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Chapter 42

Smith's POV

I steered the Pelican softly through the twisted metal and wreckage of the Covenant fleet. My eyes darted back and forth across the slowly twisting debris in the space in front of me. He could be anywhere in this floating wasteland. Lieutenant Hillyard looked through the back window with three medics sitting next to him on the benches. My two other teammates were on either side of me, also diligently searching for Him out of the side cockpit windows. It had been twenty minutes since the destruction of the Covenant fleet and I had a small but somewhat foolish hope that we could still find him alive.

My conscious mind was completely submersed in the task of scanning the wreckage but way back in my subconscious I was re-living the moment we lost him. I could see him, running through the doorway as I hovered a little ways off, ready use our Pelican's shields to protect him from the blast once he boarded White Team's Pelican. Then I saw him pause. Off to my left I could see the middle of the Covenant ship implode and a shockwave emanated from it shook our Pelican. I directed my attention to the controls for a moment to steady it before looking back up. After a split second, the entire ship began to collapse inwards. I saw him look behind himself and I directed my gaze there to a dim glow that increased in brightness as fire from the explosion hungrily consumed the remaining oxygen onboard. It poured through the opening and burst through the walls in what felt like an instant. It flowed around him and I saw him look back out at us last time before his shield flickered out, his hand reaching out towards me. Then his back arched in pain, and it encircled him before spreading out and extinguishing in the vacuum of space as the ship's shield failed.

I lost sight of him at that moment and large pieces of metal hurled towards our Pelicans. Unable to reflect on what had just happened, my emotions switched off as I expertly took off, swerving around pieces of molten metal as I raced for the safety of the nearest UNSC frigate, White Team's Pelican already ahead of us. Large chunks flew past us as astonishing speed, barely scraping off our shields as I used our scanner to try and avoid the majority of it. A large piece hit our rear shield and I barely managed to avoid a bigger chunk in front of us as I was pushed off-course. Being directly ahead of us, White Team's Pelican was somewhat protected by us from behind. Considering this, I redirected all power to our rear shields and sent an emergency docking request to the Frigate. Our rear shields were draining fast and it was increasingly more difficult to control our trajectory as we neared the hangar entrance. We were granted access and White Team's Pelican just barely made it through the docking bay's shield when a large piece of debris took a chunk off of our left wing. I yelled back for everyone to brace for impact as we were sent into a wild spin just before entering the shield. I ducked down as the Pelican crashed into the hangar, spinning wildly before coming to an abrupt stop against the far wall, scraping two other Pelicans and destroying a transport cart as it traveled. Fortunately no one was hurt. However, as we walked out of the back of the Pelican shortly after, I was informed that Steele's signal had been lost a few moments after the explosion. Petty Officer Kyle's had been lost instantly.

I looked out of the hangar's shield between the pieces of debris impacting it to see two separate shockwaves destroy the mothership, which consecutively destroyed the rest of the surrounding Covenant ships from the overwhelming force and quantity of the ensuing wreckage. We've won, but at what cost?

I was brought back to the present as I spotted a dark object that was large enough to be him. I accelerated and slowed as we neared it. I leaned forward expectantly... and sat back. It was just a piece of metal. My team sighed and we kept searching. I caught sight of White team's pelican slowly pull away from us and resume searching. They thought we had found them too.

I took a moment to pause my scanning of the wreckage to sit back and look around at the enormous stretch of space filled with debris. There had to be millions of scraps that looked like him. Too bad the ship-board AI of the nearby frigate could only scan so far. Even if it could extend farther, there was no guarantee he was still alive, in fact it was almost certain he hadn't survived. I only hoped that we could find his body so we could give him a proper burial.

I drifted past yet another clump, unable to see any human resemblance in the spotlight. Then Hillyard shouted from the back, "I think I found him!" I quickly turned the Pelican around and Hillyard ran up to the cockpit. I shined the searchlight straight ahead and he pointed out to our far right. I shined the spotlight on a chunk of metal, or so I thought. As we neared it I saw his helmet's visor reflect the light, even though it was charred almost beyond reflection. His knife was the brightest reflector by far though, and was seemingly undamaged despite the condition he was in. It was Steele!

"I saw him because the tail lights reflected off of that knife. It's the only thing on him not charred black." Hillyard told me. White Team's Pelican also flew in, their spotlight shining on the figure floating there to provide a better view. It almost looked like he was sitting in a chair that was reclined almost all the way back, except for the holes in his armor plating and the melted metal all around him. The holes had been filled in with the melted metal of his armor, and it gave him a robotic appearance if his armor didn't do that already. As he slowly rotated I was horrified to see that his leg and the right side of his abdomen had long pointed pieces of metal pierced through them, the openings closed yet again by melted metal and some blood.

