In the ruins of New York, namely deep within the tunnels, Matis and their newfound Commander continued their march down the flooded and overgrown metro tunnels of the once-sprawling megalopolis, Rookie himself utilizing his helmet's VISR mode to guide the team forward. They had NV in their eyes, too, but still, he was pointman and leading the formation.
"Y'know?" Drake whispered, looking at the abandoned tunnel. Chunks of tile were missing from the walls, the rusted remains of the turnstiles hanging limply by water-damaged and rusted screws. She continued, "Part of me wonders if we'll ever get to rebuild all of this, or if we're just gonna demolish it, cuz…"
"Demolish it and build anew," Maxwell commented as she scanned the area with her thermal vision. She added, "We can always just remake the monuments. Sure, it's a bit of a Ship of Theseus situation, but the idea that they might survive longer after being rebuilt with new technology works just fine by me…"
"I somewhat agree, though the fact they're this old has its own charm, like even the stone they're built with tells a story," Rookie replied, garnering a chuckle out of Maxwell as he climbed onto the left-side platform of the station. Two rusting, damaged trains lay in the way and they'd have to go through them. He leaned against one of the door frames, then pulled it back with the strength assistance of his MJOLNIR Mark II, then poked the barrel of his rifle through the door and scanned the place.
Only skeletal remains lay in the broken chairs. Bullet holes riddled parts of the walls and the bones themselves turned to dust the moment they were touched. Some still had rags, remnants of clothing, wrapped around them, even if some had been torn to ribbons. Advertisements still hanged, bleached by the beams of the Raptures, but partially legible. Toothpastes, food, fast foods, even a proto-Splenadmin ad was on the wall above a skeleton.
Like a time capsule, frozen. Rookie tried to avoid looking at the smaller skeletons, or the one larger one holding rags in their arms, swaddled like a baby. He scoffed, while Maxwell frowned and said, "We're sorry…" in a whisper. They continued walking down the Ghost Train, rifles aimed forward, with Maxwell herself having to switch to a pistol.
Laplace, though wary, spoke, "We'll avenge these people. Like Heroes do."
"That we will," Rookie replied, determined. He pushed through the door frame leading to the next cart and saw rats skitter away from a corpse. Malnourished little creatures, these rats were, some even seemingly hurt by the Rapture presence. The ground shook slightly, a muffled explosion ringing overhead and sending dust and some chunks of the ceiling falling onto the train.
Drake quipped, "Sounds like the boys and girls upstairs are having a blast," which garnered a few groans out of everyone, while Drake grinned proudly. A villain would always know the worst time for a joke, she thought to herself, so she chose it. Rookie chuckled, however. It was a good pun, if a little like a dad joke. He'd honestly expect nothing less out of Drake.
Maxwell sighed and told Rookie off, "Oy, don't encourage her, Handsome. We'll never hear the end of it…"
"Heh, noted," The man replied as they pushed forward, deeper through the train and into the tunnels. He checked his updated map on the tacpad on his wrist, making sure they were going the right way. He paused, however, when his motion tracker picked up hostile pings ahead. He raised a balled fist and showed the team to wait, taking a knee and peering through the dirt-stained glass.
They kept on the push, weapons at the ready, pushing past corpses, ruined and flooded tunnels and the remnants of human life in the city. Part of Rookie felt exactly like in New Mombasa during the last day of that bloody city's fight, all before the Covenant burned it to ash and glass. He could hear their footsteps reverberate across the walls of the place, feet stirring the dark waters below, too.
They were following the Red Line. It was honestly surprising that there was little to no presence of Raptures in the tunnels, but one wouldn't dare look a gift horse in the mouth right now. They kept the advance up, aiming straight for Central Park, though Max and the others were sure they were being followed.
The crack of a tile falling reverberated across the place. Rookie's motion tracker picked up a single target. He aimed his rifle, watching one of the collapsed stairwells leading up to the surface just as another explosion shook the ground, causing dust and debris to fall around them. A small cloud of dust ahead of them seemed to stir…
And the Rookie didn't hesitate. His rifle barked, a full burst catching whatever was ahead of them dead-center. The camouflage system flickered and the beast revealed itself, a worm-like machine on a dozen feet, protected by chitinous, segmented plating. Its baleful red eye glared at Rookie for a moment, causing him to take a step back. Laplace, however, was quicker on the draw, her energy cannon cutting the monster in half.
