30 Chapter (27) This one goes to Eleven (11-final)

(Mc Pov)

'This hallway is screaming danger for me. Anyone with a plasma rifle, spiker, needler, or even mauler would have a field day,' I think to myself planning on how to kill the Covenant soldiers that have breached the 5th floor, 'Which are all the weapons in play except for an added plasma pistol…Great,'

'Though I could go guns blazing, I am willing to bet I will be shredded before I finish the job. Hmm, there is nothing in the hall that could provide cover and even if there was…the problems in that situation would be endless,' I continued plotting until I came up with a solution and looked at the ceiling, 'Well it's not very original, but it sure as hell beats becoming a Spartan pin cushion,'

After concluding my thought I reached up slowly applying pressure and breaking the latches reinforcing the ceiling tile. Thankfully the sound was trapped in the ceiling and the voices coming from the dumbasses in the hall drowned out any remaining noise. I then pushed the tile to the side opening up the ceiling and hopped up pulling myself back into the crawl space.

I crawled through the space with both my rifle and shotgun on my back and pistol in hand. I moved quickly making more sound than I would have wished but didn't have the luxury of going slowly anymore. I needed to ambush them while they were still grouped together so I could buy enough time to open up the security center and get prepared to set up a defensive position.

Eventually, I realized the voices had gone silent and I stopped crawling and listening to the area below me when suddenly-

*PING*

*PING*

*PING* X 30

About a foot and a half in front of my face is sprayed with a mix of shrapnel, blamite crystals, and plasma bolts. It all effectively erased a large portion of the tiles in front of me. Had I crawled forward half a foot more then I would have had a large spike of shrapnel sticking through my skull. Luckily I had the situational awareness to catch myself before that happened.

Realizing that I had to do something otherwise, I would be the next thing getting blasted with a couple of new holes added in places I didn't want. I ripped open a tile not caring about carefully undoing the latches with my right hand while my left reached down to a pouch on my armor pulling out a frag and another flashbang. After opening the tile I pulled the pins on the grenades and dropped them through the hole.

"LOOK OUT GRENADE!" I heard a Brute yell before two loud bangs sounded from the resulting explosions. I then pulled myself through the hatch falling towards the ground whilst reaching and pulling my shotgun from my back.

I landed in a crouched position on both feet like a cat, my helmet was tilted down, and my shotgun was raised to my chest but the barrel was still angled down. Sharp pain irradiated through my abdomen caused by the sudden movement and strain required for the athletic movement. Yet I did not wince or flinch from the feeling. I was focused on one task and any other thought or topic was secondary and therefore put on hold until I finished my job.

After half a moment of releasing a deep breath, my helmet snapped up with the glare of the lights in the hallway reflecting it and I rose up to a firing position with my SPEAR. The wounded enemies and temporarily concussed enemies were frantically firing at the ceiling still believing my location to be in the vents. Sadly, that mistake was going to cost them very dearly.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Three quick blasts from my shotgun fling lead-tungsten slugs out the end of the barrel and hole punches 2 Brutes and a Jackal. Though the Brutes are large and have light shielding, the sheer magnitude of energy delivered by the armor-piercing chunk of metal created a fist-sized hole in one Brute's chest directly where its heart would be. While the other had 3 quarters of its head blown off.

(Author's note: Before anyone complains about the wound's not being realistic….I googled the wounds of a 12 gauge for research instead of a 500 year in the future 8 gauge. I took one for the team and must say…those wounds are fucking nasty, that shit ain't for the faint of heart.)

Lowering the barrel of my weapon I quickly squeezed the trigger an additional five times aiming at the Grunts panicking and running into obstacles. Each slug ripped through their environmental suits before delivering a swift death. Some even found that the projectile tore through parts of their body and found themselves embedded into their brethren behind them. Using this weapon on anything smaller than an Elite was overkill, to be honest, but as I have said many times before.

I am thorough if nothing else.

