halo.bungie.org

They're Random, Baby!

Fan Fiction

The Rebel by Elfster



The Rebel
Date: 15 September 2003, 6:09 AM

"Are the augmentations to the new Spartans complete?"

"Yes, sir. This time out of the 40 we have, they are all feeling a little strange, 10 are experiencing minor simptomes, 5's bodies are reacting badly to the changes and are very weak and sometimes seizure or cant move at all, thankfully we only have one fatal case."

"Good... And the rebel?"

"Nothing unusual, sir...."

"Can I ask you someting as a friend?"

"Of course si-..Err... Yeah, what?"

"What do you think of him?"

"He's dangerous, I admit that, on normal circumstances we wouldn't be doing this, but he's outstanding in training and a military genious in the battlefield and in personel combat. We can't afford to loose him."

"Yes..." There was a pause, no sound but the shifting of a chair. "Yes, I see your point, thank you for your opinion."

"Any time sir.... Friend..."


____________________________________________________________


He flexed proudly, admiring his new muscles.

The augmentations just got over with, and most of the Spartans had just woken from their rest after augmentation. He didn't feel the same, it was too different, but he knew it was for a good cause.

They had also just finished battle simulations, to test their strategic abilities. He had faired well but now they were about to start real training exercises and were getting filled in on the guns they'd be using, except instead of using bullets they would use stun darts For more powerful things like simulating bullets in the S2 AM sniper rifle, and small been bags in the place of things like M6D pistol and MA5B rounds. For the MA7B they would be using paintballs. As for grenades, just smoke and tear gas.

And now the training instructor was getting to Plasma Weapons....

"We haven't been able to forge plasma weapons yet but we believe we are close to re-creating or making something similar to the Needler, and there is one prototype weapon that was originally supposed to be a plasma weapon..." The instructor paused.

"But it turned out to be a freak accident. Our scientists aren't sure what they did to make it, but instead of firing plasma it fires an EMP burst resembling plasma that, when makes contact with a living being, momentarily jams some of the target's neural pathways and nerves.... If a shot was fired at someone, they might momentarily blank out, or trip or stumble, But if a continues wave is fired, it slows down messages sent from the brain to the rest of the body, slowing down reaction times by 75% and, needless to say, significantly slows the target." He took a breath, recovering from the long sentence. "Also, there are long term effects, and I don't think I need to go into discription of what I mean by that. As aforementioned, the creation of this gun was an accident, so until we know how to reproduce it, it stays in the lab for continuous study." He finished.

Colt was facinated.

He knew that with his new augmentations, if he had a gun like that and a MA5B or M6D as a sidearm, he could bust out of this place and go home, maybe take his friends with him.

He also knew that he was probably smart enough to duplicate the gun, and did good enough in the smulations to do alot more good in this war than he would at home.

He had always, since they came here a week ago, (well, I wouldn't say came) been the rebel in the group, the one causing trouble, and he had aquired a little gang from the friends of his that had also been brought here. Him and his freinds had been doing some snooping around here and learned of a small group of space pirates that had a temporary Base of Operations out here nearby in the woods, trying to hide after a little encounter with the UNSC that was too close for comfort.

If he could duplicate or get his hands on that gun, and if the gang (soon to be squad if I can pull this off, he thought) agreed, a few space pirates would be no problem. They would get rid of them, come to the training instructor with the news (and possibly proof) and he would definetly get a promotion. Duplicating new technology that could help be a turning point in the war and eliminating a potential threat at the same time definetly added up to a thing Colt called "Squad Leader Promotion".

It was a crazy plan.

Just crazy enough to work.

Authors Note:

Sorry for lack of description, this is a my new fan fic based on a new group of Spartans after the Master Cheif's group. Spartan 3 or Spartan 4 is what they would be, not sure, and the new Spartan training base is in a remote area near a forest on the US west coast. Most of the group isn't as young as MC was when he started, but instead about 11 to 14. The next chapter will hopefully satisfy alot more of your questions, I sort of wanted this one to be a little mysterious.



