IF hated the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything inside the Pelican. At any given moment, a good shot from the enemy aircrafts could send everyone aboard to their grave. The only one inside their ship capable of defending them was none other than Vert herself. Apparently, Cave and MAGES. were in one of the allied helicopters protecting their convoy. Vert shouted that information to her, and IF believed Vert since the goddess saw things in this world differently. The other pair likely had their own story to tell on where they ended up, but sharing would have to wait until they escaped this warzone. IF breathed a sigh of relief as the Pelican started to descend, which meant they had reached their destination. Once the carrier landed completely, the other passengers were quick to exit and make their way to safety.

Hope the next ride I get on doesn't involve a gamble with death. IF released the straps binding her to the seat. Neptune and Compa had been led out by one of the other passengers. If we're going to board any transport out of here, it has to be with them.

"Vert, you hanging in there?" IF asked and moved to the blond who was kneeling down and using the machine gun as support to lean on.

"I'm fine." Vert answered through her pants. "My ears are ringing a little from firing this gun so much."

"I'll bet." IF placed a hand on Vert's shoulder as a gesture of comfort. "You did great, though."

"Not just me." Vert shook her head as IF stepped back to let the woman stand up. "Cave and MAGES. were doing their best to protect us as well."

"Nice shooting, lady." The pilot made his appearance from the doorway again to compliment Vert. "You guys should get going with the others, though. Get yourselves off this planet while you still can."

"We will." Vert nodded her head before turning to IF. "Let's go, Iffy."

"Right behind you, Vert."

The two exited the Pelican, and IF noticed much, much larger ships crowded by people. Those aircraft definitely looked capable of flying into space. Flying through the skies was one experience, but entering the place where the stars lived was another. IF could change her title from the 'Wind Walker of Gamindustri' to 'Space Farer of the Beyond' or something to that extent. Neptune and Compa were with one crowd trying to get into the nearest. IF heard the sound of the Pelican behind them starting up again and glanced behind to see the ship lift up and take off elsewhere. She had no idea where their next destination was, but she hoped they would get there safely. IF felt a tap on her shoulder and looked to Vert to see her waving in one direction, and who IF saw made her smile.

"Cave! MAGES.!" IF shouted as the two were running over to them. "It's good to see you both."

"The feeling is mutual, IF." MAGES. nodded and IF noticed the lack of a hat on her head. "I know what you're thinking, IF. Let's just say my hat is one of the many casualties in this war."

"Sorry to hear." IF scratched the back of her head. "We'll get you a new one when we get back home."

"Cave said as much to me too after it happened." MAGES. chuckled in amusement. "Better my hat than my head."

"Lady—"

"Call me Vert for now." Vert quickly interrupted Cave with a hand raised. "It is best we stay informal, Cave."

"...Understood, Vert." Cave quickly corrected herself appropriately. "I am glad to see you two are unharmed as well."

"Although we were separated, we're all back together again safe and sound." Vert smiled at everyone. "I'm not sure where these larger ships are taking us, but anywhere has to be better than this place."

IF was about to speak up, but her attention span turned to gasps and yelling. One of the giant ships had just lifted up and turned to leave the area. Judging from the confused looks on the nearby soldiers, they had not been expecting the transport to take off. Every other ship continued to remain docked, and in a few seconds of flight for the runaway aircraft, IF understood why they remained on the ground. A bright ball of blue smashed through the back end of the giant ship and set it ablaze. IF watched in horror as hundreds of lives sunk into water that would now be their tomb. Panic set into IF's heart as she looked around and felt some relief that Neptune and Compa had not boarded that ship. A soldier had been holding onto the two girls and prevented them from dying.

Oh thank the goddesses they weren't on there! IF ran over to check on Neptune and Compa. "Hey, are you two okay!?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" Neptune said, though she looked just as shaken up as Compa. "We were going to board that ship, but this guy here stopped us."

"I had a bad feeling in my gut." The soldier released his grip on Neptune's shoulder before holding a hand to his helmet. "The pilot on the radio wanted to get airborne, and I did not trust him to listen."

