A Lucky Rabbit's Foot - Part I & Part II

Ennis wasn't the only one attempting to escape. The Covenant at this point were almost ignoring the Demon as they too, were trying to escape the damage the HAVOK would soon create. They'd seen it before, they knew what was going to happen.

"Looks like they've been alerted about the nuke..." Sarah said more to herself then to Ennis.

Ennis was running over dead bodies, Human and Covenant. He ran passed a pack of three Grunts as they were trying to pull one of their dead comrades to safety. Ennis ignored them.

"Major, we have a Warthog outside waiting for you. Get your ass out here!" Vargas yelled over his COMM.

Vargas and Mc Leoud had some luck as well. It seemed to rub off onto them from the Spartan. Every mission Ennis had requested that the two Marines now ODSTs were assigned with him. Even though they were not SPARTANs, they had guts like one. Over the years they had become quite close throughout the many battles they went too. The ODSTs had great respect towards the SPARTAN-III and considered him more of a guardian angel then a soldier to them.

"We're en route, Private. Hold your position." Sarah ordered.

Then entire building was rumbling occasionally, the Covenant were still bombarding the building and the city. Phantoms, Banshees, Ghosts, Wraiths... everything the Covenant had they brought to Earth.

This was Humanities final stand.

"North Sector is lookin' hot, Ma'am... you may want to get up here ASAP." Mc Leoud radioed in.

"We're almost out Marine." Sarah responded rather frantically.

"How much time do we have left?" Ennis asked almost too calm for Sarah to respond right away.

"Not much Major, I suggest you get a move on." Sarah replied after a moment.

Ennis had finally made his way up into the lobby where the ODSTs had made their last defense to protect the generators underneath the building structure. The dead littered the ground. Ennis skipped over dead Covenant and Marines making his way to the exit. The glass doors had been broken by the gun fire as he hopped right through them. The sound of a single Warthog's turret could be heard just around the corner.

Vargas glanced around from the front end of the Warthog hearing the Spartan's foot steps.

"Oh man, are we glad to see you, Major!" The ODST yelled. Mc Leoud was operating the turret and paused for a second after the Spartan had reunited with them.

"Sir, Covenant are swarming all over the place. They don't seem to care that they were even given the orders to pull back. They're seriously pissed off at something!" Mc Leoud stated, yelling louder than normal due to the loud turret.

"We'll figure out why. But we need to clear out of this zone. It's about to be blown to shit." Ennis replied throwing his Battle Rifle over his shoulder and climbing up into the driver seat of the 'Hog. "Get in Vargas." He ordered.

The ODST quickly ran around the front of the Warthog and jumped in. Before he could get himself situated Ennis slammed the acceleration pedal to the floor. The Warthogs massive tires squealed as the vehicle burned out and took off. Mc Leoud opening up on the turret as they left.

"Cole Protocol has been successful Major, not by the book...but you did it." Sarah commented as their distance grew greater from the Tower.

"You got everything you needed as well?" Ennis asked.

"Everything. Installation 04 and 05,The Prophet of Truth, High Charity and New Mombasa. It's all here. She said examining through her data.

"Good." The Spartan simply replied.

"Interesting though..." She started, peaking Ennis' interest.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Truth...the Covenant it seems the Elites have separated from the Covenant, they're at a Civil War with each other - the Brutes..." She trailed off.

"Sir, we have incoming Ghosts!" Mc Leoud yelled swinging the turret around behind them.

"It'll have to wait Sarah." Ennis said slamming the pedal to the floor again for evasive maneuvers. The Ghosts caught up to the Warthog quickly, they were lighter and faster. Ennis had a difficult time controlling the Warthog through the war torn city streets swerving through destroyed vehicles.

"You can't allow this data to fall into Covenant hands, Major!" Sarah exclaimed, obviously finding something.

"You can't allow this data to fall into Covenant hands, Major!" Sarah exclaimed, obviously finding something.

Vargas finished emptying his last clip of his BR-55 as a Ghost maneuvered passed the light vehicle. "I'm out!" He shouted. Mc Leoud was still manning the turret spinning around trying to keep up with the Ghosts as best as he could. Ghosts were always quicker than the UNSC's vehicles, but the turret was powerful making up for the speed difference between the two vehicles.

