Not my story, this is written by my best friend Captain Flowers. Im just uploading them for him because he cant get on Fanfiction at his house. This is a prequel to "Something" As the title of the story has not yet been released. Enjoy~
Prequel, introducing Agents Arkansas and Arizona
"Get down!" His yell was accentuated by a covenant plasma grenade going off, knocking his team to the ground. With a groan, Arkansas picked himself up off the ground, and unlimbered his assault rifle, firing in bursts at a nearby Elite to draw his attention. "'Zona, move up! I've got your back!"
A black and purple armored Spartan sprinted past, running for the objective. "I'm on it." Her voice crackled over the comm, calm despite nearly taking a plasma bolt to the face.
Waving his hand forward, Ark and the rest of team Delta moved forward, taking down elite after elite in quick succession. Dropping the spent rifle, he drew his magnum, blowing out the brains of an unfortunate grunt that had gotten too close.
"I swear, she does this on purpose…" the grey and red armored figure, New Mexico grumbled.
"Well y'know 'Zona can be quite a bitch when she wants to be," Tennessee grumbled, her white armor scorched black from the plasma grenades, "But even she wouldn't do this on purpose in actual combat!"
What am I, babysitting two gossiping teenagers now? Arkansas ignored them all, pulling out his knife and stabbing a jackal through the weak point on its arm shield. "Shit… we've got incoming. Everyone, into the facility, double time it!" He pointed to the gate that Arizona had run through earlier, as multiple Phantoms flew into the courtyard, plasma cannons heated.
Without another word, the three Spartans sprinted as fast as they could for the gate, as plasma fire chased them down, close enough for Ark to feel the heat. Where the hell is Zona?! As if in answer to his thoughts, a sniper round rang through the air, as well as the crash of what sounded like one of the plasma cannons.
The first to reach the gate, Mexico picked up a discarded chain gun, providing cover fire as Ark and Tenn ran inside after him. Tenn flicked through a couple switches, and the gates shut, sealing themselves inside.
Activating his comm, Ark called out "Zona, we're inside the facility. Main gate is sealed and locked. Rendezvous at the objective in 5, sync?"
"Sync, and you're welcome by the way" Arizona's voice answer, and he could almost see the smirk on her face.
"I had it perfectly handled, thank you very much" Ark said, discharging the spent magnum clip and slamming a new one home.
"Bullshit!" She yelled, "Whatever, I'll meet you at the fucking objective…" Zona sighed.
At this point, both Mexico and Tenn were chuckling to themselves, and Ark glared at them through his helmet. "Alright, just… be careful, okay?"
Arizona laughed, "Riiiiight. Seeya", and cut the connection.
"So, what's the plan Ark?" Tenn asked, walking up to him.
He opened one of the emergency lockers, passing out shotguns between the three of them. "We're gonna be in close quarters, fight our way through to the objective and meet up with Arizona, then set the charges and get the hell out of here."
Cocking the shotgun, Mexico nodded in agreement. "What are we waiting for? Let's do this!"
Ark shook his head, "There's only one problem with that… There are three different paths. We each take one and rendezvous at the objective. Sync?"
"Sync." Both Tenn and Mexico spoke at once.
"See you on the other side" Ark spoke, before running forward to his path, and immediately coming face to face with an overcharged plasma pistol. Son of a bitch! He slammed his wrist upwards into the Elite's arm as it released the trigger, causing the bolt to miss. The Elite roared in anger, before swinging at him with his fist. Ark moved his head to the side quickly, then reared his fist back and let loose, smacking the Elite dead-center in its face. Stumbling back slightly, it ignited an energy sword. Quickly, Ark slide out his combat knife, throwing it against the weakened shields on the Elite's face and hearing the sickening squelch as the blade hit home, followed by the body hitting the floor.