Maxwell scoffed and barked, "Son of a… They have active optical camouflage!?"
"And sensor disruption," The man replied, "My MT couldn't pick it up," and he put his hand up to his helmet, barking, "ALCON, ALCON, ALCON, Be Advised:Hostile units might have optical camouflage mechs. We've just encountered one of them in the subway-" only to get cut off as something slammed into him like a hammer.
One of said creatures, in fact. The energy shields of the MJOLNIR seemed to be causing it problems. He grabbed it off his back, slammed it into the ground and heard the armor plates crack. He then stomped its head in, then ordered, "PERIMETER!" as he and his three comrades formed up into a diamond, each covering an angle.
"This is nuts," Maxwell whispered, "The bastards have opticam and here we are, practically buck naked…" before she heard Drake giggling like a schoolgirl. She gave the girl a light kick in the shin, hearing a loud and sharp 'ow!' from her, before she looked over at Jonnie and asked him, "So, what now, Handsome?"
"We figure out a way to take'em out…" The Rookie replied, scanning the area. He hummed and mumbled something to himself about the possibility of utilizing explosives to stir further dust. Overhead, another tank gun's blast caused the area to shake violently, dust and debris dropping all around.
A couple more machines appeared, Motion Trackers faintly picking them up. Drake was quick, not even getting to utter her line before she put two slug rounds into the alien creatures. Their photoreactive panels or whatever kept their stealth systems active flickered and failed, causing the worm-like machines to show their forms.
They aimed twin energy weapons each at the girls, opening fire. Bursts of scarlet light struck around the ODST-turned-Spartan-IV and the Nikkes of Matis, forcing them to reposition as they returned fire. One of the machines attempted to cloak again, but failed, surging forward and striking at Rookie with a pair of extending pincers.
They dug into his shield and nearly latched onto his armor, jolts of electricity flowing through them as it tried to aim its guns. He punched the machine clean through the oculus, ripping its core out and crushing it in his hand. Beside him, Maxwell and Laplace immediately cut down the second monstrous construct with a burst of energy and kinetic weapon fire that seared its synthetic skin and armor plates clean off.
"There might be more," Laplace spoke, shifting her aim around as her mask's visor display maintained the link to her cannon. Rookie nodded, rallied them up without another word, then led the squad forward and toward their destination. She activated her com, "All units, addendum to Matis lead's call:Possibly multiple hostile stealth units deployed. We've encountered a bunch of'em just now, meaning they're adapting. Please, be careful."
They kept pushing through, finding no more hostiles to deal with along the way down the corridors and tunnels. When they reached Central Park Station, they clambered out through one of the exits, past the turnstiles and out into the wider park area, only pausing as they saw that the place had become completely overgrown.
"You guys think we'll find any penguins here?" Drake asked. The others let out snorts, but their focus on survival kicked in now, with Jonathan motioning for them to follow him in. Entering the park, they aimed for the museum on the other side, a sprawling, massive, yet damaged building made up in the style of an old Roman building, though with additional, more modern wings that were in disrepair.
Distant gunfire continued to draw closer, the thumping of feet echoing all the way to them as battalions of Raptures guarding the city advanced down the main boulevards or through Central Park. Some of the machines hissed, but didn't notice the team whenever they all took cover. Laplace commented, "Sure are a lot of troops here…"
"They must really like the Big, rotten Apple," Rookie quipped as he shifted his aim, watching a platoon of heavy Raptures marching forward, dozens of smaller units swarming around their quadrupedal frames. Overhead, a pair of Broadsword bombers descended, dropping a payload of multiple unguided bombs and lighting the entire ruined boulevard in detonations, shockwaves thumping in the team's chests.
