Do you think she'll try killing anyone?" Able asked. "She still wants your cooperation."
Would she?
It would be a lie to say I wasn't still feeling what I'd done… shit, just this morning.
Killing Wendy felt like it had happened so long ago.
Castle knows she won that. She knows that hurt. I wouldn't have hesitated to kill Wendy if it hadn't. I wouldn't have tried to get her to work with me if it hadn't.
I gave her too much to work with.
That was true, but I'd have done it again. I would have tried… something, I don't know.
Unfortunately, I can't go back there and fix it. What matters now is she knows she hurt me. A lot. And even if this team gets wiped out, she'll have leverage.
Hell, that asshole might do it because she wants to push me as hard as she can. I wouldn't put it past her.
"She will. So we have to keep that in mind." I turned to Nate. "The threat I pose only goes so far. We can't expect everyone to play by my rules anymore."
The next hour was spent imagining whatever scenarios we could think of. Some of them were a little out there, like fighting a bunch of Raiders in power armor. Melanie suggested they might throw Deathclaws at us to see how we handle it.
"Maybe they wanna see if that story was true", she said, smiling.
At least she could still tell jokes.
"Castle said we'd be fighting Raiders…"
She shrugged. "Thought I'd get the idea out there."
After a while, Nate told everyone to get some rest, including me. We all needed to be ready.
So I did.
The others all went to find their respective spots in the cell and I tucked into the small alcove.
"It's funny", Nate said, sitting across from me. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "I've been thinking about how you would have handled all this back before- well, back when you were less… empathetic."
"A lot of things would be different", I said.
"I'd be dead."
I laughed. "Yeah."
The ex-soldier opened his eyes and looked at me. "You're laughing about that?" His tone was light.
"Sure. You would have been the first person I killed."
Nate snorted. "Is that a compliment?"
"Maybe", I said. "The coursers are more dangerous in a one-on-one fight but you're probably more valuable as an asset. Or I might have done it because you passed me off?"
"So making you angry would have been justification to kill me huh…?" he mused.
"Probably."
He huffed. "I'm glad that Damon wasn't the real one, then."
The small smile that had been on my face drifted into a frown. The real Damon?
"I don't know what the 'real Damon' is", I muttered.
"Yeah… I get that. Something you wanna talk about?"
My mouth opened. Did I want to talk about it? What would we talk about? Nate's observant enough, and knows me well enough, to know what happened in that ring. He saw it as soon as the fight was over.
"I don't know."
He was quiet for a moment. The smaller man's eyes were fixed on me with an intensity I'd only seen from him once: when I told him he wasn't coming with me to kill Kellogg.
But this was different. I'm not exactly sure how, but it wasn't anger on his face.
"It's okay. Give yourself time." He closed his eyes again. "You came here for us. We're here for you too."
"... Thanks."
Turns out, Castle didn't need long to prepare. Or she didn't want to give us much time to prepare.
It had been barely 45 minutes after we were finished planning when York and his gang came to gather us.
Deacon had been there again, blending in with his stolen Raider costume.
"What did you get up to?" he asked quietly once we were out of the building. "They're getting everyone together for something."
"Baited Castle into putting us up against some Raiders."
The Railroad operative nodded. "Not bad." He sounded impressed.
"Any progress?"
"Yeah", Deacon replied. "We managed to get into their armory." A smile spread across his face. "They like their explosives."
I remembered fighting the Raiders in Clare's settlement. They'd been using improvised shrapnel charges. Those had a lot of boom.
The Raiders around us were shooting me their customary glares. It was starting to lose its impact.
We were heading toward the center of base again.
"How much can you take before they notice?" I asked.
"We got a few pounds so far." Deacon fell silent as one of the guards drifted back toward us.
"Grim, right?" the woman asked.
"The one and only", Deacon replied.
"You know we ain't supposed to be talkin' with these asshole." Her tone wasn't suspicious. More like irritated.
The Railroad operative groaned. "I know but- my people had a run-in with him a while back?"
She nodded. "Lance's guys." The Raider shot me a glare. "You knew 'em?"
"Nah, this was a few months ago." Deacon looked at me, frowning. "This motherfucker killed a bunch of my buddies."
"Gotcha. We all got a bone to pick with him." She smiled. It wasn't friendly. "But he's ours now."
I huffed. "Yeah, right."
"Keep talking", Deacon growled. "We got you here."
"Castle did. You guys have a lot of bombs around here." I looked pointedly at the buildings surrounding us. "A lot of easy targets."
Deacon threw his head back and laughed. "You ain't gettin' shit while you're locked in that cell. Keep talking." He looked at his 'fellow' Raider. "Can we put a few bombs in with him? See how he likes it?"
The woman smiled. "Much as I'd like that, Castle's got her plans. Bitch might be crazy but she beat this jackass."
"Can't blame a guy for trying."
"Nope", she said, "sure can't."
How would Deacon get us explosives without anyone noticing? That would be a trick.
"Alright. No more talking." The Raider moved back to the front of the formation.
The two of us exchanged a glance.
"Meet with Able", I whispered. "Compare notes, see what you can come up with."
Deacon nodded but didn't respond.
Things were gonna start moving fast. They needed to start moving fast. I've been here two days now. We have plenty of information but no exit strategy. Our absence can't go on forever without repercussions. Between myself, Able, Nate, Deacon, and Danse, we have most of the Minutemen's combat brain trust here. If we can hurt the Raiders bad enough to make them combat ineffective, that's worth it. But the Institute will reinsert itself into the picture soon enough and the Raiders won't occupy the Brotherhood for long.
Unlike the other challenges they threw my way, we were walking for a while. We didn't stop at the parade ground, we didn't stop at the PT area, and we bypassed the large collection of houses and apartments.
It was almost 20 minutes before our escort steered us toward another group of buildings. These looked different from the others. Concrete and steel blocks, the windows were rectangular holes in their sides. Doors were simple wooden panels swinging on rough-looking hinges. Floodlights illuminated every centimeter of the area.
Directly in front of us was what looked like a mock warehouse. Just north of it were three buildings that looked like they were trying to mimic squat apartment buildings. Between them, I could see a large open space, 100 or 150 meters across, that may have represented a parking lot. On the other side were more with wide, tall windows facing toward us. Fake storefronts. North of the apartments was a grid of smaller buildings, probably mock houses.
A CQC training field.
"Alright folks, it's game time!", Castle shouted as we drifted to a stop a few dozen meters from the warehouse. "Damon asked for a fight with Raiders, that's what you're gonna get." She motioned to the larger structure. "Inside here, you'll find guns and ammo. You aren't getting armor so don't bother looking for it. Rules are simple: we have a 'commander', you have to kill them. Game ends when he's dead or all of you are."
She smiled at me. That smile was getting really annoying.
"This is something I hear you're very good at. But one little, tiny thing", she held a hand up, index and thumb close together. "You don't get to use guns. At all. No shooting people."
The Raider threw her hands out to her sides and turned toward the training field. "Other than that, it's all yours!"
With that, she turned and strode away to the north. Her guards followed her, leaving us alone at the entrance.
So I don't get to use guns. It was a complication but not one I hadn't anticipated. And not one I've ever dealt with before.
I started toward the warehouse. The rest of the team followed suit.
