Twelve: Outskirts (They'll Regret That, Too)

In Amber Clad shifted into a geosynchronous low-altitude orbit above Earth, enabling the Pelicans carrying the Spartans and Marines to exit the ship in-atmosphere on their way to the surface. "The message just repeats," Cortana said over the TEAMCOM so that everyone could hear her, "Regret, Regret, Regret."

"Catchy," Commander Keyes replied, "Any idea what it means?"

Johnson promptly broke onto the channel. "Dear Humanity, we regret being alien bastards, we regret comin' to Earth, and we most definitely regret the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet!"

"Oo-rah!"

"Regret is a name, Sergeant," Cortana said with a tone that could have been interpreted as an adult speaking indulgently to a child, "the name of one of the Covenant's religious leaders, a Prophet. He's on that carrier, and he's calling for help."

One of the sniper outposts in the city hailed for the attention of the Pelicans as they flew by, intent upon beginning their insertion. "Immediate, grid kilo-two-three is hot. Recommend mission abort."

"Roger, recon," the pilot of their Pelican said over the COM. Then, to Johnson, "It's your call, Sarge."

Johnson was silent for a moment, then said, "We're going in. Get tactical, Marines!"

"Spartans, get aboard that carrier, secure the Prophet of Regret," Lord Hood ordered over the COM lines while the warriors checked their weapons and gear, "This is the only place on Earth the Covenant decided to land, and that Prophet is going to tell us why."

"Thirty seconds out," the pilot said, "Stand by to – whoa."

An immense, four-legged Covenant thing dominated the skyline, turning to face them. Its body was a soft purple, but the gun at its front glowed a livid green as it prepared to fire on them. One of its feet crushed a car on the highway as it got into position, protective flaps folding away from the discharge zone as power began to build. It fired a long stream of green plasma at one of the Pelicans and downed it while its dorsal turret fired on the remaining two. Their Pelican flipped and went skidding across a rooftop before tumbling into a courtyard out of sight, sending everyone onboard into temporary unconsciousness.

-------------------------------------------

"Hey." Cortana played a sound that was like someone tapping on glass. "Wake up."

Fred blinked to clear his head, shook himself slightly and briefly glanced around in a short check on the other survivors, pleased to see that the Spartans were among them. Of course, that was all but assured with Epheria running around with them. Speaking of whom…

"Down here, dude. Nice ass, by the way."

The Spartan whirled around and looked down; she had fallen out of the custom-fitted holster on his hip some time during their crash, so he scooped her up, ignoring her comment in favor of putting her back inside. She giggled and peered over the edge at their surroundings, taking note of the fact that the Pelican had collapsed someone's roof. "I hope they have insurance." Once again, Fred ignored her in favor of moving through a doorway in front of them, taking point in their little ragtag group of survivors and shooting the Grunt in the next room before it could call for help.

They emerged into the courtyard beyond and took cover behind more decorative plant beds, peeking over the top and firing on the Jackals on the far side and the Grunts trying to hide behind ruined pillars. The group moved in, and the Spartans thundered up a set of stairs in a relatively intact building, engaging the Elite and pair of Grunts that came out to greet them. There had apparently been some defenders there prior to their arrival; there was a small machine gun turret set up along one wall with a couple abandoned weapons lying strewn about.

Everyone had just gotten into position when some more Covenant emerged from an alley and began firing on them, but the humans had the advantage of high ground and cover and used it to the fullest. A particularly brave Elite fired on them from atop building across the way, but that made him a target for Linda's superb sniper rifle; she also took out the leader of the next troop of aliens that spilled from an alley, sending the Grunts into conniptions of terror.

More Jackals emerged from the passage they had used to enter the courtyard, and a well placed grenade was able to kill two and send a cargo module toppling over to take another pair. The only remaining bird-like alien and its Elite leader didn't put up much of a fight after that, and when the Drones flew in over the rooftops, they ran into a hail of bullets and started flying like lead balloons.

Which is to say, they didn't fly at all.