"Thanks for stopping these two from getting on." IF hoped she conveyed just how grateful she was to this soldier. She looked up at the giant alien ship hovering over their sector of the city that had shot the transport ship out of the sky. "Is there anything being done about that?"

"There's a group working on getting missile defenses online to punch a hole in that corvette." The soldier explained to IF. "We just need to hold out until then."

"Neptune, Compa, stick with me." IF told the two children. "I promised I'd get you out of here alive, so no following anyone else but me, you got that?"

"Y-yes, IF." Compa meekly answered IF.

The soldier left to regroup with his fellow comrades as Vert and the others caught up with her. Vert already knew the identity of these two, but Cave and MAGES. did not. IF could see in their eyes that the pair noticed something familiar about Neptune and Compa despite not having the same color palettes. Vert whispered into the ears of both MAGES. and Cave, likely giving the pair a shortened explanation. Cave remained stoic, but she understood the priority of protecting these versions of Neptune and Compa. MAGES. did not seem surprised at all, but IF assumed she had experience with this sort of encounter. IF led Neptune and Compa to another ship that she would personally keep an eye on in case it tried anything dangerously reckless like the last transport.

"Listen! I don't give a damn what the other pilots are saying!" A soldier manning a radio shouted as he slammed his fist on the table. "Nobody is cleared for takeoff until Duvall gives the word. Whatever soldier is in those transports needs to make sure they're by the pilot and do what needs to be done if those pilots put others lives at risk like Six-Echo-Two did. Mobuto, out."

"It's good to know they're putting preventative measures in place after that." Cave commented as she kept a watchful eye on their surroundings.

"I would rather not witness hundreds of lives lost in seconds again." MAGES. added in before raising a brow. "Huh, it seems that soldier by the radios is looking at us."

"Hey, you four! Over here!" Mobuto waved at their group to approach him.

"We better go see why he's calling for us." Vert said before being the first to walk towards Mobuto. "I bet it's related to the soldiers that helped us along the way."

"I'll be right behind you, guys." IF said before turning to Neptune and Compa. "We're going to talk to the soldier and join you on the ship."

"When we get away from Reach, do you guys have a place you're heading to?" Neptune asked as she looked a bit excited for IF's answer. "I'm hoping Ai's family will take us in once we find them, but..."

"We've got a place we're trying to get back to." IF kept her answer as neutral as possible for now. "It's far away from this place and all the aliens."

"Really?" Neptune's eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. "Sounds like an awesome place without any crazy aliens trying to kill you."

"No, we've got our own fair share of trouble too." IF thought back to all the monsters in her world and evil folks like Arfoire. "There are things that can kill us too if we're not careful."

"We'll see you on the ship then." Neptune looked down at Compa. "Let's try to find some seats, Compa."

"See you inside, Iffy." Compa's eyes widened at what she let slip out of her mouth. "Sorry! I meant to say—"

"No, it's fine." IF could not fight the smile on her face at this Compa giving her an established nickname. "You can call me Iffy too, Nep."

"Oh, sweet! I was getting kind of tired trying to stop myself from calling you that too." Neptune grinned and shook her head. "Iffy sounds just right instead of saying IF."

"Okay, okay, get going, you two."

IF waved at the pair as they joined the line of other people entering the ship. A part of IF wondered what life would be like for the human Neptune in Gamindustri. The goddess Neptune would likely be a bad influence on the girl, and Histoire would have her hands full with two lazy Neptunes. IF's Compa would likely take to her small counterpart and raise the child Compa as her own daughter or little sister. There was still the issue of IF's version of herself in this world, or better yet known as Ai here. IF would like to imagine they would get along well too. That was thinking for another time, as she needed to focus on the present. IF turned and jogged over to Vert and the others to this Mobuto.

"Hey there, it seems you know us?" Vert made both a greeting and a question in one go.

"Only through the words of some ODSTs." Mobuto answered the question first. "I'm Marvin Mobuto. Do the names Ethan, Marcus, Victor, and Ava Lang ring any bells?"

"We know of Ethan and Marcus." MAGES. spoke up as she motioned to Cave. "We worked together to get civilians here."

