HALO: A shot in the dark

[Gladiator0161]

He saw Raven nod as he said "Ofcourse we can!" and pulled out a plasma grenade and a pistol. A second later he tossed the glowing blue explosive into the group. The Elites caught sight of it first and ran for cover, the Grunts were slower by far. The grenade landed at the feet of a Grunt and exploded, but, not before the little gray blue creature emitted a sharp yelp of surprise before it was blown away, along with 2 others.

Gladiator dashed out at that moment, taking advantage of the cover of the blue white fireball still in the air. He armed one grenade and tossed it as Covenant weapon fire erupted around him. The grenade flew through the air towards an Elite in blue armor, but, the squid-head saw it before it even came close and dived away, making it land on the forehead of a Grunt that had been taking cover behind it. The Grunt squealed, dropped it's weapons and ran around in a panic right at the Elite who'd originally dodged the toss. Both Grunt and Elite were consumed by the fireball screaming as it tore them apart and fried them at the same time. Gladiator ran on towards the SOEIV, smacking Grunts and Jackals out of his way in a mad bull rush, his fists killing the Grunts on impact and throwing the stunned Jackals. Two shield wearing Jackals hunkered down, tracking his progress and firing.

The green plasma energy arched over his shoulders, igniting his own shields and draining them to half. He dived into a roll, pink Needler fire flying over his head and impacting upon the bare street behind him. He came out of his roll and picked up a Plasma Pistol of his own, charging it to full power and firing in a single swift graceful motion to take down the Jackal's shields. Then he tossed a single frag grenade between the two. The two raptor-like aliens didn't even have time to react before the grenade went off, killing them both and tossing their bodies either way to crumple in a pile on the street. He ran on, coming up on the second Elite in blue armor. Gladiator didn't even slow, he reached back with a single fist and punched out when he came within range. Two of the Elite's mandibles on the right side of it's face snapped inwards at the force of the punch, making the 6 foot tall alien stumble and fall.

Gladiator didn't waste any time, he ran for the remains of his SOEIV and tackled it, digging both shoulders down and maneuvering his head close to his chest. The drop pod came free easily, Gladiator's half a ton bulk combined with the full on tackle, ripping it free from the concrete. Both pod and Spartan crashed further inside. Gladiator recovered quickly and uprighted the heavily damaged craft, spinning it around to where it's back faced the Covenant still firing at him. He ripped open the entrance, finding easy hand holds of torn metal. A peice of hardened tar had buried it's way into the small compartment, trapping the weapons he was after.

Plasma fire and Needler fire impacted on the opposite side of him, exploding upon the reinforced plates of metal and heating it. For the moment none of it hit him, he was protected by the SOEIV. He held the pod and punched. The tar cracked and broke, releasing it's precious cargo at last. Gladiator grabbed the Sniper Rifle, amazingly still intact and unharmed first and placed it on his back. Then he grabbed the Battle Rifle. He raised it expertly, his hands recognizing the weight of the semi-automatic weapon immediately. He linked the scope to his HUD and peaked out, taking aim and firing on a Jackal that was trying to take advantage of Raven's preoccupation. The Battle Rifle spit out three bullets as Gladiator switched it's rate of fire from automatic to manual fire. The bullets exploded out the front of the Jackal's head, splashing his compatriots with it's purple blood. He took down two grunts a second later that had wandered into the building. Then Gladiator ducked behind his cover again and waited for the aliens to reload.

[Old Lady Willow]

Raven was impressed, though he had seen Gladiator in battle before. Focusing on his enemys, he fired at one of the remaining Grunts, hitting it in the head. He ran around and chose one of Jackles, pulling it's gun away from it and useing it agenst it. The creature fell instantly. Laughing, he used it on another Grunt.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter now had another problem. He had progressed through the city and was almost at the location of the beacon, but he had come across a large group of grunts and no less than four elites, there were also jackals and rather surprisingly, a couple of hunters as well. He would have to be really lucky to get past that lot without sustaining injury, even if he was a Spartan.

He was thinking of going around them the long way so that he could avoid the combat, but that would go against both the objective and the fact that he was a Spartan who had been bred for battle. He held onto the energy rifles and moved around so that he was behind the hunters, he could sneak up behind them and silent kill them before they knew what was happening, especially since hunters were weak in their back. He was almost upon them when a stupid jackal turned and spotted him, alerting the rest of the group to his prescence. He let loose a volley of fire from the energy rifles into the back of one hunter, which toppled and died before it had chance to do anything, but then he had to jump and run into cover before the other one could fire, its weapon already charging up.

Whilst he was in cover, he opened his comm link again, hoping he had just been too far away the first time for it to work.

"Calling all Spartans and marines, need assistance, over"

He then jumped up, ducked again as hunter fire went over his head by inches, then released several rounds of energy fire again which took out three of the grunts and a couple of jackals.

[Kyle989]

Rook checked the SOEIV's systems, a force of habit despite the fact that he knew full well the techs had been over every inch of the thing as par pre-flight regulations. He felt the familiar pull in his gut as the pods' drop-mechanisms released in sync, surrendering their cargo to gravity's iron grip. For the next several hundred meters Rook watched the view in silence. He barely noticed the strain on his body as he and the rest of his team blasted through the cloud layers, months of practice having dulled him to the experience. The ex-assassin didn't feel it necessary to join in with the others' shouts of excitement, but a grin marked the corner of his lips. Flames soon enveloped Rook's pod, G-forces hurling him towards the cityscape below, a fallen angel cast from heaven. Moments later the world vanished, leaving only the darkness of oblivion...

...Two minutes and forty seven seconds later.

