Death Comes Swiftly

Prolouge http://www.casinobellini.com/online_craps.html

Sounds of distant gunfire echoed through the streets. The sound of propaganda filled the air. The sun was high overhead, and the humidity was almost unbearable. Private Petrenko paused in an abandoned café to drink from his canteen. Sweat poured from his brow. He removed his helmet and ran his fingers through his thick, greasy hair.
“The UNSC promised us peace and prosperity, but we have been forgotten! What have we received?! NOTHING! Nothing but poverty and anger! The UNSC is oppressing the people of this city, and millions more in cities all around the outer sphere! Rise up, my brothers and sisters; rise against the UNSC in the name of the brotherhood! The oppressors must die!”
“Oh for the love of Lord Pheonix,” Petrenko thought to himself. “Don’t they ever stop?”
The same repeated message, and numerous others, blared off hidden loudspeakers. Non-stop, the message was clear: UNSC bad, sparking uprisings good.
Petrenko took out his GPS, and was disappointed to discover the screen had cracked, and the battery had long been dead. Frustrated, he tossed the useless device aside. He was alone, traveling in and out of buildings for the better half of the day, avoiding the local militias. His objective: escape. With the start of the propaganda waves on the radio, riots broke out. And when they started getting out of hand, even for the riot police, UNSC Marines were dispatched to quell the uprisings. They met heavy resistance, and very quickly fell prone to mixed guerilla attacks. Petrenko lost his whole squad in an ambush, and was lucky to have escaped practically unscathed.
Just then, voices and footsteps could be heard coming his way. Heart racing, he scooped up his rifle, jumped through a hole in the wall, and stealthily ran from the enemy. Little did he know that he left his canteen behind. A group of three militia members including a vicious German Sheppard entered the café. They wore black uniforms bearing the symbol of the brotherhood: A red triangle with a Scorpion’s tail spiraling in the center. They were just three of hundreds, if not thousands more.
“Keep an eye on the dog.” The leader barked out. “He gets away again and you’re gonna be the one who catches him.”
“Yessir.” one of the others said.
They took a moment to check their surroundings. One of them spied the canteen.
“Hmm…wonder who left this here?” One of them said, walking over to the table and picking the canteen up with his gloved hand.
“Looks like the UNSC standard issue.”
The dog then frenzied, barking viciously as it picked up Petrenko’s scent. It then made for the hole in the wall.
“He’s got something; follow him!” The leader ordered.
***
Petrenko was sure he was at a safe distance. He though he was safe once again. Short of breath, he slowed to a walk. Looking back, he saw nothing but an empty street. The wind howled, and bits of scrap paper and cardboard danced around. He turned and walked on. Then from behind, a dog barked. Quietly at first, the noise grew louder, and the dog came closer. The hair on the back of Petrenko’s neck stood on end.
He took off running, adrenaline racing, down the street, around the corner, through an alley way, scrambled over a fence, and landed on the other side. But still he heard the dog coming closer, barking and snarling viciously. He cautiously peered around the corner. All was still. As he entered the street, movement, and vicious growling to his right stopped him dead in his tracks. He slowly turned his head, and was nearly face-to-face with a monster of a German Sheppard.
“Oh shi-“
Petrenko was then knocked on the ground before he had a chance to raise his rifle, or unsheathe his knife, with the dog towering over him, sinking its fangs into his arm with its powerful jaws. He cried out in agony, knocking his rifle aside. Mustering the willpower, he slammed his fist into the dog’s ribcage, knocking the beast off its feet, and gave Petrenko the chance to escape. As he scrambled up, a sharp, crippling pain exploded in his leg. He fell face first, and was slowly dragged backward.
He fought with all his might, kicking as hard as he could. He managed to turn over on his back and saw the dog about to strike again. Awaiting the end, the doomed private closed his eyes. But he was surprised when it didn’t come. Amidst the pain, and the warm, wet liquid covering a good portion of his body, he slowly opened his eyes. Three dark figures stood above him. Petrenko’s vision went fuzzy.
“Looks like we got us a live one,” a voice spoke at last.
“Let’s bring him in.”
A dark boot hit Petrenko in the face, and all went dark.

