TheAngryMelon

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Before the second flashbang

As soon as he heard his flashbang detonate, Ross poked his head out from behind the corner once more. The Covenant squad looked disoriented and confused; one of the Grunts even shot another in the face. Tenjer and Anders were making short work of the dazed troops, although McCoy was still in a spot of trouble.
He scowled, looking down to his shotgun. At this range, he was nothing more than a flashbang dispenser. His pistol could probably dish out enough pain to the smaller soldiers, but if he attracted the attention of one the Elites, things would get a bit nasty.
Patrick peered around the corner again, pausing as he made a realization.

They hadn't seen him.

None of the Covenant had any idea he was here, otherwise there'd be at least a bit of plasma fire directed towards him. Hell, they hadn't even looked in his direction.
He exhaled, waiting a second before he broke cover, dashing over to the northern wall. The Covenant were dropping like flies, and the Zealot appeared to have vanished after he took a flare to the face. There were only a few Jackals left, with one Elite advancing on the eastern ODSTs.
Those Jackals were toast, but the Elite might prove a problem if Tenjer, Anders and Brewer couldn't get enough shots off fast enough.

Patrick drew his pistol, squeezing off a few shots at the Alien's back. It's shields wouldn't be penetrated, but if he could get it to hesitate for just a-

BANG

His vision suddenly went white, pain spreading through his eyes. He stumbled, halting his advance to try and avoid falling over.

"Ah F-Fuck!"

In the commotion, he hadn't been paying attention to his squad radio. Brewer's flashbang had caught him off guard, forcing him to slump against the nearby wall. Ballistic gunfire sounded in his ears. Hopefully his squadmates had cleaned up, and nobody had noticed his little blunder.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Oh snap, I'm gonna work on getting a post up now.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Ontario!

QueenOfTheBee said
Hmm... Let's see where the members of this RP live...I live in California! :D

Ontario, Canada up over here.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Eighteen.
There was eighteen of them.

Stupid probes.

Corporal Ross scowled as the Covenant advanced on McCoy's pod. They appeared curious, though moved with obvious caution.
From what he could see, it was mostly Jackals, Grunts and a few Elites. Cannon fodder, with a few special troops sprinkled in. Shouldn't be too hard, providing McCoy didn't-
Patrick flinched as the front door of McCoy's pod blasted from it's position. The aliens opened fire, and for some stupid reason McCoy wasn't shooting back.
...
Oh, weapon manfunction. Yeah, that would do it.
McCoy was pinned, and the Covenant were advancing towards him. Anders and Tenjer were on the opposite side of the street, and from the looks of things they were providing a bit of covering fire. There were too many though... And with all of their focus on the ODSTs, getting McCoy out was going to be an issue.
He glanced behind him as another Pod opened behind him, noticing the Commander moving down the street. He frowned as she dissapeared down an Alley.

Leaving us alone... Really, ONI?

Corporal Ross shrugged and turned back to the firefight in the street. The Covenant hadn't noticed him yet... That'd be great if he had a proper long-range weapon. A shotgun at this distance was about as useful as a wet slap to the face. Anders and Tenjer looked like they could get some proper shots off if the Covenant weren't as focused on them. They needed proper cover, or a distraction...
He reached up and plucked a flashbang from his combat harness, peering around the corner again as he switched on his squad radio.

"Throwing a flashbang! Cover your eyes and ears, people!"

Without waiting for a response, he yanked out the pin and hurled the grenade towards the Covenant. It bounced along the concrete, coming to a stop near one of the Grunts.
Patrick pulled away from the corner, waiting for the burst of light and sound.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Patrick merely shrugged at their responses and hoisted himself into the drop pod as the order was given. Maybe the AI was rampant, or maybe they actually were able to defect. Whatever the case, it was a computer. Shouldn't be too much threat to a team of highly-trained ODSTs.
He closed his eyes as the pod shot out of the Wayward Wanderer, opening them only once the shaking and jostling reached a high point. As dangerous as it was, something about dropping feet first into atmosphere was quite pretty.
A frown crept across Corporal Ross' face as the black, angry storm clouds came into view. A raging thunderstorm, how fitting.
He was pulled from his thoughts as Truman's panicking voice came over the comms; his terrified screams finally ending in silence.

One.

The familiar jolt of the drag-chute meant that he'd be meeting the same fate if nothing was done. Firing up the undercarriage rockets, he figured he'd been able to slow himself to a semi-decent speed before the ground rushed up to meet him.

Patrick groaned to himself after the pod hit the ground, giving his head a shake before popping the hatch and clambering his way out. It seemed like he'd landed in a small plaza, near the intersection of two streets.
Lucky?
No, clearly not. His HUD showed at least eight hostiles to the west, and if he were a human-hating alien, that huge crash might've piqued his interests. He grabbed his M45E with one hand, drawing his pistol with the other.
Corporal Ross sprinted to the western wall, setting himself against it before he set the shotgun down and reached for his radio.

