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Prologue: Part 1

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The Few
Prologue Part 1
“It’s cold...” Snake whispered to himself from atop the large 150 floor building. “Any eyes on those infiltrators?”
“No sir, nothing.” responded a voice from the other end.
“Um, Snake, I’m getting a little chatter from the UNSC Paris-Class Frigate Under Harm’s Belt.  Would you like me to transfer?” Asked another soldier.
“No, we need to focus on our mission at hand here, Josh.” Snake retorted.
“But Snake, you’re going to want to hear this” Josh insisted.
“Fine, put me through.”
“This is the Paris-Class frigate Under Harm’s Belt, is this Alpha?”
“This is Alpha leader, what’s your status?” asked Snake.
“One of our Stalwart-Class’ found a blip on the radar a minute ago but it went away… Should we do anything?” Asked the communication officer.
“Just keep your eyes open” answered Snake.
“Alright sir, we’ll keep you posted on anything that develops.”
After a couple minutes of silence Snake quietly asked, “Josh, got anything?”
“Just more chatter, this time about a Covie drop pod,” Responded Josh.
“Alpha Leader this is Under Harm’s Belt again, a strange Covie ship has engaged us, and we’ve already lost one of the communication frigates; the two Charon-Classes and I are going for a pincer as the remaining four communications ships will give support fire. I’ll keep you posted on anything that develops.”
“Good luck,” Snake said simply.
“Snake, I’m getting a report from Misfit 4-3, should I patch you through?”
“Josh I’m getting real tired of your chatter, I need to focus!”
“I’m sorry, should I patch you through? It sounds important.”
“God damn it! I guess so Josh!”
Josh embarrassedly responded, “Sorry… patching you through now.”
“This is Misfit 4-3, I’ve got an unidentified drop pod 7 clicks east of our position. Should we check it out Captain?” the marine asked.
“Yes, bring your whole outfit and check out the disturbance, tell me what you come across.” Snake replied.
“Yes sir.”
“Now Josh,” Snake angrily turned his attention towards Josh. “Any more ‘transmissions’ for me?”
“Uh, actually yes sir…” Josh replies silently.
“God damn it!”
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“Grubbs, status report!” Lightning’s voice boomed over the mics.
“Nothing here in the city yet sir, I’ll keep you posted. Also, keep an eye out for Nakamoto. He’s not currently here with us and he’s supposed to be.”
“Alright Grubbs. Josh, status report on Snake?”
A small argument erupted off mic and finally Snake comes on the radio. “Yes sir?” Snake asks impatiently.
“Attitude much? I just needed a status report from you… What’s going on out there?”
“Sorry sir, a lot of stupid stuff over the past five minutes. First Under Harm’s Belt contacted me saying that they engaged an unidentified. Then Misfit called saying they were engaging an unidentified… No more info other than that. How’s guarding the laboratory?”
“Enough chatter friend, just needed to check in on you. And for your information, this job sucks ass.”
Snake chuckled on the other end, "Alright then Commander, I’ll let you go then. Don’t have too much fun out there.”
Lightning then moved back into the lobby of the facility and noticed his brother nosing through some files. He then looked left to see Vanessa carelessly sitting on a lounge chair filing her nails with a slightly dulled knife. He watched her for a little and half heartedly chuckled when she accidently cut herself. As she looked around to make sure no one saw her stupid mistake, Lightning started to glance around the rest of the lobby and saw a couple marines sitting down talking about their families and what they’re going to do when they get back. Lightning glanced a little more towards the back and saw Travis attempting to talk to the ONI scientists. Lightning decided to walk over to Travis to see what he was talking about.
“…I understand that but what about the gauss particle generator? Have you fixed all the bugs with that thing?”
Lightning heard only slightly over the power tools and generator hums throughout the room. “What’s going on here Travis? Are you bugging this scientist?”
“Oh no Spartan V78, he’s not bothering me in fact, I think his hypothesis on Gauss de-ionizing may have just solved the problems to our latest machine… I’ve got to get on to that right now. Thank you Travis, I think that may work.” The scientist then gave a quick nod to Lightning before leaving.
“Well, I don’t know what he just said, but I assume it was good. So, good job I guess Travis. I knew there was a reason I kept you around…” Lightning said with a smile.
“Yea well… I’m useful for more than just tech advice General.”