Inside was a fairly faithful recreation of a warehouse. Knee and waist-high concrete foundation walls, thin steel panels anchored to them running to the ceiling as dividers. There was a raised "office" area that overlooked the main warehouse space. Below it was the door where we entered.
The "weapons" were up in the office area.
"Pipe rifles", Blake mumbled. "Great."
Nate eyed the weapons, eyebrow cocked and frowning. "Pipe rifles? I've… seen these but people actually use them?"
Melanie nodded and retrieved one. "When they have to." She grimaced. "This one looks like it hasn't been, uh, well kept."
The only time I'd ever held one was when I first dropped here, I've never had the displeasure of firing one.
"Well… it's all we've got", the ex-soldier said. "Unless we all wanna do this hand to hand."
Trent picked a rifle up and began familiarizing himself with it. "I don't want any extra holes."
"Shit", Laura said. "This isn't good."
"Maybe." Nate shrugged. "We'll make it work. So we have an HVT." He looked at me. "That sounds like your kinda thing."
"It is", I said. An "assassination" in a close-quarters combat training course. That was… promising.
This was a playing field I spent years training on. Nate might not have as much direct experience, but he was active duty infantry for almost two decades. No doubt he's had his share of experience in CQC environments.
Which was worrying.
"If they want to play it like that, I think our best option would be to get this over with as quickly as possible", he motioned at me. "We have a subject matter expert."
Blake nodded enthusiastically. "The faster we can get through this, the better." He eyed the rifle he was holding. "I don't want to see if this thing will blow me up."
The ex-soldier looked back at me. "How do we minimize risk here?"
This didn't feel right. I know they're going this route because it's the most straightforward but… I don't know…
"Stay moving, fast and quiet. Avoid notice, keep away from likely ambush locations."
"We… aren't great at that", Melanie said. "It wasn't something we worked on much. I don't think moving quietly is important for defending a town."
She was, of course, right. Static defense doesn't usually require covert movement. We didn't have much time to prepare for this. It isn't like we can come up with multiple strategies and their tactical experience is limited to, mostly, training. Putting these people in a high-speed environment without experience is a good way to get them killed.
"What's next?" Nate asked.
"We don't know where the HVT is so we'll need to survey the course and figure out what the most defensible position is. In a situation like this, they'll be as interested in concealment and potential escape routes as they will be in physical protection."
"Okay", Trent said. "So we're looking for somewhere inconspicuous with a lot of escape routes."
Castle knows I'm good at this. She said I'm good at this. And she's played some oblique angle with every action she's taken thus far.
If putting them in this situation would get them killed, the obvious answer would be to avoid that. Give them something they're comfortable with. Static defense.
We would have to separate for as long as it took me to find their HVT. I didn't see how large the training course was but I doubt I'd be doing it quickly since I don't know what will be waiting for me.
And while I'm off hunting, they'll be stuck trying to hold off whoever might attack them.
"Do you think we can keep up with him?" Laura asked Nate.
The ex-soldier shook his head. "No, but he's good at adjusting on the fly. We'll have to do the best we can."
"What if we get caught in the open?" Trent said.
"The idea would be to avoid open areas. Think of it like a reverse of what you learned when training in defense as a QRF."
The reverse of what they learned? As inexperienced combatants?
When I glanced at the ex-soldier, his expression told me everything I needed. The frustrated frown on his face and the slight narrowing of his eyes said he wasn't a fan of this plan either.
How can we get out of this? Separating is a bad idea because it leaves them and me vulnerable. Bringing them with me puts them in a situation they aren't prepared for.
"That sounds… hard to do on the fly", Trent replied.
We have to change things up. We can't do it like this.
Nate nodded. "It is but-"
"Wait, let's slow down", I said.
"I like breaking rules."
"We're trying to win this using their rulebook."
They all stopped and looked back at me. This was moving too quickly. We were letting it move too quickly. That had to be Castle's play. She wants us to do this.
But she wants us to either separate so I can hunt their HVT or catch us all in the field. We can't keep giving her what she wants.
Melanie frowned. "Well… that's how we get them to stop coming after us. How else are we gonna do this?"
"By establishing our own win conditions." That was easy enough to say, how would we do it? "What's our goal?"
"Getting out alive would be nice", Blake mumbled.
"Okay", Nate said, nodding slowly. "Getting out alive…"
The best chance of that is putting the team in the best position to succeed. That means static defense.
"We hold position", I said. "Keep what we have and make them give up."
"Defend the warehouse?" Nate asked.
I nodded.
He looked around. "That's a lot of ground for a small team to cover…"
"We have Damon though", Melanie said. "I'm sure he could help out with that."
Nate turned back to me, still frowning. "Yeah… but he can't use guns. Doesn't matter how good you are, you can't be five places at the same time. If you're gonna fill holes like that in static defense without a gun, you'd need to be."
Would I? This building isn't that large. If we could find a spot to isolate and shrink the area we'd need to defend…
No, Nate was right. That wouldn't work. It just makes the Raiders' job easier. It would concentrate our defense, but it would also concentrate their attack. I can't dispatch attackers hand to hand quickly enough to make up the difference. Not without weapons. Not in an environment that allows them to disperse and attack a single position from multiple directions. And with the Raiders taking part in this fight, there's always the possibility of higher-caliber weapons and explosives coming into play.
"So how do we use you if static defense isn't an option?" Trent asked. "There's gotta be something."
Laura cleared her throat. "If- uh- if he can't stay here and help in the building, what if fights the Raiders outside?"
"If he's gonna do that, he might as well go after their boss", Blake said.
But that's what they're expecting… they're trying to use my aggression against me, just like everyone el-
… Oh. I'm just thinking about how we can turn this into something they are comfortable with. What if we compound that with what I do?
I looked at Nate. "Invert the situation. You maintain a perimeter. They attack you. I attack them."
The ex-soldier cocked an eyebrow. "Assault their assault force?" I nodded. "That would require them to commit to an attack. If they're expecting you to go after their HVT… you think they might send an all-out blitz if they see you leave?"
"It's possible." I glanced at the room's front window. "Too much light to move between buildings without being noticed. Especially if their HVT is on the north side." That would give them the most flexibility. "They'd see a double-back."
Trent turned to the front door where light was streaming through. "Why don't we make it not light." He pointed up. "Can we shoot out the lights?"
Nate and I exchanged a glance. He smiled. "No one said anything about property damage."
"And I doubt any of them will bring NVS. They might have backups but, even if they do, it will buy us time."
It would be a lie to say I wasn't at least a little excited. I haven't gotten to hunt like this in a while. There's still, and probably always will be, a part of me that yearns for the hunt. The act of tracking and killing enemies in whatever way I see fit. The dark will just make it more… engaging.
The fact they're Raiders trying to kill people I'm here to protect only adds to the motivation. And experience.
And I get to do it with my hands. I'll make them regret not letting me use guns.
A half-sneer, half-smile spread across my face.
Most people wouldn't be excited about this. Not in the way I am. That might be something I should be concerned about, especially now.
But I wasn't about to afford the Raiders the same sympathy I did the other prisoners.
A horn sounded. It was time to go.
Nate turned to the rest of the squad. "Trent, Blake, Laura, head to the roof, wait a minute after Damon leaves, and start popping lights. Start with the ones-" he frowned and met my gaze. "Which way are you gonna go?"