Rook's lip curled into a snarl, the taste of blood invading his palate as he continued to struggle with the Brute. His helmet on the street next to him, the ODST was face-to-face with the beast. Answering the alien's roar with his own, Rook straightened his back and pulled backwards, ripping its' shoulder from the socket. Keeping his legs wound tight around its' now useless right arm, the ex-assassin finally freed his own right arm from the beast's wrist, plunging his biggest knife into the thing's neck. Despite its' mortal wound, the Brute continued to thrash, determined to smash in the human's skull. However, it found its' strength slowly ebbing away, it's blood pooling on the pavement below. No longer able to aim its' fist at the ODST's face, the beast contented itself with trying to crush him under its' weight. Having realized this inevitable outcome minutes before, Rook used his own weight to alter the Brute's momentum, rolling him atop its' hair-covered bulk rather than beneath it. He then wrenched his blade free from the Brute's meaty throat, picking up his gear once again and leaving it there to die a slow death.

"Lightweight," Rook muttered in contempt.

[Hunter]

Lance had remained motionless long enough, noticing the very same group of Covenant that now were engaged with Gladiator.   He slipped into cover, sliding from shadow to shadow until he got near the elites that were directing the current attack.    He remained in cover and motionless for a moment until he was sure of which elites seemed to be in charge.

He knelt down, placing both energy rifles quietly on the ground next to him.   He then drew and primed a pair of plasma grenades, sending them spinning to the two elites that were busy directing grunts and jackals toward his fellow Spartan's position.

Even as the grenades soared out into the open, he grabbed up the energy rifles.   He did a tuck and roll, plasma bolts slamming into a third elite even as the grenades affixed themselves to targets.   One grenade missed, latching onto the forearm of a passing grunt but the other firmly attached itself to the head of the elite that seemed in charge.

Explosions echoed even as bodies and parts of bodies suddenly filled the air.

[Gladiator0161]

Gladiator peaked out from behind his cover, the sounds of battle dying down quickly as a pair of plasma grenades were introduced to the mix. Two Elites and a pair of Grunts were absorbed into the grenades turquoise explosions, a moment later purple dust, that had once been blood, and appendages rained down onto the street.

Gladiator stepped out completely from his cover as he sighted Lance through the scope of his Sniper Rifle "Good work Raven. Lance! Glad to see you made it. Any chance you've made contact with anyone from the drop or HQ?" he said, putting his Sniper Rifle back into it's magnetic hold and retrieving his Battle Rifle.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter was still behind cover, his locator on his arm was still beeping away, no one had responded to his broadcast, which meant that he was either on his own, or no one had heard him and had problems of their own. Hefting his energy rifles, he looked at each one, they were both quite close to being out of energy. He would have to replace them with another weapon soon.

He jumped up and out of cover, rolling to avoid another burst of hunter fire, he let loose the last of his energy round, which pounded into the thick armour of the massive alien, but it didn't even budge, the armour was keeping it well protected. Dumping his depleted rifles on the ground, he ran behind some more cover and picked up a dead marines battle rifle, he checked the ammo as he ran, it was half full with enough ammo to keep the aliens at bay. He checked behind him and found that the hunter was following him, charging its weapon to fire at him again. Aiming at the creatures weapon as he ran backwards, he squeezed off a three round burst which knocked the weapon a little bit but not enough to knock the aim of the hunter. It let loose its fire burst and Hunter had to drop to the ground to make sure he wasn't hit.

Then he stood back up and ran as fast as he could at the hunter and jumped clean over it. Being a Spartan gave him a good jump advantage, so whilst the hunter was stuck trying to turn around, he pumped the rest of the ammo from the rifle into the massive beasts back and killed it instantly, sending sprays of blood everywhere.

Dropping the now empty rifle to the ground, Hunter checked his locator and his comm link, still no word from anyone.

"Come in team, is anyone alive, respond"

[Gladiator0161]

(OOC: Since Hunter and Aiden have left I guess I'll take over their characters Lance (Spartan) and Gunnery Sergeant "Sling" Desmond Rockwell (ODST) for now. If they should decide to rejoin I'll happily hand their characters back over. This will be the same for others that may drop out as well unless someone claims them and wants to rp another character))

Lance shook his head as he hefted his Covenant Energy Rifles "Negative Mr. Boss man. I haven't heard from anyone, they must be jamming us."

Gladiator nodded, he'd been thinking the same thing "Alright, let's find those jamming devices boys and girls. Atleast one has got to be near by. Let's search this building first." The blue and gold colored Spartan turned around and walked back into the dark building, raising his M5 Battle Rifle and switching his Night Vision on as he did so. The light from outside temporarily blinded him for a moment but, his vision quickly settled, replacing the dull tans, grays and bright reds and blues of the building, to shades of black and lime green as his HUD switched from normal settings and into Night Vision. They searched floor by floor but, nothing stood out to the Spartans. Finally they all arrived on the roof of the ten story building. Again, nothing. Gladiator sighed, this mission definetly was not starting out well. Gladiator signaled for everyone to take a brief respite and for Lance to scan the surrounding area for troop movements with simple hand gestures. Lance nodded understanding immediately as Gladiator issued the order and tossed him his Sniper Rifle. Lance went to the edge of the roof lifting the rifle and linked the scope to his helmet.

A few minutes later Lance returned "Sir! Covenant Brutes and Elites converging on our building, their atleast two blocks away right now" he reported.
A second later another voice entered his helmet through the TEAMCOM "-ing all -tans and mar* nes. Need assistance. Over" the com crackled with static and interference but he was able to make the message out. Another team member was alive and needed help. Gladiator looked to Lance and Raven "Someone's on the coms, you two, try and spot them while I try to get them on the radio" he ordered, sending Lance to one side of the roof and the ODST to the other side.