Swiveling on my left foot I turned to target the enemies behind me that still remained after I initially cut them off from the leaders of the group. Whilst turning I looked up to check the ammo counter in the top left corner of my hud. The indicator showed 5 shells indicating that the SPEAR in my hands only had 4 more shells without including the one in the chamber. Realizing that I would need to reload before I was done killing the remaining soldiers in front of me, I switched to my BR55 which still had 12 rounds in the current magazine. While shouldering the weapon I switched the selective fire switch from Burst to Semi.

*BANG* X 7

I then began systematically executing the remaining Grunts and Jackals that were beginning to regain their sight as evidenced by the fact that their aim with their needlers and plasma pistols was becoming more accurate. At this point, the blamite crystals were beginning to home in on me. A terrifying fact seeing as the SPI armor is not rated to defend against these pink needles which could pierce inner organs and could even explode sending micro shrapnel into me and that's not even mentioning a possible Super Combine.

To avoid the grizzly death caused by a mixture of plasma and pink crystals. I swiftly dodged to the side avoiding any incoming rounds and picked up the first thing within my reach to shield myself. That object just so happened to be the corpse of a Jackal, I held the body by the neck like it was a dead chicken and thrust it in the path of any incoming danger. Meanwhile, I would hipfire the battle rifle with high precision and accuracy due to the built-in crosshair and aided aiming system that was luckily still functioning within my helmet.

Eventually, I had killed them all with no ammo remaining inside my rifle. I tossed my meat shield to the side before hitting the mag release with my right thumb and pulling a fresh magazine from a pouch on my chest. I popped the magazine into place and pulled the bolt back before it slammed forward chambering another round and the heads-up display read [36].

I placed the rifle on my back before turning around and walking to the closet while grabbing my shotgun from my back. I reached down grabbed a handful of 8 gauge shells and began stuffing them down the ammo tube. It took a handful or two before bringing the ammo tube back up to full but the task was complete before he reached the closet.

'I have another 18 shells of 8 gauge, in total 108 rounds of 9.5 x 40 mm, and 36 rounds of 12.7 x 40 mm. Hopefully, that's enough to carve up the rest of the enemies within the facility. Otherwise, I might need to improvise, and I would rather that not happen,' I thought to myself as I reached for the handle of the closet.

I pulled the door open revealing two small children, "Alright it's clear. Let's get you two into the control room so you can help me," I said to them, while thinking about the second half of the statement, 'And stay in one safe place. While I do the rest of the dirty work,'

"You came back for us!" said Dante as he rushed up to me and hugged my leg.

'Shit don't tell me these kids now have abandonment issues caused by their parents,' I thought while turning to face Luna.

Luna looked up and smiled brightly, "Thank you for keeping your promise," after hearing that statement the only thing I thought internally was, 'Fuck'

"Well let's get moving we don't have much time. That little skirmish probably alerted the rest of the ones in the floors above," I said beginning to walk towards the massacre in the hallway before stopping abruptly, "Uhhh why don't I carry both of you in my arms….and you two have to close your eyes for the next part,"

They both looked confused at what I said so I decided to elaborate with a lie and a small bit of fear, "The path to the security room is secret and no one except a few select personnel knows about it. It's so secret that if you saw it I would have to kill you," I said sternly

"NO! DON'T KILL US," they both screamed simultaneously, 'Well might have had poor timing, but the damage is already done,' I thought to myself while internally shrugging.

It wasn't that I didn't feel bad that I accidentally just poked two new orphans' trauma, but more like I had things that took precedence over their feelings. These two could get all the therapy and time to cope as they want after this mission. First, however, I need to make sure they live to see tomorrow. I also don't think they want any more reasons to be traumatized so I am making them close their eyes so they don't see the gore that I will be stepping over to make our way to the security center. On our way out we will just take the secondary elevator that is in a different direction to avoid the mess.