"I worked with Victor." Vert answered. "We fought air and ground forces before we were picked up by an air convoy."

"I only talked to Ava briefly." IF realized she had mostly fought solo compared to the others. "Didn't really get to work with her as much as these three have with those ODST."

"They just wanted me to tell you they're heading to the missle battery to help get you guys in the air and out of here." Marvin said before immediately turning his attention back to the radio. "Wait, repeat that last? Covenant ground forces are heading towards us!?"

An explosion startled IF, and her eyes darted to where it came from. The entrances to the landing bay were blown up, and rushing into the port were Covenant. Bolts of blue and green passed by human bullets as a fight broke out. Marvin grabbed his rifle and ran to join the defense as Vert pointed to some crates to hide behind. They quickly made their way to cover as IF pulled out her alien pistols. IF knew the aliens to be cruel, as she had experience with it at the hospital. The Covenant was going to ensure that no human survivors lived to tell the tale of their cruelty. The answer was obvious to IF what they all needed to do now.

"Our ODST friends are working hard to make sure those ships do not get shot down by that big one in the sky." Vert started as she looked everyone in the eye. "We have to make sure there are civilians left to fill these ships."

"I could not agree more, Vert." Cave agreed, as she was the first to poke her head out of cover and start firing her sniper rifle.

"We'll find another way off this planet if the ships leave us." MAGES. agreed with what they were doing. "I'll stick with Cave and watch her back."

Sorry, Nep and Compa. IF looked to Vert with a smile. I hope you guys make it out all right and find Ai.

"Then it's time to show these Covenant what Fireteam Leanbox can do." Vert just made up a squad name for their group. "Let's go knock some heads, Iffy."

"Hard to say no to that, Vert."

The Covenant had plenty of blood to pay back for all the lives they have taken.

Fireteam Raven's insertion into New Alexandria had gone horribly wrong from the start. They were assigned to a large task force to punch into the city and get defenses back online all around New Alexandria. The plan had gone horribly wrong, and their massive numbers were swiftly separated and cut down individually. Ethan was just glad that his team managed to stay alive on their own, and he managed to get a helmet for his head again. They all had their strange tale to tell of being assisted by unique-looking civilians. Ethan had been saved by a girl who called herself MAGES. and Marcus received the support of a sharpshooter known as Cave. Despite their eccentric looks and odd clothing style, the pair was more than capable of holding their own. Those two were good, but apparently Victor had someone even more impressive.

"You're saying that woman Vert had energy shields, Victor?" Lang sounded skeptical of Victor's recap over their squad channel.

"I know what I saw, Lang. She took fire from a Banshee and lived." Victor remained undeterred by Lang not believing his story. "She's somebody important if she has something Spartans have without all the armor."

"But you found her alone." Marcus pointed out the flaw in his theory.

"She got separated from her group." Victor countered. "Not that different from us."

After the air convoy was safely escorted to the Alexandria Starport, Raven heard the call for aid from Sergeant Major Duvall. Covenant was holding offline missile batteries that could defend the ships leaving the spaceport. Their Falcons just arrived to see an Egret Spaceliner sinking into the bottom of the ocean. Thousands of lives, including Vert's group, would not make it into the skies alive while the Covenant corvette remained above the city. Ethan wanted to make sure Vert knew that Fireteam Raven would see them safely out. It was difficult getting in contact with anyone at the starport, but Ethan managed to get somebody to leave a message for Vert. A marine called Marvin Mobuto was working one of the radios near the civilian spacecraft. All Ethan could hope for was that Fireteam Raven's message reached Vert and her friends.

"Regardless of how important Vert is or not, we've got a job to do." Ethan cut the chatter since it was time to get to work. Their Falcon landed on the beachside at Duvall's position. "Fireteam Raven, let's move out."

"Spartan! Sergeant Major Duvall." The one in charge of the troopers spoke to the super-soldier exiting their own Falcon. "I got five thousand civilians across the bay waiting for passage out. I need you to arm those batteries and fire the missiles from the central terminal. Troopers! Time to push 'em off our beach!"

