Post by Griffinkeeper on Feb 9, 2013 14:02:51 GMT -5
By this time I was heavily influenced by Science fiction, so it only made sense that my writing would end up there. I decided to write a fan-fiction mash-up, combining my favorite Sci-Fi stories with YWS Fan-fiction. Start Date was September 12, 2006.
Grif came out of the portal with his gun up. He scanned left, then right. He was inside a bombed out room. Debris covered the floor.
"Area's clear," Grif said.
Behind him, the portal flashed brightly as four SPEW Commandos came through.
"Geez, what a mess. Why are we here again?"
"Nate wanted us to tell him what the future was like," Snoink said.
"Let's go back and tell him it looks like crap," Phoenix said.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Areida said cheerfully.
"Let's just get this over with," Dusky muttered.
"Okay. Phoenix, I want you at point. Dusky; left flank, Areida; right flank, Grif; rear guard. Go!" Snoink ordered.
The group split.
"The area is highly urbanized. Evidence of heavy fighting, no signs of humans. Snoink has divided us into sectors. No casualties as of 00:01," Phoenix said.
"What are you doing Phoenix?" Areida asked.
"Keeping a log."
"Oh cool!"
Phoenix took out his sniper rifle and scanned the street, before taking a step outside. Areida and Dusky followed, keeping their weapons pointed in their sectors. Snoink followed, with Grif in the rear.
They proceeded down the street in that manner. Phoenix turned around the corner and they saw the results of a fresh battle. Bodies lay slumped over barriers.
"Holy mother of God," Dusky said. Phoenix bent over a body and began searching through an officers pockets.
"I got a map, documents, and some odd looking weapons. I've analyzed them for later reference," Phoenix said.
"Do you hear that?" Grif asked.
"That low thumping sound?" Areida said.
"It's getting closer," Dusky said.
"Let's get inside a building quick."
The team ran inside. The sound grew louder, until the building began to shake.
Then, it came into view. It was a mech.
"What the hell is that?"
"Daishi!" Grif said in amazement.
***********
"Daishi?" Snoink asked.
"It's a mech from Mechwarrior 4," Grif explained.
"You mean that you can actually learn something from video games?" Dusky asked.
"Duh," Phoenix said.
"What's going on again?" Areida asked.
"You don't know what a mech is?" Grif asked.
"Um..."
"Don't say um," Snoink snapped.
"Why?"
"My fifth grade teacher taught me that. It's really annoying," Snoink responded.
"I'm sorry."
"Nevermind Snoink's feelings, do you want to know what a mech is or not?" Grif said.
"Actually, I'm not all that curious."
"How can you say that?" Grif said.
"I don't know, I'm just not interested anymore," Areida said.
"Oh. Well, I guess I won't be needing this," Grif said, tossing away the Mechwarrior action figure.
"Can anybody tell me why there is a mech wandering around that's from a stupid video game?" Snoink said.
"Maybe it's lost," Dusky said.
"We should help it find out where it's going," Areida said.
"That's just plain retarded," Grif said.
"I don't know Grif. We might be able to establish contact with the natives and win them over with any trinkets we happen to be carrying," Dusky said.
"It's agreed then. We'll go out and talk with the lost Daishi. Phoenix, lead the way. Phoenix?" Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.
"Where can he be?" Dusky asked.
Several floors up, that's where. Phoenix waited for the Daishi to come closer. Then, Phoenix jumped onto the Daishi. Making his way across the Missile bank, he slid down onto the left arm. The pilot was visible, looking straight ahead. Taking out his Sniper Rifle, Phoenix drew a bead on the pilot's head, before firing.
Instead of the typical sniper bullet, Phoenix had used a hypothermic bullet. As soon as the bullet came within a few centimeters of the target, the nose exploded, sending liquid nitrogen onto the window. While the glass was meant to handle high temperature explosions, it wasn't prepared for super cooling. The glass instantly weakened, sending cracks throughout the area. The bullet went straight through the weakened glass, straight into the mech pilot.
Phoenix grinned, before realizing that he didn't know how to get in the mech. The arms of the Daishi now went limp, like the pilot. Phoenix began to slide down the slick arm.
**************
As Phoenix slid down the Daishi, the other four commandos were debating where Phoenix was.
"He probably wandered off to get a better position," Grif said.
"He's not allowed to do that," Snoink said.