The Rebel: Battle of the Cobras
Date: 26 September 2003, 5:12 AM

Later that night, Cobra barracks.
Colt stretched out on his top bunk, the cool air blowing his hair around, which tickled his face.
Without even glancing downward, he complained "Damn, man, why do I get the bunk right below the vent?"
"Because nobody likes you and you're alone in the world." Came a scratchy taunting voice.
Without looking he recognized it as Joe.
There were a few laughs as Colt remembered the day.
They had been split into "armys" for training exercises and would be competing over training.
Unfortunately "army" obviously to the training instructors meant "fire team" because thats pretty much what each army was
There were four of them,
Cobra
Cougar
Grizzly
Hawk
Colt was in Cobra, as well as all his friends:
Rob
Andy
Jake
Kate
Olivia
Joe
Drew
Jackie
Rachel
They hadn't had any competitions yet but they were going to start tomorrow.
Getting bored, he slid off his bunk and onto the floor, he was pleasantly surprised that the fall was completely absorbed and he took no pain.
Rob and Joe were wrestling playfully at the far end of the barracks, and Kate and Rachel were playing cards over in the other end of the barracks. He was in a trance looking at Kate.
Shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, perfectly red lips that parted as she giggled an eerie, girlish giggle, her long legs crossed perfectly on the bunk.
Being that hot should be illegal, he said silently to himself as he nervously walked up, but tried to make it look casual.
"Hellllo ladies." He grinned tauntingly as he plumped down on the low bunk.
"Is that supposed to be some lousy come-on?" Asked Rachel as she turned around, her spunky light brown face grinning.
"Big words." My grin matched her's.
"You wanna fight?" Kate taunted, throwing her head back and forth, since she knew it looked incredibly stupid and would get a laugh out of them.
"What did I tell you about doin' that? You're gonna get whiplash!" I scolded playfully.
The three of us laughed and then she put on an eerie, girlish smile. "You're on."
They stood face to face in the middle of the barracks, almost all eyes on them, some people just looked over once in a while and kept doing whatever they were doing.
She threw the first punch, but all it hit was air where his head had just been.
This time she threw a left, and again he tilted his head out of the way, not needing to move the rest of his body.
She tried an uppercut instead, but he was too quick.
He back flipped to dodge it, kicking her on either shoulder in the process. He finished the back flip as she flew onto her back and used the momentum to proceed to do a backwards summersault and stand up.
She came at him and tried to do a foot sweep. He jumped before he realized his fatal error and before his feet touched the ground he felt a fist make hard contact with his chest as he landed on his back and skidded a few inches.
"We're square." She said as she half-heartedly stomped on him as he rolled out of the way and back into position.
"For now." He said quickly before he rolled the other direction to avoid another stomp.
This time he wasn't quick enough and her foot was about to make contact with his groin when a pale hand caught her heel.
"What th-" She was interrupted by the pale figure with short, flaming bright orange hair as he abruptly pushed up on the leg, causing her to fell to her back. He then proceeded with a hard kick to the groin and she skidded along the smooth floor a yard and a half away.
"Thanks." He said as Rob helped him up.
"Hey, what are friends for?" Rob grinned, and he grinned back.
"Hey! No fair!" Drew smiled, joining the fight on Kate's side, since he had known her longer than most of them.
He helped her up and the group now stood parallel. Colt from Drew, Rob from Kate.
They ran for their partners. Drew and Colt began exchanging failing punches as Rob threw his right fist at Kate.
She caught it, pushed it up to touch his shoulder, and pivoted, dodging his left fist and placing one foot behind him, then with her other arm, grabbed his shoulder and got closer, as if hugging him.
"Sweet dreams." She said as she brought her foot forward, taking out his legs, recoiled her right hand while pushing her elbow into his chest, then jerking his right arm to the left and letting go all in once swift motion, sending him into two spirals in the air then he fell hard with his back against the low bunk.
This happened just as Drew tried kicking, but Colt just pivoted, grabbed his heel, then with the other hand, his waist, and threw him over his shoulder then whipped around and before Kate could react, chopped her in a pressure point with his hand and she fell to her knees.
Rob grabbed her head and slammed it against a metal bar supporting the bunk bead, she was out cold.
There was a pause in the combat.
"Ok, we're even." Rob said and grinned.
Colt was about to help him up when Rob yelled;
"BEHIND YOU!"
On instinct he dropped to the ground on his arms, as if going to do a pushup, and donkey kicked behind him. He turned around in time to see Drew fly across the aisle and slam into the bunks across from him. He almost fell to his knees but got back up to face Colt.
He charged. Colt threw two punches, both times he grabbed the fists, then crossed the arms and spun Colt around, then grabbed his shoulder and pulled down as he kneed up, hitting him in the lower back.
He yelped in pain and rolled to the floor... Motionless.
Rob was now cornered with Drew in front of him.
"Uhh, don't you think this fight has gone just a little too far?" He tried to protest as Drew stepped forward.
"Oh come on, it's all just in the name of fun!" He grunted the last word as he threw a punch at Rob's face.
Rob, still sitting against the low bunk on the ground, threw his upper body to the flood, rolled once, then landed a successful punch at Drew's groin.
He groined in pain and fell to his knees, his eyes glazed over.
Rob punched him in the cheek, sending his upper half of his body to the ground.
Rob stood, and kicked Drew in the ribs. He moaned and rolled over only to receive a double-stomp to the face.
He clutched his face, but it was fine, he just has a bloody nose. These augmentations were great.
He stood and grabbed a bar supporting an upper bunk to support himself, not out of pain, but just being tired.
Rob then tried to go for the win, and charged,
Drew braced himself, and at the last moment ducked, pivoted, ripped the bar off and swung it around in one motion, dodging the attack and hitting Rob in the back.
The bunk groaned and became un-level slightly but didn't slide. Luckily it didn't belong to anyone.
Rob had now fallen to his knees. Drew guessed he might have already been unconscious or on the verge of it, but just to be sure he swung at the side of his head.
At first Rob didn't even move a centimeter, then stiffly collapsed to the floor.
Drew breathed heavily, and with sighs of relief.
The victory was short-lived however, as he felt a hand on his shoulder and whipped around to see Colt.
Before he could react Colt grabbed Drew's armed hand, brought his knee up into it, causing him to drop the bar in pain, then with the same leg, kicked out, sending Drew at an angle into a bunk then to the floor. His eyes closed and his tan face with short brown spiked hair was at rest.
Colt twirled the bar in the air for a second and grinned. There were a few cheers as a few people jumped off their bunks to help people up.
Colt heard a groan from behind him and saw Kate coming to. He walked over to her and sat her up.
"Mmmmphh." She blew the hair off her face. "Who won?"
"Do you really need to ask?" He smiled warmly and helped her to her bunk.
He laid her down as she playfully batted his hand away.
"You might be able to win a fight, but I can take care of myself." She stated with a hint of taunt in her voice.
The lights dimmed and then went off, quite literally signaling "Lights off" time.
The only light coming in the plain room was the soft, white light of the moon glowing down from a skylight, illuminating the room a bit, just enough so that he could see her face. Their faces drew closer until they were a half an inch away from touching and they starred into each others eyes, and for the first time in his life he thought he knew what real love was like.
____________________________________________________________
Authors Note: once again sorry for lack of detail in some parts, I tried to fill in the gaps in what the characters looked like when I could, but not all 10 people were included, so I'll get to them later.



The Rebel: Window of Opportunity
Date: 13 October 2003, 12:54 AM

After a long silence, watching his dark greenish-blue eyes stare into her's, he spoke.

"Uhh... Well, then.... 'night."

She was a little surprised at such a subtle response, and although she wouldn't admit it to herself, a little bit dissapointed.

"Yeah... you too." She whispered. It seemed like her words were carried by the moonlight and echoed in an endless ocean of time.

She heard footsteps as he walked away, and they quickly turned into two pairs of footsteps, and two quiet voices, whispering and laughing like an eerie wind in the night.

"Dude," The second pair of footsteps started. "theres this little thing called the "window of opportunity" and you just missed it... By a few miles."

"Shut up, what was I supposed to do, french her right there on the spot?"

"Hell YES!" The noises got fainter.

Keys being punched in on a pad could be heared, a soft beep, then hydrualics, and finally a cold wind wipped through the barracks for a moment.

"Hey, where'd you learn that?"

"Ohh... Few bribes here and there..." The other voice said as if starting a list. Laughs could be heard, then more hydrualics as everything went silent, the warmth returned, and sleep pulled her mind into another world...

