(Lasky Pov)
"You needed help?" A voice not fully human, maybe due to the speaker spoke to me. It sounded distinctly male, but sounded both young and old if that was even possible.
It held a calm that was uncharacteristic of a supposedly living thing that had just stabbed an eight foot tall alien to death with a broken chair leg. In the pale light of the emergency light I could just barely make out the green tint of its armor, but the orange comb of the glass in its head was clear.
It stood almost as a statue as it looked down waiting for an answer which I struggled to find as I forced out a response.
"Uh-I-yes," I had to stop for a moment and properly organize my thoughts, after a moment I finally got out the semblance of a phrase, "who-What are you?"
The machine (that I assumed it was) seemed to stand even straighter than its already perfect 90 degree angle, "Service number or rank," he spoke clearly before bringing a gauntletted finger up to a place on the left breast plate of his armor. I squinted noticing the white digits that read 003, "Sierra Zero-Zero-Three, and Captain," he answered my next unspoken question.
I opened my mouth to speak again but he cut me off, "We don't have much time. We need to move," he spoke as he turned away-
"Cal I have located the survivors. We are proceeding to rendezvous point Bravo. Alpha is no longer achievable. Monitor my transponder," he seemed to pause as he spoke to someone through the comms, "If we are late, then move on. That's an order," we shifted uncomfortably hearing the last thing he said.
I paused, 'He came back for just three cadets?' that-that didn't make any sense, but before I could dwell on the thought he turned back toward us.
"Lets move," he quickly said before beginning to walk away. The three of us shared another glance before we sped up to follow after him.
"Where is the armory?" he asked me behind him as he scanned the doorways we passed and various entrances. There was some urgency in his steps, but he wasn't moving with any particular speed. Yet, the three of us nearly had to jog to keep up with him.
"Its on the left," I said pointing to the next doorway which he ducked into.
As we entered the room Sully spoke up, "Wait the guns are locked electronically, let me-"
BANG
Before he could finish S-003s hand smashed through the metal cage door. Then with metal crunching he yanked it back out, the door coming off around his wrist with it.
CLATTER
He dropped the metal scrap and proceeded to grab and hand out MA5Ks to the three of us and one for himself.
"Wait-slow down," I couldn't help but say. It felt like whiplash with how quickly the situation changed.
He paused as he was in the middle of the action of placing a magazine into his armor, "What cadet?"
I froze for a moment it felt like I had just had a thousand questions but now I could really only think of one, "Why? Why did you come for us?"
"You sent out a distress call," he said simply as he went back to equipping himself with more and more magazines.
"And???" I asked with exasperation, "You shouldn't have come here, it makes no tactical sense. You should've pulled out and left-"
"What I should do is complete my mission," he cut me off as he reached over prying open another locker pulling out some frag grenades, "And my mission is to evacuate as many people as possible,"
He stood back up handing me a small satchel of grenades, "Including you three cadets," he said moving towards the exit.
…..
….
…
..
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(3rd Pov)
"Hey Lasky, did you know this was here?" Michael asked as he strained his eyes in a dark corridor. The only light coming from various circuits and glowing hard points on the large soldier leading the group.
"No… I didn't," Thomas said carefully bringing a suspicious eye up to look at the "Captain". The warrior seemed to know the grounds of the academy better than members who'd lived and inhabited it for over a year.
The green armored giant said nothing, they didn't ask and he wouldn't answer. What mattered now was getting from the academy to the rendezvous point, preferably with the same amount of holes that they entered with.
Chyler couldn't help but cough as she inhaled dust particles freely floating through the air, "cough cough I am more surprised that theres a tunnel underneath the barracks," she commented wafting the grey particulates away from her face, "Maybe its like a bomb shelter?" she offered.
"Maybe," Sully shrugged before remembering something, "Hey Captain are you one of those Spartans I heard about over the radio?" he asked
In front of them David moved silently, his knees with a small degree of decline on the account of the ceiling of this tunnel not being built for people 7ft+ tall. Yet, his pace remained at the upper end for normal walking humans, "Yes," he responded without pausing and most importantly with no elaboration.
'Does this guy just not like cadets?' Sully couldn't help but wonder.
Before anyone could ask anything else the Spartan stopped holding up a fist with his off hand, "Hold, listen closely," he said before turning around slowly. His pauldron slightly scrapping against the stone walls.
The three stopped and inched closely to hear whatever he was going to say.
"We've reached the end of the tunnel, that puts us in the woods near a service road, where I stored a Warthog," he detailed leaving out what was unnecessary, "I am going to check the surroundings of the tunnel stay put,"
He turned back around his new MA5K raised, "Whatever you hear, stay put until I come back," with slight thuds of metal he moved on eventually disappearing in the dark.
Lasky turned around only to see a smug look on Chyler's face, "'We're screwed' huh?" she said mocking him for what he'd said earlier.
Thomas felt his face heat up as a light of embarrassment hit him, "We're not out of the woods yet," he mumbled before deftly changing the subject, "Sully was that what you saw in the classified video?" he asked curiously.