"Why don't you use the the radio?"
"What? We don't have radios."
"Yes we do. Here, let me show you."
<Condor 3 to Condor 1,> Grif called.
"You're a Condor?"
"Well, no, that was just an example."
"I want to be a turkey baster!" Ralph from the Simpsons said.
"Go back to Springfield," Dusky said, hurrying him out the door.
"So, what is our call sign?"
"Oh, it's just our screen names." The rest of the group looked at Grif strange.
"I mean our names." The other three SPEW Commandos broke their stare.
"Okay, no use stalling." "Phoenix? Are you there?"
"Uh, Snoink?"
"What now Grif?"
"You forgot to push the "Push-To-Talk" button."
"I don't see one of those."
"It's marked "PTT"."
"Oh." Snoink pressed the button. <Phoenix, where the heck are you?>
There was no answer.
"This is bad."
Indeed it was, for Phoenix was still hanging off the arm of the disabled Daishi. A sudden beeping came from his suit. He looked down at it. Big mistake.
"Oh crap." The ground was a lot farther than it looked. And the radar was flashing red.
"Double crap!"
Back in the building, the Commandos were still discussing where Phoenix was.
"I bet he found a porn mag," Grif said.
"I bet he made friends with the Daishi!" Areida said.
"Whatever happened to that thing?"
"I'll go check."
"Don't go anywhere," a new voice said. A large figure stood in the door way, a mechanical man.
"It's an elemental!" Grif said.
"Give me a break URL kid," Dusky said.
"Drop your weapons," the Elemental said, aiming his laser square at Grif's head.
************
As the laser focused on Grif's head, the ground suddenly shook.
"The Daishi is coming to make friends!" Areida said.
"Daishi? Oh crap," the Elemental said. The Daishi came into view now, it was moving straight for the Elementals. Four elementals against one Daishi.
Three of them activated jump jets in front of the Daishi. Flying up in front of the Daishi, they fired their lasers, destroying the glass, and anyone that was inside.
The elemental smiled at Grif. Grif smiled back. This confused the elemental, but not for long. A sniper bullet ended his thoughts.
"Phoenix!" Grif said.
"I took out the Daishi pilot."
"NOO!" Areida cried.
"Not so loud!" Dusky yelled, but it was no use, the other three elementals turned to see what was happening. They saw their dead leader and the SPEW Commandos.
The SPEW Commandos dove for their guns as lasers shot over head. Phoenix fired his Sniper rifle, taking off one of the Elemental's arms.
Grif was the next one. Grabbing his rail gun, he fired. It hit the Elemental square in the chest.
The last two elementals began moving quickly away from the scene.
"Let's get out of here," Snoink said.
"I've analyzed the Daishi. We got the data."
"How are we going to get out of here?"
"FREEZE!"
"Oh not again," Phoenix muttered.
****************
"At ease Jensen."
"But Sarge-"
"Damn it Jensen, haven't you seen the SPEW Commandos before? Did the flood rip out your mind and your ears!?"
"Sergeant Johnson! We're glad to see you," Grif said.
"Hey Grif. You still using URL's in your dialogue?"
"You bet. Where's Master Chief?"
"We're here," a female voice said.
"Cortana!" Grif said.
One SPEW Commando looked less than happy at the new visitor.
"Oh hello Dusky! Still sore at me for being smarter, faster, and better than you?"
"That's enough," Master Chief said, "What are you doing here Master Pig?"
"We're gathering intel on this world. We need to make it back to our evac point," Snoink said.
"Is there a radio there?"
"Yes. You need to make a phone call?"
"Let's just say we ran out of quarters," Master Chief replied.
"What a weird thing to say!" Areida exclaimed.
"So, will you help us or-" Dusky was cut off by Cortana.
"I have some Warthogs on the way. They'll get us to your phone," Cortana said.
"Do you need the-"
"It's not necessary."
"Stop-"
"-It?"
"Enough," Master Chief said.
A moment later, the Warthogs arrived.
"Shotgun!" Phoenix said.
"Shotgun- damn!" Grif said.
"Sir, more mechs coming in!"
"We have to leave now! Load up!" Sergeant Johnson said. The SPEW Commandos got into two Warthogs. Master Chief drove one, with Phoenix in the passenger and Grif as the gunner. Snoink drove the other, with Areida in the passenger seat and Dusky as the gunner.