Gladiator switched to the TEAMCOM frequency and said "Soldier, this is Sierra zero one six one, repeat Sierra zero one six one. Identify yourself and your sit rep. Over." His message was simple in it's translation "this is a Spartan, we are here and we are alive. What is your situation?" he just hoped that the jamming devices would allow his message to get through, and that there was enough time to render assistance.

Gladiator walked the roof of the building trying to get a clearer signal, and stopped once the static seemed to die down a hair of a notch, then repeated his message. He looked to the sky, wondering if the soldier would hear him.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter was surprised when the message came through to him on the comms, it was a little garbled, but he heard it clear enough to know that he wasn't the only person alive. He replied on the same frequency

"This is Spartan 435 - Hunter, heading to your location now, is there anyone else with you? Over"

He looked on his locator and saw that they were in a building not far from where he was, so he looked around the area for some weapons, found some plasma grenades and an energy sword lying next to a dead covenant elite, it wasn't ideal but it would have to do so he picked the equipment up and headed off towards the building, opening his comm again

"Is the area clear, or are there enemy forces in the vicinity? Over"

[Gladiator0161]

"This is Spartan 435 - Hunter, heading to your location now, is there anyone else with you? Over"

Gladiator heard come over the garbled coms. He was relieved that another fellow Spartan had made it but, where were the others from the drop? He looked over to where Lance and Raven were, it was going to be tough fight with just the three of them, he just hoped 435 got here in time for the show.

"Is the area clear, or are there enemy forces in the vicinity? Over"

Time to tell him. Gladiator sighed then looked to the transmit icon on his HUD "Sierra 435, this is Sierra 0161, we have Covenant Brutes and Elites converging on our location, distance: one and a half blocks away. I will try to cover you with my sniper rifle. Can you make it soldier? Over."

Gladiator moved fast, taking the Sniper Rifle from Lance and connecting the scope to his HUD.

[Hunter Phoenix]

He heard the message over the comm loud and clear, brutes and elites on their way to the location, and Hunter only had his energy sword.

"Sierra 0161, reading you loud and clear, will be there within moments, Sierra 435 out"

He broke out into a sprint and was close to the building, but he could hear the sounds of the brutes and the elites moving closer as well, maybe he could set some traps up inside the building, if there was any equipment of course.

"Sierra 0161 I am outside the building now, I hear brutes and elites in the distance but cannot see them, I'm gonna run up now and set traps as I go along, should slow them down a bit"

He sent the message over to 0161 and then headed into the building, as he flew up each floor he couldn't see much in terms of ammo and such to use, but he did find a pistol which he picked up, then he began the barricading of doors with anything he could grab a hold of, then he sprinted up to the roof.

He arrived out of breath because of all the running and the effort from blockading the doors, he headed over to the other two members of the team and saluted.

"Spartan 435 reporting, I blockaded some doors as I came up, it won't hold against them but it should at least slow them down a little while we come up with a plan"

[Gladiator0161]

Location: 1st street and Harvard avanue. Ten minutes after drop.
Only minutes away from the ensuing force of Covenant...

ODST Gunnery Sergeant "Sling" woke with a splitting headache, every muscle felt it had been pricked with thousands of needles. The ODST sighed "Ow. Well, that was a graceful landing" he muttered underneath his breath as he took in the familiar surroundings of his drop pod. He was honestly relieved that he was still inside and in one peice after the drop. He recalled the drop perfectly. Everything had been going according to schedule when suddenly someone had called out "Everybody prepare yourselves for emergency crash landings!! This bitch is jumping out!!" That was when everything went to hell. Just before something had hit his pod he'd seen another pod get vaporized or dissapear into the slipspace rupture. He wasn't sure which. Then something had hit his pod, sending him spinning out of control. The G-forces had taken over then, pulling the pod down to the earth. He'd rode it out though and never lost consciousness. It was only when his Pod had bounced off the edge of one building, then slammed against another that he'd lost consciousness, the impact had ripped him from the straps on his seat and slammed him against the hatch. He flipped on his Nightvision and laughed. He was currently suspended 30 feet from the street below in the side of a building, a hotel by the looks of it. His pod was stuck side-ways, like a great reinforced steel rock in the side of a wall of a steel canyon.

Sling checked his armory of weapons, his M6D Magnums, M6G's as well as his Maulers had fallen to the "floor", though his unpowered plasma sword was still in it's place. He heard the growls and barks of near by Brutes and smiled as he continued to gather his weapons and holster them. A few seconds later a common Brute soldier came into position, he popped the hatch, letting it fall. The hatch tore free from it's housing and smashed right in front of the Brute, causing it to dive for safetly. Then the others opened fire. Sling grunted and pulled himself on top of the pod and ran for the side of the buillding and jumped just as the pod tore from it's nook and fell to the ground, splattering a group of careless Grunts and slamming into a Brute that had gotte too close, killing them instantly. Sling crashed through a window and into the safety of what had once been a ritzy hotel room. The ODST got up and shook his head, then raised his M6D Magnum complete with a scope and moved to the door. "Time to find me some Covenant to kill" he said in a whisper meant only for himself.

A few blocks away from ODST Gunny Seargent Sling's position...

Gladiator spun his sniper rifle primed and trained on Hunter, Spartan 435, as he joined them on the roof. The Spartan relaxed a moment later when he saw it was a friendly "Glad you could make it Hunter" he said giving the Spartan a tumbs up. Suddenly the sounds of weapon fire drew the blue and gold Spartan back to the edge of the roof. He looked through the Sniper Rifle's scope and grunted.