"I'll take that, thank you very much…" He spoke quietly, as he removed the Energy Sword from the now dead Elite's grasp, holstering it on his hip. Using his TacMap, he quickly moved through the facility, clearing every hall he passed quickly and efficiently, before arriving in the engineering and electrical room.
"Zona? Mexico? Tenn? Does anyone read me?" Ark called out quietly over the comm, before jumping backwards in surprise as a black and purple armored figure landed in front of him, sniper rifle still smoking from a recent discharge.
"Son of a bitch!" He shouted, wheeling backwards with his pistol drawn.
"Nope, it's the bitch herself," Zona spoke coldly to him, obviously annoyed.
"You said it, not me" Ark laughed a little, gazing around at their surroundings. "Have you heard from Mexico or Tenn yet?"
Arizona shook her head, "The last I heard from them was when you were explaining the plan, after that, nothing."
"They should've been here by now, I don't like this…" A loud banging noise and shouting is heard behind a door, and he spins around, crouching down with his pistol raised. Zona ran up behind a piece of rubble for cover, sniper barrel outstretched from behind it.
"What the hell was that?!" She hissed at Arkansas, who simply shrugged in response. "Well how about you go fucking find out?"
Ark laughed harshly, "Hell no! Why would I want to do that?"
Putting on her sweetest voice, Zona replied, "Because you love meee." A full twenty seconds passed before he flipped her the finger and stood up cautiously, pistol raised in one hand while Arizona laughed behind cover.
Choosing the direct approach, he knocked four times on the door and listened as the banging stopped. That's strange… Must have been an automated process from the facility's syste- HOLY SHIT! Ark was blown to the ground as a Hunter slams through the doorway, fuel rod cannon still glowing from its discharge.
Arkansas stood up shakily, ignoring the copper taste in his mouth as he ran to the side, unloading round after round from his magnum into the Hunters armor. "Hey c'mon, over here you idiots!" He taunted
"You clever idiot…" 'Zona muttered, raising her sniper rifle to take aim at the unprotected portion of the hunters armor. The rifle cracked once, twice, three times before it spun around, cannon charged. "Oh hell no!" She shouted while activating her armor enhancement, locking down her armor just as the plasma exploded all around her, scorching the floor but leaving her unscathed.
The Hunter roared in frustration, charging towards Arizona with the large metal shield attached to its forearm. The two ton plate of pure metal didn't even nudge the armor locked Spartan, who watched the countdown in her HUD anxiously.
Just gotta time this right… Ark thought, raising his newfound assault rifle at the Hunters back. Three…two…one… Now! "Get to cover!" He shouted, before squeezing the trigger of the rifle and watching round after round impact the soft exposed tissue.
The Hunter roared in pain, swinging back around and switching tactics, fired a stream of hot plasma, melting the tiles around Arkansas and forcing him back behind cover. Arizona took advantage of this as her Armor Lock disengaged, and ran forward while activating a plasma grenade.
"Let's see if that armor protects you from this!" 'Zona shouted, sticking the grenade to its back before running for cover as the Hunter turned around, the familiar hum filling the air as the plasma cycled.
Ark stood up, assault rifle in one hand and pistol in the other and prepared to open fire, before a bright flash filled the air and the report from the grenade echoed through the room. The smoke cleared to reveal the Hunter corpse lying on the ground, now separated in halves. Walking forward, he chuckled at the sight.
"I guess you could say two is better than one..." He laughed, grinning underneath his helmet.
Raising her Sniper Rifle waist high, 'Zona replied "I swear to God, if you make one more shitty joke this mission I will shoot your balls off. Commanding officer or not!"
Face pale and now considerably less happy, Ark managed a nod as he examined the entryway the Hunter had appeared from. "'Zona, this is the way that Mexico and Tenn should have come through…" He spoke nervously, feeling the familiar tightening feeling in his gut.
She spoke quietly, worry seeping through her calm demeanor, "I know… What do you suggest?"
He considered his options quickly. "Set the charges and link them to the detonator. Then we're going after them."