The Warthogs raced along the road at an incredible speed as the ground began to shake.
************
The Warthogs weren't all the same. The first one was mounted with a gauss gun, while the second one was mounted with a gattling gun.
Six Warthogs in all.
Phoenix was looking through his sniper rifle.
"Yep. I've killed lots of people with this."
"What, three people?" Cortana said.
"Actually, closer to 87," Phoenix replied smugly.
"I've killed tons of Covenant."
"They're easy to kill. I'm counting humans."
"Oh. Well, I only started killing them today."
"Great, how many are you up to?"
"About... how many was it Cortana?"
"That would be 88 confirmed kills, Chief."
"What! That can't be."
"There is an error margin of +/- .0001."
"I KNEW IT!" Phoenix said.
"MECHS!" Grif yelled. The mech had jumped from behind a building into the path of the Warthog. Master Chief floored it as Grif opened fire. The warthog went between the legs of the mech just as Grif's shells punctured into the reactor. The reactor went critical behind them.
<Snoink!> Grif said.
<We're okay, we'll need to take the long way. Sergeant, split up the vehicles and make for the coordinates that Cortana is sending you,> Snoink said.
<Roger!>
Behind them, the vehicles spread out. Snoink's Warthog followed them.
<Lead on Master Chief.>
<Banshees!> Cortana said.
<I got them!> Dusky said. She aimed the gattling gun and pressed the trigger.
A stream of bullets shot from the gattling gun. A banshee exploded, then another.
<Wow!> Areida said.
<We need to get out of here,> Phoenix said.
<Already on it. There is a highway to the left. Turn now,> Cortana said. Master Chief did so without warning. Cursing resulted, but those words were lost in the screeching of tires. Master Chief floored it again.
The two Warthogs flew onto the freeway, a line of mechs was moving in front of them down the highway. Their backs were towards the advancing Warthogs.
<The road's blocked!>
<I'm on it!> Cortana said. The Warthogs were less than a mile away now.
<Cortana!>
<Got It! Chief, follow the shots.>
<What?> Grif said. The gun moved on its own, before firing at the side of the road. The barrier exploded.
<Hold on,> Master Chief said. The Warthog flew over the side of the highway.
*****************
The Warthogs flew off the side of the highway.
Grif saw a mech perpendicular to them, and in a smooth movement, he turned the turret towards the mech and fired. The gauss shell smashed into the mech cockpit, killing the pilot. Meanwhile, the round had sent Master Chief's Warthog into a roll.
<AHHHH!> Phoenix yelled, shutting his eyes.
<Just hang on,> Master Chief said. The road came up towards the Warthog. Then, the Warthog passed under the street. Phoenix peeked through, to see that they had fallen into a tunnel.
<YEEEHAW!> Grif yelled.
<Well, this isn't supposed to be here,> Cortana said.
<What?>
<The subway system is at least three block west. This tunnel isn't on the maps,> Cortana said.
<So what are we in right now?> Dusky said.
<I don't know,> Cortana replied. Grif took a removed his helmut, before putting it back on.
<God, we're in a sewer.>
<Access the sewer layout. How close can we get to those coordinates?> Master Chief said.
<I've got it. Follow the nav points,> Cortana replied.
*****************
The Warthogs parked next to a ladder. The Commandos piled out and Master Chief and Cortana followed.
"Alright, just up this ladder and we should be in the street in front of the rendevouz building," Cortana said.
"Alright, I'll take the lead," Master Chief said.
"No way, I'll take the lead," Phoenix said.
"I have the armor, I'm going first."
"I have armor too!"
"Are you guys coming or what?" Grif asked, already half way up the ladder. Grif popped off the lid and got out. The street was clear.
"Clear!" The rest of the SPEW Commandos and Master Chief came out. They rushed into the building.
"About time," a familiar voice said.
"Sergeant Johnson. Glad to see you made it. Where's your Warthog?"
"They're in a parking garage. Where's yours?"
"In a sewer. Have you secured the radio?"
"We have. Second floor, first door to your right."
"Grif, Dusky, with me. Areida, Phoenix, keep an eye out the front door," Snoink said.
The radio was actually quite small, which made Snoink wonder why they didn't bring it with them in the first place.
"Nate, this is Snoink."