"Don't worry I won't kill you, BUT you have to listen to me. Ok?" I asked to which they vigorously nodded. I then scooped them up in my arms. They immediately held onto me tightly moving closer to my chest, 'I feel like a single dad,' I thought with a wry smile appearing underneath my helmet.

"Alright make sure your eyes are closed," I said before breaking into a quick jog, the speed making them grip tighter with the arms wrapping around me.

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(3rd Pov)

Just as the meeting on Reach was coming to a conclusion a knock sounded from the meeting room's only entrance, "Come in," said Admiral Parangosky as the room had become silent.

An intelligence officer quickly entered the room and made his way to the Admiral's side and began whispering to her. No one in the room could hear what was said between the two, but it was presumably important. No officer would interrupt an ONI high command meeting without a VERY good reason, which seemed to be exactly what the officer had if Margaret's narrowed eyes were to be used as evidence.

Eventually, the officer and the Admiral's conversation ended with the officer nodding his head to the room and his superior then walking out of the room with a brisk walk. After the door closed Parangosky sat and had a look of contemplation on her face as she reached for a paper on the bottom of her stack.

A few minutes passed before she looked up and spoke to the group in front of her, "It seems I have 2 more matters to address sadly. The first is a rather important matter," she then pressed a button on the meeting table pulling up multiple images taken by space probes.

"As of early this morning, the colony of Algolis has been discovered and attacked by an advanced group of Covenant ships. Consisting of 1 CAS class assault carrier and 4 SDV class heavy corvettes if reports are accurate," said Admiral Parangosky gravely.

"According to reports if no reinforcements arrive the space defenses should last anywhere from 5 to 6 days," she continued.

"The only force that would be able to reach Algolis around that time frame is battle group Leviathan. They are currently moving to resupply, and right now are within the Ursa minor area so it would still take about 7 days for them to reach Algolis, but that's the best we can do," informed Lord Hood.

"So be it. The ground forces should be able to hold out long enough for the relief and evacuation force to arrive. They also have Daisy S-023 helping defend the ground, and while being a bit… uncontrollable compared to the other Spartans her effectiveness in combat can't be underestimated. There is also the Head Hunter team of Anna A-156 and Cal S-141 currently embedded within the battle group. Odds are in favor of evacuating most of the civilian population before the point of glassing," said Admiral Parangosky responding to the Admiral and informing the room of special forces factors.

"What about HRUNTING?" asked Kingsley.

"All research projects will be secondary objectives. All research data will be downloaded and erased afterwards while the prototypes will either be collected or destroyed according to the Cole Protocol. The civilians will come first," said Parangosky with authority leading to no arguments against her final say.

She paused before she added, "Before the group moves to resupply it will first move to receive B-312 seeing as he is only a short detour away from the group. Does anyone disagree with this proposal?" There were no words of interjection, "Good which ironically leads to the other issue that B-312 is involved with," she said, gaining a rare small smile.

Naomi sighed and Kurt began massaging his temples and forehead, "What did he get involved with this time?"

"Also this morning the Prowler B-312 was aboard and was tasked with delivering a contingent of ODSTs to the research facility after AEGIS was sent to the facility. However, before it could carry out this mission the research facility stopped all contact with the outside UNSC forces and would not respond to any hails from the Prowler. Therefore, the Captain sent B-312 to investigate. Where, according to a report sent by his handler, he encountered and was wounded by a special forces sniper," said Parangosky explaining the situation

"Though that information is irrelevant because B-312 showed that he was still fit to continue his mission. However, an emergency request of aid was sent by the same Prowler citing a single SDV class Covenant Corvette had uncloaked above the underground facility," stated Parangosky coldly gaining looks of concern from all members around the table, "Luckily battle group Leviathan was within range and is already moving to assist. They should arrive above the facility within the hour,"

"This Covenant Special Forces group do we have any idea who he is dealing with?" asked Shauna wondering if perhaps they had encountered the group before.

