“Not the warmest face in the galaxy, huh?” said Barnes. I agreed with him: “What a pain in the ass. She had the audacity to insult me and my men, basically implying we ate crayons and glue. Do you believe that?” “Eh, it's just the fuckin' Army with their thumbs stuck up their asses. I wouldn't take it personally.” He on put his helmet. “You ready to move out bro?” “Yeah, let's get a move on. Marines! On me. We're going to the Hogs.” I gestured towards Barnes. “You first sir.” I'm sure he could hear the shit-eating grin on my face, and I could imagine the scowl on his. I put my helmet on and motioned my squad to the elevator.
	Adding Barnes and his ODSTs to my squad gave it a significant increase in firepower. Barnes had the SRS99C-S2 sniper rifle. It was a devastating weapon that could one-shot a shielded Elite 2,300 meters away. One of his squaddies, Bryant, was armed with the M41 SSR rocket launcher. The weapon had two tubes, allowing for rapid follow-up shots on any Covenant vehicle unfortunate to get in it's way. The third helljumper was armed with the BR55 Battle Rifle. Not as accurate or deadly as my DMR, but it was a more well rounded choice for a variety of combat applications. He also carried the M319 grenade launcher on his back. Personally, I preferred the semi-automatic or pump action models, but the ease of use and ruggedness of the M319 was second to none. It was a logical choice for the ODSTs. The ride down was uneventful, and soon enough we were outside the building.
	Waiting for us at the crescent was an M12 Warthog LRV and an M831 Warthog TT. The former was the ubiquitous recon variant, with the .50 BMG chaingun. Any Xeno dumb enough to get in it's way got dropped pretty much fucking instantly. The Troophogs had spaces for 10 people in the back. Combined with the ODSTs, we'd have just enough room for the HVI between the two vehicles. “Yo, I call dibs on shotgun,” exclaimed Barnes. “Nah, we need it free for the girl. I want you on the chaingun.” He sighed. “Aw, come on slick. Why you gotta be that way? Depriving me of you driving your Lieutenant around.” I laughed. “In your fuckin' dreams, devil dog. Come on, I don't want to keep our esteemed Major General waiting any longer.”
	I pressed the buttons necessary for starting the car, and the 12 liter engine roared to life. “Man, that will never not give me a boner,” I said in an exuberant tone. “I know right?” came the response from my gunner. “Everyone ready?” I asked over the radio. “Yes sir, we're A-OK. Ready when you are” said one of the female Marines. “Jennifer, give me directions to the HVI.” “Ok...there you go.” From the way she said it, I could tell she would have had a cute smile on her face. If she actually had a face. “Thanks babe.” I said semi-jokingly. A blue line appeared on the road ahead of me, and I pulled out of the crescent. The other Hog wasn't far behind. We drove through the busy streets, often stopping because of traffic. The city was a nightmare. Trucks were coming to and fro, offloading troops and carrying civilians, presumably to the park. “This is a fuckin' nightmare,” said Barnes. “Couldn't have said it any better myself brother,” I replied. “I third that, this shit suuuucks,” I heard Pulowski pipe up over the radio. Our little convoy made our way to the intersection. I began to cross just as a particularly aggressive truck turned right in front of us. I slammed on the brakes. “Hey! Watch where the fuck you're going, jackass!” said Barnes. The Army soldier flipped us off and replied “Up yours too Jarhead!” I sighed and shook my head.
	Just as I was about to pull away, I heard an ominous sound above us. “Holy fucking shit!” said one of the Marines. I looked up and saw two Covenant cruisers in orbit over the city. My eyes widened, and I put the pedal to metal. “Jenn! How far are we from the objective?” “Judging by our average speed, we should be there in 3 minutes, 42 seconds.” I looked up again, and I could see Phantoms and Banshees coming out of the ship like bees from a beehive. “Banshee on our ass!” said the ODST behind me. I heard the chaingun spool up, and a sound that can only be described as four jackhammers at once reverberated through the valley of skyscrapers. I looked in my mirror, and I could see the Banshee getting torn up. It pulled up away from us, but it was too late. Barnes tracked it expertly with the .50, and I saw a small explosion just before it crashed into one of the buildings. Another Banshee zoomed at us from the front, and I could see the fuel rod cannon charge up. “Shit!” I exclaimed. Time began to slow down. I pulled the emergency brake, and drifted the Hog to the other side of the road. The Banshee pulled up, and a green explosion flew up rock and asphalt from the other side of the road. It missed us. If I had been a second later, we would have been bits and pieces on the side of the road. I swerved back onto the right lane, and the Hog behind us did the same to avoid the blast crater. I drove for a few minutes longer before we reached our destination. The Carlton was quite impressive. It was almost as tall as the Army HQ and much more refined. An elaborate fountain made of gold and obsidian ran in the foyer, and an impressive holographic light show was projected into the air above it. I jumped out of the driver's seat, and the rest of my squad followed suit. We ran up the steps leading to the entrance, and the automatic doors opened up for us. The lobby was eerily quiet. The only sound we could hear was of our boots on the marble floor. “Which way to her room?” I inquired of the AI. “5th floor, room 117. Giving you the location of the stairway on your HUD right now.” “On me boys. Let's get this bitch and go home” I said to my squad.
