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"So what the hell do I do now?"
"Why are you asking me? You're the one that screwed up. You should have known that something like that was coming. Your respect for the soldier clouded the reality that he didn't give a shit about you."
"Whatever. It seems that I'll need to find that Uzumri. I'm guessing that it's a starship."
"Hold on...your genius hypothesis was absolutely correct."
"Shit. There goes the whole 'kill Shade before she gets out of the city' strategy. I don't even have the coordinates or anything on this thing. Chances are, you won't find anything either with the kind of rebel that Shade seems to be so far. Even her lieutenant can successfully play mind games with me."
"Well, you're right about that first one, and probably the second one as well. I can't find anything on the Uzumri's location or even its specs. I HAVE found a coordinate where we can find the coordinates."
"Just point."

The semi-transparent figure lifted her arm slowly, her head down in a somewhat meditating position. She was without a doubt searching for the exact location of their destination. Her arm slowly moved to the left, and stopped right on front of a wall in the alley that they were in.

"What the FUCK are you doing?"
"Its in the heart of the city."
"Then why the hell are you pointing to a wall? Do you think I can see through it?"
"Shut up and follow the directions."

EVA spoke in a monotone, stoic voice, apparently concentrating very hard in hacking through the Covenant base codes and finding a direct location. Shadow was impressed that she was capable of pulling those types of stunts so far in the future.

"Make a left, and go. I'll steer you from there."
"Right."


It curved towards the sky in constantly twisting and fluid motions, a desperate quest to reach the sky - the points ending only as the highest point in the city. Continuous lines flowed throughout, seeming to be some type of odd modern art sculpture with no military or practical applications. Four enormous, fluid "bars" surrounded the structure, twisting throughout, holding the entire fragile thing together with what seemed to be an amazing feat of defiance against the grasp of gravity. Not a single rigid line, it seemed to have no entrances, nor any thresholds to enter through. It was indeed the largest building in the city, and a magnificent piece of architecture that surpassed any beauty that humans could even imagine. Silver light from the sky reflected off every portion of the bending structure, lending the image of the building a somewhat bright white color rather than its inherent blue. Shadow stood in one of the narrow alleys, leaning on the wall and watching in awe.

"That's one hell of a building. Doesn't seem like it can withstand even one grenade explosion though."
"Looks can be deceiving you know."
"I'm not even going to ask how they made it military-ready. And they certainly value the strength of beauty and pride over stealth. Not very strategic if you ask me."
"The main hall can be reached through the sewer system if you want to enter discreetly. The sewer entrance is right beneath you."
"I see."

Stepping to the side of his somewhat stealthy entrance into the building, he was immediately met with the sounds of plasma rifles and energy explosions. He leaned in one of the corners of the large main lobby where the bulk of the action was taking place, quickly realizing that the blasts were not being made in his direction. He watched as the mainstream Covenant were quickly whittled down by the apparently renegade Covenant force. Strangely, the renegades quickly retreated, only to storm through the main doors again with a covenant tank moments later. With one quick blast, the defenders were completely eliminated, body parts thrown in every direction, and blood becoming nothing less than a bath on the stairs at the center of the room. Shadow remained completely motionless, but the tank seemed have spotted him anyway. In a desperate move, Shadow began a full sprint, pulling his sniper rifle of his shoulder in the process. As the blue explosion rammed itself into the ground next to him, he made an all out jump into the air across the main staircase of the base. In a sideways float, he squeezed off two blasts, and sent the slugs right through the tank. After landing with a huge *thud* on his back, he had realized that he had jumped across about half the room, a whole 20 feet, without any separate propulsion. He had made it clear far before the explosion could have a chance to accelerate him in his direction, and he didn't even feel overly exerted at all. Slowly standing up in the disbelief of his newfound abilities, he looked to the hologram of EVA on the screen on his arm.

"What the hell just happened?"
"You blew up a Covenant tank at point blank range when it had the first shot. Not even a Spartan would have done that successfully."
"I don't understand."
"You'll need to! Look behind!"

Listening careful to the tone in EVA's voice, he knew that danger was presenting itself in his presence. He knew that the enemies were probably at the top of the huge, grandiose staircase, and he was suck between the blown tank and the downwards approaching attackers. In a quick instinctive reaction, he ducked, and dove again to the side, hoping to then find cover in the now blown tank. In the middle of the dive, he watched three elites and four Jackals pile into the room with vengeance in mind. In the midst of this horizontal dive, he managed to un-holster his pistol and pump two shots into two Jackals. Seeing how they would be the hardest to actually hit, he decided to eliminate them before they could react to the danger at hand and place their shields in an effective defensive posture. Two out, five more to go. As he landed, he spun himself sideways, so that his feet were facing the point of his movement rather than his head. In another quick motion, he pushed off the wall, and slid across the floor in the opposite direction of his previous dive, pumping two more rounds into the third Jackal, blowing out a hole in its leg, and another in its chest. The slide was surprisingly powerful enough to send him behind the Covenant tank that sat dead in the middle of the room. Somehow, he managed to move from right in front of the tank, to the wall at the side of the room, to behind it without being shot, and in the process, eliminate three out of the seven threats. His new abilities were absolutely astounding.. He snapped his pistol back into its holster, and pulled up the sniper rifle. Leaning up against the tank, his back to the enemies, he watched as blue energy sizzled and rifled over his head into the now blown main doors in front of him. He quickly moved in a leaned down position to the right side of the blown tank and found a nice sniper position that would be nearly impossible to be hit from. He leaned down, and took aim. Pre-calculating the movements he would make from one enemy to the next, lined up with the head of the leftmost elite, who was still firing at his prior position. He exhaled and fired.