"It seems to be half a platoon of soldiers from the Bloodstars unit within the Covenant. The armor and equipment used by the sniper matches that of corpses recovered from other encounters," noted the ONI director

"This reminds me, have we given him a lethality rating?" asked Levi Asher

"I say we just go ahead and designate him as Hyper lethal if he survives this mission. He has already demonstrated the ability to wipe out entire company-sized forces single-handedly with little support. He has more than enough commendations if his achievements were to be unclassified, and now he is going against the infamous Bloodstars," reasoned Kingsley

"Is anyone against Kingsley's suggestion?" asked Margaret Parangosky, to which everyone shook their heads in agreement with the proposal.

"Very well, then for the record Spartan-III service number B-312 will be designated as a 'Hyper Lethal' vector upon completion of the mission on January 30th, 2543 in 19 Draconis," recorded the female Admiral, "He will also be given an alternative call sign besides the term 'Agent Texas'" finished the admiral side eying Naomi and Kurt.

[Author's Note: Give some suggestions for the call sign. I meant for Agent Texas to just be a joke for a bit. And I am really bad at naming things…I think.]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Mc Pov)

'Here we are', I had finally reached the security center and was standing in front of the door with both Luna and Dante held in my arms.

"Alright, we are here. You can open your eyes now," I said as I gently placed them on the floor.

I then walked up to the door and inputted the override. The doors opened and we walked into the security center.

The security center looked like what you would expect. A desk with an intercom along with many monitors watching over different areas on all of the floors. There was no one inside and there seemed to be traces of people eating in there along with other desks that had computers on top.

We approached the monitors with me in the lead. As we got closer I quickly began to scan the screens looking for the one watching the dorm and any others that might show…things not suitable for children. I identified them immediately and sent quick jabs with my fists putting holes through all of the monitors responsible.

"Why did you do that?" asked Luna tilting her head in confusion.

"....I saw a fly," I said calmly, doing my best not to attract suspicion, "Anyway these are the monitors I will need you two to watch," I said before reaching into my pack and pulling out a small earpiece that I keep in case of emergencies.

"This earpiece connects to both me and a nice lady named Miranda but call her Ms. Keyes. If you need to inform me of an enemy's whereabouts simply press the button on the side and speak clearly and concisely giving as much detail as possible. Ask Ms. Keyes in a second for more instructions. I need to talk to her so just sit here for a second and don't put the earpiece in," I instructed Luna before stepping away to contact Miranda.

"Miranda come in, I have an update," I spoke into my helmet microphone outside the door of the security center.

"Go ahead," said Miranda telling me to relay my information.

"The facility is infested with Special Forces Covenant consisting of spec ops jackals and grunts. They are being led by Brute stalkers who have broken into the data hive, but I was able to neutralize them before they could extract anything. I have discovered two survivors, a boy and a girl who are brother and sister. I assume all other inhabitants are dead," I pause before continuing, "I am going to have the kids call out targets and stragglers through the emergency com so I need you to help them,"

"Negative Tex. The objective has changed and ONI no longer wants to run the risk of anyone intervening. You are to download all research data and recover the prototype AEGIS modules within the facility. You were also to rescue and escort any staff found inside the facility, but as you already know that objective is impossi-"

*BOOM*

I hear the faint sound of an explosion from above and the walls and floor around me begin to shake, "Miranda what was that!?"

In a panicked voice, Miranda responds, "A Covenant Corvette uncloaked above the installation and is beginning to bombard it with plasma mortars! Stay put, the Captain was in contact with a nearby task force after you found evidence of special forces being prese-!"

*BOOM*

*ZAP-BOOM*

Another volley of rounds impacts the upper floors as Miranda was finishing her statement. Unlike the first round of shots, however, these knock out the power darkening the halls. The only thing giving off light are red flood lights scattered throughout to barely provide any light in case of emergencies.

"Fine! But make sure you get the Corvette off my back otherwise the only thing remaining in this facility will be some new ground-floor windows!" I said running back into the now dark security center.