<Reading you loud and clear Snoink. What have you discovered?>
"I'm sending our data logs to you now. The short version is that there are at least two video games running here simultaneously."
There was silence on the other end.
<Which games?>
"Mechwarrior and Halo."
<One or two?> Snoink looked at Grif, who shrugged in turn.
"We're not sure."
<Alright. What can I do?>
"Can you teleport us back?"
<Negative> You're going to need to find a power source of your own. Do you need some extra help?"
"Yes," Snoink said.
<Standby.>
"Who do you think they'll send?" Grif asked.
"Probably a SPEW Commando or two, but mostly rookies that don't know anything.
In a flash, the room became much more crowded. Four were in SPEW Commando uniforms. The names were classified, but the IFF transponders identified them as Crysi, Mesh, Elelel, and Writersdomain.
The remaining five were not in SPEW uniforms, they were in the cadet uniforms of YWS. There IFF identified them as Claudette, Lampshade, Syrith, Broken Wings, Slick Jimmy, and Writingluver or "Wiggy" as the IFF called her.
The SPEW members had their special gear, while the YWS cadets were all armed with standard weaponry: the usual machine guns, sidearm, and grenades one would find.
"Alright Nate, one last favor. We need those hyper integrators."
<Alright. Smaur is coming with them.>
And suddenly Smaur teleported in. She was in full Commando gear and with her was a box. The box fell on the floor.
"Thanks Nate. Master Chief needs to make a phone call, so we'll get off."
<Roger that. Hi Chief!>
<General Nate,> Master Chief said.
"Everybody, get out of this room and give the Chief some privacy. The cadets scrambled as the Commandos led the way out.
<Snoink?>
<Yes Phoenix?>
<Did we just get some reinforcements?>
<Yep. We're going to have to find a power station to get us out of here.>
<It's really loud up there.>
<Some of them are Cadets.>
<WHAT!>
<You have a problem with them?>
<YES! They're stupid, badly trained when they're trained at all, and I'll have to babysit them.>
<It'll be worth it.>
<What can be worth it?>
<How about a hyper integrator?>
<We have those!>
<Only if we babysit those cadets. Clear?>
<Crystal,> Phoenix said.
***********
Further orders were given as the SPEW Commandos tried to figure out what to do with them.
<Why don't we just leave them here and find an exit ourselves?> Phoenix grumbled over the radio. The helmet was a good medium for griping, since none of the sound escaped.
<Phoenix, ask me again and I'll shoot you. Go pass out the hyper-integrators,> Snoink replied.
Grif was the first to receive it. It looked like a TI-89 Calculator, but this was a deception. It was actually the most revolutionary piece of equipment yet built: something that could automatically integrate information seamlessly. It could not only tell you information about your squadmates, but it could also integrate with any electronic component and give you control of it.
Grif moved into the room where the Cadets had been shoved. They were playing cards. Their gear was stowed for now.
"Is this your first mission?" Grif asked nonchalantly. There was some giggling.
"Definitely not," Claudette said.
"I see. What have you guys done?"
"Can't really say. It's classified."
"Classified?"
"Yep. Can't tell you about it."
"So how come you guys all have the standard issue armor and weaponry?"
"So we can maintain surprise on all our enemies. You know 'Don't hurt us, we're just cadets'. They look away and BLAMO!" Slickjimmy said.
Grif knew he had been had. So he just smiled and left.
<Meeting in five minutes,> Snoink warned.
Everyone was downstairs. Master Chief and and Sergeant Johnson were in one corner, the Commandos in another, and the cadets were in the another.
"Okay! So, yeah, we need to get out of here. Nate says we need to find some sort of power generator to power some sort of teleportation thing. Nate says we're needed back ASAP, he's decided to invade Russia."
"May I say that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard?" Grif said.
"Duly noted," Phoenix said.
"Shut up Grif. We have fifteen SPEW and YWS forces. I think we should split up into groups of three. One cadet to two commandos. Cortana has given us some likely points where we can find these power stations. We'll split up and recon them. If you find a station, call it in. I've already talked with Sergeant Johnson, he'll give us a ride on some of the Pelicans."
"I'd like to restate my-" Grif started.
"Shut up," Snoink said.
"What do we know about these locations?" Crysi asked.
"Next to nothing. Just some coordinates. It will be a blind drop. You are the recon mission," Cortana said.