We were on the south end of their little training grounds. "The apartments."
He nodded. "Start with the lights to the north and work your way in. Once you're done, get to the offices. Melanie, the two of us will hold the office until they're done. It won't-" he grimaced. "I'll explain once everyone else is gone. We don't have time. For now, wait by the stairs." The ex-soldier nodded toward the front door.
We started toward it as the others went to their positions.
"What did you call me back in the Institute?" I asked. "I think it was "my giant killer robot"."
Nate frowned. "Pretty sure. I wasn't-"
"No." I shook my head. "That's what's about to happen."
"Uh-huh." He squinted at me. "Is this you trying to be reassuring? If I didn't know better, I'd say you sound excited."
I cocked my head as I stopped at the front door.
The ex-soldier grunted. "… Or maybe you are."
"Yes."
He cleared his throat, something flashing across his face. "Well, I hope they do about as well as I did."
"The hospital?"
Nate nodded.
"I don't have guns or bombs this time." I looked out into the brightly lit exterior. "It won't be as quick or clean."
"Quick or clean." He exhaled slowly. "You've got a minute to get in position."
Maybe I was trying to be reassuring. It didn't seem like it worked.
"Understood", I said and slipped out into the floodlights.
Training and instincts are indispensable in combat. Even if my shields would have caught the round, armor is there for when those things fail, not to make up for a bad soldier.
So, as I left the relative safety of the house, I sidestepped and dropped into a half-crouch. A round cracked through the space my head would have been. The booming report followed a split-second later.
Good thing Nate hadn't been standing in the doorway…
Combat movement had been beaten into me so thoroughly, I still had nightmares about Katrina hitting me with rubber bullets.
Another key part of effective combat movement is not wasting time. As soon as I was out of our little stronghold, I sprinted north. It took a half-dozen strides to cross to the next building. The doors and windows in the three-story apartment were unobstructed. I could enter any one of them.
I didn't slow as I neared its front.
But I did notice the gentle luminescent glare just below waist height in the door. They'd rigged it. It wouldn't surprise me if the entire field was wired for sound. If their goal is to kill everyone on my team, it would make sense.
Dropping into a slide, I passed just under the wire before springing back to my feet. The interior was empty. Odd they wouldn't have mocked furniture or other cover someone would have to clear. It would slow any advance.
Unless we're right about their goal.
How do I make it look convincing? I don't know where their HVT is so I'd have to search. But I wouldn't take too long if my goal was to keep the team safe.
That's something I'll have to balance with staying close. I won't have much time after they shoot the lights out.
The room was small, maybe five meters a side, with doors on each wall. Moving to the one directly across from the entrance, I checked it for traps and stepped through. The stairs were directly ahead of me.
As I started up to the second floor, another shot sounded from outside. North side of the warehouse. No one would be there defending that entrance. Were the Raiders probing?
I had to fight the urge to turn back. We have a plan, trust Nate and the others can handle themselves. Even if the bastard can be aggravating at times, he knows what he's doing. I did say I'd take him in a straight fight over Kellogg.
More gunfire didn't come until I was heading to the third floor. This was a short burst, probably multiple weapons. Return fire echoed from the warehouse.
The building was clear, unsurprisingly.
Its last flight of stairs took me to the roof. If I was trying to make this look convincing, the next building was close enough for me to jump to.
There were about 30 seconds until Blake and Trent started shooting lights.
The next roof was close enough I didn't have to measure for the jump. I sprinted for the edge and launched myself across the 10-meter gap. While I was in the air, I couldn't see the crowd watching from behind the painfully bright glare, but I could feel them. Their attention was glued to me. Even with the gunfight starting behind me.
Rolling to dissipate the impact, I was up and moving to the roof access. Just like the first building, the staircase led me down to an empty third floor. Same with the second, then the first.
Just as I reached the ground floor's front room, a detonation rumbled from the south. It wasn't large, probably a breaching charge. The Raiders were going in
Come on…
10 seconds left. I climbed back to the roof access to wait.
If Blake, Trent, and Laura were watching, which they should have been, they'd know where I am. The lights around this building should be shot out first.
10 seconds until I get to give the Raiders what they want. Just in a different way than they thought they'd get it. Who knows, maybe Castle wants me to do this. She doesn't care about her fellow Raiders. Maybe she uses this as some kind of power play. Doesn't matter to me.
Should it?
That can wait until after I've taken my pound of flesh. For now, this is about my team's safety.
And some revenge.
Before things get started I should double-check, just to be sure.
How?
Ask? Under duress.
It would have to be a quick interrogation but… I'd rather do that than mistakenly kill a bunch of prisoners. Again.
The light outside the building's roof access went dark.
Over the next few seconds, more lights around my building blinked out. And no light was seeping in from around the door.
My visor's night vision activated as I swung the door open to an almost pitch-black roof.
Lights continued going dark over the apartment buildings. They were working fast.
A booming report came from the roof of the third apartment building. Standing at the edge of the roof, a large caliber rifle propped on its bipod and aimed at the warehouse's roof was a Raider.
Maybe.
She must have been firing at the trio knocking out lights.
I launched myself into a sprint and raced to my building's southwest corner. In the next instant, I was landing on the adjacent one. There was no way to hide the sounds and vibrations of half a ton coming down on the concrete roof.
But this wasn't the time to give up the element of surprise. Not yet.
So I came out of my roll at a full sprint. The roof trembled under my charge.
The Raider was just beginning to turn when I dug my heels in to arrest my speed. I didn't need to send her flying over the side of the building.
As it stood, the woman didn't have a chance to face me before I was on her. Clamping my right hand over her mouth, I wrapped my left arm around her chest and tore her away from the edge.
She tried to keep hold of her large caliber rifle but, between the suddenness of my appearance and the speed she was wrenched away from the weapon, she didn't have a chance. At the same time, she tried to scream but my gauntlet stopped that.
Gunfire exploded from the east side of the warehouse as I drove her to the concrete, planting my knee in the center of her back to pin her in place.
The Raider tried to squirm under my weight.
"Are you a prisoner?" I snapped and took my hand away from her mouth. Even if she shouted now, the gunfight was loud enough to prevent her from alerting anyone else.
"Fuck you", she spat. "You're supposed to be going after our guy."
There wasn't time for this. Every gunshot could be someone dying. Someone I don't want to die. I leaned forward, putting enough weight onto her back to feel her ribcage flex.
"Answer."
"I ain't no goddamn prisoner", she shouted through a pained groan. "You think I'd-"
Her mannerisms matched that answer. It wasn't perfect but…
I took a deep breath.
Even if I want to avoid killing prisoners… the support team is my priority.
And I think a prisoner would be more scared than angry in her position.
Grabbing her head with both hands, I wrenched it around.
"Snapping someone's neck" is one of the more violent, and gruesome, ways to kill. It's quick and clean in the sense it doesn't leave any blood. But it's by no means painless or as simple as a quick crack. A clean execution involves breaking the vertebrae in the target's neck and, essentially, severing their brain stem.
It also isn't easy. The action requires a significant amount of strength both to hold their head tightly enough and to crush the thick, sturdy bones that make up the spine.
Strength is one of the few areas I'm not lacking in.
The vertebrae at the base of her skull crumbled into powder as her head turned 180 degrees. She was facing me as she died, looking up at my helmet.