Activating my night vision in my helmet I look at Luna and Dante through the blackness, "Alright change of plans. You two stay here," Both Dante gave a look of complaint in my direction as if they were about to argue, but I continued, "I have friends on their way to come to get all 3 of us. For now, though I will have to defend this floor from any invaders. I need you two to NOT leave this room otherwise I can't guarantee your safety. If you are worried, talk to Miranda over that earpiece," I finished pointing to the device held in Luna's hand then turning towards the doorway and walking out.

"Wait! We can hel-'' Dante tried to run towards me as I had exited the room, but was cut off as I had already gripped the two doors and pulled them shut where they met at the middle of the doorway.

As I headed to the entrance of the data hive I could hear pounding on the closed door, but I didn't hesitate. I didn't even turn around. They may not understand how weak they are..or maybe they do and can't accept it. If I had let them out of the room they would have simply gotten in the way of killing themselves, me, or all of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Brute Chieftain Pov)

"HUMANS HAVE INFILTRATED AND KILLED OUR BRETHREN BELOW. THE SHIPMASTER ORDERED US TO KILL THEM QUICKLY OR HE WILL LEAVE US BEHIND FOR OUR FAILURE. IF WE FAIL I WILL RIP YOU APART MYSELF!" I bellowed at the pathetic weaklings in front of me as they shivered in front of my anger.

"YOU! STAY IN THE BACK AND REPORT TO THE SHIPMASTER WHAT HUMAN DARED TO DEFY THE COVENANT," I pointed and ordered one of these cone-headed runts.

"Y-Yes sir!" he responded with his pathetic race's high pitch squeal then ran away.

I continued ordering all of my men to proceed to eliminate the humans and steal all the data they have. Though they are heretics of the highest caliber their tenacity in combat cannot be underestimated. I have seen many brothers be ripped apart by their metal weaponry and I will not leave any chances by holding back a supplementary force.

After many minutes passed I had finally been able to move my force to the lower levels. As we exited the elevators used by the humans I heard nothing and only smelt blood. Not the blood of humans but the blood of the members of the Covenant.

My blood boiled and I swore to avenge my fallen brothers. Though we moved through the dark most of us could see quite well in the dark, and we could hear if there was any movement. There was no way these humans would ambush us, this battle would certainly be their last.

Eventually, we came across the last known location of the team I had sent to open the human data center. The scene in front showed me enough. The soldiers were massacred and seemed to have been ambushed from above if the dripping of molten metal and rock from the ceiling was any indicator.

Suddenly however I heard a small deep moan and a dragging sound to my left. I turned to see one of my fallen brothers still moving, but obviously in pain, "You 3 go help him and drag him back so he can get his wounds treated," I said to 3 unggoy in front of me.

They moved quickly and reached the wounded soldier in a couple of moments. They then began moving the body but stopped and began fiddling with something on his body. The entire time the moans from the wounded soldier grew louder as they touched his body.

After some time my frustration and irritation at their lack of speed spewed out, "WHAT IS THE HOLD UP RUNTS!?"

"Uhhh sir there is this weird thing on his body. It has a bunch of plasma grenades and one human grenade with a string tied around it. There is also a string tied to this guy's arm. I don't think he is actually alive," said the grunt nervously while scratching the back of his head.

"GET AW-" Before I could order them back an explosion of shrapnel and plasma erupted where they were standing.

*BOOM*

Getting back on my feet I then saw a human taller than the rest I had seen. He wore grey armor matching the color of his weapon. He fired his weapon with absolute accuracy as I watched my still-shaken troops attempt to get up only to be hit with his bullets and crumple back down. Each shot fired met its mark and he didn't falter as he reaped the lives of my troops. There was no fear in his actions as I had seen on so many other worlds as I had crushed their puny resistance. Even the ones that the humans believed to be heroes broke under my ruthless onslaught, but he had baited me into a trap and I fell for it. The last order I gave was to the grunt I had commanded to stay in the back at the beginning.