“I know Travis, it was a joke. Lighten up will you?” Lightning said with another smile. Soon after saying this, he spotted another of his team, who wasn’t supposed to be there. He quickly strode over and intercepted him. “Nakamoto…”
Nakamoto stood at attention, more mocking Lightning than showing respect. “Yessir?” Despite looking entirely like a Japanese Spartan, He didn’t sound at all like it. You’d think he wasn’t Japanese at all until you saw his face. His armor was a new prototype that he was selected to test. The techs called it HYABUSA. It was bright red except for the shoulders which were black, and had a large silver crest on the forehead of the helmet with two visor slits where the occupant’s eyes were. On the outside, Nakamoto looked like a badass. In reality, he was as laid back as a Spartan could be, except when it came to things that interested him.
It could be said that his attitude came from his previous job as an intelligence officer. It’s a boring job, especially for a Spartan. But now, he was in his element as the best soldier of stealth that Lightning had. Unfortunately, all that stealth didn’t help his aim with a gun at all. Nakamoto was the in-your-face type purely because it was the only way he could hurt you.
Lightning rolled his eyes. “At ease, smart ass.”
Nakamoto let out a deep exhale and stood in that overly lax way he always did. Lightning looked into his visor slits only to see his own reflection. “Why aren’t you with Grubbs and his team?”
Nakamoto raised his left hand and Lightning finally noticed that he was holding something. A five-foot long sheathed Katana. “I asked the ONI techs if they could make me a blade to compete with the hinge-heads. They gave me this. I saw them test it; this baby can take on the Covies’ plasma swords. Techs told me the sword was made of some kind of ultra-dense metal, I can’t remember the name but I know one thing: Those Elites won’t laugh at us after I start cutting heads off with this thing.”
Lightning raised his brows in astonishment. “Nice. Can I see it?”
Nakamoto shook his head. “Sorry, boss. A drawn blade demands blood…”
Lightning’s expression dropped. “You’re not a Samurai, Nakamoto. We don’t have a code of honor…”
Nakamoto huffed before saying, “Killjoy.” and unsheathed his new sword. It gleamed from the overhead lights and looked like polished silver. Even with his helmet on, Lightning could tell that he had a smile like a kid with a new toy. Nakamoto nodded before waving the blade around. “I bet I could block bullets with thing…”
“Don’t oversell yourself, Nakamoto.”
Nakamoto scoffed, offended. “There isn’t a soul in the UNSC that could best me with a blade. And I will gladly challenge the best swordsman the Covies can throw at me!”
“Calm down, Samurai Jack. It was just a little sarcasm.” Lightning said before thinking. “…How much do you bet that you can block a bullet?”
“Ten bucks.” Nakamoto said immediately. Lightning nodded and backed up from him before drawing his magnum and taking aim. “It’s a bet.”
Nakamoto raised the Katana above his head as he got into a stance and prepared himself.
“Ready?”
“Just don’t aim for the face…”
Lightning squeezed the trigger and fired off a single round at Nakamoto’s chest. Nakamoto swiftly brought his sword down in a diagonal slash and knocked the bullet off to the left. The now rogue bullet ricocheted off of a few walls and desks before blowing through a computer and hitting one last wall.
“HA!” Nakamoto said, obviously ignoring the looks from most of the scientists that questioned the two Spartans’ sanity. “You owe me ten bucks!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lightning said with a half frown. “Just go get to your squad.”
Nakamoto sheathed his sword and attached it to his back before giving Lightning a mock-salute. “Yessir…” He then left through the lobby.
Lightning then turned around and noticed Vanessa was staring at him. He was worried at first but then realized she had fallen asleep. A smile erupted on his face as a devious plan came to his head. He jogged over to his brother, Jake, and told him to help him with his plot of humor.
“Ok, so when I say go, I want you to run at her full speed and pick her up. That should get her awake,” Lightning said with a grin.
Jake nodded and when Lightning said "go", he barreled full speed at Vanessa’s limp body. But before he could get his arms around her, she jolted up and shot out her fist. A direct hit to the crotch. Jake fell to the floor nearly crying as Vanessa and Lightning started laughing their heads off.
Jake softly mumbled,” Why me? Why is it always me?”
“Probably because it’s like your job… You are basically our designated target for ‘nut shots’.” Lightning said with a smile.