	We went up the stairwell, weapons drawn; scanning for any signs of the Covenant. We used the flashlights on our rifles to see better. The tension was almost palpable as we swung our weapons back and forth, up and down. If the Covenant had landed, they sure weren't here. We reached the 5th floor, and were soon at her room. I had the Marines set up security around the hall. Barnes and I took up positions on either side of the door, and drew our pistols. I knocked on the door and pressed the doorbell. No response. I tried the vocal approach. “Danielle Silverman! This is UNSC Special Forces. We're here to extract you from the area. Open up!” Nothing. “You know slick, we could always use the explosive option”. “Nah,” I replied. “I have a better idea.” I moved my body in front of the door and gave it a good kick. It went flying, sliding on the floor as Barnes and I moved in, weapons drawn. We called her name once more and no response. We turned a corner and heard a scream.
	“What the FUCK” said an annoying young voice. We lowered our weapons. In front of us was Danielle Silverman, watching a video on her console with headphones in her ears. No wonder she hadn't heard us. “You gotta fuckin' be kidding me,” Barnes muttered. “You're Danielle Silverman, right?” I asked. “Yeah, so what? What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?” “Do you not realize the city is under attack by the Covenant? We've been tasked with getting you on a transport out of here.” Her face grew pasty white. “Oh shit...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to – wow you're tall.” “Never heard that one before. Come on, we've got to get you out of here.” I lead her to the Marines outside while Barnes took up the rear. “Jenn, tell the General we have the package, and we're making our way to the park.” “I just got word back from her. The park was overrun, so they've redirected us to a secondary landing site.” “Where is it?” said Barnes. “...On the opposite side of town.” “You're shit-” “Jenn,” I said, cutting the him off. “When is extraction slated for? It'll take us an hour to get there if we're lucky.” “It's slated for 20:00 tonight.” Christ. That's a damn long time. Can you get them there any sooner?” “Negative. I asked and they denied my request.” “Alright. I guess we'll be staying the night here then. Splendid.”
	I filled in the Marines on the current status of the mission, much to their chagrin. Nobody wanted to stay a minute longer then they needed to here, especially with all the Covvies that would be crawling around by nighttime. We hurried down the stairwell and approached the entrance. Our rides were just outside. “Stay here,” I said to the squad. “I need to make sure the coast is clear.” I stepped out into the foyer. No sign of hostile contact. I switched to thermal and IR vision. Still nothing. I motioned for the squad to move up and get in the Hogs. I ran up to Danielle and took a knee. I still had about a few inches on her. “We're going to put you in the side seat of my Warthog. That's where you'll be safest. Do you understand?” “I guess. I mean, yeah. I do.” I could tell the situation was overwhelming her. “Come on. Your best chance of survival is with me and my men, trust me. There's a reason why they assigned us to get you off this rock.” We got into the Warthog and sped off towards the destination.
	Besides the sounds of a distant battle, the city was totally silent. No-one else was in the area. No  Humans or Covenant, it had been as if the universe had ended. “I don't like this” I heard Barnes say over comms. “It's quiet...” said Pulowski. “Too quiet” we said in unison. Suddenly, I saw a green flash, and the asphalt exploded directly ahead of us. The kid screamed as we went down into the crater. Plasma blots began ringing around us. I tried to put the Hog in reverse, but we were in too deep. “Fuck, everyone out!” I screamed. I got out and saw Barnes jump off the back, but Natalie was having some trouble getting out from her seat. I took my DMR off my back turned to her, telling her to stay put. I began suppressing the Xenos who had taken cover under a building to our left. I counter sniped a Jackal, putting one round in his heart. I heard Barnes's sniper rifle ring out and an Elite with a Fuel Rod gun went down accordingly. A few rounds of plasma hit my armor, and I fell back behind the Warthog. I rushed over to Danielle. Her eyes kept darting between me and the Covenant firing at us. Fear was in them. 