*FTEW* *FTEW* *FTEW* *FTEW*

Four shots in quick succession, leaving four straight and perfect blue vapor trails behind them. Four more bodies on the floor. Shadow stood up, and began a full sprint up the main staircase, as per EVA's instructions.

"What now?"
"There's a ventilation shaft to your right."
"They still have those in the future? I hate those things. So constraining, and so godamn stupid."

Normally, he would have used his grappling pistol to pull himself up to the ventilation grate on the ceiling in the back right of the room. But such was not even relevant now, with the augmentation taken into concern. He was now at the back center of the room, at the second floor, about 12 feet below the grating. He continued his sprint past the grate and jumped right into the wall - feet first. In a fluid, spring-like motion, he pushed off the wall, sending him flying higher. He grabbed hold of the cold, rigid metal of the grate, and spun himself upside down, kicking the grate in the process. Pulling a full flip in quick succession to his previous movement, he was in the shaft with no trouble at all. He looked around him, and rummaged through his bag. He pulled out a small eyepiece, one used on many previous occasions. It sat nicely on his head as he activated the night vision function. As he walked forwards, he could hear a re-eruption of the battle back in the main hall. He just hoped that both sides would be distracted to the point of not even noticing his continued presence in the facility. He persisted to walk through in as close to a sprint as he could get while leaning down so far in the narrow shaft.

"What now?"
"This shaft leads directly to the mainframe."
"Well, that was easy enough. Infiltration wasn't that difficult at all."
"I'm detecting...wait. It's gone."
"What?"
"I thought I sensed a very high yield energy signature, but it's gone now."
"I see."

The grate in the mainframe room was quickly smashed and broken. It plunged to the ground of the room, and hit with a satisfying clang. The dark figure quickly followed, landing in a crouching position. Surveying the area, he could see that the room was basically a giant circular span, pillars about 20 feet from the walls, surrounding the room. They apparently held up a balcony above him, which circled the outer edge of the room. At the other end of the room was a single computer node. The mainframe.

"Is that it?"
"Yes. But I'm reading something really strange. Be careful."
"Alright."

He began a slow jog towards the computer, assault rifle un-strapped and ready to fire. He slowly turned around, ensuring that there was no Covenant presence on the balcony above him. Nothing. He turned back around, only to be met with an opening in the floor ahead of him. Tension rose, and a gun clicked. In the same moment, a red beam showed itself from the floor ground. A quick duck was all that was needed. Nevertheless, danger was definitely rapidly re-approaching. He turned back to the location of the blast, and his eyes were beheld with a very large floating machine. It was very sleek and aerodynamic, with a single red optical sensor at its front. Guns littered its outer body, and he sure that it would take more than a single sniper blast to even dent the thing. It was nothing like anything he'd seen in the past.

He dived backwards, firing off an entire assault rifle clip into the machine before making a sprint for the pillars. They would be the only things that would save him from the fire from that droid. He stepped to side behind a pillar just as his prior location was assaulted with a hail of machinegun bullets, laser blasts, and plasma rays. He leaned carefully on the pillar, ready to move if need be.

"Shit. I'm fucked."
"No kidding. This thing is a hunter-seeker droid, futuristic even for this age. You'll have a hard time even touching that thing."
"Well, what do I do?"
"A simple EMP blast will work. But according to the diagnostics loadout, the only thing that'll have enough power to eliminate it is that high-density EMP mine you have there. You'll have to plant that thing right beneath it and trigger it as soon as you place it. Make sure you don't get too close to the computer. You don't want to blow that."
"Righ..."

