Tifa & Yuffie 3

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass ducked out from around her rock the moment the ODST distracted the Shade. She sprinted with amazing speed, that which could only be achieved by legs that had been so heavily augmented that they were barely human anymore. She was a blur as she darted across the field of battle, scaling the cliff-face in hurried leaps and bounds. Once she'd scrambled up onto the level ground she came up beside the Shade and wrenched its Grunt operator from the seat before they'd even realised she was there. One quick spray from her Battle Rifle ended the offending creature's life.
She then swung up into the turret and began to spray the remaining covenant with the razor hot projectiles.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Alex couldn't help but awe at the SPARTAN's speed. It still astounded him how fast and strong the SPARTANs were. He stood from behind his cover, as did the rest of Griffyn squad and ran out to help finish off the last of the covenant. After a quick glance around, he confirmed that there looked to be no more covenant outside the supply building.
He spotted on the ground beside a dead brute minor a Brute Plasma Rifle and barely paused before switching his Plasma pistol for the weapon. It still had almost full charge, so it would definitely come in handy.

[Tifa Lockhart]

The moment the covenant had thinned to almost non-existence, Cass climbed out of her turret and disarmed it permanently with a carefully placed grenade that she'd taken from the dead body of it's grunt operator. She then slid down the cliff-face and made her way back over to her squad. She'd make sure everyone was alright, before gesturing for them to follow closely as they headed up a cliff-lined pathway towards their target.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Alex and the squad followed closely behind their commander, pausing at corners to check around the corners and such and make sure there were no covenant hiding in the rocks. They neared the door and Alex carefully walked forward to see if there were sounds beyond the door. When he heard nothing he gestured to Scarlet, who tinkered a little with the door-locks and overrode it expertly. the team then lifted their weapons and examined the room, extremely surprised, not to mention unnerved, to find it completely empty.
"that's odd...they never leave all their defense on the outside...it's always worse inside than out..." Scarlet remarked as she rejoined her group, flicking her eyes about the room, looking for any sign of movement.
"motion trackers aren't getting anything...looks like the place is deserted..." Maran said, checking around a pillar before turning back to his team. Alex was deeply intrigued and turned to the SPARTAN to await orders.
"this seems too easy...what's your call, sir? would you advise proceeding inside?" he asked, formal as ever and evidently uneasy. It was suspicious to say the least and he didn't want to risk losing anyone else from his squad.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass was just as worried as the members of her squad by the complete lack of covenant presence. It just seemed way too suspicious to proceed without thought. She held up a hand to instruct them to stay put, creeping inside herself. She stopped just short of the second doorway however, kneeling down to inspect something more closely.
There was an infared light stretched across the floor at about foot height, the only reason she could see it was because of her specialised visor.
Traps... she thought darkly, wondering what exactly they were linked too. She gestured for the ODSTs to back up, and then withdrew her field knife. She waved it in front of the beam and then leaped back as the room in front of her exploded into flames.

She paused for a moment, contemplating what exactly this would mean, before ushering them forward, signalling them to be very careful for traps.
I'd better keep an eye out for camoflauged tangos...

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Alex flinched noticeably, himself, when the fire-jets went off. "looks like they were expecting us..." he murmured, creeping forward on his commander's signal and looking out for traps. The further inside they went, the more empty the place seemed. The first room had at least contained the weapons caches that the soldiers outside had gotten their arms from, the later rooms only became completely empty, save for computers and all the better weapons. As was the mission they collected data on each of the weapons they had yet to document much about, wary of booby traps, before they would continue to search.

'this place is completely deserted...I don't like this at all, surely they put more than traps, Grunts and Jackals to guard the place...?' Motion tracking still had nothing. Alex paused a moment, glancing around the room, to make sure there weren't any more traps. It looked empty enough, but something about the place gave him the creeps...it was like something was watching and following them, yet wasn't being caught by the motion trackers...

[Tifa Lockhart]

They were not far from the center of the structure where Cass was going to set the bomb now. They'd encountered no covenant forces, only a great number of more and more vicious traps designed to catch them unawares and deliver them into the arms of death as painfully as possible. She'd thought the covenant were too advanced to resort to tactics used by ancient humans millenia ago, but it seemed they were willing to try just about anything. Now they entered what was obviously the commands center of the arms-base, and the ODSTs filtered in carefully after Cass, expecting there to be quite a bit of resistance here.

But even here was empty.

