Kyle's POV
I was jolted awake at a few light taps on my helmet. I groaned and opened my eyes. Through the blurriness I could see green foliage and the back right side of the pelican I had previously been a passenger of. As I regained my bearings I noticed that I was laying on my side, my arm at an uncomfortable angle under me. My vision was split and I focused on the my helmet visor to see it had a thin crack running through my shield-charge bar before branching out in two places through my grenade count.
I heard a click as a weapon was put back in place and someone crouched down. Their left leg and arm came into view. "Are you okay soldier?" An urgent voice asked. I groaned again in reply and slowly dragged my arm from out of under me.
The person quickly helped me up to a sitting position and I shook my head to clear it. I looked up to see who had helped me. It was a soldier in standard armor and a helmet with a short visor that didn't cover the entire face. "You okay to go?" He asked.
"Yes," I said as he helped me up, "Thanks for helping me." I said. "It would not have been nice to have woken up to a plasma in the back. Not exactly my ideal wake-up call." I began to step forward and realized my parachute was still on me. I looked behind me to see it had caught itself on several trees, and there was a short row of broken branches that it had dragged through. Even though it didn't open nearly high enough off of the ground, it probably slowed my fall enough to keep me relatively unharmed. I could see a few men scattered around who weren't so lucky though.
"No problem, Come with me, First Lieutenant Lasky is over there with some Spartans." He said and waved for me to follow him
Spartans huh? That will be a significant boost to our combat capabilities out here. I nodded and we headed over. We walked a couple hundred yards away from the crashed Pelican before we reached the area where Lasky was. The door opened and the Spartan IV's came out, checking our identification and clearing the area before they gestured for us to go inside. The silent type then I thought as I walked inside. There was a field engineer in the corner trying to get a radio working. Seeing everyone had something to do, I sat on a pipe and did an inventory check.
I had lost a grenade, my pistol, and my helmet was cracked. Great. I looked around. There must be extras around here. I looked up and saw an ammo pack. As I opened it I was fortunately greeted with the sight of a few extra grenades. I grabbed two and put them in my grenade pack. There was also an extra helmet sitting on one of the crates. I picked it up, and then paused. I hope it isn't used. I looked inside just to be sure...phew, nothing inside. I took of my cracked one and put it on. Same set-up, it just didn't cover my entire face like my old one. Slightly less safe, but if my visor had cracked, who knew what else had been compromised on my old one. It would have to do.
Suddenly the Spartans quickly hopped up and quickly made their way to the door. It opened and I leaned out of my seat a bit to try and see what was happening. I wonder who's here now? The person who had arrived stepped out, revealing the one and only Master Chief. My mouth almost dropped. It's him! he's really back! He had been missing for a bit longer than 4 years, and everyone had assumed he died like the rest of the Spartan IIs.
Sarah went up to him and said, "I thought you'd be taller." and smirked slightly. Then Lasky went up to him and talked to him for a bit. I stood up and tried to keep my cool. I can't believe it is actually him. Since He's here to help us, we will be almost unstoppable!
Suddenly the guy working on the radio said, "Commander, radio's hot." They walked over to him and Lasky knelt down to hear better. The room got quiet as the transmission came in a bit scattered.
Captain Del'Rio could be heard saying,"...respond to com.... On what frequency? What frequency dammit!?" Lasky immediately grabbed the radio and transmitted, "Infinity, this is Commander Lasky. Pelican recon teams are down. Repeat. All birds are down. We've got numerous casualties and require immediate assistance. Over."
"Finally... Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?" Del'Rio asked. Lasky closed his eyes in exasperation and replied, "Affirmative Sir. But we're going to need a bus out of here-"
"Make it happen-" the captain interrupted. I, for one, was shocked. He didn't even care about the wounded, or selectively chose not to hear Commander Lasky's request. Lasky sighed again and looked down at the radio. A new voice started speaking, startling me. I totally forgot about Cortana, Master Chief's AI. I hadn't heard her speak before. In fact, I still haven't heard Master Chief speak either.
I payed attention to the conversation again. Cortana was saying, "...scouting run in the middle of an attack on the ship." Lasky replied, "The Captain thought Infinity could provide us cover and hold off the attack at the same time." He finished, his voice giving away some sadness. "Sir," Spartan Palmer said solemnly, coming up to him. "We'll never get the wounded back to the ship on foot." I frowned, she's right, we would never be able to get them all. We didn't have enough manpower to carry everyone.
Lasky thought for a moment, stood up, and looked up at Master Chief. With a down-trodden voice he said, "I don't know if its too soon to ask you for a favor but we're going to run out of breathing room here real quick." Then he smiled slightly and said, "I don't suppose you're and good at clearing LZs?" (Landing zones)
Master Chief finally spoke saying, "On occasion. I'll send out an all clear once the area's secured." Even his voice sounds cool! All right! Now we're talking. I got up and loaded my gun. Walking to make up part of the group going with him, I couldn't help but feel excited. Let's do this!
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
__________________________
Steele's POV
I woke up to a hand over my mouth. Instinctively I grabbed the arm attached to it and flipped the person over onto their back hard. Rolling on top of the intruder, I brought my fist up and was about to throw a hard right hook when I heard him say, "Wait Steele! It's me Scott!"