She held up her hands in what was supposed to be a calming gesture. "Whoa there Ark, orders were to set the charges and get out, no pit stops..."
Ark cut her off quickly "I know what the mission is Agent Arizona," He accentuated coldly, "But that is my team and I will be damned before I leave them behind. Now set the charges, that's an order."
Arizona stiffened and straightened up, saluting quickly "Sir, yes sir." She replied just as coldly, matching his attitude.
She's gonna give me hell for this later… He groaned inwardly, but saluted back anyways as she stepped over to the main generator and began setting up the charges.
"Tenn, Mexico, if you're still alive and can hear this, listen up. We've set the charges and are backtracking to look for you. If you are hearing this, respond, that's an order." Ark called out futilely over the squad's comm channel.
Arizona walked up behind him, slipping her fingers through his in a rare gesture of compassion during a mission. "You know they're probably gone, right?" She spoke quietly, still angry but with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
He nodded, swallowing his grief and forcing himself to stay strong. C'mon, there's still a chance. You can do this; just don't let the grief distract you. There's always a chance. "Either way…" Ark murmured, "I'm not leaving them here."
'Zona just nodded, squeezing his hand quickly before letting go and unholstering her rifle once more. "Charges are set and primed, just one click and the whole building begins to go up." She stated, handing him the trigger.
Arkansas attached it to his belt, then discarded and slammed a new clip home into his assault rifle. "Good work. Now let's go get our team back 'Zona." He raised it and walked through the smoldering entryway. Arizona clicked the safety off her sniper rifle in response, following him.
The damaged tiles cracked underneath the weight of their MJOLNIR armor, as Ark took point and swept his rifle around. The corridor was in ruins, the emergency lights swinging wildly from their fixtures and casting a hellish glow around.
"I can't see shit" 'Zona complained quietly, shaking her head in annoyance. "You see anything?"
"Not yet, give me a second," Ark replied, reaching up to activate his VISR system. His HUD brightened the scene in front of him, and he inhaled sharply.
Arizona tilted her head at him curiously, still unable to see in the darkness. "What?"
He sighed and looked down, retrieving the dog tags from the blackened suits of armor on the ground before facing 'Zona. "I found them…" He spoke quietly, before wrapping the tags around his hand.
"Oh my god…" She gasped as she looked down and saw the bloody spectacle on the floor. Tenn and Mexico's bodies lay on the ground, still smoldering from plasma fire. Mexico's chest plate had been crushed in, and blood dribbled out from the cracks. The entire front of Tenn's armor had been blown apart, and she lay face down on top of a Hunters body, still gripping the knife that had taken it down.
That's right; they always come in pairs… Ark thought sadly, They bought us time and we didn't even know it. As both Freelancers grieved, a dying alarm sounded throughout the facility before being cut off abruptly.
"We need to move, now." Ark spoke finally, shoving his grief down to deal with later. He slung his rifle over his shoulder, sliding his magnum out of its holster and gripping the detonator in his other hand.
'Zona nodded after a few seconds, and turned about and strode out of the corridor. Ark followed, walking over to the main generator before activating his comm. "Mother of Invention, this is team Delta, we need evac now. Covenant are breaching the facility from all sides and we have casualties. Repeat, we have casualties."
Static crackled over the comm for a moment before a choppy female voice replied, "Team Delta this is 479er, I'm reading you loud and clear. Prep for evac in five, I'll see you then. 479er out."
Arkansas nodded and cut the connection, too weary to respond. "How many rounds do you still have?" He asked.
'Zona gestured towards the loaded clip in her sniper, "Got 4 rounds left here, and another clip for my SMG." She pointed towards the submachine gun, strapped to her hip. "How about you?"
Ark sighed, "One clip on my rifle, and one left on my magnum as well."
Shaking her head in disbelief, Arizona replied, "So we have a total of four clips, to fight off an unknown amount of highly trained, alien soldiers until our evac arrives. Permission to describe just how fucked we are right now?"