"This is Corporal Ross. Still alive out here. I'm near the intersection of... uh... Stevens and Maynard? Got a big group of Covenant comin' up Fremont Avenue. Will be headin' towards you in a tick, Sarge. Just gonna check to see where the aliens plan on going."

Sliding his pistol back into it's holster, Patrick grabbed his shotgun and slowly moved down the wall, making a mental note of the two drop pods in his view range.
One was in view of the Covenant, and if that Marine didn't make some kind of escape...
Well, that wouldn't happen.

He peered around the corner, squinting his eyes and trying to make out the familiar shapes of their enemies amidst the rain.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Corporal Ross looked up as the Briefing began; moving to regroup with the rest of the detachment. Naturally, ONI had to come in last-second and throw a big ol' surprise in everyone's faces. The covenant force didn't look too large. Sure, Ghost was outnumbered, but grunts and Jackals could barely stand up to an ODST.
Those Elites would be a problem, though. If battle-experience had taught him anything, the Covenant would have at least one attached to each squad.
At least, in theory.
But what about those smaller groups? There were two "blips" on their own, and a group of three just down the street. Sniper teams, maybe? Could be something worse.
Well, as long as nobody ran into a group of three Elites without the entire squad backing them up, everyone should hopefully be making it back home in one piece.
Hopefully.

Atmospheric winds was a little frightening though. Nobody wanted to be on their own, especially the rookies. Some of the senior members might be able to tank it through, but the last thing this squad needed was six more deaths.

Patrick slid his helmet on and shouldered his weapon, letting his HUD update itself as the visor tinted to it's usual blue. It didn't take that long of a walk to reach the drop pods, and soon he was standing in front of his own. He looked around the room to his fellow Ghosts and propped himself up against the wall next to his pod, speaking to nobody in particular.

"So, does anybody find it a bit odd that an AI is able to defect? Don't they have protocols against this or something?"

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

I didn't mind Halo 4 too much, although speaking as an Elite player all throughout Halo 2, 3 and Reach, I was disappointed with the treatment of the "Hinge-heads".
ESPECIALLY what they did in Multiplayer. I know it's supposed to be a Spartan Training Simulator, but if Humanity is allied with the Elites, shouldn't the two be training together? If there's obviously splinter groups out there, why not fight against/alongside them?

Actually, if anybody here's played through or watched the Cutscenes from Spartan ops, does anybody think that this scene was a little bit... much?
I mean one spartan, unarmed and alone, versus at least five energy sword wielding Splinter Elites... and he manages to slay nearly all of them before he gets clocked in the head.
It seems like Elites got bumped down from deadly-brutal-intelligent-cunning-and-loyal foes to Saturday morning cartoon villains.

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

- Staging Area -

Corporal Ross whistled, propped up against a nearby railing as he gazed down at their Pelican.

Now this was a dropship.

Certainly didn't look standard issue. Although considering the circumstances and the detachment, a regular Pelican might have raised a few eyebrows. They were ODST! If they weren't hurtling planet-side in drop pods, they were cruising to the battlefield in the most tricked-out vehicle imaginable.
...
I wonder if they'd let me fly it?

No, the jar-heads up top would never give control of a ship like that to a marine like himself. He hadn't even picked up his flight certifications yet.
Patrick let out a sigh and looked away from the dropship, letting his eyes wander around the large room.
Ghost detachment was slowly filtering in. After the last six deaths they'd been rushed a few new recruits. The majority of them were greenhorns, and some of the senior members seemed a bit unhappy about it.
Everybody had to start somewhere. If trail by combat wasn't the best way to soldier up, he didn't know what else was. He certainly wasn't the longest serving member of the detachment, but at least he had a few battles under his belt.
Patrick reached down and scooped his M45E off of the floor, checking to make sure it was loaded. He had changed into his armour before they'd entered the sector.

Anxiety, mostly.
Plus, he wanted an early look at the craft they'd be traveling in.

Corporal Ross looked up from the shotgun as he heard a new set of voices entered the room. It was the Gunnery Sergeant, followed by one of the Corporals from first squad. The Corporal looked nervous... Maybe he wasn't used to directly speaking to a superior.
Well, now was the time to learn. The man was still ODST, he just might need an attitude adjustment.
Patrick chuckled to himself, leaning forward onto the railing as another member of second squad approached the Gunnery Sergeant.
The same could be said about him. By some miracle he'd managed to go a few months without stuttering. With any luck it was on the back of everyone else's minds by now.
Speech therapy was helping, but he still tripped during periods of stress. If this happened in combat...
...
Not again, it couldn't happen again.

Patrick shook the thought away, looking back down to the Pelican.
I really need to get my pelican certs...

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

Actually I realize now I completely forgot armor colours.
Blue visor with yellow secondary bits, please :3

Halo: WE ARE ODST, Part One: Spooks, Ghosts, and the Devil.

And now I have to play Halo Reach again.