Maxwell scoped in the targets and radioed, "Vulture Flight, good kills," before looking at Rookie. He nodded and motioned for the team to move forward via two chops of his hand. The team stood up and advanced down the boulevard as anti-air fire lit up the two bombers. They went supersonic, though one took a few rounds that caused its engine to sputter, spitting smoke.
"Daisy, we've hit Objective Alpha," Rookie called out over com, "What's the sit-rep at the Intrepid ?"
For a moment, static blasted his ear and the ears of his comrades, but the reply was quick. Gunfire roared over the com from Oryx IFVs and supporting Mass-Production Nikkes. Daisy replied, " Up shit creek without a paddle, Rook, but we're managing ! Be advised, we've got no LOS on the Heretic, so keep your eyes peeled if you're going for that artifact ! Cal, sniper on the left !"
"We'll clear the place and swing by to back you up," Rookie stated as they reached the doors of the complex. Boarded-up or destroyed, that was the best Rookie could sum them up. Bullet holes, rotting wood, overgrowth and even god-damned vines were covering the wall and the door frams.
Daisy replied, " Negative, grab the Artifact and get the hell out ! If she's coming your way, that means the Raptures here are basically a distraction ! We'll handle them ! Daisy, out!" and she cut the com just as the thunderclap of an autocannon echoed. Rookie sighed, looked at his assigned squad, then nodded to them, pushing aside the foliage and quickly breaching into the museum.
The remnants of battle-damage were still visible. Melted stone that had cooled, disfigured and destroyed statues and the damaged central Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton mockup, its skull laying separate from its body against one of the crumbling stairwells. Rookie checked the intel on the artifact that was sent by HighCom, then pushed deeper in, with Maxwell, Lap and Drake covering him.
Max sighed softly, then spoke, "Man, I wish I could've seen this place in its prime. So much history and cool stuff… And cute animals."
"Aren't most of'em stuffed?" Drake asked with half a mouth.
"Drake," Rookie quipped, scanning the rooftops and the second floor as they moved deeper. Three-point scans, clearing rooms they walked past and making sure they weren't being followed by these psychotic little camouflaged shits. If Rookie were to hazard a guess on how they got them, it might have been from the Long Night of Solace's fragments.
Regardless, he thought as they advanced, entering the archaeological section of the place, they needed to get that tech first, before the Raptures and their Heretic buddy got here. As they dived into the archaeological and anthropological discoveries, they saw the melting remains of the statues meant to represent the various stages of human evolution here.
And, indeed, in the middle of it all, the piece de resistance of the place was a glowing artifact, a rhomboid of some kind, almost crystalline, glowing and floating in its incredibly pristine glass containment cell. Forerunner symbols danced around its form, holograms of times past. The team approached it, only to pause as they heard a voice speak, "Magnificent, isn't it?"
They staggered, then took cover as a burst of automatic fire raked the ground, tearing through the damaged marble floors. Rookie looked up, noticing the marker on his HUD and seeing her there. Clad in a skin-tight suit with various armor plates attached, a grey visor hiding whatever eye shade she had and waving silver hair among which a bandage was wrapped, a figure hovered down onto a banister above, her mech, a hovering machine armed to the teeth with missile launchers and guns, standing above, visible through the broken stained glass.
Rookie stood up, aimed and fired a burst from his rifle, but gasped when he saw the figure dodge. Her own floating weapon appeared to her right and another burst of rounds struck him, almost like a hydraulic hammer. It hit his shields, causing them to flare and forcing him into cover. The Heretic then spoke, "Rude… We're all here for the same thing, are we not?"
"Difference is one of us is walking outta here with it while the other gets a few bullets in the face!" Drake threatened. She stood up and quickly adjusted fire, dumping three buckshot shells toward the woman. She still missed, rounds striking all around, but narrowly missing the Heretic. They did, however, reveal a flurry of stealth units.
"Shit…" Rookie whispered, watching the machines flicker out of existence again as they crawled toward them. He called out to the Heretic, "I don't know what the Raptures did to you, but you Heretics should really consider your priorities! These things want all of us dead! They'll ditch you as easily as a used napkin!"
