Steele's POV

I grabbed an assault rifle from the rack, loading it and placing it on my back on the magnetic holster. I grabbed a pistol and did the same thing, this time placing it on my right thigh armor's magnetic holster. One last weapon. I thought and perused the options available down the rows of weapons lined up on the walls of the hangar that were dedicated to quick weapon access. I finally spotted a battle rifle and a sniper rifle next to each other. What to choose... I considered. I already had my assault rifle, and while a battle rifle might give me a bit more range, that was basically what my pistol was for. A sniper rifle would help me with much heavier and farther targets all at once. I decided, walking over and grabbing the sniper rifle. You never know when you might need it later.

I packed up the rest of my stuff and heard Kade walk up behind me. "You good?" He asked. I paused for a moment, making sure I was physically prepared as much as I could be, then nodded without turning to face him. He stood there for a moment, probably studying my body language to see if I was being honest. Then he made a noise of approval behind me and I hear him walk into the Pelican.

I stood there for a moment longer as I seriously considered what he meant by that. Am I really okay? Physically yes, but mentally? I looked around at my team preparing to leave as well. They held the most importance to me than almost anything or anyone other than the UNSC and Humanity. I never learned to feel emotions, as I had always suppressed sadness and kept my internal conflicts and thoughts to myself. Probably thanks to that, I was never good at consoling others or comforting them. With my team it was easier but even then I was still just about as useful as a concrete wall when it came to emotional events. We had all been forced to mature quickly. However for Kyle, he was a rookie as far as I had researched about him. He didn't deserve any of this mess, and neither did his fallen teammates as well as mine, Grayson and Sift.

I can't let anyone die needlessly anymore. That fight with those ODSTs and their deaths all those years ago was foolish and wasteful, just like Kyle's efforts up until now would be if they decided to kill him. No more unnecessary sacrifice and suffering, I can't let anyone else pay for my mistakes and inadequacy.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Selina's voice, "Senior, we're ready." I turned around to see Selina with a battle rifle resting on her shoulder and a shotgun on her back. I nodded and put the sniper rifle I had been staring blankly at on my back. We walked up the ramp, me taking the pilot position this time and Scott sitting in as my copilot. After Kade and Selina were secure, I closed the ramp and turned the Pelican on. The engine fired up and I checked all of the controls to see if everything was working correctly, cycling through thrust levels. "Status." I asked Scott. "Everything online and ready to go. Clear for takeoff." He said. I nodded and slowly pulled back on the controls, the Pelican rising as I did so. Then I pushed the stick forward and we flew smoothly out of the hanger, slowly ascending. I didn't go very high since we didn't have very far to go.

The team was silent, the only noise coming from the steady hum of the engines. After what felt like an eternity, Scott finally spoke up, "Geez, someone talk about something, it feels like we're heading to a funeral with all of this silence. Anyone have any updates or something?" I heard Selina chuckle a little through the coms, "Well, I'm sure Kade will gladly tell you the details of how the war with the Covenant has been going while we were off on missions."

Kade snorted, "It's been going terribly, almost 6 bases have been glassed so far, along with 5 civilian cities. Apparently they have a mother ship in space but so far no one has been able to destroy it or find out which one is the real ship because there are six in a cluster with smaller ships guarding them. So far the reinforcements we got have destroyed a large amount of the ships that glassed the cities but the threat of covenant reinforcements still exists ." he continued but I tuned out. We should be up there fighting with our comrades against the Covenant that had so quickly invaded Atrius. As soon as we got Kyle back we would but Scott was right, the atmosphere was heavy and solemn, just like a funeral. I flew to the beacon the drone dropped on the last known location of the team and before we knew it we came up on the site. The equipment was still pretty much where we had last seen it, but there was little to no activity in the area, and Fireteam Prime was sitting on some logs in a circle. From the state of the area it seemed they were about to leave to go somewhere else. But they would need something to carry the crates, I thought but I didn't have time to worry about the status of their equipment and had to stay focused on the team as we closed in on the area.

I maneuvered the Pelican over the trees into the open area near Henderson's team, readying the guns just in case as we were going into this strange situation pretty much blind. Then I opened the back hatch. "Selina, Kade, Scott, ground support, flank them." I commanded. They jumped out and rolled on the ground, pulling out their weapons and circling to opposite edges.