"How are we going to teleport out? Grif asked.
"Don't worry about that. Any more questions? Then let's go," Snoink said.
***********
The rest of the mission is classified.
Grif came out of the portal with his gun up. He scanned left, then right. He was inside a bombed out room. Debris covered the floor.
"Area's clear," Grif said.
Behind him, the portal flashed brightly as four SPEW Commandos came through.
"Geez, what a mess. Why are we here again?"
"Nate wanted us to tell him what the future was like," Snoink said.
"Let's go back and tell him it looks like crap," Phoenix said.
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Areida said cheerfully.
"Let's just get this over with," Dusky muttered.
"Okay. Phoenix, I want you at point. Dusky; left flank, Areida; right flank, Grif; rear guard. Go!" Snoink ordered.
The group split.
"The area is highly urbanized. Evidence of heavy fighting, no signs of humans. Snoink has divided us into sectors. No casualties as of 00:01," Phoenix said.
"What are you doing Phoenix?" Areida asked.
"Keeping a log."
"Oh cool!"
Phoenix took out his sniper rifle and scanned the street, before taking a step outside. Areida and Dusky followed, keeping their weapons pointed in their sectors. Snoink followed, with Grif in the rear.
They proceeded down the street in that manner. Phoenix turned around the corner and they saw the results of a fresh battle. Bodies lay slumped over barriers.
"Holy mother of God," Dusky said. Phoenix bent over a body and began searching through an officers pockets.
"I got a map, documents, and some odd looking weapons. I've analyzed them for later reference," Phoenix said.
"Do you hear that?" Grif asked.
"That low thumping sound?" Areida said.
"It's getting closer," Dusky said.
"Let's get inside a building quick."
The team ran inside. The sound grew louder, until the building began to shake.
Then, it came into view. It was a mech.
"What the hell is that?"
"Daishi!" Grif said in amazement.
***********
"Daishi?" Snoink asked.
"It's a mech from Mechwarrior 4," Grif explained.
"You mean that you can actually learn something from video games?" Dusky asked.
"Duh," Phoenix said.
"What's going on again?" Areida asked.
"You don't know what a mech is?" Grif asked.
"Um..."
"Don't say um," Snoink snapped.
"Why?"
"My fifth grade teacher taught me that. It's really annoying," Snoink responded.
"I'm sorry."
"Nevermind Snoink's feelings, do you want to know what a mech is or not?" Grif said.
"Actually, I'm not all that curious."
"How can you say that?" Grif said.
"I don't know, I'm just not interested anymore," Areida said.
"Oh. Well, I guess I won't be needing this," Grif said, tossing away the Mechwarrior action figure.
"Can anybody tell me why there is a mech wandering around that's from a stupid video game?" Snoink said.
"Maybe it's lost," Dusky said.
"We should help it find out where it's going," Areida said.
"That's just plain retarded," Grif said.
"I don't know Grif. We might be able to establish contact with the natives and win them over with any trinkets we happen to be carrying," Dusky said.
"It's agreed then. We'll go out and talk with the lost Daishi. Phoenix, lead the way. Phoenix?" Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.
"Where can he be?" Dusky asked.
Several floors up, that's where. Phoenix waited for the Daishi to come closer. Then, Phoenix jumped onto the Daishi. Making his way across the Missile bank, he slid down onto the left arm. The pilot was visible, looking straight ahead. Taking out his Sniper Rifle, Phoenix drew a bead on the pilot's head, before firing.
Instead of the typical sniper bullet, Phoenix had used a hypothermic bullet. As soon as the bullet came within a few centimeters of the target, the nose exploded, sending liquid nitrogen onto the window. While the glass was meant to handle high temperature explosions, it wasn't prepared for super cooling. The glass instantly weakened, sending cracks throughout the area. The bullet went straight through the weakened glass, straight into the mech pilot.
Phoenix grinned, before realizing that he didn't know how to get in the mech. The arms of the Daishi now went limp, like the pilot. Phoenix began to slide down the slick arm.
**************
As Phoenix slid down the Daishi, the other four commandos were debating where Phoenix was.
"He probably wandered off to get a better position," Grif said.
"He's not allowed to do that," Snoink said.
"Why don't you use the the radio?"
"What? We don't have radios."
"Yes we do. Here, let me show you."
<Condor 3 to Condor 1,> Grif called.
