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owlofthenight117 · 2 years

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Battle of the Marshmallows- A New Enemy

Wolf and Danica reached the base, making the jump across the flaming rift in between Burnt and Toasted. The fighting had ceased, and Cathrine had taken a break from pelting unsuspecting people with marshmallows. Both sides had retreated to behind the trenches, setting up camps, and planning their next move. In the field, a tattered white ‘flag’ lay torn on the ground. A book, titled, How to Get Your Children to Stop Fighting laid open on the ground, pages torn, and a red splatter on its pages. Danica and Wolf drop back into base, walking through the trenches as Danica speaks, “Thanks for the save Wolf, it would’ve been stuck there until Athena came back online.” Wolf nods, and turns, walking into another portion of the trench to gather up supplies.

———

As the sun started to rise, Cameron patrolled the trench while his teammates took a much needed rest, staying alert for any Toasted trickery. It was on his third or fourth pass that he noticed the book trampled on the ground, red staining its pages and Sam nowhere to be seen. "Chief," he called over his coms, "We might have trouble." At the base, the Chief looked up from where he was cleaning his rifle.

“What is it?” He asked, and looked over to the others, ready to head back into the fighting. He quickly assembled his rifle again and stood, walking over to the war table where Cortana was projecting a map of the field, Cameron's position marked with a green dot.

"Sam's MIA." Cam replied, hopping the trench to jog over to Sam's empty perch, "Confirmed blood on the scene, but not enough to suggest the injury was fatal. I'm having Echo run analysis now to see if it's Sam's."

“Copy that. Think it was Toasted?” Chief asked, and motioned Samriah over from where she was watching the field, walking over to the table where she listened to the radio chatter. As Danica entered the ‘room’ Samriah looked up at her, quickly scanning her to see if she had any injuries. Finding no major ones she nodded to herself.

“Danica, is Athena back up yet?” She asked, and Danica shook her head.

“She will be soon. She can pin Sam’s location easily. Chief, is Cortana able to help?” Danica questioned, and Cortana’s hologram appeared onto the table, ‘walking’ over to where Sam’s perch was.

“I’m searching for his signal, but some sort of interference is blocking my pings to his armor…” Cortana trailed off, “We may have to find him the old fashioned way.”

“Athena welcome back. I’m gonna need you to do a lot. Think you can handle it?” Danica asked her AI, Athena smirks and extends her hands dipping them into a flurry of fuchsia colored source codes.

“I’m always ready.” She says, ‘jumping’ over to the table, she confers with Cortana, both AI bouncing codes and pings off one another to try and clear the interference. Cameron comes back though on the radio.

"Negative, Chief. There's no marshmallow residue, and I know no one on any side would want to hurt Sam, especially under a white flag." Cam kneels in the mud, searching for any trails leading away from the scene. Finding nothing, he hopped back into the trenches, making his way back to the others.

“I’m picking up a signal!” Cortana says, and the group looks towards the table, Cortana pings the search back to Athena, as the other AI ‘grabbed’ the data, putting its location onto the table. Cortana flickered as the spiraled bit of data appeared on the table, hovering over the supposed location of the missing Spartan. Samriah stood, looking over the data on the map, “Alright, Dancia, Cam, and I will go track it. Chief, you and Cortana com us with any new info, yeah? I don’t want a surprise attack from the Toasted.” Athena displays the ping on Danica’s HUD, and talks to her through the helmet’s internal speakers.

“Hostiles everywhere, be careful.” Athena warns.

“We will be. I’ll be their shield.” Danica responds to her, then addresses the rest of the group, “Let’s get moving! I’m not losing my team again.” She says as she gears up with her weapons with live grenades and rounds. Samriah grabs her rifle, and her helmet which was ODST, a deep blue color with silver accents.

“Let’s go.” Samriah says, and the group moves through the trenches, following Athena’s ping, before they come to the end of the trench. They are close to the edge of the field, where the trees start to grow. Danica covers Samirah and Cam as they both jump out of the trench, scouting the tree line before Danica jumps up, covering their backs.