____________________________________________________________


"Seriously... How did you learn it?"

"Theres only 9 keys. Its not that hard to make a list of all the possible combonations and then try them..." Colt replied as the cool night air whipped his sweat-soaked hair around.

Rob paused, casually leaning against the wall.

"You know... They have ODSTs all over out here." He said, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Don't worry about it, as long as we don't go anywhere they aren't gonna see us."

"Maybe, and I'm not up for any more fighting today."

"Look," Colt started, beginning to get irritated, "if you have a bad feeling about it, go inside."

"But I don't know the key-code." Rob responded.

"Alright then... Just a second.." He murmered the last part as he began working on the code.

Beep Beep Beep - EEEERRRNT

"What the..." He tried it a again.

Beep beep beep - EEEERRRNT

"Dude, it's not working..." He turned around slowly as he thought.

"What? What do you mean it's not working!?" Rob whispered harshly.

"Incase you're mentally impaired, it means the keycode isn't opening the door."

"Well MAKE it open the door."

"Im trying..." He trailed off as he went back to work again.

A few seconds later, there was a familiar:

Beep Beep Beep - EEEERRRNT

"I guess they changed the keycode." He said with a puzzled tone.

"Oh, so you're saying we're stuck out here!?"

"Wow, mentally impaired AND deaf now?" He retorted.

"Shut up." Rob turned on his heel, but, without anywhere to go, turned back. "Ok... So how do we get in then?"

He said nothing, but a devilish grin crept across his face, half illuminated by a spooky moonlight.

____________________________________________________________


"I knew this was a stupid idea.." Rob grunted as he pulled himself onto the roof of the barracks, thankful for his augmentations.

"Would you rather be down there with the guards?" Colt sarcastically asked as he made his way to the skylight on the roof.

"If we have to break the glass it's not gonna make any difference where the hell we are." Rob said even though he kept going.

"Just trust me.." He sighed out, getting tired of argueing.

He looked around the seems of the window, thinking if there was anyway to get it off.

"Hmm... Any ideas?" He questioned, looking up.

"Hey, it was you're idea to come up here in the first place, why are you asking me?" Rob asked, sitting down, puting his arms out behind him and leaning back. After a few seconds he noticed his left hand seemed to be sliding.

Must be sweaty hands, he thought to himself. So he wiped his hands on his pants and put them back. After a few seconds his hand was sliding again.

A little bit irritated, he looked behind him, and was surprised to see his hand wasn't slipping, the roof panel it was on was sliding. It slid a little bit more, and then he heard a:

Beep Beep Beep - BEEEEP

Then hydrualics were heard and the skylight slid back, creating an open space into the barracks.

"Whoa, what the hell did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, I was just leaning on this panel and it slid back!"

Examining it, he saw that a bunch of circuitry and wiring was underneath where the panel was. This place was wired, and this probably wasn't the only secret switch around here.

"Damn... Must be some sort of switch.. Ohwell, lets get inside and check it out later."

"Can't say no to that." Rob muttered as he waited for Colt to go in.

Thinking of a good way to get in, he was now grateful he had a top bunk next to a fan.

Grabbing the edges of the hole, he let himself down, hanging there, he looked around. He began to wiggle and then got enough momentum to swing back and forth in the air, and then he swung forward and let go. He flew for a yard and a half and then plopped down on his bunk. The springs made an obnocious noise, but luckily, nobody was awake to hear it.

He then crawled down and nodded to Rob.

Rob walked over to the panel, slid it back into place, and heard a:

Beep Beep Beep - BEEEEP

The glass began sliding back into place, but slowly.

He hastily tried to run over to it, but tripped. He looked up:

It was almost closed.

He crawled as fast as he could and let himself fall into the hole, grabbing the edges. He looked up to see the glass an inch from his fingers, and closing faster.

He took a deep breathe and let go just in time.

Colt caught him, but the weight caused him to fall into the cement floor.

"Well that was refreshing." Rob joked.

"That it was." He made it over to his bunk, climbed up it, and was glad to have the fan blowing in his face.

____________________________________________________________

"Wake up... Wake up... WAKE... UP YOU FRICKING LOG!!!" he heard the scream in his own head, but tried to ignore it.

What time is it? he thought back.

"8:30 , now get UP you're gonna be late" He heard in his head.

He shot up, and looked over at the clock. It read 8:31.

Turning his head he looked at his locker built into the wall by his bunk. He opened the combination while replying:

AIs getting diffective these days, eh?

"Yeah, but think of where you'd be without me." The AI replied inside his own head. With the Spartan IIIs the AIs were interfaced directly with the brain and nueral implants instead of through the MJOLNIR armor.

Asleep, where I want to be. He retorted inside his own head.

You know, he thought, continueing, I can always overpower you and turn you off.

"yeah.." He heard the reply in his own head, as usual. "But, that requires alot of concentrated kinetic energy," The AI said as the locker clicked open and Colt began getting his things ready.

Binder, math homework, language arts homework, science papers, human brain diagrams, social studies study guide... all there. He thought to himself as the AI continued,

"And, it's only temporary."

He grabbed his things, shoved them in his back-pack, and rolled out of bed, landing on his feet, clothes already on, being too tired to have taken them off last night.

Grabbing his backpack and putting it on, he rushed outside.

Hey, Thunder? Colt thought to his AI.

"Yeah?"

What classes do I have today?

"Lets see... Language Arts for first period, P.E. for second, Science for third, Math for fourth, Benchmark Developement for fifth, and Social studies for sixth."

You know I only need to know second period, because its the only one that every changes.

"I know," Thunder replied as Colt dashed down the path to the school/educational building of the training complex. "But I have fun torturing you."

And I'm gonna have fun re-programming you if you don't shut up now.

"Alright, alright, sheesh, don't have to be so snappy."

Then, he arrived at the building and, slowing down and catching his breath, opened the doors, feeling the strain the heavy backpack was putting on his shoulders.

He walked past the lockers on his left and the office on his right, and emerged into the enormous commons area and caffetiria. He looked down the few stairs into the giant area and looked around. He didn't see Rob or Jake anywhere. He kept walking, turned right and went through the right side of the double-double-doors (4).