"Great, half of them are converging on a hotel a few blocks away and the other half are coming here" Gladiator said turning to face his make-shift squad.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter gave the thubs up to his fellow spartan

"Ok then so what's the plan, I could head back down if you like and wait for them to break through, then slice and dice with this energy sword, speaking of weapons, is there anything better I can use than this pistol, a shotgun maybe?"

[PrincelyPup]

(i hope I'm not too late..)

Spartan 42 was a battle hardened war machine. He had been on harvest before it was glassed and was the last to make it off alive...he had been left behind and had been forced too fight his way into a covenant cruiser. He stowed away inside silently killing off the crew one by one until he was the last living thing on it. He had flown it home nearly being shot down by his own people on his return...he had docked with the hercules and after being debriefed he had been put into stasis until about a year before the current day. He was one of the first to go threw the spartan iii program...his armor was mainly white with gold as a secondary. His symbol was the cross with the sunburst with the cross black...the sun burst rays white and the center a cyan blue...he was big even for a spartan..but he could run as fast as a scout and beat down a hunter..he was the strong silent type...he barely spoke with his fellow spartans. He was a lone wolf after the loss of his team on harvest he didn't trust himself to another team. He used active camo so well he could pass get behind a hunter, plant a grenade in its chest and get to safety before they could think "oh dear"..
His name was matrix...buy most called him 42.

He was in his pod ready to drop with the other spartans..but it malfunctioned and didn't release...that's why he was only coming in now. He dropped in about half a click past them..he turned on his camo as he stepped into a squad of elites. Two clicked our energy swords and the other three took out plasma rifles. Matrix slipped out a bowie knife from his chest sheath. He snuck around silent as a cat and just as fast. He got behind them taking out one with Sword in the far back...driving his knife into its spine. He fell silently...he continued to the next carrying a plasma rifle he too fell.. Then the third feel with a blast from his rifle. He turned off his came pulling the pistol from his hip and the assault rifle from his back unloading both into the two elites. The lay held a sword...he dropped the weapons and pulled his knife again...he waited for the elite to attack disappearing quickly and throwing him off..he side stepped his charge and grabbed his neck in his atm putting him in a head lock jumping on his back and slammed his knife into its forehead. He pulled his knife out wiping it on the dead elite. He sheathed it seeing the group of spartans down the way coming towards him...he tossed a corpse in another and sat down among the carnage.

[Gladiator0161]

Hunter gave the thubs up to his fellow spartan "Ok then so what's the plan, I could head back down if you like and wait for them to break through, then slice and dice with this energy sword, speaking of weapons, is there anything better I can use than this pistol, a shotgun maybe?"

Gladiator rubbed the chin of his helmet on reflex as he tried to think of a plan of action. A moment later he shook his head "No, I don't want to waste lives and sending someone on their own is risky at best. We need a choke point. Good point, we also need better weapons, I don't think command thought we'd be put in this kind of situation so soon. There might be a makeshift armory somewhere inside that might do us, grunts in this area have been holding down the fort for us for the last couple days so we should be able to find something." He turned back to take note of the Covenant groups progress and then turned back to his squad "we need to find a choke point fast, the Brutes will be here shortly. Everyone inside, choose a partner and split up, find any weapons that you can and report back to me over the coms, don't go outside of the reach of the coms or I won't be able to get to you in time if you need back up. Let's move" he said walking to the door and opening it. He checked for any targets and then waved his men inside. Lance gestured to Raven in a "you and me" me motion then proceeded down the stairs "Me and Raven will take this floor" he said raising his Covenant Energy Rifle and dissapearing through a door.

"Right. Then me and Hunter will take the floor below you. Good hunting" Gladiator said gesturing for Hunter to go ahead through the door "I've got your back."

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter paired up with Gladiator with a sinple nod of the head. Holding his energy sword up, he walked up to the door silently, listening for any sounds on the other side, when he heard none, he kicked the door open and rolled in, bringing up his energy sword in case he needed to strike, but there was nothing in the room.

"All clear, let's move on and get to the next one"

He moved forward slowly, cautiously, letting Gladiator catch up.

[Gladiator0161]

Gladiator walked in after Hunter, rifle up and at the ready, follwing him down the stairs and onto the floor below Raven and Lance, sticking to the shadows as he moved.
He heard Hunter's call of "all clear" and moved up silently behind Hunter's right shoulder. There was alot of glass dividers, desks, and computers. It was an office building of some type. A little way down the hall and it turned into private rooms with regular drywalled walls and wood doors. As Gladiator stopped and looked into one of them, he saw a make shift armory, with shot guns, DMR Rifles, Assualt Rifles, Pistols, Sniper Rifles, and grenades. Six cases lay on the floor besides the huge reinforced steel cabnet that housed the guns. He twisted the door handle, found it locked and kicked in the door. The door bent in the center and flew off the hinges, crashing into the weapons cabnet behind it and rebounding off to crash into the opposite wall where it rested.

Gladiator walked in and went immediately to the weapons cabnet and opened the lower portion of the cabnet. Inside was stock piles of ammunition and atleast ten Covenant Elite Plasma Swords. He picked up two, clipped them to his thighs and looked over to the six cases beside him. He bent over the cases stacked next to the weapons cabnet and opened them. "Oh, this is nice" the blue and gold Spartan said picking up a Rocket Launcher and a Grenade Launcher. He switched back to TEAMCOM "Team, I just found a makeshift armory. Uploadiing my location" he uploaded his nav beacon and transmitted it to the team as he hefted the two explosive weapons, letting his hands get used to the weight of each.

He placed the Rocket Launcher onto his back and clipped the Grenade launcher to his belt, and moved back to the ammunition shelf, picked up 3 clips of sniper rounds, Battle Rifle rounds and a case of extra rockets this oughta do in a pinch".