“Stay low. Spotlights.” Danica warns, Samriah nodded and moved forwards. The trees grew thicker as they got further into the forest. Cam took point, cutting through the heavy brush with a machete. Cortana came through on the group's coms.

“It’s quiet here, but I’m picking up contacts near you, about a klick away. It's not Toasted. Be careful.” The AI tells them, and Danica nodds.

“I’ll take point.” Danica says, “Athena, do you remember protocol 7?” She inquired with a solemn tone, Athena sighs.

“I do. I hate it, but I understand. I will if it ever comes to that, but it won’t.” The AI says, and Samriah looks at Danica with narrowed eyes.

“What’s protocol 7?” She asks, a stern look on her face leaves little room for argument. Knowing that look, Danica keeps her silence at first and then speaks calmly.

“Protocol 7 is in the case I get taken out. My armor will self-destruct and Athena will relocate to another Spartan. Chief doesn’t know. No one knows. But I’ve always told Athena that if it ever happens she has to go to Chief. I know he’ll keep her safe. Even if he doesn’t know exactly who I am.” There’s a firm look on Samriah’s face as she stops and faces Danica.

“That’s not going to happen.” Samriah says firmly, “We won’t- I won’t let another squad lose-“ before she could finish, Cortana interrupts Samriah albeit unknowingly.

“Hostiles approaching! Unknown id! Weapons up Spartans!” She says, and Danica immediately goes into full combat mode, scanning the area carefully, while protecting both Cam and Samriah.

“I know you won’t. But it’s still a precaution. I remind Athena of it so in the chaos she remembers. She has a safe place.” Danica answers Samriah, while keeping her weapon raised. A flock of birds erupts flying away in front of them, the group takes a step back, luckily protected by their armor from the crazed birds sharp claws and beaks.

“There running from something.” Samraih whispers, raising her rifle and pointing it towards the trees where the branches rustle. Something bursts out of the brush, its form made of Flood mass, but not quite the same as it flings itself at Cameron with a gruttal cry. Danica rips the flood away from Cameron, slamming it to the ground firing her assault rifle at it.

“Contact! It’s the flood!” Danica shouts, the creature hisses as it tries to escape, letting out a deafening screech before it falls limply to the ground.

“That’s not a flood form I’ve seen!” Samriah shouts, The ground seems to shake as the branches rustle in front of them, cries similar to that of the Flood echo out around them as more forms bust forwards out of the trees. Danica stands her ground as she rushes them, opening fire, and taking out as many as she can with extreme accuracy.

“There’s new breeds among old ones!” She responds to Samriah. The group is soon overwhelmed, forced to fall back as Samriah coms Cortana and Chief.

“Cortana we have contact with the hostiles! It’s the Flood they’ve-“ Samriah breaks off to shoot a combat-like form charging at Dancia, chitin-like armor plating makes it much harder to take down as Samriah fires her assault rifle at it, “Get contact with the Toasted! We’re going to need their help!” As Samriah speaks with Cortana, Danica speaks with Athena within her mind.

We might have to use it as an offensive measure as a last resort. Danica says, referring to Protocol 7.

Never in a million years Danica. No way in hell. There’s a way out. We’re calling back up. Athena quickly counters.

————

At Toasted base, Dove fiddles with her fingers as the last transmission from Fred causes her anxiety to flare. What was going on? Were he and John alright? What was all the yelling in the background? “I don't like it Nerd… Fred's com channel has been silent for way too long” she says, Nerd looks towards Dove as the radio crackles.

————

“Patching you though to the Toasted!” Cortana tells Samriah.

“Nerd, Dove, anyone of the Toasted. We have contact with the Flood!” Samriah shouts, gunning down a Tank form, “We need help!” More Flood forms burst out of the trees as Danica tries to keep as many as she can back and away from Cam and Samriah. At Toasted base, static causes a delay but Eagle gathers enough of the transmission to understand... and it's bad. “Anyone?” Samriah calls into coms again “I repeat, we have Flood contact! They’ve evolved!” Eagle coms into the radio speaking quickly to Samraih as gunfire sounds from the other end.