"YOU RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN BACK TO THE SHIPMASTER! TELL HIM TO BEWARE OF THE HUMAN IN GREY!" with that the grunt wounded with shrapnel nodded and sprinted back to the elevators. I resigned myself to whatever fate was ahead of accepting that my Great Journey had come to an end.

Because I realized I wasn't dealing with any weak simple human, but instead a predator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Mc Pov)

'Hah! Gotcha,' I thought before ripping the cord to my little IED I planted on the body of a Brute. Brutes as leaders are ruthless and know how to break morale, but they are also prone to acting on their emotions instead of looking at a situation as a whole with logic. That's why my booby trap worked. My armor played a voice recording and I mimicked movement with a string I had left over and had tied around the corpse's arm and you see the result.

A perfect ambush with 3 dead and many others injured by shrapnel.

After the explosion, I immediately swung my body and shouldered shotgun into the hallway from my hiding place. I fired, focusing on all grunts and jackals with needlers. I kept my distance and only took a couple of steps forward.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

I was only given about 20 seconds of uninterrupted firing before the soldiers had shaken off their initial shock and the effects of the blast. They returned fire and I reached down and picked up a fallen Jackal's energy shield.

I held it sideways so that my shotgun sat on top firing instead of the side for better accuracy. The shield itself was 4 feet in diameter meaning it covered my vitals in my torso but I had a little bit uncovered from my shins to feet and my head poked over it a bit. I continued firing, nailing my enemies in the head with every slug until my ammo counter turned red indicating I had to reload.

I quickly moved to a side corridor to my left intending to take a moment and quickly reload it. Once I got into the safety of the wall I dropped the shield by my feet and swiftly drew my pistol from my thigh with my left hand. I poked the barrel around the corner and rapidly fired the pistol with little to no accuracy intending to just lay down suppressing fire making the troops hesitate for me to buy enough time to reload my shotgun.

I put the buttstock on my shoulder and flipped it on its side and began jamming shells down the tube as fast as I could. 'One…four….seven…nine…twelve!' I thought as I was paying attention sporadically to my ammo counter as I was reloading. I hit the bolt with enough force on the shotgun and it chambered a shell just in time.

A Brute had gotten antsy and was just peeking at the corner with his plasma rifle ready to fire. I reacted faster than him and kicked the energy shield at my feet, angling it up. The projected shield smashed into the Brute's face concussing him. I sprinted to meet the Brute and his face caught another strong jab from my left hand. The jab broke teeth and he was spewing blood from his pace in his concussed state.

I moved around behind him using him as both a brace for my shotgun and a meat shield. My shotgun was placed on his shoulder as he was slightly crouched holding his face in pain. I began discharging my weapon right beside his ear, destroying his eardrum in the process most likely if his screams in pain were any indicator.

After a minute of prolonged shooting, I was out of ammo again in my shotgun. I decided not to reload it again seeing as I only had 6 shells left in my pouches. Before I grabbed my battle rifle I decided that my meat shield had served its purpose in protecting me from plasma. I reached into his belt and yanked off two spike grenades one in each hand. I armed them and forcefully impaled the Brute's back with the spikes attached to the grenades. I then front-kicked him forward into the hoard of Covenant. I lastly turned back to my left and dove into a single roll back into the safety of the corridor and its wall.

*BOOM*

*SHINK SHINK SHINK SHINK*

I could hear the shrapnel dispersing and the Covenant's cries for help in their pain-filled voices. I began reapproaching the hall with a rifle in hand but was stopped as I suddenly felt a large amount of burning pain irradiating my lower left abdomen. Looking down I realized I had torn my wound a bit and was bleeding again.

'I need to finish this quickly,' I decided before turning back down the hall. This time I was no longer greeted by any Covenant troops standing. It seemed that all were incapacitated and no longer had the ability to fight back. The fight seemed to be over.