"Major..." Sarah began speaking to just the SPARTAN. "The cities defenses, they were shut down because of Major Standish!" She exclaimed. The Spartan remained quiet, listening to his AI, she wasn't done speaking. "OPERATION: Razor's Edge was all a cover up to mask what Major Standish had found."

"A cover up for what?" Ennis asked as calmly as he could.

"Not long ago the UNSC Apocalypso came across a Forerunner Artifact... the only information we have about the Artifact is that is sends out a massive Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP... after the crew activated the Artifact it let out a massive EMP that temporarily disabled all communications equipment within the Solar System for seven seconds. There's some speculation that it's a countdown controlling the Halo Array's." Sarah explained then continued as the Major drove the Warthog. "The Covenant knew of the Artifact's location...Chicago's main HUB was just a distraction to shut down the continents main shield generators. Major, we have to get to Boston ASAP! I'm transmitting this information to Lord Hood, we have to get a move on!" She yelled.

"Looks like we've got a change of plans boys, we're heading to Boston." Ennis glanced back and said.

"Boston, what the hells out in Boston, Sir?" Vargas yelled over the hail of gunfire - it was obvious Mc Leoud didn't hear the update.

"I'll explain on the way there, Vargas. For now, get a hold of HQ and get us a Pelican outta here." Ennis responded.

"Roger that, Sir!" Vargas yelled then shifting in his seat to get in touch with Command.

There was a loud explosion behind them as Ennis spun the Warthog around a tight street corner onto the highway exiting the city. Mc Leoud yelled out, "Woo-hoo!" as the Ghost blew up into pieces behind them.

"We're on our way, Sarah." Ennis said to the AI.

"Major, if the Covenant get this Artifact in their hands they can use it against us and gain the upper hand in this battle. We must stop them." The AI stated.

"Understood." Ennis replied.

"Major, we're getting an incoming transmission from Lord Hood. Patching you through to him now." Sarah said aloud.

The Spartan accompanied by Vargas and Mc Leoud take a short break from checking over their equipment as Sarah finished speaking. She appeared on the node just next to the Pelican's cockpit.

"Major." A voice echoed over the intercoms of the Pelican.

"Sir." Ennis responded respectively.

"Glad to see your still in good shape, SPARTAN. We received Sarah's transmission and have assessed the current situation regarding Major Standish." Lord Hood paused for a moment. "Your current objective Major is to locate Major Standish and the Forerunner Artifact. Detain the Major and retrieve that Artifact." Hood finished.

"Understood Sir." Ennis responded once again catching Mc Leoud and Vargas' glances towards each other.

"Oh... and Major." Lord Hood continued with a sense of urgency.

Ennis looked back over towards the intercom waiting for him to continue.

"Do not let that Artifact reach the Covenant or let Major Standish leave Earth's atmosphere. No matter what the costs are, do not allow that Artifact to leave Earth in the wrong hands. Do I make myself clear SPARTAN?" Hood said.

"Yes, Sir. SPARTAN-D085 out." Ennis replied.

"Good luck SPARTAN." Lord Hood finished before the COM went dead.

Ennis turned and moved into the hangar to finish checking his things. "Sarah, when we're in the air I need you to get me Major Standish's records."

"Won't be a problem, Major." She responded, disappearing from the node.

"Dust off in Ten." The Spartan ordered to the two ODSTs, urging them to finish checking their gear. "We're not catchin' a break today boys." He added.

"Man and I was hoping to get some R & R tonight." Mc Leoud said sarcastically.

Vargas laughed before tossing back on his ODST helmet and moving up to the cockpit. The short Puerto Rican jumped into the chair and began running a diagnostic on the bird, checking it's hull shields and weapon systems. "Birds at one hundred percent Major... Ready when you are."

"Alright then." The Spartan said slamming the button to close the hatch of the Pelican. "Let's get a move on."

"Roger that, Sir. We're dustin' off." Vargas replied eagerly.

The ODST grabbed the controls for the Pelican and pulled them back as the engines fired on, the jets turning as the Pelican spun off the ground and rose into the sky.

Niiiiis... you must continue this.

For the Emporer!

(Thank you for the Support Keeps. Tonight or tomorrow night I will be posting a chapter that will blow minds beyond epic proportions.)