"You're a Condor?"
"Well, no, that was just an example."
"I want to be a turkey baster!" Ralph from the Simpsons said.
"Go back to Springfield," Dusky said, hurrying him out the door.
"So, what is our call sign?"
"Oh, it's just our screen names." The rest of the group looked at Grif strange.
"I mean our names." The other three SPEW Commandos broke their stare.
"Okay, no use stalling." "Phoenix? Are you there?"
"Uh, Snoink?"
"What now Grif?"
"You forgot to push the "Push-To-Talk" button."
"I don't see one of those."
"It's marked "PTT"."
"Oh." Snoink pressed the button. <Phoenix, where the heck are you?>
There was no answer.
"This is bad."
Indeed it was, for Phoenix was still hanging off the arm of the disabled Daishi. A sudden beeping came from his suit. He looked down at it. Big mistake.
"Oh crap." The ground was a lot farther than it looked. And the radar was flashing red.
"Double crap!"
Back in the building, the Commandos were still discussing where Phoenix was.
"I bet he found a porn mag," Grif said.
"I bet he made friends with the Daishi!" Areida said.
"Whatever happened to that thing?"
"I'll go check."
"Don't go anywhere," a new voice said. A large figure stood in the door way, a mechanical man.
"It's an elemental!" Grif said.
"Give me a break URL kid," Dusky said.
"Drop your weapons," the Elemental said, aiming his laser square at Grif's head.
************
As the laser focused on Grif's head, the ground suddenly shook.
"The Daishi is coming to make friends!" Areida said.
"Daishi? Oh crap," the Elemental said. The Daishi came into view now, it was moving straight for the Elementals. Four elementals against one Daishi.
Three of them activated jump jets in front of the Daishi. Flying up in front of the Daishi, they fired their lasers, destroying the glass, and anyone that was inside.
The elemental smiled at Grif. Grif smiled back. This confused the elemental, but not for long. A sniper bullet ended his thoughts.
"Phoenix!" Grif said.
"I took out the Daishi pilot."
"NOO!" Areida cried.
"Not so loud!" Dusky yelled, but it was no use, the other three elementals turned to see what was happening. They saw their dead leader and the SPEW Commandos.
The SPEW Commandos dove for their guns as lasers shot over head. Phoenix fired his Sniper rifle, taking off one of the Elemental's arms.
Grif was the next one. Grabbing his rail gun, he fired. It hit the Elemental square in the chest.
The last two elementals began moving quickly away from the scene.
"Let's get out of here," Snoink said.
"I've analyzed the Daishi. We got the data."
"How are we going to get out of here?"
"FREEZE!"
"Oh not again," Phoenix muttered.
****************
"At ease Jensen."
"But Sarge-"
"Damn it Jensen, haven't you seen the SPEW Commandos before? Did the flood rip out your mind and your ears!?"
"Sergeant Johnson! We're glad to see you," Grif said.
"Hey Grif. You still using URL's in your dialogue?"
"You bet. Where's Master Chief?"
"We're here," a female voice said.
"Cortana!" Grif said.
One SPEW Commando looked less than happy at the new visitor.
"Oh hello Dusky! Still sore at me for being smarter, faster, and better than you?"
"That's enough," Master Chief said, "What are you doing here Master Pig?"
"We're gathering intel on this world. We need to make it back to our evac point," Snoink said.
"Is there a radio there?"
"Yes. You need to make a phone call?"
"Let's just say we ran out of quarters," Master Chief replied.
"What a weird thing to say!" Areida exclaimed.
"So, will you help us or-" Dusky was cut off by Cortana.
"I have some Warthogs on the way. They'll get us to your phone," Cortana said.
"Do you need the-"
"It's not necessary."
"Stop-"
"-It?"
"Enough," Master Chief said.
A moment later, the Warthogs arrived.
"Shotgun!" Phoenix said.
"Shotgun- damn!" Grif said.
"Sir, more mechs coming in!"
"We have to leave now! Load up!" Sergeant Johnson said. The SPEW Commandos got into two Warthogs. Master Chief drove one, with Phoenix in the passenger and Grif as the gunner. Snoink drove the other, with Areida in the passenger seat and Dusky as the gunner.
The Warthogs raced along the road at an incredible speed as the ground began to shake.