"Copy, dispatching additional units. Sitrep Samariah. What's the status on your squad?" Eagle asks, there’s a pause before Samriah responds.

“We’re falling back, Dancia and Cameron are with me.” She says.

"Any injured? Infected? Where's the Chief?"

“No injured, no infected. Chief is back at base. We were looking for Sam, he’s MIA.” Samraih replies, firing at another ranged form that fires at them from the trees. Danica’s armor looks best to hell but intact minus a small chunk out of her chestplate. At Toasted base Nerd works with Dove to summon the Divine Trio while Eagle works on setting up a triage and setting defences.

"Fall back to the base Samariah." Nerd instructs, taking over as Eagle dashes out of the room, "Eagle is going after Sam." Samraih dodged a combat form as it tried to take a chunk out of her.

“Copy that. Cortanta will send you the ping. The area must be infested with Flood. Warp portals are down. Is Dove there? She won’t be able to warp home, and if the Flood gets to base…”

Athena. I’ve got to call it. It’ll buy time. Danica tells Athena, jumping up and pulling a ranged form from the tree, tearing it in half before throwing it at a group of infection pods.

“No! There has to be another way! We can buy them time another way!” Athena counters again with sadness and anger heavy in her voice.

“I'm here.... but don't worry, Nerd can get me home.... just get John and the others back safely... please.” Dove says as Nerd creates a warp portal with her pen and sets the next portal to appear at the coordinates Cortana gave.

"Once you guys get to the rendezvous there's going to be a portal, don't think, just jump. Divine Intervention will cover your escape" Nerd instructs. The warp portal flickers as it opens, flashing with a blood red light. It crackles with something wrong.

"Copy that Bird." Cam replies, he turns and fires a spray of bullets at the approaching mass of Flood. He drops a few grenades to help Divine Intervention cover the group before jumping through himself.

“Go. I’ll buy you guys as much time as I can. I can’t risk these things drifting into the portal. I’ll find another way back.” Danica says as she and Samriah cover Cameron going through the portal. Samriah looks towards Danica, a spark burns bright in her eyes, and for a brief moment, an image of her old team flashes through her eyes.

“No Danica. Not this time.” She says, and shoves the Spartan through the portal.

Master list

@embarrassedauthornerd @starchaser-the-prophet @alpha-wo1f2 @117s-girl @lialacleaf @valkyrie231

Whats going to happen?? Thats the real question… ;)

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owlofthenight117 · 2 years

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Calling the Misfit Mellows, the battle must start once again. @embarrassedauthornerd @117s-girl @alpha-wo1f2 @lialacleaf @starchaser-the-prophet

Battle of the Marshmallows

A field is split down the middle, a giant fire roaring towards the sky as two figures face off. On one side, the field is a crisp golden, and on the other, the field is blackened, cracks of flame dancing across the surface, and embers glowing softly. Dressed in Mark VI armor, metal feathers decorating the pieces, Owl strands. Instead of the normal helmet, a winged owl-shaped helmet adorned her head. Her armor is black with ‘cracks’ running through it, glowing like embers. The other- Nerd- is dressed in black jeans, an old grey hoodie, combat boots and Grecian style armor protecting her arms and legs. A corset-like chest-piece protects her upper torso. Blood red hair tied up in battle braids gave an intimidating look.

“And thus it begins! Sharpen thy tools and make fast the trenches!!” Nerd yells. Owl looks towards her, picking up the onyx sword that was stabbed into the dirt beside her.

“Choose thy weapon fiend! You shall not win this fight! We have Master Chief and Kelly on our side!” Owl shouts, pointing her sword at Nerd.

“I have the power of the Chaos goblin and adorable innocence!! Thou canst never hope to defeat me!!! Golden ‘mellows shall prevail!!!!!” Nerd yells back, pacing back along the gap in the field separated by the raging fire.

“Thou think thou hath innocence? Thoust art a coward! Thou say nay to completing thy roasting of thine ‘mellow!”

“Thou art the coward!! Thou disrespecteth the ancient paths, spewing lies to those that follow you in this path of destruction! Have you no soul???”