"Yeah," Michael nodded recalling, "But the one in the video was a bit different. It was shorter I think, and had a different number," he paused straining his memory, "I think that one had a different helmet too,"
"How many do you think there are?" Chyler asked hopeful
"Hopefully thousands," Sully said, "But with how advanced that armor seems? I doubt there are any more than a couple hundred,"
"Lets hope you are wrong," Lasky said releasing a deep sigh from the tension that had built up over the past few hours, "I have a feeling we will need as many as we can get-"
RAAAHHOUUUUUU
The three paused and immediately brought the rifles up. Chyler and Sully pointed facing the direction that the Spartan had wandered off in, while Lasky watched the way they came.
EEEEAHHHHH
OOOOOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAA
POP-POP-POP…..
Echoes of inhuman screams and muffled gun shots filled the passage as the three cadets stood on guard. The voices were both a mixture of deep and high pitched, but they shared one thing and that was neither spoke in any intelligible form.
Minutes dragged on until there was silence. No gun shots, no screams, nothing but stale air flowing between stone. Unease set in as the cadets sought to hang onto their lifeline.
"What should we do Tom?" Chyler asked.
"Maybe see if he needs help?" Sully offered.
"Calm down, you aren't thinking clearly," Lasky reprimanded, "First he gave us a direct order, and seeing as he heavily outranks all three of us it would be insubordination to disobey. I don't know about you two, but I don't want to get on his bad side," the two paled but Lasky continued:
"And secondly, if he wasn't able to handle what was out there, then what makes you think the three of us would be able to?" the two remained silent. They still felt uneasy, but they could not deny Lasky's logic.
And before long Lasky was vindicated as they began to hear the familiar thuds of metal from earlier, but this time they were much quicker. David appeared clearing far too much ground faster than any human had a right too. In his large form it was unsettling, not helping the tension that had made its way into the cadet's bones.
"-Quickly, follow me," David said turning around as he reached them, "I will explain the situation as we run," his voice modulated as the three behind him broke out into a high paced jog.
The four ran in a single file line. After the first thirty or so paces the cadets began to huff as they sucked in air. They looked ahead bewildered at the stamina of the Spartan, but said nothing and continued. Unbeknownst to them, David had intentionally slowed down otherwise none of them would even be able to see him with how far ahead he would be.
"I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" David asked, adopting a new approach.
"The good news please," Sully asked weakly through his strained breaths
"The Warthog I brought is still safe and undetected," he answered.
"And the bad news?" Chyler asked as Lasky's breath hitched.
"There are a series of search patrols outside in the forest. I had to engage a small squad, and most likely drew their attention," he explained getting a groan from Michael.
"So we are fighting our way to the Warthog?" SUlly asked only to be confused by David's immediate answer.
"Negative," he began to explain sending a shiver down each of the cadet's backs, "If the four of us decided to try and fight our way through the Covenant forces then at least two of you would die,"
He paused before beginning to detail his plan, "No, instead I am going to draw their attention. Meanwhile, the three of you will go get the Warthog and pick me up, where I will jump onto the turret,"
'He's trying too hard,' Lasky thought to himself bewildered to why he was doing so much for them, 'What value could us three have?' he was unsure.
David remained ambivalent to Lasky's inner conflict as they reached the end of the tunnel.
Moonlight flooded the four UNSC soldiers' views as the soft sound of shaking leaves replaced the repetitive sound of boots striking the floor. In front of them a bush shook, the cone plating of a Grunt's methane tank sticking out, but it was facing the other direction.
Leaving no room for any discussion David pointed in a direction diagonally to the right of them, "The Warthog is 300 meters in that exact direction, good luck," he began to place his MA5K on his back mount before pulling out his knife.
Michael gulped as he saw purple blood drip down the end of the titanium blade. It seemed the previous fight ended abruptly, 'Glad he's on our side,' Sully thought.
But before David could assassinate the Grunt ahead of them he stopped hearing a whisper from Lasky, "Wait! How will we know where you are?" Thomas asked expecting a complex series of directions the Spartan would take that he would need to memorize and translate.
Without turning around David responded, "Go to where the shooting will be," he simply said, "And then I'll find you,"
Finished David took a few quiet steps into the mud and dirt of the forest before pouncing into the bush like a tiger bringing the knife down. A high pitched scream later and the cadets watched as the Spartan began to sprint in the opposite direction of the Warthog.
Blue and green plasma bolts erupted from the forest following him as if they had a mind of their own. Yet, as if he had precognition David moved with superhuman coordination evading each and every alien shot. And with each plasma globule, a burst of lead rattled off in return fire. Some of the perpetrators of the first volley being instantly silenced.
The cadets waited crouched in stunned silence.
After the Spartan and immediate Covenant force was no longer in sight Lasky spoke up as he began to crouch walk forward, "Come on, he's counting on us," Chyler and Michael nodded, determined to survive this calamity.