“Well I really, REALLY hope somebody else gets that title pretty soon, because I’m tired of it.” Jake said with a tear in his eye.
“Nice hit by the way Van,” Lightning casually said to Vanessa.
“Thanks Boss, I’ve been working on my technique for a couple weeks now,” she said with a small giggle in her voice.
“Well when you guys are done joking around, will one of you get me an ice pack? Please?” Jake said, pain in his voice.
As if on cue, Travis then walked into the room, ice pack in hand, and handed it to Jake.
“Thank you Travis, I can always count on you.” Jake said with a friendly tone.
“Alright though guys, we need to get serious… It sounds like things are starting to happen and I don’t want to get caught while we’re off guard. Stand to men… and woman. We’ve got work to do.” Lightning said with a sort of forced seriousness. Then right on cue, a transmission erupted on the mics.
“This is Misfit 4-1, Corporal Daniel Stern. I require immediate assistance from any nearby squads. There is a Covenant drop pod here and four Split-jaws came out. They slaughtered my entire squad except for John, here. He’s wounded though, a sword wound straight through his left arm. These Elites are unlike any other. Be careful, I’m heading towards checkpoint Yankee 4 right now. Misfit 4-1 and 4-5 out.”
“Well, suit up guys...it’s show time,” Vanessa said with a grin.
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10 Minutes Earlier
ZONE: Whiskey 8
TIME: 14:52
“This is Misfit 4-3, I’ve got an unidentified drop pod 7 clicks east of our position. Should we check it out Captain?” Sergeant Weston asked over the mic.
“Yes, bring your whole outfit and check out the disturbance, tell me what you come across.” Snake replied.
“Yes Sir,” Weston replied.
“Alright Daniel, he gave us the green light. Are we ready?”
“Yea, ok everyone, hop into the hogs. We’re going to check out what Covies came to visit. And Martinez, don’t forget to load BEFORE the combat this time, ok?”
“Yes sir, believe me, you only make that mistake once.” Martinez said as he gestured towards the bandage on his left shoulder. The squad of six marines loaded up into the two standard M12 LRV Warthogs. The marines wore all the same armor pretty much, standard sage green with a small visor for optical improvement. They all carried an assault rifle and a pistol. All except Daniel that is; his armor had a black stripe down the middle of his helmet and instead of a puny magnum, he carried a Brute Mauler. He got it from a battle long ago when he lost his left leg to a brute. The Brute literally ripped Daniel’s leg right off his body. As the Brute laughed, he grabbed the Mauler from the Brute’s side and challenged the beast again. When the brute hoisted the puny, screaming, bloody marine to his face and roared, Daniel whipped out the Mauler, shoved it against the Brute’s throat, and pulled the trigger. He fought through a small outpost of brutes with only two men backing him up. He crawled, the whole way out and got a prosthetic leg and a few shiny medals for his bravery and perseverance.
The Warthogs started east and the marines were checking their weapons.
“Radio check, men,” Daniel ordered over the radio.
“Misfit 4-2, Corporal Adams, here.”
“Misfit 4-3, Sergeant Weston, reporting.”
“Misfit 4-4, Private Vernon, ready to go!”
“Misfit 4-5, Captain Martinez, your favorite, reporting in.”
That brought a small smile to Daniel’s face.
“Misfit 4-6, Sergeant Kirkman, reporting for duty.”
The Warthogs’ engines roared through the snowy dunes until they grew within a couple dozen meters of the site. The Warthogs came to a complete halt as Vernon said, “Drop pod, over this hill.”
Adams stepped out of the passenger seat of the warthog and slowly glanced over the dune, looking down upon the drop pod. “Its closed sir, maybe it didn’t open. Maybe the Covies are going to rot in the thing because they’re stuck. Man, wouldn’t that be easy.”
“Yeah, too easy… Wait. Weston, can drop pods be resealed?” Daniel asked.
“Well yeah, if it was a higher tech model. But if it was a higher tech model, it could also take back off.” Weston responded. “Let me check.” He slowly peeked over the dune.