“Tis true yond i has't nay soul! t wast taken from me many years ago at which hour battling the most wondrous dragon of the n'rth! i doth not spew lies, i only speaketh the sooth! t is thee who is't is on the wrong path! we m'rely seeketh to free thee from the ancient chains yond bindeth thee! breaketh free of the lies and joineth us mine own cousin!” Owl shouts, a figure comes up beside her, dressed in forest green armor with Violet highlights.

“How dare thee call thyne fellow creator a coward! That alone is such an act of cowardice! Take yourself and thou’s distasteful marshmallows away!” Danica-118 shouts to Nerd, who almost seems taken aback by her words.

“Do not confuse cowardice with defending my honor child!! They struck the first blow, laid the grounds, antagonize this battle... and thou have fallen just as far.... go back to the shadow of thine burnt mellows and ponder thy path…” Nerd says ominously. Both groups look at one another, stare each other down as the fire rages higher until they cannot see one another.

———-

Danica-118 quickly gets to work digging her own tunnels and planting burnt marshmallow explosive under the enemy base and trenches, chipping away at the surrounding dirt, she misses the burnt sugar that lands on her radio transmitter and corrupts the feed. Above the ground flashes of light appear- warp portals- bringing in Toasted and Burnt ones alike.

———-

Into the flickering firelight of the Burnt Ones camp steps Cameron-409, white armor smeared black with soot to resemble the superior marshmallow. "Stealth op is a no-go Chief." he reports, "The Bird was spotted among Toasted ranks, I'd be had as soon as I got within a hundred yards." Kelly claps him on the shoulder in consolation, before walking up to scout the perimeter. Cameron sits by the fire as Samriah stands up from where she sat by the fire, metal leg catching on the firelight. She nods, looking towards Cameron, “We knew this was a possibility. The Bird can see, but she can’t catch Kelly. Wolf knows the ground. Sam’s still in no man’s land.” She grabs a rifle, offering it to Cameron. “What’s our plan?”

———-

In the ranks of the Toasted, Nerd, X and Linda begin running their simulations of their meticulous strategy. "Our best bet is to snipe them from the trees, X and I are the best here, which gives us a distinct advantage." Linda comments, and Nerd looks towards her, firelight catching on Nerd’s gold dusted armor as she walks around the table they planned on.

"But they have Kelly and John, that's two more Spartans than we have... no offense Linda." Nerd mumbled as she looked down at the plan. A voice comes out of the shadows and they all look around, Linda quickly pulling her sniper off her back and pointing around at the possible foe.

"Hey kids, got room for two more??"

———-

Underground, Danica-118 continues to set charges, her armor getting smeared in melted sugar and mud, taps her coms and tries hailing out to the Burnt group, “I’ve managed to dig the tunnels and set the charges, but I can hear what sounds like digging. I either set them off now and dig upwards and try to not get caught, or try to get back and risk getting caught anyways. Your call Chief.”

———-

Nerd, Linda, and X look up to see a camouflaged Spartan land gracefully on the ground, her feet barely making a sound, she wore mark V armor; it was sage green with burnt orange on the gauntlets and knees, "Dove, get out from behind the tree... your not exactly sneaky" the unknown Spartan said. ‘Dove’ dropped out from behind the tree.

"I was invisible until you gave me away..." Dove grumbled, poking the female Spartans side playfully. "Meanie."

"Glad you could make it Eagle..." Linda greeted, relaxing slightly. Eagle nodded, and stood near their ‘war table’.

"I came as soon as I heard what was happening... I wouldn't miss the chance to gang up on John." Eagle said and Dove nodded. She glanced over to the map, ready to give input.

———-

At Burnt base Wolf pops up seemingly out of nowhere looking to be covered in dirt. She was short, only about 5 foot, and had a mohawk style hair with bright green eyes. She wore Spec Op armor that was redesigned for a human, the deep grey color contrasted with her eyes, making them seem brighter as she stepped into the light of the fires, "I was scooping around their perimeter looking for any weak spots, while their defenses may be very tight I think I managed to find a slight opening we might be able to use to our advantage." She said, Samriah looked up at Wolf, calculating the options in her head.