Hastily walking through the crowd of 7th and 8th graders standing around, he made a left and went into a smaller hall that housed three classrooms and a small ammount of lockers. There he saw Rob and Jake standing outside their homeroom, which was closed, and probably locked at this time. Speaking of time, what time was it?

Time. he ordered quickly.

"8:40" He heard in his head.

He walked over to them.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Colt." Rob greeted him.

"Hey, sup?" Jake said in his normal voice, which was quieter and usually not as hyper as Rob's.

They walked back into the central hall and proceeded the way Colt was coming before he found his two friends. They talked the whole way, and at the end of the hall turned left into another small hall that housed four or five classrooms and some lockers.

He went to the lockers and found his number:

216

He put in his combonation, opened it, took his binder out of his backpack, shoved the backpack in the locker, slammed it shut, and, carrying the binder under his arm, set off again.

They got halfway down the hall, to where Colt's homeroom was, and he stopped.

"Hey, guys, I gotta go put my binder on my desk." He said as he turned to the open door.

"Alright."

" 'K."

Walking in, he set his binder on the desk near the door, where he sat, and left. When he came back out they were a few yards away, at the end of the hall. He went to join them, and, began chatting again as they made their way down the main hall. A few minutes later the bell rang and they went their seperate ways.

Colt got to his homeroom and sat down, and turned around as Kate and Rachel walked in, followed by Jackie.

He watched them sit down and mainly watched Kate, not being able to take his eyes off her until the bell rang.

_____________________________________________________________

My god, this class is so boring. He thought to Thunder.

"Well... Ok then, how many fingers am I hiding behind my back?"

Dude, you don't even HAVE fingers right now.

"Guess anyways, im getting bored too, and I couldn't think as slow as this teacher dude if i tried."

He laughed in his head. Thunder, you couldn't think as slow as any human if you tried.

"Good point."

Okay... 2

"Wrong!"

How many?

"0, you were right, I don't have any fingers." The AI laughed.

How did I see that coming...



The Rebel: Can We Get Some WD-40 Down Here?
Date: 15 October 2003, 3:58 AM

Walking through the halls at his normal pace, dodging other people standing in the primary hall opening their lockers, etc.

He didn't see Rob anywhere, but could have cared less at the moment, since P.E. was next and he was excited, because last Friday was augmentations, so there wasn't any school when if there was, they could have had P.E. then.

Second period switched between P.E. and whatever extra-curriculer activity you chose.

Carrying his bulging binder under his arm, he passed through the double-double doors again and into the commons area, where he walked a little farther and made a right into the "Gym" Which was really just a basketball court with locker rooms and numbers on the floor.

He lazily made his way to the Boys locker room, while everyone else sped past him because they were too stupid to just come to school in P.E. clothes so they wouldn't have to dress down.

Entering the locker rooms, he went down the stairs because the locker rooms were underground for some odd and probably non-existant reason.

The P.E. teacher was in his office which was off to the side. He went to the back of the room where a set of broken lockers were. They just opened, they didn't lock when you closed them. He never used his Gym locker because they were confusing and he never needed them for anything anyways. But he needed a place to put his binder.

He stopped at a locker on the bottem and two down from the last in the row, opened it, dropped his binder in sideways and slammed it shut.

____________________________________________________________

"On your numbers!" Shouted the overweight man to the rest of the class. Colt ran to the 216 and sat down.
After numerous stretches they recieved the grim news that they had to run a mile today. Walking out to the track, it was a size so that it four laps would be a complete mile. He thought to himself that with augmentations, it should be easy, but still wasn't so sure.

Everyone got lined up and ready to run in whatever form they did, and the race, if you could call it that, began. Making sure he wouldn't get tired, he started off at a barely jogging pace, staying at Kate's side for a reason that illuded him, but he knew that he just didn't want to think about it and that was the reason.

"You know," he began, " I'll just be happy if I get around 3 or 4 minutes."

"I'll be happy to get 5." She replied, and they continued on.

The jog was barely over walking, but he made it halfway around the track and wasn't even tired, as opposed to the other day during the 600 yard dash where halfway around he was breathing heavier than a panting german sheppard in 115 degree weather. But it was right about then that he began to get a sharp pain a little to the side of his torso, about where his kidney was. It seemed like there was a knife that stabbed him whenever he took a step. He strained to finish the lap and when he did, slowed down, but it wasn't doing enough and finally his knees buckled, he stopped entirely, and held his side in pain. The sharp pain faded and went away and he stood there catching his breath.

Looking up, he saw Kate about an 8th of the track away and running. He walked for a while and eventually saw her slow down to a walk also. Even walking hurt, but that never stopped the very human urge to compete with a crush. So he sprinted, painfully, and gained speed pretty fast but now she was about a half a track ahead. Nevertheless, he got right behind her again soon, and slowed down to a walking speed as she began jogging again.

My luck He thought to himself or Thunder, he couldn't tell.

"I think it's something else." Thunder replied. Colt didn't put much thought into what his AI said and had practically ignored him altogether, but would later figure it out.

The cycle of sprint, get back up to par, slow down, get far behind, sprint, get back up to par, slow down, and fall behind continued for quite a while and began to get very tiring, and eventually Kate got ahead by the half lap left to run before a mile was up, and he put his whole effort into forcing his tired muscles into sprinting forward. He found then, that if he took long strides he could effieciently speed up without putting much strain on his muscles as he would normally running. He ended up finishing 30 seconds behind her at 5:08.

He wasn't quite happy with it, but didn't mind.

They made their walk back to the locker rooms and he proceeded to the abandoned lockers and opened the one his binder was in, pulled it out, waited for the bell, and proceeded out to the cafeteria.

Looking to his right, he saw Rob already getting lunch. He tried to do a hurried jog across the cafeteria and commons and up the stairs, but his already strained muscles wouldn't take it, and he looked like a baby that hadn't learned how to walk, trying to run. Slowing down to a walk, he made it to his lockers a minute later to find the lights in the area were very dim. Not finding time to ponder why, he went over to his locker, kneeled, and mechanically put it the combination. It popped open and he shoved his binder in and pulled out his lunch. He walked back to the cafeteria and saw Rob sitting, almost alone, at an almost empty table. He went to sit down, and, after bitching about having to dash a mile, told his time and let Rob tell his stories about what happened in first and second period, and telling about how he had a nightmare that Mr.Seely (the main sub for the school) was substituting for Math today and he was. Colt laughed and, after getting un-needed reasurance from Rob that it was true, continued eating.