Rogers had noticed the Pelican as it appeared hovering just above the trees and notified the team. They stood and hoisted their weapons, cautiously looking at Kade, Scott, and Selina. I used an amplifier to address them, "Attention Fireteam Prime, You are under arrest for illegal possession of weaponry, failure to obey orders, treason, torture, and a number of other war crimes. Lay down your weapons with your hands behind your head and get on your knees immediately. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Henderson looked at Kade, Scott, and Selina again and then yelled back above the noise of the engines, "And what if we refuse?"

"Then we are authorized to use deadly force." I replied. I had asked the commander of the last base for any orders pertaining to the situation before we left and he agreed that the three needed to be taken down. He ordered us to apprehend the team and rescue Kyle as he represented a significant security breach. He authorized any means necessary to take him back and apprehend Fireteam Prime, what was left of it anyway, and would take responsibility should things go awry.

The team looked at each other and spoke softly to discuss it. They turned back around and Henderson put his hands behind his head after laying his weapon on the ground, the rest of the team following suit. "Alright, you have us." he shouted back, slowly dropping to his knees. I looked suspiciously at the group, but gave White team confirmation to move in. They approached cautiously, closing in from both sides of the clearing. However, as I looked around now that my team had control of the situation, I realized the crates that we had seen before as well as Kyle's stretcher weren't anywhere in sight. The big clearing was only filled with one crate, a few logs to sit on, and their weapons they had set on the ground. What the...? Then there was a buzzing sound, growing louder as whatever it was approached the clearing. White team stopped and looked towards the source from the forest.

There was a small click and a grenade soared through the air from the forest, resting near Kade's feet. He looked down, shouted, "Get down!", and dived behind a nearby log.

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Selina who was the next closest flattened to the ground as well, but Fireteam Prime made a run for the trees, grabbing their weapons. The grenade exploded, almost completely shredding the log and scorching it black, and Selina's shield flickered wildly as shrapnel bounced off of it. I aimed the Pelican towards the fleeing group, firing the guns. The line of bullets tore through the ground and trees in front of them. They skidded to a halt and bolted sideways, running erratically as they broke apart but stayed close together. Scott was close in pursuit, gaining on them fast so I had to be careful with my aim. I fired after them, getting closer to their position as they ran. A bullet hit the shield on Henderson's leg, significantly reducing it's charge instantly.

Then a Warthog tore out of the trees, firing at me with a machine gun mounted on the back. Bullets skidded off the bottom hull as I tilted the Pelican sideways to avoid the stream of fire that was aimed at the cockpit. Scott fired, bullets bouncing off Rogers' shield as he closed in on her at the back of the pack. Then, throwing the rifle, he dived and tackled her to the ground, the both of them rolling as they struggled against each other.

The rest of Fireteam Prime looked back as if they wanted to get Rogers but someone in the Warthog yelled at them to get in. They reluctantly hopped in, Grey jumping in next to the person operating the turret. As I closed in on them, I noticed that the people in the Warthog weren't wearing your typical armor. The driver was wearing a curved helmet with two slits to see out of and various gadgets on the sides and top, not like any known UNSC armor types. The rest of it consisted of a single curved chest plate with linked pieces for the arms, waist, and legs. His legs had several knife and weapon holders and his chest-piece had ammunition clips across the front. The armor wasn't a single color either. In fact, if I hadn't known where to look, it would have been hard to spot him. The armor seemed to reflect colors around him softly, without the need for energy to create a camouflage layer. There were lights on raised parts just before his wrists and on his shoulders there were two small outlined compartments for something. His partner on the turret carried similar armor except his helmet had a small, triangular, blue visor and lights on the sides in circles. He also had a vented piece just over where his mouth would be on the helmet.

A sniper round skidded off the cockpit as I closed in on Fireteam Prime and their rescuers. I turned the Pelican and doused the area the round had come from with suppression fire before turning back towards the Warthog and resuming fire at them.

I looked around the clearing behind me back at my team as I pursued them, Where was Kyle?

Selina had gotten up to help Scott and were assisting Kade in securing Rogers. I then saw a second warthog that had the turret removed burst out of the brush near Henderson's team and follow them. In the back where the turret would be was a person in armor laying down, badly injured. It was Kyle! There was someone sitting next to him holding him into the back. With his addition to the chase, I could no longer fire on Henderson's Warthog because the Pelican wasn't accurate to the point where I wouldn't accidentally hit him if I continued. I paused my pursuit as I was met with the dilemma of chasing them via Pelican and possibly losing them on the ground because I would have to land first or going back to pick up White team. I checked in on my team real quick and saw that Kade was running on foot after the escapees, passing the Pelican as I sat there to think. Selina was finishing securing Rogers with Scott so she couldn't get away but would take too long to catch up to Kyle to be of any use. I made a quick decision and quickly flew back to the clearing, setting the Pelican close to the ground as I ordered, "Selina, come with me, Scott, stay with the prisoner. Kade, pursue but do not engage, stick to the shadows."