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter followed Gladiator silently, bringing up the rear with his energy sword.

When Gladiator kicked in the door to a locked room and came back with loads of weapons, he whistled at the small stockpile, it looked like the place had been saving up for a small war, disengaging his sword and placing it down on the floor; it was almost spent. He picked up a couple of other swords like Gladiator did and also strapped them to his thighs, then he hefted a couple of shotguns and shouldered a DMR Rifle on his right shoulder and a battle rifle on his left.

"I'm gonna run back to the roof with these, could come in useful having the roof as a backup, I also have an idea for that rocket launcher you are holding, follow me"

Hunter then took the equipment he had and headed back up to the roof, knowing it was clear because he and Gladiator had just checked the passage they had travelled down.

[Gladiator0161]

Stand My Ground

ODST Gunnery Seargent "Sling"
Location: A hotel on 1st street and Harvard Avenue. 40 minutes after drop.[/i]

Sling picked his way through the destroyed hotel, stepping past debris and bodies of both the innocent and the fallen brothers of the various factions within the UNSC military. A Spartan lay among the bodies of the ODST's, the Marines and the civilians. He paused for a moment to arrange the bodies in a more dignified manner before removing the clips from their weapons. He picked an almost unused Sub-machine gun from the corpse of an ODST soldier and moved on. By the time he stumbled upon the Brutes, Grunts and Jackals, he had about 20 clips for the sub-machine gun, 10 clips for his Magnum's and his pistols. He backed up into one of the shadows in the destroyed hallway and crouched behind a pile of debris that originated from the ceiling and part of the wall. The lead Brute in gold armor though had already picked up his scent. It turned and looked right at him, gesturing in his general area and barking commands to his followers. The Grunts followed the Jackals in, the bird-like alien's sheild arms leading the way, while the shields themselves lit the dark hallway. One of the Grunts spotted him shortly before he put a round from one of his M6G Pistols through it's forehead but, the suprised squeek was enough to alert the others to his presence. The Team of Jackals and Grunts fired, the arching energy passing harmlessly over his head as he dived out of the way, unloading rounds from his pistols at the aliens. Two Jackals crouched down further, their defensive sheilds protecting them from his onslaught. He rolled to his feet and fired his pistols again, dropping two grunts behind them that had foolishly tried to move up to gain a better firing position. The Jackals momentarily dropped their guard as their companions fell limply to their feet, their reptilian like beaks dropping open in suprise. The ODST dropped them a moment later with a round through each of their heads, their suprised expression now forever stuck on their alien faces.

The remaining Grunts turned and fled back to their leaders now that their protection was gone but, the four Brutes stepped up and fired their weapons. The heated metal from the Brute's Spiker's flew over his head as the leader in the gold armor unslung his Brute Shot and fired. The explosives from the lead Brute's weapon knocked him over and drained his sheilds to dangerously low levels. One of the low ranking Brute Infantry warriors stepped up, his Spiker in hand prepared to finish the ODST off for good. Sling's leg shot out, catching the muscle bound alien in the back of the knee and dropping it to one knee. Sling swiped one of the M6D Magnum's from it's holster, stuck the barrel of the weapon into the Brute's mouth and fired, the contents of his head splatttering all over it's comrade that came from behind it to join in the slaughter. Momentarily blinded by his allies blood, the Brute stumbled back in suprise and waved a massive arm clumsily in the air in front of it, to try and swat the Human away. Sling got up and fired his remaining pistol and drawn out Magnum, catching the thick hided beast in it's thick chest, the rounds from each weapon shoving it back more, the two remaining Grunts fled out of fright, dropping their weapons and squeeling as they waved their thick arms in the air like a white flag of surrender. The ODST ran at the gray alien and tackled it, putting his full body weight into it, knocking the creature over just as it cleared the blood from it's eyes. Sling put two rounds into the creatures ribs before he was hauled bodily from the Brute, and thrown against a nearby wall, the impact of his body making a readily noticeable imprint in the drywall. The ODST grunted in pain but rolled succesfully to his feet. The Brute Leader sneered and raised it's Brute Shot it's finger already on the trigger. An explosive round loaded into the firing chamber and launched, as the ODST dived for an open room nearby. The round detonated so close he could feel the heat from the explosion, and the resulting concussion of the explosion threw him further into the room than he had expected.

He slid on debris and glass, coming to a jarring stop against and over turned dresser, his helmet thankfully taking most of the damage. The gold armored Brute filled the doorway, it's deep growling bark announcing it's presence. Sling was still momentarily disoriented from the ordeal as it moved up and picked him up bodily oce again, sneering into the reflective sheen of his visor. The ODST didn't try to grab for the aliens arm, instead he reached for the two Maulers on his shoulders and placed them against the Brute's armored chest. "Eat this asshole" Sling sneered as a look of understanding dawned on the golden armored aliens face. Sling pulled the triggers of both weapons, their pellet like rounds punching through the Brute's armor due to proximity and ripping out it's back. The weapon's kick and firepower threw both Human and Brute in seperate directions, slamming the ODST back into the toppled dresser, and flinging the Brute to the foot of the doorway as the Brute Shot slipped from already limp fingers, clattering on the ground. The last remaining Brute stumbled over to it's leader's corpse, taking in the remains of what had been the alien's chest. The alien snarled angrily and fired it's Spiker, the heavy metal diging into the dresser as Sling rolled out of the way. Sling dived for the fallen Brute Shot, raising it in time to fire an explodive round into the Infantry Brute just as it stepped into the room, the shot caught it in the stomach, blowing it out of the door way, momentarily stunning it as it slammed into the wall, crushing the drywall behind it and leaving a heavy imprint in the wall. The Odst Got up and fired the Brute Shot again, this time the shot hitting high on it's chest and denting in the armor. The Brute dropped it's weapon bareing it's claws and growling loudly as it began to beserk. A third round blew it's helmet off it's head and a shot from his remaining Magnum punched through it's head flipping it end over end as it began to run at him. The dead body of the Brute crashed against him and knocked him down, crushing him beneath it's dead weight. Sling just sat still for the moment, recovering his breath and willing his heart to calm from the massive amounts of adrenaline that had flooded his sytem.