Rob never ate much, and was usually done early which forced Colt to gobble down his rather large lunch fast, usually leaving an item or two un-eaten.

Rob and Jake fought over some chicken nuggets, and eventually Rob and Colt finished, leaving Jake alone. Colt went to put the leftover yogurt and spoon from his lunch into his locker, and got back to have some chatting time with Rob until Jake walked over.

He was taunting Rob with a leftover chicken nugget, and was about to eat it when Colt playfully swatted it out of his hand and onto the floor. They spent the rest of the time chatting, fighting, and making sure not to step on the chicken nugget. after a while the bell rang and they began the methodical march to their lockers and then to class when he heard someone yell his name.

He turned around and matched the voice with Ryan. He walked over to him.

"You called?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Ryan responded as if holding in a laugh. "Kate has something she needs to talk to you about."

A little bit nervous, he walked over to her.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Ok," She started, laughing a little, then her voice got a little more serious, "If you don't stop staring at me, I'm gonna knock your fucking head off."

He laughed at it, even though it was a little bit disturbing and not to mention mortally embarrasing. It was now that he understood what Thunder had said earlier.

This Window of Opportunity needs a little Windex.. He thought to himself as he walked away and mindlessly continued his walk to class.



The Rebel: If you want something done right...
Date: 25 October 2003, 2:41 AM

Colt stood casually, one hand on his hip, the other hanging limp holding his shotgun waiting for the huge forerunner doors to open.
"Any day now, Sparky." He hollered. Slowly the doors were opening and flood began jumping through the small hole.
Without moving any other body parts, he lifted his shotgun up with his one arm and shot. The flood died before it hit the ground. He did it a few more times until the gates opened and a wave of 20 infected combat forms rushed at him.
He crouched down, aimed, and...
Click...
Shit... He thought to himself...
Reaching for his pistol, he realized it wasn't there, and that he must have lost it in the last fight.
Thunder, He began, can you modify the shield energy to a large electrical pulse?
"Yes. However, it will slowly drain your shields and theres a 42% chance tha-"
Shut up and do it... He braced himself as some of the flood jumped over his head to surround him.
He saw two of them double-teaming him, one behind and one in front.
Thinking quickly, he dropped down and donkey kicked behind him. It broke whatever bone was in a flood's legs for sure, sent it flying, and gave it a massive electrical shock, putting some more strain on the shield generators on his suit.
1...
He pulled himself into a crouch and remembered an old dance move... He stuck his leg out, keeping it straight, and swung it around tripping and shocking the second flood, then with his one foot, hopped over his own leg, brought it around and stood up.
2 down.
Two more flood were trying the same tactic but from right and left. They had caught him off guard and he didn't have time to think of anything fancy, so he stuck his elbows out. The flood's heads collapsed in on themselves, and then a surge of electricity went through them and they exploded, sending bits of bone fragments and badly decomposed gray matter and flesh everywhere.
4.
It seemed strange how every time they attacked it was in pairs, as two flood tried to sand which him by jumping in from either side with their sharp whip-like tentacles raised. He rolled out of the way and they sliced each others' upper bodies off. Standing up, there was another Flood in front of him.
Hmm... Metal would probably amplify the electric shock. He thought to himself.
Grabbing his spent shotgun off it's hook on his waist, he grabbed the shoulders of the flood, and brought his knee into it's chest, then swung the shotgun like a baseball bat and slammed into the flood and at the same time delivered a shock that completely cooked the flesh it hit.
Grabbing a plasma grenade off his belt, he ignited it, stuck it on the probably dead flood, and threw it into the rest of the flood, the explosion killed two more flood.
9...
His shotgun was bent now so he dropped it and heard small alarms in his suit:
The shields were down. Not only that, but he was now surrounded by 11 flood.
Thunder, I need power to the light anti-gravity generator. He ordered to the AI.
"But the shields are down, and for a while, I told you there was a 42% chance that they'd overheat, I'll have to take power from vital systems an-"
"DO IT!" He screamed on reflex, instead of thinking it.
"Light anti-gravity unit powering up..." He heard.
The flood were closing in on him, ready to strike.
He looked down to see he has 7 grenades left. He ignited a plasma grenade, then pushed the button to release the grenade belt. He jumped on one flood, then jumped again as high as he could and was raised by the anti-gravity unit and was held in the air longer than normal gravity would allow.
Still it wasn't enough. He was caught in the huge blast and was sent spiraling and flying through the air, but the damage wasn't as much as if he hadn't jumped. The new Spartan suits were also equipped with stolen Covenant anti-gravity technology, but it was only to use when plenty of extra power was present, because it took a massive amount of energy.
He landed hard and rolled. He knew something had to be broken but the elevator with the Index on it was so close, he couldn't stop now. More flood were running at him, and he stood, and a shock of pain surged through him, the energy to activate the anti-gravity unit was taken from life support. He ignored it the best he could and noticed a charred and dented spot on his armor.
"Oh you bastards..." He whispered menacingly to nobody in particular.
He charged forward, and rammed into two flood coming at him, knocking them back like dolls and not slowing down. Then he tried to crouch lower as he ran, and rammed the next flood's legs, sending it flipping over his head and landing on more flood trying to chase him, knocking them over also. He was almost to the elevator, and one flood in his way.
He did a flying kick, which hit and threw the flood onto the elevator. He landed on it and it began going down.
Turning around, the flood stood up, and walked up to him, tentacles raised.
Colt grabbed his combat knife, and as the flood swung, rolled under it's legs, turned around and thrust the knife into its back where the chest cavity probably was. The infection form inside the flood popped, blowing out the insides, and decomposed flesh splattered onto his visor. Whipping it off, he heard another squishy plop behind him, and turned around to see a shotgun barrel aimed at him.
He had no shields, no guns, no grenades, and no combat knife, and the flood had a shotgun and was at point blank range.
Colt didn't like those odds... But suddenly heard a familiar sound:
"The energy shield will deactiva-" The small blue AI didn't have time to finish his sentence as Colt grabbed him, used him to deflect the shotgun blast, then hurled it as hard as he could at the flood.
It slammed into the flood and the creature growled in a strange alien growl and fell down the elevator.
Relieved that it was over, he took a deep breath and watched 343 Guilty Spark float back up beside him.
"That was very in-appropriate, we have much more important business to attend to." The construct said angrily.
"The only business I'm attending to right now is staying alive." He matched 343's tone as the elevator came to a stop and the energy shield deactivated.
"You may now retrieve the index."
Reaching over, he grabbed it, only for it to be taken away a second later. He traced a beam of blue light back to GS.
"Protocol requires that I take the Index for transport. Your form is organic and renders you vulnerable to-" The AI was cut off by Colt hurling him into another wall.
"Shut up and give me the goddamn key."
The AI floated back up as usual, but it's voice was replaced with that of Colt's training instructor.
"Is that how you'd act towards something trying to help you save the galaxy?" He asked as everything around him faded back into reality, and his helmet and other connections to the simulator machine were removed.
Colt turned his head to look at the instructor.
"Thats the point, im not giving up something that the galaxy depends on to some little floating prick that blinks blue light when it talks." Hopping out of the simulator as he said it, he stretched and walked over to another simulator that had a Spartan in it still. The Spartan was squirming in the chair, and Colt looked up at the status screen and saw three combat forms mobbing him.
One form jumped from the side and smashed it's hardened arm down on the Spartan's back. He was thrown to the ground as two other forms kicked him across the floor. It looked as if they were playing a sport with the poor kid. He moaned and tried to get up, only to be punched in the jaw by a combat form. There was a snap and Colt almost wanted to shield his eyes. He screamed in pain and held his broken jaw for a second, then the three combat forms began to go in for the kill. He began to fight like a cornered animal. He clenched his fists and began slamming his fists against the first flood as fast and hard as he could in a clawing type motion. His suit was dented and charred, and the shields weren't getting a chance to recharge. With as much strength as he could muster he ripped the flood's arm off and began smashing it into anything and everything that moved, but more flood just kept coming, and the Spartan was slowly overwhelmed and shot in the arm at point blank range with a shotgun.
Yelling in pain as another shot hit him in the shoulder and hit the rather soft joint padding, the clean air leaked out of the suit and was replaced with foul air that smelled like rotten eggs. Another shot hit in the same spot and hit something vital, most likely wiring, and the connection to the arm piece was severed and he gasped as he felt the weight of the now un-responsive heavy metal arm piece.
Then a steady stream of assault rifle bullets slammed into him on the other side, making tiny dents in the armor everywhere. The flood jumped on him and under the weight he collapsed to the ground, and the flood began cutting their way through his armor with various things. Tentacle whips, bullets, anything, and finally the helmet came off, and the Spartan screamed in horror as he felt an infection form crawl onto him.
Colt shielded his eyes as he heard the scream get louder and louder and then stop, and a strange growl was heard. After that it went silent, and Colt heard the familiar sound of a helmet being raised, and other objects being taken out of the young Spartan and the person sighed in relief as the pain vanished.
Colt patted him on the back as he got out of the simulator.
"Hurts to be assimilated, doesn't it?" Colt asked with a smile.
"Like hell and beyond." Was the response.
"Don't worry about it, it's happened to all of us." He said as he walked away from the simulators and drifted into the small crowds of people waiting for the few people still in the simulators to finish up. He quickly found Rob and walked up.
"Hey man." He said cheerfully.
"Whats up?" Rob responded.
"Not much besides 226 kills." He grinned.
"I got 192.." Rob explained lamely.
"Ahet ahem.." The instructor cleared his throat.
Almost everyone went quiet, except for a few talkative people.
"Now, we'll be playing a little bit of CTF, two on two. Cobra with Hawk, Cougar with Grizzly. The two bases will be equiped with some things to be used as cover, a tent for the wounded, a jail, and of course, a flag. I'll lead you to the arena." The big man finished as he began to walk through the door.
It was going to be a long day...
____________________________________________________________