But I wasn't going to drop my guard so easily.

And I am glad I didn't because as I approached to finish them off a Brute Chieftain hiding among the bodies sprung up and decided to fight me in hand-to-hand combat. He swung with all his might in his right hand and was just barely within range. His blow caused my rifle to be thrown out of my hands.

I adapted quickly and ducked under his next wild Haymaker avoiding the blow entirely. I turned to face him and drew my combat knife from my chest as we began circling each other. He no longer spoke any known dialect and had regressed to primal snarls and growls as he no doubt desired to rip my flesh from my bone. To most others, this image would be terrifying especially when you realize this 1200 gorilla could easily do that if he so desired.

But I was a Spartan.

Where others see a snarling beast I saw a scared desperate animal on its last legs. He was stricken with fear and I knew that. He knew he was backed into a corner and like an animal when push comes to shove he lashed out. He had thrown away all of his rationality at this point in hopes of catching me off guard but he failed, and now it was time for me to put down this rabid dog. Losing his rationality was strike one.

He made the first move attempting to go for a form tackle. To which I sidestepped avoiding staying within his path. I quickly moved to counterattack when he tried to turn around. I stabbed with my knife intending for the neck but he was quick enough to jerk his head out of the way and I ended up slicing through part of his armor and into his chest. The cut wasn't very shallow, but I knew I missed his vitals. His failed tackle was strike two.

He quickly became more enraged from the pain and bellowed out a loud deep roar. His eyes that I could barely see in the dark were bloodshot. Any semblance of reason was gone, if before he actually had any. He got even more desperate and again rushed to attack. Instead of going for a tackle, he decided the best way to kill me was to get his hands on me and instead instinctually went for a grab. This was his third strike and the final nail in the coffin that granted him death.

I waited till the last second and crouched down under his extended arms. I had changed my knife to a reverse grip since I opted to use my fists first. I sent two strong jabs with my left and right hands causing the beast to be knocked off balance. He staggered but still remained in place so I quickly came up from the ground with a right-handed uppercut snapping his head back. He was no longer able to fight back, but…I was thorough. With my knife in my left hand, I raked the blade through his throat causing him to instantly grab the torn throat. I then followed up by pulling my left arm across and plunging the blade through the side of his skull into his brain.

This final action instantly killed him and his body went limp and motionless where it practically hung off the end of my knife. I pulled the knife out of his head and then I myself dropped down holding my abdomen. The fight had been taxing and I was already wounded. The blood was now flowing in a small stream. Anyway, you looked at it I was not in good shape. I was exhausted, bleeding, and had multiple bruises caused by my landing.

But I would survive because as I said to the children before, "It's going to take the grim reaper a whole hell of a lot more to put me down," I whispered to myself as I began to pick myself back up.

Suddenly, "The Corvette has been driven away! We are sending a team down now to back you up. What's your status Tex?" asked Miranda with concern.

I took a minute before answering, "All hostiles neutralized, data secure, and all prototypes untouched…Mission…Success," with that said I made my way back to the security center. Covered in blood and holding my abdomen I was the victor.

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Damn that was a fuck ton of writing. 6000 words almost you guys owe me like a coke or some shit.

So this is the miniature finale for the intro portion of the arc. Next will be a Operation and I already have a name picked out for it but if you wanna make a suggestion drop it here.

Lets see I went and bought Halo: First Strike and Halo: Silent Storm but I need to read them. I am going to go look for Halo: Ghosts Of Onyx today. So that's something. Oh yeah! I am also gonna go pick up the new Zelda because it looks fire.

TheActMan on youtube also made a great critique of the halo tv show so go watch that video if you haven't already.

If you have any questions drop them here.

Next chapter will probably be Sunday so stay tuned.

Song of the day is "99 Ways to Die" by Megadeth

I hope you all have a blessed day or evening (depending on when you finish reading this) and I will See You Star Side.