My eyes widened as they adjusted and could now see Scott's terrified face under his arms raised in defense. I got off of him and helped him up. "Don't do that, I almost knocked you out." I scolded him. He rubbed his back a bit and dusted himself off, "Sorry Steele, but this was the only way I could talk to you with your new rank and everything. I heard you were doing augmentations today and I wanted to see you before they happened. You know, to compare." He said sheepishly. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Okay, but next time just request to speak with me. I nearly broke your nose." He fake-whimpered and clutched his nose. He started laughing and I cracked a small smile. "Ok, now you better get back to your barracks." I said ushering him out. He paused at the door. "Oh, Steele?"
"Yes Scott?"
"Never give up during the augmentations. I've heard that they are tough to pull through so even if you feel like it, never, ever, give up, ever. Promise me that. I don't want to lose such a good friend to some crazy military experiments."
Suddenly I was brought back to my second day at the academy.
....
She was about to leave when she stopped and turned around. "Oh, and Steele," "Yes mam?" I replied, confused. "Don't ever give up, Ever. Promise me."
"I promise." I said. Then she left.
....
"Steele?" Scott asked, bringing me back.
"I promise."
"Thanks, see you on the other side." He joked and left, the door closing behind him.
I sighed and laid back on my bed, running my hand through my hair. Looking at my watch I groaned, 0600. I'll never get back to sleep. For the next two hours I mentally prepared my mind for the first augmentations, and hyped myself up to push down my rising nervousness. After a while it was finally time and I sighed and made my way to the section of the hospital reserved for these operations. I took my clothes off and put on some black boxers they gave me and waited patiently in a special room as black lines were lasered on my body to show where they would go in and augment. My head was shaved and I then walked over and stood at attention in front of a sterile room door.
It opened and I went inside to see a large private operating room with hundreds of different equipment being prepared and arranged. Doctors were milling around and prepping for the augmentations. I was ushered on a table and told to lay down as they started the process to administer anesthesia. I couldn't help but feel nervous as an IV was fed into my arm and a cold liquid ran up my veins. Slowly I started to lose consciousness, the sedative doing its job. The last thing I saw was doctors starting to crowd around me to take me to the facility where the augmentations took place.
....
I started to dream. I was in my bedroom from when I was 8. What the? I got up from my bed and crept downstairs. Looking around the living room, I dared to speak. "Hello?" Someone replied, "In the kitchen Steele." I walked in. A woman, possibly my mother, was sitting in the square room drinking something in a mug. "How-" suddenly I couldn't move or speak. There were no visible bonds but it felt like it. She was speaking but I couldn't hear the words that came out of her mouth. Then she got up from the chair, turned away from me, and started walking away.
Just as she was about to turn a corner, An intense pain wracked my body. Like someone was putting broken glass in my veins. The dream immediately disappeared leaving nothing but pure black in my vision. I tried to get away but I couldn't do anything. Something was keeping me from moving. My mind was consumed by the pain. I internally screamed in agony and the seconds turned into hours. It was impossible to tell how long I was like that.
After what felt like forever, it finally lessened and I relaxed, thankful it was over. My dark state of unconsciousness was short lived as my veins felt like they were on fire and pulsated. Make it stop! I strained. I couldn't get away, please make it stop!
The fire slowly subsided, leaving behind an uncomfortable but not unbearable heat. As I relaxed, I was interrupted again by small prickles of pain along my entire body, just enough to be uncomfortable. The prickling sensation started to increase steadily, becoming less bearable by the second.
Suddenly there was an immense pain, like someone was setting my entire body on fire mixed with something that felt like shattered plated glass was being worked into my body.
I tried to cry out again in vain and I struggled at my invisible bonds. The pain before was a walk in the park compared to this one.
__________________________
Doctor's POV
"New augmentation versions accepted so far. Alterations coming along. Heart rate increasing." He said, checking the subject's vitals. As the other doctors worked on the subject, the metal arms retracted, the injections for increasing muscle mass well on their way. "Heart rate dramatically increasing." He noted.
Suddenly the subject cried out and strained at the bonds, ripping one halfway. "Restrain him!" He said. Immediately assistants came over and strapped him down.
"More sedative, we don't want a repeat of what happened with subject Soren" he commanded. An assistant got a needle from the anesthesiologist nearby and injected it. The subject calmed slightly and was easier to control. The ripped bond was replaced.
The doctor watched as the muscles on the subject greatly increased density, better than any of the original spartan IIs.
Suddenly the subject's heart rate skyrocketed and he woke up screaming and straining against the straps. "Don't worry, there has only ever been one spartan to break these bonds." I hope it stays one, he thought.
_________________________
Steele's POV
Out of all the pain I have ever experienced in my entire life, this was the worst by far. It felt like I was in a furnace that exploded only to reveal a larger furnace around me. I screamed and woke up, writhing in pain and blinded by the overhead lights.
Pulling at the restraints, I snapped the ones on my arms and legs. The doctors backed up, but it seemed like they were moving slower. They were talking but I couldn't understand them. I didn't know what was happening.
I broke the other straps and stumbled off the table. Screaming, I doubled over in pain and shoved a table away so hard that it broke and dented the wall.
The Doctors started to try and stick a needle in me, again seeming extremely slow, but I knocked them down. What are they doing! Why are they trying to hurt me more instead of helping me! I fell onto my knees and screamed again as another wave of pain hit me. Then there was a prick on my neck. I suddenly felt really tired and slumped to the floor unconscious.
___________________________
Doctor's POV
He pulled the needle out of the subject's neck and stepped back, watching as the other doctors placed him back on the table and reinforced it with double the normal amount of restraints.
"Increase the sedative dosage again and start the next advanced augmentation set."