It was getting dark and Colt was getting exhausted. He had been hit with a paint ball in both arms, and a beanbag on the leg. So now all he was doing was sitting behind a piece of junk used as cover and lazily sniped with his pistol. He chased a Red with his targeting reticule but they got away before he could fire. Sighing because of the fact that that was the third target he has missed in the last 10 minutes, he scanned the battlefield and noticed someone with the Red flag being chased by four Reds.
Colt grinned and set his sights on one of them.
Bap! Bap! Bap!
He fired three shots, missing each one. He swore under his breath as he realized this was going to be a long, aggravating capture and rolled to the right, out of cover. Now having a wider range of vision he took aim again and fired.
Bap! Bap! Bap!
He was satisfied as the three shots resulted in three Reds being left. He got up, strafed for a second then began jogging forward and shooting. Three shots as always, and another Red was down.
The capturer had a panicked look on his face, and threw the flag like it was a hot ball of pure plasma. Colt, surprised by this, barely managed to pocket his pistol and catch the flag. He fumbled it for a second before getting a firm grip on in.
Seeing the two Reds coming at him, he reflexively ran. As he ran, he noticed another Red with a rocket launcher coming at him. He threw the flag like a spear. It hit his assaulter in the leg, causing them to trip and loose the launcher. Colt caught it and moaned as he underestimated it's heavy weight.
It was then that he noticed he was trapped between the Red base and the two Reds behind him. He wouldn't be taken prisoner, he just wouldn't. He'd die first.
Holding his breath and murmuring a small prayer, he aimed the rocket launcher a yard and a half away from his feet, and pulled the trigger. The explosion slammed into him like a wall of bricks and tiny pieces of shrapnel cut across his skin like a sandstorm as he sailed through the air over their heads.
He slammed into the ground behind them about 15 yards away and momentarily blacked out. As his vision came back it still wasn't fully returned as the sides were completely blurred. He saw two blurry red figures picking up the flag, and with the last rocket left until he has to reload, shot it.
It almost missed, but luckily hit the ground close in front of them as they were sent flying and the flag landed behind blue lines.
There were cheers from everybody but it wasn't over for Colt.
Two Spartans on medic duty ran over to him. One grabbed his legs and the other got his hands. They hoisted him up and tried to scuttle away as fast as possible. However it wasn't fast enough, as a barrage of paint balls slammed into the side of the medic that had a hold of Colt's legs and he was dropped almost right onto his feet.
If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. He thought to himself as he leaned over to pick up the medic but the other one was trying to drag Colt away as five Reds were coming to take them prisoner. Colt was weak but still put up a struggle as the medic frantically tried to pull him away, and he pulled back. He wouldn't want his friends to just leave him there like that.
Two of the reds were taking the wounded medic while three others were going for Colt and the other medic. Finally Colt spun around and punched the medic as light as he could but still making sure they let go. Then kept spinning and high kicked two of the Reds, then rolled to the side and swept his foot around to send the third to the ground.
Satisfied, he eyed the two other reds hoisting up the wounded medic. He got up and ran straight forward then tackled one of them. He landed on top of him and punched him in the throat, then rolled off of him, and pulling out his pistol, shot his remaining three shots at the other Spartan, then threw the empty pistol at the Spartan, hitting him square in the forehead. Running over and throwing the medic over his shoulder, he ran back to the Blue base and, after handing the medic to another medic, collapsed to the ground and didn't awake for a while...