Sling pushed the dead Brute's body off of him with a great heave and shook his head.

"Sheesh" he muttered as he reached up to switch over to a general comm channel and switch his tracking beacon on "calling any UNSC forces within the vicinity. This is ODST Gunnery Seargent Sling. I am currently holed up in a hotel with unknown number of Covenant forces. Over"

A few blocks away

Gladiator nodded to Hunter as the Spartan entered and began collecting his own assortment of weapons. He moved to the doorway and and kept watch for any Covenant threats as Hunter collected his things.

"I'm gonna run back to the roof with these, could come in useful having the roof as a backup, I also have an idea for that rocket launcher you are holding, follow me"

Hunter then took the equipment he had and headed back up to the roof, knowing it was clear because he and Gladiator had just checked the passage they had travelled down.

Intrigued as to his comrade's plans he followed silently, adjusting the teams NAV markers onto the location of the weapon storage room instead of himself. Suddenly a NAV marker appeared on his HUD indicating that an alley was nearby shortly before a message crackled over the general comm channel. "Calling all UNSC forces within the vicinity, this is ODST Gunnery Sergeant Sling. I am currently holed up in a hotel with unknown number of Covenant forces. Over." Judging from the location of the beacon and the relatively clear transmission, the ODST was only a few blocks away.

Gladiator hurried past Hunter as he switched over to general comms, going at a fast jog towards the roof "Gunny, this is Sierra 0161. We're near your position in a office building a few blocks away. We are about to engage Covenant forces of our own. If you can make your way over here, we'd be glad of the assistance. Over."
A moment later Gladiator's tracking beacon went active as well.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter watched as Gladiator gave their position to the Gunnery Seargent, then he stepped up and pointed at the building where the covenant were firing across at them.

"Use the Rocket Launcher to take them out for good, there are enough explosive rounds to do some damage, I will run down, get some more rockets for you from that armoury, you just keep them busy, and try not to get hit along the way"

Hunter then headed back down to the armoury after sheding the extra rifles onto the floor, then hefting his shotgun, he headed back down to the armoury, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any signs of the covenant, it seemed that they hadn't travelled very far into the building yet, maybe his barricades had held up better than he thought.

Just then he heard a sound as he entered the armoury room and saw a grunt with its back to him, he snuck up and rifle butted it in the back of the head, killing it instantly, as it slumped to the floor he caught it and dragged it out of the view of the door and then laid it down silently so its drop didn't alert anything else, then he ran and closed the door, his heart pounding as he closed it, grabbed more weapons from the armoury and sprinted back to the roof.

"Here are those other rounds for you, along with grenades and more guns, we are going to need them soon, I just took out a grunt in the armoury, we need to be more careful now, they are right up close to us"

[Gladiator0161]

((OOC: Just came up with the name of the office building, lol))

A Good Offense...

Location: TechCo Research and Development Center, two blocks from Gunnery Sergeant Sling's position[/i]

"Right. Watch your back down there" Gladiator said raising the Rocket Launcher and peering through the scope at the group of aliens converging on their location. For some reason the aliens stopped and looked behind them, something catching their attention. The blue and gold spartan didn't hesitate, he pulled the trigger and unleashed the missile upon the group of 3 Brutes, 2 Jackals and 4 Grunts, a second later blood, body parts and alien bodies flew through the air, scattering like a large rock had been dropped into placid water from a great height. The sound of the detonation was barely perceptible at his altitude but, the fireball was clearly visible. Gladiator smirked beneath his helmet and reloaded the launcher. A few seconds later Hunter reappeared with more explosive ammunition.

"Here are those other rounds for you, along with grenades and more guns, we are going to need them soon, I just took out a grunt in the armoury, we need to be more careful now, they are right up close to us" Hunter said as he laid down the weapons.

Gladiator switched to the TEAM comm "this is Gladiator to Lance and Raven, be on alert, Covenant are in the building. Watch yourselves. What's your progress? Over."
The blue and gold Spartan turned to Hunter then as he switched back to the regular audio setting "Nice call by the way. Now I think we need a choke point with a single point access. If we get to a computer terminal, do you think you can upload this buildings schematics if Raven and Lance haven't found anything?"

Gunnery Sergeant Sling
Location: a hotel on 1st street and Harvard Avenue, a few blocks away from Tech Co R & D[/i]

"Gunny, this is Sierra 0161. We're near your position in a office building a few blocks away. We are about to engage Covenant forces of our own. If you can make your way over here, we'd be glad of the assistance. Over."[/color] was the message that came back to him over the comms. Sling sighed and stood, began to slowly recover his weapons and move to the stairwell nearby. A moment later a NAV marker indicated the location of the Spartan and his team.