Duvall and the lone Spartan started their advance forward. Ethan was about to join them until he noticed the makeshift armory stockpile to their right. He pointed it out to their team, and they all understood what they needed to do. Everyone in Raven had their own specialty that they all excelled at. Victor grabbed an M41 SPNKr as the team's heavy weapon specialist. Marcus was the recon of their group, but when he did not need to scout, he preferred close quarters with an M45E shotgun. Ava Lang ditched her assault rifle for two M6G magnums and several grenades, as the woman had an incredible throwing arm. As for Ethan himself, he grabbed an M392 DMR for himself before they joined up with Duvall's strike force.

"I call shotgun on the hog!" Victor rushed to grab the passenger seat of the Warthog.

"Spartan! Sergeant Major!" Ethan called out to the super soldier and Duvall, who glanced back at him. "Fireteam Raven is ready to assist."

"Good to have you here, Helljumpers." Duvall nodded at Ethan. "The Spartan and my troops will push to the first missile battery. Use that Warthog and support us as we move up!"

"Understood." Ethan hopped into the driver's seat as a plasma mortar shelled the giant rock in front of them. "Marcus! Get on the turret; we've got to take out that Wraith!"

"I'll run interference with the infantry." Lang said as she hopped onto the backseat of a Mongoose that an army trooper commandeered.

"Push up, everyone! Follow the Spartan!" Duvall called out as the Spartan had charged ahead to meet the incoming Covenant ground forces.

Thousands of lives hung on their success. Fireteam Raven was confident they would win, especially with a Spartan leading the assault. Some ODSTs did not see the super soldiers in a favorable light, but Ethan was not one of them. In desperate times like now, Ethan saw them as akin to superheroes.

People needed hope, even when all seemed lost.

"Hunters!"

Vert had just finished emptying a magazine into a Brute when she heard the callout. She looked around to identify what 'Hunters' were and found her answer. A pair of creatures in hulking, massive armor with a giant shield and some sort of cannon for an arm. They had entered the starport after another wave of Covenant entered. The weapon started to glow before a giant green projectile flew forward and decimated a dozen UNSC soldiers. These Hunters seemed to not care for their allies as it smacked one of its allies that stood in its path. Vert knew those were her priority targets because those weapons the Hunters had would rip apart the docked ships. She charged forward after reloading her gun and fired at the enemy pair to distract them.

Their armor plating is tough!

The bullets deflected off the Hunter's shield and armor. That told Vert that simply hosing them down with bullets was not viable. Vert saw their cannons charging up and rolled to evade the incoming green missiles. Now that Vert thought about it, those cannons seemed to fire the exact same ammunition as the Banshees. There had to be some sort of weakness against these Hunters, and Vert had to figure it out fast. Vert saw IF drawing one Hunter's attention away and shot at the exposed orange spots in the gaps of the Hunter's armor. IF's attacks seemed to have some effect as Vert heard the alien growl before firing at IF. Unfortunately for IF, the Hunter led its shot enough that it sent IF flying from the splash of the blast and sent her rolling into the dead bodies of Grunts.

"Iffy!" Vert shouted and gritted her teeth as she decided to do something incredibly stupid.

However, Vert could not enact her plan as a Brute wielding a giant hammer roared and charged at her. Vert backpedaled while firing her remaining bullets in her rifle. It was not enough to break the Brute's shielding as it swung. Vert barely avoided the swing by leaning back, but the Brute used its momentum from the attack to hit her with its shoulder. The impact was enough to break Vert's shield as she flew back from the attack. Vert let out a yelp as her back hit the floor, but a sniper round's trail flew above her. The Brute's shielding broke as another round pierced into the Brute's neck. Vert quickly got up and smacked the butt end of her rifle into the Brute's face to knock it down since the alien was winded from Cave's sniper rifle.

That's a big hammer! Vert dropped her rifle and picked up the melee weapon. Oh dear, quite heavy too. I would have liked a spear, but this will have to do. Time to be Blanc!