The Rebel: Just One of Those Days
Date: 5 December 2003, 6:17 AM

Her vision blurred and she became nauscious as she was swept through the strange oceanic world. Her skin became cold like ice and she felt like she was flying in water somehow. Slowly, she became less nauscious, her skin became less cold, and the ocean world she had been flying through only seconds ago seemed to slow and become a blue hazy mist until it all fell away and she found herself laying on hard metal, in a small box canyon, with birds chipring and warm air on her face as the sun beat down on her back.

She started to get up, but all of the sudden fell onto the ground again and crawled over to the skylight on the roof and vomited into it.

Kate hated going into the simulator, but it was better than going out. As she got up she found herself stiff but it wore off soon after. She quickly took in the surroundings of Red base, and the small box canyon known only as Blood Gluch. Knowing she didn't have much time to get ready before the test started and she would be faced with the task of destroying Blue team, which consisted of about 50 enemy units and a massive mechanized force for such a small base. She estimated two Scorpian BMT's, two Warthogs (or M12 LRVs), and two Ghosts.

Jumping down into Red base, she suited up into her advanced MJOLNIR armor, jumped back up onto the top of the base and equipped herself with an M6D Pistol and S2 AM Sniper Rifle. Getting into position, she surveyed the canyon with her Sniper Rifle.

All seemed calm, birds were fluttering about and a small breeze made the few live plants sway back and forth. Blue team composed of 50 units, but they were all un-armored marines, except for their leader who she presumed was another Spartan. She found that her assumptions were correct as a sniper bullet whizzed only a milimeter above her head. Quickly tracing the bullet to a Spartan in blue armor who quickly backed away and faded into the shadows.

She had been stupid, she had been sitting still the whole time right out in the open the whole time, any idiot with a rifle could have hit her dead on, especially a Spartan. There were few people who would purposely give her warning shots and she had a pretty good idea from that who the leader of blue team was.

As she got up and half crouched half jogged off of Red base to get a better vantage point she head a distant roar of engines along with a steady grinding noise and somewhere in the middle a whining noise.

Turning around, she noticed a rather large mechanized force coming towards the base. A Scorpian tank loaded to the brim with fully armed passengers was grinding along with a full Warthog and a single Covenant ghost. A large tank shell slamming into the side of the base, blasting apart the strange Forerunner teleportation device was all the warning she needed.

Heading up a hill that lead to the canyon wall, she got as far as she could and got her sniper rifle back out. The tank adjusted its massive cannon to it's targets high vantage point, greatly exposing it's driver. Before it could fire she lined the driver's head up with her targeting reticule and pulled the triger. Their head exploded as crimson blood spattered all over the tank and it grinded to a halt. Quickly, she lined up the two passengers on the right and decapitated each with a single shot, doing the same to the other side. With her remaining bullet she hasitly shot at the oncoming Warthog. However the bullet barely nicked the windshield, and made a small crack in it and aside from that did no damage.

Ripping out the old clip and quickly shoving in a new one, she once again put the Warthog in her sights. As it sped towards her she quickly shot the gunner between the eyes. As the dead body fell out the back of the Warthog the driver barely seemed to notice until their passenger met a similar fate.

Frantically trying to drive away, it collided with the tank and sent the driver soaring into the air, but before he hit the ground, he had a hole the size of a ping pong ball in his chest, cutting straight through part of his spinal cord. The driver of the Ghost quickly manuevered into a position where they were completely shielded by the front of the ghost and began a barrage of plasma fire on the small hill. With one bullet left she pulled the pin on a plasma grenade and lobbed it towards the lone Ghost. The driver ripped the controls to the side as hard as he could, leaning out the side of the Ghost.

Seeing her opportunity, she made good use of her last bullet, but it was only a glancing blow to the helmet. Still, it was enough to knock them out of the Ghost. As the driver toppled out sideways, the Ghost crashed to the ground ontop of their legs and they screamed out in agony as the vehicle crushed everything beneath it. As she put her last clip into the rifle she looked at the score:

Red team: 9

Blue team: 0

Time: 1:00

Three more assualted her position on foot. Quickly taking out the two nearest to her, she noticed her mistake as the third, farthest away, that she had assumed to be the least of her worries, also had a sniper rifle. Frantically targeting the sniper, she pulled the trigger only a second too late as a 14.5mm armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot round slammed into her chest. She tried to scream but couldn't as she tumbled down the hill, gaining speed until she hit rather flat ground and rolled to a stop infront of the backdoor to Red base.

She tried desperately, mustering all her strength to crawl into Red base when a Warthog with only a driver and gunner came around the corner and sped straight towards her. She managed to get up and noticed a crater on the hill where she had recently been from the rocket launcher on the back of the Warthog. She also noticed that she had lost her Sniper Rifle in the tumble and fumbled for her pistol while lobbing a plasma grenade at the Warthog. It stuck right onto the driver's chest as she jumped out of the way of the oncoming warthog, firing her pistol at the gunner as she did. One bullet hit the shoulder, the second hit the lower right chest and the last slammed into the bridge of the gunner's nose as he toppled out and the Warthog was nearly vaporized by the explosion of the plasma grenade.