Another two waves of Jackals followed, along with a drop from a Phantom, but they went the way of those who came before, what with the Spartans opposing them. A Pelican flew in overhead and hovered there for a moment; "My girl's a little big for that courtyard, Sergeant. I see a good L-Z on the other side of these buildings. Meet you there, over."

"Copy that," Johnson replied, "Someone get a satchel on the gate."

The Spartans moved over to take cover behind a large UNSC cargo module, all guns trained on the gate; they had not lived this long by trusting that there would not be Covenant on the other side. A clank of metal on metal and a plume of dust proved them correct, and a second later the doors slammed outward and collapsed to the street, permitting a pair of Hunters to waltz into the courtyard. The worm colonies immediately hunched over to protect their vulnerable stomachs, leaving their backs wide open. By unspoken consent, the Spartan team split into two groups of two, and each group went after one of the Hunters; their only difficulty was that they had to avoid shooting whoever was the 'rabbit' at any given time.

When the behemoths were dead, they moved over to the opening that the Hunters had provided for them. "Second squad, this is Cortana. What is your status? Over."

"We're operational, ma'am, barely. Our pilot didn't make it."

Cortana processed for a second, then replied, "Find a hole, stay put. We'll come to you." The second squad's leader acknowledged her and snapped off the radio. The Spartans took point and followed the passage cleared by the Hunters to an open stretch of land between the buildings. There was a squad of Jackals on the other side, including one with a beam rifle concealed in the shadows of a ruined building; Linda got it right between the eyes, enabling the humans to move forward and take the rest out. Just as they crossed the gulf between the buildings – probably caused by the Scarab – a Pelican glided in over the buildings and settled down, releasing a few more soldiers to join them.

"Sergeant," Miranda Keyes came over the line, "I need you on that bird."

"Ma'am?"

"My Pelicans are going to start airlifting armor and reinforcements into the city. They'll need an escort that isn't afraid of a little hostile ground fire."

Johnson sighed. "Understood, I'll keep an eye on them. Spartans, good luck." The Sergeant hopped up into the Pelican, and it lifted off, heading out over the city.

The warriors continued through another short passage and paused at the entrance to what appeared to be a market and apartment complex that was now crawling with Jackals. Those who still had them switched to battle rifles for close range shots, letting their lone wolf take out the snipers hiding up top in the ruins while they made for the ground-level aliens. They hit a snag, however, when more Drones came soaring over the rooftops to back up the Jackals; they lost two of their Marines to the deadly hail of plasma fire that followed before they were able to rout the aliens and send them scurrying with their tails between their legs.

They split up and moved down two side alleys, meeting and overcoming the enemy squads they encountered there, looping around one side to find themselves in front of the hotel where the second squad had taken cover from the Covenant.

"Spartans, glad you could make it," said the Marine from the radio, "Crash site's on the other side of this hotel; Covenant are crawling all over it. Follow me." The warriors switched on their external lamps and moved after the Marine, heading down the dark hall that led to the other side. They were halfway down when the glow of plasma fire alerted them to the presence of the Covenant soldiers they had been warned about, and they quickly ducked into the inset doorframes, peering around the corner with grenades already in hand. Two Elites were the first to enter the hall from the opposite side, their Grunts trailing after them; the first grenade stuck to one of the Elites' helmets and blew his head apart in an incandescent explosion, and the second sent the remaining one staggering forward into Sam's grip, enabling him to snap its neck before he hefted his weapon and fired on the Grunts.

Once they were out back, they saw the crash site for the Pelican – and so did a Phantom, apparently; it dropped its load of soldiers onto a nearby platform and glided off, leaving them to clean up the mess. The last alien had just been gunned down when two Warthogs sped up, the Marines in them hopping out to let the Spartans take over, two to a LRV, and they're off down the beach, Cortana talking in their ears. "The highest concentration of Covenant troops is directly below the carrier," she said, "I don't think they want you to get onboard. That bridge is the most direct route to the city center."

Some bright spark had set up a small anti-air gun just around the corner, and though they didn't actually have time to go through and kill all of the aliens manning it, those on the turrets did make it a point to fire on the enemy until they were out of sight around another bend. There was another anti-air gun set up, this one with three Ghosts guarding it, and Sam and Kelly targeted them to the best of their ability; if a plasma round hit the right place, they were done for. They followed the curve of the beach over a reinforced concrete divider – and right into the middle of a fight between some UNSC personnel and more Elites on Ghosts, so of course they stopped to help. As a result, they were able to ammo up and gather some rocket launchers for use against any tanks they might run across.