Get moving. I've got work to do.
Leaving the dead Raider, I retrieved her rifle from where it had fallen and clamped it to my back. She had three extra magazines, 38 rounds total, I gathered as well.
Maybe I couldn't use it but they didn't say anything about me collecting better weaponry for my people.
Lights continued popping to the southeast. Well done.
The continuing gunfire that raged below as I backed away from the edge of the roof said Nate was doing a good job of occupying the approaching Raiders. He was doing what he does best: frustrate and annoy people. This time he just happened to be doing it with a gun.
A few heartbeats later, I was hurtling across the dark, dozen-meter gap between the apartment building and the small warehouse. I stayed on my feet when I landed and continued toward the small concrete structure where the steel door for the roof access was. The trio was using it for cover. Understandable considering the rest of the roof was bare.
"Hold fire", I shouted over the shooting as I neared.
Their assault on the floor lights stopped and Trent leaned out from behind his cover.
I pulled the rifle from my back and offered it, along with the spare magazines, to the former institute scientist.
He smiled. "Thanks", Trent said as he set his Pipe Rifle down and accepted the high-caliber weapon.
"We're almost done here", Blake yelled. "We-"
A boom reverberated through the warehouse from the east and I felt the building shudder under me. Another breaching charge? From the same direction? Why?
"Stay up here until the lights are out", I ordered. "I'll assist."
The three of them shared a quick glance before they all nodded in unison.
As I trotted over to the edge of the roof, the gunfire moved inside. But, with the roof team having done their job, this side of the building was dark.
Nate can handle anyone who got inside.
My role is to cause as much chaos and destruction outside as I can.
A smile tugged at my face as I studied the tightly packed Raiders below me. They were readying themselves to head in. It was too dark for them to see me, even if they happened to look up. They were probably counting on their sniper support to keep their heads clear.
Ten meters to the ground below.
This was nothing. Just a half-dozen Raiders either packed around the new door they made or spread in a semicircle to cover their friends. A few had flashlights on their guns, but they were the minority.
No point in dragging this out. As the five grouped up at the hole were about to enter, I dropped over the edge of the building.
The Raider I landed on probably never knew I was there. One second, he was about to make entry, the next, his head was turned into a bright reddish-orange spray by a titanium boot.
Rolling again to absorb the shock of the landing, I angled myself into another attacker who was just to the left of the door. My shoulder connected with their knee and it buckled in an anatomically incorrect direction.
They dropped to the ground, writhing and screaming, as I came back to my feet. A third member of the entry team was in front of me, eyes wide, mouth in the beginning of forming a shout.
He didn't have time to yell before I launched a forearm into his chest. The force of the blow lifted him off his feet and threw him backward, away from the door. Even through my armor, I felt bones snap and crumble.
A gunshot exploded right next to me and my shields burst into life. It wasn't the deep, booming report of a high-caliber rifle.
The bullet splashed harmlessly against the barrier. Before they had the chance to shoot again, I twisted and lunged for the Raider.
My mark tried to backpedal, but there wasn't enough time. I plowed into her, my momentum driving the woman off of her feet. As I dug my boots into the already abused concrete to stop, she slammed into it a half-dozen meters away.
With four of the five in the entry team down, the last Raider tried to turn and run. Snapping my right leg out, the front edge of my boot caught him just beneath his left arm. The man was catapulted into the wall of the warehouse hard enough to warp the sheet metal. His impact was accompanied by a deep boom and the final member of the team crumbled to the ground.
Five more down, no way of knowing how many to go. I'd keep going as long as they wanted to.
There was still gunfire raging inside the building. The shooting outside had faded as the lights continued to go out. Any flood light within 40 meters of the warehouse was destroyed.
Nate had tapped the right people for this.
There wasn't enough time to get every gun and magazine off of my latest victims. Even as the last Raider crumpled to the ground, I heard boots pounding on the east side of the parking lot behind me. Instead, I gathered two HK-33 rifles and their owners' ammunition. A few seconds later, I slipped through the structurally superfluous hole in the warehouse wall. Neither weapon was in "good" condition, but they were miles ahead of the pipe weapons the Raiders had provided my team with.
Inside, the warehouse's cavernous main room echoed with the muffled sounds of gunfire. The 'pop' of Nate and Melanie's small-caliber weapons was constant. Every so often, a deeper boom would sound off the metal walls and concrete floors.
It would be painfully loud without hearing protection.
I spotted the Raiders almost immediately. There were four in total. One was taking cover behind a low wall that was part of the foundation. It split the warehouse's main level in half. The sheet metal above it was perforated with bullet holes.
The other three were lying dead on the ground beyond it, blood pooling on the floor beneath their bodies. Nate and Melanie had caught them off guard when they entered.
Setting the rifles down, a half dozen strides closed the distance between myself and the surviving Raider. With the deafening echo of gunfire in a space enclosed by materials that did nothing to absorb sound, he wouldn't have heard me even if I'd stomped my way up behind him.
He didn't know I was there until I grabbed his rifle and ripped it out of his hands. The man jumped. In the first instant, he began reaching for his rifle. In the next, he grabbed for his right hand, doubling over.
While I didn't have time to interrogate this one, the others might. Who knows, I might be giving him a reprieve. I doubt Nate would be willing to execute him after they were done.
As the Raider nursed his injured hand, I tossed his rifle out from behind the wall. A heartbeat later, the gunfire stopped.
"Damon?" Nate's voice came.
"Affirmative."
Silence.
After a few more seconds, I heard the ex-soldier grumbling to himself. "I'm assuming it's you but I can't hear a goddamn thing right now. Wave if it's you."
I stuck my arm out from behind the wall and waved.
"Okay. You're good."
My latest captive was just recovering, his eyes turned up to me. His glare was split between fury and terror.
Stepping around the corner, I dragged him with me. The man tried to resist but I didn't have time or patience to accommodate his attempts. It turned into me tossing him into the middle of the open floor.
Nate and Melanie stood from their cover. They were tucked into the small offices on the second story. Both of them could see the entire warehouse from there and it gave them a huge height advantage. Not a bad spot.
This is Nate. As infuriating as he can be, he knows what he's doing.
"And a guest", the ex-soldier said.
"Yeah", I nodded. "Can you hear me?"
Nate held up his hand and shook it. "Sort of."
"Make sure he doesn't do anything."
The two HK-33s were still near the warehouse's new entrance. I heard the infantryman snap, "Upstairs. Now." As I turned to pace back toward the hole.
After retrieving them, the spare magazines, and the last Raider's equipment, I returned to the other room. Melanie emerged from a set of stairs set in the far wall. I heard the Raider behind her, stomping up to the second floor.
"Here", I said, handing her the 'new' guns.
She swore as she fumbled with the arm-load.
Ten down.
"We're good here", Nate called.
I glanced back at the hole in the wall. There wasn't anyone trying to get in, yet, but I could hear shouts and pounding footsteps outside.
Still at least one more large-caliber rifle out there. The first Raider on the roof of the building across from us wasn't the one who took the shot at me when I first exited. That had come from the east, across the parking lot.
"Copy that", I replied. Heading back out the way I came in would be incredibly stupid.
There was another door ahead of me that led around the south side of the building. The lights there were out unless the Raiders had brought backups. Good visual cover and, once I'm away from the warehouse again, I'll have plenty of options.