All Vert had to do was imitate Blanc's fighting style. The years spent fighting Blanc during the Console War proved themselves useful in this instance for Vert. She looked at the dying Brute below her and decided to not leave anything to chance. When Vert swung the hammer down for the killing blow, Vert found herself bouncing back. A shockwave of energy dispersed from the hammerhead that surprisingly did not do any damage to her energy shielding that continued to recharge. Vert had a counter to the Hunters and turned her attention back to the beasts. The hulking armored bipeds were still advancing, and their target was the ship that Neptune and Compa were on. IF had recovered from the previous and had chosen to engage in close quarters, but it was more like she was trying to distract the Hunters by evading their attacks.

Time to even the fight! Vert ran to join IF, who had dropped her Covenant pistols and pulled out a handle. The device in IF's hand lit up brightly into a double-bladed sword made of light. It seems I'm not the only one who picked up a new weapon.

The remaining UNSC forces were scrambling to maintain a defensive line. Cave and MAGES. were likely assisting them, but Cave still kept an eye out for an opportune moment to help Vert. Some UNSC soldiers tried to help IF with some gunfire but held back, likely because they were trying to avoid shooting her. Vert shouted at the top of her lungs as she swung at one of Hunter's side plates. The hammer's shock wave was less impactful to Vert thanks to being more mentally prepared for it. For the Hunter, they staggered from the blow, and orange blood spilled onto the floor. Now that Vert had a close look at the orange parts in the gaps of the Hunter's armor, she saw what looked like worms for a body. The Covenant juggernaut turned and roared in anger, swinging its shield at Vert.

Can't jump too high! Vert crouched low and leaped back as the Hunter slammed its shield downward.

Vert followed with a counter as she saw the beginning of a glow from the Hunter's cannon. The hammer made contact just as the weapon fired off its green missile into the air. Vert continued the momentum and struck again. The Hunter staggered back, and Vert noticed a thin red line pointing at Vert's opponent. A bright red beam shot through the Hunter and left a gaping hole through its body. Vert followed where the shot came from and saw an ODST soldier on top of a container. The soldier quickly jumped down behind cover when streaks of purple fired their way. That was one of the two Hunters down, which left only the one IF was dodging.

"Just one left!" IF shouted and looked like her stamina was starting to drain from all the evading.

A sniper rifle round managed to hit the back of the surviving Hunter, but the bullet only just touched the edge of its back. It stumbled forward from the pain and turned Vert's way. The Hunter let out a fierce noise, and its focus was completely on Vert. It started charging towards her and firing consecutive shots from its arm cannon. Vert strafed from side to side to avoid the green projectiles, but the splash of the alien rockets still took a chunk out of her shield. The Hunter closed the distance and knocked the Brute hammer out of Vert's hand when she tried to strike. Before the Hunter could crush or blast Vert with its arm cannon, the Hunter let loose a loud roar of pain. Two light blades protruded out through its front stomach.

"Stay away from her!" IF's voice came from behind the Hunter as Vert rolled to the right to see IF clinging to the Hunter's back. The girl pulled out one of the alien grenades and pressed something on it that caused it to light up. "Choke on this, you giant freak!"

IF stuck the flaming ball onto the Hunter's midsection before jumping off. In a few seconds, an explosion tore apart the Hunter in two as bits of the Hunter flew everywhere. Vert discovered the pieces of the Hunter seemed to be giant worms or at least tube shaped like a worm. It was an amazing victory to topple those Hunters, but there was no time for patting on the back. Vert ran and picked up IF off the ground as enemy fire came their way. More of the UNSC defenses were starting to collapse as the Covenant forces were taking more of the starport. Vert finally put IF on the ground once she reached cover behind more containers. The ships were all loaded up and closed, so that meant little chance of Vert's group getting off the planet now.

"You did an excellent job out there, Iffy." Vert told IF as she surveyed the battlefield for weapons to scavenge. "A bit too reckless for my liking, but you did it."

"Sorry, Vert. When I saw it barreling towards you, I just acted without thinking." IF apologized with a sheepish expression. "I'm not sure why, but I think the thing went berserk because it saw you by its dead friend. I didn't know if it spoke a language, but I knew it wanted revenge."