As if on cue, a plasma burst from orbit hit the ceiling, melting the steel off like nothing. "Get down!" Ark shouted, running forward to roll behind the generator, pressing his back against it. "C'mon, move it or lose it 'Zona!"
She sprinted and dove to the ground, landing behind the generator just as the second wave of plasma fire strafed the inside of the building. "Where the hell did that come from?!" She cursed, raising herself off the ground to crouch next to Arkansas.
"At a guess? From orbit… They really don't want us to leave it seems," He replied, peeking around to examine the now molten hole in the roof. "Shit, we got Banshee's!" Ark spun from behind cover, firing quick bursts from his rifle at the aerial targets.
The slick purple machines hissed, plasma fire darting from the cannons mounted on its sides. Arizona took advantage of this and took aim with her rifle. The renowned sniper pulled the trigger, putting a bullet through the fuselage of the Banshee.
Losing control, the metal screeched in protest as the Banshee crashed into the side of the facility. "Nice shot 'Zona" Ark remarked, slinging his rifle over his shoulder again.
"Oh don't sound so surprised…" She snapped, albeit with a small smile underneath her helmet. A screaming noise filled the air as a second Banshee could be seen flying towards the facility, cannons trained on the two Freelancers.
Arkansas turn sharply, pistol raised immediately. "Think you can make it again?" The shrieking got louder as two more Banshee's joined the first, now in formation. "Or three more times?" He suggested weakly.
'Zona raised her rifle and activated the zoom feature, taking aim. "Let's find out." She spoke calmly, finger on the trigger.
Suddenly, each Banshee exploded in a spray of sparks and twisted metal mere seconds after each other.
Ark cheered "Holy shit, that was amazing!" He clapped Arizona on the shoulder, grinning underneath his helmet.
She only lowered her rifle, her head cocked in confusion, "…That wasn't me, Ark…"
The comm crackled with static for a moment, before a familiar voice joined the two confused soldiers. "Mother Invention, this is 479er. We have confirmation that Delta Team is still alive and kicking. Extraction in progress." 479er's Pelican drop ship came into view above the facility, chin guns smoking from their discharge on the Banshee's. It dropped down and the bay door opened quickly, and Ark saw 479er leaning around to wave them in.
"Come one, move it people! We don't have time!" She shouted, stress breaking through the usual cool voice all pilots had. Ark nodded in response, while the two surviving members of Delta Team jogged aboard the dropship.
479er began the takeoff process as soon as their feet touched the troop bay, causing them to stumble slightly into seats next to each other.
"What's the rush?" Ark shouted above the wind noise, as the bay door shut and sealed itself mid-flight.
A deep voice with a heavy southern accent, drawled over the comm system, "Your mission was to prime the generators to blow, was it not Agent Arkansas?"
Both Ark and 'Zona straightened in their seats by reflex upon hearing the Director's voice, "Yes sir, charges are set and primed; ready to detonate on your order."
"Activate them." The Director spoke forcibly, intent on completing their mission.
"But sir, we're still in range of the facility. Those explosives could damage us as well!" 'Zona spoke angrily.
The comm was silent for a couple seconds, before he replied, "Agent Arizona, this is a direct order to Agent Arkansas to detonate those explosives. If I want your opinion on my actions, I will damn well ask for it!" He shouted. "Now activate the detonator Agent!"
Ark let out a weary sigh, "I'm really getting tired of this bullshit…" He whispered, too quiet to be heard by anyone but himself and Arizona. Then he unhooked the detonator from his belt and squeezed the trigger, gripping on to the seat tightly.
A loud clap and screeching of metal could be heard, the noise almost deafening as the UNSC Facility was torn apart by the detonation of its main generator. The rapidly expanding cloud of fire was swallowing human and covenant forces alike on the ground.
"Punch it!" 'Zona screamed at the pilot, viewing the fiery cloud get closer and closer.