Slipping to the door, I took a moment to listen for activity.
Nothing.
Easing it open, the door groaned on its old, rusty hinges.
It was still dark. Good.
As I slipped out, I heard shouting on the other side of the warehouse get louder. Were these morons arguing? In the middle of a fight?
The eastern edge of the warehouse was 15 meters to my left. There was no one else in the area with me. With the berm on the warehouse's backside and the perimeter beyond that, it would be hard for someone to hide. Even if they were, unless they had night vision, they'd be at a huge disadvantage.
In the five seconds it took me to reach the edge of the warehouse, the shouting on the other side grew louder. I couldn't tell what they were saying.
Slow down for a sec. What next? What's their next play?
It seemed like we were right: they intended to isolate the team here and kill them while I hunted their HVT. Would they have a contingency plan? I'm unarmed so they might try engaging at a distance.
I peeked around the edge of the warehouse.
The shouting sounded like it was coming from the other side. Why would they be there if they wanted to turn this into a long-range fight?
Unless it's a lure.
With what they've been pulling to this point, I can't put it past them. Maybe they're doing what I am: turning my tendencies into bait. Is it possible they're trying to coax me into attacking them when I think they're distracted? Using a perceived weakness as a trap?
Castle doesn't care about other Raiders' lives. It's definitely possible.
So then, my best option would be to circle wide and head toward this force's approach. The three up top had stayed busy. Every light within 100 meters of the warehouse was out. It gave me plenty of room to operate.
It also meant the team up top would be heading down to help fight. With how Nate decided to establish his defense, five people were plenty to deal with the Raiders.
Trust.
This is about trusting Nate and the people he chose to do their jobs. To keep themselves alive. They're doing this to give me the opportunity to do it mine.
Nate isn't a SPARTAN but…
Most of the people who I've seen fight aren't. The rest of the Minutemen. The Railroad.
The ODSTs who rescued me.
My parents. And everyone else who died defending their homes back then.
Just because I'm here to protect them doesn't mean they aren't capable of protecting themselves.
Alright then. I took a long, deep breath and slipped away from the warehouse.
When I reached the southeast corner of the building, I saw more Raiders grouped up at the hole. My count was eight. A few were checking the bodies. Others were covering the hole. Their spacing was better but still close enough to exploit if I decided to attack them.
My eyes drifted to the parking lot and the few buildings lining the opposite side. Plenty of places to hide snipers. Anyone over there would have a clear shot… if they had night vision.
If they have night vision, I'm not getting across the 100 meters between here and there without being spotted. Then again… if there are shooters on the far side, they aren't a threat to the team. I can leave them over there while they watch the fighting.
The ones who had been policing their dead were dragging the bodies away from the hole. By now the five inside should be set up and ready for a fight. Three combat rifles, the large caliber sniper, their pipe weapons in reserve. They probably had a few hundred rounds total between the guns… they could hold out for as long as necessary.
So I wait. Make the Raiders uncomfortable. They don't know where I am or what I'm up to. Use that.
Sometimes, the worst part about fighting is the lulls. It isn't uncommon for combat to come in spurts. Experienced fighters know how to handle their nerves, stay alert, and keep themselves from either walking into a trap or getting complacent. Based on what I've seen, there aren't many experienced combatants in this fight. Maybe they didn't want to risk losing their better people.
The last few minutes had been pretty violent. Letting them stew on it for a bit might be a good move. Make them uncertain about how we're gonna play the rest of this. Their plans have already been disrupted. Keep it going.
I crept back from the corner and retraced my steps. The main arm of their assault on the team had come from the east but, if my guess about their HVT is right, they'll have more to the north. Now their plan is ruined, I doubt they'll sit around and wait.
So I better go see what they're up to.
My path took me back to the apartment buildings. I climbed the stairs of the first one and, a minute later, emerged onto the roof. The dead woman was still lying where I'd left her body.
If they decide to be cautious and check for me while they advance, they'll look here.
But that's fine. Right now, I'd prefer they come to me anyway. Without a gun, I need to condense the area of operation.
Even from up here, I could make out the sounds of arguing on the east side of the warehouse. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but the fact they hadn't moved confirmed my suspicion: these guys weren't their A-team. Probably not their B or C-teams either.
Had Castle thought this would be enough? Did she expect so little from everyone else? It's possible, even if we had gone with the straightforward approach and I went after their HVT, we would have come out of this with no casualties.
… No. She's too clever for that. Too careful. Something else is going on here and I need to be ready.
The shouting died down. As long as Nate's hearing had recovered, he probably knew that too.
Slipping to the north side of the apartments, I searched the other two buildings for signs of movement. My visor's NVS was especially helpful in times like this. Its ability to adapt to local changes in light levels evened out the relative dark areas. That meant I was able to look through the windows into the darker interiors of the apartments without having to wait for my eyes to adjust or collect enough data to send a coherent image to my brain.
Which is why, as soon as I looked in the second story of the apartment to the northeast, I saw three rifle teams taking aim at the east side of the warehouse. Looked like at least two on each.
So it wasn't the potential snipers across the parking lot I needed to worry about, it was forces from the north.
They moved quickly. Unless their plan had been a pincer attack from the beginning, these ones must have started heading south right when the fighting started.
Or maybe I had the wrong read on the situation and their HVT wasn't to the north.
There wasn't anyone else visible in the building and I couldn't hear anything from the apartments directly north of me. Someone, or someones, was still pacing around in the one with the rifle teams, probably interior guards to make sure I couldn't sneak up on their shooters.
Basic tactics, but sound if they're performed correctly. I could make the jump from this building to that one. The landing would alert everyone in the building to my presence.
I looked down into the space between the buildings. It was dark, shielded from the limited light from the base and the moon above. Anyone without NVS would have trouble seeing anything there. I was dark enough to avoid notice. It meant I'd have to fight my way through whatever they had guarding the bottom floor…
Not necessarily.
This had to be fast. While I might be trusting Nate and the others to defend themselves inside, I'd feel a lot better if I was there to help. And that shooting will start up again any minute.
Clock ticking in my head, I moved back to the roof access and down to ground floor.
Ten seconds later, I was running north along the apartment's western wall, careful to keep my boots quiet on the crumbling concrete. Once I reached the alley between the two, I turned right and hugged the wall of the northern building. On the off chance someone glanced in this direction and had enough light to spot me, I didn't want to chance a premature fight.
Running came from the south. It was too far to be in the apartment and wasn't coming in my direction.
The Raiders by the warehouse finally worked themselves up enough to get in a gunfight.
Good. That was good timing. If these were here to watch for a potential flank, their attention would be on the warehouse. As long as I keep this quiet…
When I reached the intersection, I peered down the dark path between the two northern apartment buildings.
A pair of Raiders. They were at the far end, one, a large man cradling another HK-33, was watching the alley, and the other, similarly large man, was guarding their back. Again, not bad. There was probably another team on the east side of the structure.
While it would be difficult to spot me, that didn't mean "impossible". Trying to do this with them staring down the alley was a recipe to lose the element of surprise.
My eyes drifted up to the windows on the second floor facing the warehouse. Two of them had barrels sticking out.
Gunfire cascaded from inside the larger building.
The clock began ticking louder, more urgent.