"Cave shot the Hunter and looked to return fire back at her, but it had been distracted seeing me by its fallen comrade." Vert said before spotting an assault rifle and a long blue alien rifle. "I see you kept an ace weapon hidden from me, Iffy."

"It was a last resort weapon." IF replied as she stood up and peeked out of cover. "I'm not going to get much use out of it now with it being blown up. Maybe I'll pick up another one in the future."

"Since you've used mostly alien weapons..." Vert ran over to the weapons she spotted and picked them up before running back to hand the Covenant firearm to IF. "I'll let you have the honor of figuring out how to use this one."

"I'll make it work."

"I know you will." Vert smiled knowingly at IF and looked at the ammo counter on her rifle to see the current magazine only had two bullets missing. "Still, our job is not over just because those Hunters are dead."

"Unfortunately, yes." IF sighed before leaning out of cover. "Hunters helped the Covenant push in, but they're sending in another wave."

"Time for the second advance of our own then, Iffy."

Vert could only hope that Victor and his team were still alive and completing their own objectives.

"Sergeant Major! Covenant are all over the starport! I've got to get airborne!"

That was the frantic shout of Seven-Echo-Three over the radio. Marcus, Ethan, and Victor took down the Wraith that had been holding position under the bridge in Caracalla Park. A combination of Ghosts and one Brute wielding a fuel rod gun blew up their Warthog as retribution. The three managed to escape before the vehicle blew up, but now it was a ground game for the three. Victor used the last of his rockets on the Ghosts before dumping the heavy weapon for his MA37 rifle. Marcus knew they were closest to the second missile battery that needed to be armed. Ethan also seemed to realize this as he motioned for Victor and Marcus to follow behind him. Their team lead held a hand to his helmet to call in their next decision.

"Steady, Echo-Three! That corvette is still up there. Do not take off!" Duvall said. "We just got the first battery online."

"Sergeant Major Duvall, this is Fireteam Raven. We're closer to the second battery. My team will get it back on." Ethan spoke up. "Lang, I need you over here now."

"Copy that, Lead." Lang responded back immediately.

"I'll leave that to you, Raven." Duvall responded back. "Spartan, let's get over to the East Complex! Spirit dropship is inbound, dropping off troops to stop us from firing those missiles."

Marcus led the way forward up the hill and spotted a group of Brutes guarding the missile battery. He immediately locked his focus on the one with the hammer and lobbed a live grenade at the alien. The Brute was luckily one of the unshielded ones and took the full blast of his surprise attack. The other Brutes opened fire with their weapons as Marcus sprinted for cover. A few of the spikes just barely grazed his armor. Any closer and he would have been impaled or worse. Marcus recalled having a brush with death back when he first met Cave. That time it had been Jackals, but now in this instance it was Brutes.

"Serving up two!" Lang's voice spoke up on the radio as two perfectly timed grenades landed behind the Brute groups and killed some while disorienting the survivors.

"Nice one, Lang." Marcus complimented Lang as she came around in her Mongoose with the army trooper driver.

"They're not down yet, open fire!" Ethan shouted as he fired his DMR at the survivors.

The five advanced in with suppressive fire, but Marcus got in closer by flanking the enemy. He fired his shotgun into Brute, whom he had snuck up on. A pump to cycle out the used shell for a new one, and the second point-blank shot killed the Brute. Marcus wanted to waste another shot into the corpse but thought better of it. There were still plenty more lives to kill, and every shell needed to count. Ethan ran over to the missile battery and activated the pad to arm the stationary weapon. Marcus looked over to the building to the east, where Falcons dropped off more troops on the sides to assist Duvall's assault into the building. The UNSC helicopters also assisted in shooting the Covenant infantry that were exposed to attacks from above.

"Battery is primed!" Ethan reported on their success over the radio. "It's all up to you guys."

"Nice work, Fireteam Raven!" Duvall replied back to them over the radio. "Okay, Spartan. We made it. Fire those missiles and send that corvette packing."