Suddenly a Plasma dagger jutted out the back of his head, spraying blood behind him. The dagger’s hilt extended a hook slowly went back down the hill, dragging Weston’s corpse with it and leaving the marines speechless. They glanced down and noticed a large, masculine Elite in snow-white armor, pulling a chain connected to the dagger down towards him, the “eyes” on his helmet glowed bright, sinister red. Next to the large Sangheili were three others in similar combat attire. One with what looked like a modified honor guard energy staff and six strange-looking fins on his back, his eyes glowed bright white. Another had long glowing purple claws and an oddly more feminine figure than the others, its eyes glowed purple like its claws. The last, possibly the leader, had a frightening crimson energy scythe and a dark hooded cloak, his eyes were glowing a deep blue. They all looked extremely terrifying and deadly in their own ways, but the one with the staff seemed to be the most bloodthirsty, almost psychotic by the way he kept twitching. As soon as the large one discarded Weston from his chained dagger, all four Elites charged up the hill, weapons burning hot, ready for the kill.
“Fall back! Get back on the hogs!” Daniel ordered. The marines ran backwards, attempting to run and shoot their predators at the same time. Adams was so preoccupied shooting he didn’t realize there was a rock behind him. Before he could catch himself, the one with claws pounced and eviscerated the marine, literally tearing him to pieces. The others kept firing with all they had, but the bullets just bounced right off the Elites’ armor.
Daniel and Martinez approached one of the hogs and awaited another passenger. Kirkman and Vernon were both running towards the hogs and Kirkman turned around to fire a couple shots off. Little did he know; the “Grim Reaper” was right behind him. Kirkman looked up at him for a split second before the Elite grabbed his helmet and lifted him up with one hand as he raised his scythe with the other. Daniel got to the hog but froze in utter horror as the Elite decapitated Kirkman. Vernon finally hopped into the gunner seat and started firing away. Martinez hopped into the passenger seat. The Elite roared at them before throwing Kirkman’s head at them. It hit Vernon dead on in the face, dazing him slightly, and fell to his feet. Daniel was about to hop into the driver’s seat, but a cold hand clamped around his arm. Daniel instantly pulled out his mauler and fired a shot into the psychotic one’s chest. It didn’t do any physical damage to the Elite, but knocked him back enough for Daniel to squirm out of his grip. Daniel hopped into the driver’s seat and sped off as quickly as possible.
“Uhh… Corporal…” Vernon said, his voice faltering.
“What?!” Daniel said, trying to pay attention to escaping.
“The big one’s doing something with the second hog…”
Martinez looked back and his eyes widened. “Oh shit…SHIT! Fucking floor it, Daniel!”
Daniel looked back quickly enough to see what he meant. The second hog…was airborne…and hurtling straight at them. Daniel moved quickly and swerved them out from the thrown hog’s path. The machine crashed into the ground and tumbled to a stop before disappearing behind them.
“Since when could the split-lips do THAT?!” Vernon asked, to no one in particular.
“I don’t know, man…” Martinez said, visibly shaking from their encounter, “I don’t know…”
Everything was quiet for a while after that until the sound of something tearing through the forest on their right became obvious over the roar of the Warthog’s engine. Suddenly, the Masculine Elite burst from the forest on the road ahead of them, gripping a large tree in his hand like a makeshift bat. Martinez’s eyes got wider. “IS THAT A FUCKING TREE?!”
Before Daniel could answer, he swerved again just out of the range of the Elite’s swing. After they passed him, the Elite started to run after them. Vernon spun up the mounted turret around and opened up on him. One of the rounds hit the Elite’s armored foot, tripping him and sending him tumbling through the snow.
Vernon shook his head as the Elite faded into the distance. “Fucking split-lips on steroids!”
Daniel heard what sounded like thrusters and glanced in the rear view mirror. He noticed the sticker exclaiming that “objects in mirror may be closer than they appear”. That scared the hell out of him because according to the mirror, the Psycho Elite, was right behind the gunner. Suddenly the car slowed down, he looked and noticed the tall, crazed elite hanging on to the tailgate of the Warthog. He was hanging on with some kind of talons and using his thrusters as to dampen the pressure on his feet. He suddenly let go and stopped after roaring something into his helmet.
“I think they’re gone,” Martinez said, more questioning his words than saying them. Right then Martinez was slightly lifted in his seat and a camouflaged Elite appeared. It was the Grim Reaper one, very persistent. He ignited one of his wrist gauntlets, a single pronged crimson energy sword burst out of the wrist and stabbed into Martinez. Right as the blade was about to enter the body Daniel swerved the hog to the right. The sudden unbalance of the vehicle made the Elite miss Martinez’s heart and instead stab through his, already injured, left arm. The Elite grew even angrier but before he could react Daniel pulled out his mauler and fired a shot into the Elite’s head. The force of the shot made the Elite fall out of the car and tumble back towards his team.