***
Petrenko slowly regained consciousness. Bright lights blinded his eyes, and a chorus of cheers deafened him. The pain racing through him was unimaginable. He tried to move his limbs, but he felt the coarse rope bound tightly around them. His vision slowly returned, and he found himself in a large courtyard, where several Brotherhood militias stood, looking on and cheering. A TV camera was positioned not seven feet away. Two figures stood out from the others. Neither of them was wearing helmets like the others. The one farthest away from Petrenko was bald, with a well trimmed mustache-beard combination. Malice burned in his eyes.
And the only outstanding feature about the other one was that he had a loaded handgun. He looked into the camera, and spoke.
“Today, the Brotherhood of NOD has taken the first of many steps to overthrowing the oppressive government of the UNSC! Let this be an example to all who would stand in our way!”
He then pointed the gun at Petrenko, who glared in return. He pulled the trigger, and Petrenko ceased to exist.
“The tape stops here, sir,” said Lieutenant Anders, pausing the video.
“They broadcasted this on all channels not three hours ago.”
Major Johnson scratched his chin.
“Lord Pheonix almighty…it’s already worse than I thought.”
“All channels, you said?” he inquired.
“Yes sir. All the major news channels, and whatever else they could hack into.” Anders replied.
Johnson sighed.
“I miss the days when NOD was just another local cult. They were quiet, kept to themselves. We didn’t like them, nor they us, but at least we know where we stood with them. And now? It’s getting so we can’t even trust our own neighbors.”
“I wonder,” Captain Thompson said at last, “How these uprisings occurred so quickly and aggressively; right under our noses this whole time. The seeds must have been planted months, if not years in advance. No ordinary civilian could outmatch marines, let alone entire squads, not by themselves.”
“Someone had to be helping them.” Johnson agreed. “But it’s not like we didn’t see this coming.”
He then took out an envelope from his desk.
“Lucky for us, after our first initial counter with NOD, we anticipated such an event, and came up with the response in advance. Lieutenant, I need this delivered to ONI on the double”, he said handing off the envelope.
“Yes sir!” Anders took the envelope, saluted, and left.
Johnson stood up.
“Captain, relay to your CO and tell him I’ll inform him of anything else that turns up. We’re done here; Dismissed.”
“Yes sir.”
Thompson turned to leave, but hesitated.
“Sir, if I may ask, something’s been bugging me…”
“What is it?” Johnson responded.
“That thing said about the UNSC promising things and forgetting people; is that really what happened?”
Johnson inhaled.
“Some things,” he began, “are on a need to know basis. But rest assured captain, the majority of the things said by the brotherhood are lies and slander.”
He then walked past Thompson, who followed silently.

So Halo meets C&C?

Interesting premise, was decently written but I found the fourth wall breaking LP cursing out of place and confusing.

Nice to have something to read in this section again.

It is written well and I enjoy a C&C/Halo Crossover, the story so far is interesting but please don't make this a spartan fest. Having them is fine but just give us the UNSC Marines, UNSC Personnel, and NOD POV's as well.

lol i've had g-o-d censored to lord pheonix for months now

LIAR


I did that to mess with the religious debate




Also hilarious seeing people say "G0D DAMMIT" and it being "LORD PHEONIX DAMMIT"

I don't believe in any "Lord Pheonix"

Well he hates you all the same

holy shit! Kane Lives!

like that's a surprise to anyone...

i like this one.

Lord Pheonix wrote:LIAR


I did that to mess with the religious debate




Also hilarious seeing people say "G0D DAMMIT" and it being "LORD PHEONIX DAMMIT"

no, I changed it when I censored every word I could think of to Lord Pheonix, thats one of the few I didn't change back to normal

no I changed it to fuck with the Debate Section and to feed my ego.