************
The Warthogs weren't all the same. The first one was mounted with a gauss gun, while the second one was mounted with a gattling gun.
Six Warthogs in all.
Phoenix was looking through his sniper rifle.
"Yep. I've killed lots of people with this."
"What, three people?" Cortana said.
"Actually, closer to 87," Phoenix replied smugly.
"I've killed tons of Covenant."
"They're easy to kill. I'm counting humans."
"Oh. Well, I only started killing them today."
"Great, how many are you up to?"
"About... how many was it Cortana?"
"That would be 88 confirmed kills, Chief."
"What! That can't be."
"There is an error margin of +/- .0001."
"I KNEW IT!" Phoenix said.
"MECHS!" Grif yelled. The mech had jumped from behind a building into the path of the Warthog. Master Chief floored it as Grif opened fire. The warthog went between the legs of the mech just as Grif's shells punctured into the reactor. The reactor went critical behind them.
<Snoink!> Grif said.
<We're okay, we'll need to take the long way. Sergeant, split up the vehicles and make for the coordinates that Cortana is sending you,> Snoink said.
<Roger!>
Behind them, the vehicles spread out. Snoink's Warthog followed them.
<Lead on Master Chief.>
<Banshees!> Cortana said.
<I got them!> Dusky said. She aimed the gattling gun and pressed the trigger.
A stream of bullets shot from the gattling gun. A banshee exploded, then another.
<Wow!> Areida said.
<We need to get out of here,> Phoenix said.
<Already on it. There is a highway to the left. Turn now,> Cortana said. Master Chief did so without warning. Cursing resulted, but those words were lost in the screeching of tires. Master Chief floored it again.
The two Warthogs flew onto the freeway, a line of mechs was moving in front of them down the highway. Their backs were towards the advancing Warthogs.
<The road's blocked!>
<I'm on it!> Cortana said. The Warthogs were less than a mile away now.
<Cortana!>
<Got It! Chief, follow the shots.>
<What?> Grif said. The gun moved on its own, before firing at the side of the road. The barrier exploded.
<Hold on,> Master Chief said. The Warthog flew over the side of the highway.
*****************
The Warthogs flew off the side of the highway.
Grif saw a mech perpendicular to them, and in a smooth movement, he turned the turret towards the mech and fired. The gauss shell smashed into the mech cockpit, killing the pilot. Meanwhile, the round had sent Master Chief's Warthog into a roll.
<AHHHH!> Phoenix yelled, shutting his eyes.
<Just hang on,> Master Chief said. The road came up towards the Warthog. Then, the Warthog passed under the street. Phoenix peeked through, to see that they had fallen into a tunnel.
<YEEEHAW!> Grif yelled.
<Well, this isn't supposed to be here,> Cortana said.
<What?>
<The subway system is at least three block west. This tunnel isn't on the maps,> Cortana said.
<So what are we in right now?> Dusky said.
<I don't know,> Cortana replied. Grif took a removed his helmut, before putting it back on.
<God, we're in a sewer.>
<Access the sewer layout. How close can we get to those coordinates?> Master Chief said.
<I've got it. Follow the nav points,> Cortana replied.
*****************
The Warthogs parked next to a ladder. The Commandos piled out and Master Chief and Cortana followed.
"Alright, just up this ladder and we should be in the street in front of the rendevouz building," Cortana said.
"Alright, I'll take the lead," Master Chief said.
"No way, I'll take the lead," Phoenix said.
"I have the armor, I'm going first."
"I have armor too!"
"Are you guys coming or what?" Grif asked, already half way up the ladder. Grif popped off the lid and got out. The street was clear.
"Clear!" The rest of the SPEW Commandos and Master Chief came out. They rushed into the building.
"About time," a familiar voice said.
"Sergeant Johnson. Glad to see you made it. Where's your Warthog?"
"They're in a parking garage. Where's yours?"
"In a sewer. Have you secured the radio?"
"We have. Second floor, first door to your right."
"Grif, Dusky, with me. Areida, Phoenix, keep an eye out the front door," Snoink said.
The radio was actually quite small, which made Snoink wonder why they didn't bring it with them in the first place.
"Nate, this is Snoink."
<Reading you loud and clear Snoink. What have you discovered?>
"I'm sending our data logs to you now. The short version is that there are at least two video games running here simultaneously."
There was silence on the other end.