“Martinez, you’re going to be okay, I’m going to get you to a doctor. You’re going to make it I swear!” Daniel assured.
“Look, Dani… It’s ok, you don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes I do Martinez! You saved my life back when I got my leg ripped off. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it even halfway to the extraction zone. I owe you this-” Before Daniel could finish his conversation the Psycho one, now personally nicknamed by Daniel ‘Stubborn Split Shit’, was right on their ass again; and this time he had his friends.
The Elites rushed up to the Warthog and started to sort of taunt the occupants. After a little while of snarling and growling, the Psycho one made his move and flew above the Warthog. Vernon, on the gun, attempted to fire at the pursuers but the gun overheated and he stood shooting with his assault rifle trying to do whatever damage he could. The Psycho one swooped down on Vernon right as he was reloading and sunk his talons into his shoulders before taking off into the sky with him. The final bone-chilling screams of new blood rang out above the roar of the motor. Suddenly the Elites stopped their pursuit and grouped up. Daniel drove over a snow mound and realized he should have called in the ‘insane slaughter posse’ earlier.
Daniel boosted the signal of his radio and spoke. “This is Misfit 4-1, Corporal Daniel Stern. I require immediate assistance from any nearby squads. There is a Covenant drop pod here and four Slip-jaws came out. The slaughtered my entire squad except for John, here. He’s wounded though, a sword wound straight through his left arm. These split-lips are unlike any other. Be careful, I’m heading towards checkpoint Yankee 4 right now. Misfit 4-1 and 4-5 out.”
“I’m going to get you to safety I swear. I will avenge what has been done here, all the bloodshed… I will make sure they pay for what they’ve done today.” Daniel vows as he drives towards the city with an unconscious John Martinez in the passenger seat.
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“All teams sign in immediately!” Lightning demanded over the radio.
“Phoenix Company, patrolling Lavender St. We’ve got Aaron Malinowski, Sara Forte, Michael Hendrix, Jonathan Owens, Nakamoto, and I,” Grubbs almost instantly said over the radio.
“Hawk Eye, Josh Jacobs, Fred Valencia, and I, Waiting for visual on this ‘Special Operations team’,” Snake hesitantly stated.
“Misfit, John Martinez and I driving towards the previously stated location,” Daniel solemnly says more focused on the road than talking.
“X-Ray, Franklin’s squad, patrolling Rustic Avenue,” one of his squad mates said.
“Yankee, Peterson’s squad, patrolling 1 click west of the lab,” one of Peterson’s men stated.
Lightning nodded “Alright, only four casualties. More than we’re used to, but we’ve still got this.”
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Zoomed down the scope of his precious rifle, Snake almost forgot about the world around him. His focus was instantly lost when his helmet boomed with a transmission. “All teams sign in immediately!” It was Lightning.
“Phoenix Company, patrolling Lavender St. We’ve got Aaron Malinowski, Sara Forte, Michael Hendrix, Jonathan Owens, Nakamoto, and I,” Grubbs almost instantly said over the radio.
Of course Grubbs would be the first to answer, freaking kiss ass. I love the guy and all, and he’s a great soldier. But, seriously, are Lightning’s ass cheeks not raw by now? Snake thought to himself.
“Hawk Eye, Josh Jacobs, Fred Valencia, and I, Waiting for visual on this ‘Special Operations team,” Snake hesitantly stated. He ignored the remaining responses and focused back on the vast arctic wastelands north. After a minute or so he saw a warthog quickly approaching from over a hill. He quickly magnified the zoom and noticed two soldiers in the Hog, one was injured and the other was talking to him as if his life depended on it.
Snake saw movement from behind the hog and noticed four tall, fast Sangheili running behind the Warthog. Snake instantly zoomed in to the biggest one’s head. Before taking the shot Snake noticed his interesting chained dagger weapons in both hands.
Interesting choice, for a dead man He thought with a chuckle as he squeezed the trigger.
Introductions to Shadow Guard as a whole, Explainations to Lightning's unpleasant and demanding attitude.
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