I slowly rotated the Pelican and opened the back hatch. I looked out the back as I slowly brought us closer to him. The medics gently grabbed his shoulder armor as they drifted him into the bay and hovered his body above the stretcher. They finally decided where to grab him that was still mostly in-tact and held him down on the stretcher gently. A glimmer of light through the cockpit of the other Pelican let me see a tear running down Selina's face, who was the Pilot, before she quickly put her helmet back on her head.

I closed the hatch and waited for the medics to tell me when to activate the gravity. We all held our breath. One medic placed his fingers on Steele's neck and waited. I silently pleaded for him to be alive. After a moment the medic exclaimed, "I have a pulse! Faint, but it's there. He's alive!" I let go of the breath I had been holding with relief and filled the Pelican with air from our tanks, keeping my hand poised above the button that controlled the gravity. The spikes needed to be cut before he could be laid down. I slowly accelerated towards the Frigate we had taken refuge at before and requested another emergency dock, this time able to explain that we had a critical patient on board. I looked back to see the medics carefully cutting the jagged ends of the metal shards sticking out of his leg, and then his abdomen. He flinched as the cutting pulled at the wound. I hovered just outside the bay while they did it and lowered him to the table.

They granted the dock and as soon as the medics gave me the go, I landed in the space closest to the entrance of the medical wards. I set it down as gently as possible and opened our rear hatch. The medics wheeled him out and I hurriedly ran to the back as the Pelican powered down. As I rushed out after them I noticed that White Team's Pelican had to dock in the bay below us. Poor guys.

I ran inside with the medics. I noticed that even on the smooth floor, the tiniest bumps caused him to flinch involuntarily. He was still unconscious, so I couldn't imagine the kind of pain he must be in to react to it even while passed out. My team followed as we ran behind the medics through the hallways before we had to stop as they passed through a set of doors with a sign above them that said Restricted Access. I paused as the doors swung shut and watched his burned body go through the door's small windows. He looked even worse under the bright medical lights and I could see where the metal of his armor had melted into his skin in several places. His helmet seemed like it was sealed shut, but I could see the metal sticking out of almost every inch of his body. Everything was charred black except for the clean knife shining strongly on his leg. I wonder what it's made of? I couldn't even imagine the amount of radiation he had been exposed to or the internal injuries he had.

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They wheeled him into a side room, multiple voices shouting orders, and I lost sight of him. I sighed and visibly slumped. I turned around and went back to where my team was waiting at the doorway. White team jogged up the hallway and looked at us before looking at the door. Even though they didn't do or say anything, I could tell that they were saddened by the condition of their leader. Maybe it was best they hadn't been able to see him up close.

I put on a smile to lighten up the mood. After all, he was alive so that was good. I jokingly said, "Why don't we get some lunch? After all, running for your life does take a lot of energy." I got a few smiles from my team and the air seemed to clear up a bit from the bad mood, but White Team barely had the heart to pretend to be amused by my joke. We all walked towards the mess hall and I looked back to see Selina still standing near the doors. I walked up to her and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me abruptly and I stifled the urge to jump back. I said, "He's going to be okay. He's survived this long, there's no way he would give up now." She nodded and walked down the hallway. I took one last look to where Steele had disappeared into the side room and followed her.

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Steele's POV

A terrible burning pain enveloped my mind and I could hear voices shouting around me. Everything hurt. I felt a burning tug on my right side and dimly heard myself cry out before fading back into an uncomfortable darkness.

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A steady and slow electronic beeping slowly began to get louder as my mind began to wake up. It's soft rhythm met in sync with the sound of my heartbeat rushing through my ears. More sounds came into focus soon after, the drip of some fluid, a softly ticking clock, wind ruffling sheets, birds tweeting, and then the muffled sound of people talking far away. My eyes slowly opened. Everything blurred together, swirling in white, yellow, and blue. A steady throb of pain began to slowly increase inside my head, like my brain had been shaken up a few times. I blinked a couple times but my vision was in no hurry to clear up. The light over whatever I was lying felt harsh on my eyes and I squinted my already blurry vision. I raised a hand to my head, shielding my eyes and sighing in relief, but the IV connected to my arm pulled against the bed and the action earned a sharp stab of pain.

I heard the sudden pattering sound of soft and quick footsteps. As they came closer and they abruptly stopped, something metal clattering onto the floor. I closed my eyes quickly as the sound sent a knife of agony through my head. Whoever it was, a woman I think, let out a small scream and her footsteps faded quickly as she ran out of the room.

I opened my eyes again and looked over the edge of what I could now tell was a white bed and sheets, lifting my head a bit to see that the metal thing was actually a tablet. How it hadn't shattered when she dropped it was a mystery. I heard footsteps again, when she came in she I saw that she was a nurse about 5 ft tall, sporting a tightly tied pony tail of blond hair. My vision had cleared up, but now I was a bit disoriented. Where was this place, what was this place? She was covering her mouth and pointed to me, squeaking to someone. That someone stepped out from behind the curtain and revealed himself to be a doctor wearing the traditional white coat. His eyes widened but he tried to suppress the reaction as quickly as it had arisen and shooed the nurse out the door before closing it. He cleared his threat and said, "Hello 118, how are you feeling?"