<Which games?>
"Mechwarrior and Halo."
<One or two?> Snoink looked at Grif, who shrugged in turn.
"We're not sure."
<Alright. What can I do?>
"Can you teleport us back?"
<Negative> You're going to need to find a power source of your own. Do you need some extra help?"
"Yes," Snoink said.
<Standby.>
"Who do you think they'll send?" Grif asked.
"Probably a SPEW Commando or two, but mostly rookies that don't know anything.
In a flash, the room became much more crowded. Four were in SPEW Commando uniforms. The names were classified, but the IFF transponders identified them as Crysi, Mesh, Elelel, and Writersdomain.
The remaining five were not in SPEW uniforms, they were in the cadet uniforms of YWS. There IFF identified them as Claudette, Lampshade, Syrith, Broken Wings, Slick Jimmy, and Writingluver or "Wiggy" as the IFF called her.
The SPEW members had their special gear, while the YWS cadets were all armed with standard weaponry: the usual machine guns, sidearm, and grenades one would find.
"Alright Nate, one last favor. We need those hyper integrators."
<Alright. Smaur is coming with them.>
And suddenly Smaur teleported in. She was in full Commando gear and with her was a box. The box fell on the floor.
"Thanks Nate. Master Chief needs to make a phone call, so we'll get off."
<Roger that. Hi Chief!>
<General Nate,> Master Chief said.
"Everybody, get out of this room and give the Chief some privacy. The cadets scrambled as the Commandos led the way out.
<Snoink?>
<Yes Phoenix?>
<Did we just get some reinforcements?>
<Yep. We're going to have to find a power station to get us out of here.>
<It's really loud up there.>
<Some of them are Cadets.>
<WHAT!>
<You have a problem with them?>
<YES! They're stupid, badly trained when they're trained at all, and I'll have to babysit them.>
<It'll be worth it.>
<What can be worth it?>
<How about a hyper integrator?>
<We have those!>
<Only if we babysit those cadets. Clear?>
<Crystal,> Phoenix said.
***********
Further orders were given as the SPEW Commandos tried to figure out what to do with them.
<Why don't we just leave them here and find an exit ourselves?> Phoenix grumbled over the radio. The helmet was a good medium for griping, since none of the sound escaped.
<Phoenix, ask me again and I'll shoot you. Go pass out the hyper-integrators,> Snoink replied.
Grif was the first to receive it. It looked like a TI-89 Calculator, but this was a deception. It was actually the most revolutionary piece of equipment yet built: something that could automatically integrate information seamlessly. It could not only tell you information about your squadmates, but it could also integrate with any electronic component and give you control of it.
Grif moved into the room where the Cadets had been shoved. They were playing cards. Their gear was stowed for now.
"Is this your first mission?" Grif asked nonchalantly. There was some giggling.
"Definitely not," Claudette said.
"I see. What have you guys done?"
"Can't really say. It's classified."
"Classified?"
"Yep. Can't tell you about it."
"So how come you guys all have the standard issue armor and weaponry?"
"So we can maintain surprise on all our enemies. You know 'Don't hurt us, we're just cadets'. They look away and BLAMO!" Slickjimmy said.
Grif knew he had been had. So he just smiled and left.
<Meeting in five minutes,> Snoink warned.
Everyone was downstairs. Master Chief and and Sergeant Johnson were in one corner, the Commandos in another, and the cadets were in the another.
"Okay! So, yeah, we need to get out of here. Nate says we need to find some sort of power generator to power some sort of teleportation thing. Nate says we're needed back ASAP, he's decided to invade Russia."
"May I say that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard?" Grif said.
"Duly noted," Phoenix said.
"Shut up Grif. We have fifteen SPEW and YWS forces. I think we should split up into groups of three. One cadet to two commandos. Cortana has given us some likely points where we can find these power stations. We'll split up and recon them. If you find a station, call it in. I've already talked with Sergeant Johnson, he'll give us a ride on some of the Pelicans."
"I'd like to restate my-" Grif started.
"Shut up," Snoink said.
"What do we know about these locations?" Crysi asked.
"Next to nothing. Just some coordinates. It will be a blind drop. You are the recon mission," Cortana said.
"How are we going to teleport out? Grif asked.
"Don't worry about that. Any more questions? Then let's go," Snoink said.
***********
The rest of the mission is classified.