Nate is good. Our people are relatively well-trained. They have a better position and competitive weapons.
But this is a fight. Anything can happen.
There's a balance between subtlety and effectiveness. Katrina called it "the bullets-to-bullshit ratio". One side, you went in guns blazing, the other, you spent all your time looking for the perfect solution (in her words, "bullshitting"). In her eyes, there was always a perfect mix between the two.
It looks like this is just about the perfect ratio for this fight.
I slipped across the gap quickly enough, if the Raider at the far end did see me, he wouldn't have had the time to register it.
Settling under the first window, I measured the distance. The bottom was maybe two and a half meters over my head.
The gun barrel was still there.
Definitely the D-team.
The muscles in my legs coiled and I jumped. It wasn't high, just enough to reach the window sill.
As soon as my left hand latched onto the concrete frame, I grabbed the gun and yanked it out of the window.
Whoever had been holding it must not have been crouched or in a balanced stance. There was a surprised cry as the Raider came flying out the window with the weapon.
They didn't have time to hit the ground before I swung myself up and through the window.
Two more Raiders were in the small room. Both were scrambling away from the opening, eyes wide in shock.
Unfortunately for them, the room wasn't very large.
It only took one lunging stride for me to close with the Raider directly in front of me. As I did, I launched an open-palmed strike into her head. I felt her nose crumble first, then the front of her skull cave in as she was sent careening back through the particle-board wall behind her with a crash that, in the confined space, was almost as loud as a gunshot.
Not that I'd waited for it. By the time she was sent out of the room, I was on the other Raider, a young man. His rifle was just coming up to shoulder height when I reached him. I grabbed it and shoved the barrel toward the ceiling. He pulled the trigger and, with chunks of concrete and dust raining down on us, I jerked him toward me.
The Raider's momentum was suddenly halted when I brought my knee up and slammed it into his chest. The blow had been the equivalent of a close-line, sending the guy into a half-cartwheel before he landed on the back of his head with a crack.
Pounding footsteps came from the hallway. I was still holding the rifle.
Just as the running reached the 'door', I hurled the weapon at the opening. The first Raider to arrive caught it with his face. It knocked him to the ground.
I heard someone shout "Oh shit!" right before I burst through the now-vacant door and into the hallway.
There was another Raider a few meters behind their dazed friend on the ground. They'd been running toward the door too.
Our paths crossed and I dropped my shoulder. It wasn't far enough to get into their chest so, instead, the thick titanium plate slammed into the side of the Raider's head.
Like the woman I'd hit, she was sent through the thin wooden boards that made up the wall on the opposite side of the hall. My momentum carried me along with her and, as we burst through, the tip of my boot caught on a jagged edge of the particle board.
Most of the time, trying to catch yourself in a fall like that takes longer than going down and rolling out of it. Taking longer means it gives whoever you're trying to kill, and is trying to kill you, more time to do their side of that equation.
So that's what I did. I went down with the Raider.
And, like I'd been trained and had done countless times, I tucked and rolled.
This time, there happened to be a Raider between me and the ground. I don't know if the shoulder to the side of her head killed her. I do know, when I landed on her, the 500 kilos of SPARTAN and armor turning her torso into a mix of mulched organs and shattered bone did if she wasn't already dead.
The one I'd hit with the rifle was still in the hallway behind me, flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. His eyes were open and he was breathing, but he wasn't moving.
Concussion.
He'd be out for a while.
More scrambling came from the rooms the other fire teams had been in. Same from down below.
This would, for most people, be the time they started thinking about their exit strategy. Outnumbered without a gun. Even against relatively inexperienced fighters, it wasn't a good situation to be in.
Beneath my helmet, I smiled.
The more of them that came at me, the fewer there would be to go after the team, yes, but that wasn't all. This felt right. This felt good. These people put other prisoners in a cage with me.
Only serves them right they get the same treatment.
There was an eagerness I hadn't felt since… I don't remember when, as I crept back to the jagged hole I'd made in the wall.
The first set of footsteps nearly reached the new door. They were on the far side of the hall. I lowered myself into a half-crouch, tensing the muscles in my legs. Close quarters, a lot of destructible materials around. I'll use everything I can to my advantage. Isolate one at a time and eliminate their force piece by piece.
Just as the leading shoulder of the Raider slid into view, I uncoiled my legs and launched myself at the unlucky man.
He didn't have time to get a shot off before I slammed into him. Leading with my forearm, I drove it into his throat. Just like with the first woman, my momentum took us crashing into the thin wooden wall. Unlike that, I felt the Raider twist and shudder. He was shunted off to the right and, careening through the new hole with him, I realized it was because his back had slammed into the wall perpendicular to the hallway. It had been hidden behind the particle board.
Staying on my feet this time, I planted and turned to engage the next two Raiders who were rushing to help their buddy. The first one came in firing, rounds going wide and striking the wall behind and to my left.
Before he could adjust his aim, I slapped the barrel of his rifle aside and kicked his knee inward an instant later. He collapsed, screaming barely audible over the sound of more gunfire.
It was coming from the next Raider in line.
I sprung to the left, through the room's intended door. My foot came down on the concussed man's thigh and, when I sprung toward the still-adjusting woman ahead of me, I felt his femur snap.
That was enough to get him to scream, even through the brain trauma.
The maneuver put me in line with the next Raider, barreling straight toward her. Her eyes were wide enough, they looked like they were about to pop out of her head.
Four others were behind her.
Once I slammed into her, the rhythm of the fight took over. She was dead in a heartbeat. The others followed soon after.
Six more came rushing up the stairs. Two had large caliber rifles, similar to the McMillan. Dumbasses. Not only were those unwieldy in a tight space like this with their massive barrels, they're heavy. Designed that way because of the strength of components needed to be reliable when firing such large projectiles, and to reduce strain on the shooter.
In the tight hallway, their companions involved in hand-to-hand combat, they were worse than paperweights. At least you could use paperweights as a melee weapon.
Killing them was cathartic. It was easy. It wasn't prisoners, I didn't have to worry about what it meant or how it felt. I didn't have to worry about my conscience getting in the way.
No. I could just do… what I was made to do. No fear of friends and companions getting in the way. No voice in the back of my head telling me I'm a monster. No guilt or regret.
By the time I was done, the fighting had spilled down the staircase and into the first floor. 17 dead, 5 wounded.
And, besides them, the building was empty.
I stood over the last two bodies just inside the front door. One had a broken spine, the other staring up at the ceiling, struggling to breathe, jaw and throat crushed.
Soon it would be 18 dead, 4 wounded.
It wasn't anger, frustration, or remorse in my head. Not for these assholes.
It was relief.
I was relieved I could do this without feeling any of the confusing, aggravating emotions that had come to plague me whenever I had to fight.
This is what I do and, for what felt like the first time in years, I didn't need to worry about it. I could just do it.
Maybe that wasn't the most virtuous thing I've ever thought, but I wasn't going to lie to myself. I spent long enough doing that.
Things will change- they have been changing. Hopefully, that meant the frustration I've felt over this will become a thing of the past like so many other issues I've had to deal with recently.
But right now, with my friends' lives on the line, I needed this. I needed to feel like I was in control again. Even if it's only for a little.
My gaze drifted to the dying man as I heard his breath hitch hard.
Even if it costs these assholes their lives.
It isn't like any of us chose to be here.
