I do not own Halo Reach or any of the characters.

Finding An Old Friend

Six sat in his temporary quarters in the cryo chamber staring at John-117's stasis tube. His entire team, minus Jorge, had died trying to get an AI named Cortana to Master Chief and now, all he had to do was watch the entitled fucker sleep. He supposed it wasn't John's fault that Noble Team was wiped out. After all, every one of the deaths had been necessary. If He hadn't saved Kat in New Alexandria, he would have stayed behind when the Pillar of Autumn left.

Six sighed resting his head in his hands, helmet sitting beside him, as it so rarely did. just as he did, an alarm sounded and soldiers began running past the door. Six grabbed his helmet and pulled it on as two soldiers began to thaw Master Chief. The Spartan woke up looking around then opened his pod and the soldiers quickly checked Master Chiefs major systems like movement and shields. Then, they told him to go to the bridge with Six and see Keyes. Both Spartans ran through the ship to the bridge and found the captain waiting.

"Good morning Chief," Keyes greeted. "B312."

Six really wished he would just call him "Six" like everyone else, including Cortana, did. He still identified as a part of Noble Team and intended to restart Noble Team, if ever given a chance.

"We're being attacked," Keyes stated simply. "You need to take Cortana and evacuate onto that installation."

Keyes pointed and both Spartans saw a massive structure in the shape of a ring with planet-like ground on the inside.

Keyes pulled an AI chip out of the holographic projector and handed it to Master Chief and the Spartan stuck it in the back of his helmet.

"Shall we...Boss?" Six questioned.

John nodded and the two Spartans left the bridge running through the ship. They reached a room where marines were battling Covenant and Six hurled his knife, embedding it in an Elite's chest. Both Spartans grabbed assault rifles from fallen marines and continued through the ship. They fought through the ship but after a few minutes, they reached a room with sixteen Elites and fifty grunts. Before John could react, Six shoved him back through the door, closing it and throwing his assault rifle away before the Covenant lit him up with plasma fire. they walked over to execute him but he punched the Elite closest and pulled out a grenade.

"Don't!" John shouted.

"I don't follow your orders," Six snarled. "Here I come Kat."

With that, he pulled the pin and the grenade exploded a couple seconds later.

Six opened his eyes and and saw the inside of a perfectly square room with one door. The walls and floor were all made of black obsidian and the room was lit by torches. The flames were blood red and the temperature in the room was easily a hundred degrees, far too hot for the torches. For once, Six was grateful to not have his helmet on. Not that he didn't have it. He was wearing his armor which was auto cooled but his helmet wasn't but was sitting beside him. He picked it up looking at his reflection in the visor.

Both of his eyes were silver white from a screw up during his augmentation. There were no negative effects that the scientists could tell but the color had almost fully drained from his once brown eyes. his scars from the surgeries had long since healed and faded from view with the exceptions of those on his head where they had screwed with his brain. He kept his sandy blonde, almost brown, hair fairly long for a boy, especially in the military, with bangs almost to his eyebrows, the sides down to about halfway down his ears, and the back a fifth of the way down his neck. He had a clean shaven average face devoid of the scars that Spartans were stereotypically thought to accumulate during their service time. Most of his scars were on his back from surprise shots with a few going all the way through from snipers or lucky shots from the front.

He pulled his helmet on groaning at the extra ten degrees but stood and walked to the door checking it. Locked. He put his foot to the door to "knock" and the door sailed down the hall beyond, turning into a cloud of smoke just before hitting the wall. Six stepped out of the door and looked to the right to see Carter, Emile, and a couple marines being led down a hallway by creatures that looked like a cross between a gargoyle and a mule. They had skin made of stone and wings, muscles, pointed teeth and claws, and two arms. Their legs however, bent backward and ended in hooves. Six turned his attention to the prisoners. Carter and Emile were both wearing orange prisoner uniforms while the marines wore their uniforms.

Six sprinted forward, reaching the group just as another Spartan in full armor similar to his own appeared and quickly eliminated the two with a pistol then turned toward Six.

"Who are you?" the Spartan questioned.

"Noble Six," Six stated.

"I'm Noble Six," the Spartan stated. "You must be my replacement. What's your ID?"

"SPARTAN-B312," Six stated. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."

"How are you still in your armor?" the Spartan questioned.

"I don't know," Six stated. "Maybe I got lucky."

"How did you die?" the Spartan questioned.

"I blew myself up with a grenade killing a room full of Elites," Six stated.

"You committed suicide?" Carter questioned.

"I was already dying," Six shrugged. "Besides, I had...compelling reasons to come down here."

"We're fighting our way out of Hell," the Spartan stated. "But we don't accept quitters."

"I'm sorry but if we're fighting things like that, you need my help," Six stated. "What happens if you die here?"

"You cease to exist," the Spartan sighed. "Fine. I'm Thom-293."

"Pleasure to meet you," Six nodded. "Now, can we go fight now?"

Thom nodded and led them all through the hallways until they came out into a massive field. The dirt was charcoal and there were fires everywhere. There was a massive obsidian wall a mile away and there were Spartans and marines lining the top firing at whatever they were fighting along with several hundred climbing the wall and swarming toward it.

Six and Thom ran to the wall and climbed it to see an army of the gargoyle creatures trying to reach the wall while firing massive balls of fire at the wall out of their hands. The fireballs exploded on impact like rockets but didn't do any noticeable damage to the wall, simply scorched it.

"Where's Kat?" Thom questioned a Spartan nearby who had the number 1337 on his chest.

"Over there Sir!" The Spartan replied.

Both Noble Sixes looked the way he had pointed and saw Kat shooting gargoyles with a DMR. No sooner did they see her, did a pair of gargoyles fly overhead and grab her, flying away from the wall and the two armies.

"KAT!" Thom shouted stepping forward but Six grabbed his arm.

"I'll go after her," Six offered. "I have experience fighting alone and am probably the only person capable of bringing her back alive."

"Alright," Thom nodded. "Bring my fiancee back alive or I'll kill you."

Six stiffened but nodded. Then, he turned and leapt off the wall.

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