Something feels VERY.... VERY wrong... She thought, trying to stay alert to both her motion tracker and her surroundings.
One of the marines, the woman in fact, began to speak up, complaining that this mission seemed like piss, and that there was something going on. That's when Cass saw the shimmer in the air behind her.
Cass darted forward, knocking Scarlet out of the way just as the sound of a Brute Mauler discharging filled the air. Cass's shields took most of the blow, though a few of the vicious orange needles stuck out of her chest now.
A massive brute stood before her now, no longer cloaked in his invisibility, he roared, casting aside the mauler and switching it for a spiker, with which it opened fire, the vicious projectiles bouncing around the room. Cass tackled the beast to the floor, struggling with it for a moment or two before withdrawing her field knife and using it to end the creature's life, stabbing the blade into its temple.

But now the facility was alive with activity, brutes emerging from their camouflage at every angle.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

"shit! heads up everyone, they've got us surrounded!" Alex exclaimed, rolling swiftly and skillfully between the legs of an attacking Brute, standing and hitting the creature firmly in the back of the head, before it had the chance to turn.
The Brutes were more fierce than ever and they came in numbers that Alex and his men had never seen before. They were tougher than any fight before them. Brutes completely surrounded the ODSTs and their SPARTAN leader, blocking the way to the exit and bellowing loudly, making it difficult to focus on the attack.

The fight raged for some time, the ODSTs managing to gain the upper hand, thanks to their SPARTAN commander, and it looked like they might win with minimal casualties -the only wound so far was Maran's shoulder, smacked by a Brute fist with force enough to make movement difficult, but not a crippling blow. Alex shot down another Brute, turning just in time to see a massive Brute racing towards Maxus in an enraged battle charge.
"Maxus! look out!" he bolted for the Brute, roughly shoving Maxus out of the way, just in time to dodge the first swing of the beast's massive fists, but not the second. The impact wasn't so bad for him, thanks to his helmet, but the blow had knocked said armour clean off of his head, the visor cracking as it smashed into the floor several meters away. The blow send Alex stumbling, and before he could regain his balance, the Brute's huge, clawed hand struck him over the side of his face, blood from the claw-wound spattering the ODST's face and the alien's knuckles.

"SERGEANT!!" Scarlet and Axel were both to slow to act, forced to watch as the boy stumbled back, at first keeping his footing, before collapsing down, holding his wounded head and cursing as the blood stained his cheeks. He remained conscious, but his mind and vision had fogged, and he was unable to move well, after the powerful blow.

((whoo, fun! XD hope that didn't seem too quick for ya' therer's still more to come tho ))

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass broke into action the moment things took a turn for the worse. She turned to the nearest squad-member, the man named Maran and barked an order - speaking for the first time.
"Take Red and the Sempl's and make for the pick-up LZ Sergeant, i'll follow behind," her voice made it clear there was no room for negotiation. Her knowledge of their names was astonishing, especially since before now she had not spoken a word to anyone.

Once she was certain Sergeant Selaph was going to listen to her, she made a break across the room for the brute that stood over the other wounded marine. She spear tackled the beast with amazing strength, knocking it to the floor where she would wrestle with it for a suspended moment of time. She recieved many blows from the creature's flailing limbs, but the worse came when the beast found and withdrew his own combat knife. Before she could defend herself the blade was stabbed viciously into the gap between her breasplate and shoulder guard. Hissing she threw the beast off with one mighty kick, the blade still lodged in her arm. The brute scrambled for a nearby Spiker, but Cass was quicker, a blast from her battle-rifle ripping the monster's head apart.

Her adversary dead Cass ran over to kneel beside the fallen ODST.
"Are you alright, Rickman?" she asked, wrenching the blade from her shoulder, ignoring as her blood leaked out and over her breastplate.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Maran went to argue, but knew better than to disobey orders. He knew Alex and if the kid was still the fighter he had been when they'd met, he would be fine. "Sir, we'll hold the position until you get there" He had to drag Maxus away though, as he ran for the exit, the boy crying out something like that he 'should have kept an eye on his tracker'.