As I stepped away from the pair of dead Raiders, I ran the fight back through my head. These had been equipped to fight me. They had weapons that could, potentially, damage my armor. The problem is they made this a close-quarters fight with those weapons.
Stopping at the front door, I listened. There was still shooting in the warehouse. It wasn't as wild as it had been with the first fight, and it dropped off more as I listened too.
There should have been a twinge of concern. It's possible the Raiders were able to make headway.
But there wasn't. Nate and his team could handle these overconfident idiots. They were dumb enough to bring large bolt action rifles into a close-quarters fight with someone who has every advantage at close range. The ex-soldier wouldn't allow himself to be beaten by that caliber of combatant. Or, if he did, I'd beat him to death myself. If he wasn't already dead.
There was no more movement outside. No signs of approaching Raiders. No backup lights had come on.
This feels like some kind of test. They put all of the pieces in place and, even if it cost them their own, they let it run.
Is that what this was? Castle testing us? We didn't show anything new here.
… Maybe it was for their forces?
If that was the case, why would they put us up against such under-abled opponents?
True… I should worry about this later.
After doing one more check, I slipped out of the dead apartment building and back toward the warehouse.
Going in the hole they made on the east side was probably a bad idea. Instead, I returned through the front door where I'd left the first time for our feint.
The shooting stopped just as I reached the door.
Inside, I saw the bodies of a half-dozen Raiders. There hadn't been any in that area when I left. One was still trying to drag himself away, blood seeping from a wound in his back. The bullet severed his spine.
Silence persisted for the better part of 30 seconds as I watched and waited. I couldn't hear anyone else approaching, no signs of a fight restarting inside, no gunshots from around us.
"Clear", Nate's voice call.
"Clear", came a reply from…Trent, I think.
Three more "clear"s followed.
They not only held their own against the Raider assault, they wiped them out. Whether it was Nate's experience and leadership, their training and competence, or a combination of the two, I don't know. But they not only did their jobs, they pulled it off perfectly. The Raiders were dead and it didn't sound like anyone up there was injured.
The relief morphed into satisfaction.
I crept inside, still careful to check for any stragglers. Besides the man who had managed to drag himself out of the hole in the wall, there were none.
"Coming in", I said just before emerging from beneath the offices.
"You're clear", Nate responded.
Making my way over to the stairs, I climbed up to the second floor to join the others.
"How are we looking outside?" the ex-soldier asked as I crouched beside him.
They were arrayed around the offices, each far enough from one another to prevent mass fire from catching more than one. Despite that, they all had a commanding view of both the floor below with overlapping fire. Melanie had been covering the stairs in case anyone managed to come up. All of them had cover from that point of ingress too.
It was a well-designed defense and, as long as your shooters can land their shots, and you aren't hit with any surprises, hard to penetrate.
My satisfaction turned into pride.
These people were both determined to get out of here and were collected enough to do it.
They had the last Raider from their first incursion bound and gagged, shoved into the back corner of the office.
Maybe Nate and I have something to do with that.
Maybe we do.
"24 dead. Four more incapacitated. I didn't see any more coming in."
"Fuckin-" Nate started before grunting. "You think that's enough?"
"Don't know." I shrugged. "Seems like a lot to waste on something like this. I think it was to perform a test or prove a point."
But to who?
The ex-soldier glanced at me, squinting. "Why do you-" he shook his head. "Let's talk later, when we aren't in- or when we're in slightly less danger."
"Agreed." I nodded.
Seconds turned into minutes without further activity. Melanie moved to another cover position while I took the stairs. It would be easier to kill someone down on the ground floor with a gun than it would be with my fists.
Almost ten minutes after the fighting ended, Castle's voice echoed from outside.
"Alright everyone, the bosses are calling it. Damon, I want you and your people to come out unarmed. I don't need to tell you you'll be checked."
A collection of deep breaths melded together from the others. I was probably the only one who wasn't wound tight. Not that… it was a good thing.
Nate met my gaze. The question was clear on his face.
"No way of knowing", I said with a shrug.
"Yeah." He frowned. "Was hoping you'd have a different answer. But she still wants… you."
That sounded odd.
I cocked my head at the ex-soldier.
He glanced over the edge of the wall, down toward the body-strewn ground floor. "We'll talk about it after we get out of this in one piece."
Even if the ex-soldier had been good at hiding his thoughts, I knew him too well. Something was going on in there. Castle was interested in getting Nate's cooperation too?
The floor below us started growing brighter, no doubt from some kind of floodlighting through the hole in the wall.
"I'll take lead", I said as I stood from my position by the stairs. While it was nice of them to give us guns, they still had 11 of our people in custody. If we couldn't do anything without getting them killed.
And it would be a waste of whatever preparations the infiltration team is making.
Hopefully, it involves those explosives. And the Brotherhood.
Starting down to the ground floor, I couldn't help but wonder how Dez was handling that idea. Like Deacon said, I have enough to worry about here but… I still want to know.
After reluctantly placing their "borrowed" weapons on the ground, the others followed behind me.
Castle won't be concerned with what happened here but what about the other Raiders?
I took count as I walked through the warehouse, there were another 13 dead Raiders in here. Half of them died out of cover, three more died behind bad cover.
Was this a chance for them to study our small-team tactics? If so, it didn't happen like they wanted. Even for a largely conventional approach to defense, my involvement and the decision to not play by their rules threw a wrench in that.
For as effective as the team had been, they didn't do anything besides the basics: establish good cover with commanding firing positions, limited points of ingress, and maintain good spacing. They just did it well enough to make the Raiders pay. The Raiders approached this like they were going to walk through it. This would have been-
Is that what Castle was playing at?
I stopped at the hole in the wall and glanced back at the others.
Was Castle using this as a wake-up call to her leadership or the other Raiders? Was she using this to show how much better a drilled and disciplined team could be than their haphazard approach to fighting? Was she demonstrating what she was trying to get from us? The benefits of us joining them?
All of those were possibilities. I'm sure there are more than that. For now…
Turning back to the hole, I took a deep breath and stepped through. There were no Raiders to receive us. My visor darkened to compensate for the bank of blinding flood lights pointing at us from the buildings across the parking lot.
There might not have been any Raiders waiting here, but I could still feel eyes on me.
Once the others had filed out, Castle's amplified voice rang out again.
"Stay there, we've got some people coming to get you."
The sounds of constant shifting came from behind me. Everyone was uncomfortable standing here in the open, guns trained on us from, at the very least, across the parking lot. Adding to it is that we were just fighting their friends. All it would take is one sniper pulling a trigger out of anger to kill someone. And it isn't like I can protect them from something like that.
But nothing happened. Another minute passed before I heard the sounds of running from the north.
A lot of running.
A few seconds later, Raiders started filtering through the apartments. I lost count at 35.
Soon enough, there was a wide semicircle around us, every one of them with a gun leveled in our direction.
Castle was striding out into the middle of it before the other Raiders could even settle into position.
She was, as always, smiling.
"Well wasn't that interesting?" she beamed as she came to a stop, crossing her arms over her chest. "It looks to me like you didn't follow the rules."
Quiet settled over the combat course as the Raiders stopped moving.
"You didn't say anything about how to kill the HVT", I said. "All you said was, to end the game, we had to. You broke the rules and called an end to it because you didn't want to lose more people."