Something – likely the Scarab – had blown open the side of the tunnel leading out across the water, and the Spartans used that as an entrance, leading the way for the Marines that had hijacked all of the unoccupied Ghosts following their alien riders' demise. "This tunnel links up to the bridge," Cortana told them, "It's full of rats, if you know what I mean, but it beats swimming." They followed the tunnel, weaving their way around sealed doors and blocked passages as the AI continued to speak. "I've been analyzing the Covenant tactical chatter. They're surprised, confused; I don't think they expected us to be here. Not you and me; all of us. Humanity on Earth. Odd, I know, but it does help explain why they came here with such a small fleet."

The soldiers encountered some Drones in the tunnel, following a slight upturned section of road, but the LAAGs filled the air with bullets, sending the flying bugs crumpling to the ground. There were numerous barricades in their way, futile attempts on the Covenant's part to stop them from entering the city, and the Spartans mowed through the opposition as always. They ran across a section of road that looked like it had been melted from above, and they barely managed to get out of the way in time before the Scarab they were chasing fired through the roof, absolutely annihilating a Warthog that had been harassing it while on the surface. At least they were close; they saw the Scarab walk over the new skylight while on its way to – to somewhere, and they gunned their way through the next barricades.

Surprise, surprise; from one of the offshoots of the highway came the rumbling of an engine, and Gray Team came skidding down into the main thoroughfare, Mike driving with Jai in the passenger seat and Adriana on the turret. They all quickly snapped off acknowledgements to one another and continued on down the line, encountering a group of ground transports that ONI referred to as "Shadows;" Cortana spoke up over the radio: "The Covenant must be trying to regroup. Don't let them."

The Warthogs wove in and out and in between the Shadows, those on the turrets shooting the drivers whenever possible, and though they didn't manage to kill them all, a significant portion of the vehicles were severely damaged when they continued on up through the tunnel and out onto the bridge leading to the center of the city.

-------------------------------------------

Fred stepped over the legs of an exhausted Marine, who was sitting down against a wall and panting from running so hard in such a short amount of time. His female companion was standing a short distance away, glaring at the back of the retreating Scarab. "It blew right through us," she told the Spartans without turning to look at them when they came to a stop behind her, "Fifty cal, rockets, didn't do a thing."

The roar of the Pelican's engines alerted them to its approach, and it was unusually heavily laden, not that it couldn't handle the weight. It swooped overhead and turned slightly to drop off its cargo: an M808 Scorpion Main Battle Tank. Johnson dropped from the transport onto the tank, then jumped to the ground, and the Spartans and Marines moved over to hear what he had to say. "Where's the rest of your platoon?" he asked the female Marine.

"Wasted, Sarge," she replied.

"And we will be, too, sir, if we don't get the hell out of here!" the other Marine said as he got to his feet, gripping his assault rifle tightly. He turned to go, but Johnson grasped his shoulder.

"You hit, Marine?" the Sergeant growled, looking him over at the same time; it was a metaphorical question, but the soldier answered anyway.

"N-no, sir."

"Then listen up! Usually the good Lord works in mysterious ways, but not today. This here is sixty-six tons of straight-up H-E spewing divine intervention. If God is love, then you can call me Cupid." His mini-pep talk was very effective in rousing the Marines' courage.

"What about that Scarab?"

"We've all run the simulations! They're tough, but they ain't invincible. Stick with the Senior Chief; he'll know what to do."

"Yes, sir, Sergeant!"

"Thanks for the tank," Cortana said over Fred's external speakers, "He never gets me anything."

Johnson clambered back into the Pelican and cycled a round into the chain gun mounted in the back. "Oh, I know what the ladies like."

**********

Hold down your head now,

Just let me pass by.

Don't feed my fear,

If you don't want it out.

- "It's the Fear," Within Temptation, (The Silent Force)