“What’s the opening?” She tapped at the dirt with a charred stick, glancing at Chief. “Any word from Danica?” She questioned, and received a slight shake of the head from the Chief. Samriah let out a breath, “How are our defenses looking? Toasted ranks may be small, but if they have the Bird…” Samriah trailed off. Wolf drew a crude drawing of the toasted base sketching it out in charcoal on the war table.

"The defenses on the north, east and west sides are highly reinforced with dirt and hardened, sticky marshmallow, but they got a little sloppy on the south wall. A mile or so down the south side there's a small crack about an inch from the ground up the wall. If we could get an explosive in there we might be able to make a hole." Wolf then realizes she hasn't seen Danica in a while and turns towards the group.

"Didn't Danica say she was gonna go set some charges near the toasted base? It's been almost an hour and she isn't back yet. Do you think she's okay?”

———-

Danica takes a breath attempting to remain calm as she attempts to make contact with the Burnt Ones again.

“Chief? Samriah? Wolf? This is Danica-118 do you read me? I have set the charges. I repeat I have set the charges. There’s the sound of digging getting closer, either I set them off now and dig upwards and try to avoid getting caught or I crawl back and risk getting caught anyways.” No response. Danica shakes her head as she notices it’s been an hour that she’s been gone. “Well since coms don’t want to work, I guess it’s up to me… please let my luck hold out…” she mumbled to herself. Danica starts to crawl back to the Burnt Ones bunker as quietly as possible and pokes her head out from the entry of the tunnel and looks at everyone. “I guess coms don’t work underground. They’re starting to dig tunnels of their own. It won’t be long til the charges are found”

———-

As Eagle surveys the perimeter, she can hear what sounds like scraping and smiles, "Have fun running back to base... it's a long walk home." She says to herself, she radios Linda, reporting her findings.

"Eagle says that they have tunnels, which more than likely means they have charges of some kind." Linda began, watching as Dove placed another golden toasted grenade.

"Then that means we have to force their hand.... destroy their tunnels before they can take advantage of them." Nerd stated, drawing a line across the projection.

Eagle returned from her perimeter scans, walking over to their war table she joined the others, "I'll make an insertion here..." Eagle said, pointing at what appeared to be a random patch of ground. "My thermal scanners indicate one of the charges is there... a flash grenade will be hot enough to detonate and send a chain reaction, causing the tunnels to collapse."

———-

At Burnt base Samriah frowned at Wolf's comment, but spoke “Danica is smart. She knows what she’s doing.” Samraih leaned over Wolf’s drawing she tapped the south side where the crack was. “Good thinking. If we-“ she was cut off as the radio crackled “This- Danica- charges- set- caught.” The feed was distorted and Samriah pulled up a screen. “Danica, this is Samriah. Do you read?” The radio crackled and went silent. She looked at Wolf, “Wolf, see if you can find an explosive for the hole. Something small. Remote detonation.” Samriah turned towards Cameron, “Cameron, check our defenses, If they have Linda there, and they made a mistake, we probably have one too.” She turned to Chief, who seemed to be deep in thought, “Chief, see if you can get ahold of Sam. I don’t want him getting caught in the cross fire if this gets messy.” Still looking towards him she asked “Cortana, do we have a head count for the Toasted? If they are starting to warp in others…” she hesitated, “This could go very badly. Very quickly.”

"You got it boss," Wolf said and saluted Samriah. She put on a midnight black cloak, changing in appearance as she did so. In her place was now a wolf with midnight black fur. She had one black and white eye and the other was gold. Three scars ran down her face, marring the otherwise fluid coloration. It will be easier to sniff any type of explosive no matter the size in this form. She says mostly to herself before disappearing into the shadows. The radio crackles and all the team can hear is the sound of explosions and rubble falling, Samriah looks grim.

“It has begun.” She says, and gets to work.

———-

As the Toasted prepare for another confrontation, Dove sighs heavily.

"We're gonna get our butts kicked if we don't get some more help... I mean, we have an equal number of Spartans... but extra people? Not many..."

Nerd thinks for a moment before she and Dove glance at each other wickedly.