"Something tells me that was your goal. That stunt with the lights, you doubling back to join the fight, that all smelled like a setup."
That's because it was.
Not that I'd admit it. All I offered was a shrug.
Castle laughed. "The more I talk to you, the more I like you, Damon. I think I read you wrong. You aren't as good as Nate there-" She jabbed her thumb at the man "-but you know how to play the game." She motioned to the parking lot. "Let's get a move on."
My first sign something new was happening when we were led in the wrong direction for our customary holding area. Instead of heading south to the administration building turned prison, we went west.
The others all noticed it too, if their silent, worried glances were anything to judge by. Changes weren't to be unexpected. Us fighting Raiders instead of other prisoners was one. No reason to think the response to what just happened would be too.
Even so… nothing that has happened here has been anything better than "uncomfortable".
Scanning the guards around us, I didn't see any of the infiltration team. That didn't mean none of them were here or watching from somewhere else.
It didn't take us long to reach our destination. And I knew it was our destination as soon as it came into view. The building had, at one point 200 years ago, been the base's primary motor pool. It was the size of a large hangar and dwarfed the one they'd set up their little "Gauntlet" in for my arrival.
The massive, squat, concrete building was fortified with a perimeter wall and what looked like gun emplacements ringing it and on the roof. Dozens of Raiders, in addition to the 40 or so that were escorting us, were standing guard. Everyone in sight had their eyes glued to us.
What prompted a meeting with the bosses? This fight? Or had Castle arranged this? Maybe both?
My mind was working on overdrive. I tried to memorize the multitude of watch positions in fortified towers not dissimilar to ours in Sanctuary. Tried to identify possible firing slots, manned gun emplacements, and count the Raiders in view from this approach. There were… too many to think about a fight with. Not a straight-up one, anyway. At least three of the emplacements looked like very large-caliber machine guns. For all I knew, they fired rounds at least as large as the McMillan. I wouldn't be surprised if they could double as anti-aircraft emplacements.
It would take a lot to crack these defenses, even for the Brotherhood.
The Institute with their Molecular Relay… depends on their internal countermeasures.
Won't be long until I find out what those are.
Complicating all this was the part where I felt myself coming down off of the adrenaline high from our fight.
We're in a lot of danger here- or… more than normal. I can't afford to be anything but at my best.
A glance at the rest of the team said they were struggling with their own come-downs. A combination of wide-eyed worry, slumping shoulders, and the telltale heavy stride of exhaustion said it was a fight they were losing.
Not good.
Nate was in the best shape of everyone else but… I didn't miss how his hands were balled into fists so tight I could see the tendons in his forearms straining.
No matter how experienced you are, there's only so much that can be done about biology. You can condition yourself all you want but, at the end of the day, when you come down off an adrenaline high, you crash.
But that isn't what was happening to Nate.
I drifted back to walk beside him.
"Are you alright?"
He looked up to meet my gaze. The ex-soldier's jaw was clenched tight, the muscles in his neck rigid.
And the only answer he gave me was a slight shake of his head.
Nate was doing an admirable job of hiding his distress. Anyone who didn't know him looking might have just seen someone trying to control their nervousness.
The image of him breaking down for the first time flashed through my mind. He almost shot me with the McMillan.
"I'm- trying to breathe", he managed through his clenched jaw.
We were getting close to the front of the building. I could feel every set of eyes on us. On me.
What helped me? This is Nate's area of expertise. What do I do if he can't-
Relax. Focus on what's in front of us.
The front of the group was slowing to a stop at the large sliding metal door that would lead into the motor pool.
"What do you think we're looking at in there?" I asked.
"I-" he grunted and I listened to the smaller man take a long, shaking breath. "Their leadership. Castle set something up. They want to meet with us. Questions. Possibly interrogate or reprimand Castle."
The words were harsh and clipped, but he managed to force them out.
A grinding came from in front of us and the sound of overburdened electric motors groaned to life.
"You think they're worried?" I asked.
Nate gave the best approximation of a shrug he could. "They're interested enough to risk a meeting." Another long, deep breath as the large rusted metal door began sliding aside. "Maybe they like what they saw."
"You think they'll try to get more directly involved in this?"
"Possible. Doubt they've seen us, or you, fight up close like that. Possible they thought the stories were exaggerated." The ex-soldier managed a small smile. "If only they knew."
"You think we have their attention."
He nodded. It was a little smoother than his attempt at a shrug. "Yeah. Too many things that might mean. Thinking Castle might have done this to get them more interested. They might not have been taking the threat and potential benefits as serious as they needed to."
The door finished sliding aside with a loud clang.
"Well", I said as our guard started forward, "at least it's something new."
"Doesn't mean "good"", he replied.
"Nothing here is."
We were led toward the now-open door, full guard contingent still in place.
I couldn't think of what else to say.
No… that wasn't true. There were a hundred things I could say. The problem is that I had to say the right thing. We need to figure out what's going on here since we'd be, more than likely, face-to-face with Raider leadership.
Killing them would be an obvious option but I doubt they'd be reckless enough to expose themselves to such an easy assassination attempt.
And it would get everyone else killed too.
The other option would be getting as much information out of them as possible.
That isn't my domain.
"Nate… I- we need you here." I glanced back at the others. All four of them were wearing a combination of exhaustion, worry, and… something I couldn't identify in their expressions.
"I know. I-", he shoved a frustrated breath through his nose. "I'm trying."
He was irritated. Even through the tight shake in his voice, I could hear the anger.
"I'll buy you some time."
The ex-soldier glanced up at me just as we reached the yawning entrance. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"Got Castle to let us fight Raiders, didn't I?"
His amusement drifted to his expression in the ghost of a smile. "True", he said slowly. "That put us in this position."
"No, your aggravating ability to stay alive did that."
Nate snorted. "You're one to talk."
The building swallowed us and, once inside, we found ourselves surrounded by even more Raiders. They were all behind their lines of defense: armored walls, two more heavy turret emplacements aimed at the door, and raised firing platforms. Their own, much more aggressive version of the School's fatal funnel.
One might think that was concerning but not for me. They're letting me see their defenses. It wasn't just an education on how this facility was set up, it was information on how they'd establish their defenses elsewhere too.
Whether they thought I'd be joining them or leaving here in a bodybag, this was a mistake on their part. The more I know about how they fortify and fight, the worse for them
Because I wouldn't be joining them. And I will be leaving here alive.
Like Nate said.
"It's a talent we have in common."
"Aggravating people?" he asked, voice ever so slightly loosened.
"Staying alive."
"Same thing."
I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face.
"Same thing."
A/N: So that was fun and exciting. It also served as a... look into more than just Damon's head. While, yes, we're along for the ride with Damon, more than only Damon is struggling. I've said it before; other characters are important in stories. I hate when writers don't give them the respect they're due. Maybe we don't get to see their lives or thoughts, but that doesn't mean they don't have them. As for Damon specifically, this was an interesting moment. He knows who and what he is, and he knows he likes fighting and probably always will. The question for him, now, is what to do with that. Fighting is a tool, just like anything else, so how's he gonna use it? Nate is going through something similar but at a very different stage. I think you've probably had enough of me though, we'll be back next time with another episode of Why is there a SPARTAN Here?
Next chapter: 4/5, The Man In Charge