"It's been punched!" 479er shouted back, looking frantically at all the onboard instruments for a possible way out.
It seemed like time slowed down for Arkansas as he viewed the blast, nearly upon the Pelican. He snapped over to look at Arizona. "Activate your armor lock, now! Don't question it, just do it." Unbuckling the restraints, he ran over to the front of the troop bay and activated the airlock seal on the cockpit, separating 479er from the two Freelancers and providing another wall of defense for her.
'Zona nodded and locked down her armor, and Ark barely had time to sigh in relief as the fiery explosion smashed into the body of the Pelican, heat taking down his shields almost instantaneously.
"Son of a bitch…" He groaned, the stress forcing him to his knees as the Pelican shook around, now in a nosedive for the ground. The fire faded from inside the dropship, and Ark grabbed onto the restraints, gripping them as tight as possible while the air whistled around him. This is gonna hurt… He thought, closing his eyes and bracing for impact. A new explosion replaced the old, as the ship impacted the ground. Suddenly, he felt no more pressure or pain as his body was lifted in the air, before crashing back down with a crack as he blacked out.
With enormous difficulty, he opened his eyes and gazed around at his new surroundings. What happened? He wondered, groaning and shutting his eyes again as a splitting headache tore through his head. After a few moments he blinked away the stars, and saw that he was lying in Recovery One, aboard the Mother of Invention. More importantly, he looked to his left and saw Arizona without her helmet, lying asleep in the chair next to him.
"Hey…" Ark coughed weakly, his throat dry from sitting unconscious for who-knows how long. 'Zona was awake and up immediately, her normally upkept blond hair splayed out wildly and blue eyes full of concern as she looked at him.
"Don't you ever, ever, do that again…" She spoke quietly, punching his arm lightly before holding his hand. "How are you feeling?"
He laughed bitterly, wincing in pain, "Like I got hit by a truck. Then, the truck backed up on me… "
'Zona chuckled softly, "Well yeaaah, you did get blown up by a Pelican."
Ark's eyes widened at the realization, But where the hell is 479er? As he opened his mouth to voice his question, but Arizona just held up her hand and silenced him.
"479er's fine, she suffered a hell of a lot less injuries because of your quick thinking" Looking down, she added, "Same with me…"
Before Ark could respond, the tall man with slightly graying hair on the sides strode into the room, hands folded behind his back. "Agents Arkansas, I was informed that you had awoken." A familiar southern accent drawled.
Letting go of his hand, Arizona stood up and saluted, while Ark did the best salute he could in his condition. "Sir!"
"At ease, Agents. That was quick thinking on your part, Agent Arkansas. Not only did you and Agent Arizona take down the facility, but you managed to save your surviving teammates by sacrificing your own safety. These are traits I value highly, and I expect to continue seeing such extraordinary performance in the future." The Director continued, "However, Agent Arizona I want to see you in my office later to discuss the issue of your attitude toward superiors during combat situations. That is all." He nodded towards the two Freelancers, before striding back out.
Once the Director mentioned her attitude, 'Zona rolled her eyes and flipped him the finger once he turned around to leave. "If we had listened to him, you would've been even more banged up than you are now!" She bristled, frustrated as she sat back down on the bed next to Ark.
Ark simply sighed and held her hand, massaging it lightly as he thought carefully about how to respond. Finally, he replied "I did what I had to do, and I'm fine, see?" He smiled weakly, not reaching his eyes.
'Zona just shook her head in response, "Oh shut up, you know what I mean…" She leaned down and kissed his cheek quickly, before standing up and picking up her helmet from the seat next to her. "I don't want to, but I've gotta run. I' m supposed to be going up against Wash in hand-to-hand training in 5."
He merely smiled and waved her off, "It's fine, kick his ass for me though" He laughed, "See you later?" He questioned, as she began to walk out of the room.
Turning back, she merely smirked and sealed her helmet back on, "We'll see..."