"Oh, no. The Queen promised us she'd do no such thing," The girl replied, then fired at Laplace the moment the girl tried to move out of cover, scoring a few good hits that ripped through the girl's jacket and hit part of her armor. Laplace returned fire with a beam straight from her gun, before Maxwell also followed and fired to where the woman had repositioned and Drake dumped more shotgun shells.
The pellets struck the Heretic's armor and even scratched some of the stealth machines. Rookie immediately poked out and opened fire on the stealth units, surging out of cover as he saw said Heretic doubling over from the hits she took. Maxwell charged her railgun again, aiming for her head, then fired.
The round scraped the girl's visor, causing part of it to shatter and revealing the tell-tale sign of corruption:One blood-red eye. As Rookie worked on the machines, the Heretic huffed and said, "Guess it's time to get my hands dirty!" before dropping down and charging toward Maxwell at amazing speeds.
The sniper yelped, trying to aim and fire her gun, but Laplace was quicker on the draw than both her and the Heretic, a beam cutting the woman's advance even though it missed. The Heretic swiveled about, her visible eye glinting with fury. She aimed and fired her weapon, rounds ripping through the ancient glass and the concrete behind which the heavy-weapon-toting hero had hidden.
Maxwell tried to fire again, but was soon intercepted herself by one of the Stealthers pouncing on her rifle and causing her shot to go very low, digging through the marble and cracking it in a spiderweb pattern. She grit her teeth, hefting the weapon and throwing the monster up, then tracked possible trajectories via math and drew her own sidearm, emptying it into the machine.
Rookie joined in, kicking one of the monsters away while giving a silent order to Drake to load explosive rounds. She grinned, her mask forming on her face out of nothingness while she lifted her ornate shotgun. The Heretic swiveled about, then delivered a downward scissor kick against Maxwell, causing her to jump back, aim her pistol and fire.
The Heretic lifted her left arm and a secondary armature appeared from her back, blocking multiple rounds as she advanced toward the girl. She kept Laplace pinned with fire from her weapon, the barrel seemingly starting to glow red, then turned to a dull white. She let off the invisible trigger, dumping heat as four coolant lines spat out steam.
She made it to Maxwell, grabbing her by the throat just as she was reloading her rifle and slamming her against the floor. Shards of ancient marble and concrete flew upon the heavy impact, several of the exhibit items in the room breaking apart. The containment glass of the alien crystal cracked, but the Heretic didn't stop, cocking back her fist to try and pummel Maxwell's head in.
Maxwell utilized the little leverage she found. Despite the searing pain in her back and the shards of stone, she folded her legs in and kicked high with both of them, screaming as she put all her strength behind the double kick. She jumped to her feet as the Heretic flew back from the kicks, then coughed and collapsed onto one knee, feeling her side.
The Heretic aimed her weapon at Maxwell's head as blood foamed at the corners of the sniper's mouth, but she grit her teeth as a blast from Laplace struck the other armature, melting it while Lap ran toward Maxwell. She picked the girl up and said, "C'mon!" before running toward cover. The Heretic was about to lay down the hate with her weapon again until bullets struck her back.
She growled and looked back, noticing that Rookie, his rifle still smoking, had fired. He dropped a spent magazine to the floor, slapped in a fresh one, then barked, "Drake, keep those stealthy bastards busy!" as he ran toward her. He cocked back a fist and utilized the momentum acquired through his sprint to deliver the punch.
A punch which the Heretic stopped, though not without the thunderclap of the hit causing ripples that further cracked the Crystal's glass. He pulled back and fired his rifle one-handed, causing the Heretic to take a step back as she summoned more heavy-duty machines. A Rapture 'Thermite'-class punched through the wall on their right, destroying the remnants of an exhibit and sending shards of glass flying through the air.
Maxwell, though wounded, was quick to respond. She shifted her aim from the Heretic to it and firing. The Heretic, meanwhile, proceeded to return the punchy favor to Rookie, causing the man to go on the defensive. She asked, "No sly quips, Spartan?" almost teasingly. He shook his head, then grabbed her wrist just as she was mid-punch and headbutted her, staggering her and further shattering her visor.