His words were immediately shut up in his dried up mouth, as the blackness suddenly appeared to his left. The hunter-seeker droid had moved with amazing speed. One second there was nothing, and then next, it was right next to him. Fear had taken hold, but not enough just yet. He froze only for a second before ducking and rolling back, firing two sniper blasts into the hull of the droid. As he did so, blasts sent themselves across the room right above him. He was glad that the reaction time of the droid had been slow on that occasion. He continued to slide backwards, firing bolt after bolt of sniper rifle fire into the thing, but nothing happened. The thing just kept on coming. Still sliding on his back, he pushed off the outer wall on his right with his feet, and slid behind the next pillar. He was met with complete silence, save for the heavy, fearful breathing coming from him. He had never been so scared before. What he had to do was completely impossible. Not near impossible, not almost impossible. Damn impossible. His thoughts were again interrupted as the loud smashing sound was made, and the pillar was shattered behind him. Broken shards of metal rained down upon him, one sending itself right through his right forearm. Blood immediately splattered out, and continued to flow as it smashed through a major artery. He let his arm fall, and the hand involuntarily dropped the assault rifle that he was holding. Blood dripped on the ground in quick drops, slowly draining the life from him. He knew that even if he could keep this up, he would lose in the waiting competition - the blood loss would kill him. He fled to the next pillar, scared even to fire back this time. It was like an entire army, impossible to destroy, and impossible to slow down. The shard was still in his arm, and pain was beginning to let itself be known as more and more blood drained from his body. He needed to eliminate the threat quickly. He just hoped that the AI on that thing wasn't too advanced for the trick. He quickly pulled out a fragmentation grenade, and used his left arm to throw it into the middle of the room. Two clanks and an enormous explosion in the big open area was all that was needed. The droid quickly shifted its attention to that location, and the hulking machine moved towards there in an investigating manner. Summing up what courage he had left in him, he pulled out the EMP device, activating all the settings. The blood from his arm had dripped on the device, and it was becoming hard to figure which buttons to activate it. He would have to move at an impossible speed if he was to avoid any damage at all. He stepped to the side of the pillar and began a full sprint towards the droid. In amazing speed, the droid spun again, pulling off endless fire on his location. He made a desperate dive to the floor right below the droid, slamming the mine down, and activating the detonation. He looked up to see a red, optical eye widen in surprise and fury. But it was beyond any chance of reconciliation. The EMP blast was sounded, and the droid fell limp to the ground in a crash, bringing about a dead silence into the room. Shadow was a few feet off from the detonation location, being blown back by the electrical energy.

"How the fuck..."
"It doesn't matter. Get to the computer and end this."
"Hold on."

He grabbed for the shard, a sense of stress and tension arising, as he knew the pain that his action would bring. He closed his eyes, and tore the shard out in one quick motion. He yelled a little, but not loud enough even for anyone on the other side of the room to hear. The bleeding was still coming. He tore off a piece of the long extra fabric to his fabric mask, and wrapped it around his wound. The black cloth was immediately saturated with a discolored red, and the color of the fabric changed from a total black to a deep red.


"Its done. I have the coordinates."
"Can we get out of here now?"
"Yes. Wait. Hold on. Right in front of you!"

He looked up, even though the correct movement would have been to take immediate cover. It seemed that curiosity had overcome his reason, and he saw the Lanaan. One of Shade's personal bodyguards. Of course, Shadow didn't know this at the time, and he was folly enough to believe that he was simply just a regular soldier. He un-strapped his sniper rifle, the only major weapon he had left, and fired two bolts at the Lanaan's head. But the resounding sound was not of a cracking skull and splattering blood, but rather the pings of the wall. He lowered the rifle, searching for the location of this elite. A flash of color to his right was the only evidence he had before the hit was made. White light found itself at his eyes as the pain at his cheek rose up within him. He was met with a swift elbow to the stomach a deadened thump as witness to the impact. A guttural pain was sent throughout his entire abdomen, as he realized how strong this elite really was. But, reaction still wasn't out of the question. He reached behind him. A silver blur, and then purple blood was all that could be seen between the two. Shadow stepped back, a large, ancient, Chinese straight-knife in his hand. Purple blood dropped slowly from the creature's arm as the slice was made. In a quick response, Shadow threw the knife, and it landed its mark right through the chest of the creature. But to his absolute surprise, death was not the result, but rather a flurry of blows from the Lanaan's plasma rifle. He took one step back, and a dive to the right just as the bolts would have impacted his body. He stood up in a lightning fast movement, pulling his sniper rifle over his head, holding it by the butt end. His arms came down, and he threw the sniper rifle at the elite, not intending damage, but simple distraction. The Lanaan caught the rifle and tossed it to the side, intent on the idea that the throw was meant to inflict damage. But rather, the distraction was enough time for Shadow to pull out his sidearm and pump five shots into the creature before disappearing. The creature looked around, bewildered. He pulled the knife out in a smooth and seemingly painless motion, and lifted its plasma rifle again, anger taking over its emotions.

Shadow had now grown confident that he would be able to destroy this creature in due time. Instead of taking the smart route and firing from a distance to simply eliminate through that course, he charged the elite, gun blazing. More purple blood, but of greater attention was the hand that was now around his neck...squeezing. He sputtered to breath as the elite now had him firmly in his grasp. He had been stupid...and overconfident. He felt his air being cut off, and knew that he had only a few valuable moments before all was lost. The pistol clanged to the floor as all strength in his arms vanished. With the last of his energy, he made a full kick sidekick to the creature's arms and to its head, landing a bone-shattering crack to his face. The grip was released, and air was returned as he dropped to the ground. The creature was still alive, and apparently he had only fractured a jawbone, or the alien equivalent. He landed on his back, miraculously next to his pistol. He snatched it up, and fired two into the Lanaan's head. Blood flew up into the air like a geyser as he watched the creature die immediately. The creature stood only for a moment as the last of his life-force spewed out of his head, and then fell over on the computer node. Shadow laid there, breathing heavy.

"You're such a lucky little bastard."
"Just get me an exit."

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