	I looked down at the floor of the vehicle and saw the problem. Her harness straps had gotten jammed in the crash. I took my knife out if it's sheath and cut the straps. She was free, and I pulled her out of the seat and behind the Hog before stuffing the knife back in it's sheath. The Marines had already disembarked from their vehicle and were hiding behind it like we were. They were making a few pot shots but they were largely too suppressed to do anything. We were between a rock and a hard place. The space was too wide to use grenades, and their cover was too heavy to simply flush them out with small arms fire. Then, I had an idea.
	“Barnes! Stay here with the girl. I'm running over to the Marines! I have a plan.” “Gotcha, on the count of three! Three! Two! One! Leg it, Spartan!” I sprinted over to the parked Warthog, evading most of their fire. “Barnes, you listening?” I said over comms. “Yeah!” was the emphatic response. I turned to the Marines. “Alright, here's the deal!” I pointed to the Marine with the M90. “You're going to give me your shotty, and I'll give you my DMR. I'm going to sprint over and take those fuckers out one by one. You guys are going to cover me as I run over, otherwise I'm fucked sideways. Everyone got it?” “Got it sir!” said Pulowski. “On three, get ready to pop up on my command!” I counted off with my fingers. As my palm closed. I head the Marines scream “Suppressing!” They opened fire as I ran around the Warthog. A few plasma bolts went past me but soon our firepower overwhelmed them, and the Covvies went for their precious cover. 
	I slid behind a concrete roadblock, and leaned over it. I saw an Elite was behind cover ahead of me, and I fired off a shell into him. This took away his shields, and I heard him growl in irritation. I pumped the action, and a spent shell ejected out the side. He turned to shoot me, but I was faster. I pulled the trigger, and his head came clean off the rest of his body. Purple blood started sprouting up from his neck. But now I had gotten the attention of every damned Xeno in front of me and I vaulted the roadblock and hid behind a pillar. A few green plasma rounds were being fired by a grunt towards me. I threw a grenade at his feet, and seconds later he went flying past me, bleeding out of multiple wounds. He was dead when he hit the ground. I peeked out of cover, and saw that they were back to dealing with my Marines. An explosion landed right at the feet of a Jackal, severing him in two. It must have been the grenade launcher. I moved out of cover, walking and aiming my shotgun for any hostiles. I saw another grunt behind a pillar, and wasted him. As I went around the pillar, I could see a Jackal about to snipe one of my boys. I turned and shot him almost point blank. I heard him squawk in agony as my 8 Gauge shell put a hole right through his body. He collapsed to the floor and I moved on. I came up on an Elite and rapidly dumped two rounds into him. Down he went. Two more Elites popped out of cover and charged me. I managed to drop one, but the second knocked me off my feat and I dropped my shotgun. He stood above me and reached behind his belt and pulled a stick out. He ignited the Energy Sword as I got to my feet. He towerd over a foot and a half over me in my MJOLNIR armor. He truly was a humongous specimen. I drew the knife from my sheath and prepared for CQC. 
	He lunged at me but I jumped out of his way. He recovered, and he swung one more time, though I ducked out harm's way. He became frustrated and swung with a great arc. A fatal blunder. I caught his arm with my left, and my right hand plunged my knife into his neck. I could see the Elite's eyes widen as he tried to say something, but nothing except gurgling came out. I cut all along his neck and withdrew the knife from his body swiftly. He crumpled to the ground. Behind him was a Grunt, staring at what I had just done to his leader. I drew my pistol and shot him in the head. I checked the rest of the plaza to make sure if there was any more Xenos. My search came up empty. “Clear!” I yelled over comms. I picked up the Shotgun and walked back to my Warthog 
	“So this Hog is fucked, what about the other one?” I asked on the radio. Pulowski answered me. “Looks like the Covvies tore it up pretty bad when we were hiding behind it sir. Engine won't start.” I handed back the Marine his shotgun.“Dammit. Looks like we'll be hoofing it from here.” I guess it was a good thing Andropova had rescheduled our flight after all. I took my helmet off and turned to Danielle. “Look, just keep close to me. Do whatever I tell you to do, and don't wonder off no matter what happens. Got it?” She just nodded her head. I could see tears on her face, and her eyes were bloodshot. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness as I put my helmet back on. She didn't sign up for this. She didn't deserve to be put through this. No-one did. I sighed, but I pushed my feelings aside for the sake of my comrades. If I appeared weak to them, they'd lose all hope for us. “Alright Marines,” I said with conviction. “Form up on me! We're moving out!”