I tensed all of my muscles, and, seeing they were fine, lifted my hands to tense those. However, I was horrified to see that I had patches of a shiny gray substance all over them and my right hand was completely covered in what I presumed to be some kind of metal. I quickly pulled back the covers, wincing in pain as the action pulled at what I assumed were stitches. Where the hospital clothes ended, the same thing revealed itself to have happened to my legs. They also looked... longer and bigger, but I wasn't focused on that right now. I looked in horror at the doctor. His face was a bit nervous, visibly trembling, and I looked up to see his eyes held fear. "What happened to me?! Where is my team?" I asked him. My voice cracked and was surprisingly hard to get out, like I hadn't used it in forever. He shifted nervously. "What is the last thing you remember?"

I thought for a moment. "I... I remember I was captured. I was on a ship... Henderson was there! And there was Kyle, he had to stay behind. I was almost out of the hanger when the bomb went off. Wait, what happened to Kyle!" I asked. He waited a moment. I could tell he was trying to remember something. How long was I out?!

Finally he shook his head sadly. I knew it but if I had survived, he could have. "So what happened?" I examined my hands and legs again. He began, "You were in a nuclear explosion. It tore holes in your armor which were immediately filled by the superheated metal from the surface of your armor. It fused with your skin and we couldn't remove it without causing more damage. You also had two punctures, one in your right leg and your right side, coupled with severe third degree burns all over your body. You've been through multiple procedures to also fix the internal injuries, including head trauma. You now have new armor to accommodate your... new composure as well."

I stayed silent for a moment, taking it in. I looked closer at my hands to see that the metal had fused seamlessly into my skin. My fingerprints had been preserved as well as the creases in my hand. I rubbed them together and realized I could oddly still feel things through the metal. I looked back up, "How long was I out?" He hesitated before telling me, considering just how to word what he was about to say. I began to worry at his hesitation. A month, two months?!

Before you go on, guess how long it's been.

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He finally replied, "Steele, you've been in a coma for almost a year."

A year? An entire Year? For some that might not seem like a long time, but a lot can happen in a year. I would have missed so many things! The end of the war, my team's training and missions, activity from the inner colonies. Before I had gone under everyone knew that while we had somewhat defeated the Covenant, things weren't over and they now knew the location of Earth. My heart monitor spiked and I had trouble breathing. My chest heaved painfully. I heard him saying, "Just relax, breathe, that's it, breathe." But it sounded like it was muffled. I could hear my blood rushing in my ears as I realized I was close to passing out again and forced myself to take deep breaths. Everything cleared and I could breathe normally. He gave a sigh of relief and said, "I know this must be hard for you. Your team has been notified that you are awake and are waiting outside. Should I send them in?"

I waited a moment longer to prepare myself and nodded. He nodded back and walked out. Shortly after, I heard the door open and my team stepped in. I widened my eyes in surprise. They wore the same armor as before, but they all had grown. Their helmets were in their hands and even Sift's face was different. Their jaw lines were sharper and they had gotten taller. Their bodies seemed... bigger... too. How much training have I missed, what's happened since I was in a coma?

Their eyes widened as well at seeing me awake and soon I was surrounded by them. Selina rested a hand on my non-metal shoulder and said, "It's good to have you back. We were afraid you would never wake up." I smiled back at them. "What did I miss in the time I was out? How did the war end? Is the Covenant down for good?" I asked. Their smiles faded and mine did too. "What?"

Scott spoke up, "Its the colonies, they've been attacked." I sat up a bit, ignoring the pain as my worst fears were confirmed. "By who?!" He looked me straight in the eyes. "Master Chief's AI, Cortana. She's back, and she's trying to conquer all of humanity with giant Forerunner structures called Guardians. All the AIs have joined her. The UNSC Infinity is one of the only ships left. And so is ours."

To Be Continued.....

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So how's that for a good ending?! Sorry I scared you guys, it wasn't my intention(yes it was).

Anyway, I am sad to say that this is finally the end of Spartan 118. I would like to thank everyone who has been there for me and supported me, especially from the beginning, and for getting us to an astounding 12k reads and 29 follows! I loved writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading. I do have a somewhat tentative second book that I can start releasing as a second part to this one if you guys want, but it is unfinished unlike this one. The premise is the return of Kyle who has lost all of his memories after the explosion. Let me know in the comments if you would like that. Otherwise, I'll see you guys perhaps in my other story "I'm Not the Isekai Hero". Lastly, if you enjoyed or perhaps even if you didn't, I'd super appreciate it if you could give my story a rating to help others find it as well. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!!

-Spartan Steele out!

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