"Rodger that. Be there as soon as I can. Over." the ODST said in reply to the Spartan. 30 floors and two dead Grunts later, he arrived on the lobby floor, breathing hard from the long trek and the battle only a few minutes earlier before. He took up a position behind the check in counter and rested for a moment as he kept watch on his surroundings. His arms and legs were burning but, he'd endured worse and pushed it to the back of his mind. After a few minutes of rest, he got up, hopped over the counter and began to make his way to the office building where his comrades were.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter nodded to Gladiator and silently skuled away back into the building, he hadn't heard from Lance or Raven in a while so he assumed they were still busy searching, he needed to find a command terminal and fast so that he could create some kind of choke point for the covenant forces to be funnelled into and so that they could defend the building better. He searched several rooms, several times having to sneak up on either a Jackal or a grunt and silently take them out, but other than that he hadn't run into any serious trouble.

He managed to head down about two floors before he ran into an elite which spotted him, but before it could even utter a cry, Hunter had shot it twice in the face with his shotgun, the first taking out its shield, the second one blowing its entire head away in a brilliantly gruesome shower of grey matter and tissue. Hunter smiled in his helmet, he loved his life and his job.

He legged it down several long corridors, being careful not to run into anymore forces, then he managed to finally locate a computer terminal that was actually functioning. He ran over to it but made sure to close the door and barricade it first. He opened up the computer files and soon found the schematics, there were several choke points, but when he checked the motion sensors, he found to his annoyance that the covenant forces had split up to prevent such a move, he opened his comms to Gladiator.

"We have a problem, enemy forces split to prevent choke, best choke point for us now is the roof, only one way up so I am heading back now, call back Lance and Raven as well, they will be required, over"

Hunter then checked his shotgun and removed the barricade, he took a deep breath and opened the door, sprinting as fast as he could to get back to Gladiator, but of course, he had to run into a small group of covenant along the way, stopping him dead in his racks. He let loose with a couple of shotgun rounds which killed a Jackal and a Grunt, but the others responded with their own fire, which hit Hunter's shields but didn't really harm him too much. He backed down the corridor and ducked around the corner, reloading as he did so.

[Gladiator0161]

Sling hussled down the two blocks to the building his NAV marker indicated, running past the carnage left from a Rocket Launcher blast, the trail of the rocket's path was still somewhat visible however, leading his gaze up to the roof of the building directly in front of him, about a block away. He ran past two groups of Covenant, both with 10 members each, 3 Brutes, 3 Elites, 2 Grunts and a Jackal Sniper. Both groups came from different directions, one from the east, the other from the west, right in his team members bllind spot. The ODST tracked their positions, following their paths to the back of the building his team members were in. There were too many for him to take alone. So, he entered the front of the building, as soon as he did he heard two shotgun blasts from somewhere above his position. "Sierra 0161, this is Gunny Sergeant Sling. I'm in the building and we have a problem. Two teams of Covenant reinforcements converging on your blind spots, east and west of your position. I also heard shots fired from somewhere above my position. It sounded like shotgun rounds. Sitrep please" Sling said as he moved up the flight of stairs, his sub-machine gun drawn and ready to fire.

He ran into a Jackal on the 3rd floor and put a round through it's head before it could duck behind it's sheild for safety. Then he'd been knocked over by an Elite in red armor, he rolled immediately avoiding the plasma fire the Elite unleashed. He rolled onto his back and fired his Magnum, dropping the Elite's sheild. The red armored Elite whipped out a sword and dived in but, luckily Sling's foot intercepted the alien's sword arm and kicked it away. Then he snatched up his sub-machine gun and poured automatic fire into the 7 foot alien. The Elite gurgled wetly and fell to the ground. Sling picked himself up and made his way steadily up, careful to not draw the attention of the Covenant in the building.
When he arrived on Hunter's floor he saw the Spartan retreating around a corner to sheild himself from the fire from some Grunts, Jackals and another Elite.

Sling's Magnum was out in a flash putting two rounds into the Elite, one to drop the sheilds and the other to drop the alien itself. Their leader kiled in front of their eyes the Grunts cried out in terror as the Jackal turned, unloading it's charged plasma pistol, the ODST jumed back around the corner but still felt the heat from the weapons discharge. He jumped back out into the hallway and tossed a frag grenade, the grenade landed in the middle of the group of Jackals and Grunts and detonated, tossing their bodies down the hallway to land in a heap.

Sling holstered his Magnum after feeding it a fresh clip and hoisted his sub-machine gun as he walked calmy around the corner the Spartan had dissapeared around "looks like I arrived just in the nick of time eh? Where's the party going down at?"

On the roof of the TechCo building

When Gladiator heard the message Hunter had given, he slammed his fist into the safety rail as he made his way down, denting it horribly. "Raven, Lance, come in. Book it back up to the roof, the Covenant have split up, a choke point won't work, we'll have to fight them on the roof. Over" Gladiator said switching over once again to the TEAM comm. Then a moment later Sergeant Sling reported shots fired near his position and Gladiator made all speed to Hunter's position. Getting to Hunter's floor just as the excitement had ended. Relief flooded him as he took im the ODST and Spartan just as Sling finished saying something about a party. He was able to peice it together rather quickly.

"The party is happening on the roof. Everything ok here?" he said walking up to the two of them and nodding towards the mangled bodies of Covenant behind them.

[Hunter Phoenix]

Hunter looked to the ODST and nodded, patting him on the back for a job well done.

"Thank you sergeant, you came at the nick of time to help me out, when we get back to command, I'm making sure you get a promotion"

Then when Gladiator ran up, he saluted to his fellow Spartan.

"We better get to the roof then, wouldn't want to disappoint our guests now would we?"

He took off back for the stairs leading to the roof, he had heard on the comms that there were two teams of covenant on their way, big ones, so they would need to get ready asap.

