The Green Tin Man
Posted By: Choasbringer<marcuscml@msn.com>
Date: 11 November 2003, 1:43 PM
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Note: This fanfic is based on the level 'Truth and Reconciliation'.
The Green Tin Man
My name is Grahlak, honorable gold-ranked Elite. My job is to obey the orders of the wise prophet who leads our community aboard the Truth and Reconciliation. Though I had reached the highest rank of the Elite community, I had never been sent to battle in Halo, a ring-world we traveled to. The prophet intended to take control of Halo, saying that it is our heritage. The heritage passed down by our gods, the Forerunners, to us.
A week had passed since we reached Halo. Battle had been waged against the humans but we lost most of the battle. We suffered many casualties while they suffered little, or so I've heard (I am not involved in the battle, remember?). I heard the pitiful moans of pain from my surviving brethren from the battle. I wondered who is capable in dealing such pain among my honorable comrades. One day, I walked through the sick bay of the Cruiser; I've heard something of interest from one of the Grunts. He was ranting like a maniac wailing "It's the 'Green Tin Man'! He nearly got me! It's him! It's him! He killed my brothers and sisters! It's him! It's him!"
One day during lunch, I sat beside my friend Zhoruk, silver-ranked Elite. We chatted as we had our lunch. Then I asked "Ever heard of 'The Green Tin Man'?" Zhoruk was surprised that I mentioned 'The Green Tin Man'. He told me "So, heard of the creature, huh? If you must know, 'The Green Tin Man' is a popular urban legend among our brethren, especially the Grunts. 'The Green Tin Man' was said to look like a human. However, there are many things about him that is not so human. For one, he is said to be as strong as one of the Hunters, a lot faster than even us Elites, and also a lot smarter. I doubt 'The Green Tin Man' ever existed. Just some dispiriting rumor spread by the Grunts, I say."
I find Zhoruk's explanation unsatisfactory. For that, I searched the Covenant Database for more information of the legendary 'Green Tin Man'. I discovered that sighting had been made of this fearful creature since we started attacking the human planet they called 'Reach'. Many strange victories against my comrades are said to be cause by the 'Green Tin Man'. However, the Prophets denied his existence, saying that the survivors sighted a man in green before they passed out and thought that he was responsible for the horrifying deed. It is only successful tactics that granted the humans victory, not 'The Green Tin Man'. However, I doubted the truthfulness of this piece of information.
One day, humans attacked our guards on the surface. They were supposed to protect the gravity lift that leads to our Cruiser. I was on guard duty in the brig with 4 other Grunts and 2 silver-ranked Elites. I heard announcement that we must prepare for inevitable intrusion as the humans had defeated the guards on the surface and are entering the ship. I happened to know that 2 Hunters were sent to battle the intruders on the surface when all other guards fail. I wondered how did those frail humans managed to defeat the Hunters, as they are mighty warriors and are known to be able to destroy human installations without effort.
Another announcement was made saying that the intruders had infiltrated the docking bay and slaughtered more of our brethren, especially the Hunters. This announcement began to send my spine chilling, as no human attacks had ever been this successful. Could it be the 'Green Tin Man' is among them?
In the next few minutes, someone blew up the door to the brig my team was guarding. From the smoke, a figure appeared. He threw a plasma grenade and it stuck to one of the Grunts. He panicked. I yelled "Get away from us! You will kill us all!" Unfortunately, the Grunt panicked too much to even have a clear thought. He ran to the other Grunts and brought them down with him. I activated my sword as my stealthy Elite partners fired at the figure. The figure avoided the shots and shot his weapon at my partners, killing them instantly. How can a human know how to detect silver-ranked Elites?
I charged towards the figure as he was too distracted to notice me, so sure that I can kill him before he knew what hit him. He turned and struck me by the stomach with the butt of his weapon. The pain was unbearable. I flew and hit the control panel. Million thoughts swam through my mind. Who's able to plan what to do before seeing his enemies? Which human possess such strength to knock me flying? Which human had his senses so refine that he is able to see what's invisible. As my surrounding began to blur, the human walked to me, with his weapon aiming at my head. Finally, I get a clear view of my attacker. He is dressed in green. 'The Green Tin Man'! This is the last scene I saw as I passed out.
I was lucky to be alive. That abomination thought I was dead when he left the room with the prisoners we had tried so hard to capture. No other Elites believed the tale of my encounter with the monster. Anyway, I knew he existed and that was that. I hope not to see him again.
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