halo.bungie.org

They're Random, Baby!

Fan Fiction

A Halo 2 Nightmare by The Meep



A Halo 2 Nightmare: Part 1, The Nightmare Begins
Date: 16 December 2005, 2:11 am

AquaticAxis relaxed. Upon entering the Team Hardcore games, he had gotten really worried, thinking back on some rather embarrassing losses. Fortunately, he got Classic Assault on Zanzibar. Both the map and the game type he was accustomed to too. "Gotta up my rank; a 23 is pitiful. Glad I got a gimme." AquaticAxis said to no-one in particular. Flexing his fingers, he watched the countdown begin. He quickly scanned the other 7 players. "Rogue1, ThatGuy, yourBESTfriend, and AgonizingFog. Sounds like a formidable adversary." he quoted from a Jackie Chan movie. Gazing at his own team, AquaticAxis sarcastically said "The Meep, RazorDragon, and MuffledSilence. They give the impression of being promising allies." Little did he know, this "gimme" game was about to turn into a Halo 2 nightmare.

When the countdown finally reached 0, something subtly horrifying happened. AquaticAxis in the real world turned into the AquaticAxis on Xbox Live. One second he was sitting on his bean-bag chair in his bedroom. He blinked and yawned, mashing the A, right trigger, and the left trigger. When he opened his eyes, he felt taller, bigger, and naked. The air tasted and smelled metallic, like when you stand in front of an air freshener. His hand still gripped something, but it was larger, lighter, and harder. AquaticAxis opened his eyes and…

"HOLY SHIT! HOW DID I GET HERE?"

His eyes who had been lethargically opening as if in a dream now jerked open as if shocked. Instead of seeing two Ghosts and a Warthog on a sandy beach in front of a ruined wall on his TV, he saw the same thing in real life. He looked for his controller, and only saw a BR55, the handle already warping from his panicked and augmented grip. He brought his hand to his face and realized, after it bounced off a shimmering shield in front of his face, that it was gauntleted in iridescent metal with 5 depressions in it. Under it was lusterless black fabric, like Kevlar.

Distraught now, he glanced around hoping to find some trace, any trace, of his room; all he saw was blinking icons sporadically flashing on his retinas. He was everything that he normally saw on the game, except it was more life-like now.

"O MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED? WHERE AM I?"

The same voice came through his speakers, slightly synthesized. He saw who it was above two red and blue bars that had Classic Assault written above them. The crazed speaker was, ironically, MuffledSilence. He sounded in his early twenties.

"W-where am I?" a timid, pre-teen voice that came from RazorDragon asked.

"I don't know about you, but this looks awfully like Classic Assault on Zanzibar to me; except, it's a lot more," a pause "real." The speaker, The Meep, sounded about 14.

AquaticAxis realized with a start two things. First, The Meep was around his age. Second, he had to be dreaming.

As if on cue, Razor Dragon managed to whimper "I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming." Then a loud, sharp gasp followed by abject moaning and crying. "I want my Mommy."

At this, AquaticAxis finally had had enough.

"Alright you little kid. STOP the moaning. Truth be told, I don't think any of us want to be here right now." He knelt down, feeling suddenly dizzy and noticed how slick, precise, and fluid his movements were. "They don't call the MJOLNIR Mark VI the 'pinnacle of military technology' for nothing."

"Ok, now let's make sure this is real. Someone shoot me."

Even though he didn't see anybody, he felt 6 mini sludge hammers slam into his back. Stumbling forward, stars flitting around his vision, and his breath knocked out of him, his shields instantly dropped to 1/3.

"I said someONE shoot me" he managed in-between gasps for air. "Considering how real it felt, and the pain I'm in right now, I think this is bona fide." As he turned around he said "Your turn" and promptly shot 6 rounds from his BR55. 3 found The Meep and the others caught MuffledSilence. Both tumbled backwards into the water. RazorDragon, at the shots, had somehow managed to hunker down even more behind the mini-wall surrounding the bomb. He started whimpering even more. AquaticAxis suddenly envisioned him as one of the cowardly Grunts from the campaign.

Now both The Meep and MuffledSilence could be heard wheezing over their microphones, or COM, or whatever they are called. AquaticAxis walked over and stood, somewhat triumphantly he had to admit, over their crouched forms. "Now that we all agree on the reality of this, this, predicament, we can finally get to work solving it."





bungie.org