She growled at him. He simply replied, "We've got nothing to talk about anymore," as he began throwing haymakers, some of which connected, causing the Heretic further damage. In the meantime, Maxwell had noticed the cracking glass. She looked at Drake, waved at her and motioned to the Glass. Drake grinned and, without a second thought, she slammed the butt of her shotgun into said glass.
The Crystal sent a blast of energy that shattered all glass around it, caused Rookie's armor to short out for a moment and caused the Heretic and Nikkes around to stagger. It gave enough of an opening for Rookie, as disoriented as he was, to deliver several more strikes against the woman while her Rapture units also recovered.
She staggered, doubled over then aimed her weapon and fired. A burst caught Rookie in the breastplate, causing him to move into cover, shielding his head and chest with his gauntlets. The girl then growled, gritting her teeth and looking at the alien artifact. She surged toward it, trying to grab it, but was stunned to see Laplace dive and hold it close instead.
Maxwell and Drake, barely recovered from being hit by the EM pulse of the damn thing, took several pot shots at her. Her Raptures, recovering, too, opened fire to pin the enemy down. She scoffed, aimed her weapon, too, then paused as she heard the thunderclap of machine gun fire outside and felt several Tyrant-classes die.
The place was soon breached, a platoon of ODSTs pushing in and firing their weapons at the remaining hostiles. Behind them, Spartans and Nikkes also moved up, with Daisy calling out, "The moment we realized…" and aiming her rifle at the Heretic, "Nice little outplay there, Codename:Modernia…" to which the girl scoffed.
She replied, "I suppose I am beat…" and took a step back. She seemed to pause as she heard something in her mind, then smirked, "You win today," only to disappear and reappear aboard her mech. Even as their allies let loose into it, it managed to fly away at a terrifying supersonic speed. Daisy growled, then walked over toward Matis.
She asked, "You guys alright?" as she helped Rookie up.
"We'll live," Rookie nodded, then looked back at Laplace, watching her hold the alien device. She breathed a sigh, wounded like the others, then stood up with a smile. She and Drake then helped Maxwell hobble outside and to the evac Pelican. Daisy called in the victory in the Big Apple to Battery Park HQ in the meanwhile.
As they walked outside, they were greeted by entire battalions of Nikkes, recently deployed into the Combat AO, plus dozens of Pelicans unloading troops into Central Park to clear it out. Marines were also present, namely Shevchenko and his fireteam and his sister's fireteam, all of them armed to the teeth in AT weapons and heavy guns.
They boarded the Pelican, one of a certain Echo Four-Nineteen, to the sight of Sergeant-Major Johnson. He said, "Nice job out there, Matis and Spartans. Y'all got us that doohickey doc Halsey's been so adamant about gettin'," and tilted his head to it. He looked at the Rookie and said, "Gunny Buck's happy to hear you're comin' home, too."
"Thanks, sir. What about the Counters, Lucky Strikes and Blues?" He asked, tapping his foot.
Johnson grinned, "Mission accomplished, son. Did you really have doubts in the Chief and his boys and girls?"
"No, sir," He chuckled, "Just figured…" before looking back at the rest of Matis. Maxwell seemingly passed out, having fallen asleep while Drake and Laplace were playing rock, paper, scissors to see who'd be delivering the device to Doctor Halsey. Rookie had to take a moment to remember that they did find Halsey scary.
He chuckled, took his helmet off and wiped the sweat off his brow, feeling the muscle tears from having to fist-fight a god-damned modified Nikke. He was gonna have a bath when he got home, that or a good, long and healthy shower. And he'd also have to write the bloody report about the Stealth Raptures. That was a bigger problem than the Artifact.
Bastards had Stealth now. They could quite literally be anywhere and the rest of the team would be none-the-wiser. He also noticed that some of the Pelicans were loading body-bags into the transports. They'd lost a few units going by reports, because an urban jungle like New York was an easy place to get ambushed in. Especially if the Raptures knew what they were doing. And with Modernia having been in charge of the force, it made sense that they did.
Rough first mission, he thought to himself as he scratched the back of his head…