Alex was half-laying on the floor, still awake, though seeming like he was struggling against losing his consciousness. When Cass ran over and spoke to him, he at first seemed not to have noticed her speaking, before he moved his head slightly and gave a weak smirk. "...a scratch, sir..." he said, stubbornly, though the red staining on his gloves made it clear the wound was far more serious than that. "you go...you have to complete the mission, sir..." he swayed slightly, his consciousness seeming to waver for a moment. "I'll just slow you down...you have to get back to command...we failed...out last mission...you have to make sure...that we don't this time...we can't afford to...let the covenant win..." he moved his hand from his wound to grab a brute spiker on the ground next to him. "I'll make sure...that no-one follows you out...go and complete the mission, sir..." the blood had seeped into his light brown hair and completely soaked his hand and sleeve, it looked like the wound had hit more than just flesh, his eye was deeply gouged and two long, deep scratches carved into the skin.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass didn't buy into a single word that the marine spoke, it infuriated her slightly, but she was a patient sort.
"I don't like heroics kid," she snapped, grabbing him by the forearm and yanking him to his feet. "You've got two good legs, so you're getting out of here with me. Just put one in front of the other, and if you can't manage that, i'll carry you."
Once she was confident he was stable on his feet she hurried to set her bomb, giving the timer just enough time for them to make clear of the blast.
"Alright, your choice Rickman, walk out of here like a man or I carry you," as she said this she checked out the door, they seemed pretty clear if they made a break for it.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Alex seemed object to the idea, but he had little choice, since he was so weakened from the potential concussion and the blood loss and the SPARTAN was much stronger than he would be even at full strength. He didn't move at first, but after a moment, he relented, when Cass set the bomb then recited to him that he could either walk or be carried. He might not have wanted to risk them failing their mission again, but he had his pride and he would rather walk out than be carried...as long as he was conscious, he would walk. He didn't reply in words, but instead straightened a bit, stubbornly starting to walk, though he seemed rather off-balance he was doing well enough on his own. After a moment or two he broke into a jog, knowing that the bomb was set and lingering would be deadly.

The would get to the last hallway before Alex would start to slow down. He continued on though, as weak as he was becoming, for as long as he could before he stopped, swaying a bit at first before collapsing, the blood loss and damage to his head finally claiming his consciousness.

Outside the covenant were beginning to close in on the Pelican, trying to shoot out the ODSTs in the carry-bay.
"dammit! come on, we can't hold out here much longer, what's keeping you so long?!" Axel complained, shooting out another two jackals. "too much longer and they'll have us!"

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass kept a close eye on Alex as they made for the exit, and she was quite impressed by how far he got before the blood-loss took over, he was a tough little thing, despite his age. The moment he dropped she stooped to lift him up, carrying him cradle style in her arms, he was exceptionally light to her powerful muscles, and so she was still able to sprint even with him in her grasp.

She didn't look back once, not even as the base blew sky high not far behind them, she cringed as the shockwave from the blast struck her from behind, making her stagger. She'd left it a lot finer then she'd wanted to, but circumstances hadn't really gone in their favour. She was displeased to find the LZ surrounded by covenant forces, and so she sprinted for the craft.
"Take him!" she called to the marine closest to the hatch, making sure they had Alex securely before turning around to dispatch any covenant that got to close, slowly backing herself up into the pelican.
"Get us out of here Dodge!" she yelled to the pilot.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

The pilot nodded, pulling the Pelican up and away from the ground. "and we're out of here, ladies and gentlemen! hang on tight!"[/i] the craft got away from the ground quickly, the pilot expertly dodging the shade shots from the turret that Cass has earlier emptied which grunts had already re-occupied.

Alex was out cold and already some marines were tending to his wound, doing their best to stem the flow of blood. Scarlet was quietly attempting to convince her little brother that it wasn't his fault Alex was injured and that casualties are a given at war.
Maran was getting his shoulder looked at, insisting irritably that it was hardly worth the fuss and that he could handle some light bruising.
Axel had wandered over to Cass, looking a bit troubled, and after a short pause, spoke. "you think the Sergeant'll be alright, sir?" he asked, glancing over at the unconscious, younger boy.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Cass had busied herself by now with removing certain parts of her armour, so that she could get to and deal with her wounded shoulder. She'd removed her helmet, revealing her short-cut black hair and slightly Asian features - though it was obvious the asian was a LONG way back in the family history. Her eyes were a very eerie thing to see, they were pupiless and pulsated purple-blue - prosthetic obviously. She was just unbuckling her breastplate when one of her squad approached her.
"Of course he'll be fine," she replied without hesitation, meeting his eyes firmly, though it was difficult to gauge where she was looking due to the lack of pupils. "Rickman is tough... I don't think the eye is savable however, he might be out a while."
She seemed mildly displeased that one of her squad had been injured on their first mission.