Selina ran over and hopped on. Not bothering to close the hatch, I flew the pelican high above the fleeing warthog and set it on autopilot to fly down to Scott after 30 seconds. Then I pulled out my Sniper and handed Kade's to Selina. "Aim for the driver." I said.

We aimed the snipers at the driver and, since we only had one chance before they caught on to what we were doing, I counted down. "Three...Two...One!" I steadied it as best I could on a moving aircraft, held my breath, and then pulled the trigger. We fired at the exact same time, our bullet trails almost in complete sync.

The first one ripped through the back of the chair and struck Henderson's driver in his lower chest, carrying through into the engine. The second tore through the heart of the driver of Kyle's Warthog and into the steering wheel.

The Warthogs swerved wildly, one jumping a rock and sliding sideways to a stop while the other slowed and crashed at a reduced speed into a tree. The men jumped out and two quickly grabbed Kyle. They all ran for the more dense section of the forest. I readied myself to jump. "Selina, jump on my mark" She nodded.

"Mark."

We jumped out of the Pelican not a moment too soon, for the countdown had ended and autopilot began to descend. We angled our bodies semi-vertically, skydiving through the air to a space just in front of the group as our descent would carry us just behind them with our current trajectory. The wind whistled around us and I tilted a little to adjust our courses, Selina copying. We passed the first tree top and I yelled, "Engage thrusters now!"

We turned on our thrusters full power and slowed to the equivalent of a normal jump before hitting the ground. Rolling, we immediately got to our feet and began chasing after the group. I aimed my sniper and fired at the leader's chest, but just before the bullet tore through it they suddenly they disappeared. Me and Selina skidded to a stop. We stood at the top of a dark and deep crevice, on which there was a lift rapidly speeding down the shaft, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Selina looked at me as we had just used all of our power for our thrusters, which would take a while to recharge. "What do we do?" She asked.

I looked down at the metal slits used to hold the wheels of the lift and grabbed a knife from a sheath on my thigh. "Grab two blades you don't need, We will slide down using the slits. Place the knives at an angle so it can slow your descent." I told her. She nodded and took two daggers from sheaths on her hips. I kept the first knife in my hand while I lowered myself to the maximum length my arms would stretch. Then I grabbed another knife, positioned it sideways in the crack, and let go. I dropped fast and quickly shoved the other knife in the other parallel metal slit. There was a continuous screech of metal on metal, soon joined by an identical screech from Selina high above me.

My descent slowed just enough that if I hit the ground at this speed I could roll, but I was still traveling as fast as a Spartan could run at full speed which would be suicide for any normal human being. Sparks flew out of the slit as it ground down the metal on my knives. I looked at the knives and saw that they were dangerously close to becoming too small to slow my descent. I adjusted the knife so the part towards the end of the blade was subject to the friction instead of the section closer to the hilt that I had it on initially, buying me more time. I looked down at what would soon be the floor, searching for any signs of it. Too quickly I saw the metal platform and I tried to pull out my blades to jump. The left one was stuck!

I twisted the handle as hard as I could and it suddenly tore away. I pushed off of the wall not 2 meters from the floor and rolled on my side, dropping the knives so they wouldn't impale me. I propped myself on one knee and planted my foot to stop myself as I rolled one more time.

Selina saw me jump and jumped higher than I did, rolling once and stopping.

I got up and dusted myself off, picking up the sniper and knives from where they had fallen. I held the knives up. Near the handle it was fine but where it was against the metal it had been sheared back almost an inch and a half all the way down the blade. To be honest they had been fatter than average blades for the purpose of sawing things but it had sheared off almost half the blade for both. Selina came over with hers, only about an inch sheared off of her knives, they had been made for cutting larger things. Regardless, they were ruined now. We threw them to the side and brought out our assault rifles. I turned on the flash light, scanning the walls of the entrance to an excavated dirt tunnel. There were tracks in the dirt leading deeper inside.

Selina looked at me, waiting for my next command.

"This might be a trap, so stay frosty, but we have no choice but to follow them. Let's go." I said. She nodded.

We turned on our helmet lights and walked into the darkness.