[Vengurd]

"Mayday, mayday. We've been hit and are going down. I say again. Mayday." The pilot's voice was eerily calm, as if he were out for a fishing trip. Patric couldn't help to focus on that as he hung to the lip of the pelican's rear entry way, his armored fingers digging into the metal. He hadn't even had time to strap in when a seraph fighter had swooped in and clipped the pelican good. Now he hung in the air as the pelican spun out of control. The nearest person, a female ODST he had managed to save earlier in the day, was holding onto his too heavy frame, her grim face set as she pulled and sweatily exerted herself. He couldn't blame her. The pelican lurched, Patric felt himself fold and unfold, much like  whip, the metal his fingers bit into giving way. As his vision blurred he saw the ODST's face-

Eyes popping open, right arm shooting up, a cold sweat drenching him, Patric stared at a metallic ceiling. Letting his arm fall, patric slowly sat up, his entire body on fire. His mind was too boggled, too spotty to recall when he had arrived here or where here was, though he could remember quite vividly why he had been brought here. They had been surprised he had lived. So had he. In the end they thought it would suit the legend of the Spartans if he were to survive, now that the project was publicized. the skin of his scarred body was slightly tanned, his moderately muscled frame well toned.

sliding his legs off the edge of the flat, metallic table like bed, Patric turned to the side and looked ahead of him. His armor; the armor of a spartan, gleamed as if new. Some of it was, parts of the original having been broken beyond repair. Straining against the burning pain within his calves patric stood with a faint feeling of nausea and looked beside the armor, a full mirror showed him what he looked like. Whipping his head away from the sight, Patric grimaced and forced himself to look again, taking it in, letting the details soak in.

His right had was completely replaced at the wrist with a mechanical one. His original flesh hand had been obliterated into a bloody mass. The new hand had some feeling but nothing like the original. Moving the fingers of the hand proved to be just as easy. His abdomen had been blown out from within him when he had attempted to put a stop to...to...something Reaching up with his left hand, blessedly flesh and blood, Patric wiped his forehead. Too painful to think about that last mission.

His left knee had been busted as well, yet feeling at the flesh revealed that only the knee itself needed to be replaced, the flesh around it blessedly saved. His left eye, his good eye, had been smashed to bits when a raging Hunter had smashed his helmeted face, the visor shattering, pieces of it slicing into his face, his eye the unlucky recipient of a shard. Looking at the new mechanical left eye, he had to admit it was difficult to tell it wasn't real, yet he could see from it just fine, if with a bit of difficulty in focusing. His back had been busted and he knew it had been replaced. He could still vividly remember being awake for that operation. The pain as they removed the damaged spine, managing to save as much of the connected brain matter as possible to connect to a new reinforced spine.

Looking in the mirror, Patric sighed. He truly was a cyborg now. Turning back to his armor, Patric quickly put it on, feeling safer, more secure as he easily slid his second skin on. It felt good to be skinned again. The boots had gone on first, then the legs, hips, stomach, chest, shoulders, arms, gloves, then least but not least, the helmet.

They had upgraded his armor, giving him a slightly larger size than before. Having already been tall for a Spartan, he now reached just to eight feet in the armor. The back of his armor had a built in comms unit, much like the ODSTs designated as communications specialists. Checking the diagnostics, Patric nodded as his theory was prooved correct, the comms pack came with everything he could want, a strengthened signal and priority code, while not one of the best, was definitely better than he had originally had. A few bonuses were added in as well, additional power cells just under the pack, heavily armored to prevent accidental detonation meant he could hook up to some very draining equipment.

what in the world was command thinking? Giving a Spartan so much power was one thing, but hinting at the possibilities at newer, energy depleting weapons? As much as Patric enjoyed the thought, he had some reservations, giving too much power to a soldier could lead to some very serious setbacks, none of which he intended to get into.

Moving in the armor felt better than out. Leaving the spacious room and entering a deathly empty corridor, Patric loked both ways before picking the left, heading for the clearly visible stairs at the end of the hall. Seeing a door with large lettering ARMORY stamped above it gave him pause for no more than half a second before altering his course as if he had been heading there already. Opening the simple door revealed racks of weapons with boxes of ammunition. Smiling to himself Patric entered the room and picked up a Battle rifle, taking as many magazines as he dared before holstering three M6G pistols, one for each foot, the third at the back of his right hip. Three spare mags for each pistol made Patric a little more comfortable. Grabbing a racked shotgun splayed a smile on Patric's scarred face as he loaded the chamber, grabbing what ammunition he could.

Something was off, missing..something-Seeing the M9 grenades, Patric's smile nearly split his scarred face in half as he grabbed a quartet. Finding several pouches nearby caused him to unconsciously hum as he dropped a quartet of grenades into each sack, tieing them off and clipping them to his waist. He knew it was overkill and a likely hazard to arm himself like he was, but he always had a thing for grenades.

As he finished up, he checked his HUD, he noticed a blinking MESSAGE. Choosing to open  the message wiped the smile right off Patric's face. The Covenant had found earth and appareantly the majority of the staff here had been killed at the time and the last few remaning would likely be dead by the time he regained consciousness. Grunting, Patric look about himself and spotted something very useful, an empty duffel bag. He didn't know what he would find, but he would be damned if he let any survivors mooch of his good will. If they wanted to survive any longer than a few minutes with him around they had better arm up. Shoving as many pistols, rifles and SMGs as he could into the bag without filling it, he ground his teeth in thought, unconsciously moving to the ammunition and shoving as much as he could into the duffel bag.

Once fool he zipped it tight and flung the bag over his right shoulder, left hand gripping the battle rifle. Exiting the armory, Patric walked up the stairs and opened the door...to find the building above completely obliterated, turning into a smoldering rubble.

"Any UNSC Personnel who can hear this respond. This is Spartan Three-Three-Four. I say again, UNSC Personnel Respond, this is Spartan Three-Three-Four."