"Perhaps...." Nerd remarks, picking up her phone, "All we need, is a little.... divine intervention..."

———-

On the field, a woman with scarlet hair sat perched in a tree. She wore light black and bluer armor, maximizing flexibility and mobility. She was a pyrokinetic, and went by Catherine, she found herself in a nice sniper position tucked in one of the trees, with a whole bag of marshmallows. One by one she lights them on fire because that’s what miss pyro does best. This is a free for all for her. No loyalties. Everyone is a target. Catherine purposely aims for Fred because he stole her chocolate that was supposed to go on her s’mores. The night is lit up with fires and chaos as the Toasted and the Burnt collide into battle.

———-

"Eagle..." Nerd called out, and the female Spartan nodded, grabbing the detonator and hovering her thumb over the button.

"Detonating in 3, 2, 1.... ADIOS!!!" Eagle shouted, pressing the button as the world lit up in explosions of flying marshmallows and dirt.

“YOU ALL BETTER TAKE COVER” Cathriene yells as she rains the mini fruit flavored marshmallows down on everyone. As Cathrine unleashed her onslaught on minis mellows, the Toasted were covered by a rather mystical and divine field of protection.

"It took you three long enough..." Dove pointed at the goddesses, Divine Intervention shooting her a somewhat irate glare. Waving her hand a cannon ball of burnt mellows dissolved into flakes of shimmering gold.

"Two actually... Destiny decided the opposing side fit better..." Fate pointed out, as from across the field a smokey figure hurled another ball of burnt marshmallows at Fate, who sighed and snapped, the ball of fire stopping in its tracks to plummet to the ground.

———-

As the battle rages a shadowy figure stalks through the night barely making a sound as if she has become one with the shadows. Her head darts up as an explosion flashes in the field, coloring the sky with fire and destruction. Dismissing it she continues looking for anything to help her team. She stays away from the Toasted base, but keeps close enough to to keep it in sight. The onyx colored wolf sniffs around on the ground, looking for any type of explosive that she could use to help, she finds nothing and lets out a low growl to herself. Damn those toasted guys sure know how to clean up after them… She says to herself, as she is about to turn back, an explosion shakes the earth. It throws Wolf to the grounds and her ears ring, chunks of earth and stone pelt the ground. Darkness descends on her vision, turning everything into blackness.

———-

Danica crawled through the tunnel system, with more urgency now as the ground shook above her, the battle had begun “Now or never…” she told herself, and set off all of the charges. She was only halfway through the tunnel system, and was buried in the rubble. Armor-locked she was frozen, hoping her luck held out and someone from Burnt found her. Behind her, half of Toasted base was covered in burnt marshmallow, walls either cracked or destroyed, anyone still left in the base was covered in burnt marshmallow. Danica’s radio crackled as she heard Samriah come through distorted, “Dan- this i- Sam- read?”

———-

Wolf’s eyes shot open, she shakely stands, dust and debris falling off her coat, now dusted in white ash and soot. Shaking herself off, pieces of earth and rock fell off her. She sniffs the air and perks up, the distinct smell of explosives and the sharp small of pine, a person. She trots off in the direction of the smell, getting closer to Toasted base. As she nears the base she slows walking over about a few feet carefully still sniffing the air and keeping a lookout for any traps that might be placed. As she gets closer the smell gets stronger until the earth seems to break open, revealing a long tunnel underneath the ground. Wolf starts to dig, large paws making quick work of the torn-up soil, she carefully digs around armed but not set off devices, picking them up carefully and setting them aside for later use. After a few minutes of digging her paws hit something hard. She leans forwards and gives it a tentative sniff, metal and pine. Danica! Wolf starts digging with renewed vigor as the Spartan is slowly uncovered. Once Wolf has most of the rubble cleared her form shifts, turning back into her human form as she reaches for Danica. The Spartan’s armor is locked but with a quick command into a tablet she was able to unlock the Spartans armor.

Master list (Includes all previous parts)

@embarrassedauthornerd @117s-girl @starchaser-the-prophet @lialacleaf @xback1021 @alpha-wo1f2 @valkyrie231

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