She breathed a great sigh of relief as she crawled into Red base and began dressing her wounds and once again looked at the score in her HUD:

Red team: 14

Blue team: 0

Time: 1:30

She laughed at the insanity of the idea that she alone might even stand a chance at destroying so many marines. Then, after patching the wound up, she grabbed another sniper rifle and found a perch ontop of the base as she noticed four squads of four incoming. Each squad was going after one of the downed vehicles in an attempt to salvage them.

Unfortunetly it worked. With so many of them scurrying around it was like kicking an ant hill and then trying to kill every single ant that came out. She threw down the empty Sniper Rifle in anger as the remaining squad managed to salvage the vehicles and were driving off. She fired a few pistol shots but it was in vein. 11 more bodies littered the ground after the attack.

She was significantly weakened from the previous fight and now that they had their full arsenal back they would come back in full force. Red base was no longer safe. She slung her Sniper Rifle, and scrounged up as much ammo as she could, and was about to leave when she decided that she needed something heavier to fight off the rest of Blue team. Looking around, and knowing she would be fighting in close-quarters, she grabbed an M7057 Defoliant Projector flamethrower and headed off to a small cave she saw to the far right in the canyon wall. Jogging, she made it there in a minute and a half flat, and began to settle in a room in the middle of the cave. Once again she checked the score:

Red team: 29

Blue team: 0

Time: 3:30

Only a small corridor of cave was left between her and the outside, and Blue base.

Along with 20 marines and a Spartan with a staring problem She thought to herself as her radio crackled and a voice came through saying:

"Rockets in first!"

She noticed that it had to be someone on the wrong frequency because it couldn't be anyone on her team, because she was the ONLY one on her team... That meant it had to be...

She didn't have enough time to get up before an explosion rocked the cave and rocks crumbled and fell from the ceiling. No more than a second later another rocket slammed in and the only thing keeping it from soaring straight into her torso and blowing her clean inhalf was a rock pillar that connected the ceiling of the cave with the floor. The pillar was blasted apart and the force slammed her into the cave wall as a last rocket hit a yard or so above her head and rocks toppled ontop of her and harmlessly rolled off the strong MJOLNIR armor like rain dripping off a slanted metal roof.

There was a pause and she tried to jump out of the way of the next incoming rocket but it collided with the space she had so recently occupied, and the force slammed her forward into the opposite wall, and the rest of the second salvo of rockets slammed into various places in the cave.

"Hah, we got 'er now!" Came a voice as the passengers of the Warthog parked outside the cave stormed in. Whipping up her flamethrower, she pulled the trigger and flame vomitted out of the gun and the three marines were promptly roasted and screamed in agony as they fell to the ground and perished in the flame.
____________________________________________________________

He heard screams from inside the cave and muttered a few rather nasty words before motioning for his squad to move in. As he walked in he tried to peer through the heavy smoke and dust as they walked over their comrades' bodies that were now completely devoid of life.

His eyes shifted around the cave and found nothing in the dark expanse.

"Come on... She's not here." He sighed as he turned to leave just in time to see a 12.7mm bullet hit one of his squad mate's right between the eyes.

"Shit! FALL BACK! I repeat, FALL BACK!" He screamed as he and his remaining team mate tried to run back to the exit, when a steady stream of fire shot past them and ignited a neat row of dead bodies. It was a trap. He turned around and fired blindly into the dark as flames engulfed him and his existance on this plane was no longer.
____________________________________________________________

Satisfied with the thump of bodies hitting the ground in flame, she waited for the dust to clear and rolled a fragmentation grenade out the exit and was happy with the result as it rolled underneath a fully-manned Warthog, destroying the vehicle and it's occupants.

Red team: 38

Blue team: 0

Time: 5:00

She walked outside the cave and gathered herself as she got into position and once again got out her Sniper Rifle. She noticed two guards on patrol on the base, and set one in her sights.

"Say goodnight..."

She was about to pull the trigger when the guard went out of sight. She swore under her breath and waited for the guards to come around again, and when they did, one noticed her.

"Hey! Look! It's that girl!-" He was cut short by his head exploding in a gush of blood, followed by his partner,

"Damn right!" She yelled, "How's it feel to get beaten by a girl!" she yelled.

Red team: 40

Blue team: 0

Time: 6:30

Unfortunetly this drew the attention of all of remaining Blue base, and they lashed out in full force. They scrambled 3 tanks, with no passengers, two Warthogs with just drivers and gunners, and two Ghosts.

How the hell did they get another tank? She pondered, but was cut short as a tank shell slammed into the canyon wall near her and plasma melted the ground infront of her. Using her last clip, she quickly decapitated the tanks' drivers as she once again had the vantage point. She quickly adjusted to take out a Ghost and then threw down her empty rifle. Getting up and strafing, she pulled out her pistol and gunned down the other Ghost and chucked a grenade at the Warthog. The grenade exploded and flipped the Warthog, showering shrapnel everywhere.

Quickly running over to the downed Warthog, she flipped it and jumped into the gunner's seat quickly enough to destroy the one Warthog left. She then quickly hopped into the driver's seat and drove towards Blue base, then noticed a little too late, a lone Spartan with a rocket launcher directly in her path.

The rocket fired, and exploded infront of the Warthog. It was launched into the air and began to flip and Kate was thrown free. She hit the ground hard and it winded her, and she could have sworn something was broken. But for the first time since this started, it was strangely quiet. It was then that she noticed the score:

Red team: 49

Blue team: 0

Time: 9:30

She struggled to get up and investigate the crashed Warthog. She crept silently around it and almost jumped when she saw half of a Spartan sticking out from under it. Colt turned his head and slowly took off his helmet. His face was covered in bruises, cuts and deep gauges. He smiled weakly. She noticed his life signs were fading.

"Well," She said, having a cocky attitude for single-handedly defeating 50 marines and a Spartan. "How's it goin'?"

"Oh, you know..." He said, a hair's width away from DEAD on her HUD. "Just one of those days.." Then his eyes closed and he ceased moving. She looked into the corner of her HUD.

Red team: 50

Blue team: 0

Time: 10:00

Then she began to get nauscious as a strange blue mist began to form, which quickly turned into an ocean that seemed to flood the world, and she was whisked away as her skin began to numb and turn icy cold.

-Kate's tactics inspired by GLADIATRRR300's tight Halo skills =) Also, next chapter hopefully won't be pure combat like most of them.





bungie.org