Immortal Warheads [Discontinued]

Chapter 11

The next day had rolled around, Fire team KZ00 had finished loading up as the Phantom began taking off. As the Phantom flew over the battlefield, explosions filled the sky. The ship tried desperately to dodge the oncoming fire, but it was to no avail, one shot hit it from behind causing the ship to twirl out of control. "Hold on boys! We're going in for a hard landing!" Aloe held onto the side of the ship as the other Spartans did the same taking cover. The smoldering wreck was in the middle of crossfire, the only ones to emerge from the destruction were the Spartans. Using the debris as cover they looked around seeing if they could spot any Sword of Sanghelios fighting in the war torn land. "Alex, do you see any of them? The Covenant are closing in rather fast!" Aloe said, as she fired over her shoulder keeping her head in cover. "I'm looking, I'm looking! I don't see any of them!" Alex said looking around with his sniper, every now and again shooting at an Elite. "Well you could stand to look a little faster." Shepard said as he threw a few grenades into the distance. "Well it's a little hard when you're under all the fire physically possible!" Alex said with panic in his voice. "This is fucking great, we are stuck in the middle of no where and we might actually die out here." Joseph said firing his carbine. "Well if we are, I'll gladly accept this fate." Joseph stood up before Aloe yanked him back down before smacking him. "No, we aren't gonna die here. So you sit tight and hold position. We will drive them back by ourselves if we have too." Aloe said before she threw a grenade it sticking to an Elite before exploding and killing other troops around it. "So don't start going soft on me now!"

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The fire soon began to calm, Aloe slowly poked her head out to see what was going on. As she scoped out the area she saw that the Covenant was retreating. "Well that's odd, they're running away." "That means the Swords won right!?" Alex sat up a bit lowering his rifle. "No, I dont think so. We are no where near the Swords, they would've kept charging us even if that were the case." Shepard said standing up. He looked up and took a step back. "It's something far worse." Joseph stood up and sighed. "We need to start running, now." Alex nodded and put his rifle on his back. The others did the same, ready to run before looking back at Aloe, who was still kneeling on the floor. Her body stiff and frozen in place as she watched the sky. "Aloe, Aloe hurry! Common lass we don't have time to sit around." Joseph went up to her trying to get her to her feet. Shepard looked at Alex before they nodded and went over to help him lift her up to her feet. All of the Spartans tried with all their might to move her before her head slightly tilted down and she took a step back making the others stumble forward. Without a word she began running away, she would trip over herself every now and again but just kept running. The others watched her before they ran after. "A-Aloe wait up!" Alex said as they ran just right behind her. "I've never seen her run this fast before, what's gotten into her?" Alex said trying to keep up. "I don't know don't look at me." Joseph said as he shrugged a little while he was running. "Well we assume you would, since you knew her first." Shepard added. "Yeah, for like a day!" Joseph responded.
Soon they had run far enough from the laser that came crashing down into the land, it wiping out a good radius of the battlefield causing a strong gust of wind towards the Spartans. As Jospeh, Shepard, and Alex caught their breath Aloe was still panting, her breathing instead of slowing was picking up. "Hey, hey hey, you good over here?" Jospeh went over and put a hand on Aloes shoulder. Shepard and Alex went up to her too, their hands slightly out as if ready to catch her if she fell. Aloe didn't respond, she couldn't, her breathing didn't allow her too. Joseph looked up and noticed some Elites walking by, them limping as they slowed to a halt. Joseph made his was over to them. "You guys are Swords huh? Thank god, we thought you guys would be so far away from us. What was that, that just happened!?" Joseph said as one Elite looked over to him. "They fired a weak, but destructive glassing beam. They hoarded us up to wipe us all out at once." It explained as Joseph looked over at Aloe. Shepard and Alex were standing beside her as she was still somewhat in a panic. "Well, let's fall back to base. No use staying here. And anyway, one of our own may be in need of some medical aid." Joseph sighed as the Elites nodded standing up as the Spartans helped Aloe walk back to base.

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As they returned the Arbiter walked up to them "Spartans! It is nice to see you came back unharmed!" He motioned the other Elites over to a tent as the Spartans seated Aloe on a rock. "Wait, do not tell me she did get harmed." Shepard shook his head as he crossed his arms. "They fired a fucking glassing beam on us! Did you not see that!?" Joseph yelled before Aloe slammed her fist on a rock. "Stop saying that fucking word! Alright, fucking, just let me go back to the tent." Aloe stood up shaking as she slowly made off. "A, glassing beam?" Arbiter said in a lower tone so Aloe wouldn't hear him. "I suppose that would do it to her. After all, she is one of the very few survivors of Reach. An act, that I do take responsibility for. An act I truly regret." Aloe stopped in her tracks. Her head tilted up more as her hand clenched up more. "That...that was you?..." Shepard looked over a bit more before motioning to Joseph to go and hold her down. The two Spartans ran past the Arbiter before grabbing her arms. "That was you!?" Aloes promethean blade had sprung to life as Joseph and Shepard tugged her back, but it was useless. She continued trucking forward towards the Arbiter as she tried lifting her arm to raise her sword. "Alex! Get over here!" Alex shook his head before running over and jumping on Aloes back. She growled as she slowly began moving again. "Let me go! Let me go you useless!" Aloe tried throwing them off but they only held her down more. "Grav-boots on!" The Spartans anchored themselves onto the ground before Aloe slumped over, finally defeated as she looked to the ground. "Let her go, I am willing to accept any punishment she wishes to give me." The Arbiter spoke as the other Spartans looked up at him. They slowly let go of Aloe before she lifted up her arm swiftly stopping before she could bring it down staring at the Elite before her. He did not flinch or move to raise a weapon, Aloe slowly lowered her arm before the blade retracted. Her voice broken and soft. "We are only here for one more day..." She slowly backed away shoving past her teammates. They all watched her as she made her way into the tent. "Damn, I knew she was scary but...I never knew she could be like that." Shepard crossed his arms and sighed. "Next time Alex, don't just watch. Some fucking help would be great." Joseph smacked Alex on the back as he shook his head.