Marcus watched the missiles shoot up into the sky and hit the Covenant ship. He felt elation and relief as explosions erupted along its hull. The Covenant crew had to have felt that damage, and Marcus received his answer when the ship moved away from the city. The civilian transports from the nearby starport took off as Duvall urged the pilots to go immediately. They all saved a lot of lives today, and that counted for something in this war for survival. Marcus hoped that Cave and her friends were in those ships heading to a safer planet than here.

"Fireteam Raven, this is Marvin." The UNSC Marine spoke up on their team channel. "Got some bad news for you about that group of women you were worried about."

"Don't tell me they were on the ship that sunk." Ethan stated the worst-case scenario.

"No, they're alive and breathing." Marvin quickly stopped the dread Marcus started to feel. "They were not on the ships at all. In fact, they're helping us mop up the last of the Covenant here at the starport."

"You mean to tell me they stayed behind to help defend the ships?" Ethan let his disbelief show in his voice. "None of you tried to get them onboard?"

"It was kind of hard to stop them from attacking a pair of Hunters."

"You want to repeat that?" Marcus asked as he felt he misheard what Marvin reported. "It sounded like you said the four fought Hunters and lived."

"Well, two engaged them up close. The other pair stayed back while supporting the defense against the rest of the Covies." Marvin began to explain. "The taller blond one used one of the Brute hammers on a Hunter, but one of your ODST took the kill with a Spartan Laser. Another girl used an energy sword and plasma grenade to kill the other. I don't know whether to call them crazy or heroic."

"Both are good." Victor sounded amused and showed no surprise at what the women pulled off. "Whoever they are, we need more like them."

"We'll need some recording of the fight." Lang suggested. "Might come in handy when we talk to them again."

"All right, we'll hitch a ride in a Falcon and meet back up with them." Ethan decided their next move. "Those girls have a lot of explaining to do."

"That's putting it lightly. Mobuto, out."

"Raven, time for our new mission." Ethan started walking while motioning them to follow his lead. "Finding out who those girls are."

"Yes, sir!" All three responded back.

Not the most life-threatening mission Fireteam Raven had been given, but Marcus was sure everyone wanted to complete it.

Hey there, Nep and Halo readers!

Bet you all thought this story was dead, huh?

For all intent and purposes, it pretty much should have stayed dead.

I had stepped away from Neptunia series for several years. Then I came back to it and the Halo series too.

Also had someone actually come back to me pleading to revive this story once they saw I was active with writing again.

Not sure what my mindset was at the time, but this chapter had to go through a massive overhaul.

The original draft for this chapter was pretty much Vert soloing two Hunters using the Brute Hammer. Then IF was actually fighting several Elites while being supported by MAGES., Cave, and other UNSC forces.

So yeah, I had to do some revisions and correct my younger self back then.

Now, even though it might be pointless since those reviews are several years too late to respond to, I will still respond to the reviews from Chapter 5.

I see two other reviews and while I appreciate you taking the time to review, only those at the latest chapter will get a response. Thank you for the reviews, though.

Anyways, moving on to the response!

Lord of Moons: Vert would definitely save several Spartans from their deaths if she was at her full potential as a CPU. However, executing a story of that magnitude would be way too ambitious. Especially since this story is still trying to get off Reach after several years of basically no progress.

Lioth: As the plot stands right now, Vert will not be transforming. You could say her transforming was replaced with the energy shield and possibly even other different abilities that will show itself in time. As for the Flood? Well, the goal right now is to get off Reach first before we start doing anything with the Battle of Installation 04. I'm sure I'll work something out there in regards to infection immunity to a degree.

Mr Light wing: I'm glad you like the story! Yes, I'm aware of the other existing story and I thought to take a shot at making a different type of premise.

That's it for those three reviews from Chapter 5.

I will not make any promises on more chapters coming out fast, but I can say that with better certainty that I'm motivating myself to do better this year.

Another chapter will be worked on and while I do not have an exact date, you can take it with a grain of salt that I will work on another chapter in the future.

Look forward to the next one as we will finally leave the 'Exodus' level and move onto 'New Alexandria'!

Happy reading!